FireRed hack: Pokémon FR Advanced Challenge

[ablahblah987]

I started playing this yesterday and having fun so far. The edits make some of the old Pokemon feel new and the difficulty with set mode on is well considered. Thank you for making this Devlain.

I caught a Zigzagoon after seeing that Linoone's stats have been raised but have since learned there's no way for me to teach it ExtremeSpeed. That's annoying but maybe intentional on your part?

Would you ever consider giving Shiftry the ability Hustle and the move Magical Leaf? That would make it competitive without raising its stats. Your game and your decision.

 

[Devlain]

I started playing this yesterday and having fun so far. The edits make some of the old Pokemon feel new and the difficulty with set mode on is well considered. Thank you for making this Devlain.

I caught a Zigzagoon after seeing that Linoone's stats have been raised but have since learned there's no way for me to teach it ExtremeSpeed. That's annoying but maybe intentional on your part?

First of all: Thank you so much for your feedback. I appreciate it a lot.

Yes, Zigzagoon isn't learning ExtremeSpeed. There are two reasons for this decision:
-The only Zigzagoon with ExtremeSpeed is a one from an event distribution so I prefer to retain that uniqueness even if I know that ExtremeSpeed defines Linoone principal game plan in singles battles.
-I think belly drum + extremespeed is a fragile and unstable plan in doubles so I rather explore new spaces for strategic diversity (that's why I picked Tickle instead of ExtremeSpeed as a default egg move).

Of course, this is a matter of opinion but I'm happy with the current final result after testing.

Would you ever consider giving Shiftry the ability Hustle and the move Magical Leaf? That would make it competitive without raising its stats. Your game and your decision.

I'll consider it, yes. I think it is a little bit risky but sounds like an interesting design.

Thank you again for your feedback!

 

[Devlain]

People, I just released v1.10.0. This updated is BIG. Is really THE BIGGEST UPDATE I did since v0.3.0 to v1.0.0 (a lot of months ago).
I'm suspending development of new features for a time and I'll be only working only on fixes & few tweaks at the moment because of personal reasons. I think that in a future I'll retake the project more actively (maybe in a few months).
But I just wanted to deliver to you the best I could do in a week of extreme work and after months and months of planning.
So, here it is. v1.10.0 with a lot of updates (reflected on the original post). I'll put the latest changes log here so you can see it:

Boss Battles

• A new introductory and optional battle against YOUNGSTER JOEY was added in Viridian City for the sake of introduction to the game mains mechanics (boss fights in double format without item usage in combat).
• Changes were introduced to Will & Bruno (both encounters) addressing the Balance Changes of this patch.

Hoenn Challengers
New optional Boss Battles!:

• Roxanne (Mt. Moon first floor)
• Brawly (Route 4, Mt. Moon exit)
• Wattson (Route 10, outside Pokémon Center)
• Flannery (Route 16, near Snorlax)
• Norman (Fuchsia City, center of the city)
• Winona (Fuchsia City, center of the city)
• Tate & Liza (Saffron City Gym)
• LEADER Wallace (Cinnabar Island)
• Sydney (Viridian City Gym)
• Phoebe (Viridian City, near the lake)
• Glacia (Route 23, in a isle in the middle of the lake)
• Drake (outside of Indigo Plateau)
• CHAMPION Wallace (Indigo Plateau)
• Wally (Indigo Plateau)
• Steven (Indigo Plateau)

New Pokémon

• Nosepass
• Hariyama
• Medicham
• Manectric
• Camerupt
• Torkoal
• Spinda
• Slaking
• Tropius
• Pelipper
• Altaria
• Solrock
• Lunatone
• Claydol
• Luvdisc
• Whiscash
• Walrein
• Milotic
• Cacturne
• Crawdaunt
• Absol
• Dusclops
• Banette
• Sableye
• Glalie
• Flygon
• Salamence
• Wailord
• Aggron
• Cradily
• Armaldo
• Metagross
• Delcatty
• Roselia
• Gardevoir

Quality of Life Changes (QoL)

• Free Move Reminder in Fuchsia City (in the same house that Move Deleter).
• Moon Stone now seleable in Celadon City Mart.
• Added missing berry to Berry Vendor (the berry that restores PP).

Own Tempo Returns
-Own Tempo was removed from the game because of the low relevance of Confusion in the first iterations. With the inclusion of Spinda (Teeter Dance) & the prevalence of Confuse Ray strategies in boss fights, Own Tempo was included again and restored to Slowbro, Slowking & Smeargle. Stats were buffed to compensate for the lost of more useful or versatile abilities.
Own Tempo & Confuse based strategies will provide more strategic depth to the game.

Balance Changes

• Crabhammer restored to its original less powerfull version to avoid exploit from Crawdaunt recently introduced (Kingler loses its ability to be a mixed attacker but still works as a physical bulky attacker & provides Knock Off to the team).
• Phanpy now has 10% encounter rate from 5%.
• Dunsparce now has 5% encounter rate from 1%.
• Tentacruel now has +10 hp instead of +10 spDef (this is a little buff).
• Vital Throw restored to its original less powerfull version to avoid exploit from Hariyama recentrly introduced (It's not a big loss to Machamp since it still has Brick Break & Rock Slide).
• Slowking now has an extra +10 def to compensate the lost of Natural Cure in favor of Own Tempo.
• Slowbro now has an extra +5 spDef to compensate the lost of Shell Armor in favor of Own Tempo.
• Smeargle now has an extra +5 hp to compensate the lost of Limber in favor of Own Tempo.
• Dizzy Punch restored to its original less powerfull version to avoid exploit from Spinda recently introduced (Kangaskhan it's still really relevant without the need of Dizzy Punch).

Bug Fixes
-Solved a bug that made rematch against final secret boss impossible. Now final secret boss (& Steven, that was included in this patch) could be battle any number of times.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for playing and for your feedback!

 

[ablahblah987]

Devlain, your reasoning seems sound. I look forward to trying the new update. Keep up the good work.

 

[SevenChurches]

Did you change the shiny rate? I just encountered a shiny Unown.

 

[Devlain]

Did you change the shiny rate? I just encountered a shiny Unown.

Nope. It's 1/8192 as usual. Congrats on your shiny ! =O

 

[SevenChurches]

Alright, I finished this. Here's my team.

You can read a full write-up of my playthrough here. I'll make a condensed review here.

I thought it was solid. I had trouble early on, but I think that was me underestimating the challenge offered. That being said, since getting a Bold Squirtle and finding out it had Rain Dish, I planned on getting a rain team. I succeeded in that, at least to an extent. The rain helped a lot, Thunder that didn't miss, powerful Surf, especially when I double surfed with Pelipper and Blastoise. The hack prompted some strategy, and getting used to that led to a mostly painless experience. It wasn't too difficult for me. I got annoyed often by the RestTalk sets on opposing Pokemon. but nothing that made me dislike the game, it's a good strategy in the early metagames.

But yeah, some of the battles were extremely easy, namely the ones that fell to double Surfing. I appreciate the changes here, especially the gift items from beating some of the bonus boss battles. The Lucky Egg came in handy for leveling up, but you should notice that I wasn't overleveled against the 2nd round Pokemon League, Steven, and "Your Future." I did lose a few times, I counted too, 15 in this playthrough. Some early-game battles were more difficult, as I was trying to get my team formed.

Question though, is Sidney in this game? I battled Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake, but didn't find Sidney. Anyway, I think that's enough commentary, great job on this hack.

 

[Devlain]

Alright, I finished this. Here's my team.

You can read a full write-up of my playthrough here. I'll make a condensed review here.

First of all: thank you so much for playing and for doing such a complete review. I was kinda speechless as I read all the details you put on it!

I thought it was solid. I had trouble early on, but I think that was me underestimating the challenge offered. That being said, since getting a Bold Squirtle and finding out it had Rain Dish, I planned on getting a rain team. I succeeded in that, at least to an extent. The rain helped a lot, Thunder that didn't miss, powerful Surf, especially when I double surfed with Pelipper and Blastoise. The hack prompted some strategy, and getting used to that led to a mostly painless experience. It wasn't too difficult for me. I got annoyed often by the RestTalk sets on opposing Pokemon. but nothing that made me dislike the game, it's a good strategy in the early metagames.

I know I kinda abused of RestTalk in some fights but I swear that working around the AI limitations in doubles battles on a gen III Pokémon game doesn't let me be as creative as I wanted in many fights. That explains the absence of Protect on most Pokémon by example (the AI is really bad pondering how to use it in doubles and start spamming it in random situations even with the best AI routines of the original rom and even after many iterations and tries).

But yeah, some of the battles were extremely easy, namely the ones that fell to double Surfing. I appreciate the changes here, especially the gift items from beating some of the bonus boss battles. The Lucky Egg came in handy for leveling up, but you should notice that I wasn't overleveled against the 2nd round Pokemon League, Steven, and "Your Future." I did lose a few times, I counted too, 15 in this playthrough. Some early-game battles were more difficult, as I was trying to get my team formed.

I know that level difference starts falling off when you add Pokémon EV's and Badges Stats Boost into the equation. If I could remove Badges Stats Boost easily, I'll do it, but as far as I know I need to do Assembly for that and that implies a completely re-do and a Pokémon FR Advanced Challenge 2.0.0+.

Question though, is Sidney in this game? I battled Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake, but didn't find Sidney. Anyway, I think that's enough commentary, great job on this hack.

Sidney is in Viridian City Gym, he has the sprite of a punk guy with blond hair (I didn't found anything more similar to him, but a volunteer offered to help me inserting new overworld sprites for that).

One more time, thank you so much, hope you enjoyed playing it as much as I enjoyed developing it, and I appreciate your review a lot!

 

[DogHeart]

Any option (patch or AR codes) to enable item usage ?

I assume all opponent mon got the updated stats, perfect IVs as you , and 0 EVs(?)

I know there are optional battles, but are many of the original battle changed ?

 

[Devlain]

Any option (patch or AR codes) to enable item usage ?

Not right now and I think that if I retake development in the next weeks months this won't be a particular priority (sorry for that). You can make the disabled items reusable again if you modify them with G3T by example, but take into account that boss battles doesn't use items either.

I assume all opponent mon got the updated stats, perfect IVs as you , and 0 EVs(?)

All those assumptions are correct.

I know there are optional battles, but are many of the original battle changed ?

All original boss battles are changed. I.e:

• 8 Rival Encounters
• 2 Giovanni as Rocket Boss Encounters
• 8 Gym Battle Encounters
• 4 Elite Four encounters
• 4 Elite Four rematch encounters

 

[Devlain]

Now that I finally finished my first walkthrough of v1.10.0 with all the postgame, I'll return to develop the v1.11.0 =O

 

[Devlain]

People, v1.11.0 is finally here.
I think this update is not as big as v1.10.0 but I'm super excited about this release because we are just about finishing the Pokédex and I know that many cool things are coming for the next update.
Since I'm getting used to my new life in France I don't have really much time for develop the hack rom and I don't know when I'm going to deliver the next update. But having the opportunity to share this update its something that makes me really happy.
I'll let you know the latest changes in this post like the last time and the original post is already updated to reflect the changes.

v1.11.0
Boss Battles

• All the development cast were added as optional Boss Battles (You can find one of them in a city of Kanto and the other two in Sevii Islands).
• TESTER: Learo
• ASSISTANT DEV: Chainfire
• MAIN DEV: Devlain

New Pokémon

• Masquerain
• Breloom
• Ninjask
• Shedinja
• Exploud
• Mawile
• Plusle
• Minum
• Volbeat
• Illumise
• Swalot
• Sharpedo
• Grumpig
• Zangoose
• Seviper
• Castform
• Chimecho
• Huntail
• Gorebyss
• Relicanth

Quality of Life Changes (QoL)
-Some trees removed between Routes 12, 13, 14 & 15 for easier navigation.

Balance Changes

• Arcanine now has +5 atk & +5 spe instead of just +5 atk (this is a buff).
• Beldum now has 45 catch ratio instead of 3 (to be simillar to Dratini & Larvitar).
• Beldum, Larvitar & Bagon could be found at lvl 40 instead of 32.

Bug Fixes
-Fixed missing collision blocks in Route 4.

THANK YOU SO MUCH once more time for playing and for your feedback! =)

 

[playsaves3]

I am assuming 1 last update will come

 

[Devlain]

I am assuming 1 last update will come

That's correct. But when it will arrive is still unknown :o

 

[playsaves3]

ok sounds good

 

[SevenChurches]

I think you'll enjoy this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XO9BxAwo3Q

 

[Devlain]

I think you'll enjoy this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XO9BxAwo3Q

Wooooooow! Simply wow.
You know, yesterday I came back home from the office and took a little nap to be fresh for the night. After that, I did party till next morning so I didn't have the time to log in and look at this but it is so cool to find this when you wake up at the next day xD
Thank you for sharing!

 

[KyouNguyen]

can we have the full pokedex in this post

 

[Devlain]

can we have the full pokedex in this post

I'm not sure but maybe the Pokémon changes documentation in the OP is what you're looking for. But tell me if you need something else.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g8JbU0yjGOU6aTgj-SxAT8SuOYyjhLglDRH1Yo18NPU

 

[Devlain]

Hi there people!
I'm really excited to announce v1.12.3. I think this is a pretty interesting update because we finally have all 386 Pokémon.
I was receiving a lot of interesting feedback lately and I think the project will continue growing slowly.
I hope you enjoy playing this release as much as I enjoyed developing it because it was a pretty challenging development sprint.
As always, I left you with the latest changes and the Original Post updated.

v1.12.3
Overworld Sprites
Thanks beforehand to Kertra & chainfire57 for their amazing sprites.
-Now most Boss Battles have more unique overworld sprites to make them recognisable.

Boss Battles
The next AI were enhanced

• Brock
• Misty
• Erika
• Koga
• Blaine
• Giovanni (1,2 & LEADER)
• Lorelei (Normal & Rematch)
• Agatha (Normal & Rematch)
• Whitney
• Chuck
• Pryce
• Clair
• E4 Koga
• Silver
• Winona
• LEADER Wallace

New Pokémon

• Regirock
• Regice
• Registeel
• Latias
• Latios
• Kyogre
• Groudon
• Rayquaza
• Jirachi
• Deoxys
• Deoxys A

Dungeon Shortcuts
Shortcuts were added to the next maps for a more direct navigation.

• Viridian Forest
• Mt. Moon
• Rock Tunnel
• Rocket's Hideout
• Pokémon Tower
• Silph Co.
• Pokémon Mansion
• Victory Road

Quality of Life Changes (QoL)

• More trees removed between Routes 12, 13, 14 & 15 for easier navigation.
• Trees removed from Erika's Gym for easier navigation.

Balance Changes

• Kanto starters now appears in Route 22.
• All startes now have 90 catch ratio instead of 45
• Hitmontop now has its original evolution method in addition to Sun Stone method.

Bug Fixes

• Chimecho now appears in Pokémon Tower as expected.
• Ludicolo now has Rain Dish ability as expected.
• Disabled berries & PokéFlute usage in battle.

As always, THANK YOU SO MUCH for playing and for your feedback! =)