This hack is awesome, definitely up there with the best of them, ever. I've been having a ball.
I got one question that's been driving me nuts, kinda my own fault tho: I like to open a hack in Advance Map sometimes just to see if I've seen all the wild Pokemon in the area. Here of course gens IV-VI all show as Chimecho (why Chimecho??), but I could often figure out what was what. In Telmurk Warehouse, the small one with the hiker, however, I see there's an 1% encounter and I just can't find it. Spent 45 mins looking for it... on fast forward... Could you please tell me what it is? Or at least if it's something worth looking for, or just, like, Klang...
AdvanceMap displays all Pokemon above index 411 as Chimecho because 411 is the highest index that it can support. If Spherical Ice uses AdvanceMap to edit wild Pokemon data, I'd like to know for my own purposes how he accommodates for the newly added Pokemon. My efforts to search for a solution have been fruitless.
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I binged the beta in the span of 2 days and what can I say, it's amazing. There's attention to detail and really not many things that give away that this hack is an amateur creation, which is the standard that you want to meet when you're making a ROM hack. Overall the visuals are nice, the features are well-done, the gameplay is solid, and the writing is grammatically sound. I look forward to future releases.
I have a few items of feedback that you may want to consider:
1. Move compatibility and moveset incompleteness: I was surprised when I caught a Drilbur and found out that it couldn't learn Rock Smash, and I was also surprised when Nidoking didn't learn Chip Away at L23 and Charmeleon didn't learn Flame Burst at L32. I've read earlier posts in this thread and it seems that you'll have the move compatibility issues largely fixed for v3. As for the incomplete moves, I understand that it's difficult to create novel effects for moves such as Chip Away and Flame Burst, but in those cases a partially functioning move is still better than not learning the move at all.
2. TM availability: TMs are pretty sparse for the first half of the beta, but a whole bunch of them become accessible only after getting Rock Climb. It seems that you have recognized this problem and will have it fixed for v3. I'm a little curious about how you're going to determining move compatibility for moves that have never before been TMs, such as Charming Cry and Aurora Beam.
3. Balancing/difficulty: I'm the kind of guy that always does the lamest thing possible, and there doesn't seem to be much that stops a Piplup solo. It has favorable matchups in most of the early major battles, its typing is hard to hit effectively, and the New Elders use a ton of rock and ground type Pokemon that are weak to it. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to balance earlygame difficulty because that's when Pokemon are leveling up the fastest and can easily get big level advantages. I'd recommend looking into the gen VI experience system to curb this a little bit. I'd also recommend diversifying the New Elders Pokemon, because you do fight a ton of them before Sabulo Tower, where the game starts becoming more difficult from Piplup's point of view.
Mega Charizard Y seems busted on paper. All of the mega evolutions are kind of busted, but Mega Charizard Y especially so, given the point at the game where it becomes available. The only thing holding back Mega Charizard Y from being super broken in the current beta is that Drought doesn't activate when it mega evolves (and it's also missing Flame Burst at L32). Mega Charizard X doesn't seem any less busted, though. I thought it was kind of sudden for Belle to hand the player a good Pokemon complete with mega stone; in the interest of balance it may be better for her to give the starter at Sabulo Island and provide the mega stone later.