Emerald hack: Pokémon Inclement Emerald: A Decomp Difficulty Hack [Version 1.13]

[Buffel Saft]

I imagine you've been asked about this through hell and back, but since searching for specific posts is a nightmare, might as well ask it once more:

Is there any chance we'll get another update on the state of the rom hack, like what you did back in January, or are you gonna simply wait til the update releases to talk about it? I ask since it was really nice to know how the update is going, and you could potentially answer some questions that I imagine people are constantly bugging you about.

Sure, I can give an update. 2.0 is coming along nicely; most of the things in the github checklist are at least partly done (but not finished, so not checked off), so it's further along than the list implies. I got through the massive merge a while back but am still dealing with issues it created. I'll answer some of the common questions I see and share some new stuff:
Q: Will the mons added in Legends: Arceus be added in 2.0?
A: No. The battle engine is not yet caught up to Sword and Shield, so adding even more new moves with new effects would greatly delay the next update. Also, we won't have full learnsets for the Hisuian mons until their data is added to Pokémon Home. While I think I could make up some learnsets that would be very close to the official ones, I'd rather not have to redo all that work when the official data is available.

Q: Will the new status effects from Legends: Arceus be added in 2.0?
A: Yes and no. Frostbite will be included, and has already been added (replacing the old, annoying frozen status) along with some new moves and abilities to flesh it out:

On the other hand, the new drowsy status won't be included. I also won't be adding sleep clause, as it makes zero sense in-universe; it's just a necessary band-aid fix for battle simulators etc. that can't change broken game mechanics. However, I can change mechanics, so I've tried to make sleep less frustrating to play against and less broken when abused by the player:

Spoiler:

• If a Pokémon is hit by a damaging move while asleep, it will immediately wake up, and will be able to move that turn if possible. This includes damage from an ally in double battles. Certain moves and abilities can bypass this effect.
• After waking up, Pokémon will become restless, and will be unable to go back to sleep for the next two turns. This wears off if the Pokémon switches out.
• Sleep now lasts a set number of turns, depending on what caused it. E.g. Sleep Powder will put the target to sleep for two turns (meaning you get one free Quiver Dance instead of several!), and Dark Void will put targets to sleep for three turns.

This might look familiar; it's inspired by several other games with similar systems, including Temtem and several RPGs which also use the "wake up on hit" mechanic (seriously, how do Pokémon sleep through getting hit by fire/ice/boulders?)

Q: Will there be new mega evolutions in 2.0?
A: Yes! More gigantamax forms have been converted into mega evos, and I'm planning to add three more custom ones too (though I won't say what they are just yet). I've also redesigned mega Kingdra slightly to make it stand out more from its base form:

Q: Is there a release date/window/estimate/whatever?
A: Nope! It's done when it's done. I still need to fix a whole lot of bugs (especially whatever is causing the AI to lag in double battles) and clean up some of the new content.

Q: Will Standard mode finally be ready in 2.0?
A: Sadly no. I was hoping to have it done by now, but there's been so much to fix with just one version that I haven't had time to work on a second. I'd still like to finish it eventually but it may be a while off; apologies to anyone waiting for this version!

 

[SynysteRock]

hey great hack could you put PP up for sale in the next update? and maybe it's just me but it seems that npcs always hit moves with less accuracy

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Do you have plans of adding the minimal grinding mode that radical red is has? Personally, i feel that really makes the game less time consuming to play.

 

[Buffel Saft]

Do you have plans of adding the minimal grinding mode that radical red is has? Personally, i feel that really makes the game less time consuming to play.

Nah, I don't really see the need. There's little to no grinding as is unless you choose to do it, or aren't using the tools the hack gives you. There are multiple ways to get perfect IVs (and you get three for free), getting EVs is fast, easy and doesn't require going out of your way (either use the power items while clearing a route or just buy them - you get plenty of money from trainers). Getting Oran berries for nature changes is maybe a little grindy, but only if you'd never use berries otherwise or want to fastforward through the whole game in one sitting. If you're training lots of Pokémon it's best to use the berries to change the natures of a bunch of synchronize mons instead of changing the natures of mons after they're caught - that way you can get whatever nature you want on demand, as many times as you want, without needing more berries.

hey great hack could you put PP up for sale in the next update? and maybe it's just me but it seems that npcs always hit moves with less accuracy

Yeah, not sure how I missed PP Ups, they should be purchasable somewhere. That's not the case, they miss just as often as you unless you're trying to make them miss with a save state, which typically won't work.

 

[zapperil]

Would Battle Frontier be similar with how does it work in original game , or are there will be some tweaks about it , based on prizes or anything ?

 

[TheZipBon]

unless you're trying to make them miss with a save state, which typically won't work.

Out of curiosity, is this a deliberate decision or a carryover from normal Emerald?

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Thought I'd ask this, do you have plans of including the dex nav feature? Thanks!

 

[Buffel Saft]

Would Battle Frontier be similar with how does it work in original game , or are there will be some tweaks about it , based on prizes or anything ?

There'll definitely be new prizes, the original prizes are either redundant or totally broken (namely the old BP move tutors - they were replaced with the new ones). Naturally it'll also include all 8 generations, and maybe have an inverse mode or something to freshen it up a little.

Out of curiosity, is this a deliberate decision or a carryover from normal Emerald?

It's more to do with the way save states and RNG work; a savestate just makes a copy of your emulated console's RAM, and the RNG is based on a seed (in this case a large random number generated from the clock, time and some other things that make it appear random). The RNG seed is stored in RAM and only gets updated occasionally (once per frame I think), so if you load a save state and do the exact same thing over and over there's a chance you'll just be using the same seed each time, and that means you'll get the same result. It's fairly easy to use savestates to abuse accuracy though, just make the state before choosing a move and play around with different timings.

AFAIK this doesn't work in recordable battles (PvP and frontier etc), as they all set one seed at the start of the battle and base all random events on that; storing the seed rather than the outcome of every move and basing the replay on that saves a lot of space. I'd assume this is what the CFRU based hacks do to prevent save state abuse in battle too.

Thought I'd ask this, do you have plans of including the dex nav feature? Thanks!

Not at the moment; my main issue with it is the massive amount of save space required to track encounters for every species, as it needs one byte for each species you can find in the wild. I don't know how many IE has in the wild, but it's a lot, and I'd rather use that space for more PC boxes - there's only so much space in the save file so I've got to be careful with what goes in it.

 

[SynysteRock]

do you have plans to put more trainers from other games like gym leaders or red,blue and another fight with Leaf?

 

[Buffel Saft]

do you have plans to put more trainers from other games like gym leaders or red,blue and another fight with Leaf?

Yep, that's what I'm currently working on!

 

[characterswaps]

Does anyone know of a good way to battle a friend in this romhack? If my emulator can connect with a friend's emulator I don't know how.

 

[Dias200]

So a bit of a silly idea: I have been wondering something ever since I played Legends Arceus: Is it possible to turn the Plates (Arceus) and Memories (Silvally) into key items that you use to change their type, thus keeping them in a different type while also allowing items to be carried? This would be a massive buff for both, something that Silvally kinda needs while Arceus doesn't really need it but since Arceus IS God, I suppose Anything Goes xDDD But yeah, this is all just an idea, it would make their Abilities useless tho >.>

 

[Yooth]

Just want to say thanks to the rom hack maker. I had a lot of fun with this and it satisfied a lot of my Emerald needs: not radically changing the map, easy IV / EV / ability / nature training, and difficulty that is just about right (at least for this normie). I personally wouldn't want it any harder.

Along the way I bumped into several killer Pokémon that just casually swept four or five of my mons. Not in a gym, just on the regular routes. A Linoone and an unkillable parasect come to mind. Very fun encounters. It showed me how much variety there can still be in this game and actually made me want to get into it a bit deeper.

I liked it so much that, when there is a gen 8 and post-game update, I might invest the time in working on that (huge) pokedex, filling the museum, earning bp, getting merits on my trainer card, etc.

I'm sure you're asked a lot, but do you have an estimate on when there will be an update? Are we talking weeks, months, or half a year?

Thanks again.

 

[Buffel Saft]

So a bit of a silly idea: I have been wondering something ever since I played Legends Arceus: Is it possible to turn the Plates (Arceus) and Memories (Silvally) into key items that you use to change their type, thus keeping them in a different type while also allowing items to be carried? This would be a massive buff for both, something that Silvally kinda needs while Arceus doesn't really need it but since Arceus IS God, I suppose Anything Goes xDDD But yeah, this is all just an idea, it would make their Abilities useless tho >.>

I've actually already done that for Silvally, along with giving it a whole new ability. Arceus definitely doesn't need the buff though (well, most of its forms don't).

Just want to say thanks to the rom hack maker. I had a lot of fun with this and it satisfied a lot of my Emerald needs: not radically changing the map, easy IV / EV / ability / nature training, and difficulty that is just about right (at least for this normie). I personally wouldn't want it any harder.

Along the way I bumped into several killer Pokémon that just casually swept four or five of my mons. Not in a gym, just on the regular routes. A Linoone and an unkillable parasect come to mind. Very fun encounters. It showed me how much variety there can still be in this game and actually made me want to get into it a bit deeper.

I liked it so much that, when there is a gen 8 and post-game update, I might invest the time in working on that (huge) pokedex, filling the museum, earning bp, getting merits on my trainer card, etc.

I'm sure you're asked a lot, but do you have an estimate on when there will be an update? Are we talking weeks, months, or half a year?

Thanks again.

Thanks! I'd guess months but there's really no way to know.

 

[calvinsyrus]

https://ibb.co/BNrkB9W
https://ibb.co/LZFSDRL

Final challenge mode and gotcha all (some more legendary i caught soon)

P/s: Thanks team dev rom hack fantasic, i hope future we team make USUM challenge mode full gen 1 - 8 like rom this

 

[Junon]

Love Buffel Saft way to balance things; weather, items, status mechanics, Pokémons, I would say everything has that feel of "it should work this way in the official games".

Two minor thoughts:

1. With the new sleep mechanics, are moves like Grasswhistle, Sing and Hypnosis going to be on par with others (like Sleep Powder for example) Accuracy-wise, or they're going to last more turns to compensate the lack of Accuracy?

2. I find the new abilities like Chloroplast, Blitz Boxer, Power Fists, Keen Edge, etc, incredibly unique, viable and refreshing; but, although I REALLY like the concept, I personally find Pyromancy not that impactful, or at least it feels like it needs a little "something", something aside of "better RNG".

 

[Buffel Saft]

Love Buffel Saft way to balance things; weather, items, status mechanics, Pokémons, I would say everything has that feel of "it should work this way in the official games".

Two minor thoughts:

1. With the new sleep mechanics, are moves like Grasswhistle, Sing and Hypnosis going to be on par with others (like Sleep Powder for example) Accuracy-wise, or they're going to last more turns to compensate the lack of Accuracy?

2. I find the new abilities like Chloroplast, Blitz Boxer, Power Fists, Keen Edge, etc, incredibly unique, viable and refreshing; but, although I REALLY like the concept, I personally find Pyromancy not that impactful, or at least it feels like it needs a little "something", something aside of "better RNG".

Thanks!
1. Both! I've bumped up the accuracy on most sleep moves seeing as they're not so broken now, and the ones with poorer accuracy will usually inflict one more turn of sleep as a trade off.
2. A few people have said this, so I guess I should explain my thoughts on it. Pyromancy's a 50% chance to cripple most physical attackers for an entire battle without taking a turn to use a status move. This is what makes Sacred Fire so good, and is partly why Ho-Oh runs it when it also learns Flare Blitz, even though it has much less power and PP. When it works it heavily punishes mons that switch into a Pyromancy fire attack. It feels less impactful than it really is because the AI is dumb and doesn't switch often enough, so you don't get the satisfaction of say, burning the rival's Swampert because it tried to switch into a Flamethrower. It does work very well in doubles though; if the RNG goes your way on a Heat Wave you've just made two of the opponent's mons useless in one move. The only reason it's not broken is that the only mons that get it have other abilities that are even stronger, and they're all pretty fragile, so they have to run unusual sets to get the most out of it.

 

[Junon]

Thanks!
1. Both! I've bumped up the accuracy on most sleep moves seeing as they're not so broken now, and the ones with poorer accuracy will usually inflict one more turn of sleep as a trade off.
2. A few people have said this, so I guess I should explain my thoughts on it. Pyromancy's a 50% chance to cripple most physical attackers for an entire battle without taking a turn to use a status move. This is what makes Sacred Fire so good, and is partly why Ho-Oh runs it when it also learns Flare Blitz, even though it has much less power and PP. When it works it heavily punishes mons that switch into a Pyromancy fire attack. It feels less impactful than it really is because the AI is dumb and doesn't switch often enough, so you don't get the satisfaction of say, burning the rival's Swampert because it tried to switch into a Flamethrower. It does work very well in doubles though; if the RNG goes your way on a Heat Wave you've just made two of the opponent's mons useless in one move. The only reason it's not broken is that the only mons that get it have other abilities that are even stronger, and they're all pretty fragile, so they have to run unusual sets to get the most out of it.

1. The saga of "Perfect way of balancing in Inclement Emerald" continues. That's great to hear!

2. It's exactly how I use it, Delphox (which I'll shamelessly goint take a moment to say that it needs a little buff on the Speed side, like +10 approx.) with Heat Wave on doubles with a Eviolite Togetic with Follow Me, the "problem" is that outside that niche, you don't get much value against every Special Attacker (or Fire types because of the burn immunity), but I suppose every ability, Pokémon, attack, etc, has its moments, it's just that, as you perfectly said, they have other better and well rounded abilities like Delphox's Magic Guard. I just wish Pyromancy would work with Mystical Fire or Flame Charge (even if that means lower burn chance to balance it), or have Pyromancy users learn something like Lava Plume for guaranteed burns at the cost of hitting your partner in doubles and less power than other Fire moves for example.

Anyway, thanks for the response!

 

[TheZipBon]

Yep, that's what I'm currently working on!

Might I suggest adding a trainer encounterable in the Lilycove Contest Hall, to make that location be of actual interest to people that don't care about participating in contests? Lisia or anime Serena (if you want to include anime characters) would be great choices.

 

[annuumism]

How will Silvally be obtained in 2.0?