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

[Buffel Saft]

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!

As you say most abilities aren't always useful; Intimidate is also useless against special attackers (it's actually beneficial to them - less confusion/Foul Play damage for free!) but it's still one of the best abilities in the game. 100% burn Lava Plume is something I considered, but as you'd expect it's pretty broken in single battles - after a Nasty Plot or a few Calm Minds the lower power doesn't matter too much.

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.

I'd go with Lisia out of those two; would be fun trying to sprite a trainer from scratch, haven't tried that yet.

How will Silvally be obtained in 2.0?

Probably as a gifted Type: Null somewhere.

 

[Dias200]

Oh yeah... one last crazy thing I remember seeing somewhere as an idea for a new item(s): an item that makes Sp. Atks count as physical and thus it makes Atk and Def be what matters instead of Sp. Atk and Sp. Def in the damage calculation. Reasoning for this? Many old mons have very mixed movesets despite not having the stats to be a mixer atker, for example: Tauros has T.Bolt, Surf, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, among many other Sp. moves that are going to do next to no damage due to its' extremely low Sp.Atk. With this item idea, Tauros would gain some insane coverage but it wouldn't be the only one gaining this advantage. Well, another item that does the opposite (makes Phys. Atks become Sp. Atks) would probably be just as neat. Personally I think such items would be fair since this means the pokémon that wants this can't have another item + the fact that Burn/Frostbite still counters it (unless said mon has Guts, but by that logic it would never be bothered by Burn/Frostbite to begin with :V) At the end of the day, this is just a crazy idea that ever since I seen I couldn't stop thinking about it until finally sharing it here xD

 

[AgentAPM]

I wanted to suggest an accessibility feature for green players to reveal super- and not-very-effectivenesses of highlighted Pokemon, and its moves.
I think the simplest UI-wise would be to append a single character to the move names in stats menu and on Pokemon switch menu during battle, to show its effectiveness against the current enemy.
Is it feasible?

 

[Buffel Saft]

Oh yeah... one last crazy thing I remember seeing somewhere as an idea for a new item(s): an item that makes Sp. Atks count as physical and thus it makes Atk and Def be what matters instead of Sp. Atk and Sp. Def in the damage calculation. Reasoning for this? Many old mons have very mixed movesets despite not having the stats to be a mixer atker, for example: Tauros has T.Bolt, Surf, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, among many other Sp. moves that are going to do next to no damage due to its' extremely low Sp.Atk. With this item idea, Tauros would gain some insane coverage but it wouldn't be the only one gaining this advantage. Well, another item that does the opposite (makes Phys. Atks become Sp. Atks) would probably be just as neat. Personally I think such items would be fair since this means the pokémon that wants this can't have another item + the fact that Burn/Frostbite still counters it (unless said mon has Guts, but by that logic it would never be bothered by Burn/Frostbite to begin with :V) At the end of the day, this is just a crazy idea that ever since I seen I couldn't stop thinking about it until finally sharing it here xD

It's a cool idea (and very easy to implement!), but imagine how frustrating that would be to play against; you'd never know what you could switch into a mon because it could be either physical or special, and have a completely different set of moves available as a result. It'd be fine as an ability to give it limited availability, but as an item I think that'd be game-breaking. Imagine Dragon Dance Salamence except it has physical Hurricane, Draco Meteor and Fire Blast, and Draco Meteor lowers a stat that doesn't matter to it - scary stuff!

I wanted to suggest an accessibility feature for green players to reveal super- and not-very-effectivenesses of highlighted Pokemon, and its moves.
I think the simplest UI-wise would be to append a single character to the move names in stats menu and on Pokemon switch menu during battle, to show its effectiveness against the current enemy.
Is it feasible?

There's not enough space in the UI to add any more characters to move names (can't even fit a lot of the newer gen moves as is); it'd have to be done with some sort of colour coded system like what the CFRU does. It's something I could look into once the battle engine is stable, but not a priority for now.

 

[Dias200]

It's a cool idea (and very easy to implement!), but imagine how frustrating that would be to play against; you'd never know what you could switch into a mon because it could be either physical or special, and have a completely different set of moves available as a result. It'd be fine as an ability to give it limited availability, but as an item I think that'd be game-breaking. Imagine Dragon Dance Salamence except it has physical Hurricane, Draco Meteor and Fire Blast, and Draco Meteor lowers a stat that doesn't matter to it - scary stuff!

OMG, I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT! o.O Yeah, gonna have to agree with you, that would be annoying to play against unless it was an ability like you said, though I would have no idea which mons would deserve/need it :V

 

[Junon]

Oh yeah... one last crazy thing I remember seeing somewhere as an idea for a new item(s): an item that makes Sp. Atks count as physical and thus it makes Atk and Def be what matters instead of Sp. Atk and Sp. Def in the damage calculation. Reasoning for this? Many old mons have very mixed movesets despite not having the stats to be a mixer atker, for example: Tauros has T.Bolt, Surf, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, among many other Sp. moves that are going to do next to no damage due to its' extremely low Sp.Atk. With this item idea, Tauros would gain some insane coverage but it wouldn't be the only one gaining this advantage. Well, another item that does the opposite (makes Phys. Atks become Sp. Atks) would probably be just as neat. Personally I think such items would be fair since this means the pokémon that wants this can't have another item + the fact that Burn/Frostbite still counters it (unless said mon has Guts, but by that logic it would never be bothered by Burn/Frostbite to begin with :V) At the end of the day, this is just a crazy idea that ever since I seen I couldn't stop thinking about it until finally sharing it here xD

I reminds me of an idea for an ability I had for Delphox (yeah, I know, I really like Delphox xD):

Magic Shield: All direct damage received by the user is calculated by its Special Defense.

So, for example, a Calm Mind would be like it was boosting your physical Defense too; on the negative side, if they lower your Sp. Defense it would also lower your physical Def., a risk - reward defense ability.

As you say most abilities aren't always useful; Intimidate is also useless against special attackers (it's actually beneficial to them - less confusion/Foul Play damage for free!) but it's still one of the best abilities in the game. 100% burn Lava Plume is something I considered, but as you'd expect it's pretty broken in single battles - after a Nasty Plot or a few Calm Minds the lower power doesn't matter too much.

Out of curiosity, did you tested/tried adding a burn chance (even if it needs to be much lower for the sake of balance) to Fire moves that doesn't burn like Flame Charge for example? A Speed buff with a (low) burn chance could be fun and unique, although the thought of Mystical Fire lowering Sp. Attack and burning is terrifying (if you're lucky enough that is), but maybe it can force some switches.

 

[BogBaron]

I don't know if it's been asked before, but why doesn't Crawdaunt have Aqua Jet?

 

[Buffel Saft]

I reminds me of an idea for an ability I had for Delphox (yeah, I know, I really like Delphox xD):

Magic Shield: All direct damage received by the user is calculated by its Special Defense.

So, for example, a Calm Mind would be like it was boosting your physical Defense too; on the negative side, if they lower your Sp. Defense it would also lower your physical Def., a risk - reward defense ability.

Out of curiosity, did you tested/tried adding a burn chance (even if it needs to be much lower for the sake of balance) to Fire moves that doesn't burn like Flame Charge for example? A Speed buff with a (low) burn chance could be fun and unique, although the thought of Mystical Fire lowering Sp. Attack and burning is terrifying (if you're lucky enough that is), but maybe it can force some switches.

There was actually a bug in 1.0 that made all attacks do special damage; the result was that anything that learned Calm Mind was completely unkillable. There are very few ways to reliably lower special defense, and they're not usually worth a moveslot, so there's not much risk with that ability. It'd be too strong.
Yeah Mystical Fire is the reason that wasn't done, lowering both offenses at once and doing good damage is over the top.

I don't know if it's been asked before, but why doesn't Crawdaunt have Aqua Jet?

It does get Aqua Jet, same way it always does.

 

[BogBaron]

There was actually a bug in 1.0 that made all attacks do special damage; the result was that anything that learned Calm Mind was completely unkillable. There are very few ways to reliably lower special defense, and they're not usually worth a moveslot, so there's not much risk with that ability. It'd be too strong.
Yeah Mystical Fire is the reason that wasn't done, lowering both offenses at once and doing good damage is over the top.

It does get Aqua Jet, same way it always does.

Maybe I ran into a bug or something, because it's not a part of his level up moves. Also when you beat the last Gym Leader does the guy in the PokeCenter teach any new moves, or does he stop at the Mind Badge?

Edit: nvm I just checked that Corphish learns it as a egg move, my bad sorry

 

[Junon]

There was actually a bug in 1.0 that made all attacks do special damage; the result was that anything that learned Calm Mind was completely unkillable. There are very few ways to reliably lower special defense, and they're not usually worth a moveslot, so there's not much risk with that ability. It'd be too strong.
Yeah Mystical Fire is the reason that wasn't done, lowering both offenses at once and doing good damage is over the top.

That's interesting to hear! Well, my idea was also that moves like Screech, or anything that lowers any defense, lowers both defenses to balance it, so it has an added risk.

Last thing (really, sorry if I'm asking too many things), what is your opinion of adding a 5% or 10% (approx) chance to burn to Flame Charge? Doing the change only for Flame Charge will avoid the Mystical Fire problem while giving Pyromancy (and other Fire users, but at minimal chance) users a good and fun tool. It could be balanced because of the low damage and low burn chance to give Flame Charge a little more usage.

PS: I'll take a moment to say that, coincidentally, I'm currently playing Photonic Sun, and I'm also enjoying it a lot!

 

[SA-X]

Can I suggest changing dream eater to a psychic giga drain drainkiss clone so it doesn't need sleep but it does the usual 75 BP damage this moves do? if the sleep status is going to be changed that much, changing it to a more reliable recovery move is a must imo (specially because of the restless and wake up after hit part), and many psychic pokes without proper recover will benefit from that.

 

[Chirutalis]

Just reached the Rustboro City, beat Roxanne, and got the Stone Badge. The game said that Roxanne's PokeNav is registered in the city after retrieving the Devon Goods, however I just checked the list and it is not registered yet. Is it an oversight? Thanks in advance.

 

[zapperil]

It's a cool idea (and very easy to implement!), but imagine how frustrating that would be to play against; you'd never know what you could switch into a mon because it could be either physical or special, and have a completely different set of moves available as a result. It'd be fine as an ability to give it limited availability, but as an item I think that'd be game-breaking. Imagine Dragon Dance Salamence except it has physical Hurricane, Draco Meteor and Fire Blast, and Draco Meteor lowers a stat that doesn't matter to it - scary stuff!

If you could add original moves, what about turning it into a move instead ? Could make it into terrain move, probably .

 

[Splash_Damage]

Apologies if this is a question that has been answered already, but is it possible to still use the 'unobtainable' pokemon in this hack (specific legendaries/gen 8 mons etc) via cheating them in? I was wanting to give myself a Marshadow as a starter, but if it's straight up not implemented in the code at all then I'll do smth else; thanks in advance!

 

[Buffel Saft]

That's interesting to hear! Well, my idea was also that moves like Screech, or anything that lowers any defense, lowers both defenses to balance it, so it has an added risk.

Last thing (really, sorry if I'm asking too many things), what is your opinion of adding a 5% or 10% (approx) chance to burn to Flame Charge? Doing the change only for Flame Charge will avoid the Mystical Fire problem while giving Pyromancy (and other Fire users, but at minimal chance) users a good and fun tool. It could be balanced because of the low damage and low burn chance to give Flame Charge a little more usage.

PS: I'll take a moment to say that, coincidentally, I'm currently playing Photonic Sun, and I'm also enjoying it a lot!

I don't really want to add a whole new move effect just for that one interaction with Pyromancy - not really worth the hassle sorry!

Can I suggest changing dream eater to a psychic giga drain drainkiss clone so it doesn't need sleep but it does the usual 75 BP damage this moves do? if the sleep status is going to be changed that much, changing it to a more reliable recovery move is a must imo (specially because of the restless and wake up after hit part), and many psychic pokes without proper recover will benefit from that.

Dream Eater's currently the only move that doesn't wake up a sleeping target on hit, so that gives it a small niche. It'd definitely be better as a regular draining move, but that'd take away its whole gimmick.

Just reached the Rustboro City, beat Roxanne, and got the Stone Badge. The game said that Roxanne's PokeNav is registered in the city after retrieving the Devon Goods, however I just checked the list and it is not registered yet. Is it an oversight? Thanks in advance.

Yeah it's a known bug, she'll still register you later with the usual call.

If you could add original moves, what about turning it into a move instead ? Could make it into terrain move, probably .

It'd still make Overheat/Superpower etc. very broken if it was a terrain. Something like Garchomp with Swords Dance and physical Draco Meteor could very easily sweep most teams before it wore off.

Apologies if this is a question that has been answered already, but is it possible to still use the 'unobtainable' pokemon in this hack (specific legendaries/gen 8 mons etc) via cheating them in? I was wanting to give myself a Marshadow as a starter, but if it's straight up not implemented in the code at all then I'll do smth else; thanks in advance!

Yep, but they might not all work properly, especially gen 8 mons. IIRC Marshadow is fully functional though.

 

[Junon]

I don't really want to add a whole new move effect just for that one interaction with Pyromancy - not really worth the hassle sorry!

Fair enough, it's totally understandable. Thanks for all of the responses, Buffel Saft!

 

[TheZipBon]

Will 2.0 have more than one physical, non-signature Fairy move? Play Rough being the only one always made the Fairy type feel like a rushed addition, let alone letting it stay like this for 2 more generations.

 

[Splash_Damage]

Yep, but they might not all work properly, especially gen 8 mons. IIRC Marshadow is fully functional though.

Following up on this, is there any way that you or anyone else reccomends to go about hacking in a post-gen-3 pokemon into my party/PC? save file editing is proving difficult; is there like a PKHex patch that would make it easier to work w IE?

UPDATE 4/1: A homie of mine was able to edit the code manually to replace route 101 wurmples with Marshadow so we finally in bidness; thank you v much still tho!

 

[Thetoonswordmaster]

Is the story different?

 

[Buffel Saft]

Will 2.0 have more than one physical, non-signature Fairy move? Play Rough being the only one always made the Fairy type feel like a rushed addition, let alone letting it stay like this for 2 more generations.

Probably not; most of the physical fairies either learn Play Rough early enough that it doesn't matter, or have plenty of other options until they do (except Slurpuff, that just needs to be fixed).

Following up on this, is there any way that you or anyone else reccomends to go about hacking in a post-gen-3 pokemon into my party/PC? save file editing is proving difficult; is there like a PKHex patch that would make it easier to work w IE?

UPDATE 4/1: A homie of mine was able to edit the code manually to replace route 101 wurmples with Marshadow so we finally in bidness; thank you v much still tho!

Party data isn't encrypted in IE, so next time you could just edit your party in RAM as the game is running. Good you got it sorted though!

Is the story different?

A couple of things change but not really, that isn't the point of this hack.