Hack Series: Pokémon Photonic Sun & Prismatic Moon

[oiwtftsooh]

Hey Buffel Saft quick question. Is it possible to switch over from the Standard version to the Rebalanced version mid-save? I installed Standard Photonic Sun a few months ago but now I want to play the Rebalanced version. Would I be able to do this without problems or no?

 

[Shai Dreamcast]

Out of curiosity, would it be possible to move the Move Reminder to somewhere just a bit earlier in the game? Having the tutor be in the Pokemon Center literally right before the Pokemon League seems really late for any game. Ula'Ula is a fine place for it, but it would be a lot better if the tutor was at, say, Malie City. Just so you aren't waiting until you get a Level 100 team just to get an extra move on your Pokemon.

 

[Buffel Saft]

Hey Buffel Saft quick question. Is it possible to switch over from the Standard version to the Rebalanced version mid-save? I installed Standard Photonic Sun a few months ago but now I want to play the Rebalanced version. Would I be able to do this without problems or no?

Yeah, you can just copy the rebalanced files over the top of standard and there won't be any issues as long as long as the files are overwritten. Save files are 100% compatible between both versions.

Out of curiosity, would it be possible to move the Move Reminder to somewhere just a bit earlier in the game? Having the tutor be in the Pokemon Center literally right before the Pokemon League seems really late for any game. Ula'Ula is a fine place for it, but it would be a lot better if the tutor was at, say, Malie City. Just so you aren't waiting until you get a Level 100 team just to get an extra move on your Pokemon.

Unfortunately that'd require script editing so I can't do it just yet. The move relearner being so late was a really bad idea on Gamefreak's part, would definitely fix it if I could.

 

[NuclearNecro]

Alright-y, thanks for answering the question, and yeah adding a buncha Pseudos would probably defeat the point of them, having one or two sounds good enough (though I feel like Gen 5 has a lot of candidates for potential second Pseudo treatment, like Haxorus and Vanilluxe). But to not have just this post be an answer to an answer, I'm gonna toss two pretty major suggestions down your way. First off, the not as big one:

- Buff the base power or grant secondary effects to all "recharge" moves (Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Blast Burn etc.). Considering that in all sorts of media outside the games (like the Anime), these moves are told to be the ultimate attack, they really are underwhelming in the games, with only certain Pokemon being able to take advantage of them, but even then they only ever use the moves as a last resort or a Z-Move catalyst. Buffing them in power or giving them secondary effects would give the moves a more worthy trade-off, and maybe would allow the player to use them more seriously outside of small niches. If I had to pick the base power, I would probably buff most of the widely accessible versions to 180, and then buff Roar of Time and Prismatic Laser to 200, since they're meant to be the signature and more powerful versions of said attacks.

And now the big one:
- Give Alolan versions of Pokemon more drastic stat alterations compared to their Kantonian counterparts. Right now, Alolan Pokemon rarely ever have any big stat changes compared to the Kanto versions. Take Alolan Exeggutor for example, it sacrifices its Speed for a bit of Attack, it gains its own exclusive physical Dragon move in Dragon Hammer, and it gains a bunch more physical attacks, yet it's still more viable to run special sets on it, which is absolutely bizzare, at least for me. And this extends to other Alolan Pokemon, like Persian, Raichu and Dugtrio. Giving them more drastic stat changes compared to their Kantonian counterparts would make them feel more like the new and unique version they were intended to be, and hell, it would maybe also allow the player to think about if they want either a Kantonian or Alolan version of that Pokemon.

EDIT: Haha I lied, I got another suggestion:
- Give Gogoat access to High Horsepower, in order to have a Ground type move that isn't hurt by Grassy Terrain. That and goats have hooves as well, so it would fit the big grassy goat bike thing.

 

[Rayquaza Master 384]

Funny you should mention Mightyena actually, I was just thinking maybe Strong Jaw should replace Quick Feet. It gets a great amount of coverage from its fang moves but even with 110 base attack it's not outputting much damage on the non-STAB ones. Alternatively if you want to maintain the status aspect of Quick Feet Guts could work and help it out a bit but I feel Strong Jaw is more fitting.

Incidentally I definitely agree about Dark/Fairy Absol, and I have more specific reasoning also. Absol's intent is to warn and protect people from disasters. Logically it probably shouldn't be a Dark type to start with, but adding Fairy to it gives it more of a guardian feeling like its PokeDex entries indicate. If this were SWSH I'd also suggest Spirit Break for it.

 

[NuclearNecro]

Well this thread has slowed down a little bit, might as well try to bring it back a little with a suggestion:

- Move the buyable Terrain Extender to an earlier point of the game, preferably the Battle Royal Dome. Considering that the Dome already has the weather extending rocks, it would make sense to put the Terrain Extender in there as well. It would also allow players more freedom in building terrain-based teams and having them be effective, and not having to worry as much about the terrain running out on them.

 

[Zysto]

Hey Buffelsaft,
i have an question. I want to shiny hunt Yanma so i wondered, does it have SOS?
And if not how do i increase my chances?

 

[Paras16699]

The Docs mention that Alolan Persian learns Foul Play at level 40, but it did not in the game...

 

[Buffel Saft]

Alright-y, thanks for answering the question, and yeah adding a buncha Pseudos would probably defeat the point of them, having one or two sounds good enough (though I feel like Gen 5 has a lot of candidates for potential second Pseudo treatment, like Haxorus and Vanilluxe). But to not have just this post be an answer to an answer, I'm gonna toss two pretty major suggestions down your way. First off, the not as big one:

- Buff the base power or grant secondary effects to all "recharge" moves (Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Blast Burn etc.). Considering that in all sorts of media outside the games (like the Anime), these moves are told to be the ultimate attack, they really are underwhelming in the games, with only certain Pokemon being able to take advantage of them, but even then they only ever use the moves as a last resort or a Z-Move catalyst. Buffing them in power or giving them secondary effects would give the moves a more worthy trade-off, and maybe would allow the player to use them more seriously outside of small niches. If I had to pick the base power, I would probably buff most of the widely accessible versions to 180, and then buff Roar of Time and Prismatic Laser to 200, since they're meant to be the signature and more powerful versions of said attacks.

And now the big one:
- Give Alolan versions of Pokemon more drastic stat alterations compared to their Kantonian counterparts. Right now, Alolan Pokemon rarely ever have any big stat changes compared to the Kanto versions. Take Alolan Exeggutor for example, it sacrifices its Speed for a bit of Attack, it gains its own exclusive physical Dragon move in Dragon Hammer, and it gains a bunch more physical attacks, yet it's still more viable to run special sets on it, which is absolutely bizzare, at least for me. And this extends to other Alolan Pokemon, like Persian, Raichu and Dugtrio. Giving them more drastic stat changes compared to their Kantonian counterparts would make them feel more like the new and unique version they were intended to be, and hell, it would maybe also allow the player to think about if they want either a Kantonian or Alolan version of that Pokemon.

EDIT: Haha I lied, I got another suggestion:
- Give Gogoat access to High Horsepower, in order to have a Ground type move that isn't hurt by Grassy Terrain. That and goats have hooves as well, so it would fit the big grassy goat bike thing.

- Buffing the Hyper Beam moves is something I'd love to do if I could give them the old gen one bug/feature where KOs skipped the recharge. Giving them some extra power is better than nothing though!
- IMO the type changes make a huge difference between the Alolan and Kantonian forms already, especially in Marowak's case. Most of them look similar enough that having similar stats make sense. Exeggutor's definitely an outlier though; IIRC someone suggested buffing physical variants by buffing Dragon Hammer, and I completely forgot to do it. Physical sets do at least get Swords Dance to compete with special ones, but yeah special is still better. That said, if I made it more physically inclined it'd just end up weaker overall as its special moves are mostly stronger (Leaf Storm vs Power Whip for example).
- High Horsepower Gogoat is a good idea, almost feels like an oversight that it doesn't get it already.

Funny you should mention Mightyena actually, I was just thinking maybe Strong Jaw should replace Quick Feet. It gets a great amount of coverage from its fang moves but even with 110 base attack it's not outputting much damage on the non-STAB ones. Alternatively if you want to maintain the status aspect of Quick Feet Guts could work and help it out a bit but I feel Strong Jaw is more fitting.

Incidentally I definitely agree about Dark/Fairy Absol, and I have more specific reasoning also. Absol's intent is to warn and protect people from disasters. Logically it probably shouldn't be a Dark type to start with, but adding Fairy to it gives it more of a guardian feeling like its PokeDex entries indicate. If this were SWSH I'd also suggest Spirit Break for it.

IMO Moxie's the best damage boosting option for Mightyena, mostly because it boosts all of its best attacks instead of just the biting ones, and one KO gives it the same damage boost as Strong Jaw anyway.

Yeah Absol's typing is a bit odd. If Bulbapedia and Wikipedia are to be believed it's based on a mythical creature that ate bad dreams and evil experiences, which kinda explains it.

Well this thread has slowed down a little bit, might as well try to bring it back a little with a suggestion:

- Move the buyable Terrain Extender to an earlier point of the game, preferably the Battle Royal Dome. Considering that the Dome already has the weather extending rocks, it would make sense to put the Terrain Extender in there as well. It would also allow players more freedom in building terrain-based teams and having them be effective, and not having to worry as much about the terrain running out on them.

Sure, I could replace the Float Stone with it seeing as there's one in the volcano park anyway!

Hey Buffelsaft,
i have an question. I want to shiny hunt Yanma so i wondered, does it have SOS?
And if not how do i increase my chances?

Hey, Yanma should be able to call for help in the hack, so you can shiny hunt it that way.

The Docs mention that Alolan Persian learns Foul Play at level 40, but it did not in the game...

Ah, that's because some of its level up moves are out of order and unfortunately Foul Play is one of them. Will fix that ASAP, sorry for the inconvenience!

 

[NuclearNecro]

- IMO the type changes make a huge difference between the Alolan and Kantonian forms already, especially in Marowak's case. Most of them look similar enough that having similar stats make sense. Exeggutor's definitely an outlier though; IIRC someone suggested buffing physical variants by buffing Dragon Hammer, and I completely forgot to do it. Physical sets do at least get Swords Dance to compete with special ones, but yeah special is still better. That said, if I made it more physically inclined it'd just end up weaker overall as its special moves are mostly stronger (Leaf Storm vs Power Whip for example).

I feel like for Alolan Exeggutor you could maybe buff its Attack to 125 like its Special Attack, and then lowering its Special Attack to 95 and then putting it back into its Speed. The changes could be enough to let the player decide on if they want a physical Exeggutor in its Alolan form, or go with the ol' reliable and go with the Kantonian version for special attacks. That and while its special moves are stronger than its physical ones, they're also a bit safer since you don't get any lowered stats from them.
But outside of that I got some more suggestions:
- Give Dusknoir the Fighting typing and a couple more Fighting moves. The reasons for this is that it already learns a bunch of punching moves and a couple Fighting type attacks, has Iron Fist in the rom hack, and gets a physical attack boost. It would give the player more reason to actually evolve Dusclops and not just slapping an Eviolite on it and never bother. That and having a non-mythical Ghost/Fighting type would be pretty nice to see, and wouldn't force the player to have to use a busted ass mythical to have a Ghost/Fighting type.
- Add in a way to either buy all the Nectars for Oricorio, or just add in a way to get Purple Nectar before the post-game. As of now you're currently locked out of Sensu Oricorio until you beat the game and then head into Poni Meadow, and then you're also gonna have to deal with Dexio before even getting in. Moving either it or all the nectars to an earlier point (maybe to one of the Megamart sellers) would allow the player to experiment more with the wacky bird.

EDIT: Oops, a suggestion flew right under my nose that I just remembered so I might as well add it in:
- Change Druddigon into a Dragon/Rock type. This is more based around its design, its Dex entries and what it's based on rather than its battle capabilities. Druddigon's Dex entries mention that the red skin on its head is harder than rock, and when its body temperature falls it stops to move, like gargoyles, which it's actually based off of. It's also based off of red-headed rock agamas, which adds onto it. That and its Japanese name, Crimgan, has the Japanese letter/word (i don't know Japanese too well) for rock. These things could give enough of a reason for Druddigon to become a Dragon/Rock type, though other things like there only being one other Dragon/Rock type line out there, and making Druddigon a bit more unique and have more reason to stand out also helps it.

 

[Buffel Saft]

Hi everyone, hope you're all well! I've just updated the hack with a quick fix for Alolan Persian's level up moves (no other changes for now). Just want to share a quick update on future updates while I'm here:
First of all, thanks to everyone who's suggested changes to the hack! There have been lots of great ideas in the thread, and it's always fun reading through and discussing them with you all. That said, I've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't had time to make another big update for the hack, or even respond to some of the suggestions properly. I'd also like to focus on my Emerald hack for a while, so I'm going to take a little break from making changes to PSPM. The next update will likely be some time after the next Sword and Shield DLC is released, so that any interesting additions in the DLC can be included with the update (along with more community suggestions of course!).

There have also been a lot of good ideas for Pokemon changes that I disagree with for whatever reason, but as they're still good suggestions (and I generally agree with the reasoning behind plenty of them) I'm considering adding a third "community patch" version of the hack that would include them. It'd be something you'd just add to the rebalanced version to get access to extra Pokemon changes, but trainer rosters wouldn't account for them (as an example you might run into trainers with Ghost/Fighting Dusknoir, but it probably wouldn't have any fighting moves). This way I'd be able to make quick updates based on community suggestions without needing to re-upload the entire hack, and I'd also be a lot less picky about what gets added to it!

I feel like for Alolan Exeggutor you could maybe buff its Attack to 125 like its Special Attack, and then lowering its Special Attack to 95 and then putting it back into its Speed. The changes could be enough to let the player decide on if they want a physical Exeggutor in its Alolan form, or go with the ol' reliable and go with the Kantonian version for special attacks. That and while its special moves are stronger than its physical ones, they're also a bit safer since you don't get any lowered stats from them.
But outside of that I got some more suggestions:
- Give Dusknoir the Fighting typing and a couple more Fighting moves. The reasons for this is that it already learns a bunch of punching moves and a couple Fighting type attacks, has Iron Fist in the rom hack, and gets a physical attack boost. It would give the player more reason to actually evolve Dusclops and not just slapping an Eviolite on it and never bother. That and having a non-mythical Ghost/Fighting type would be pretty nice to see, and wouldn't force the player to have to use a busted ass mythical to have a Ghost/Fighting type.
- Add in a way to either buy all the Nectars for Oricorio, or just add in a way to get Purple Nectar before the post-game. As of now you're currently locked out of Sensu Oricorio until you beat the game and then head into Poni Meadow, and then you're also gonna have to deal with Dexio before even getting in. Moving either it or all the nectars to an earlier point (maybe to one of the Megamart sellers) would allow the player to experiment more with the wacky bird.

EDIT: Oops, a suggestion flew right under my nose that I just remembered so I might as well add it in:
- Change Druddigon into a Dragon/Rock type. This is more based around its design, its Dex entries and what it's based on rather than its battle capabilities. Druddigon's Dex entries mention that the red skin on its head is harder than rock, and when its body temperature falls it stops to move, like gargoyles, which it's actually based off of. It's also based off of red-headed rock agamas, which adds onto it. That and its Japanese name, Crimgan, has the Japanese letter/word (i don't know Japanese too well) for rock. These things could give enough of a reason for Druddigon to become a Dragon/Rock type, though other things like there only being one other Dragon/Rock type line out there, and making Druddigon a bit more unique and have more reason to stand out also helps it.

I might just give Exeggutor Dragon Dance to make physical options usable without weakening its Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb, as those are better than its physical options IMO.
I did actually consider both of those type changes while making the hack, and for mostly the same reasons too! Ghost/Fighting is a great typing and Dusknoir is the best fit for it, but in the end I felt like I would've been making that change just to have another Ghost/Fighting type. Dragon/Rock fits Druddigon, but it also gives it three new weaknesses, which isn't great for a slow, bulky Pokemon. It's also surprisingly good as it is; I trained one in EXWY and wasn't
disappointed with it.
There's not much room left in the marts for the nectars unfortunately, but I could make them a held item for certain wild Pokemon instead.

 

[PsychicPersona]

It's actually awesome how you are still frequently updating the romhack. I'd be totally in for a Community version! (Who doesn't want Water/Dragon Lugia?) Anyways, I'll keep on supporting you and already look forward to your Emerald romhack. And please make it available for all languages, just like these romhacks. Cya!

 

[Buffel Saft]

It's actually awesome how you are still frequently updating the romhack. I'd be totally in for a Community version! (Who doesn't want Water/Dragon Lugia?) Anyways, I'll keep on supporting you and already look forward to your Emerald romhack. And please make it available for all languages, just like these romhacks. Cya!

Thanks for your support! I'm not sure if I can make Emerald available in multiple languages, as it doesn't include them already like the 3DS games do. It'd be nice if people were willing to translate it, but that's a big job!

 

[Ice Cold Yee Haw]

hello, I recently got access to CFW on my system so i decided to install this hack (again)
While i was looking through the 3DS installation documentation and it appears that the method for installing involves already having a copy of Ultra Moon/Ultra Sun installed on your system.
The issue is that i have a vanilla copy of the game already installed with a save file that i intend on using.
Is there a workaround so that i can have both a vanilla copy of the game and a hacked copy with separate save data on my system?

 

[PsychicPersona]

You can use Checkpoint to change between these save files. It's annoying, but the only way. Else just "get your hands on" the other version (can't provide links, cuz rules, sorry) and install the hack for that other version.

 

[Ice Cold Yee Haw]

You can use Checkpoint to change between these save files. It's annoying, but the only way. Else just "get your hands on" the other version (can't provide links, cuz rules, sorry) and install the hack for that other version.

The problem then becomes my save data won't be compatible with the other version, since I originally played on prismatic moon

 

[Buffel Saft]

The problem then becomes my save data won't be compatible with the other version, since I originally played on prismatic moon

Save data from Ultra Sun also works with Ultra Moon (or at least it seems to, I use one save to test both versions and I've never had any issues). Making save backups is the only other option, as the 3DS can't have two games with the same title ID installed at once.

 

[Ice Cold Yee Haw]

Save data from Ultra Sun also works with Ultra Moon (or at least it seems to, I use one save to test both versions and I've never had any issues). Making save backups is the only other option, as the 3DS can't have two games with the same title ID installed at once.

Is it possible to run the base game on my cartridge while I run the hack on a digital copy of the game?

 

[Buffel Saft]

Is it possible to run the base game on my cartridge while I run the hack on a digital copy of the game?

Kinda; the hack will be applied to both, so you'd have to disable luma's game patching feature to play the base game. That'd still be less hassle than swapping save files around though.

 

[Ice Cold Yee Haw]

Kinda; the hack will be applied to both, so you'd have to disable luma's game patching feature to play the base game. That'd still be less hassle than swapping save files around though.

well, thanks for the help! i guess I'll have to spend some time figuring this out.