OP asked me to post my write-up on this game that I originally made on r/PokemonHallofFame. This is a long one, but I've made longer ones.
1. I chose Snivy because of Contrary, thank you Drayano. It will help in the early-game if Pokemon use stat-lowering moves like Sand Attack and Growl. Easy battles with Bianca and Cheren, but this is only the beginning. Your mom gives you the bike immediately, another Drayano blessing. I caught a Lilipup and Pidgey, mainly to build up a full team early in case I need them for the Striaton City Gym. Of course, I do intend to change those team members.
2. Welp, the gloves kind of came off in the 2nd trainer battle, which was against N. I could OHKO his lead Larvitar, but he has a Boldore, with Harden! And the Full Restores were used, 2 of them. That was ridiculous. I was able to beat him because somehow his Larvitar didn't get OHKO'd by Vine Whip. As a result, N used the Full Restores on that, leaving Boldore prone to a KO. On top of that, a Critical Hit on Boldore. His 3rd Pokemon was Timburr, Vine Whip spam took care of that.
3. Not long after that, on Route 2 I kept losing to a Youngster, he had Starly and Pidgey. I just caught a Caterpie so I can have a Butterfree soon. So with that and Snivy, they're minced meat against those birds, and my Pidgey and Lilipup don't compete with them as well. I skipped that trainer and another one that was giving me problems on Route 2. Cheren in the Striaton City school has fewer Pokemon than those trainers. They have 4, he has 2, and he still beats me. I'm convinced that the variety of Pokemon at this point puts me at a disadvantage. Normal, Bug, Flying, Snivy's the most unique as a Grass-type, but with all these birds and Cheren's Tepig, things are just not in my favor for the last couple of matches.
4. Eventually, I was able to beat Cheren. I caught a Purrloin on Route 2, and that weakened Starly, allowing for it to be KO'd by Pidgey, which then went on to take out Tepig. Thank goodness. Caterpie evolved to Metapod before this battle, one step closer to Butterfree. Cheren gave me HM01, which I forgot about. I never realized that in Gen 5, you don't need badges to use HMs, so I can use Cut right away. I taught it to Purrloin. I took out the 2 trainers that I skipped. Purrloin didn't KO any of their Pokemon, but I consider it a good luck charm. Since catching it, I was able to soundly beat Cheren and those 2 trainers. Well, I did lose to the 1st female trainer in Dreamyard.
5. I got Butterfree, yay, but it has Tinted Lens. I was thinking of Compound Eyes, but this is good enough. It paid off with Flying-types, and with Chili, I could take on the Fire-types. The woman in Dreamyard was finally taken down, it took the entire team, and I accidentally replaced Pluck with Whirlwind on Pidgey. After that Dreamyard girl is Youngster Joey, he had a motherpsyducking Shuckle! Butterfree swept the team, I got through with the combination of Sleep Powder and Struggle Bug.
6. Speaking of Chili, his lead was Tepig, and it had psyducking Yawn. That's an egg move. I had to look that up because I thought that was an illegal move. I got Snivy to evolve as quickly as possible. I can't hold back on evolving when it comes to this game. I did some grinding in Dreamyard. To my surprise, once Pidgey evolved and I found the TM to Acrobatics, I wrecked Chili's team. Wow, it was crazy, most were OHKOs. Crazy how Pidgeotto swept Chili when I had a Panpour, that likely would've failed.
7. Butterfree and Servine were able to take care of Cheren's team on Route 3, I haven't lost a match in a while, even though I know it won't last long. The first Plasma I battled in Wellspring Cave ended my little winning streak. He had a full team, some were pre-evolved forms of pseudo-legends. I was able to beat that first grunt, but then I was forced into a Double battle with Cheren and 2 grunts. That's torture. Eventually, I won, just had to gain a few more levels and have Butterfree lead against the one grunt, and make sure Pidgeotto and Servine were healthy to win the Double battle. So the prize from the little girl was a Fishing Rod, yay.
8. The second N battle in Nacrene City, Pidgeotto and Servine did all the work, yay. He had a bit of a sand team, leading with Hippopotas and having a Larvitar. I already forgot what the rest of his team was, except for Timburr, that was his final Pokemon. I caught a Vulpix with Drought! I don't know how long I'll rock with this, but weather control will help, along with a boosted Fire STAB move. I forgot to say that I caught a Phanpy, a while ago, before the Wellspring Cave stuff.
9. I always think Lenora had Rock-types. The fossils, the gym being part of a museum, and also skin tone. Brock and Clint are brown-skinned, so Rock-type. This might sound racist, I'm brown-skinned myself. Lenora's a Normal-type user. I lost to Lenora, but I got a Toxic Orb. I taught Thief to Pidgeotto. Toxic Orb messed up Acrobatics, which hindered a Pidgeotto sweep, but at least I got a Toxic Orb. It turns out that the Toxic Orb didn't stick with me, I guess because of losing. On the 2nd attempt, Pidgeotto and then Servine got through the match. I stole Toxic Orb and still didn't keep the Toxic Orb. Psyduck. Looking the move up on Bulbapedia, since Gen V, you can't use Thief to steal Trainer's Pokemon's items. Other item-stealing moves have this same limitation. That sucks ass.
10. So I found out from the creator himself that a major feature implemented here is that trainers heal your Pokemon after a battle and you talk to them. All of them. I thought it was a bug, so I didn't comment on it, plus I didn't realize it until Route 3. That's pretty great. Story battles don't have healing after them. It could be side events too. Gym leaders don't heal my team for example.
11. In Pinwheel Forest, Pidgeotto evolved to Pidgeot, yay. That and Servine are overleveled, hence the evolution coming at this point. I got through the Pinwheel Forest stuff without losing, huzzah. I haven't changed my team, that has to come soon.
12. No change in the team, but I did sweep Burgh. Fast-forwarding to that, Pidgeot got all the KOs, and the only deviation from that was U-turning to Vulpix to remove Accelgor's Rain Dance. It got OHKO'd by his Pinsir's Strength. Pidgeot revenge killed, being overleveled enough to outspeed and OHKO most of the team. A 2HKO was needed for his Durant.
13. Bianca on Route 4 was a Double battle, Pidgeott carried the match. I'm trying to get other Pokemon active, especially Vulpix, but it keeps going down. I need to grind. I didn't go to the Battle Company in Castelia. There's a scientist on the far right pier that lets you choose what elemental stone you want. I need Fire. With Blaze Black, I got 6 Fire Stones. After some Battle Company matches, Servine evolved to Serperior. I got 6 Exp Shares from the janitor guy, another Blaze Black thing. Speaking of Blaze Black, Serperior's Grass/Dragon, it learned Dragonbreath upon evolving. The Exp Share will be super helpful.
14. Blaze Black feature, the fossils are on Route 4 and Desert Resort. The Old Amber's in Relic Castle. After Vulpix leveled up to 34 and got Dark Pulse, I used the Fire Stone, aw yeah. The Cheren battle was a Rotation battle. Phanpy staying in the match, not being used as Ninetales did almost all the work, led to some experience. Enough to evolve Phanpy to Donphan.
15. Blaze Black feature, Professor Juniper gives Cheren and I Cherish Balls at the Route 4 exit gate. I got HM02 Fly after saving that guy from Plasma grunts in Nimbasa. Now being able to Fly, I wanted to resurrect Aerodactyl. Sadly, it can't learn Acrobatics. I thought it could, an easy replacement for Pidgeot. Welp, how about Archeops? To its credit, Aerodactyl can learn Dragon Dance in this game, but that's in the 80s. Honestly, Pidgeot would be a bit of a hard replacement because it's the highest level of my team. So, I don't know, and I don't want to repeat Flying-types.
16. HM04 Strength if in Nimbasa City as well, changed to a Rock-type move on Blaze Black, repeated here. That's perfect for Donphan. I blazed through N after our Ferris wheel ride. Elesa was not difficult, but it was a close battle. If I had led with Ninetales, it would've been easier. She led with Bronzong, while almost the rest of her team was Electric. The other exception was Sawsbuck. It came down to Serperior and Zebstrika, who I feared had Sap Sipper, so I relied on Dragonbreath for paralysis and Zen Headbutt for a flinch, which didn't happen. I still won though.
17. Donphan and Serperior took out Cheren on Route 5, not too difficult. After sweeping through the Cold Storage stuff with Team Plasma and going through the trainers in Driftveil Gym, a few losses here and there, but I hit a wall with Clay. Elesa was a true sign of things to come, Clay takes it a step further in terms of mixing up the team so it's not just a full monotype. Clay had a Starmie and psyducking Jirachi. His lead's a Hippowdon, and it turns out that Hippowdon always gets the sandstorm up after Drought when both it and Ninetales come out. That sucks. At this point, I have 4 Pokemon that can battle, Butterfree's filler and Panpour's an HM01 slave. So I didn't do too well. After a few losses, I went to Route 6 and found TM53 Energy Ball, a game-changer? Ehh, I still lost, but I do know Clay's whole team now. Hippowdon, Starmie, Excadrill, Scizor, Jirachi, and Darmanitan. Yeah, Ground-types! On another attempt, my Drought backfired when Darmanitan swept the rest of my team. Without using a Lua script, I could tell that it had a Choice Scarf, outspeeding Ninetales. Some annoying things that would affect the match greatly: missing Heat Wave, missing Will-O-Wisp (especially helpful for Excadrill), and the Focus Sash. Half of Clay's team had it: Starmie, Jirachi, and Excadrill. Scizor had an Occa Berry which does nothing for it, Hippowdon has a Rindo Berry. I'll give it to cloudforgiven for crafting a great team with helpful hold items, but on the player side, it's annoying. Oh, one attempt, Ninetales missed Heat Wave and Scizor revealed to have Crabhammer! Goddammit. Later in that attempt, I won! Not the perfect winning situation, but I still won. I gave Donphan a Quick Claw, and it only came through against Scizor. I wanted it to come through against Darmanitan, but surprisingly Darmanitan didn't KO Donphan with Drought-boosted Flare Blitz. One Earthquake and a KO, woo! Honestly, if I had a full team, I definitely would've beat Clay. I'm at the point where I want to replace Pidgeot. I didn't pay attention to its nature and IVs originally, but it's mattering more and more. Pidgeot had a Quiet nature, and it was getting outsped often as I got deeper into this hack. Blaze Black boosted Pidgeot's physical Attack, so Quiet doesn't help. A Water-type would've been great too. I'm fine with this, I did reach a point where I was winning pretty easily in most matches, I needed a humbling.
18. Serperior swept through Bianca's team, underleveled and easy. Another Blaze Black feature is Juniper giving you 6 Lucky Eggs in Chargestone Cave instead of 1. Things were smooth sailing here until I made it to N. His team consisted only of Rotom and the different forms. Rotom-Fan had Speed Boost, replacing the oddly-received ability Levitate. He had a strategy where Rotom-Wash sets up Rain Dance, giving Rotom-Fan 100% Thunder and Hurricane. That messed me up and I didn't switch out team members, which was a mistake on my end. I switched on the rematch and that helped.
19. Celestial Tower. To update, due to my overuse of Serperior, it's now the highest in level. Pidgeot has completely fallen by the wayside, being the lowest level. The Lucky Eggs proved helpful, bringing Ninetales and Donphan to the 60s, while Seperior's level 70!
20. I lost to Skyla the first time. It's a Double battle, her team: Volcarona, Mienshao, Porygon-Z, Archeops, Charizard, and Togekiss. I needed the right teammate for Ninetales, and that was Serperior. Donphan had to be a late-game cleaner. As you can see, Charizard and Togekiss are the last Pokemon Skyla uses, and in the first attempt, Serperior was out and Donphan was in, bad outcome. Ninetales lasting as long as possible with Heat Wave spread was crucial to victory. Glad I won, but I do need a full team, currently I have 3, Pidgeot's too underleveled to participate in these major trainer battles. Regular ones, sure, but I'm over it by now.
21. Cheren near Twist Mountain was a Rotation battle. Serperior went down, but Ninetales and Donphan dominated. Fast forward to Icirrus City. A big shock came with the first trainer, he had level 100 Ice-types, but most were pre-evolutions, the exception was Delibird. Ninetales got to take care of them all, but at this point, it's level 77, so the level gap isn't so big given the matchups. A female trainer had this same type of team, not difficult.
22. Brycen's a Double battle. His team: Kyurem, Mesprit, Froslass, Mamoswine, Metagross, and Articuno. The team order mattered. Leading with Ninetales didn't help because Kyurem came in with Snow Warning, and it activates after Ninetales' Drought. I needed a second attempt. Surprisingly, Ninetales got to sweep the team. Donphan and Serperior led and went down quickly. Ninetales was faster and significantly overleveled, allowing for a sweep with Drought-boosted Heat Wave. Brycen's team shared a Fire-type weakness, his lead pair of Mesprit and Kyurem were the only exceptions. Even then, Mesprit wasn't strong enough and Kyurem's Ice STAB did nothing to Ninetales. Mamoswine had an Occa Berry, I thought it would have Thick Fat.
23. After doing the Dragonspiral stuff with Team Plasma, I finally added a new member to the team, Kadabra. When in doubt, go with Alakazam. The Kadabra evolved quickly, learning Aura Sphere and teaching it Energy Ball and Shadow Ball, also Psychic. I got through the Relic Castle stuff, and took a detour to Route 17-18, a lot of Exp for Alakazam to get. Back to the main story, I battled Bianca just before leaving Icirrus City. It was a Triple Battle.
24. Fast forward to Dreyden, his team: Politoed, Kingdra, Beartic, Hydreigon, Serperior, and Haxorus. Looking at the team, you can tell what the main strategy was: Drizzle and Swift Swim. I lost the first time when I led with Alakazam, but I won the second time when I led with the still-overleveled Serperior. Getting a Speed boost from Mud Shot, which seemed to be an AI flaw when I selected Dragon Pulse instead of Leaf Storm. I did it so Full Restore wouldn't be used, knowing Politoed had a Focus Sash. Beartic as well. So thanks to Contrary, Serperior was able to outspeed the Swift Swimmers and get KOs over everyone with its STAB moves. In hindsight, I should've had Alakazam hold on to an Exp Share, Serperior got all the Exp.
25. Cheren time on Route 10. Donphan actually swept for most of the match. Alakazam took out his Staraptor, and Serperior finished off Emboar. I got through Victory Road without losing, nothing much to say about that. Time to go into the Elite 4 with only 4 Pokemon.
26. Shauntal's team: Deoxys-Defense, Terrakion (Focus Sash), Latias, Tornadus, Victini (Choice Scarf), and Cresselia. Double battle. Paralysis psyducked me over, with Deoxys using Thunder Wave on everyone but Donphan. I would've won if not for paralysis, that's it. Leading with Donphan at least made it so I didn't have 2 active Pokemon that are paralyzed. That led to a victory. The biggest surprise was Alakazam getting outsped by Terrakion. It was a bit higher in level.
27. Grimsley's team: Uxie (Light Clay), Genesect, Landorus, Latios, Dragonite, and Darkrai. Singles battle. Serperior swept after Uxie and Genesect were taken out, simple Leaf Storm/Dragon Pulse sweep.
28. Caitlin's team: Kyogre, Zekrom, Lugia, Thundurus, Azelf, and Dialga. Single battle. I lost the first time. Leading with Serperior helped. It took out the first 2, weakened Lugia before going down. Donphan took it down, and then Thundurus. Ninetales took out Azelf, Donphan came back to take out Dialga.
29. Marshal's team: Groudon (Lum Berry), Deoxys-Normal (Focus Sash), Reshiram, Ho-Oh (Choice Scarf), Garchomp, and Zapdos. Single battle. Serperior was the right lead for this. It took out the first 3, but then Ho-Oh came in faster than Serperior. I thought it was Chlorophyll, but nope, Choice Scarf. Donphan took it out, and Garchomp. It weakened Zapdos, and Alakazam finally got a KO, taking out Zapdos.
30. The rematches are going to be a lot more challenging because I won't have the level advantage. It will probably be bullmuk too. These are the first-round Elite 4 teams and they are full of Legendaries and Mythicals, the only exception is Garchomp, but it's a psyducking Garchomp. Psyduck Heat Wave and Leaf Storm missing. Damn RNG screwed me over in these crucial battles, forcing me to battle Elite 4 members multiple times, especially Shauntal. Also, Marshal in one attempt was burned by Will-O-Wisp but got a Critical Hit with Earthquake that nearly OHKO'd Ninetales. Yeah, that's psyducking pleasant. I could stand being humbled, but it's still incredibly when annoying when RNG psyducks me over. That's what my losses in the Elite 4 amount to, RNG bullmuk.
31. After a couple of more attempts, on the final attempt where I ran out of revives and had to use up my Max Revives, which ran out before I could revive Alakazam, I FINALLY beat the Elite 4 in one clean run. The result of all these attempts is Donphan and Serperior reaching level 100, while Alakazam's level 86 and Ninetales is level 98. Consider the fact that Alakazam had an Exp Share, yet 2 mons made it to level 100. I think the key to winning was changing the order, taking out the hardest ones first: Marshal and Shauntal. Also, I buckled down and played St. Anger by Metallica. Not their best song, but I'm convinced that it helped me to channel my anger and beat these 4 motherpsyduckers. So thanks Metallica.
32. I had to catch Reshiram, and since I had just 4 Pokemon in my team, it slid into my party easily. This is a Triple battle. N's team: Deoxys-Speed, Tyranitar, Gigalith, Escavalier, Machamp, and Conkeldurr. I was able to beat N on the first try. Since Reshiram was forced to be in front of my party, I had to use it. Reshiram went down quickly anyway, it didn't get a KO. Deoxys-Speed's utility here was Trick Room, which lasted for the rest of the match. Tyranitar had Sand Stream, Ninetales was a lead and had to switch out so I could bring Drought in. It came down to Donphan vs. Machamp, the former won easily thanks to being overleveled.
33. Ghetsis was another Triple battle. His team: Giratina-Origin, Lickilicky, Gengar, Regigigas, Salamence, and Chandelure. This took 3 attempts, I didn't strikeout. RNG just had to favor me a bit. Once again I had to use Reshiram, but it would always go down to Giratina's Draco Meteor. Alakazam would then come out. Serperior Leaf Stormed LickiLicky, getting an OHKO on the 3rd attempt, I think because of a Critical Hit. Ninetales kept using Heat Wave, eventually KOing Gengar and helping to KO Regigigas. That and Alakazam's Aura Sphere, Giratina went down to Serperior's Dragon Pulse. Chandelure went down to Dragon Pulse, Salamence from Ice Shard by Donphan.
34. At the time of this comment, it's very late at night. I didn't want to sleep until I finished that last bit of the main game, so beating the Elite 4 was also a matter of earning some sleep. I did that, so yay. I got the Gracidea from Looker, good to see him again. Time to do the postgame, after I rest.
35. Rest over. On Route 11, I encounter Cilan. It's not his sprite though, it's a Backpacker sprite. That's a limitation of Blaze Black at the time. This is the first time I'm battling him. Triple battle. He had the fully-evolved forms of the Grass starters and Simisage. Cress occupied the female Backpacker sprite. Trainers on Route 11 weren't healing me after a battle, so I went against Cress unprepared, and not expecting the female Backpacker to be him. As a result, I lost. The Dreamyard trainers weren't healing my teams as well. Before going to Route 11, I encountered all the Plasma sages except for the one on Route 13, since I haven't been there yet. It was a surprisingly close battle, coming down to Donphan and having Reshiram and my HM slave Panpour participate, mainly as sacrificial lambs as Donphan used Earthquake while on the left side of the team. It was another Triple battle. He had the Water-type starters and Simipour.
36. On the Village Bridge, there's Lenora. Serperior swept. These post-game trainers are not healing my team, it's something I have to get used to. Fast forward to Route 13, Burgh takes up the sprite of some bald guy. Alakazam and Donphan swept through the team very well. There's a parasol girl on Route 13, but it was Elesa. Another Single battle, Serperior swept her. Shortly after this, Alakazam leveled up to 100. With that, I started skipping trainers. I'm easily beating these trainers and I'm overleveled. They're typically at level 88, now my whole team's at 100. I'd like to add more team members just so I can get Exp. I'm just torn on what Pokemon to add to the squad.
37. I decided to leave the final choices to chance. Using a random integer generator to choose a number between 1 and 649, I got Feraligatr and Staraptor. It's fate, I have a flyer and someone with Intimidate in Staraptor. Feraligatr fills in the Water-type Pokemon slot I think I need. I started with Totodile, who is very rare. Only on Route 3, and in shaking grass, with a 5% encounter rate. That's insane, I had to use save states, especially when I landed on a great IV frame. Back in Gen 5, IVs and natures were separated for the first time, in the previous generations, they were tied to the PID. Here, they weren't, so RNGing was easier because IV frames are easier to control. That's pseudo-technical talk, the point is I found a Totodile with Sheer Force after several save state turns. I caught a Staravia on Route 11. It was either that or Route 1. All the time spent searching for the right one had wild Pokemon go down while Totodile, who evolved to Croconaw, benefit with the Exp Share. I tried to use save states because the psyducker KO'd itself from recoil. I wanted an Intimidate one by the way, even though Reckless is a tremendous ability given the Starly line's movepool. It kept breaking out after the first shape, and I didn't want to search for one with good IVs again. So I did something I never wanted to do, use a Master Ball. It's near the end of the game, it's not like I was going to use it for anyone else. I had no choice, I already spent way too much time looking for a good Staravia.
38. I went back to trainers I skipped and learned that I could battle Skyla and Clay on Route 14. Skyla was a Triple battle, Clay was a Single. On Route 15, I battled Iris, Triple battle. I didn't go to the Abundant Shrine yet, so I did. The Youngster running around ended up being Chili, another Triple battle. By this point, Feraligatr reached the 80s, so I gave the Exp Share to Staravia, who quickly evolved to Staraptor after the Chili battle. I hardly checked the wild encounter document, so I was very surprised to find Ho-Oh in the shaking grass in Abundant Shrine. I couldn't catch it, so I took it down. After Abundant Shrine, I went to Wellspring Cave, I could now surf deeper into it. That was quick, so next is Mistralton Cave. That didn't last long, so next, I went to Challenger's Cave.
39. Dreyden occupies a Veteran sprite in Challenger's Cave. This one was a Rotation battle. Not too difficult, once Serperior got a Leaf Storm boost, it swept the remaining members of Dreyden's team. The female Veteran beat me once, had a better, more balanced team than Dreyden. I got her back on the rematch. I had Panpour as my HM slave because of Surf, I didn't teach that move to Feraligatr, so it was sidelined for a while. If I had it with me, I wouldn't have lost the first time.
40. The Cheren rematch in Victory Road was a Triple battle. Not difficult, even had Feraligatr and Staraptor participate, which makes it the first time my entire team was together. That was cool, the 2 new members have to be level 100 for the Elite 4 and Champion battles though, but a step in the right direction. Next is the Game Freak building, where I battled Morimoto. Triple battle, level 95 Mythicals: Jirachi, Celebi, Victini, Manaphy, Shaymin, and Mew (level 100). That took 3 attempts, yikes. Getting the right leads, down to the positions of them mattered a lot. Ninetales on the left, Serperior in the center, and Donphan to the right. With this, Heat Wave hits Jirachi and Celebi, Donphan's Earthquake hits Victini, less important is Celebi. Alakazam got involved in the end.
41. After battling Cheren again (you can do that once a day), I realized that there are currently no other trainers to battle. I have to wait until the next day to battle Morimoto and Cheren. Cynthia is one I'm putting off to later. She creamed my team in a recent attempt, I'm just bringing it up to illustrate why I won't battle her now. All that's left is the Elite 4 and Alder. Now, Staraptor and Feraligator are in the high-80s, and I don't want to grind in the wild. I decided to challenge the Pokemon League and have those 2 take turns with the Exp Share. At a certain point, I'll use Rare Candies to bring them up the rest of the way. I currently have 9 Rare Candies.
42. As it turned out, the Elite 4 teams are the same, the only difference is that they're all level 100. At my current state, I can beat Caitlin, the other 3 end up defeating me. So I kept battling her to gain Exp. There were some issues where certain Legendary Pokemon didn't offer a lot of Exp. I'm talking 1000-something Exp Points from a Celebi and Zekrom. Certain Legendary Pokemon, not all of them. That's small in comparison to 3-5k that I normally get.
43. I suddenly thought about how good U-turn would be on Staraptor, as it was against Caitlin's Azelf and U-turn would've helped more than just switching out given the super-effective matchup. So I replaced Double-Edge with U-turn. Double-Edge was only handy for Electric/Flying and others. I would replace Fly but I need that more than Double-Edge.
44. Needing a break from the E4 grinding, I got the Dowsing Machine active and found some mostly useless items in places I haven't used the machine at. I did find another Rare Candy, but it was beyond a Strength boulder I hadn't tended to yet, not by the Dowsing Machine. That's 10 in total. This is important to note following my victory over Cynthia. Yes, after finding those items, I battled Cynthia. Goosebumps came after her battle theme came on, I love it so much. Anyway, she had the same team as Platinum, her famous squad of Spiritomb, Togekiss, Roserade, Lucario, Milotic, and Garchomp. All level 95 except for her level 100 Garchomp. As great as that team is, the sad part is that an underleveled Feraligatr swept most of the team after 1 Dragon Dance boost. I got a Critical Hit OHKO, but the fact remains that Feraligatr nearly wiped out her squad. Milotic tanked Crunch and KO'd Feraligatr. Staraptor finished it off.
45. After some more E4 grinding, I got to use up 9 of the Rare Candies on Feraligator, bringing it from 91 to 100. Staraptor's at level 99 at this point, so I used the final Rare Candy on that. Now with everyone at level 100, I was able to make serious attempts at the Elite 4. Marshal was the hardest to take down, requiring everyone to get involved. Caitlin required everyone too, but I beat her so many times got the Exp grinding that it was easy. For Grimsley, he was the most naturally easy, most of his team was swept by Feraligatr after 1 Dragon Dance boost. Well, if Grimsley's Uxie used dual screens, then it's not a sweep. It has a Light Clay too, I learned about that the hard way. Shauntal, the Double battle one, required some U-turn spamming from Staraptor. I gave it a Choice Scarf, which you get from one of the sages in Blaze Black/Volt White. Remember Shauntal loves paralyzing Pokemon, so the key to winning was minimizing that.
46. Last but not least, Alder. His team: Mewtwo, Arceus-Electric, Deoxys-Attack (Focus Sash), Rayquaza (Choice Scarf), Regigigas (Drayano removed its Slow Start nerf and replace it with psyducking SHEER FORCE), and Palkia.
47. I indicated earlier that the Elite 4 was very tolerable. I was wrong. It took so many psyducking attempts, it didn't matter the order. Grimsley was the easiest because it was a Feraligatr sweep job and I figured out the AI's limited grasp with Uxie. Capitalizing on that pretty much guaranteed my win. The other 3 was mostly RNG, either it had to favor me or screw up the AI, or both. It wasn't so much that the AI got Critical Hits, it's just that often I wouldn't get a KO hit when I needed it and the AI would retaliate big time. Often I'd repeat the same mistakes as a stupid person, such as Shadow Ball and Dragon Pulse from Alakazam and Serperior respectively against Latias. That never got a KO, that sneaky rattata would survive and wipe out the latter with Ice Beam. Sometimes Kyogre can OHKO Alakazam, who is always my lead in the Caitlin match. That's another example of how insufferable the AI can be. I got very angry, to the point that I played angry music, mostly metal, a bit of Eminem. Music especially helps with focusing. Despite that, I still lose, but I keep trying with no breaks. Well, I typed this during a break, I'm reaching my boiling point. It's not so much that these battles are hard, it's that RNG psyducks me over. I should win, but I don't. This isn't even including the attempts at Alder. I've battled the Elite 4 a lot more than I did Alder. No, save scumming. If I did that, I would be done with this hack by now. Honestly, that's tempting, I'm so done with this hack. The difficulty is a mix of ingenuity and just artificial stuff that is common with difficulty enhancements. On the latter point: the higher level curve and the use of Legendaries in major trainer teams, particularly in the late-game. I overcame most of the difficulty by being overleveled. With that out the way, it becomes more of a luck thing. I got the psyducking strategy down, it's a crapshoot whether the game lets me walk away with a win over the Elite 4 and Alder. Losing to Alder pisses me off more for having to beat the Elite 4 again. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I replaced Strength on Donphan with Head Smash. It's very situational but better than Strength.
48. You know what sucks? Cutting Regigigas' ability in half thanks to Intimidate, only for the psyducker to OHKO Feraligatr with a Critical Hit Thunder Punch. Psyducking bullmuk. I took a little break and checked out Giant Chasm. I didn't before. I found an orb that has no name, it looks gray, the item description said it's useless in this game, but would be useful in "Pokemon Snow Grey." I assume that's a Drayano edit. In the center of Giant Chasm is an epic prize, 50 Rare Candies.
49. So according to Drayano's document, Focus Sash can be obtained from a Snover traded to you in exchange for a Wailmer. I fished one up in Driftveil City, where the in-game trade takes place. That's convenient. It turns out that this Snover had a psyducking Sitrus Berry. I bet it's cloudforgiven's doing. I wanted a Focus Sash for Serperior, so it could Mirror Coat Arceus-Electric after it fired off an Ice Beam, knowing it has that move. I can't psyducking do that now. I changed up Serperior's moveset to include Toxic and Mirror Coat, replacing Leech Seed and Zen Headbutt. I'm pissed.
50. I pretty much ran into the same situation as the first Elite 4 where I didn't go to sleep until I beat them and then N and Ghetsis. Here, I wouldn't sleep until I beat the Elite 4 and Alder. I finally did, psyduck. Nothing special, just RNG not psyducking me over. For Alder, I took advantage of Choice Scarf U-turn, hitting his lead Mewtwo and switching to Ninetales. It KO'd Mewtwo with Heat Wave, then burned Arceus-Electric. Alakazam finished it off. Out comes Deoxys-Attack, switch to Staraptor so it would wall Shadow Ball. U-turn again, trigger Focus Sash. Alakazam came back to KO Deoxys during the Full Restore turn. Switch to Staraptor for Intimidate when Rayquaza came out. U-turn to Feraligatr, Dragon Dance, KO with Ice Punch. Feraligatr then hit Regigigas hard. It KO'd Feraligator, Staraptor revenge-killed with Close Combat. That just left Palkia, Staraptor and Serperior took it out. Finally.
Yeah, I'm done. Holy psyduck that was such an irritating last leg of the game, but I succeeded. Another one done. Comparing this with cloudforgiven's other hack, Platinum Pro was harder. I lost more, the base ROM mattered a lot. Platinum Plus, the base for Platinum Pro, is a pretty mild enhancement hack compared to Drayano's Renegade Platinum. This is important to note because I benefit from this hack using Blaze Black as a base ROM. The biggest benefit was the held items. From the Choice items that the sages give you, the Life Orb that replaced the Rock Polish TM NPC, the Lucky Eggs from Juniper, these little things piled up to make for a smoother experience than Platinum Pro. Also, I think the general experience from playing Platinum Pro helped here, I knew cloudforgiven would craft teams based on a mindset that's now predictable. Being overleveled helped a lot, but then when it came to the Elite 4 rematches and Alder, it was most necessary to have a full team. Feraligatr and Staraptor proved to be awesome additions. To think they were randomly selected, amazing. The postgame trainers mostly felt untouched. Morimoto's team is the same as in Blaze Black, for example. The fact that these trainers don't heal you after battling them is a big indicator of them not being touched. The Elite 4 and Alder were definitely modified. I remember Cynthia in Platinum Pro having an Arceus, Electric form I'm sure. The Elite 4 there had Legendaries as well. Again, it's predictable and pretty indicative of artificial difficulty. I'm used to it though, I won't complain about it too much. Other hackers do this anyway when in doubt, use Legendaries. N's team was one of the most creatively assembled squads since it was a sand team. With the Elite 4, there wasn't so much any rhyme or reason, just cram in Legendaries. Caitlin and Marshal did make sure to have teams that wouldn't be hindered by the permanent weather from Kyogre and Groudon. I thought I needed to EV train, nope. So, this wasn't the Kaizo-level nightmare I expected, but it was still difficult. For the most part, it wasn't much more difficult than Blaze Black. However, the psyducking Pokemon League was a nightmare, big time. Again, it's artificial given the Legendary inclusion. Alder too, can't forget him. A great way of capitalizing on Drayano's changes, having that damn Regigigas with Sheer Force.
God, this hack took way too long to finish. 9 days. I think I said enough, time to end this review.
Tl:dr. Made by the same person behind Platinum Pro, this hack follows the same general difficulty enhancement features. Every trainer has at least 2 Pokemon, every trainer has at least 1 Full Restore, supposedly smarter AI, all trainers have max IV Pokemon, gym leaders and other major trainers have full teams, even some Plasma Grunts, and random trainers have complete teams. Plasma grunts got buffed in difficulty, the Elite 4 and Alder have full Legendary teams, N's final team was creatively crafted. The Pokemon League rematch teams are all level 100. A very alleviating feature that pampers the player a lot is that almost every trainer in the main game (not the postgame) heal your team after every battle. Between that and the great quality-of-life features from Drayano's Blaze Black, the base of this hack, made for a mostly smoother experience than Platinum Pro. It's still pretty difficult, but being overleveled neutralized most trainers in the main game. The Elite 4 rematches and Alder were a different story, being harder as there's no overleveled advantage that the player can have. While they are difficult, for me it came down to RNG not messing me up. Is it harder than Blaze Black? Yes, but the difficulty here is artificial, while Drayano's Blaze Black was more intricate in its difficulty implementation. It truly gets vicious in some gym leader battles, certain Team Plasma related battles, and the Pokemon League. I got frustrated a lot, but it's not a kaizo level hack, so most people should be able to finish it. I recommend it if you want a harder version of Black, specifically Blaze Black. The difficulty enhancements could be less artificial and over-reliant on Legendaries, but it's still a quality hack in my opinion.
