Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Team Flare's overdue appearance

After exploring Ambrette Town, I tried heading back up towards Cyllage City to take on the gym there, because it's been... how long since I beat the last one? To put it in old game terms, it's as if there was no gym between Striaton and Nimbasa in BW1, and the levels are similar enough to show that argument. Unfortunately, guess what? Roadblock time! This time it was a swimmer who lost... a fossil, I think? I didn't pay attention, too busy swearing. It might as well have been a contact lens, because no matter what I did there was no way through. So it was off to route 9 instead, to try the fabled Pokémon riding, and... well, I thought it was faster than this. Rhyhorns happen to be just as slow out of battle as during one, so it was a bit annoying, but not cataclysmic.

Glittering Cave was... interesting, to say the least. Mostly due to the camera angle that can easily cause you to lose your bearings. It would've been much simpler with the top-down perspective from the previous games, but fortunately this was just one main path with many branching dead ends. And just as I was beginning to wonder where the hell Team Flare was... well, I ran into the first few grunts. Sure, introducing a villainous team before the second gym is not only standard, but it's what always happened. It's just that with how late the second gym is, I figured they would've been introduced a long time ago. I was given the choice of which fossil to take... I chose Amaura, just because. Not that it matters anyway, when I get a Ditto I'll just breed it and trade the offspring for a Tyrunt. Mienfoo learned Drain Punch on the way out, which should help with both power and bulk.

Unfortunately, I haven't caught anywhere close to everything that was in the cave, so I'm going to head back in there for a bit. Fortunately there's an NPC who heals my team right at the entrance, so I don't even need to go back to Ambrette.

Current team: L42 Blaziken, L42 Venusaur, L33 Mienfoo

Edit: A few mechanics were updated, which I'd like to point out:

- Sound-based moves and Pokémon with Infiltrator now hit through Substitute
- Oblivious Pokémon are now immune to Taunt
- Female Pokémon can now pass down egg moves too, making illegal egg move combos a thing of the past. Aqua Jet + Belly Drum Azumarill and Spikes + Sleep Powder + Leaf Storm Roserade are the most notable ones.

20 comments:

  1. Im 15 levels behind you when it comes to the pokemon's levels, BTW, what have you done with the trainer customization yourself?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely nothing. It costs money, which is better spent on everything else in the game. Even repels and Escape Ropes.

      Delete
  2. Man, you are gonna CRUISE through the gym with that team,Are you liking the EXP.Share so far?
    I love it, but I noticed that it's also function as a difficulty level option in a way. I have mines off so far until I get my full team together so no one will be overpowered.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know you're not up to that point in the game yet, but some info on the mascots; three of their stats (randomised) are ALWAYS assigned with 31 IVs when you battle them. Makes soft-resetting for them less tedious, since you're forced to catch it (you can run away if you need a Synchronizer or something); you're forced into the final battle with Team Flare's leader afterward though, so you might want to blow all your money and let yourself lose if you want to check its stats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nah, I'll pass. I'm not too sure of its movepool yet, but I'll take 31 IVs anywhere.

      Delete
    2. The nice thing is that someone's already crunched the numbers for each max IV stat on the legendaries since they have the same Base stats.

      201/151/115/151/118/119 are the max IV stats, so if you just check your legendary in the summary during the next battle you can easily find it's nature and max IVs, making soft resetting a breeze. Also if you knock out the legendary the first time you can save afterwards setting up a soft reset that skips the starting cutscene for the legendary. Real easy.

      Delete
  4. Huh, wow. My levels are at the mid-20s right now for my team at your location. Of course, this being a Slowflake playthrough, this is expected.

    Actually, even though the EXP Share is broken as fuck, I still tried to not use it through the game. I lasted until Route 9.

    By the way, this is long. What was the longest gap from one gym to another before this, again? Wasn't it from Eterena to Veilstone in Diamond and Pearl?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I looked up ditto's location a couple days ago, it's in a place called Pokemon Village, which, on the town map, looks like a post-game area. I could be wrong, but it's literally close to routes 21 and 22. So it's going to take a while before you can do any ditto breeding. The removal of illegal egg move combos sounds way too broken to be true, and I'm thrilled for it. All we need is every TM and move tutor from every game up to this point to be available in one game and I'll have no complaints (Yes, even the water gun TM from gen 1. If I'm not automatically entitled to everything I won't even use, I'll remain passive aggressive while continuing to supply gamefreak with the funding to keep doing it the way they want to).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another change relating to females passing on egg moves according to Serebii. Now MALES have a chance of passing on Hidden Abilities. All of a sudden Speed Boost Baton Pass Blaziken is legal even WITHOUT the need for a Mega Evolution. Guess Blaziken's place in Uber has been cemented with re-inforced concrete now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does blaziken get some ability that's not speed boost if a speed boost blaziken mega evolves?

      Delete
    2. I don't think it does. However, this development will also benefit pokemon who's hidden abilities were only distributed as males. For example, the other starters (( Chlorophyll Venusaur with Power Whip despite the weather nerf )), Gothitelle and the Elemental Monkeys even if the monkeys suck.

      Delete
  7. What of Baton Pass Speed Boost Blaziken?...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The combination of Females passing on egg moves and males having a chance to pass on hidden abilities makes that combination legal without the need for a Mega Evolution

      Delete
  8. Slow, do you think Mega Gengar is instant uber? I personally think so because its stats rival mewtwo and he has really nice coverage. Dazzle Gem for dragons, fighting, and dark types, Shadow Ball for anything else, And TBolt for good measure. Destiny Bond is also good because of shadow tag and I mean how is it not Uber. This thing would wreck Uber anything with its stats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Holy crap, you have a time machine that you used to come from a future with an actual metagame, and not a mishmash of unconfirmed stats, lack of knowledge of egg moves, and 200 Pokémon missing due to no Pokémon Bank? AND it's from a future generation where Pokémon can hold two items at once? GIMME.

      Delete
    2. Oh, never mind that last part, I just realized you butchered Dazzling Gleam and weren't talking about a gem. Oops. Still, I don't like making that kind of bold predictions. Could it go very early in the suspect process? It wouldn't surprise me, but at the same time, considering how little we know and how little experience we have with this new generation, the opposite wouldn't shock me.

      The greatest irony is that Gamefreak made a Pokémon immune to both of its STABs... but unfortunately it's a physically defensive Grass/Fighting. Oops.

      Delete
  9. Hasty Mewtwo in red, asleep, and captured in one Dusk Ball ON MY FIRST TRY...

    ReplyDelete