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Pokemon Apex Discussion Topic


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So, with all the recent buzz in the Community Fangame Recommendations thread about this game, it's really about time that we made a proper thread devoted to discussing it rather than simply clogging up the Recommendation thread Alilatias said she'd make this thread in the morning but that was half a week ago; I got tired of waiting and I decided I would just get it over with. So, without any further ado, let's just jump right into it.

 

Let's see if any of this sounds familiar. 

Pokemon: Apex is an up-and-coming fan-game designed largely by one individual to create a more difficult and mature Pokemon Fangame. During the course of the game, there are mechanics put in place to prevent power leveling and the story is driven by the Protagonist's quest to rescue their kidnapped friend. Of course, if you've played most any fangame to any extent, this probably feels like a serious case of déjà vu and if you haven't, you're in a rather odd place, friend. However, the game itself does have its own traits, unique quirks, characters, environments, and shortcomings. That's what this thread is for. In this initial post, I'll just be going over some basic features, traits, and issues the game has. In-depth details will come later, although there is a limit as to how far I want the discussion to go without using spoiler tags simply because the main reason to play this game is the story and I would hate for it to be ruined for someone. 

 

Features/Traits/Issues: 

  • A way of limiting players and preventing them from simply creating an OP party early on to thrash the bosses with. Specifically, there is a mechanic which prevents the player's Pokemon from advancing beyond level 20 before the requisite achievement. Instead of the Common/Reverse Candy system we've come to accept, Apex simply turns experience off once the Pokemon hits the cap. At the end of the current release, the level cap is 30.
  • Another component of this cap is the limitation of the player's party to a mere three Pokemon. Naturally, there is a way to progress beyond this cap, but that is currently unreachable in the present release. 
  • A plethora of hidden areas, rare encounters, and little sidequests to hunt for and enjoy
  • A male or female protagonist, based either on the creator, Nate, or the creator's girlfriend, Heather which would get real awkward if they broke up. Typical procedure, the other one will be your childhood friend, neighbor, and rival. 
  • Your player character speaks, often curses, and has a history of their own. No silent protagonist here. 
  • You have a Dad! 
  • But you don't have a Mom, tree based Professor, PokéDex or even access to Pokécenter. There are inns and you encounter a motherly figure later on, but that's the closest you'll get.
  • No gyms, no HMs. There's a league competition that has been mentioned, but it doesn't seem relevant yet. All HM moves will be TMs later on and there are items fulfilling their roles. 
  • Some custom audio tracks and sounds. The creators intend to later increase this to a 100% Custom OST later on. 
  • Some custom tilesets. See above intentions.
  • The trainer sprites are largely original. See above intentions. 
  • A solid, unique story with likable side characters. However, the beginning is rather slow.
  • Ooky Spooky Villians with dark robes, no names, and no explained motivation so far. 
  • Rather literal plot devices. 
  • Really large maps, to the point where they are sometimes a true slog to get through. 
  • Generation V Mechanics, with certain changes. As an example, Ghost-type moves are now super-effective on Normal types. 
  • Largely coded and mapped by one person, so development can be slow
  • Certain old Pokemon have been revamped and buffed. Another feature which is still developing, but the creators intend to extend the treatment to all sorts of previously "meh" tier Pokemon. Currently, the only three Pokemon I know that have been buffed or fiddled with are the starters.
  • Different starter choices in Cacnea, Baltoy, and Croagunk. Their stats and move pools have been adjusted to make them fill rather specific niches. 
  • Two different worlds, although I can't elaborate on that too much without heading into spoiler territory. 
  • Lots of little puzzles, with varying degrees of explanations, clarity, and assistance. Some are straightforward while others I still have no clue how I did them. 
  • Serious money, Pokeball, and party strength issues early on. You will only have one or two Pokeballs total for the first two areas, so you better pray to Helix you don't find a shiny. I would definitely advise looking at the wiki pages for the first few routes, seeing what Pokemon are around, and setting your heart on specific Pokemon to make sure you don't waste your Pokeballs before you find the 'mon you really wanted in your party. 
  • Most trainers are re-battleable, so EXP and Money are easier to obtain once you have a couple decent party members. 
  • You cannot save after beating the final boss of the current release due to story circumstances. 

 

 

That's about all I have to say for this initial post. The game is currently in Build 6.1, with a current level cap of 30 and party cap of 3. You can obtain the game on the creator's blog, http://apex.iamvishnu.net/. From there, you can also find links to the wiki in case you need a bit of party planning help or sidequest assistance or to the game's Discord server, where you can discuss your opinions with the creator personally (or as close as you can get over the internet).

Feel free to suggest other points to be added to this post and let the discussion begin! I will update this post whenever there is the need or I remember to do so. 

 

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On the subject of Pokemon Apex, I have comments :D  The story is strong, but the level cap is hit early, and takes awhile to raise. I found it pretty frustrating in that sense just because there was a lot of wasted experience (though I guess you get EVs from them...). The 3 pokemon limit was also a bit of a shock for me. I was also sad that after you spent so much time/effort getting to cities, there wasn't more to do inside them (sidequests, etc). However, the game was pretty visually appealing, and again, the story is pretty good. I enjoyed the different starters and their stat buffs too. One of my favorite things was unique items. For example, you can get a hold item that protects your pokemon from weather and boosts their sp. defense when you send them in. Loved that. Also, the creator gets kudos for making one of the hardest pokemon puzzles I've ever had to solve :)
Oh, and one last thing, don't be like me and name your character Dante. One of the main NPCs is named Dante, and it made some conversations very confusing. 

Edited by Dante52
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Yeah, I said I was going to make a thread, but... Things happened and this thread turned out better than anything I would have thought up anyway.

 

My advice for players that are hitting the level 20 cap: You're going to remain there for a very long time. So the best thing you can do is to avoid as many fights with trainers as possible until you finally get the cap raised (although you should fight all of the trainers in the second city with a Pokemon holding an Amulet coin, as there are many missable fights in that city for obvious reasons), then go back and fight them all to level up. The game seems to assume you'll do exactly this, because many trainers are deliberately positioned to be avoidable, and as soon as you gain access to the areas introduced after the plot point where the cap is raised, all the wild Pokemon and trainers in those areas are already in the level 24-32 range.

 

The game also gives you a lot of really good Pokemon in each area, but they are ultra rare (~3% encounter rates). The game is likely generous in this regard precisely because of the level cap restrictions, most of the 'good' Pokemon won't even bloom until much, much later in the game. Gible is probably the best example of this, having a low catch rate AND the ability to nuke your entire team with Dragon Rage and kill itself with Take Down, so be careful!

Edited by Alilatias
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tbh I found Gible to be one of the most broken Pokemon in the game so far. It gets Sand Veil to abuse the entire Amon Desert, early game Dragon Rage, a decently fast evolution (in pseudo legend terms, at least), and a solid movepool. Just hold off on evolution until level 27 (normally evolves at 24) to grab Dragon Claw, give it the TM for Dig and maybe Rock Tomb, and you have a monster on your hands. Plus, this is Gen V we're talking about here, so Dragons are even more busted in Apex than they are in current generations. 

 

One Pokemon I would love to be able to justify using just because I adore it would be Larvesta, but knowing that the level cap will cripple it until who knows what build, I just can't find a viable reason to use it. Poor baby sun bug. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/16/2017 at 9:19 PM, Dante52 said:

Has anyone been able to find the Ambrosia Crystal? A little help would be much appreciated... 

 

Spoiler

In the room past the statue puzzle, where you fought the ghost (with a bunch of supplies in that room as well), there's a hidden door below him that leads to a room with a switch, opening a gate in a different hidden room earlier in the dungeon where the crystal is located.

 

Yeah, super late reply, but I'll leave this here for anyone else having trouble finding it too.

Edited by Alilatias
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2 minutes ago, Alilatias said:

 

  Hide contents

In the room past the statue puzzle, where you fought the ghost (with a bunch of supplies in that room as well), there's a hidden door below him that leads to a room with a switch, opening a gate in a different hidden room earlier in the dungeon where the crystal is located.

 

Thanks a bunch! 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/4/2017 at 4:55 PM, Luligod said:
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hey anyone know the password for the computer in the puzzle house? i have no clue 

 

There is a note somewhere (90% sure it's in his house) that gives you a riddle. The answer is the password. If you can't figure it out or don't want to, then ...

Spoiler

 You should try entering "enigma" 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I cannot even decide if I should try this game again.For me, even reborn hardcore was easier than this game.

The first and the last time I played this game I had so many bugs which crashed the game.Even that was not the main problem.

Even wild pokemons had higher levels than me.I cannot even forget fainting to that wild zubat.

The wild encounter seemed much higher or it might be because the route with the cave was really big.

I had to spent money to heal.This basically destroyed me.But the funny thing was if I faint to a random trainer I was healed and the money I lost was not much.

So some questions to the experienced players of this game:

1.Is the early area still that hard?

2.If yes,what pokemon can help me early game?

3.How much bug is fixed in the latest chapter?

4.Do I even have a chance to finish this game at least once?

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@Yagami

 

I find this fangame forces the player to think differently compared to most others.

- It rewards exploration, but at the same time, you have to make sure you have the supplies to last the journey into unknown territory. This is probably the only Pokemon fangame thus far that has managed to elicit that sort of feeling for me.

- Because you spend so long at the Lv. 20 cap, you're encouraged to sneak past most trainer battles in order to conserve your supplies, and come back to demolish them/level grind after you get the cap raised to Lv. 30. I feel it is deliberately designed to be this way, because the vast majority of trainer battles are avoidable. This is also why the game throws the Amulet Coin at you very early, if you can find it.

- And also because you spend so long at certain level caps, the game DOES throw presumably powerful Uber-tier Pokemon at you for you to catch early on, except for the fact that the vast majority of such Pokemon start out extremely weak and don't really bloom into powerful fighters until level 40+. This is a fairly good balancing act, I find - a Lv. 20 Beautifly for instance is going to be a MUCH better fighter than a Lv. 20 Larvitar.

 

The fangame is indeed a harder one, but I find it's more strategic rather than actually difficult.

 

(As for the route with the cave, there's a healing spring fairly early on inside the cave. It's pretty much the first side room you'll come across, with a trainer standing near the entrance to that room, I think. Also, I assume you reached the desert town, judging by your statement about having to spend money to heal. There IS a free heal in that town, but you have to have beaten a recurring trainer standing in front of a lake in the previous route - of which the fight was bugged. I assume it's been fixed now.)

 

---

 

I'm still fairly early into the latest chapter, but it pulled off a gameplay twist that I haven't seen another fangame attempt thus far. It's for that reason that this fangame has suddenly rocketed to one of my all-time favorites. I won't spoil what it is just yet, but I'm sure everyone will know exactly what I'm talking about when they reach it, and it's probably something many other fangames will try to emulate if they figure out how to pull it off. I hope it becomes a major recurring feature of this fangame from here on out.

Edited by Alilatias
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@Alilatias I did actually find that spring but by the time I get out of the cave I would always get stuck in a wild encounter.

I will try this game again though strategy is not my strongest point early game.

Is the free heal only once?

Edit: Just started playing and already a bug.Seriously I have bad luck with this game.

My player just followed the hooded guy into that cave.Immediately after entering,my player moved a bit to the right.Now if I keep going straight the hooded guy doesn't do anything.I can basically go through the rest of the cave and talk with trainers but since I don't have pokemon they don't battle.

I have to walk through a specific tile to get the hooded guy to start the event.

Spoiler

capture000.thumb.PNG.658c4c681b9721f824f56d82144cb671.PNG

If any user has a reddit account,can you inform this please?

I downloaded build 7 and 7.1 patch today.

Edited by Yagami
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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone know the password to the Puzzle house?

Edit: What am I suppose to do in Dajjal Temple? I have been walking around for some time but nothing is working.

Edited by Yagami
added 1 more question
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Quote

Does anyone know the password to the Puzzle house?

Edit: What am I suppose to do in Dajjal Temple? I have been walking around for some time but nothing is working.

I assume you’re stuck on the second moving statue puzzle?

 

Spoiler

If thats the case, the only advice I have is to keep trying to get the two statues on the switches by keeping them close together as they follow you, and defeating them while their standing on the switches as quickly as possible before they wake up again.

For the password, it's Enigma

 

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@Starborn This is going to sound dumb.

Spoiler

I just entered the temple and defeated the red hooded guy.Then explored the area but couldn't do anything.

There is altar there with a lock which I couldn't understand.

The player says he recognizes it but couldn't remember it.But I don't even remember it and don't recognize it :P.Do you know how to solve the lock?

Thanks for the password though.

 

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Quote
Spoiler

I just entered the temple and defeated the red hooded guy.Then explored the area but couldn't do anything.

There is altar there with a lock which I couldn't understand.

The player says he recognizes it but couldn't remember it.But I don't even remember it and don't recognize it :P.Do you know how to solve the lock?

Thanks for the password though.

 

Spoiler

Unfortunately I didn't sovle that puzzle either (judging by the wiki no one else has either), but it's not required to beat the Temple so your good to skip it if you want.

 

Edited by Starborn
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@Starborn   I would just quote you, but the quote button doesn't seem to be working... Anyway, as far as the wiki showing that no one has solved the puzzle, I know that the game creator is really particular about their puzzles and doesn't let people post the answers on the wiki. So somebody may have solved it, but can't post it. 

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@Starborn and @Dante52 I had no idea that you can skip that puzzle.But I seriously cannot understand how to proceed in the temple.

I have a red skull in my key items and found a room where I can't enter because it has poisonous gas.Other than that I can't seem to do anything.

Edit: problem is solved so thanks everyone.

 

 

Edited by Yagami
problem solved
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@Yagami There is a youtuber named Sacred that has done a playthrough. You can watch him go through it if you need to. Good luck! 
 

Spoiler

The puzzles have to do with collecting red skulls and moving the enraged statues onto weight sensing panels. It can get pretty tedious. I have no idea what the lock code to that combination lock thing is...

 

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