Fiasom

So finally I managed to get to the point where I need to decide which restoration project I should do first. Azurine for the bulby? I have a rainbow team centred around my Solar Power Charizard, supported by a Castform for both weathers, a grass type sun setter (currently Vileplume), a Blastoise for rain back up and some nasty water type damage, and a Prankster Meowstik to defensively bracket all the endless setting up with screens. My original sun setter was a Cherrim. May she rest in PC. The set I'm using with Vileplume is: Chlorophyll+Heat Rock/Amplifield Rock/Black Sludge - Giga Drain - Toxic - Sunny Day - Grassy Terrain As it happens Venusaur can do the exact same set. I'm not sure whether Venu or Vile is the better fit to this set as a core member of the squad (so for general use rather than specific boss battles), so looking for some advice on that. As I see it the main difference between the two is that Venu has a lot more speed, freeing up EVs where Vile sinks them, and a bit more bulk, whereas Vile brings in bigger firepower. Given the impact of chlorophyll, I'm not sure if the speed increase is worth it (that sun will always be up - or I'll be using a very different team). Venu can also go Mega-brrrr, but that slot already has competition from at least 4 mons already. So the extra flexibility of mega evolving might not be worth much in the end of the day. The question then boils down to Vile's 110 vs. Venu's 100 SpAttack & Vile's 75/85/90 defensive stats VS Venu's 80/83/100 defensive stats + Venu's peripheral uses in higher speed and Mega flexibility VS the time it will take to catch a female bulba (not to be underestimated) then chain breed it for moves and IVs. Any comments & suggestions? Am I missing something here? Not considering something I should?

Nu-uh. I ain't getting hyped till ya tell me that I can teach Hurricane to my Charizard and Weather Ball to my Blastoise. Pfft. Who needs EQ and IB when we all know you're gonna make it useless where it would count anyways? I need Gen 8's updates to perfect my Burning Rainbow team. Also, legit question here: Will terrain moves work like they used to - replacing existing terrain if possible - or will they work like they're working now in Rejuv, just stacking on top of existing terrain? If the latter is the case, Burning Rainbow is largely dead. You killed my character. I'll be very sad.

So lessons taken out of this: 1) My weakness to flying monotypes is legit. Ciel was by far the hardest for me in every run of the game, and even when playing Blaze Black 2 Skyla was the hardest for me to beat. Given Ciel's midling rank, I am definitely flying-impaired. 2) The opposite is true of fighting types. Samson was a walk in the park for me despite the fact that I did not change the field in that battle, and I nearly always do. 3) The less a boss relies on their terrain, the more I struggle against them. Meaning my strategy of carrying my preferred field(s) with me and setting them up behind screens is valid, and likely to be even more valid come E19. I better start grinding that Clafable to set up gravity to get rid of that New World field, so that I may set my own field up then. ... HAH! Don't worry about Lin, he says. Dear devs, this game has been a test of character. Trust me, I've found it easier to deal with job rejections after getting my ass handed to me by Ciel 60 times in a row, after all the grinding, and learning how to IV breed, and not being able to even set up a field after carefully crafting the "winning" strategy throughout the 60 hours I played the game, and ended up having to resort spamming ultra potions till that damned Togekiss ran out of PPs. Aye, I lost that battle, and then bought a win. And 5 minutes after that humiliation, Inner Focus Crobat occurred to me. And that built character. Perseverance and humility. You made me zen, you bastards. Thank you. Now f*ck off.

And just as I was typing this a crit by the Floatzel on the Donphan changed the course of the battle and I won. FTS.

Aye I think that's what happened. Stupid me. I'm drunk. I ought to delete this topic now.

There is something legally impossible about that Lapras outspeeding my Floatzel. What are the mechanics that make that possible? Otherwise of course f*king of course there is nothing impossible about the fight, I've beaten in my previous runs. I want to know what the reigning mechanics are.

Challange is one thing, impossibility is another. What is legal in this game? That Lapras cannot outspeed my Floatzel legally. Reborn is using PULSE mons to give them extra EVs, I get that. Hard challenge. This is something different. I need an answer to whether I need ridiculous gimmicks to win the battles, or can I actually focus on building a proper team? Otherwise - given that quick claw isn't available yet - I know to grind on the Noibats around till I get 252 speed EVs on my Floatzel. Or, since the time sunk to grinding isn't worth it, quit the game.

What is legal in this game? Will my Electrode be outsped by a Shuckle in the future?

What I'm trying to understand here is the mechanics of the game. So I'm fighting Ghost Keta. I use my Floatzel to take down his Donphan no problem. Next he throws in his Lapras; my Floatzel is in a pinch and will go down to one move, no questions about that. But I should be able to hit that Lapras without using a priority move since Floatzel is faster than Lapras by far. I use Tail Slap, but Lapras uses Body Slam first and KOs the Floatzel. My lvl 25 Floatzel has 16 IV and 26 EV for speed at this point, granting it a speed stat of 68 (neutral nature). I check on showdown teambuilder, and a lvl 24 Lapras with a perfect speed IV of 31 and perfect speed EV of 252 plus a speed boosting nature, at maximum gives the Lapras total speed stat of 61. So how the f**k does his Lapras out speed my Floatzel? (There are no relevant field effects in place that will help the Lapras out speed the Floatzel.)

Fresh off the second rift battle as I am - my impression is that grassy surge doesn't always stack on top, but sometimes replaces the field (though not as often as it stacks). Also, sometimes, even when it only stacks instead of replacing, when it wears off it also removes the existing field - at least it did several times after stacking on top of forest field. This could come in handy if it triggers where it matters - e.g. boss battles. But if there is any intention on part of the dev team in this design, rather than just a bug, I'm pretty sure it won't. Devs appear to think hard for the sake of hard is fun.

The story of rejuv is a thorough mess. But is it still a Pokémon game? On the mechanical side of things, I'd say yes. Rejuv is definitely a pokemon game mechanically - just heavily ornamented. On the story side though - Rejuv has many great assets (like the maps and the art work and the help centre sorts of things) and many problems (like cheating AI on top of hellishly hard battles). But its story is by far its worst aspect, and I'm not even talking about its disregard of pokemon and battles - I completely agree with everything said above. The plot is all over the place - I find it really hard to follow (and this is coming from someone whose fav book series is the Malazan Book of the Fallen). The characters are also thoroughly psychopathic, one and all - especially the main characters that are our "friends" and are "the good guys." Who cares if 4 thousand people die if the rainbow of freidnship prevails among our main characters? So many different sets of "overbearing parent cages adolescent in" its tiring. The morality of the story is more inconsistent than the most propagandistic of hollywood films (at least rejuv isn't propagandistic...). Whether it is a pokemon game or not, the story is simply badly written. I can't go into details because I've forgotten the story since V12, and I'm only at the Goldenwood episode now. But of all the fan games I've played - heck, all stories I've engaged with - Rejuv takes the cake for the worst story. One redeeming quality of its story is that the ups and downs and the beats of the story work very well - when it comes to the ... emotional structure? of the story, it works like music. The pacing works fine too (unless, of course, an impossible battle stomps you mid track). But the lyrics are just cringe lvl over 9000. Rejuv isn't a game you play for its story. I'm playing it to see gen 8 and other new mons and I like a big world. But if and when (and I'm pretty certain it is a matter when) I get stuck in a hard battle, I have a hunch I'll drop the game for the last time. Its a contest between how much new material keeps me engaged and how much the story and unnecessarily hard battles push me away.

Looks like a new game then... Sad thing that rejuv delivers these blows after so much effort is put into it. Glad that I've played only a few hours so far. Otherwise I'd've dropped it probably. Especially now that I'm reading some other discussions around the forum.

When I use an ability capsule on my Overgrow Thwackey it shuffles its ability to .... Overgrow. I've used the item on other mons, and it seems to work fine, and I know you can get Grassy Surge in Grookey as I saw quite a few while soft resetting for one with decent IVs. Is this because the Grookey family's abilitys are 1) Overgrow, 2) Overgrow, and 3) Grassy Surge, so when I shuffle it goes from ability 1 to ability 2, both being Overgrow? I can't see why that should be the case because many mons have only 2 or 1 abilities, and you don't really need to name a second ability in between the first and the hidden. If that is the case I just need to waste an ability capsule to bad luck, and wait till a second becomes available. (Can anyone tell me where the second earliest ability capsule is available pls?) Alternatively, it might be that Ability Capsules don't shuffle to hidden abilities as in the canon games. In which case I'm early enough in the game that I'll restart and ensure that I start with a Grassy Surge Grookey - but that doesn't make sense either because the item shuffles Pachirisu from Pickup to Volt Absorb. Does this apply only to starters or something? (That would upset me.) On that account, is possible to somehow access the PBS folders? I'm trying to find out info about the new mons - gen 8 mon locations and Rejuv regional variant learn sets, stats etc. (I started looking for the PBS folders to check whether my above hunch about Thwackey's abilities are correct, but) I haven't yet seen a (comprehensive) guide for either the new mons or Pokémon locations online. If you know of one such guide, please drop a link. (I know the PBS folders are locked away for the good reason that folks don't end up breaking their own game accidentally, but I think I should know how to be safe, given that I've dabbled with making my own fan game on RPGMX and know what not to change - golden rule being don't touch anything.)

Meowstic-M > Prankster, Light Clay, Screens Vileplume (or Venusaur) > Chlorophyll, Amplified/Heat Rock, Grassy Terrain, Sunny Day, Giga Drain Charizard > Solar Power, Miracle Seed, Solar Beam. (And Air Slash for the Ludicolo. - Oh, and Dragon Pulse for the Kingdra.) Didn't need anything else. Amy becomes a sitting duck in sunny grassy terrain. No attack, no speed. Surf does less than 50% on Charizard despite it having no spedef investment (and it got hit only because I misclicked).

Cool. I'd've been happy with just some slightly eased up EV and level grinding, but the rest seems good too. Though it sounds like this will change a core aspect of what Reborn is. Then again, you won't make it too easy will you?

When ya'll go to the toilet what comes out is a boss team, innit?

Good luck. Kolay gelsin. Wish you patience. But not too much. I don't think you need to be told this, but I think it might be worth saying it anyways: nothing is ever going to be perfect. Don't keep adding stuff to a) make it perfect or as near as possible - never gonna end, and/or b) to procrastinate the dread of having Reborn end - whether this is due to the uncertainty of what Game Freak/Nintendo might do to the game, or due to the uncertainty of not knowing what you're gonna do with the bit of your life where Reborn used to be (and your new game won't fill it. It will be a different thing. It will create and occupy its own space, not Reborn's) or something else. It's been a long time - half a life nearly. It ain't gonna be easy. You know that. But it's gonna have to end at some point. Don't drag it out more than needed, cause it's gonna drag you down. Don't do that to yourself. I don't want you to do that to yourself. You've already given us something great, and beyond what anyone could have asked for. And if we're not happy with the end result, well, then, fuck us. But we already love the game. We already love you. The end of the game aint gonna change that, even if we part ways afterwards. And when the time for the character of "Reborn" in the story of your life has come to an end, as they say, let your darlings die.

Glad to see ya'll coming back. I wish you Cobalion's patience and may you be inspired by Meloetta. Power to you!

I have fixed the braille bit of the puzzle and got the door to open, but it seems like the tiles between centre, northwest and northeast rocks are impassable. So I can't get to the bidoof part of the cave. Am I missing something or is this a bug?

This is awesome. You guys are awesome. *Hugs* I'll keep trying at regular mode, but if it starts demanding more time than I can afford to give it, I'll switch to lite mode. I just wanna throw some kidneys at the fan. (Close your eyes Shelly. Lin's got under my skin.) Incidentally, will it be possible to shift between modes during the game play, or will it be irrevocably set at the beginning of the game? Also, can we alter the mode in our current play throughs once updated to E19?

This may already be known somewhere in the ether, but google didn't give me any good results. Does anybody (including Jan) know how many versions/episodes are planned for Rejuvenation? It seems like a safe bet to say it is unlikely there will ever be a 16th version, but have we had any confirmation for any specifish number of versions?

Ability to forfeit trainer battles... I WANT THAT! (RETREAAT!!)

Question: Why not just release the final episode? I wanna see how the story ends. The post game could be released incrementally as things develop? Comment: I never played any of the battle tower or its spin offs because once there are no new pokemon, story or maps to discover, the whole thing boils down to mindless grinding (which, to my horror, I have discovered is the single defining characteristic of Reborn - once you know what the story is, the amount of grinding necessary to beat the rather frequent bosses simply aint worth its time - and I have had to come to terms with giving up on replaying the game). No rewarding discovery for massive loss of time. I just wanna see how the story ends. Perhaps catch the legendaries as there seems to be some story in it, but I don't care one bit for the nightclub. I'll check it out, get my ass kicked invariably in the first battle (cause I can't be f*ed to master competitive strats) and never visit it again. Ciel was one of the hardest bosses to beat for me (till an inner focus crobat occurred to me), but beating her wasn't the high point of the game (arguably it was one of the lowest points), it was the shock of seeing Ame's head getting ripped off. What made reborn great in the first place was its story, not its difficulty. Make Reborn great again. Please?

So I'm not sure whether this is a problem or not, but I thought it might have the potential to be game breaking, hence this alert. I am playing through chapter 14 right now, and in West Gearen exploring new stuff, picking up items etc. (I haven't been back this side of the region for several versions now - and, my, have things changed). I went to this door in the power plant which I had forgotten. Turned out to be Erick's gym. Walked out of it, and the cut scene that begins chapter 10 automatically started. I was worried that it might re-trigger 4 chapters' worth of events I have already played through, so I closed the game without saving. (I should also note that I do not remember playing through what that cutscene promises, so there may indeed be some new events that I haven't played through, but might f*ck with the chronology of the game [playing though some main storyline chapter 10 events in chapter 14]?) Just for context - that scene: I have certainly stumbled on to something I should not have, but my question is should I be worried about it, or just enjoy the artwork and reminders and otherwise ignore it?

I understand some people like to exercise patience and determination by grinding. But I'm feeling that is more niche than common among players. What drives Reborn is its story. I learned how to IV breed and EV grind just to keep playing Reborn - not to lose to Ame & co and engage and solve the challenges and puzzles you/they've thrown at us, and let myself be immersed in the story and world that Ame has so beautifully built and given to us - free of charge! Having to grind (and I absolutely detest the time lost for inherently meaningless grinding) was part and parcel of the challenges of the game so far. "You want to see more? Put in the effort for it!" But this is slowly turning into something like a Pokémon-SAT now. You grind, you take the test, and if you want a good life/keep playing you have to pass the test, but the test and its grind are completely irrelevant to life/story. We play game precisely to get away from that aspect of life. Please, just make sure that you don't end up doing that in Reborn. Reborn means something, a really good thing. But falling to the trap of throwing harder grinding tests at the players can diminish this meaning. Please don't let mind numbing patience become the defining characteristic of the game. I gave up playing Rejuvenation because of this. (Along with the Wheel of Time, it remains the only thing I put down in frustration, and I've stuck to the end of some really bad and cringy stuff in my time.) The story and writing simply aren't good enough to merit wasting so much time on grinding. Reborn's story was worth it so far, but you've already promised us that we will fight some PULSE-mons with EVs higher than what we can reach. While it isn't a cheap challange - PULSEs should have something to them - it is quite certainly not a challange I am looking forward to. It seems like it is just going to be some nasty admin battles to get over - as if they weren't hard enough already. And grinding in Reborn is hard. Another example of something similar is the Poipole challange. The game is slowly becoming something that excludes players who aren't obsessed with it. That said I will finish the game no matter whatever is thrown at us. One does not simply turn away from great work like Reborn.