Commander

Alright, alright, alright, it's time for the second to last update before this run is done. So here we go: Episode 14: Chilling in Glitch City Vs Avalugg Believe it or not, I actually struggled a lot on this fight. It pretty much grinded down to Sir Robin dodging a Rock Slide to 2KO it with Close Combat. Seriously, I got walled so hard by the team I had and I don't know why. Anyways, that fight is done and over with so not much changed. Vs Blake This is going to be quick because of the strategy I used. I opened with Blissey and Grumpig to do my Trick Room and Light Screen Combo watching as Grumpig died next round to Energy ball I think. The battle pretty much grinded down to Emboar and Gallade having a field day until Trick Room ended right when Glalie and Rotom were out (btw, I sacrificed Blastoise to set up Rain Dance to cancel the hail out). I don't remember what happened but both managed to survive and wipe out the other side of the field without that Glalie exploding. Weavile KO'd Gallade so I sent out Rotom (Heat) to finish it off with Overheat or something. Things were dropping dead like crazy. It ended up grinding down to his Walrein vs my Rotom and Rotom became the hax god and parahaxed that Walrein to death without taking a hit. That fight is hard. Pic of Team: Vs Commander Pretty much this battle came down to me getting my butt kicked by Zuko, but Gallade was able to finish it off with Close Combat. Seriously, that thing is crazy in a glitch field for an unprepared team. Abraham also knocked out another of my Pokemon, but thankfully base Vanilluxe lived a Psychic and countered with Mirror Coat to one shot it (I knew I should've brought Jack). The rest of the battle consisted of Sir Robin trying not to die while slowly wittling away at his opponents. Very close battle mostly due to my carelessness. Pic of Team: Vs Metwo I don't actually remember this one being too tough honestly. I don't even remember what happened but I believe Techie was able to parahax it with Discharge making my life easy. Seriously, I can't remember and I don't know why. Vs Terra This one I'm going to go into more detail because she kicked my butt 8 times. 8 TIMES (I beat her in one try in the original test run). Giovanni used Sludge Wave and Techie (the Rotom-W) barely live and hit with Hydro Pump. Thankfully, this drained her of all her Hyper Potions and she didn't switch into Hippowdon this time. That thing was the bane of my runs half the time. Next came out Claydol who Shing (Petilil) managed to put to sleep and set up one quiver dance. A couple giga drains and it was down. Next came out Hippowdon who died to a Petal Dance. Then came out Excakill. All this thing had to do to end me was X-scissor, but by some miracle, it used Earthquake and even the crit barely did any damage to Shing before she finished it off. Quasire was up next, but seeing as my Lilligant was confused I switched out to Abraham who set up a Calm Mind and damaged it pretty hard with a Psychic. Seriously though if you don't have a grass type...you're in for a bad time against this thing. Abraham eventually got knocked out and Shing came into to save the day. She then got knocked out by Garchomp (Sandstrom was also still in effect btw). Sir Robin came in and tanked a Draco Meteor (thank god it wasn't an Earthquake) and nailed that Garchomp hard with a Close Combat before finishing it off with a Shadow Sneak. (I believe Emboar was fodder for something...but I don't remember). Here's a pic of the team: And admittedly, I wussed out on the Taka fight. My team was a little slow and I made him a little bit more hyper offensive. He's not that much different, but my team was just a little slow for this point in time which was a problem. I also used Sash Mirror Coat for that Swalot. See you guys on the final episode before 2.0.

2.0 shouldn't take that long to finish but that post game is going to be a complete pain to complete. 20ish trainers along with around 40 or so events to create (Events are basically anything that has to do with clicking, warping, dialogue, ect). I probably could have 2.0 done by Wednesday or sooner, but that other thing is going to take a while. Maps are done an all lined up, but everything else still takes a while.

Ouch yeah, I hope you can make a backup of any important files or such because that really sucks. I learned my lesson a long time ago to be careful where you get stuff. But yeah, don't worry too much about your stuff getting taken as it's not a field somebody can simply jump in and get to work. I'd just make sure all your personal info like bank accounts, credit cards, etc are safe first and foremost. As for the game, it can be that way. And yeah, releases take forever. Just take a look at me modding Reborn for a harder version. 2 months and I'm still working on it. Most of it isn't even that complicated, but it takes time. Patience is a virtue, my friend. Just don't ever rush. That's where things go wrong and people are very patient usually when it comes to a game.

If you're looking for a stupidly broken challenge, the main game of hardcore might be a bit of a disappointment. Hardcore was designed as the next step of challenge after Reborn. Teams are more balanced and rounded along with using strategies like on the league (though I am having to cheat a little to get Shelly's Rain Dance strategy off). The one thing I do keep is that the difficulty is at the point where you can still use anything and even monotypes are possible (though it can get quite difficult at some points). There is one little post game project I'm working on that will challenge the best of the best. You will want to bring the best of the best and even a team of Blaziken, Metagross, Gyarados, Greninja, Diggersby, and whatever else won't guarantee an easy victory. It's a challenge really meant to test you and only the best of the best will make it even far in. It might not be out until a post 2.0 release though.

You see, unlike some people, hardcore meteors are smart enough to install healing mechanics onto their Pulse Machines just in case by some miracles some person was able to, I don't know, face off with a pulse. Anyways good job on that Charlotte fight because I had a lot of trouble with her too first go around.

I think you guys are making a bit of a bigger deal out of this than you really should. He gave credit which is a big plus compared to a lot of people and yeah he probably should've asked. This'll either die out really quickly or the creator will be skilled enough by a certain point to edit and make the sprites more of his own. The project still is in the early development. If he really is riding off of Reborn (not saying it is), it'll die very quickly. Part of the reason Reborn became so popular is that it really broke barriers especially when it first started coming out. Gym leaders with 6 Pokemon that were all good and used strategies was almost unheard of especially with such a dark storyline. I don't even recall Zeta or Omnicron being in the making and most of the popular stuff at the time was hacks. Just take this with a grain of salt for the time being because it's not that big of a deal (or at least I don't think it is). Yeah, it's a bad thing but it'd be very difficult to stop it as it'd be very hypocritical. Think about it, fan games are doing that same thing to GF with the use of Pokemon.

It's the eclipse badge. Fun fact: Jubjub bird really was a Mandibuzz on Luna's league team and Humpty Dumbty was a Spiritomb. I used Wash's videos to pick up the names of other Pokemon so if I do replace a Pokemon, it will have the proper name. Good job on that fight because Tyranitar can just absorb special attacks in a Sandstorm.

The team isn't bad at all and the only one I'd say even needs dropped would be Donphan (if you drop both it and Muk, Nidoking isn't a bad option as that thing is quite powerful with Sheer Force). For Empoleon get Rain Dance on that thing because Hydro Pump/Surf is about all it can really do at this point. Houndoom is better with Dark Pulse and Nasty Plot...because it can do crap with Physical attacks outside of Beat Up (which isn't that strong). I can't give too many recommendations because I don't know what you're dropping. Metagross, Reuniclus, or Alakazam could be good options to add at you lack a Psychic type (or you could go the opposite way and add one of the Ralts family to your team). There's a large pool of Pokemon so picking one is easier said then done.

I'm not against doubling up on Pokemon if I have to. Hawlucha is on my consideration list, but Talonflame doesn't make the cut. Talon works better competetively because things it is up against are much more frailer compared to what it faces in Reborn which is why people felt Talonflame wasn't as threatening as they though it'd be (also that 80 atk base starts to show even during Charlotte's fight). If Ciel and Samson were flipped, they'd both be really good and close fights. Ice is a problem but Charizard is actually a better option than Talon for Ciel. I have quite a few options including making it mixed with the D-dance boost. It's actually just as strong Physically as Talon would be and just as "bulky", but the key difference is that it could run without Swords Dance...which is a necessitly for Talonflame to even put a hurt on the opponent (it's very, very situational unlike Charizard). I don't like Charizard that much, but I can nod my head saying it's not a bad Pokemon Reborn wise. Driflim actually might not be too bad. That might actually replace Gliscor considering Gliscor really isn't doing anything for anyone tbh. I think that should round off her team a bit better especially with the Acrobatics buff coming in E16 (which would more or less be a bit stronger than Brave Bird in terms of damage). She's probably going to need a few more tweaks then she'll be good. Terra, on the other hand, was actually an AI hellhole, but her team is actually really good. I upped it to 100 and she seems to do a little bit better (seriously, she would have Excadrill use EQ on a Lilligant of all things...it even has X-Scissor).

Alright just an FYI, I've gotten past both Blake and Terra and they only received slight buffs and modifications (Rotom-F now has Thunder). As for that whole Charlotte Mega Charizard issue, I can run Y, but I have to drop Darmanitan completely because it's just too strong in those conditions. A lot of her Pokemon would also lose their perfect EV spread, if any other than Ninetales and Charizard would even keep them (maybe Torkoal would get them). If people all agree on Charizard Y, I will change her team up, but again, she'll be getting nerfed hard if I do to make her more or less tolerable under sun conditions. As for why nobody else is on, there's just so much to do and polls with them would basically have no impact. Solaris is getting a Mega, but it isn't Garchomp for an FYI. As for Fern, my planned team for him is Ludicolo, Mega Sceptile, Krookodile, Scizor (Banded), Roserade, and Serperior, but if one of the pokemon gets a higher vote I'll certainly reconsider. As for Megas on Julia and Flo, that won't really have that much of an impact on the difficulty and would be a cool little feature if you want it. Ciel and Taka are a whole different story. I already know Arceops is going back to Ciel, but I think Talonflame is going to be a Charlotte exclusive...if Houndoom is voted on (it's just too weak for Ciel to really use). The only thing out of question for Ciel is Dragonite and Salamence, but the rest are pretty much game if someone wants to make a suggestion. America Bird...while I love it is probably getting the axed and I'm really debating on that Chatot as well. Seriously, nothing is safe from the axe (except Mega Altaria) so throw suggestions down there if you want. Right now, I'm going to test Charizard and possibly Skarmory to see what I can do with them. Taka...I'm going to try a couple things with, but I don't think he's going to be super hard. Floatzel is better than Huntail though without question. Edit: The next update might not appear for a few days though because it's a huge post.

Yeah, but 3-5 are my Pokemon are dead before I can KO one of them. You're asking me to screw everybody who plays the game over just because you felt Charlotte was easy. If you feel Rain Dance and Trick Room make her too easy, then don't use them. That's an easier solution then forcing it upon me to spend hours recalculating damage and EV spreads just so people can't use Rain Dance on her. I like her team and I think it's a really good team which is why I used Trick Room and Rain Dance...which is still hard to win with especially for monotypes. If anything, I'd argue trick room makes her too easy and rain dance still gives her a fighting chance. If I add Charizard Y, Darmanitan, Talonflame, and Typhlosion would all have to be scrapped because they are just too powerful and Chandelure, Torkoal, and Volcarona would have to take their place. Delphox would replace Houndoom again. Think about it one more time, do you really want me to add Charizard Y so badly that I have to scrap almost all of her current team just because one single strategy is too good so that nobody else should be allowed to use it. Changes, especially doubles, are rarely ever some magical light edits and take hours to get the damage ratio right. Aya was easy because she was so well built. Shelly...took about a weeks worth of time to even get to that level. Her current team is way too good to run under the sun which is why I'm not changing it. (She got the champ rank for a good reason).

Kiki's original Machamp only had Guts iirc. It's nowhere near as powerful as Hardcore and gets taken down rather easily. Kiki you're supposed to be in the 40-43 range, but for the next leader...you'll want to have all your Pokemon near cap especially for some of the upcoming fights. A lot of the fights in this area are kind of warning signs you may want to rethink your team if your really struggling because after a certain point, the amount of experience really starts to thin a bit more. There's an optional fight coming up and if you want to try and win it, make sure you are really close to the cap because you need all the power you can get to even stand a chance.

Yeah, old Radomus wasn't that bad tbh, though new Radomus now uses trick room (or will in the 2.0 release). What's scary about him is that he hit so hard with Psychic. I designed new Radomus on his old team except he can usually set up trick room. I gotta admit the AI is smarter than it looks. Anyways, good job on the battle and truthfully it does give me a lot of trouble even in the original fight.

I suppose if you have the sash(es) you can reteach Pyroar endeavor and grind Arcanine up and teach is Extreme speed. Though you could also play Judgement roulette until you get a not very effective one and then retaliate with your Pokemon. That seems like your best option without doing too much grinding. If it's too much, you could cheat and get a t-wave Magnemite just to be able to continue the run.

Let me just show you just what I'm talking about: Spiritomb and Blastoise vs Darmanitan and Charizard Y (Timid Nature): Darmanitan and Charizard vs Blastoise and Grumpig Hudson died from a single Heatwave...or Flare Blitz though I don't have a pic. Charizard is probably the weakest member. The issue is that I don't have bulky enough Pokemon to survive a Fire Attack. The only chance I have winning is if the AI screws up now as there's nothing I have to survive that attack. I could make a much bigger list if you want me to. And remember...this is a Timid Charizard, not a Modest. Charizard is also able to take a power gem from Grumpig leaving it in the red. Do you really want me to continue with these pics because these are my stronger Pokemon of all my options? Edit: As a bonus, here's what a single heat wave did to my Gallade (and this thing has a ton of Sp Def EVs):

I don't think you guys understand the sheer amount of difficulty you're trying to throw upon this by giving her Y. If I gave her it, it'd automatically axe Typhlosion because Typhlosion at that point is completely inferior considering Eruption is about 75% of whatever Charizard could do and Charizard is more or less 2 (argubly 3) Typhlosion jammed into one pokemon. Smogonbird I'm more willing to give her as it's just a little bit weaker than Darmanitan (who I could argue is her second strongest Pokemon. Charizard...only something with Thick Fat and a crap ton of Special defense could take a Charizard Y's attack due to the Sun...and even then it's debatable that only about 8-9 Pokemon available could handle something like that...especially due to how good her field is. Even if you could KO Charizard, your team would be so heavily beat up...she'd be next to impossible to win. If I was making a hardcore plus or something, that'd definitely be in, but I promise I will use that in the post game if Ame doesn't include it. Her team is very good and already in the top 3 most difficult leaders so I'd rather not make her impossible for nearly all the runs out there. Just picture Mega Glalie levels of damage without any consequences. Actually, pre-nerf Pulse Abra is a better description of level damage. Not everybody is going to have access to Trick Room and Rain Dance so I'd rather not punish them and 100% force those strategies (it's already reaching boderline). I hope you guys understand my reasoning. Anyways, I'll get back into the run now: ----------------------------------------------------------- Episode 13: The Scars of Hell The Aster & Eclipse battle is kind of hard to remember mostly because things were dropping dead every turn. Golurk was what gave me the most trouble with that Bulldoze from Golurk. It pretty much went that I died along with all of Eclipse's Pokemon and Aya finished off Aster with her Venusaur and Draporion. Seriously, the AI is so much better than people give it credit for. Back in 13 aka when the AI is the best, Aya screwed me over by using Icy Wind instead of Shadow Ball to win. Aya did pretty good this go around and finished that Slurpuff off with Cross Poison. I did give her a very slight buff, but she didn't honestly need it. Just a little update on Charlotte the first go around I basically set up Trick Room then rain dance while Nidoking had a field day with Earth Power...until Trick Room died. I managed to win, but I lost quite a few Pokemon. I then dropped Volcarona...and it took me about 5 attempts to beat her. I hate that Darmanitan so much. Vs Charlotte Basically, I had to pray that Darmanitan didn't do something crazy and thankfully it used rock slide and Typhlosion used Eruption leaving both Blastoise and Grumpig in the danger zone. Grumpig used Trick Room and Blastoise used rain dance. I figured Darmanitan was the greater of two evils here so I had Leonardo use Hydro Pump on it to one shot it while Grumpig managed to put a dent in Typhlosion with Power Gem. Both my Pokemon were barely holding on (I forget what Typhlosion used. Talonflame came out next. Now witness the greatest strategy in the world. I had Leonardo use protect to absorb all the damage while Jack KO'd Talonflame with Power gem. Next rotom came out. I had Leonardo finish Typhlosion off with Hydro Pump before dying to a Volt Switch. Next came out Ninetales and Houndoom...and my Trick Room ended...which was bad. I sent out Nidoking and thank the lord almighty Ninetales used Nasty plot while Nidoking was able to KO houndoom with earth power. Next came Sir Robin out along with Curse and they pretty much cleaned up the rest of the team for me. I got very lucky with Hydro Pump hitting and that Protect predict which really helped me win. Here's a pic of the team...not sure which battle this was from:

(Seeing the electric types fight their hardest alongside you fills you with DETERMINATION) Seriously, I'm amazed you kept Miltank alive in that battle. It should be a lot easier after a little bit because you'll get a full team before Onyx's School...oh god. I just realized something...this run is going to get really weird soon.

Get a Crobat. It's fast enough that it can be used to tear through a couple of Aya's Pokemon like Venusaur and Gengar and put a huge dent in Dragalge. I actually used one in testing for Hardcore and confuse ray saved my life (Ame forgot to put Ace for last on Aya...making that Dragalge a huge threat). If you're really having trouble, get a Blissey. Minimize's effect is doubled on the field and if you Charge Beam up her attack by Serene Grace abuse, Round will do a crap ton of damage. You don't really have to worry about Blissey getting hit too much and it will just absorb special attacks. It's a pain in the butt to grind, but it is worth it if you're walled by Aya. Forretress is another good option as it can actually hit kind of hard with Spikes due to the field. It's not super tanky, but it can definitely last long against anything Aya's Pokemon could throw at it. If you use any of the three options I mentioned, Aya will be much, much easier. Learning the field effects will help you whenever you are walled as they can be manipulated in your favor.

(Grabs Popcorn) This'll be good to see how you beat the Scraggy gang and Victoria considering all your options are quite frail and Miltank...probably couldn't take too many hits.