Paperblade

There's a lot of obtainables to look forward to for E18/19, even though a vast majority of pokemon are available. 22 TMs ~22 Z-crystals (excludes legendaries) 30 Mega stones (excludes legendaries) 14 Pokemon families either unobtainable or from a limited event (again excluding legendaries), 15 if you count Lycanroc-Dusk which I think is going to be included? I know Ash-Greninja isn't because Ash Last two department stickers Choice Scarf Life Orb Fire and Ground Memories for Silvally We get some of this from Rock Climb if E17 datamining info is still accurate: Life Orb, 5 pokemon (Axew, Jangmo-O, Larvitar, Dratini, and Deino), and 2 TMs (one on Azurine Island and one on the path up to Pyrous Mountain). Two more TMs are going to be from Hardy/Saphira, one in this episode and the other in 19 (Rock Slide/Dragon Claw are the only Rock/Dragon TMs remaining)

I was able to clear the game up to the end of E17 (including beating Solaris at Pyrous Mountain) with just a single team of six--never used a single other pokemon in combat, didn't breed, no in battle items (healing/X-items), and no mix event mons so stuff like Stufful, Panpour, and mystery egg were ruled out. I also chose not to use Torchic because that's easy mode. I also allowed for a non-combat pokemon to Fly because everywhere you can Fly to has a PC right there. Team was: Incineroar: One of the best starters and will only get better when E18 gives it Double Kick by levelup and tutors. Intimidate was the only thing that let me beat Garchomp. Fire/Dark STAB is great, especially since a lot of good Dark types are locked behind the mystery egg, are very frail ('Doom and Sharpedo), or just come later than Shade where having a good answer was most important for this (Alolan-Muk and Krookodile). Fire is just straight up one of the best types in Reborn, if not the best. Roserade: Traded EXP and Budew coming with three 31 IVs guaranteed makes this a monster. In challenge/efficiency runs like this, Roserade pretty much immediately invalidates what little consideration of a Grass starter existed. Moves like Toxic and Leech Seed are boss for single enemy encounters like Solaris, PULSE Avalugg, Mewtwo, and PULSE Swalot, on top of its good offense from Giga Drain (and sometimes Venoshock). It also has other options like Grassy Terrain and Technician Hidden Power but I never utilized the former and my HP typing was something bad (I think Bug). Bibarel: I only picked this because I wasn't sure if Roselia and Torracat would be able to duo the game up until I got Espurr and I needed something to Surf/Dive/Waterfall in the overworld. Pretty much every decent or better Water type is either a starter, comes from a mix event, or is after Kiki which is fairly late. This was probably the least useful of my combat mons, but Strength/Waterfall/Aqua Jet/Swords Dance is not completely horrible with Simple. tbh I'm still not sure if it was necessary. I know I used it in some important fights but it's possible I could've just played better. Meowstic-M: One of the best early-mid Psychic types thanks to its 104 Speed and Psychic. Eats through huge portions of Kiki and Aya's teams with ease. Fake Out allows it to stop Shelly's Illumise from Rain Dancing. I grabbed it from the Lapis Alleyway since I banned mix events, but if you get the early one, with Psyshock and the Twisted Spoon this will also OHKO 4 of Corey's mons. However, the real draw to using this long term is Prankster. Meowstic-M gets access to Reflect, Light Screen, and Misty Terrain by level-up, and can learn Sunny Day/Rain Dance via TM. Thanks to Light Clay, Amplifield Rock, Damp Rock, and Heat Rock (3 of which are pretty common from mining or can just be bought at the department store fairly cheap, with an Amplifield Rock being under the grand stairway), you can pretty much disable whatever is annoying you about a fight. Don't like Terra's field? Misty Terrain. Don't want Titania setting up Aurora Veil on turn 1? Sunny Day. Want to nerf Charlotte's STAB? Rain Dance. Want to let your pokemon set up? Reflect/Light Screen. Mine ended at level 49 so apparently I didn't even use Misty Terrain. Magnezone: Not much to explain here. It's good. Thunder Wave makes Arceus and Mewtwo slow enough that other things can easily outspeed them (although it conflicts with Toxic). It didn't really stand out in any battle except Adrienn, which is fine 'cause I mostly picked it to have something good for that fight, since my big win condition is quite bad there. Flygon: Earthquake/Rock Slide/Dragon Claw/Dragon Dance is pretty much all you need. Gets traded EXP. Sets up on lots of things then sweeps, or can just spam Earthquake. Beats up Samson, Ciel, Charlotte, Amaria, and others. This thing is insane, and its power made me comfortable picking both Bibarel (who falls off) and Meowstic-M (who hit level 50 for Misty Terrain then mostly stopped getting exp) aftermath of amaria battle If you allow for even just one extra mon, using Kricketune as an early carry opens up a lot of options. Allowing for mystery egg and other mix events also gives a ton of choice because Stufful and about a quarter of the mystery egg mons are absurd (Toxapex, Excadrill, Azumarill, Ninetales) and several others are still really good (Volcarona, Breloom, Staraptor, Lycanroc, Haxorus, Gengar, Starmie, Bisharp, Togekiss)

if only...

I think anyone who dislikes Melia prefers try to escape

facepalm.

Zangoose isn't obtainable in Route 3 (it might have been before but as of E17 it's not). You either have to do the hide-and-seek event or find it as a 10% encounter in the alleyways in neoreborn

Yeah, the e18 scoreboard. It got updated again this morning @GGLL Mag's not really a one trick pony, it has good offense and its utility moves are really useful. Sturdy just guarantees it will always be able to utilize at least one of them, with the exception of Charlotte since it's the combination of doubles vs. fast pokemon who have a type advantage over it. A one trick pony to me is something more like Meowstic-M who will just suicide lead by throwing up screens or changing the terrain/weather then fainting. You might be right about alolem being nearly as good (I haven't seriously attempted to use it, I used Graveller as filler once to just selfdestruct on things)--it has about the same power as Magneton and Thunderpunch + Rock Blast->Stone Edge are good moves. The main downside is it's a lot slower (Magneton isn't fast but it will outspeed some stuff especially from random trainers, while Golem is struggling down at 45 base Speed) so it's a lot more reliant on Sturdy, secondarily being it doesn't really have utility moves--it has Stealth Rock but I've never found hazards very useful in single player except to break sashes/sturdy since the AI doesn't switch much. But to compensate for that it actually gets a decent suite of other attacking options (Explosion, Heavy Slam, Brick Break, +Superpower/Fire Punch tutors in E18). When E18 hits I'll have to give it a serious shot.

Alolachu is okay, especially with support for it since Pichu can come with Nasty Plot and STAB Psychic is great to have, but it's really frail and its 95 special attack starts to rear its head as the game goes on. Emolga is another Electric type that makes for good filler, Acrobatics is an amazing move for that point in the game and Nuzzle+Electro Ball are also awesome. I mentioned Steels because there are actually a good amount of strong Steel types, they're just all really late. Making Magnemite's availability closer to them makes it more of a choice in what you want to use between Steel types, since stuff like Lucario, Bisharp, Excadrill, Aggron, Metagross, Durant, or Escavalier all have their merits that aren't just "Well, it's faster than Magnemite but loses out in every other aspect." The issue is most Electric types are just kinda bad, unless Magnemite is delayed until E18 content when we get Mega Amph and Megamane that won't really change so I'd just end up not using an Electric type at all. They're just too frail and most of them lack the power or coverage to contribute outside of KOing things weak to their type. On top of that, the Magnet is one of the latest type boosting items accessible (ties with Pixie Plate, only Dragon Fang is later), so Electric types in general are at a disadvantage for a big portion of the game unless you're lucky enough to get a Zap Plate from mining. Galv is alright, Amph is alright, Rotom is good but incredibly late, Vikavolt and Electivire's evolutions are unnecessarily late. @GGLL What makes Mag so good is that even though it won't sweep a fight like Blaziken or Flygon, it will always contribute in some matter because of Sturdy (except for like one fight vs. a mon that ignores it). Even if that's just trading 1 for 1 with something it can nuke, paralyzing something like Mewtwo or Arceus, or laying down Electric Terrain to get rid of insane field effects for several turns.

I hope Magnemite is only being pushed back to around Luna; it offers good role compression but it's not broken (unlike Stufful/Bunnelby/Trapinch) and isn't a huge fan of the Fighting->Fire->Ground gym train. Plus, this is around when you start getting other really good Steels through non-mystery egg RNG means. X-items are dumb and I'm glad to see them gone. Moxie Mightyena sweeping Shade because a single X Speed makes it faster than everything he has is a crime "battle items axed, magnemite axed, see you next week" from today's dev blog

wrt mansion: Yes, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the same. wrt Melia, there's general spoilers in here but I've double spoiled everything that's past the end of Blacksteeple where your other playthrough is

The rants are the best part of the series, and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of the game since it only gets... weirder from here. I'd be interested in your thoughts on boss fights in the manner you mentioned

The choice item from the hiker is obtainable after adrienn iirc, but it requires clear weather.

Trapinch is obtainable before the sixth gym via trade. It should be moved back next version because dragon dance makes it insane but devs might disagree Roggenrola is from an event before the 9th gym. You'll want to breed it and use the egg due to a quest much later in the game, though. It used to be obtainable in the wild in previous versions where it didn't have sandstream

Your guess is right, you need to invest in azurine island

You can get treecko after Ciel, but the sceptile line is pretty meh anyway Snivy line doesn't need contrary to be good, overgrow with sub, coil, and seed is a good setup combo I'd consider rowlet (unique typing early, great in the fern mirror, good movepool, not obtainable until super late otherwise), chespin, turtwig, or snivy. Snivy's role as a setup sweeper can be duplicated by other mons like lilligant though, but its natural bulk helps. Chespin and turtwig are both useful because they get good coverage moves that grass types tend to lack, although torterra falls off as the game goes on. Chikorita is obtained really early even though screens own so it's not worth Bulbasaur is pretty replaceable imo, there's other bulky grass like tangrowth and it doesn't get a good poison STAB. I'd probably take rowlet

Yes, there's two more places you have to find him, and you can get to both as soon as you've started the quest

The gang the PC joins doesn't really do anything bad. You help them rob someone who is buying pokemon from the black market anyway, stamp out another gang, then help them get proper/legitimate jobs later. Honestly, they're better than many of the gym leaders you interact with That said I dislike silent protagonists in any sort of story-based game. Video games just aren't the medium to give the player that sort of freedom over the character of the MC so you're invariably going to be railroaded in some fashion

Scarf isn't obtainable afaik I'd just run Specs with like one of Surf/Scald, Hydro Pump, Moonblast, then like... Hidden Power or utility moves because none of the good TMs are available yet. Having status moves + a choice item is still fine since if a fight really calls for it, you can use the status move and switch out/sac or just change to a non-choice item before the fight depending

It wasn't pushed back. I think it's obtainable even earlier if anything since before it required you to beat Shelly and/or Shade? I don't remember for sure. Anyway, as of e17 it's obtainable immediately after beating Corey

The PBS files are public and all the info can be grabbed from there, although calculating exact stats requires some legwork For the Event mon moves I have to go find the events in RPG Maker edit: I can also confirm that the event Growlithe from the Police Officer quest is hard coded to always be Female double edit: You always get a Water Stone from Craudberry's house, regardless of which gang you chose

If you're still working on this, would you be interested in the full movelists/ability/held items/stats for major battles? I can also get movelists for event pokemon (I think 99% of the time it's their levelup list + one of 0-3 egg moves)

My experience only using teams of 6 non-rotating (I have nearly 20 different files): In Episode 16 the EXP curve/grind was fine because we got so much money that one could spend a majority of it on Rare Candies and avoid the grind that way. Episode 17 reduced money gain by something like 70-80% which makes this no longer viable, so even just using 6 pokemon you'll have to grind Grand Hall/Indra to not be mid 70s going into Titania, which is super unpleasant unless your team is basically ideal. Personally, I feel the EXP problems stem from the lack of random trainers in the second half of the game. Once you get into Route 1, trainer density between major battles goes down despite requiring more battles to level up relative to lower levels. It feels like I'm expected to do all the sidequests and very sparsely use repels, especially in Episode 17 content where there are very few random trainers (Titania's gym has like 5 trainers but each only have 2 pokemon, then there's a few random dudes hiding out in the desert). That said, making it easy to grind to level cap would make the game significantly easier--having lost a file and had to play through from a backup 6 gyms back, using the debugger to put my mons at level cap trivialized most encounters. However, there is technically nothing stopping people from doing this already totally legitimately if they're willing to spend an extra hour or so at the grand hall/Indra.

USUM changes aren't implemented

Level up changes Egg move changes https://pastebin.com/uK2YREX2 lists tutor moves in a format that matches the PBS, should be fully updated for USUM. It doesn't have alternate forms (Alola, then stuff like Deoxys/Wormadam) since those are handled elsewhere. It does include the new USUM mons but those can be find and replaced out if it messes with something I don't think it'd be that hard to make a mod that updates this stuff but I'm also lazy and idk if it'd conflict with other mods.

Community->public release changes (according to running a diff on the trainer.txt file) Other corrections/changes