Hymdall

I quite like mixed Archeops, and pretty much what's been said is what I'd do. Earth Power/Acrobatics(or Fly if you prefer for doubles shenanigans/item usage)/U-turn/Rock STAB of your choosing be it Rock Tomb or Rock Slide. ...If Rock Tomb is available I actually forget at this point. Anyways, I like the Naive set, it's solid. Also I'd go Earth Power > Knock Off just for pseudo EdgeQuake coverage with Rock STAB + Earth Power.

From what I understand, when Shadow Ball is readded to the game, those who got Shadow Ball from Shade will instead find Shadow Claw there, and vice versa(if you got Shadow Claw, Shadow Ball will be there anyways)

Lots of good examples here, I can also wholly recommend Swalot or Garbodor(WITHOUT WEAK ARMOR)to make Noel's life a living hell. Both get Stockpile and Acid Spray, as well as Toxic and Sludge Bomb. Sure they're one dimensional but they basically setup stockpiles on Wigglytuff, and proceed to turn the Ghibli Field into a post apocalyptic toxic wasteland. Fun! Also of note if you have some trouble deciding between both: Swalot also learns Yawn, which is great utility. On the other hand Garbodor learns Toxic Spikes and Recycle, so make of that what you will. Sometimes you just gotta bulk 'em out.

Pretty much everything I've wanted to say has been said, but it doesn't hurt to reiterate a couple points. EXPLORE. PLEASE, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND EXPLORE EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY. You will find so many good and useful things simply because you decided to talk to Random Npc #3002. Event mons, held items, ect ect. Speaking of Event mons...safe often! Lots of times you won't be able to get an event pokemon naturally until much later in the game. Sometimes they even get axed in the early game because they're just that good. Pick up what you can! I cannot stress the point about having a varied team enough. You're going to run into a lot of tough and tricky scenarios throughout the game, ranging from fast teams, slow teams, teams designed to break your normal plans in half, and even teams that prey on people who overthink too much. Sometimes the dumbest solution is the best solution, don't be afraid to lose and find out something that works. I know my first playthrough the 4th gym really sat me on my butt and made me reconsider my life choices. Experiment, throw crap at the wall and see what sticks, you're bound to figure out SOMETHING. Two more things before I let you get on with your day: First off, don't discount a Pokemon because it's not seen super often in standard competitive play. A lot of the time they're good because of their expansive TM movepool, and we don't have a lot of those in Reborn right now. Which leads me to my last point: natural level up movepool(and egg moves if you're into that)are KING. Empoleon is my all time favorite Pokemon, but when I chose Piplup I regretted it hard late game because that evo line's level up movepool is less than stellar. If a Pokemon has a strong level up moveset that takes advantage of its strengths(golem is a good example) give that Pokemon a second look, because they might just be with you need.

I agree with these, I just forget off the top of my head if EQ is possible at this point via past ep breeding. Probably? I think it shares an egg group with Smeargle, which you can also get Rock Slide and Bulk Up from because of how breeding worked in previous eps. Anyways, definitely recommend some speed, your fastest speed tier is base 85, and that's Nidoking, and even then you don't have a + speed nature on it. Without repeating the same type, it's hard to up your speed that much. My idea is to go Honchkrow > Bisharp(similar ideas, lose poison immunity but gain ground immunity + flying STAB over Steel STAB) and Jolteon > Eelektross. You lose coverage yes, but you gain an insanely fast and strong special attacker, another Electric immunity(the loss of Poison immunity isn't huge, you have something that 4x resists it in Nidoking anyways), and more importantly you keep the Sucker Punch utility on Honchkrow, trading Defiant and SD for Roost(if you want to breed it in previous eps using I want to say Swanna?)and Moxie. You also gain +1 to the base speed stat so that's also a plus, if horribly minor. Trying to think of decently fast Pokemon with good immunities that are available is tricky.

You know one of these days I'll start being more active so I can get to Ace Status In all seriousness though, it's good to hear we've finally hit Alpha Testing. Best of luck to the testers, here's hoping y'all find the bugs quickly and efficiently, and that nothing goes TOO horribly wrong.

Regarding the whole tiers discussion, I have a small piece. I'm very much on the side of "use whatever the hell you want" because I championed Garbodor through the Arceus fight, and a little beyond. Hell, I still think that a lot of lower tiered Pokemon in competitive outperform some of the higher tiered mons in game simply because they have a better natural movepool. Above all else in Reborn and fangames in general, your natural level up moveset is KING. Anyways, tl;dr, use whatever the heck you want and enjoy the game. As for legendaries, I can imagine us only getting one Legendary Pre Elite 4. And that's Phione. Because Ame hates us. Base 80s across the board boiz

If there's one crowning achievement I'm proud of more than anything else, it was Round 2 against Shade in my 2nd playthrough, still on Episode 14, before his nerf in Ep 15. My first playthrough had me grinding for hours after countless failures, capturing a Duskull to evolve into a Dusclops(that later ended up on my final team), and more. 2nd playthrough, I was ready. Instead of Primeape like I had in the first go around, I had big baddy Hariyama, whom I had named Rufus after the Street Fighter IV character. Great bulk and a powerful Knock Off allowed me to take some sweet, SWEET revenge on the ghostly gadabout, and I don't think I've had a more satisfying revenge in the entirety of my playthroughs.

Fairy Tale field is neat! Probably Titania's for sure, I would say there's an argument for Saphira but that Steel buff to nail Dragon types is no good and we also have the Dragon's Den field, which pretty much is a lock for Saphira unless some twist of fate(read: Ame's whimsy)changes that. Scizor is pretty much a monstrosity on this field, so we'll likely see Titania rocking that. Effectively 3.5x(I am doing math right here, yeah?) power Bullet Punches if Technician? Ow. Better get your Steel resists ready people, or else you're gonna be holding that L.

Yeah I used a lot of the time between episodes to plan teams out and train some less used threats. Shoutouts to Abomasnow and many of the Ametrine Mountain pokemon.

I'm far too lazy to dig it up, but I know Amethyst(or at least someone on Dev team I forget)posted a screenshot of the Reputation point in the code, with the caveat that we can't actually retroactively get points. Decisions in previous episodes are treated as null and void for this so you basically have to do a new playthrough to get the perfect reputation you want. At least, unless something has changed.

Team seems fine, Camerupt is always good if you want something that amounts to a camel shaped nuke. When we inevitably get the Cameruptite, things are going to go boom even harder. Obligatory mention of Duclsops/noir as a good Trick Room setter/support member, as well, I used that in my first playthrough back in Ep 14 to some mild success. If you go as high as base 80 speed for Chandelure, Medicham is fantastic at base 70 speed for Trick Room. Less bulky than Hariyama but hits so much harder.

By god this thread exploded when I looked away-I mean yes good discussion is good. ANYWAYS First off, silent protag jokes are my favorite, and that screenshot from earlier is fantastic. Speaking of that screenshot, insert Mega Ring hype here wooo. It is getting to be about the time when I feel we'd get them. Ciel is the first one to have a "True" mega, and a particularly strong one too if you aren't prepared. As has been mentioned, our mega options range from okay(Banette) to insanely good with small prep(Pinsir). For context, Pinsir gets its big claim to fame, Aerilate Quick Attack via breeding, and we have multiple things available that have it(Surskit, for one). We DO lack the coverage moves it tends to run, either EQ or Close Combat, with the former missing its TM and Close Combat only being breedable by....Heracross. Awkward. I won't be surprised if we get some Mega Evolutions however. I mentioned this a while ago but I think something like Cameruptite and definitely Audinite would be fine to give. Trick Room teams lack a little bit of power in Reborn at the moment, at least in my opinion, and giving us Mega Camerupt would heavily alleviate that.....and with the Amplifield Rock coming as well, I really hope Trick Room gets some nice toys in Ep 16. Ame PLEASE Also, I am curious on the Items pocket thing, and I do highly suspect getting the Key Stone will be a thing unless Ame just...programmed it weird. And now for my Patented "What Pokemon Are We Gonna Get Access To THIS Episode?" section because I did this a while ago but I feel like it might be better to start some other discussion with the whole IV discourse going on. Anyways, moving along. First off, we tend to get a new trio of starters every episode right? Or at least new ones made available. We can rule out Froakie, Torchic, and likely Snivy just because I'm about 80% sure those will be the last we can get. Their abilities are way too strong. So that leaves us with Bulbasaur, Charmander, Mudkip(rip yung kipper as of Ep 15), Treecko, Chimchar, and Oshawott. ....Coincidentally, I'm pretty sure if you just switch Bulbasaur and Treecko in those lists, you have the groupings we'll probably get in various episodes, likely with Treecko/Charmander/Mudkip going first. Moving on, I have good money on getting the Super Rod this episode, so rejoice Staryu fans...maybe. Given that's basically 4 pokemon added, I have to assume we'll be getting at least 2 more "top tier" species, and I'm guessing the Shellder line is gonna be one of them...that or the Gastly line returning from the AXED REALM. Alongside that I think we'll probably get one pseudo, and given that Ame mentioned she finished the GUM Room, and where that lays, I, much like many others, feel that Goomy is likely our next pseudo. ...Hopefully it won't be as painful to get as Beldum is.

I am kind of curious on the whole "saying goodbye" meaning. As has been mentioned previously, it could mean a character steps out, a death, or even just the "rebirth" of a character...someone being Reborn, so to speak. There' a lot of ways to interpret it and not a lot of evidence to back any claim up. Will Radomus' scheming come to bite him in the ass? Will Taka's betrayal of Team Meteor be dealt with in typical Meteor fashion? Will one of our companions meet an untimely demise at the hands of....god knows what at this point? Who knows, really. For all we know, Solaris could just walk off a cliff and that's the character we say goodbye to. On another note, I'm kind of curious if we'll be able to finish up the Corey Pokemon sidequest. What are we missing at this point, Skrelp, Grimer, and Crobat? I know we got Croagunk, Nidorina, and Skuntank. Unless I missed the Grimer, we should only have 3 left, so I'm kind of curious how that'll end and if there's a tangible reward besides some neat Poison types and extra story progression in the side.

So probably way late since I kind of vanished for a bit, bUT HOLY SNAPPLE THE STARLIGHT FIELD IS NICE.

So I'm unsure if this is an Essentials issue or even remotely fixable, but Parental Bond(See: the Demon Galvantula fight) does not work with spread moves. Quote Bulbapedia: If a move could hit multiple targets (including allies), such as Earthquake and Rock Slide, it will not strike twice; however, if it can only hit a single Pokémon, such as in a Single Battle or if using a move that can hit multiple targets when only one target is in range, it will strike twice. If a move could hit multiple Pokémon but only hits one due to missing the other Pokémon, it will only strike once. Electroweb is a spread move, so it should fall under this rule. Perhaps this has been noted and has been looked into and deemed unfixable(Bless you Pokemon Essentials), so if so, oops my bad.

You're referring to the Mysidia(?) region, yeah? I am curious about that, since we basically know....pretty much nothing about it. Mayhap we'll see that poor train conductor's daughter? Maybe we'll give her an Eevee and receive something in return, that'd be neat as hell.

Also has to bump Empoleon more. Access to the other STAB move that benefits its stats! Finally! We're basically one Ice TM away from a very good movepool, so we may need to reevaluate the penguin.

Must've missed that in an earlier post, freaking rip me today, blegh. It's not in front of the back area. It's upstairs. You remember the room with the TV and the two stairways? Go up the stairs. Should theoretically be there. If not, check the left room upstairs again, make sure it's not in the bed.

Glad to see people have similar ideas to me on this. As to this Anyways, I did a little more testing. Going at night changes nothing. Have yet to bring a Pikachu though, so perhaps that'll change things later. More to come.

During the segment with him and Flora before you fall down into Naughty Jail for Trainers Who Trespass on Bladestar Turf, he distinctly mentions recognizing you and having met you before. I don't quite recall this myself, and Flora calls him out on it. Perhaps he is also someone from the past, or there's a doppleganger of us running around and that can't be anything resembling good.

So I'm not sure if there has been a topic made for discussing Darchlight Manor yet, and if there has been, mods feel free to lock/delete this thread and direct me/others to the proper thread. With that said, here we go. Of course, this whole thread comes with the major caveat of HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE DARCHLIGHT MANOR QUEST. GO DO THAT FIRST IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND HAVEN'T. I'll wait. Now, if you're done, let's go on a magical journey to christmasland-I MEAN Darchlight Manor I want to know more, so if anyone has any thoughts on how to proceed/proof that there is more to the sidequest, please put it here, with screenshots if possible!

Insert Gif of cheerleaders here. You got this Ame! Also missed it earlier, but Smeargle did a fantastic job on Confusion. Looks very cool!

To my knowledge, assuming this only replaced one of the others....The other 3 are in the Inkay Help Request Area, Backup Xen Lab, and atop Valor Mountain where you have the double battle against Zetta and Geara, in one of the rocks there. One of those possibly was replaced, so that warrants some testing later.