Hymdall

I would hereby like to nominate Sawsbuck for C+. A Pokemon of average qualities with average utility, and here's why. + EARLY availability. Right after Gym #1, if memory serves. + Normal/Grass is an interesting typing, leading to few resistances but many weaknesses. However, Ghost immunity and the resistances of Grass make this deer a good check to weaker Water and Ground types. + Two very nice abilities. Sap Sipper blanks Grass attacks whilst boosting your already good Attack stat, whilst Chlorophyll turns you into a monster under the Sun. Serene Grace is great and all, but not the right movepool outside of Bounce, which is currently unavailable. Perhaps the addition of Slash And Burn in V8 will help this out. - Relatively late evolution, given it's only a two stage evolution, so you'll be stuck with Deerling until Level 34. Awkward. - 80/70/70 bulk isn't great, but it's certainly passable. Enough to take a hit and nuke something back + Speaking of that Nuke, let's talk 100 base attack with 95 base speed. Not too shabby! + Movepool is interesting. Megahorn through Heart Scale if you care, Jump Kick, Double Edge, Horn Leech, Leech Seed, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Agility(breed), Baton Pass(Breed), and Nature Power. Those are some of the more notable ones, but the power IS there. - With that said, it takes a while to get Double Edge. Level 52. Yikes! Your best Normal STAB for most of the game will be Facade, but once you get Double-Edge, Sawsbuck turns into an absolute powerhouse. Of note, however, is that with the addition of Return once you have access to West Gearen you have a weaker but less suicidal Normal STAB. Power or longevity, the choice is yours. + All in all, a solid overall choice. There are better Pokemon, and there are worse Pokemon. Don't be afraid to give it a shot, you'd be surprised how strong it can be. - It really needs some of the stronger TMs like Swords Dance and Thunder Wave to truly shine(Yes it gets TWave. Why? Who knows) Editted to have Pros with + and Cons with -, rip.

So given I answered the questions in a relatively short post, I figure I should probably also put my overall thoughts on the update as well. Under the cut because uuuuuugh I get rambly.

So in my Strength driven exploration I uh....I found another Card Key Shard. Location in the spoiler tag. Is this Jan pushing Beldum back or something else entirely? Of note, I still seem to have 3 Card Key Shards in my inventory so uhhh...RIP people who wanted Beldum earlier.

Krystal seems chill. I wonder what her deal besides being Nim's sibling is. Speaking of Nim, is she ok? Or is she still feeling a bit...rocky? I think? Been a while. I didn't expose Flora, personally. I of course made a backup save, but everything I'm hearing about GDC is rubbing me the wrong way, so I'm taking the morally dubious road to see where it leads. Side note: I chose to explore with Erin so there are probably things I missed. Experimentation for later. Given that I didn't expose her, this leads me to facing off against Flora. Her team's interesting...the problem is I have a well trained Vivillon that I purified. Set up on the Ludicolo, rip her team in half with Bug Buzz + Hurricane. GG. She didn't stand a chance. Aelita and co are probably somewhere in GDC...Perhaps. Who knows at this point? I'm betting that chick in Darchlight Woods is somehow related, but is not any of the missing folks. I hope that foggy area gets dealt with soon. And yes, I've done the manor sidequest. Jan has spoken that the Light Ball isn't the true reward, so I have to assume neither is the TM we find. This warrants more exploration. Back to the manor!

We have a Mining Kit, and mineable rocks. I'm not 100% sure, but I have to guess the Odd Keystone is mineable. I'll test later.

Couple TMs I've found, other than the one Banana mentioned Image for first TM in 2nd spoiler Not actually pictured: The TM itself because I picked it up already, oops.

Somewhat noteworthy thing, Douse is considered a HM. Apparently. Probably the same issue with Magma Drift reported in the Wall O' Bugs

I cannot agree with the Makuhita advice enough. Hariyama puts in the finest of work during the midgame, with the combination of Close Combat, Knock Off, and Fake out(MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T SHEER FORCE OR FAKE OUT IS USELESS). If you can help it, get your Makuhita/Hariyama Thick Fat! So useful. Also, if you ever nab Ducklett(I forget where it is now in Ep 15), Swanna can do some good work if you have an open slot. It's not great, but if you bring it into the late game it's quite strong with Hurricane, and has some good utility in Tailwind and the like. Arcanine is also fantastic, just make sure you get the moves you want before evolving Growlithe. As for one final point, given that your Espurr is Male, if it doesn't have Own Tempo(the HA tha tturns into Prankster upon evolution), ditch it quickly. Female Meowstic is a powerhouse early-midgame, but without all the useful status moves, Male Meowstic is kind of trash IMO.

Team is looking good, though I don't really like keeping the TMX moves, given that we can now get rid of them normally. Hidden Power...whatever you have on it, or Nature Power is a good substitute on Typhlosion. Nature Power puts in a lot of work, you'd be surprised.

Since you're at Route 1, that means you can definitely do a lot of things. Nidoking is an absolute powerhouse, and you should have Sludge Wave at this point. It's a bit stronger than Poison Jab, even with Nidoking's attack stat. Just watch out in doubles. As for some other notable things: if you want to backtrack a bit(I.E all the way back to the underground railnet and later onyx ward)you can get yourself Moonblast on Gardevoir via the move relearner, as well as evolve Magneton into Magnezone if you go back to the Power Plant with Shade. As for water types others have mentioned, if it's raining you can go to Coral Ward and find yourself a Lotad if you want to invest time into training it. It simultaneously solves your Water AND Grass type problem. Just make sure you don't evolve it into Lombre until it gets Giga Drain.

Yeesh, don't remind me about all the hunting we're going to do. I remember exploring the full force of Ametrine Mountain in Episode 15. That place was a hassle sometimes and not realizing how the Dive spots linked up....and also finding the exits underwater. On that subject btw, for Episode 16 if we have any exits underwater like in Ametrine, for the love of god please make them more noticeable. I know where they are NOW but man, I had to squint to find them, especially when you went down to get into them. Anyways on the subject of hunting, I have to assume Azurine Lake is going to be the main offender. Also putting good money on finally acquiring the Super Rod, so we CAN fish up things like Shellder or Slowpoke. Commander has it right on the grinding part as well: while there are a surprising amount of people who will grind up new Pokemon in each episode(myself amongst them), there's probably a majority who don't do that and have a relatively set but flexible team. As for my predictions of the big additions....Not including the Gen 1 waters(not Magikarp. RIP all your Gyarados dreams). If we get a new trio of starter events, money is on Charmander/Mudkip/Treecko. Charizard is pretty balanced at this point, being just a good solid attacker with some noticeable drawbacks, Mudkip got axed for Squirtle last episode, but I think at this point there's not much downside to reintroducing it to the ecosystem, and I'm still not sure why Treecko hasn't been added. Sceptile is kind of an odd case where it REALLY needs a Life Orb or choice item to be effective...at least in my opinion. Some other things we might get are Skarmory(AFTER Adrien, if xe are indeed the Gym Battle for this episode), the other Bug you didn't choose in the Heracross/Pinsir event, and maybe one of the pseudos we haven't gotten yet, likely the Goomy line given that its arguably the weakest of the remaining pseudos. If we do indeed fight Adrien this Episode, I can definitely see us getting 1 or 2 of the more dangerous Steel types in the aforementioned Skarmory, Ferrothorn, or Klefki. Probably no Scyther though, RIP my Scizor dreams. As for a small prediction on the events to get some of these? Hard money on if Klefki is an event, Adrien is at the center of it, and probably some sort of cleaning at Azurine Island for Goomy. Definitely excited for whatever comes in Episode 16. Speculation can only go so far!

Gengar was actually axed inbetween episode 14 and 15(Rip to those who started in Ep 15), so technically it was in game before then. That said, Cloyster and Talonflame, as mentioned before, kind of dunk on pretty much everything ever. Slowking/Slowbro are kind of peculiar to me, but I can see why Ame hasn't put them in yet. Proper setup can make those things nearly impossible to kill, with combination of Regnerator and reliable recovery in Slack Off, alongside good STAB in Water/Psychic. With that said, I have to assume in Episode 16 we're going to get maybe one or two of the missing pieces at this point. I'd probably guess the Slowpoke line given it probably can do the least amount of damage to game balance.

Good to know Doubles AI is hopefully being fixed this update. They are....stupid, in a word. Also to the bolded, I have but one response. CONSTANT, FEARFUL SCREAMING.

Obligatory Beldum mention because GOOD LORD. There's a recording somewhere from an old stream I did of me being sick one Sunday evening and deciding to try and catch it in Episoe 14. 45 minutes later I'm asleep with no beldum. That didn't end well. Anyways, special mention to Nidoking because good god. Casino grinding + getting it a Moon Stone + making sure you evolve it at level....43? I believe so you learn Poison Jab AND Earth Power if you don't have SLudge Wave yet????? Yeah Nidoking(and by extension Nidoqueen too) are pretty much unstoppable threats once you get everything rolling for them. Hail to the King and Queen, baby.

Ohhhh man. I do a lot of random prep between updates for various fangames, but I don't think anything will trump the nightmare of breeding I did between Episode 14 and 15. Gonna put a bunch of screenshots in the spoiler tag but good god I think I spent a good 40 minutes alone trying to find a blasted Stunfisk so I could get a Thunderbolt Gengar. This doesn't include the time I spent actually FINDING episode 12/13 for breeding purposes. Also included are the things I have bred since finishing Episode 15, sooooo....yeah. Incoming.

EDIT: IGNORE THAT I'M DUMB AND DIDN'T READ THINGS AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Anyways, I'm kind of curious to see if Simon indeed has any more plot relevance. Even more intriguing would perhaps be if he has any different dialogue if you followed his small sidequest through. Also, Aster! Where is he? How is he dealing with Eclipse's....frankly brutal murder? I want to see more of the other half of the miniboss squad we faced off against a bunch.

Looking good on the animations! Ice Beam calls to mind the 3rd Gen one, I think. Always a good choice~ Moonblast took me a couple watches but I'm sold, for sure.

Thank you~ Regardless, I am kind of curious to see what the E4 has in store down the line. But first, we still have 5 gyms to deal with. Amaria, Hardy, Titania, Adrienn, Saphira. I'm not particularly looking forward to whatever nonsense they bring, especially Hardy. Rock is usually an early game Gym, which means when we ace him he's gonna be packing heat. Money is on Mega Aerodactyl alongside a Dragon Dance Rock Head Tyrantrum. Let the bodies hit the floor, I guess.

I was reading this thread and a lot of good points came up. Episode hopping for TM breeding/catching axed pokemon(I have not personally tested the latter, so I don't even know if that works), sneaking by that pesky dude in the Department Store, adding in starters for monotype runs, speedhacks, and all sorts of other assorted nonsense can change how you personally play the game. I will not lie, I did a BUNCH of episode hopping back during Episode 14 to get decent movesets on some of my Pokemon. Does it make the game easier? Possibly, but most likely not by much. For me, it makes me feel like I have a much fairer chance. There are still going to be times when I get bodybagged by a Gym Leader/Team Meteor fight. No matter how well I prepare, if I'm going in blind I WILL get caught off guard and dunked on if I'm not careful. Having more diverse movesets doesn't change that fact, it only gives me countermeasures if I have them in my party. Does this mean I'm a scumbag? Hell no, at least in my opinion. This is the way I chose to play the game. I know the consequences if I screw up: save file corruption and all that. That's the risk you take when you tinker with things like that. Pokemon Reborn, and by extension fangames in general, are largely single player experiences. Multiplayer aspects exist in some, for sure, but most people are going to play the game for the single player campaign, and nothing else. How you do that single player experience is up to the player. Solo runs, monotype runs, nuzlockes, and yes, even "cheating". What Bob does in his save file won't effect Alice, unless the two directly interact. On that note, if you go into multiplayer with a team of nothing but pokemon with 252 EVs and 31 IVs in EVERY stat, then you deserve to get some sort of comeuppance, because now you are directly effecting someone else's gameplay. Alice could have a painstakingly bred team that still lacks a bit because the RNG is a cruel mistress, and Bob just ruthlessly stomped all over her hard work. There is a give and take to that last point, however. If both players agree to do what Bob did, then it's fine, at least in my eyes. Both people are on even ground, and now it's arguably a matter of skill who wins that battle. In cases like this, I'm all for things like Hackmons, there's just so much crazy crap you can do when given free reign. So go ahead, do that in your own save file or with someone who has mutually agreed to the madness. But when the multiplayer comes, keep it clean if you aren't in that type of scenario. You never know when you might run into that Alice, you know?

I'm with Commander, here. It takes a bit of thinking/experimentation and maybe a little breeding, but every leader in Reborn CAN possibly be swept, particularly if you're a bit lucky with the early gyms. Curse Muk with Shadow Sneak 6-0s Shade 90% of the time if you set up 2-3 Curses, easy money given Muk's stats. Bennet, should we have access to something like the Choice Scarf, could EASILY be 6-0'd by Choice Scarf Tyrantrum, Rock Head or otherwise. Name a Bug type he's shown that can survive a Head Smash. I'll wait. That's still not to say he won't be a threat. Focus Sashes, bad luck with Rock moves' tendency to be 90 Accuracy at BEST for competitive moves outside of Power Gem/HP Rock, and just the possibility of stuff like the Rock weakening berry, the name of which escapes me at the time of writing. Volcarona will probably be the biggest threat, but the problem is Bug/Fire gets bodied by Dragon, meaning if you have even a Druddigon, you should be in okay enough shape. If he rocks HP Ice for his 3rd attacking move on a QD set, that means either A)He lacks one STAB or B)things like Swampert bodybag it. Fire/Bug is not good against Water/Ground without Giga Drain/Hurricane if he decides to go the Rain route. Bennet in rain frankly terrifies me, because those of us who played Gen 5 OU remember the terror that was Hurricane Volcarona. Can't sleep on that special attack stat, ever. Not to mention Volc is SURPRISINGLY fat, so be careful.

Urge to light flowers on fire....not rising? I LOVE the new field effect, and good shit to Amethyst for sticking with making a field that is literally 5x more than a normal field effect. Can't wait to try it out/abuse it. Feels like something that would happen in the new flower beds of Reborn city, perhaps even in Adrienn's Gym? Unlikely since it doesn't do much for xem outside of Florges.

Ooooh, looking good! Reminds me of Gen...3? Or was it 4? Psychic. Looks good, and extra bonus points it has the trademark sound effect. You know the one! Assuming that's actually possible in Essentials, at least.