ShogokiX

As far as i remember Reborn EP19 will have a password system that will allow you to enable certain features for a new safe file. These features include things that are currently enabled through the use of mods, like using any HM without the need to teach it to one of your mons, as long as you have earned the required badge and have the HM itself in your inventory. Even Randomizer, Nuzlocke or Monotype should be included in that password system. At least that was the plan back then as far as i remember. Not sure what changed since that announcement back in July 2019.... But of course a hard level cap is also a possible option to include through this password system. Yet one thing that i am not sure about any more was the question of whether you NEED to use a fresh save file to use passwords, or if you can enable/disable passwords somehow on existing saves....

Some people here seem to think that Reborn EP19 is going to be so easy that anyone could steamroll the game.... Well, that gives me a great idea^^ Hey @Amethyst and @andracass, what do you think would be the average time to beat Reborn EP19 starting from a fresh save? Just throw us a number of hours that you think sounds somewhat doable for experienced players. I'd like to see those who claim that Reborn EP19 will be too easy to beat the game in half that time....

Good news, really! Can't wait to see which Pokémon will be added to early game, and how many in total. Yeah, i don't really think that the new early game Pokémon will have THAT big of an overall impact. It will most likely be a selection of mons that are overall considered to be "weak" among their types. While Cass did say we will have at least 2 mons per type that "qualify" at the point we can challenge the first gym, we most certainly won't get a Drilbur or a Gible that early in the game. No worries there on my part. And just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it. I have to admit that i never used Kricketune in any of my runs, even though i always got it early on. Everyone says that thing destroys the first gyms, yet i found Caterpie to be a way better choice in the long run, so i trained it to get Butterfree asap. If there is one thing Reborn has taught me, it's to turn Pokémon that are generally discarded as "weak" into instruments of mass destruction.

I'm all for it! But this Unfezant HAS to be named Staraptor in battle for the lulz! Jokes aside, i got two real question here about the changes to early game encounters: Question No. 1: So you said players can encounter a wider variety of Pokémon early on in the game, which i really like, as it gives players new strategies to work with. But how does this affect the early game wild encounters in general? Will you just add new Pokémon to the early game, or will you also move some Pokémon that are currently early game encounters to a later point in the game? Question No. 2: Will those Pokémon that are being added to early game removed from their current EP18 wild encounter locations, or can you still find them whereever they are found in EP18?

Well, well.... That new post on the dev blog looks promising. Okay, some of these things, like the mining overhaul, were already a confirmed thing, but still, all in all these changes would make for quite the interesting new possibilities. With all these changes i kinda want to do a fresh run once EP19 goes live, instead of using my existing end of EP18 saves. And with lots of new mons to be obtainable a lot earlier in the game, not only does that open up tons of new strategies for each gym, i also need to update this wild encounter list that i created for myself a while ago......

Cave? Beware of caves! A great danger lurks inside caves. There is a mysterious shadow waiting there to ambush evildoers who dare to trespass on his domain. He's a dark knight who strikes fear into the hearts of evil! He is ZUBATMAN!!!

Suffering, huh? I actually managed to finish a playthrough of EP18 by only using Pokémon that are weak to the teams of the next boss or gym leader i'm up against... I just now realize that i never once told you what i named the poor trainer on that save ^^' Yeah......since that run was nothing short of masochism, i named that trainer Masohara XD

Haha... Don't get too hyped up just yet. It will still take some time until it's done.

So it IS still a possibility then. But as much as i'd like to see an official Reborn hard mode difficulty added to the game, i think it is way more important to get the features done that are supposed to be in EP19 for sure. If there is still time (and motivation) left after completing that, you could still decide whether or not you want to add new features with separate updates in the future. I mean, the release of EP19 doesn't mean that's it, for good, right?

I mean, if there are REALLY people who want it to be even more difficult, there were talks about a new hard mode coming with EP19, although i heard that this optional hard mode difficulty may be cancelled, or maybe even got cancelled for good already. Maybe Ame or Cass can give us a clear statement on the current status?

Playing with your favorite Mons is not a self-imposed challenge per se, but it can BECOME a self-imposed challenge if you absolutely refuse to accept that your favorite mons will not get you past the gym or boss you are currently stuck at. Yes, most people would naturally tend to use Pokémon they like, but sometimes, as much as you like to keep your Pikachu and not evolve it under any circumstances, unless you are Ash Ketchum and can bend the rules of Pokémon battles as you like, you will be forced to accept that your Pikachu won't do much against a team of fully evolved high level Pokémon. Also we should not forget that Reborn is supposed to be way more challenging than any official Pokémon game. Of course, the highest level of challenge will always come from playing against experienced competetive players. But Reborn does a very good job of testing your skills and your ability to adapt to a given situation in battle. And i really want to see how far the challenge can go with the night club.

Well, you both have some fair points there. I've seen quite a share of let's plays and live streams for Reborn and Rejuv, and quite a lot of them had their own limited selection of favorites that they kept using. But yes, you do have the option to catch lots of different mons, or to just use a select few, that's up to you. In that regard Reborn and Rejuv are no different than the official games, as you COULD train just your fav six mons, or capture and train every mon that crosses your path. Of course how difficult certain parts of the game are is entirely dependant on both your preparation for what's up next, and your overall skill in general. And some other factors, like your mons numbers (talking EV and IV here), or your luck with critical hits at the right/worst time.... And then there is that thing with self imposed challenges. And i know quite a lot about that. I nuzlocked Reborn, i mono typed it, i even beat it by ONLY using mons that are WEAK to the teams the gymleaders or boss type characters use. Yes, you can go through hell with that, but it's your own choice to do that or not.

a "jackhammer", huh? You sure you didn't mean something else that vibrates? But yeah, it's nice to see that number slowly climbing up. As i have now completed all self imposed Reborn challenges on my list, i will now start trying to beat all Persona games that i own (which is every game except Persona 1 and 2, had those in the past, but well....somehow got lost, but i don't care any more) on the highest difficulty AND try to go 100% on all of them (which for some requires to beat them a second time on NG+). That might keep me occupied for a while.....a month or so... maybe two... XD

It's nice to see some other opinions on my post about the 3 things that could be done to improve official Pokémon. At least the point to include terrain into battle seems to be something we can agree on. @laggless01 also had quite the interesting response in terms of the second point on the list. Gyms that are build around a center strategy, like a certain move, or even a combination of 2 or 3 moves. The trick room is an idea that i like. Reborn actually does this with Radomus' gym. As for the third part, i am well aware that not every Pokémon veteran is looking for the level of challenge that comes with Reborn and Rejuv. Howver, it's just like with the Dark Souls franchise: Some people like to get their butts handed to them, and for some, even that is still not enough. I do see @The Swordsman's point with Reborn being quite difficult towards its second half of the game, but, in my opinion that is, as you slowly get closer to not only very high leveled mons, and quite the huge pool of possible mons to pick from, but also to the point where mega evolution and z-moves are available to the player, it becomes quite the delicate act of balance to keep up a decent amount of challenge, while also trying not to be too difficult, so that beating it becomes almost impossible.

While this is true indeed, and i can't and won't argue about that part, that is not the thing i meant when i said that Reborn is what the official games could have been. The things that both Reborn and Rejuv are doing right, at least in my opinion, is that they make use of the environment in combat. Fighting in a forest? Good for your bug types. Fighting on a volcano? Bad for your water types. Makes battles more interesting AND makes sense, because why would you NOT make use of your environment in battle? have characters that deserve to be who the story claims them to be. You can't just go into a gym without any preparation at all, mop the floor with each and every gym leader and throw them out like yesterdays garbage. And not just the gym leaders. Every character that is supposed to be strong in Battle is actually strong and needs to be fought by tactics instead of just raw power. the general difficulty of this game is just right, for advanced players that is. Yes, Reborn and Rejuv may be too difficult for beginners (although i have not played Rejuv on it's "easy" difficulty setting yet, so i can't say how that would be), but they never claimed to be beginner friendly in the first place. Still, this level of difficulty would fit into official games as an optional difficulty to choose when starting a new game. At least that's my opinion. And i don't see any good reasons why these things should not be in official games as well.

I'd rather skip on any new official Pokémon games, regardless if remake or new generation. Not seeing why i should support Game Freak any further after what they did with Gen 8. If Nintendo were to finally strip the Pokémon licence from Game Freak for good and gives it to better developers i might reconsider though.... I'd rather wait for a little longer to play the final version of Reborn, as this game does so many things right that the official games COULD have been without hurting the franchise at all.

Straight from the Devblog: Soooo.....why doesn't Nintendo stomp Game Freak and hire you guys? Then again, that would lead to finally having a good official Pokémon game, with actual features that the players demanded for years. ...and we can't have that XD

And i didn't even mean to make any reference there. I mean it as i say it. If i want unfinished games full of bugs that need at least 3 emergency day 1 patches, there's always EA and Ubisoft.

Yeah, i'd say all of us really want to play both the last part of the story and the post game content. But as always i'd rather wait a little longer for a finished product than getting a half baked bugfest.

Sooo.....am i the only one who actually got that joke, as i speak japanese and know that the move Razor Wind is called "Kama Itachi" in japanese?

Well, well, well...... These new informations on the Night Club are looking rather yummy, wouldn't you say? Although i'm more of a collector and breeder, so i'm really looking forward to finally capture all those mons not available in Ep 18. But let's be honest: you DO want to get your strongest Mons that took weeks and months to breed and train into a battle with worthy opponents, right? Night Club looks worthy to me.

Happy new year, Miss Sophie! Same procedure as last year? Same procedure as EVERY year, James!

Well.....everything that was on my 2020 BS bingo card actually happened already, sooooo....do i win a prize? I'm not sure whether i have the power to predict the future, or if my BS radar is just working a little too well.....either way, it's a scary ability XD

A game crashing and burning? Like Cyberpunk 2077? Big hype for the longest time, and now the players are not satisfied and demand refunds everywhere XD It's always the same with those overhyped games.....People come to expect the new holy grail of gaming and it doesn't matter how good or bad the final game is, it's still not as good as the hyped masses WANTED it to be.....

I reject your reality and substitute my own!