First things first, I apologize if this isn't the apropiate thread to discuss this matter, I don't post much and when I do its always on official topics, but after using the Search option I think this is the place to do so.
Some days ago, I decided to restart Pokémon Emerald. The last time I put myself seriously into the game was 2005, when I was a 12yo. Back in the day, I had 0 knowledge about Pokémon mechanics. I knew the types. That's all. It wasn't until DPPl that I learned about IVs, EVs, the meaning of setup moves, and all the subsequent and mandatory things that came with that, like synergy, cores, functions, the value of natures and held items, etcetera. I'm no Smogon Champion, but I've played competitive mons since DP and elaborated dozens of guides regarding breeding and team composition in generations IV and V. I tell you this to put some background in context and to say that, as most of you, I've a far, far greater knowledge about the game than any of its facilities should expect from me.
And that's precisely the problem. After having achieved all 200 streaks in older Pokémon Games (from Gen IV to Gen VII), I'm feeling unable to get to the Gold Symbol of Emerald Battle Factory. And the worst thing is: it has nothing to do with my decissions or my knowledge, so I can't help it. Everytime I've lost, and I want to emphatize this, everytime (I've tracked them), has been due to a combination of Confuse Ray, Bright Powder, Double Team or Attract. And theres nothing that I could've done to prevent it from happening (detailed examples incoming). I would share with you the recordings I made during my attempts, but I just didn't feel like so, because every new Hax Inferno was inmediatly replaced with the next.
Whats the difference between this hax and, say, other Battle Facilities hax? The crystal clear intentionality. Due to the lack of III Gen Movepool and item pool, a lot, and I mean, a lot of the Pokémon run Bright Powder, Double Team, Attract or Confuse Ray (+ Hypnosis, I forgot about this one). Meaning there's virtually no diference between a Jynx and a Electrode, or a Gengar, or a Victreebel. Their stats, their Speed Tier, even their typings; all that info is rendered useless because, in the end, they achieve their victory by using the same "strategy": those moves.
As a brief example. One time I had a team composed of Swampert, Typhlosion and I don't remember rn the last member. I opened the battle with Swampert and my rival had Meganium on their side. There was no way I would stay in the field, first because my 2 offensive moves where Surf and EQ, second because it could easily OHKO me with Giga Drain or some shit like that, third because if it was a hax set, staying would imply letting him use Double Team for free, and not even 3 or 4 criticals would've attained the KO. So, seeing as Meganium has no coverage whatsoever, my gameplan was to simply switch into Modest Typhlosion and put it to rest with Flamethrower. It got me with Grass Whistle (55%) in the switch-in, and put my Typhlosion to sleep. Then, it started using Double Team and seeded me. As my HP was getting low, I burnt all the sleep turns and tried a Flamethrower to no success. By this point, it was behind a substitute. My only option was to use Aerial Ace to bypass this madness, which allowed me to break the Sub, but did 0 damage due to the combination of the Meganium Leftovers + Leech Seed recovery. I started to stall him switching between my mons, and it kept using Grass Whistle. Whenever it leech seeded one of my mons, I just switched out to stall its 10 PP. By the time it ran out of Leech Seed, my mons were in bad health (12.5% damage every time to one of my mons, also no leech seed missed), and I burnt all of my sleep turns in my team. After, like, 10 minutes of fighting through Substitute, Grass Whistle and Leftys recovery, I barely managed to kill Meganium with my Aerial Ace PP running at 6), then, my Typhlosion was sack to their Flygon, for my Swampert had no longer the HP to withstand the double EQ, and if it wasn't enough, it crits me with it.
All of that, happened because I decided to switch my Typhlosion into a fucking Meganium and got hit by Grass Whistle on the switch. I've an infinite amount of similar examples. Running into Hypnosis Gengar, running into Double Team Snorlax, running into Umbreon. Just to put you into perspective, a set like this:
Can wipe your team with no effort, and there's no viable, secure way to avoid it. It goes like this: you don't know what your rival is going to lead with, your lead mon is unable to OHKO this Umbreon, it uses Confuse Ray/Double Team > GG. Automatic GG. And it feels so wrong, because no other Battle Facility is so, so clear in its intentionality. Or, say, you kill the first mon, and then the opponent second mon is something fast with Double Team, or something slow but bulky with Bright Powder + Confuse Ray. Again, GG. There's nothing you can do to improve. Nothing you can do to avoid this series of events. It happens, and it happens constantly because a lot of the sets are running Bright Powder, Double Team, Confuse Ray or Attract. Every battle is a coin flip between you getting an opponent with these moves or not. If not, you play a normal battle in which your 3 Pokémon members matter; if yes, you've probably lost already.
I know every Battle Tower/Frontier has h4x, but this one, in special, is so bad designed in this gen.
Some days ago, I decided to restart Pokémon Emerald. The last time I put myself seriously into the game was 2005, when I was a 12yo. Back in the day, I had 0 knowledge about Pokémon mechanics. I knew the types. That's all. It wasn't until DPPl that I learned about IVs, EVs, the meaning of setup moves, and all the subsequent and mandatory things that came with that, like synergy, cores, functions, the value of natures and held items, etcetera. I'm no Smogon Champion, but I've played competitive mons since DP and elaborated dozens of guides regarding breeding and team composition in generations IV and V. I tell you this to put some background in context and to say that, as most of you, I've a far, far greater knowledge about the game than any of its facilities should expect from me.
And that's precisely the problem. After having achieved all 200 streaks in older Pokémon Games (from Gen IV to Gen VII), I'm feeling unable to get to the Gold Symbol of Emerald Battle Factory. And the worst thing is: it has nothing to do with my decissions or my knowledge, so I can't help it. Everytime I've lost, and I want to emphatize this, everytime (I've tracked them), has been due to a combination of Confuse Ray, Bright Powder, Double Team or Attract. And theres nothing that I could've done to prevent it from happening (detailed examples incoming). I would share with you the recordings I made during my attempts, but I just didn't feel like so, because every new Hax Inferno was inmediatly replaced with the next.
Whats the difference between this hax and, say, other Battle Facilities hax? The crystal clear intentionality. Due to the lack of III Gen Movepool and item pool, a lot, and I mean, a lot of the Pokémon run Bright Powder, Double Team, Attract or Confuse Ray (+ Hypnosis, I forgot about this one). Meaning there's virtually no diference between a Jynx and a Electrode, or a Gengar, or a Victreebel. Their stats, their Speed Tier, even their typings; all that info is rendered useless because, in the end, they achieve their victory by using the same "strategy": those moves.
As a brief example. One time I had a team composed of Swampert, Typhlosion and I don't remember rn the last member. I opened the battle with Swampert and my rival had Meganium on their side. There was no way I would stay in the field, first because my 2 offensive moves where Surf and EQ, second because it could easily OHKO me with Giga Drain or some shit like that, third because if it was a hax set, staying would imply letting him use Double Team for free, and not even 3 or 4 criticals would've attained the KO. So, seeing as Meganium has no coverage whatsoever, my gameplan was to simply switch into Modest Typhlosion and put it to rest with Flamethrower. It got me with Grass Whistle (55%) in the switch-in, and put my Typhlosion to sleep. Then, it started using Double Team and seeded me. As my HP was getting low, I burnt all the sleep turns and tried a Flamethrower to no success. By this point, it was behind a substitute. My only option was to use Aerial Ace to bypass this madness, which allowed me to break the Sub, but did 0 damage due to the combination of the Meganium Leftovers + Leech Seed recovery. I started to stall him switching between my mons, and it kept using Grass Whistle. Whenever it leech seeded one of my mons, I just switched out to stall its 10 PP. By the time it ran out of Leech Seed, my mons were in bad health (12.5% damage every time to one of my mons, also no leech seed missed), and I burnt all of my sleep turns in my team. After, like, 10 minutes of fighting through Substitute, Grass Whistle and Leftys recovery, I barely managed to kill Meganium with my Aerial Ace PP running at 6), then, my Typhlosion was sack to their Flygon, for my Swampert had no longer the HP to withstand the double EQ, and if it wasn't enough, it crits me with it.
All of that, happened because I decided to switch my Typhlosion into a fucking Meganium and got hit by Grass Whistle on the switch. I've an infinite amount of similar examples. Running into Hypnosis Gengar, running into Double Team Snorlax, running into Umbreon. Just to put you into perspective, a set like this:
Can wipe your team with no effort, and there's no viable, secure way to avoid it. It goes like this: you don't know what your rival is going to lead with, your lead mon is unable to OHKO this Umbreon, it uses Confuse Ray/Double Team > GG. Automatic GG. And it feels so wrong, because no other Battle Facility is so, so clear in its intentionality. Or, say, you kill the first mon, and then the opponent second mon is something fast with Double Team, or something slow but bulky with Bright Powder + Confuse Ray. Again, GG. There's nothing you can do to improve. Nothing you can do to avoid this series of events. It happens, and it happens constantly because a lot of the sets are running Bright Powder, Double Team, Confuse Ray or Attract. Every battle is a coin flip between you getting an opponent with these moves or not. If not, you play a normal battle in which your 3 Pokémon members matter; if yes, you've probably lost already.
I know every Battle Tower/Frontier has h4x, but this one, in special, is so bad designed in this gen.
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