The name logic may not hold up, but they were still cooking with that idea regardless. Who wants another held item trade evo mon over a stone evo anyway?
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Little things you like about Pokémon
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
I really did love the individual Tera animations.
Yesterday, I was looking at how the Apricorn Balls work in G/S/C, since I wanted to confirm some things regarding their functionality. I already knew that some of them were glitched, but to my own surprise, the number of glitched ones was higher than I previously thought. In fact, only two of them work the way they are supposed to! Let’s take a look at all seven:
Fast Ball. It is supposed to have an increased catch rate against all Pokémon that flee, but due to a glitch, it only affects Magnemite, Grimer, and Tangela. Does that mean those the three fastest Pokémon in G/S/C? That’s hilarious.
Level Ball. It has an increased catch rate if your Pokémon is at a higher level than the wild Pokémon, with the highest possible being x8 (that’s really high!). However, there’s this glitch:
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, due to what is seemingly a coding mistake the wild Pokémon's remaining HP and status are ignored when calculating the catch rate; only the wild Pokémon's level is used for calculation if using a Level Ball. – Bulbapedia
Now that’s cool. It makes it completely unnecessary to lower the target's HP or inflict it with status when using Level Balls. Nice. No wonder Level Balls worked so well for me in Crystal recently.
Lure Ball. One of the two Apricorn Balls that actually works as intended since it makes it easier to catch Pokémon that are encountered through fishing. As there are a lot of Pokémon that can be encountered through fishing in the Johto games, including several that are only available through fishing, it is really great and useful. I like it a lot.
Heavy Ball. Has a higher catch rate against heavy Pokémon, and a lower catch rate against light Pokémon. I don’t know how many heavy Pokémon there are in G/S/C, but it seems useful nonetheless. However, there’s this glitch:
In Pokémon Crystal only, there is a glitch that causes the retrieved weights of Pokémon whose index numbers are divisible by 64 (Kadabra, Tauros, and Sunflora) to become junk data that are, in turn, interpreted as massive weights, causing these particular Pokémon to receive the +40 capture modifier. In Gold and Silver, these Pokémon's weights are retrieved correctly, giving them a -20 catch modifier. – Bulbapedia
That’s very interesting. Next time I’m going to catch a Kadabra or Tauros in Crystal, I’ll make sure to use a Heavy Ball. Unlike the Fast Ball, the Heavy Ball is glitched in a good way, which is cool.
But that's not all. While the above glitch was fixed in HG/SS, they added another one instead:
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the ±0 and -20 modifiers were supposed to work like Generation II's, but the -20's modifier instead checks if the catch rate is less than 1024, rather than the weight (internally, weights are stored as tenths of kilograms), which is always true, so when the ±0's "less than 204.8 kg" check is passed, -20's will always be as well. – Bulbapedia
Which means that the ±0 modifier is never applied in HG/SS. I didn’t know about that. This makes the Heavy Ball the only Apricorn Ball in HG/SS that can never have a standard x1 catch rate.
Love Ball. In G/S/C, it is supposed to have a higher catch rate against wild Pokémon of the same species and opposite gender, but due to a glitch, it is higher against wild Pokémon of the same species and same gender. This ironically makes it better than it would have been if it had worked as intended, since this gives you an easier chance to catch Pokémon that only has one gender like Tauros or Chansey, while also giving you the same chances against any Pokémon that can be either gender. HG/SS changed it to the way it is supposed to work, which actually makes it worse.
Friend Ball. The second one which works as intended, it has a normal catch rate but any Pokémon caught with it has their Friendship value automatically set to 200. This is good in theory, but in practice, it is mostly pointless since the only Pokémon that evolve through friendship that can be found in the wild are Zubat/Golbat and Chansey. Makes me wonder if they actually thought things through when adding it to the games. In HG/SS, Budew, Buneary and Chingling can also be found in the wild, making it a little better. Apart from that, I guess it is good if you want to use a Pokémon that gets a strong Return right off the bat.
Moon Ball. It is supposed to have an increased catch rate against Pokémon that evolve through a Moon Stone, but due to a glitch, it is instead effective against Pokémon that evolve through a Burn Heal! Good luck finding a Pokémon like that. We’re in Gen 9 and the series has yet to introduce one, I wonder if we’ll finally see one in Gen 10? Or maybe in L:Z-A? Or more likely never.
I realize that this might not be the completely right place for this post, but what I really want to say is that I like the weird glitches surrounding the Apricorn Balls in G/S/C (and HG/SS for the Heavy Ball). It was just so hilarious when I learned about several of them yesterday.
Fast Ball. It is supposed to have an increased catch rate against all Pokémon that flee, but due to a glitch, it only affects Magnemite, Grimer, and Tangela. Does that mean those the three fastest Pokémon in G/S/C? That’s hilarious.
Level Ball. It has an increased catch rate if your Pokémon is at a higher level than the wild Pokémon, with the highest possible being x8 (that’s really high!). However, there’s this glitch:
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, due to what is seemingly a coding mistake the wild Pokémon's remaining HP and status are ignored when calculating the catch rate; only the wild Pokémon's level is used for calculation if using a Level Ball. – Bulbapedia
Now that’s cool. It makes it completely unnecessary to lower the target's HP or inflict it with status when using Level Balls. Nice. No wonder Level Balls worked so well for me in Crystal recently.
Lure Ball. One of the two Apricorn Balls that actually works as intended since it makes it easier to catch Pokémon that are encountered through fishing. As there are a lot of Pokémon that can be encountered through fishing in the Johto games, including several that are only available through fishing, it is really great and useful. I like it a lot.
Heavy Ball. Has a higher catch rate against heavy Pokémon, and a lower catch rate against light Pokémon. I don’t know how many heavy Pokémon there are in G/S/C, but it seems useful nonetheless. However, there’s this glitch:
In Pokémon Crystal only, there is a glitch that causes the retrieved weights of Pokémon whose index numbers are divisible by 64 (Kadabra, Tauros, and Sunflora) to become junk data that are, in turn, interpreted as massive weights, causing these particular Pokémon to receive the +40 capture modifier. In Gold and Silver, these Pokémon's weights are retrieved correctly, giving them a -20 catch modifier. – Bulbapedia
That’s very interesting. Next time I’m going to catch a Kadabra or Tauros in Crystal, I’ll make sure to use a Heavy Ball. Unlike the Fast Ball, the Heavy Ball is glitched in a good way, which is cool.
But that's not all. While the above glitch was fixed in HG/SS, they added another one instead:
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the ±0 and -20 modifiers were supposed to work like Generation II's, but the -20's modifier instead checks if the catch rate is less than 1024, rather than the weight (internally, weights are stored as tenths of kilograms), which is always true, so when the ±0's "less than 204.8 kg" check is passed, -20's will always be as well. – Bulbapedia
Which means that the ±0 modifier is never applied in HG/SS. I didn’t know about that. This makes the Heavy Ball the only Apricorn Ball in HG/SS that can never have a standard x1 catch rate.
Love Ball. In G/S/C, it is supposed to have a higher catch rate against wild Pokémon of the same species and opposite gender, but due to a glitch, it is higher against wild Pokémon of the same species and same gender. This ironically makes it better than it would have been if it had worked as intended, since this gives you an easier chance to catch Pokémon that only has one gender like Tauros or Chansey, while also giving you the same chances against any Pokémon that can be either gender. HG/SS changed it to the way it is supposed to work, which actually makes it worse.
Friend Ball. The second one which works as intended, it has a normal catch rate but any Pokémon caught with it has their Friendship value automatically set to 200. This is good in theory, but in practice, it is mostly pointless since the only Pokémon that evolve through friendship that can be found in the wild are Zubat/Golbat and Chansey. Makes me wonder if they actually thought things through when adding it to the games. In HG/SS, Budew, Buneary and Chingling can also be found in the wild, making it a little better. Apart from that, I guess it is good if you want to use a Pokémon that gets a strong Return right off the bat.
Moon Ball. It is supposed to have an increased catch rate against Pokémon that evolve through a Moon Stone, but due to a glitch, it is instead effective against Pokémon that evolve through a Burn Heal! Good luck finding a Pokémon like that. We’re in Gen 9 and the series has yet to introduce one, I wonder if we’ll finally see one in Gen 10? Or maybe in L:Z-A? Or more likely never.
I realize that this might not be the completely right place for this post, but what I really want to say is that I like the weird glitches surrounding the Apricorn Balls in G/S/C (and HG/SS for the Heavy Ball). It was just so hilarious when I learned about several of them yesterday.
Been shiny hunting Ultra Wormholes in Ultra Moon as of yesterday because shutdown was on the mind. And it reminded me of the really neat touch of how Xurkitree's aura makes the bulbs on its limbs look like they were actually plugged in and turned on. Now if the cutscenes in between reset attempts wasn't so long
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
Out of all the ways they could've given Arceus a power-up, Legend Plate is honestly the coolest. It's the simplicity that makes the Alpha Pokemon feel so beyond everything else, giving off the vibe of "Well done mortal, you made me use 5% of my power". It's the first time since RBY Mewtwo that we've had a purposefully overpowered force like this with no consideration for PVP functionality, a trophy to demarcate the fact that the game is done and while there's technically still more to do whatever you pursue from here on out will be a breeze as you make yourself the master of the untamed wilds that once threatened to tear you to bits.
I especially love that it's still just Arceus. Every other legendary power-up is either "this is the Pokemon's TRUE form" or "this is the Pokemon transformed by an external energy source" but not this. Especially with the game also confirming that Arceus's actual true form is an incomprehensible concept, it really seems in retrospect that the aspect of Arceus we get to actually use in battle could have, at any point before Legends Arceus, just swapped type mid-battle on a whim, and simply chose not to. Honestly it probably doesn't even need the plates to change type at all; those may as well just be a formality.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Kurt the unlikely gay ally
Love Ball. In G/S/C, it is supposed to have a higher catch rate against wild Pokémon of the same species and opposite gender, but due to a glitch, it is higher against wild Pokémon of the same species and same gender.
I like how Cerulean Cave has a grand total of 3 Ultra Balls just lying around for you to pick up, give or take 1 depending on which specific game you're playing.
As if that's really going to be the difference in catching Mewtwo or not.
As if that's really going to be the difference in catching Mewtwo or not.
It's funny to me because compared to stuff like the Birds, or Lugia later in GSC, even the Pokemon Adventures Manga just said "you are not catching Mewtwo and living without a Master Ball"
Did for me
This shot of the new opening for Horizons gives me life.
The sheer girl power radiating from it is beautiful, five of them together making for a fantastic group, all girls. Girl power from Pokemon, and I fucking love it. Screw Ash Ketchum, it's girl power time! The girlboss-to-be Liko and her posse of girlfriends.
And then there's Roy. Just Roy there on the side. That one dumb boy the girl group has adopted into their powerhouse girl circle. Five girls and a Roy. In an odd way the Roy on the side makes the group complete, having him as the odd straggler, and I find it oddly enjoyable.
Or shall I say, he's become one of the girls.
mew is a cat pokemon that can fulfill basically any role. if you see that your opponent has it, you don't know what set it is until it does something.
mew is a schrodinger's cat
mew is a schrodinger's cat
Maybe, but on the other hand...
No way they left Plat Fantina without a hard counter intentionally.
As for my share of positive things to say today...
SV is pretty fun.
I'm strongly considering blowing my save up to restart with pictures and make a Let's Play thread here to share how much fun I'm having with it.
The first real Nemona fight outside of Mesagoza is great. Not exactly difficult by any means, but she being able to Terastallize while you can't adds a layer to it that makes you think twice about how to handle that situation.
Terastal itself is surprisingly fair in-game. It's probably the most balanced super gimmick of the lot.
Maybe, but on the other hand...
No way they left Plat Fantina without a hard counter intentionally.
As for my share of positive things to say today...
SV is pretty fun.
I'm strongly considering blowing my save up to restart with pictures and make a Let's Play thread here to share how much fun I'm having with it.
The first real Nemona fight outside of Mesagoza is great. Not exactly difficult by any means, but she being able to Terastallize while you can't adds a layer to it that makes you think twice about how to handle that situation.
Terastal itself is surprisingly fair in-game. It's probably the most balanced super gimmick of the lot.
Something I think is worth mentioning here is that there is actually a historical precedent for seeing what can happen in an in-game playthrough if multiple of these generational battle gimmicks are stacked on top of each other in the main story. This might sound confusing at first- after all, Gen 7 is the only one so far to have multiple of these gimmicks featured at the same time, and even then Mega Evolution was locked to the postgame. Upon further inspection, though, you'll find Adaptability, an Ability that shares the same effect with Terastalization of boosting existing STAB moves from a 1.5x bonus to a 2x bonus. I say that because of the monstrously broken Mega Lucario in XY, who for all intents and purposes might as well have permanent Tera Fighting and Tera Steel STAB boosts at the same time. I feel like Adaptability in tandem with the Mega Evolution stat increase breaks Lucario more in-game than Terastalization does for this game's top tier choices on average, a game balance decision that only becomes more apparent when you consider that the route you take through Paldea is a major contributing factor to making Terstalization feel more balanced depending on which of your Pokémon is abusing the mechanic. If Paldea were a linear region with clear-cut Tera abusers in the same vein as XY Lucario, the mechanic would probably feel much less balanced as a result of that.
The BW OU Savior
Banned deucer.
I like to click Outrage on my Adamant Choice Band Kyurem-B and 2HKO everything in BW OU
Minor tip, I think you can make a new profile on the Switch to get a new file without blowing up your old one, for the sake of replaying if you want to keep your old one for Raid events and such.Maybe, but on the other hand...
No way they left Plat Fantina without a hard counter intentionally.
As for my share of positive things to say today...
SV is pretty fun.
I'm strongly considering blowing my save up to restart with pictures and make a Let's Play thread here to share how much fun I'm having with it.
The first real Nemona fight outside of Mesagoza is great. Not exactly difficult by any means, but she being able to Terastallize while you can't adds a layer to it that makes you think twice about how to handle that situation.
Terastal itself is surprisingly fair in-game. It's probably the most balanced super gimmick of the lot.
You can get a bunch of Tera abusers in-game. It's just nowhere near as silly as Megas and even Z-Moves.
Megas had literally no drawbacks outside of one Mega per battle, and most of them could easily sweep teams, especially Lucario.
Z-Moves were pretty much an instant delete button on anything you didn't want to deal with.
Tera is not only comparatively weaker output-wise than both, but it also has the drawback of removing secondary typings and requiring a recharge so you can't use it on every battle.
To put it into perspective, going +1 already makes a mon deal more damage than same type Tera. Sure, it's not as efficient DPS-wise unless you're like, doing 4HKOs with Tera, but you shouldn't do it in those cases anyway.
Tera simply doesn't have the snowball potential the other Super Gimmicks had.
Speaking in terms of in-game Megas probably feel more broken because their design ethos is "what if this specific pokemon was busted". There's multiple layers of design going into them, from ability to minmaxed stat allocation to aesthetic design. So you're looking for it and that makes exceptions stand out.
Z-Moves probably feel broken because they're a nuke. I mean honestly that's not THAT broken, you get a once a fight single shot nuke...but also most of the game can be handled with a single strong attack provided its SE most of the time anyway, so I think the real factor is the fanciful set dressing.
e: While we're on this topic, I used mega manectric, sceptile and sableye in ORAS and despite that they didn't feel turbo busted so that's a nice point in the favor of "the exceptions stand out [and then gets applied to everything]"
Z-Moves probably feel broken because they're a nuke. I mean honestly that's not THAT broken, you get a once a fight single shot nuke...but also most of the game can be handled with a single strong attack provided its SE most of the time anyway, so I think the real factor is the fanciful set dressing.
e: While we're on this topic, I used mega manectric, sceptile and sableye in ORAS and despite that they didn't feel turbo busted so that's a nice point in the favor of "the exceptions stand out [and then gets applied to everything]"
We, or at least most, can agree that Dynamax snowballs in the worst way possible when you compare it to other Super Mechanicstm, with only Mega Lucario having comparable snowballing power.
It’s one thing that major NPCs didn’t used their Dynamax / Gigantamax Ace quite delicately except Leon, but it’s another that Dynamax is what happens if you put too much emphasis on Doubles for the Super Mechanic… when the in-game is still vast majorly Singles. As a result, it have a negative impact not just in Singles-oriented competitive like BSS and Smogon, but also makes Gym Leaders almost complete pushovers except Kabu, who specialty in Will-o-Wisp means physical Pokémon won’t have it so easily. Good thing Dynamax + Gigantamax can’t be outside of multiplayer, stadiums and Max Raids… it would’ve been even worse.
As controversial as Terastalizaiton is, it does avoid the same mistake of being primarily Doubles in mind in that it’s more manageable to fight against and nowhere as capable of in-game snowballing.
It’s one thing that major NPCs didn’t used their Dynamax / Gigantamax Ace quite delicately except Leon, but it’s another that Dynamax is what happens if you put too much emphasis on Doubles for the Super Mechanic… when the in-game is still vast majorly Singles. As a result, it have a negative impact not just in Singles-oriented competitive like BSS and Smogon, but also makes Gym Leaders almost complete pushovers except Kabu, who specialty in Will-o-Wisp means physical Pokémon won’t have it so easily. Good thing Dynamax + Gigantamax can’t be outside of multiplayer, stadiums and Max Raids… it would’ve been even worse.
As controversial as Terastalizaiton is, it does avoid the same mistake of being primarily Doubles in mind in that it’s more manageable to fight against and nowhere as capable of in-game snowballing.
I know it was already talked about some years ago, but I still want to bring up changing music (there is a better words for this but it eludes me right now) in Gen V.
The musicians are probably the most well-known, but there are more. Some routes have instruments added depending on the season, some percussion is only present when you're actually moving and in certain caves the lower levels will change both the tempo and pitch.
To some it might be just minute details, but I really enjoy it.
Fitting also since Gen V was the last Main Game to use soundfonts (which make this sort of thing easier to do)
The musicians are probably the most well-known, but there are more. Some routes have instruments added depending on the season, some percussion is only present when you're actually moving and in certain caves the lower levels will change both the tempo and pitch.
To some it might be just minute details, but I really enjoy it.
Fitting also since Gen V was the last Main Game to use soundfonts (which make this sort of thing easier to do)
I think it's called layered -or sometimes dynamic?- music, but I don't think it's necessarily harder to do these days. Plenty of games will go in & out by setting up songs to activate/deactivate layers or provide bridges they can go into. Mario & Zelda in particular like to turn parts on/off or tune things in/out as a fight (de)escalates, and even Odyssey still has the bongos pop in for when you're on Yoshi.
I was going to bring up SV as an example too but I realized that was the different kind of dynamic music, where they set it up to seamlessly shift into a different song (ie: walking around the OW, riding around the OW and getting into a battle). Well kind of keeps the spirit at least.
e: Oh wait, the Area Zero Underdepths actually do the layering aspect. As you head deeper it slowly gets louder and more layers and chanting are overlaid.
The Gym Leader battle theme in SwSh has dynamic layers like that. Whenever you knock out your opponent’s Pokémon, it gets a little more peppy, and whenever your Pokémon gets knocked out, the music becomes more muffled and imposing.
Also there’s a guitar-playing NPC in Mesagoza, and if you stand near him, it adds an acoustic guitar layer to the city’s theme, just like the musicians in Gen 5. (Or I guess, technically it switches to a different track *with* the guitar added, but it creates the same illusion at least.)