# All things Pokemon



## kabbes (Sep 18, 2013)

I have purchased a 3DS in readiness for the release of Pokemons X and Y.

Before I go off on one, however, it seems reasonable to first ask if anybody else here is a fan?  I know that @S☼I is, but he is absent these days.  Anybody else I can talk types, natures, abilities, moves, EVs, IVs and strategies with?


----------



## geminisnake (Sep 18, 2013)

Son used to be but he's not on here. He may have graduated since then too. I only ever played the pinball, didn't see the point in wandering around an area fighting and collecting things, yet these days I am playing Dragon City on FB. But dragons are different


----------



## kabbes (Sep 18, 2013)

Pokemon is the deepest tactical battle game ever devised.  _That_ is the point of it!


----------



## fen_boy (Sep 18, 2013)

My kids are Pokemon nuts. I've ordered them a 2DS each and Pokemon X and Y. But I wouldn't let them near Urban - full of weirdos - so that's probably not much use for this thread.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 18, 2013)

5 Reasons Why You Should Not Give Up On Pokemon Games Even As An Adult

Damn right.


----------



## fen_boy (Sep 18, 2013)

I'll start you off though Kabbes, how do you feel about the new Fairy type? Do you think it will affect the balance of battles? Will it change your team building strategy?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 18, 2013)

Also, this:


----------



## kabbes (Sep 18, 2013)

fen_boy said:


> I'll start you off though Kabbes, how do you feel about the new Fairy type? Do you think it will affect the balance of battles? Will it change your team building strategy?


At last, a sensible caller 

It seems a controversial addition, but I think it was about time there was some way of attacking the dragon type with a non-dragon STAB move other than ice.  As it currently stands, the metagame is far too dominated by the various dragons, and this should bring them down to earth.  Even better, it actually makes the poison type useful, as the killer of dragon-killers.  I think it opens up the rock-paper-scissors consideration nicely.

My current A-team is:

Kingdra (dragon/water)
Lanturn (water/electric)
Garchomp (dragon/earth)
Ferroseed (grass/steel)
Gliscor (air/earth)
Tyranitar (rock/dark)

Lanturn seems like an odd choice at first, being in the Rarely Used tier, whereas the rest of at least Under Used (Kingdra) or Over Used (the rest).  But I find Lanturn works wonders with my Swift Swim Kingdra -- once Rainy Day has been launched, Lanturn's STAB Thunder becomes 100% accurate and its STAB Hydro Pump effectively is 6x base effectiveness on anything with no better than neutral coverage!  And Lanturn has Heal Bell, which can heal the status effects on the rest of them.  Lanturn also has volt absorb, making it very difficult for electric users.

I am currently training up a Skarmory that I have bred to have Brave Bird and Whirlwind and am considering bringing him in to the team, but I am rather unsure who to drop.  Garchomp is shiny and I am loathe to lose him, but I have always struggled to use him effectively -- he may give way, leaving me with a spikes & stealth rock team that wears down the opposition more gradually.  We shall see.

I am not reading much about X & Y at the moment, the better to be surprised.  But I would have thought that the whole balance might go out the window once fairy comes in.


----------



## fen_boy (Sep 18, 2013)

I put your strategy to my eight-year old and he suggested swapping Ferroseed for Skarmory.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Yes, it is the most obvious on the surface. But one has spikes and the other has stealth rock and I want them both. I can put stealth rock on skarmory but then I lose the classic spikes/whirlwind/roost/brave bird setup.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

I could talk Pokemon all day. Recently re purchased all the old games, from red/blue right up to black/white 2. If you want to feel like God, buy an Action Replay card and abuse your power over pokemon.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

No, I must put the effort in, or I cannot call myself a veteran trainer!

So what's your A team lineup and why?


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

kabbes said:


> No, I must put the effort in, or I cannot call myself a veteran trainer!
> 
> So what's your A team lineup and why?


I'm not really a competitive player, my team is usually themed. My Heart Gold team (the most recent one I've been playing) was:
Typhlosion - I always choose the fire starter, fast and aggressive, fits my play style nicely. Somewhat of a glass cannon though
Lapras - A good shield wall, high HP, few weaknesses and can learn some handy ice moves for killing dragon/grass types.
Zapdos - Fast attacker with fantastically high special attack stat. Needs TM's/move tutor for good moves though (thunderbolt for accuracy over the more potent Thunder)
Nidoking - Always really liked the look of the Pokemon, his stats are decent but not fantastic. Looks strong but can sometimes fail to live up to the expectation.
Skarmory - A fast steel type with a decent move pool. Great all round pokemon.
Vileploom - Not quite sure why I went for this pokemon, I wanted a grass type but the right one never came along. Decent stats though.

In hindsight I'd have switched either Nidoking/Vileploom for a strong psychic type.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Pretty nicely balanced for Gold.  I can think of weaknesses to plenty of pokemon, but all of them are later than Gen II!  

Quagsire springs to mind as a counter to most of your team. With belly drum set up in front of the hapless zapdos, he can sweep nidoking, zapdos and typhlosion with ease.  Pair him with body slam snorlax and stun spore exeggutor and your team is in trouble, I think...


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Pretty nicely balanced for Gold.  I can think of weaknesses to plenty of pokemon, but all of them are later than Gen II!
> 
> Quagsire springs to mind as a counter to most of your team. With belly drum set up in front of the hapless zapdos, he can sweep nidoking, zapdos and typhlosion with ease.  Pair him with body slam snorlax and stun spore exeggutor and your team is in trouble, I think...


Aye, Quagsire would pretty much own my team quickly. Snorlax was ironically my second choice for Lapras, a solid pokemon with high HP. I'd have really liked a Slaking for it's monstrous attack stat but it's ability renders it pretty much useless (unless I change it with the AR codes... Slaking with huge power, anyone? )


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

It's always easy to construct a bespoke team specifically to counter an opposition, though, tbf.  The skill is in building a balanced team to take on all-comers.  Quagsire aside, you'd certainly have a counter to most other things Gen II could throw at you.

Of course, this is why I am loving Gen V.  With 600+ pokemon to choose between, you can tinker forever and never hit perfection.  For example, Volcarona (Fire/Bug with flash fire ability) used to be a staple of my team, and that would certainly cause you big problems too, particularly after a quiver dance setup.  Go beyond Gen V and there are also much better fire pokemon than Typhlosion too -- Volcarona aside, I have a particular fondness for Chandelure.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

Aye, for Black/White my team is totally different. There's some types I almost never use (Ghost, fighting) and some I _always _find room for in my team (Fire, electric). Electross is a fantastic pokemon in gen V, pretty sure it has levitate.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Eelektross (with levitate) has no weaknesses to any type.  BUT (and it is a big but) it is a physical electric type, which severely limits its uses.  You do have Wild Charge, but that's about it in physical attacks.  You can use special attacks too (it's also pretty good at that), but going mixed really neuters your EV spread.  Also, although it has no weaknesses, it has very few resistances either.  And it's very slow.  I originally had it in my BW team, but I dropped it. 

Ampharos is a much better BW electric type IMO, being a special attack powerhouse with plenty of bulk and more speed.  Even then, though, it's just not really bulky enough.  That's why I switched to Lanturn, who has the excellently defensive water typing to back up its electric type (and volt absorb to boot), insane HPs and great Heal Bell support.

Fire is a great attacking type but a hopeless defensive type, frankly.  You'll be crippled by stealth rock and have little to face the common water type defenses.  Every team has the 100 powered earthquake too, which is x2 against fire.  Fire/Fighting is more useful, but has its own problems.   Saying that, I do also have a weakness for the fire pokemon.  Volcarona (Fire/Bug) and Chandelure (Fire/Ghost) are great -- Chandelure has CRAZY special attack, perfect for fire, and lots of speed to back it up.  With a choice scarf on, he can sweep a team before they know what hit them.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

I try not to look at Pokemon too competitively, I find doing that means too many Pokemon are just cast aside, everyone ends up with the same team, same moves. I like to play the game with shit Pokemon, Pokemon I don't like, Pokemon I've never used before just to keep it feeling fresh.

Chandelure is amazing but evolves quite late and learns all it's moves early on if memory serves me right, fine for online battles etc but somewhat hard to justify when you're just playing the single player story line. Same with most Dragon types, they all arrive too late into the game to be of much use, by the time you find them you've already had your ''final team'' for some while. I've used Ampharos in most of my play throughs, one of my favourite Pokemon and usually one of the first electric types you can find (mareep).


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 19, 2013)

fen_boy said:


> I'll start you off though Kabbes, how do you feel about the new Fairy type? Do you think it will affect the balance of battles? Will it change your team building strategy?



Fairy type?

I'm going to have to look this up now.  Damn you.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> Fairy type?
> 
> I'm going to have to look this up now.  Damn you.


And ''Mega'' Pokemon too... Digimon lives on!


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 19, 2013)

I've only ever played the single player storylines so a lot of this strat goes over my head.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> I try not to look at Pokemon too competitively, I find doing that means too many Pokemon are just cast aside, everyone ends up with the same team, same moves. I like to play the game with shit Pokemon, Pokemon I don't like, Pokemon I've never used before just to keep it feeling fresh.
> 
> Chandelure is amazing but evolves quite late and learns all it's moves early on if memory serves me right, fine for online battles etc but somewhat hard to justify when you're just playing the single player story line. Same with most Dragon types, they all arrive too late into the game to be of much use, by the time you find them you've already had your ''final team'' for some while. I've used Ampharos in most of my play throughs, one of my favourite Pokemon and usually one of the first electric types you can find (mareep).


The play through is typically "only" about 50 hours though.  Most of my time is spent in the post-game -- I have over 200 hours in BW2 in total, for example.  

BW2 is AMAZING for its post-game -- the Pokemon World Tournament is a challenge regardless of your team, and Black City Tower (and its equivalent in White Forest) is great for both levelling/money farming and as a challenge in its own right.  You can turn up the difficulty setting too, for extra challenge.

In this context, there is plenty of time and motivation to craft the ultimate team made up of whichever pokemon you see fit!  And most of them potentially have a place in the right team, particularly once you start considering double and triple battles too.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> And ''Mega'' Pokemon too... Digimon lives on!


Yeah, not convinced about the mega stuff myself, but we shall see...


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> I've only ever played the single player storylines so a lot of this strat goes over my head.


Aye, it can slightly ruin the feel of Pokemon when you start really going into the fine details of it all. Very fun game to play casually with Pokemon you like the look and feel of, if they're weak then so what! A nice challenge, I say.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> I've only ever played the single player storylines so a lot of this strat goes over my head.


It's the best part of the game!  It's like chess where there are 600 chess pieces from which you have to select just six, and each chess piece has 30 available moves, from which you have to select just 4.  It's this multiplicity of options to tweak that makes it so fascinating.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Yeah, not convinced about the mega stuff myself, but we shall see...


I don't like the idea of ''Mega evolution'' only lasting as long as the battle does. Sort of shits on the idea of evolution being seen as forward progression if they go backwards.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Aye, it can slightly ruin the feel of Pokemon when you start really going into the fine details of it all. Very fun game to play casually with Pokemon you like the look and feel of, if they're weak then so what! A nice challenge, I say.


That's fine up to a point, but it's the potential depth of the game that allows you to keep on playing and playing.  200 hours in and I'm still not bored of messing with my team.  And when I do start to get bored, I experiment with a brand new pokemon to see what that offers.

So far in BW2 alone, I have maxed out the following:

Sarumott
Emboar
Serperior
Krookodile
Ampharos
Swoobat
Altaria
Jellicent
Chandelure
Magnezone
Conkeldurr
Volcarona
Skarmory
Tyrannosaur
Gliscor
Lanturn
Garchomp
Ferroseed

Even selecting six from those is a game in itself!

Next up will be

Excadrill
Mamoswine
Bronzong

I look forward to exploring the strengths and weaknesses of those too.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Rattata makes a good HM slave, by the way, as does Sealeo.  My rattata has cut/strength/rock smash/flash, whilst my sealeo has surf/dive/waterfall.  That way when I need to go travelling, I can just dump them into two slots with four strong colleagues in the other slots and get going.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

HM slaves make me rage. Breaks my heart having to occupy a precious slot in my team for some useless prick just to use strength/fly/surf/rock smash.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> HM slaves make me rage. Breaks my heart having to occupy a precious slot in my team for some useless prick just to use strength/fly/surf/rock smash.


Yeah, I agree.  HMs are the worst part of pokemon.  I notice that a lot of ex-HMs are now TMs instead, and I'd like to see them all go that way.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Mind you, pre-BW, you could only use a TM once.  That was shit too -- totally discouraged experimentation.


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 19, 2013)

kabbes said:


> It's the best part of the game!  It's like chess where there are 600 chess pieces from which you have to select just six, and each chess piece has 30 available moves, from which you have to select just 4.  It's this multiplicity of options to tweak that makes it so fascinating.



You're talking to someone who used to play in 'serious' MtG tournaments.  I've beaten that, I'm not going to put myself through it again


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

I'm liking the idea of receiving one of the old Kanto starters, will be nice to finally have a Charmander again legitimately and not have to use AR codes to get one. I'm just hoping that in X & Y you can finally capture every single Pokemon there is without having to trade between games ( a huge gripe of mine as I don't know anyone else with a 3DS/Pokemon).


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

I bought White and then Black 2 and have been freely trading between those two games.  It lets you see at least (and possibly obtain) every Unova pokemon with the exception of one (Delkitty, IIRC).

Otherwise yes, it is very annoying to have to trade.  But maybe if we each get a different version of X and Y then we can trade with each other?  I could never do that over the internet on the DS because I could never find a compatible WiFi point.  But presumably the 3DS copes with more types of WiFi encryption than the DS did?


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

I was going to buy both but sure , traded 'mon are stronger anyway (must have them all...). My 3DS copes with wifi better than my laptop does.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Charmander is rubbish, mind. Fire/flying? Stealth rock takes 50% before it even starts, pretty much any decent hit OHKOs after that.

All , of course.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 19, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Charmander is rubbish, mind. Fire/flying? Stealth rock takes 50% before it even starts, pretty much any decent hit OHKOs after that.
> 
> All , of course.


I'd just magic up some uber Pokemon with my Godly AR codes. Stealth rock *that!* But Charmander is adorable and reminds me of my gecko, so is obviously superior. That and Mega Blastoise looks fucking moronic


----------



## kabbes (Sep 19, 2013)

Bulbasaur is where it's at.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 20, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Bulbasaur is where it's at.


What do you think of the new starters? I kind of wish they broke from tradition and offered more choice of pokemon types at the start. A dragon type would be perfect, something that evolves later on in the game instead of the usual level 36. At least an electric type would have been good, still sort of fits into the whole ''rock, paper scissors'' thing they have going with starters.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 20, 2013)

Yeah, or offer psychic, dark, fight to keep up the rock-paper-scissors trinity.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 20, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Yeah, or offer psychic, dark, fight to keep up the rock-paper-scissors trinity.


That would be a nice touch, I hardly ever use dark/fighting types. Also, it would have been cool if they had a Pokemon following you like in Yellow/Gold/Silver. That was one of my favourite little touches.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 24, 2013)

So, I've deleted my old White 2 saved game and I'm going to start totally afresh. Tempted to glitch myself an Eevee as a starter Pokemon...or play it 100% legit with Tepig.


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 24, 2013)

How do you start with eevee?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 24, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> How do you start with eevee?


You can't legitimately.  Callum is going to use an ActionReplay, I think.

I am LOVING the connectivity that my 3DS has brought.  I can finally play other people competitively!  I lost a 40 minute match to somebody in Japan the other day -- we both ended up stalling eachother out and it came down to PPs.  Sadly, I have not used any PP Maxes on my pokemon, so I lost.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 24, 2013)

Six srs bsnss matches in against Japanese hardcore players and I'm 3-3. Plus one who ragequit when I was winning, so 4-3 to me really.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

This Serious is worth a read, incidentally.  Silly pokemon lols included.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

I also liked this one, for example:


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

kabbes said:


> You can't legitimately.  Callum is going to use an ActionReplay, I think.
> 
> I am LOVING the connectivity that my 3DS has brought.  I can finally play other people competitively!  I lost a 40 minute match to somebody in Japan the other day -- we both ended up stalling eachother out and it came down to PPs.  Sadly, I have not used any PP Maxes on my pokemon, so I lost.


I'd be more than willing to trade with you when X & Y come out. Have you tried the Dream Radar yet? Or the whole Dream world stuff on the official website? Loads of Pokemon and items to be got at, adds even more hours of replay value. Generation V will literally last a person years if played to it's full potetial, amazing value for money and a legitimate reason to buy a DS.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

No, I knew nothing about the Dream Radar.  A whole load more stuff for me to look into!


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

kabbes said:


> No, I knew nothing about the Dream Radar.  A whole load more stuff for me to look into!


It's clever, the ''orbs'' you collect (to purchase upgrades in order to catch better Pokemon/items) regenerate in real time, preventing you from blitzing the whole thing in a few hours. Takes a few days to unlock everything. Worth the couple of quid if you ask me.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

I tell you what: I would love to get hold of a skitty or delcatty.  I bought White, then Black 2 and it's the one Unova pokemon not available in either of those games.  Does anybody have one that they can trade me, so that I can complete my pokedex?


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

kabbes said:


> I tell you what: I would love to get hold of a skitty or delcatty.  I bought White, then Black 2 and it's the one Unova pokemon not available in either of those games.  Does anybody have one that they can trade me, so that I can complete my pokedex?


I'll see if I have a legit one in my Black 2.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Sep 25, 2013)

Love this thread. I have not played properly since I had it on GBA. Might nab my son's Black 2 when he gets X or Y for his Birthday.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

I want to get Y, I think.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

mwgdrwg said:


> Love this thread. I have not played properly since I had it on GBA. Might nab my son's Black 2 when he gets X or Y for his Birthday.


Which one's have you played?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

I've played Diamond, SoulSilver, White and Black 2.  Of those, Black 2 has definitely been the best, by a long way.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Sep 25, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Which one's have you played?



Pokemon Sapphire was the only one which I sunk some hours into.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

I wish they would release all the old games on the E store.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> I wish they would release all the old games on the E store.


I can't really be arsed to play old ones though, with restricted lists, moves and gameplay.  I can't now imagine playing a match without weather effects, for example.  It removes a whole swathe of tactics -- be it opening with sand stream Tyranitar and then sweeping with sand rush Excadrill, or using rain dance Kingdra combined with a suddenly 100% accurate hurricane or thunder in a team-mate.


----------



## krink (Sep 25, 2013)

my three love pokemon; the games, toyys, dvds. the games are too hard for me though i like the toys/comics - snivy is my favourite. i will show this thread to my kids as long as it doesn't degenerate too much


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

Snivy is not a final evolution, you know.  I have a soft spot for Serperior though.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 25, 2013)

The Kanto starters are still the best set of starter pokemon from any generation. Mega awesome enough to all be getting Mega evolutions!


----------



## mwgdrwg (Sep 25, 2013)

When I went to Tokyo earlier this year (I keep mentioning this! ), my hotel was only 10 minutes walk from the Pokémon Center.

It was fate


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

For those interested in such things: have you come across Smogon University?  It's an amazing resource for all things poketactical.  You get fantastic write-ups for every pokemon, with in-depth discussions of strengths and weaknesses, and sets of moves to run with them.  For example, here is the one for Gliscor.

Bulbapedia and Serebii have their uses, but Smogon is the king of pokemon sites.


----------



## krink (Sep 25, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Snivy is not a final evolution, you know.  I have a soft spot for Serperior though.



oh I know a little about pokemon just not as much as my obsessive kids. another one i like is starly. and buneary/lopunny. not so keen on the legendary ones though...(is that right?)


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 25, 2013)

off to buy a theme deck. Recommendations?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> off to buy a theme deck. Recommendations?


Ooh, the trading card game.  I know nothing about that.  Is it any good?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 25, 2013)

krink said:


> oh I know a little about pokemon just not as much as my obsessive kids. another one i like is starly. and buneary/lopunny. not so keen on the legendary ones though...(is that right?)


I never use legendaries either.  It seems a bit... cheaty.  And you can't use them in competitions anyway.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

I've been playing with excadrill. In sand, he has insane speed -- with a bit of ev investment, it can comofrtably pass 200 base level.  With attack of 135 before evs, a single sword dance can push that up to insane levels too, making excadrill one hell of a sweeper.

Earthquake + rock slide take care of almost any threat.  Rapid spin in the fourth slot, because I don't already have a rapid spinner.  Air balloon as a precaution.

I have turned tyranitar into a focus sash, stealth rock lead.  Following thand sand stream with excadrill is a potent combo.


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 26, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Ooh, the trading card game.  I know nothing about that.  Is it any good?



I've not playing it in srs mode but it plays pretty well, a bit like a simplified MtG.  I'm sure there's a real complicated meta game out there and deck building strategies to match.  A lot of the cards appear "broken" to me from a MtG viewpoint.  e.g. a single card that lets you draw three more when you play it for no cost and with no drawback seems insane.

I've been playing with my son since he was six and it's loads of fun.  Sometimes he beats me, which is great.

Excadrill is great in the card game too btw.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 26, 2013)

The strictly non-competitive side of me prefers the humble Sandshrew over Drillbur. I've had my arse handed to me by Excadrill more times than I care to mention, I just think the Pokemon itself looks ridiculous.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> The strictly non-competitive side of me prefers the humble Sandshrew over Drillbur. I've had my arse handed to me by Excadrill more times than I care to mention, I just think the Pokemon itself looks ridiculous.


It looks less ridiculous from the back, handing the arse to the opponent!


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

I won a test singles match against Brycen over lunch (typically ice is my nemesis, so it was a good test), leading with tyranitar and laying stealth rock, switching to skarmory and laying spikes and then roosting/phazing the crap out of the opponent so that he was losing 50% with every switch.  It was an easy 3-0 win, and I'm not sure I even bothered switching to excadrill.  Stealth rock + spikes + whirlwind is a killer combo.

But what's your strategy?  How do you like to roll?  Online matches seem to force you to choose just 3 pokemon for your team, so which three would you go for?  In what order?  Talk tactics to me.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 26, 2013)

I'll do a more thorough post later but have you ever tried Breloom for your team?


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> I'll do a more thorough post later but have you ever tried Breloom for your team?


Never caught one, believe it or not!  Always been fascinated by the little wretch.  He's done me a lot of harm down the years.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 26, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Never caught one, believe it or not!  Always been fascinated by the little wretch.  He's done me a lot of harm down the years.


He's a hard case, one hit KO's like a mofo. The grass sub type is somewhat of a weakness to be wary of.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> He's a hard case, one hit KO's like a mofo. The grass sub type is somewhat of a weakness to be wary of.


I have read his write-up on Smogon with envy a few times.  This certainly makes me drool




			
				Smogon said:
			
		

> Breloom is one of the gold standards of power in Generation 5. With Technician, Breloom basically 2HKOs the metagame with Choice Band or Life Orb. Technician Bullet Seed has the potential to be the strongest attack in the metagame, a 187.5 Base Power attack coming off of 394 Attack. Compounding that is Technician Low Sweep, which gives Breloom a free second attack against many faster opponents switching in



That's the OverUsed metagame, incidentally, which is where basically anything but the best legendaries (and Excadrill, as it happens) cap out.  They're comparing his power with the likes of Garchomp and suggesting it's better.


----------



## Callum91 (Sep 26, 2013)

kabbes said:


> I have read his write-up on Smogon with envy a few times.  This certainly makes me drool
> 
> 
> 
> That's the OverUsed metagame, incidentally, which is where basically anything but the best legendaries (and Excadrill, as it happens) cap out.  They're comparing his power with the likes of Garchomp and suggesting it's better.


Aye, he's one I've used a few times and he sweeps teams away easily. People never expect him either, still somewhat underused I've found.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 26, 2013)

How do you cope with him being frail and slow, though?  That's the one thing I've never really understood.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 30, 2013)

Callum, you still owe me a breakdown of your tactics 

Folks, if you haven't engaged in competitive battling, you absolutely must.  This has TOTALLY revolutionized the game for me -- taken it to another level entirely.

Matches against the computer tend all to be similar, because no matter the line-up facing you, the AI algorithms are fundamentally the same.  

Playing against people, on the other hand, is a totally different kettle of basculin.  They use ALL sorts of tactics.  You have the defensive, the offensive, the stallers, the weather-makers, the entry-hazards, the blitzkriegs, those who like to switch pokemon regularly and those who plant their ground.

Battling against other people is all kinds of fun in a way that battles against the computer can never be.  When you pull off a clever move, it's unbelievably satisfying.  And when you get outmanoeuvred, you can only smile at their cleverness.  It's brilliant.  I'm 18-15 down at the moment (losing 10 on the trot didn't help -- ouch!) and I can honestly say I've learnt something from and enjoyed every match.

Random match-up has another fascinating element too: in a singles match, you choose a team of three out of your six (just like in the PWT), but _you get to see your opponent's choice of six whilst you do it_.  So there is all kinds of bluff and double-bluff going on in choosing which three you should pick to take on your opponent's unknown choice of three.  At first, I wanted a full on six-on-six battle, but actually I think this works much better.  Stops matches going on too long as well.

I don't know how friend codes and all that business work, but is it possible for us to choose to battle each other?  That would be great.  Urban pokemon cup, anyone?

(Where is S☼I anyway?  He's definitely been around.  He loves his pokemon.)


----------



## Steel Icarus (Sep 30, 2013)

kabbes said:


> (Where is S☼I anyway?  He's definitely been around.  He loves his pokemon.)



Present.

Quite excited about X & Y, the Boy is desperate to get it the day it comes out. I don't know much about it but the addition of a new type I've heard about, and seen some of the new Pokemon. But really a bit too busy to have had a proper gander at it so far.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 30, 2013)

Hooray!  Good to hear from you.  

X&Y look amazing, even if it is just graphically.  The new type should multiply up the strategies too.  Finally something that beats dragon hands down.  Although stats still matter too, of course, and fairies don't generally look great in that regard.


----------



## kabbes (Sep 30, 2013)

I just fought the amazing battle of my life.  I anticipated every move my opponent was going to make -- it was like I could see his choices laid in front of me.  I have uploaded it if you want a look -- battle 93-86273-94722.  Name of Waddy.

I'm not letting you get away without talking about it though.  Here's the beginning.

I opened with Ferrothorn (rocky helmet) and had Tyranitar and Jellicent in reserve.  I (correctly) anticipated that my opponent was going with a (competition-illegal) setup of Drizzle Politoad + Swift Swim Kingdra, and those three I felt gave me the best chance of countering it.  Ferrothorn and Jellicent will work well against Politoad and Kingdra, and Tyranitar will let me wage a weather war.

He opened with Scrafty, which was something that could give me a lot of problems, because Ferrothorn and Tyranitar are weak to fighting moves and Jellicent is weak to dark moves.  

I went straight for Leach Seed, and he used Bulk Up to give me a Scrafty-shaped headache.  Then he walloped me with a Drain Punch (75% damage!) whilst I I laid down some Stealth Rock.

This is where I got clever.  I switched to Jellicent, so his next Drain Punch did nothing at all.  Then I switched straight to Tyranitar so that his Crunch did nothing.  All the while, leech seed is wearing him down (and repairing crunch damage).  Then back to Jellicent so that the Drain Punch does nothing, and sand is hurting too.  Then back to Ferroseed and he switches to Politoad and brings the rain.

Leech seed whilst he uses perish song (odd choice from him there).  He protects in the next round -- again odd because leech seed is rebuilding ferroseed all the time.

He goes back to scrafty (hurt by stealth rock) and I switch to Jellicent to avoid the drain punch.  I burn him and his crunch now does little.  Then back to ferroseed and his punch takes the 25% damage from the rocky helmet and barbs, which with the burn damage is enough to kill him off.  All without me so much as attacking him!

It get more exciting from there, as his swift swim Kingdra turns out to have choice specs, which makes his hydro pump absolutely DEVASTATING in the rain.  But ultimately I won by taking advantage of the choice specs lock-in.  

After some exciting back and forth, which is well worth watching (promise!), I was left with a full-HP Jellicent against his swift swim Kingdra.  He rightly decided that Hydro Pump wasn't going to cut it and used Draco Meteor.  I had anticipated that, however, and had used Recover.  Draco Meteor did about 95% damage but it knocks his Sp Atk down two places.  So with my recovery, the next Draco Meteor didn't kill me either.  I recovered that and we kept going from there, until he was doing virtually no damage per hit.  Then it's a simple burn and scald to victory.

It was a great example of how a pair of walls of opposite type can wear down an opponent between them.  Very enjoyable stuff!  And not something I'd ever have got against the computer.


----------



## fractionMan (Sep 30, 2013)

Honestly, nrver, ever start plaing mtg.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> Honestly, nrver, ever start plaing mtg.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 1, 2013)

I had a team of level 100 Metapods. I think I got bored after an ENTIRE minute.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 1, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Lapras - A good shield wall, high HP, few weaknesses and can learn some handy ice moves for killing dragon/grass types.



What's your moveset on Lapras? I ask cos it's my favourite Pokemon. I've not finished any game after Generation 2 although I have got a fair way into Emerald, Platinum AND White before getting distracted and not getting back into them.

I always went with Ice Beam, Confuse Ray, Surf, and Body Slam (although sometimes instead of Body Slam I'd go for Rest, which makes it even more of a tank than usual). Getting an opponent Parafused while smashing away with Surf with STAB is pretty devastating.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

My heart always sinks when I see Lapras lining up against me.  Water/ice is such a good defensive type and surf/ice beam gives such good STAB coverage. I go heavy on ground, flying and dragon too, so ice is a nightmare for me.

Tyranitar with choice scarf is a staple of my team, however, and his stone edge can OHKO if Lapras has some residual damage (e.g. stealth rock).  Lapras also has little it can do to Jellicent or Ferrothorn.  The rest of my pokemon are toast though. (Maybe not Conkeldurr, but I rarely use him.)


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 1, 2013)

kabbes said:


> My heart always sinks when I see Lapras lining up against me.  Water/ice is such a good defensive type and surf/ice beam gives such good STAB coverage. I go heavy on ground, flying and dragon too, so ice is a nightmare for me.
> 
> Tyranitar with choice scarf is a staple of my team, however, and his stone edge can OHKO if Lapras has some residual damage (e.g. stealth rock).  Lapras also has little it can do to Jellicent or Ferrothorn.  The rest of my pokemon are toast though. (Maybe not Conkeldurr, but I rarely use him.)



Like I say, I only really have in-depth knowledge of up to Gen II, so I don't really know how to respond! I was always terrified of coming up against a Quagsire, for some reason those big lummoxes always gave me trouble. Maybe cos of the types I always seem to have in my party, I don't much like grass types so have nothing it's specially crap against.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

You need to spend time with current gen!  More pokemon means more combinations to get your teeth stuck into.  More fun!

(Disclaimer: I am not to blame for failed degrees...)


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 1, 2013)

kabbes said:


> You need to spend time with current gen!  More pokemon means more combinations to get your teeth stuck into.  More fun!
> 
> (Disclaimer: I am not to blame for failed degrees...)


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 1, 2013)

Just pre ordered X&Y off Amazon for £65. Hope they'll be naughty and deliver early like with GTA V.

My current line up for my White 2 game is;
Luxray
Vaoporeon
Charizard
Golurk
Absol
Gardevoir


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

You're getting both of them?


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 1, 2013)

_Propah_ Trainah.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> My current line up for my White 2 game is;
> Luxray
> Vaoporeon
> Charizard
> ...


A good line-up.  What's your strategy, if going in blind?

Suppose you saw my team preview consisting of (to pick a typical team of 6 of my squad of 12 that I mix and match from):

Tyranitar
Jellicent
Ferrothorn
Excadrill
Volcarona
Gliscor

Which three of your team would you pick, and why?  Who would you lead with?

I'll put my choices in a spoiler so as not to influence your decision:



Spoiler



If I saw those six and I had my line-up of six to choose from, I'd have to go with

Ferrothorn
Gliscor
Tyranitar (lead)

Tyranitar is a must in order to counter Charizard (OHKO from stone edge) and Golurk and Gardevoir (Crunch to the face).  My Tyranitar is choice scarved, so it should outspeed most of your line-up.  I'd lead with him to set up the sandstorm, but I'd probably look to switch him out to either Ferrothorn or Gliscor straight away, particularly if you were leading with something scary like Luxray or Vaporeon.

Ferrothorn is there to deal with Luxray and Vaporeon and provide a general wall.  Clearly vulnerable to Charizard, so I'd have to watch that.

Gliscor is my stall of choice.  He's fast with toxic heal, and I can protect-substitute-protect all day without you touching him, unless you have something particularly speady.  His earthquake would cause headaches for Golurk and Luxray, and I'd be poisoning you where I can other than that.

Absol is my biggest worry.  My team doesn't have anything to deal with him.  I'd probably just hope that you didn't pick him


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 1, 2013)

kabbes said:


> A good line-up.  What's your strategy, if going in blind?
> 
> Suppose you saw my team preview consisting of (to pick a typical team of 6 of my squad of 12 that I mix and match from):
> 
> ...


I would probably concede tbh, I'm not competitive (yet) haha. I only chose the team 'cos bar Charizard I'd never used any of them before.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 1, 2013)

Come on Callum, join the competitive battlers.  You know it makes sense...


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 1, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Come on Callum, join the competitive battlers.  You know it makes sense...


But...but...I enjoy playing God with my AR codes...


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 2, 2013)

Thoughts on Vanilluxe as a potential ice type?


----------



## kabbes (Oct 2, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Thoughts on Vanilluxe as a potential ice type?


In the Never Used tier.



> Vanilluxe is your typical Ice-type: it has good stats overall, but it doesn't have the movepool to back them up. Though Autotomize is the main reason to use Vanilluxe, a lack of reliable recovery and a horrid defensive typing make it hard for Vanilluxe to get a Speed boost. Thus, despite its respectable bulk, Vanilluxe needs support in order to succeed. Additionally, its coverage options are sprinkled with little more than Ice-type moves, meaning that it is often walled. Finally, outside of Autotomize, Jynx does better than Vanilluxe as an offensive Ice-type. Sporting greater Speed, offensive presence, boosting moves, and the deadly Lovely Kiss, Jynx is much easier fit onto teams than our two-scoop friend.



And that's just comparing it to other Never Used ice types.

Says it all, really!

Mamoswine and Abomasnow are my favourite ice types, although I don't actually have either in my first team squad (I'm considering promoting Mamoswine though -- I have so many problems against him, there must be something I can use there.)

I hate playing against Froslass too, but I've never had one of my own.  Weavile seems popular but I've never personally seen the attraction.  Lapras is also apparently in the NU tier these days, although it's not something I like to see line up against me.  Water/Ice has some advantages, so Walrein -- another NU -- is also worth considering, if you really must.

Ice is generally not a good type to be, though, because it has four weaknesses against common offensive types and only one strength, which is against itself.  You'd only be wanting an ice type either because you want to run a Hail team or because you really, really want the STAB power on your ice beam.  Personally, I avoid.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 2, 2013)

Hmm.  This is what Smogon says about Lapras



> Lapras has lain in the depths of NU since DPP, and it's a mystery why. Being one of the few specially defensive Water-types in the tier, Lapras has a niche in countering Shell Smash Gorebyss with ease. Lapras's secondary Ice typing is somewhat of a letdown, but don't let this put you off; STAB Ice Beam coming from a base 85 Special Attack is nothing short of scary. Unfortunately, Lapras is cursed with a Stealth Rock weakness and no way to heal itself outside of Rest and Water Absorb, but thanks to its decent typing it has many opportunities to switch in. Lapras has a rather large movepool consisting of oddities such as Dragon Dance, Perish Song, and even Curse. If it wasn't weak to Stealth Rock and its Speed was a bit higher, Lapras would be a top-tier threat, but for now it'll stay with its NU friends.


----------



## fen_boy (Oct 2, 2013)

What's all this tiers and metagame stuff?
Reading Smogon it looks like metagames are totally divorced from the actual game and they're played using a separate piece of software. Is that how you're doing online battles?


----------



## kabbes (Oct 2, 2013)

fen_boy said:


> What's all this tiers and metagame stuff?
> Reading Smogon it looks like metagames are totally divorced from the actual game and they're played using a separate piece of software. Is that how you're doing online battles?


That's how they do it for competition, yeah.  Not how I do it, though.  I just play the regular game.  I've never sought out the software they use.

Regardless of whether or not you play the metagames, however, the tiers are still a very useful teambuilding concept, because they have been defined using statistics about how much each pokemon is used within a team.  That's why the tiers are called "Overused", "Underused" and so on, rather than "Strong", "Medium", etc.  

That doesn't (necessarily) mean that an OU pokemon is _better_ than a UU pokemon -- especially because it's all about the overall balance -- but it does give you an indication of what the _crowd _considers strong and weak.  It also is, however, often a good signal that there may be a better choice out there.  A lot of pokemon are in a low tier simply because there genuinely _is _another one is better -- same typing, same role but better stats and movepool.

Playing through the game itself, none of the metagame rules can be enforced.  Mind you, that doesn't stop me feeling a bit resentful when somebody uses Fissure, or Drizzle + Swift Swim, or spamming Spore.  But I can't complain, because in the game itself, there are no metarules about gameplay.  Personally, I stick to the metagame rules out of sheer pride.  But that's just me.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 2, 2013)

S☼I said:


> _Propah_ Trainah.


Aspergers. I literally wouldn't be able to sleep with an incomplete collection. I am Poke God!


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 5, 2013)

Only one week to go now, folks. My 3DS won't know what's hit it, poor machine.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 12, 2013)

Bump. Today is the day folks! Just waiting for Mr.Postman before I can start my Kalos Pokemon adventure. If Fennekin is shit I'll be having words with Nintendo


----------



## fen_boy (Oct 12, 2013)

Pokemon X and Y and two new 2DS turned up today. All safely hidden till Christmas.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 13, 2013)

8 hours in and it's fucking fantastic. It's the game Pokemon always should have been. Makes me want to be a kid all over again.

Edit- The EXP share is now immense. Your first Pokemon gets 100% of the EXP and every other Pokemon in your team get 50%. Leveling up is now easy as fuck. Oh and you can improve stats by playing games with your Pokemon, I beefed up my Fennekin's special attack by 20 points in little over 7 mins.


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 14, 2013)

My boy got it Friday night. He wasn't expecting it until Christmas but we left it where he'd stumble across it. This is him almost in tears with joy, about 2 minutes into it


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 14, 2013)

S☼I said:


> My boy got it Friday night. He wasn't expecting it until Christmas but we left it where he'd stumble across it. This is him almost in tears with joy, about 2 minutes into it
> 
> View attachment 41906


I was something similar myself...but with real tears added. I'm trying to pace myself playing it otherwise I'd just literally spend all day playing it.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 15, 2013)

Which starter Pokemon did he go for?


----------



## kabbes (Oct 15, 2013)

I might buy it today.  I have to say, though, that buying the 3DS (in readiness to get X or Y) has actually given my Black 2 a new lease of life.  It's given me incentive to really EV-polish my team, and add to it with some real hard-hitters.  It's really very competitive now, whether I go for a team of stallers and whittle down the opposition attritionally, or just pile in with sweepers.  I am a bit reluctant to give that up!

Saying that, the idea of a whole new campaign to play on the train is rather too good to pass up.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 15, 2013)

Just went to HMV at lunchtime, and they don't have it for sale!


----------



## Steel Icarus (Oct 15, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> I was something similar myself...but with real tears added. I'm trying to pace myself playing it otherwise I'd just literally spend all day playing it.



I do have another picture of him properly roaring but it wasn't very flattering to the lad so I went with semi-tearful.



Callum91 said:


> Which starter Pokemon did he go for?



Fennekin.

I've only seen a tiny snippet of it so far, but it looks like a massive leap in terms of epic-ness and attention to detail, even if the core of the game is virtually identical to Blue.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 15, 2013)

S☼I said:


> I do have another picture of him properly roaring but it wasn't very flattering to the lad so I went with semi-tearful.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


He went for the right choice then . Yes, it's an excellent evolution of the series. Best yet, easily.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 15, 2013)

Right, I have ordered X.  I was going to get Y, but if I am going to have Charizard, he's going to have a fire/dragon mega-evolution.

I plan to start with Froakie, because it's all about the speed, frankly.  So that means Charizard as a partner, and that means X.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 15, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Right, I have ordered X.  I was going to get Y, but if I am going to have Charizard, he's going to have a fire/dragon mega-evolution.
> 
> I plan to start with Froakie, because it's all about the speed, frankly.  So that means Charizard as a partner, and that means X.


You can get Mega Charizard in both? Unless I'm mistaken. I think the difference is only aesthetic. Could be totally wrong, mind.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 16, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> You can get Mega Charizard in both? Unless I'm mistaken. I think the difference is only aesthetic. Could be totally wrong, mind.


In Y he has more power. In X he changes type.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Oct 16, 2013)

Impressive sales, 4 million copies in 2 days!
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/433853/nintendo-pokemon-xy-sold-4m-units-in-two-days/?site=aus


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 16, 2013)

mwgdrwg said:


> Impressive sales, 4 million copies in 2 days!
> http://www.computerandvideogames.com/433853/nintendo-pokemon-xy-sold-4m-units-in-two-days/?site=aus


Surprised to see that Diamond & Pearl sold so well.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 16, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Surprised to see that Diamond & Pearl sold so well.


Black & White 2 not even in the top 5, despite Black & White being third.  Fans who avoided it have missed out on the best one (prior to X&Y, at least).  I guess it shows that sometimes, it's better _not_ to have a transparently direct sequel, but rather to brand it as something new.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 16, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Black & White 2 not even in the top 5, despite Black & White being third.  Fans who avoided it have missed out on the best one (prior to X&Y, at least).  I guess it shows that sometimes, it's better _not_ to have a transparently direct sequel, but rather to brand it as something new.


Aye, agreed. For me, D&P were the weakest in the series (closely followed by Ruby & Sapphire). B&W/B&W2 were good but X&Y are the games that B&W _should_ have been. Personally I didn't see the point in B&W2, carbon copies of B&W in almost every way, felt more like a stop gap until X&Y were released.

Saying that... Leaf green and Fire red were fantastic remakes of the original ones, very close to Poke-perfection.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 16, 2013)

B&W2 definitely fixed lots of little things about B&W.  Evolution rather than revolution.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 16, 2013)

kabbes said:


> B&W2 definitely fixed lots of little things about B&W.  Evolution rather than revolution.


Did you play Yellow?


----------



## kabbes (Oct 16, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Did you play Yellow?


No, never played Red/Blue/Yellow at all.  Or Ruby/Sapphire.  Played Diamond/Pearl, HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, Black/White 2.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 16, 2013)

kabbes said:


> No, never played Red/Blue/Yellow at all.  Or Ruby/Sapphire.  Played Diamond/Pearl, HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, Black/White 2.


I would recommend playing Red/Blue/Yellow but I'm not sure how wise it would be to go backwards in the series if you started at the point you did. Red/Blue were magical for me but only 'cos of my age at the time. I played Yellow with an emulator recently and it was somewhat...difficult to get past how awfully dated it feels. The gameplay is still solid, though.

Anyone else found the gym leaders in X&Y to be somewhat weak, so far? Either that or I'm over levelled.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 19, 2013)

They should have renamed the ''Elite Four'' the pushover four. None of their Pokemon are particularly strong, some aren't even fully evolved. The ''Champion'' was a total walk in the park too. I think I took 1 hit in all 5 battles, didn't even have a complete team of 6 Pokemon, didn't use any items, none of my Pokemon were taken out and every one of my attacks ended in a one hit KO. They're about as challenging as the gym leaders (so that's no challenge at all). Somewhat of an anti climax to the game...


----------



## kabbes (Oct 19, 2013)

My X arrived this morning.  Looks pretty enough, time will tell with gameplay.

Not impressed that they've nerfed the difficulty though. The difficulty has always been kinda the point.

The new exp share sounds like it will make ev training trickier too.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 22, 2013)

So I'm a few hours into X, and it's playing like every other Pokemon game (of course, what else would you expect?) except it's much easier to defeat the hell out of everyone.

This Penny Arcade was meant as a joke, but I think there is an element of truth in there too:







Since I could pick up Torchic for nothing but logging on, I got Bulbasaur as my second starter.  I haven't even bothered to let any of my pokeymons evolve once yet, because they are winning with ease anyway.  They're all at level 20 and enemies are 10-15, and I haven't even attempted to grind experience.

And building a balanced team has happened without even having to think about it.  I have been given fire, grass and water starters (who will become fire/fighting, grass/poison and water/dark, which is even better).  Snorlax the special wall you stumble into.  That leaves two largely meaningless free options -- I have Pikachu and Pidgey in those slots for now, but we'll see.  

In many ways it's the ultimate pokemon game, but in other ways something has been lost.  There aren't really the _decisions_ that need to be made.  There are few consequences for choosing one way rather than another.

Still, the real meat of pokemon has always been the high level battling you get up to in the post-game.  So I will wait and see on that score.  I'm sure it's as good as ever.

Talking about Penny Arcade, though, they also produced a comic with this comment:




			
				Penny Arcade said:
			
		

> For a game that is relentlessly cheery most of the time, in palette and texture, there’s a lot of weird implications about its world.  There are some problems friendship may not be sufficient to solve.  There are the monsters you breed, of course, but there are also the monsters who do the breeding.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

kabbes said:


> So I'm a few hours into X, and it's playing like every other Pokemon game (of course, what else would you expect?) except it's much easier to defeat the hell out of everyone.
> 
> This Penny Arcade was meant as a joke, but I think there is an element of truth in there too:
> 
> ...


Turn off the EXP share. Old school Pokemon once more.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

Also, you'll shit a brick when you find out what else you get given


----------



## kabbes (Oct 22, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Turn off the EXP share. Old school Pokemon once more.


I just... can't.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

I felt the same. Had it off for an hour and I couldn't stop myself just mentally adding up all the free EXP I was throwing away. Needless to say, it was turned back on


----------



## kabbes (Oct 22, 2013)

Give me a labour-saving device and I will use it.  That doesn't mean I'm a happier person as a result though.  Such is the tragic irony of the human condition.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Give me a labour-saving device and I will use it.  That doesn't mean I'm a happier person as a result though.  Such is the tragic irony of the human condition.


Aside from all that though, you're enjoying it right? Every time I play it I'm still amazed by the attention to detail.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 22, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Aside from all that though, you're enjoying it right? Every time I play it I'm still amazed by the attention to detail.


Oh God yeah.  The amount of work that has gone into it is staggering.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Oh God yeah.  The amount of work that has gone into it is staggering.


Phew, that's alright then. Thought you disliked it for a moment there! My none Pokemon player friend was so impressed he went out and bought a 3DS/Pokemon after 5 mins gameplay. Doesn't surprise me at all to hear they've shifted 4,000,000+ copies.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 22, 2013)

I'm particularly interested to see what the fairy type does to the metagame.

Togekiss has long been a bastard to fight against in the metagame, for example.  Now it's gone from Normal/Flying to Fairy/Flying.  I suspect that's just stepped it up to a whole other level.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 22, 2013)

kabbes said:


> I'm particularly interested to see what the fairy type does to the metagame.
> 
> Togekiss has long been a bastard to fight against in the metagame, for example.  Now it's gone from Normal/Flying to Fairy/Flying.  I suspect that's just stepped it up to a whole other level.


Other types have had a shake up too. Skarmory isn't as good as it once was.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 23, 2013)

Anyone know where to find the lucky egg? I'd Google it but...well...I'd rather ask Urb.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 23, 2013)

Not found it yet, but you're much further ahead than me.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 23, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Not found it yet, but you're much further ahead than me.


I've already completed X, thought I'd be quite thorough but it appears not. Either I've missed some aspect of the main quest or it's hidden somewhere *shakes fist*.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 23, 2013)

I've just learnt that Smogon are unable to automatically data mine X and Y, which means they can't reverse engineer the stats.  Which means there will be no Gen VI Smogon resource, sadly.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

And now I've just been handed a Lucario with its mega stone and a Lapras, each for gratis.  The game has given me a top-tier team with spares without me having to work for any of it.  Meanwhile, of the pokemon I have captured, only Hawlucha has the potential to compete with the freebies.  Where's the decision-making?  And to add insult to injury, my team are a good 10 levels higher than the gym leader I am competing against, and I've made no effort to grind that.  My Hawlucha swept the entire fighting gym by itself, taking only two or three fake out hits in the process.

Don't get me wrong, X is still a great game.  But its pacing and balance are off as compared with Black 2.  Shame, because what they have done with the interconnectivity and the general look and feel is a big step forward.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 24, 2013)

kabbes said:


> And now I've just been handed a Lucario with its mega stone and a Lapras, each for gratis.  The game has given me a top-tier team with spares without me having to work for any of it.  Meanwhile, of the pokemon I have captured, only Hawlucha has the potential to compete with the freebies.  Where's the decision-making?  And to add insult to injury, my team are a good 10 levels higher than the gym leader I am competing against, and I've made no effort to grind that.  My Hawlucha swept the entire fighting gym by itself, taking only two or three fake out hits in the process.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, X is still a great game.  But its pacing and balance are off as compared with Black 2.  Shame, because what they have done with the interconnectivity and the general look and feel is a big step forward.


To be fair...you don't _have_ to use any of the Pokemon given to you, do you? I still think trying to play Pokemon as a power gamer is a bad idea, give the shit Pokemon some love!  One thing I don't like about the EXP share is that it means you rarely have to ever change your front Pokemon seeing as the rest of your team level up at a consistent rate. The gym leaders are pathetically weak, none of them pose a challenge at all.

There's rumour that Nintendo are going to be releasing DLC for X&Y, new regions are being touted as potential updates which sounds pretty exciting. During the game it's hinted/alluded to, also, to back up the rumours.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Trouble is that what I always loved about pokemon was the thought I had to put in to crafting the best team possible.  Imposing arbitrary personal rules around that task kills the joy of it.  Particularly since there is _such_ a gulf between the team I have been handed on a plate and everything else that I have caught (Hawlucha aside, who is a useful wee fellow).  Any Team B would be way underpowered, particularly at this point.  

This is a distinct change from other Pokemon games I have played, in which I have always had/wanted to spend many happy hours playing with my team balance throughout my character's progress.


----------



## Santino (Oct 24, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Trouble is that what I always loved about pokemon was the thought I had to put in to crafting the best team possible.  Imposing arbitrary personal rules around that task kills the joy of it.  Particularly since there is _such_ a gulf between the team I have been handed on a plate and everything else that I have caught (Hawlucha aside, who is a useful wee fellow).  Any Team B would be way underpowered, particularly at this point.
> 
> This is a distinct change from other Pokemon games I have played, in which I have always had/wanted to spend many happy hours playing with my team balance throughout my character's progress.


Why don't we nationalise Pokémon?


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 24, 2013)

Did you miss the Aerodactyl then?


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Santino said:


> Why don't we nationalise Pokémon?


Nice é.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Did you miss the Aerodactyl then?


Yes, I've not come across Aerodactyl.  There is a limit for how much I am willing to wade through long grass to pick up every last 5% encounter rate.

Either way, however, Aerodactyl is a bit shit.  It's a glass cannon without sufficient firepower.  It's a suicide lead, which is hopeless in an adventure.  It has a specific niche in competitive battling, but I wouldn't want it in my general team.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 24, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Yes, I've not come across Aerodactyl.  There is a limit for how much I am willing to wade through long grass to pick up every last 5% encounter rate.
> 
> Either way, however, Aerodactyl is a bit shit.  It's a glass cannon without sufficient firepower.  It's a suicide lead, which is hopeless in an adventure.  It has a specific niche in competitive battling, but I wouldn't want it in my general team.


You need to get smashing more rocks. The mega form is bad ass.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> You need to get smashing more rocks. The mega form is bad ass.


Ah yes, mega forms.  I hate them.


----------



## Santino (Oct 24, 2013)

kabbes said:


> Nice é.


Either my browser or Xenforo added it automatically.

It does it with "café" too.

Pate. Soupcon. Doesn't do anything with those though.  Fuhrer. Senor. Huh.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Aside from the way that mega forms fuck with the carefully crafted balance of the game, the worst thing about them is that they kill the whole careful consideration about what item each pokemon should carry.  No more weighing up choice band vs choice scarf vs life orb, for example.  Why would you?  It needs to carry its mega stone, no further questions.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 24, 2013)

I remember when it were all trees round 'ere...


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> I remember when it were all trees round 'ere...


No, I love change.  But it needs to be according to a wider strategy, not just lumps of things that look cool but destroy the reason why it was good in the first place.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 24, 2013)

I have just come across the lucky egg.  It's in Hotel Coumarine. Ground floor, talk to a girl there.


----------



## Callum91 (Oct 24, 2013)

kabbes said:


> I have just come across the lucky egg.  It's in Hotel Coumarine. Ground floor, talk to a girl there.


Ahhh finally! EXP shall be mine.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 5, 2013)

I'm well into the postgame now, and I am generally rather disappointed.

The Battle Maison is a very, VERY poor relation of PWT.  There is nowhere to high level grind, like Black Tower, so getting mons to level 100 is a tedious grind.  There are no move tutors, meaning lots of pokemon are frozen out from their key moves.  It's just worse than Black 2 in lots of subtle little ways like that. A very disappointing step backwards.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 6, 2013)

I don't agree with everything in this article, but the author makes some good points

http://www.destructoid.com/top-ten-reasons-why-i-can-t-get-into-pokemon-x-263896.phtml


----------



## kabbes (Nov 6, 2013)

For balance: I think almost all the subtle mechanics changes have improved the game no-end.

* Weather nerf stops it being all about weather wars
* Hidden Power nerf stops ridiculous coverage moves
* Special Attack nerfs across the board (except Energy Ball) make sense in the light of the various ways that Attack gets nerfed (Intimidate and Burn).
* Energy Ball boost puts it in line with Flamethrower and Thunderbolt
* Sleep is no longer a game-killer
* Dragons can no longer Outrage with impunity, because it allows a Fairy to come in and set up for free.
* Assault Vest looks like it will be interesting

So the single-player game is a big disappointment, but the proper PvP meat looks like it has improved.  At least, it will do once Pokebank comes online and we can actually access move tutors.

Have I forgotten anything?


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

Lots more time spent with this over my holiday.  Lots more to say.

Firstly: I found good gold and XP farming.  Give amulet coin and lucky egg to two of the front three pokemon.  Use relevant O-powers and go to the 3-star restaurant in Hibernal Avenue.  Choose triple battles.  Pay $100,000.  Fight a series of lvl 63 pokemon.  Make your $100,000 back plus many hundreds of thousands more in balm mushroom rewards.  See XP go shooting up.

Secondly: EV training.  I think I may previously have said something bad about this; if so, I was wrong.  The EV training is 100 times better than it used to be.  You can really finesse it now, and you actually have a record of your efforts to date.  Plus you can reset it all with a white punch bag if you want to start it again.  Thank you game freak!

The pokebank needs to come live though, because there are many moves I need these little guys to learn that are currently not possible!

So I now have many lvl 100 pokemon that have been carefully EV trained, and a bunch more just bubbling under.  I am experimenting with the best team I can.  I'll spend some posts discussing some of them.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

*Hawlucha
*
My original Hawlucha was so useful I started to look into him a bit more.  At that point, I discovered that there is a rare ability available -- unburden.  This doubles speed if you use your carried item.  On something like Hawlucha, this would be absolutely killer.

So I started breeding.  Six failed runts later, I finally got my unburden Hawlucha.  Here it is:

unburden@red card
EVs: 252 atk, the rest spread between HP, def, sp def and a bit of spd.  The idea is to allow him to take a hit without being OHKO'd.

Lvl 100 stats:
HP: 295
Atk: 265
Def: 181
Sp Atk: 169
Sp Def: 165
Spd: 264

Moves:
Sword Dance
Encore
High Jump Kick
Acrobatics

The strategy is simple.  Sword dance and take a hit, which ejects the other pokemon and activates unburden.  Being Flying Fighting, you can probably take the hit with the bulk I have invested.  At that point, you have a pokemon with 590 attack and 528 speed.  Not only that, but running two of the nastiest STABs with the best all-round coverage in the game -- 140 attack fighting HJK and 110 attack flying acrobatics, which become 210 and 165 respectively with STAB.

At that point, you just sweep the hell out of the opposition.

If the opponent uses something other than an attack in round 1, you use Encore to force him to repeat it three more times whilst you Sword Dance your way to god-hood.  And then you hope that 264 speed is enough.

It's not foolproof.  There are a few OHKOs that stop it in its tracks -- electric and ice mostly.  Sometimes, you don't take a hit, you stay at medium pace and acrobatics stays at base 55.  Then Hawlucha is average, although few other pokemon appreciate a STAB HJK.  Something that can outspeed you can cause you trouble until unburden is activated.

But when it works, hoo boy does it work.  I have swept whole teams with this one little guy.  With a SD and unburden activated, he is a _God of War_.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

*Mega-Mawile
*
This is the other crutch my team is built around.  I like Mega-Mawile because she actually creates a relevance for the mega stones.  Mawile is essentially useless -- 380 base stats, harmless and frail.  Mega-Mawile, however, is not so overpowered as to ruin the game, but is a simply decent top-tier threat.  This is what the mega stones should do -- create uses for otherwise pointless pokemon.

Firstly, I had to breed Mawiles for a while, however, until I got one with the Intimidate ability.  This is crucial to the whole strategy.  You come in on a physical attacked and shut them down with an Intimidate.

Then I piled EVs into HP and Atk.  252 in each.  The other 6 went into Sp Def, I think.

I was left with this:

Intimidate@Mawileite
Mega-ability: Huge Power

EVs: 252 atk, 252 HP.  Hit like a train, take hits like a train.

Stats at level 100:
HP: 273
Atk: 253
Def: 278
Sp Atk: 123
Sp Def: 228
Speed: 123

Moves:
Sword Dance
Baton Pass
Sucker punch
Rough Play

Stats don't look special, right?  Wrong.  With Huge Power activated, the Attack doubles, giving a _base_ attack of 506.  After one sword dance, that becomes a staggering 1012.  This thing is absolutely deadly.

And the defences aren't great, except that a Steel Fairy resists the hell out of almost everything.  Plus you have already Intimidated your opponent on switch in, for extra nerfing lulz.

Low speed?  Who cares when Sucker Punch is priority?

So you sword dance, then you Sucker Punch to victory.  You might Rough Play dragons and fighters, or when you think your opponent isn't going to use an attacking move.

You can't be poisoned, you laugh at paralysis and if you get burnt, you just sword dance again.

When things look bad, you baton pass to Hawlucha or one of the other physical attackers.

Brutal.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

*Greninja
*
I haven't pinned down the best use of this guy yet, but she is definitely in my team.  Water/Dark is too good to pass up, for a start, and she hits hard and fast, which is always on the top of my list.

I am using her with maximum investment in speed and attack and a choice band, to make her an all-out physical attacker.  This is against the general consensus of the internet, which is to make her a mixed attacker.  I don't think she hits hard enough, however, without giving her full investment in EV attack, and the choice band to bump it up further.  Part of the problem is that her attacks just aren't that strong -- typically 70 and 80 base points (something fixed by using the hydro cannon special attack, but then you have other problems).  By keeping her physical, I can also Baton Pass the SD of Mega Mawile to her, which makes her more lethal.

She's still got her Torrent ability at the moment, but I am considering going Protean.  It looks like one way of overcoming the limited base points of the attacks, because it means you always get STAB.  I'm not sure I want to give up Water/Dark though, and Torrent can be useful because she is quite frail and so the Torrent activates quite easily.

Torrent@Choice Band

EVs: 252 atk, 252 speed

HP: 268
Attack: 306
Def: 166
Sp Atk: 212
Sp Def: 160
Speed: 313

Moves:
Waterfall
U-Turn
Night Slash
??

Basically, bring her in, maybe with baton pass.  Spam an attack until she dies or her opponent does.

Fourth moveslot is up for grabs.  I currently have Arial Ace, which is weak but a guaranteed hit.  This is to cope with grass types (other than U-Turn) and fighters.  I might change that up though, because a 60 base attack with no STAB really is weak.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

*Dephox
*
He's an interesting one.  I've given him HP and Sp Def bulk plus lots of Sp Atk to make him a bit of a Sp Def tank.  He then has the life orb to hit very hard indeed, and the following moveset:

Sunny Day
Flamethrower
Psychic
Solar Beam

Psychic is the fall-back STAB, for fighters and poisons.  However, the basic idea is to hit Sunny Day and then Flamethrower things to death, but have the unexpected BIG hitting Solar Beam that powers up in a single move with the sun active for any waters, grounds or rocks that switch in.  It's a surprise move, and he generally has enough speed to get it in and OHKO them before they hit him with their own OHKO.  240 base attack coming off of a 346 special attack is no laughing matter.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 18, 2013)

I'm also running a pretty standard Venusaur and I'm training up a specially defensive Hippowdon, because I have weakness to electric and generally need a wall (and there is no finer wall than Hippowdon).  I can't get Slack Off or Stealth Rock for Hippowdon yet though, which is a pain in the arse.

I spent a lot of time playing with Aegislash before abandoning him.  He was too vulnerable to the same stuff as Mega-Mawile, i.e. Earthquake and Flamethrower, but with extra vulnerabilities to boot.  More significantly, however, I think people are going to have real trouble using Aegislash effectively.  At first glance, it seems awesome.  But it lacks effective attacks, and if you don't get the OHKO, you're in big trouble with the response.  One reason for my training up Hippowdon is that Aegislash is completely buggered by it, just to pick one of many examples.  I am keeping my level 100 Aegislash in my battle box though, just in case I get inspired.

I have a level 100 Blaziken in the battle box too.  But with Mega-Mawile taking the mega-slot and with Delphox and Hawlucha both in the team, Blaziken is just a bit redundant.  Plus I don't like Blaziken's attacks very much.  They're unreliable and the recoil is a bitch.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 19, 2013)

Hippowdon is now level 100, a fantastic brick wall (403 HP, 250-ish def and sp def) and I'm considering my moveset.  Earthquake and Ice Fang are givens -- earthquake the killer STAB and Ice Fang takes care of some of the biggest nasties in the game, such as Garchomp, Salamance and Dragonite.  Options for the other moveslots:

* Rest.  In the absence of Slack Off, this seems like a good option for a wall, although having to sleep it off for three rounds is a bugger.
* Sleep Talk.  If I go with Rest, this stops the intervening moves being useless.  Sleep has been so nerfed in Gen VI, however, that this just might be unnecessary now.  It might be better to Rest and then use one of the three sleep moves to switch out, which now is included in the sleep counter.
* Toxic.  Another good wall move.  Cripple them and wait it out.
* Stone Edge.  To take care of bugs and hit flying types harder than Ice Fang does when ice is not 4x effective.
* Rock Slide.  More reliable and more PP than Stone Edge, although hits with much less power.
* Fire Fang.  A bit off the wall, but I have an eye on Steel Bugs with this one.

Any thoughts, bearing in mind the rest of the team?


----------



## kabbes (Dec 2, 2013)

The team has been somewhat revised.  Starmie has replaced Greninja (for Rapid Spin support), and Gengar has replaced Venusaur.  For now, at least.  Starmie with assault vest is pretty bulky.

I'm running out of pokemon to capture though, with no access to the Friend Safari.  Can you add me as a friend, assuming you are still playing?

1907-9110-2850

Cheers


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 3, 2013)

kabbes said:


> The team has been somewhat revised.  Starmie has replaced Greninja (for Rapid Spin support), and Gengar has replaced Venusaur.  For now, at least.  Starmie with assault vest is pretty bulky.
> 
> I'm running out of pokemon to capture though, with no access to the Friend Safari.  Can you add me as a friend, assuming you are still playing?
> 
> ...


0989-3162-3035, there's mine. I'll add you.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 3, 2013)

I do a lot of inviting people to battles, because I want some proper 6v6 action and you can't get that from the Battle Spot.  Unfortunately, virtually nobody ever responds.  Frankly, it feels a lot like this...


----------



## kabbes (Dec 3, 2013)

In other news, I have received via a trade an awesome 4-perfect-IV adamant gyarados.  (Well, a magikarp, but some difference).  I am tempted to construct a team around it.  Something ultra-offensive and sweepy.  Something like Gyarados, Salamence, Gengar, Jolteon, Garchomp and AN Other (Ninetails, for ultimate 100+ base speed sweep?)


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 4, 2013)

Just ran into my first shiny wild Pokemon, a Hawlucha of all things too! Unfortunately it managed to poison itself and die before I could catch it  so annoyed.

Also, seeing as you want a Ninetales I assume you can find a Vulpix in the game? Not ran into one yet. Or Growlithe.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 4, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Just ran into my first shiny wild Pokemon, a Hawlucha of all things too! Unfortunately it managed to poison itself and die before I could catch it  so annoyed.
> 
> Also, seeing as you want a Ninetales I assume you can find a Vulpix in the game? Not ran into one yet. Or Growlithe.


OMG shiny Hawlucha wantit.  Although I bet it would have been a limber rather than unburden one, so console yourself with that.

Shiny fuckers do have a deathwish, it seems.






Although personally, I've never even found a single one   (Other than the red Gyarados that you get given as an event in one of the past generations, I can't remember which.  I wasted it at the time, not knowing the difference between special attack and physical attack  )

You're right about the Nintales -- I don't have a Vulpix.  Bulbapedia lists its location as "trade", which I guess means that it is unavailable.  Back to the drawing board!


----------



## kabbes (Dec 4, 2013)

Growlithe also seems to be unavailable in-game


----------



## kabbes (Dec 4, 2013)

Callum, *important information about Friend Safari*:

Located within Kiloude City is the special Friend Safari. This is the new Safari Zone for the modern age. instead of having a set, defined, list of Pokémon you can encounter in the areas, this game applauds people who have numerous friends on their 3DS. If you have someone added, then they will appear on a list, *with them being designated a certain type at random based on their Friend Code*. This type, and the Pokémon within it, cannot be changed.

With each person, *you get up to three Pokémon within each specific area*, with the third Pokémon slot appearing should the person have defeated the Elite Four, with them getting *Hidden Abilities if the player has been online at the same time as you*. It also appears that the Pokémon found within the Friend Safari have got *two IVs of 31*.

Bolding mine.

So we're only going to be able to get three new pokemon off each other.  For more, you will need more friends.  A LOT more friends...


----------



## fractionMan (Dec 4, 2013)

Just ordered Y for my son


----------



## Boppity (Dec 4, 2013)

Wow when I played Pokemon (blue & yellow) I never put more thought into my line up than not having two of the same type.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 4, 2013)

Boppity said:


> Wow when I played Pokemon (blue & yellow) I never put more thought into my line up than not having two of the same type.


It's moved on a lot since Gen 1.  Physical & Special Attacks.  Dual types.  Natures and abilities.

That said, you were still only getting a fraction out of the game.  When you get into it, it's so _deep_.


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 4, 2013)

Boppity said:


> Wow when I played Pokemon (blue & yellow) I never put more thought into my line up than not having two of the same type.


When I play the storyline I usually only consider types, gender and natures. Everything else is for power gaming.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 4, 2013)

Yeah, the storyline is easy to steamroller with a half-baked team.  The post-game always requires more careful strategy though.  For instance, you weren't going to complete the tower in Black 2 without a proper team.  Nor win the PWT.


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 9, 2013)

Just spent literally 4 hours trying to capture a Goomy with the right nature. Holy moly I wish you could change them legitimately! Seems to be a special defense tank.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 10, 2013)

Callum91 said:


> Just spent literally 4 hours trying to capture a Goomy with the right nature. Holy moly I wish you could change them legitimately! Seems to be a special defense tank.


Goodra with an assault vest on can't be brought down easily by any special attack move.

Get this, all calculated at level 100:

Hydreigon with 31 ivs and 252 evs in special attack, plus a special attack positive nature (383 total special attack), plus choice freakin' specs (pushing it up to *575 *special attack!) using Draco Meteor (130 base attack, and 2x effectiveness on Goodra)...

so that's a 575 special attack using a 260 sp atk move...

does *56.7 - 67.1%* of damage to an assault vest Goodra with max investment in sp def and HP!

With the reduction in sp atk, the next hit then only does 28.6 - 34.3% of damage, which means it is *almost certain not to 2HKO*.

That's an _extraordinary_ amount of special bulk.  Nothing else in the game compares.

Unfortunately, however, its defence is utter bobbins.  158 in the uninvested 31 iv scenario.  It'll be killed by the first ice fang or dragon claw that comes along.  Shame.  It means that nobody will play into your sp def game, they'll just clobber your with physical attacks instead.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 10, 2013)

In terms of natures, by the way, surely better to breed than to capture?  Especially since Goomies are rare.  Find a male in the same egg group with the nature you want, slap an everstone on it and then breed it to a female Goomy/Goodra.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 14, 2013)

I've been playing a lot of 6v6 challenges via random passersby.  I'm now very happy with the team balance. 

In fact, I just beat some cheap cheater who had put together a team comprised entirely of legendary pokes -- Xerneas, Moltres, Arctuno, Mewtwo, Yveltal and Zygarde -- by an easy 4-0.  That'll teach the cheeser that team building is about more than base stats.

No Gen 6 pokes in my team now, sadly.  Ferrothorn and Rotom-H as leads/walls, Hippowdon as wall, Gyarados, Gengar and M-Mawile as sweepers/tanks.


----------



## kabbes (Dec 14, 2013)

Scarfed Rotom-H is an incredible force-multiplyer, by the way. Will O'Wisp and Thunder Wave apply status,  Volt Switch to scout and Overheat to bring the pain.  It wrecks opposing strategy. And it has 8 resistances and an immunity, plus is immune to burns and paralysis, making it a hell of a wall too.


----------



## kabbes (Jan 6, 2014)

Online play has certainly extended the life of this, otherwise I would have long since moved on.  As it is, I have been inspired to complete (including capture) all three Kalos pokedex (including legendaries).  These are the first pokedex I have ever completed with captures, because it is the first time I have been able to trade with others on a wide scale.

I have also been inspired to work on my team, to make it as competitive as possible.  As of this morning, I have finally finished.  I have had to do a fair bit of breeding in order to produce pokemon that have the right natures, moves and decent IVs.  I don't have and never will have a team with perfect 31 IVs throughout -- I don't have _that_ amount of patience.  But I do now have them with 31 IVs in the key places.

This is how it stands:

_Malfunction_





Rotom Heat @ Choice Scarf
Levitate

Calm nature (+Sp Def, -Atk)
31 IVs in Sp Def and Sp Atk
EVs: 252 in HP, 128 Def, 130 Sp Def

Overheat
Volt Switch
Will O'Wisp
Thunder Wave

A brand new Rotom-H since I last posted, with a better nature and IVs.

This is my normal lead, because it has a universal toolkit and does terrible things to the opposition lead.  If the opponent is killable with fire and is not in the very top tier of speed then then I will outspeed and Overheat them.  They generally don't see the speed coming!  If the opponent is a physical attacker then I will outspeed and burn them.  If they are a sweeper then I will cripple them with Thunder Wave, which basically removes them from the game.  If none of the above, I will Volt Switch out of there.

The IVs, nature and EVs together with 8 resistances and an immunity mean that the little oven is also very robust.  This makes him a good spare wall.  He also absorbs paralysis and burns, which makes him a nasty little surprise to boot!

_Big Barry_




Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand Stream

Careful Nature (+Sp Def, -Sp Atk)
31 IVs in Sp Def, but "Relatively Superior" stats, which means the rest of the stats are at the upper end too
EVs: 240 in HP, 144 Def, 128 Sp Def

Earthquake
Ice Fang
Stone Edge
Toxic

A brand new Hippowdon completed this morning!  The old one was Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk) with poor IVs and just didn't quite cut it.

A brutal wall.  To illustrate: at level 100, it has 400HP, 287 Def and yet still has 233 Sp Def too (I think of 200 as "average" and 250 as "very good").  Almost impossible to OHKO and most things take at _least _three attempts if not more to kill him off, especially with leftovers.  Meanwhile, he is using his 250 Atk with his range of decent coverage options to whittle down the opponent.  And if all else fails, poison the bugger and wait it out.

This Hippowdon is a particular check to all the Aegislashes running about.  Given that, I am toying with putting an assault vest on him to take his Sp Def to sky-high levels and putting Crunch or Fire Fang in the fourth slot.  That would also free up the Leftovers to go elsewhere.  Alternatively, Protect could be better than Toxic to generally take advantage of sand damage and Leftovers recovery.

_Spike Leed_




Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Iron Barbs

Sassy Nature (+Def, -Spd)
31 IVs in Def
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 6 elsewhere (Atk?)

Stealth Rock
Gyro Ball
Bulldoze
Power Whip

The first of my final team that I built, way back in November IIRC.  This little bugger is a lifesaver for me and a pain in the arse for physical attackers everywhere.  If Hippowdon wears an Assault Vest, the Leftovers would come here instead.  But I am loathe to give up the nasty 29% passive damage that Rocky Helmet + Iron Barbs collectively do to anything physically hitting it.  A good tactic against Mega-Kangaskhan is to switch in Spike and watch as the kanga's hit does 58% damage to the kangaroo and virtually nothing to the vegetable!

Spike is sometimes a lead, when the opponent's lead is easy to read and appropriate to face off against.  Other than that, I look to bring him in against something that can't hurt him and get stealth rock up whilst they switch out.  Stealth rock is a must for me to face down Talonflames and Charizards.

Spike also has a key role against fairies with his powerful Gyro Ball, and also slows down opponent sweepers with Bulldoze, allowing my other team members to finish them off.  Power Whip is a standard STAB to take down water and ground types.

Spike's resistance to poisoning and sleep is also good in combination with Malfunction's resistance to burns and paralysis.  If I read it right, I can hold off status attacks surprisingly well.

_Beauty_




Mawile @ Mawilite
Intimidate/Sheer Force

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp Atk)
31 IVs in Atk
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Spd

Sucker Punch
Rough Play
Fire Fang
Substitute

Another brand new replacement for an old team member; I needed a Mawile with Fire Fang, which is only available via breeding.  I also needed one with a better nature and better genetics.  So here she is.

Beauty exists to punch holes in things.  Switch her in, power her up, substitute on the switch and do serious fucking damage using the highest attack stat in the game.  Fire fang turned out to be a Must in order to not be helpless to opponent Aegislashes powering up their Sword Dances.  Other than that, either STAB them or Sucker them to death.  Nasty!

_BourneSlippy_




Greninja @ Life Orb
Protean

Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
31 IVs in Sp Atk and Spd
EVs: 252 Spd, 252 Sp Atk, 6?

Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Extrasensory
Dark Pulse

Out and out sweeper, to bring in late game and clean up.  BourneSlippy is fucking lethal.  The nature would ideally be +Sp Atk, -Atk but finding one with perfect IVs in both Sp Atk and Spd was too good to pass up!

I spent a lot of time messing about with water attackers before finally getting to this point.  I had a Starmie with an Assault Vest.  I had a Dragon Dance Gyarados.  I had a physical attacker Greninja.  I had a Blastoise.  But this little beauty is the real deal.  His speed is _insanely_ fast -- 377 at level 100!  That outspeeds literally anything I have ever come across, meaning only priority attacks take him out.  Meanwhile, he has a 305 special attack which ALWAYS is STAB owing to his ability.  Basically, anything supereffective is a OHKO, unless the opponent's name is Assault Vest Goodra.

These four special attacks are unusual on a Greninja.  HP Fire is generally preferred, but Bourne would be HP Bug, which is next to useless.  Failing HP Fire, people generally prefer U-Turn.  But I found that U-Turn generally didn't do enough damage and wasn't worth the Life Orb recoil.  Meanwhile, Extrasensory is soooo useful for unexpecting fight types, and it is also sometimes the only neutral damage option too.

This little frog is the nuts, basically.

_Nightingale_




Florges @ Sitris Berry
Flower Veil

Calm Nature (+ Sp Def, - Atk)
31 IVs in Sp Def
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp Def, 6 Sp Atk

Wish
Protect
Aromatherapy
Moonblast

I had a lot of problems with certain teams until I figured out the riddle that is Florges Nightingale (geddit?)  She is the cleric, and what a cleric she is.  She took a LOT of breeding until I got the nature and IVs I wanted (same with Beauty, actually), but she was totally worth it.

Her Sp Def is godly -- 447 at level 100, which is just fucking unreal.  That means the can soak up any special attack thrown at her, even supereffective ones, and barely notice the effect.  That makes switching her in very easy.  And this is just as well, because having got her in, she can Wish on the switch and then switch out to repair damage to Hippowdon, Ferrothorn or Rotom-H.  She can also plant a wish and then switch in the Mawile, meaning that Beauty is at full health before she starts dealing damage.  Very useful!  Alternatively, she can protect and absorb the wish herself.

Aromatherapy is what makes her beat Sylveon at what she does, since I'm never going to get Heal Bell on that thing without messing about with the Pokebank.  Aromatherapy is a game changer; if the Greninja is paralysed or a wall is burnt or poisoned, I can fix that right up.

She also has a very good special attack stat, so Moonblast is more than just filler.  She can wear down any opponent special attacker with Wish-Moonblast-Wish-Moonblast etc.

Sitris Berry is surprisingly good in the absence of Leftovers.  It provides a one-off biggish recovery.

***

So there you go!  Probably more fun for me to write than for you to read, but you may find it interesting.  In the end, I have two Gen VI pokemon in there, which is pretty reasonable in a team of six.

Now, who wants to take me on...?


----------



## fractionMan (Jan 6, 2014)

If you put all that effort into studying poker you'd be a rich man


----------



## kabbes (Jan 6, 2014)

Pokerman?

When people ask me what I want to do when I grow up, I tell them that I want to be a pokemon master.


----------



## kabbes (Jan 8, 2014)

Extensive playtesting has suggested this team is a bit of a winner. I've beaten about 30 people with it and only lost to one.  (Although I did lose to that person twice just to make sure. Turns out my team doesn't cope well with a really hardcore sustained mono-physical attack team with plenty of Earthquakes.)

One real pleasure in the game,  incidentally,  is beating all those cheap wannabes with a team of ubers (often a team entirely made of legendaries, with Mewtwo, Zygarde and Xeneas/Yveltal as the core), and beating them 6-0 to boot.  When I see those pokemon in team preview I always laugh.   Raw stats are no substitute for balanced team building and decent tactics. I have inspired a lot of rage-quits too, which is always nice.


----------



## kabbes (Mar 21, 2014)

Update. 750 hours in and things have changed extensively.

First thing I did was go on a breeding binge, giving me 5ivs for each of my team, with ideal natures too. Except Rotom-H, because I don't have a ditto with 31ivs in HP and Rotom is Ditto bred only.

Since then, there have been a number of evolutions, so to speak.

First, out went M-Mawile and in came M-Gyarados. M-Mawile is too low percentage, every move depends on guesswork.

Gyarados was called Scylla and he is great. Dragon dance, mega-evolve, sweep.

Hippowdon, at that point I noticed, was just wrong. She, as she was by then, just didn't fit the team.  No synergy with sandstorm, and she couldn't helpfully pivot out. Plus I really needed a rapid spinner.

So in came Charybdis, a specially bred Tentacruel with Rapid Spin and Knock Off, wearing an assault vest with defensive nature and 252 evs in defence and HP.

This team was very successful, particularly with Charybdis unexpectedly knocking off items left right and centre. His bulk was incredible and he was a hell of a wall to boot. Plus poison was great synergy in many cases, resisting fighting moves.

He had to go.

Problem was too little resistance to lightning in the backbone of my team. And too little firepower too. Too much water, frankly.

So out went Charybdis and in came R4 Scargill, a Jolly Excadrill. He was my new rapid spinner and the team took a big step forward. Frankly, Scargill, Scylla and Born Slippy (the updated Timid Greninja, now with Grass Knot replacing Hydro Pump) were a deadly sweeping force to be reckoned with. Scargill had a choice band and spammed Earthquake. Born Slippy had an answer for anything. And Scylla was the death bringer.

They had to go.

There wasn't enough bulk, the team was too prone (ie one time in ten) to being blown over by bulky offence. And Focus Sash Cloyster just wrecked them, straight up 6-0. I hated to break up an incredible team, but improvements to the squad were needed.

So out went my beloved M-Gyarados and Excadrill. And in have come BFG2000, a M-Blastoise, and PunkSnotDead, a Garchomp.

This, my friends, is the team. It is unbeaten so far. Punk wrecks things with Sword Dance followed by Equake, Dragon Claw and Iron Head. BFG is tank city and can Rapid Spin if needed. Between them, the synergy is spot on with Malfunction, Born Slippy and the thorn in everybody's side, Spike. And meanwhile, Nightingale smiles, walls the fuck out of 75% of the meta game and heals, heals, heals.  The underrated Florges is my MVP by far; she is the glue of the team. You can keep your Sylveons.

Up to now, I've always had a niggling feeling that something could be better, but It finally feels right.


----------



## Callum91 (Apr 24, 2014)

kabbes said:


> Update. 750 hours in and things have changed extensively.
> 
> First thing I did was go on a breeding binge, giving me 5ivs for each of my team, with ideal natures too. Except Rotom-H, because I don't have a ditto with 31ivs in HP and Rotom is Ditto bred only.
> 
> ...


http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...eat-pokemon-debate-with-science/#.U1kEEvldU0I Saw this and thought of you, Kabbes.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Apr 24, 2014)

kabbes said:


> Update. 750 hours in and things have changed extensively.
> 
> First thing I did was go on a breeding binge, giving me 5ivs for each of my team, with ideal natures too. Except Rotom-H, because I don't have a ditto with 31ivs in HP and Rotom is Ditto bred only.
> 
> ...



750 hours?!?!


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2014)

Callum91 said:


> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...eat-pokemon-debate-with-science/#.U1kEEvldU0I Saw this and thought of you, Kabbes.


Thanks for thinking of me!

That might be the single worst attempt at analysis I have ever read, though.  The obsession with base stats for a start -- oy vey!  By that criterion, nobody would ever use skarmory in competitive battling, whereas he is actually top tier. Who cares what the sp atk is on a physical attacker, for example? It's clearly written by somebody that has never properly analysed the game.

Incidentally, I went through a training glut since my last post, just for the hell of it and to have a squad to mix up. I somehow got a 5iv shiny sigilyph with the nature I wanted, post breeding key moves onto it. So that has been fun.  Cosmic power x 6 then stored power for MASSIVE DAMAGE!


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> 750 hours?!?!


Almost 900 now.

I do a lot of commuting and I've been playing since, what, October?  And having a good team to battle with competitively is a big motivation on those long commutes.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Apr 24, 2014)

900?

That's  4.6 hours a day, each and every day without fail!

Good work!


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> 900?
> 
> That's  4.6 hours a day, each and every day without fail!
> 
> Good work!


On average.

Remember that breeding and training, though, involves a lot of holding down buttons without looking at the screen or paying much attention.  I did a lot of that stuff whilst watching TV or reading.  That's a majority of the time, probably.

3+ hours commuting a day takes care of another massive chunk.

And a lot of what's left must be looking for people to battle, which is a remarkably laborious process if you want a proper 6v6


----------



## Callum91 (May 8, 2014)

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Ruby and Sapphire remakes earmarked for the end of this year.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2014)

Callum91 said:


> http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
> 
> Ruby and Sapphire remakes earmarked for the end of this year.



Hoenn confirmed!

Current first team:
*M-Charizard-X. *Dragon dancing badass
*Tyranitar*. Dragon dancing bastard
*Ferrothorn*. Leech seeding, stealth rocking, rocky helmet and iron barbing pain in the arse
*Azumarill*. An odd set with splash plate and power-up punch. Pinch hitter, anti-meta, priority abusing irritant
*Excadrill*. Another unusual set with choice band and rock tomb. Rapid spinning, mold breaker earthquake abusing OHKO'er
*Roserade*. New in the last few days, replacing Greninja in this particular team, because I was vulnerable to focus blast spam. Choice scarf + 200ev to outspeed everything up to and including +1 jolly mega-tyranitar. Modest with 252 sp atk to abuse leaf storm against the pokes the rest of the team struggles with. Sleep powder, sludge bomb and dazzling gleam for coverage.


----------



## kabbes (Jul 23, 2014)

Still playing X and Y. The timer has stopped its count at 999:59.  Several stables of flawless iv and nature teams at my disposal. Closing in on 1000 wins against others (plus ragequits, which would add another 20-30%).  Still love it.

Clearly the best value game purchase ever.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Jul 24, 2014)

Amazing dedication there, kabbes.

I recently got a Pokemon game that I'm really enjoying, The Pokemon Trading Card Game on 3DS virtual console. An old Gameboy Color game. I was wondering if anyone her has played it....or plays the _actual_ card game?


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 24, 2014)

mwgdrwg said:


> Amazing dedication there, kabbes.
> 
> I recently got a Pokemon game that I'm really enjoying, The Pokemon Trading Card Game on 3DS virtual console. An old Gameboy Color game. I was wondering if anyone her has played it....or plays the _actual_ card game?



I play the TCG.  _With my kids_


----------



## kabbes (Jul 24, 2014)

Never been tempted by TCG.  Tried Magic once, didn't get on with it.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Jul 24, 2014)

fractionMan said:


> I play the TCG.  _With my kids_



Give us a shout if you want to play with someone in their forties


----------



## Callum91 (Nov 27, 2014)

So, anyone getting Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby tomorrow? Bloody Yanks have had it for over a week now! Longest fecking week of my life . I'm getting Ruby for sure and, depending if I can convince myself to part with the cash, Sapphire as well (although I'm tempted to get Dragon Age Inquisition instead...)


----------



## kabbes (Nov 28, 2014)

Oh yes, battling online has been a nightmare this week -- so difficult to find a match-up because they're all playing ORAS.

My birthday is on Monday so I have requested Sapphire for then,  like I'm a child. So I have to wait a bit longer yet before it's mega-Slowbro time. 

so you gonna fight some actual people this time Callum?  Come on -- it's where the real fun lies! It's why I'm still playing XY a year after its release.  Do it!


----------



## Callum91 (Nov 28, 2014)

kabbes said:


> Oh yes, battling online has been a nightmare this week -- so difficult to find a match-up because they're all playing ORAS.
> 
> My birthday is on Monday so I have requested Sapphire for then,  like I'm a child. So I have to wait a bit longer yet before it's mega-Slowbro time.
> 
> so you gonna fight some actual people this time Callum?  Come on -- it's where the real fun lies! It's why I'm still playing XY a year after its release.  Do it!


I'd play online but honestly I don't have the time to sink into it. I barely clock up 4 hours gaming a week as it is, playing Pokemon competitively online...it'd murder me. BUT! Since you've been so persistent in wanting to play with me...I'll try to get in at least one match against you (at some point). Deal?


----------



## kabbes (Nov 28, 2014)

Sounds good


----------



## Callum91 (Nov 28, 2014)

Time to wander out into the wilderness to secure my copy 

Think this time I'm going to choose Mudkip as my starter, break from my usual tradition of always choosing the fire type ('cos obviously they're the coolest and best, I won't hear otherwise.) His mega form looks the coolest of the three, Swampert pumped up on Pokeroids!

Edit: Back from Game. Fuck me it's mental in there. Picked both games up in the end. Time to catch 'em all!


----------



## kabbes (Nov 28, 2014)

I've decided to go team Treecko. As IGN have infamously said in their review of the game -- "too much water". I'm going with the type advantage on this one.  There are always a tonne of good water types to pick up during the game itself, wheras good grass types are thinner on the ground.

(Of course, I could always just import a flawless level 100 team from XY but where would be the fun in that?)

I was going to go with Swampert because he'll be the best competitively probably. But the I remembered that none of the in-game team will ever be good enough competitively and I'll need to breed a new Swampert regardless. So I may as well go with other criteria.

Looking forward to Monday!

(I'm currently breeding for a bold Sableye in readiness.  Gonna load it up with calm mind, recover, dark pulse and will o'wisp and 252/252+/6 evs in defence. Can't wait for Mega-Sableye the stall monster!)


----------



## Callum91 (Nov 29, 2014)

kabbes said:


> I've decided to go team Treecko. As IGN have infamously said in their review of the game -- "too much water". I'm going with the type advantage on this one.  There are always a tonne of good water types to pick up during the game itself, wheras good grass types are thinner on the ground.
> 
> (Of course, I could always just import a flawless level 100 team from XY but where would be the fun in that?)
> 
> ...


Played it for a few hours now and it's excellent! Oh the nostalgia, it wasn't all misty eyed and rose tinted afterall! Went with Mudkip in the end, just teamed him with a Shroomish and Taillow. You'll love it 

Catch 'em catch 'em gotta catch 'em all!


----------



## kabbes (Nov 30, 2014)

How's the sneaking working out for you?  Apparently,  sneak-caught pokes can have egg moves!


----------



## Callum91 (Nov 30, 2014)

kabbes said:


> How's the sneaking working out for you?  Apparently,  sneak-caught pokes can have egg moves!


Aye, got myself a Poochyena with fire fang. The more times you see a Pokemon, the higher the odds are that you'll meet a decent one (I think). Thank fuck the rollerblades are gone!

Edit: The game has less stuff to customise than X & Y does but...it _feels_ like a better, smoother more perfected game? The Pokedex is now pretty awesome, I've been after a way to see what pokemon have before you have to battle/catch them for ages now, and now it's here! I've heard something about shiny pokemon being easier to catch too? But don't quote me on that bit, I might have dreamt that part up.


----------



## kabbes (Nov 30, 2014)

I was breeding for a bold 31/X/31/31/31/31 Sableye with Recover, Trick and Metal Burst as egg moves but I've accidentally bred two of them. 

I'm currently levelling them both up to 100 and am going to ev train them as 252 HP/ 252 Def / 6 Sp Def.

So, I have one more than I need. You want it?


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 1, 2014)

kabbes said:


> I was breeding for a bold 31/X/31/31/31/31 Sableye with Recover, Trick and Metal Burst as egg moves but I've accidentally bred two of them.
> 
> I'm currently levelling them both up to 100 and am going to ev train them as 252 HP/ 252 Def / 6 Sp Def.
> 
> So, I have one more than I need. You want it?


Got the game yet?


----------



## kabbes (Dec 2, 2014)

Oh yes


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 2, 2014)

kabbes said:


> Oh yes


What'd you think so far? My Breloom is monstering everything it's come up against . Bit saddened by the lack of customisation that was found in X&Y but hey ho...


----------



## kabbes (Dec 8, 2014)

Through the main story and the E4 now.

I like the fact that playing the main game lets me bud a team with shitmons and still win. Turns out that Voltorb/Electrode is the NPC's worst nightmare in Sapphire. Who would have guessed?

The biggest problem though is that it is waaaaaaaay too easy.  Not one single challenge in the whole game. But boring, that.

I'm finding it hard to gaf too without my hard-won XY competitive mons. I can transfer them in, but not their items. And that's a major ball ache.  I put three or four days of commuting into finding 6 leftovers. Now I have to abandon them? Get to fuck!


----------



## Callum91 (Dec 17, 2014)

Rumours are the next game will be a sequel to both X&Y AND OR&AS (according to the next Pokemon film), the name being bounded about at the moment (due to Ninty trademarking the name) is ''Delta Emerald''. Spooge


----------



## kabbes (Nov 11, 2016)

I've been lured back into the competitive battling scene 

Created an incredible team, though, of generally underused Pokemon.  The team is about 20-0 up at this point, including to teams that should massively outrank it mon by mon.  Shows the power of a team.


----------

