ORAS Experiences

[CTNC]

Yes. It's fun! Pokemon is actually the perfect game for me because it has stuff you can do to get absorbed into it and be entertained (battling, mostly, of course), and also stuff that are easy mindless tasks like SRing and breeding that I can do while watching TV or studying, when I can't bear to have my hands empty (although just SRing without the TV is fun for me too). I just spent a few hours last night SRing for Kyogre and I thought the Primal cutscene would be really annoying but it's actually such a good cutscene I don't really mind. Better than the whole 'Give us your Diancie!' thing that I had to endure a while ago.

Clearly, I'm alone though ;_;

Just wanted to say, you're not alone with enjoying SRing. I enjoy it too.

Agreed. With Kyogre, it is automatic and is epic instead of mundane. Also, it isn't people trying to hustle you into giving up your Diancie.
Though I do think you are a tad insane for enjoying SRing, but I enjoy getting my Pokémon from Level 1 to 100, so we are both insane.

I thought taking Pokemon seriously and competitively battling already implied we're all insane. :P

I learned how to RNG abuse GBA Ruby/Sapphire with a live internal battery just because it's difficult to do on retail carts; pretty sure I'm the most insane one here. :p

I take back the we're all insane thing. I applaud this guy's lack of sanity.

I don't have anything on topic to say because everyone's already said how amazing the game is better than I could, so I'll just say something I said on Page 2. I can't believe I beat Steven in my Omega Ruby Nuzloke only to be swept by May's Mega Mudkip.

 

[Lady Vader]

I learned how to RNG abuse GBA Ruby/Sapphire with a live internal battery just because it's difficult to do on retail carts; pretty sure I'm the most insane one here. :p

Maybe in this case, but I doubt you are more insane than I...

I thought taking Pokemon seriously and competitively battling already implied we're all insane. :P

To be honest, no, it doesn't. I mean, look at people who takes sports seriously. It's just a game as well. It's just more socially accepted to like sports at a serious competitive level than Pokémon. Though at the same time, I've long been of the opinion that there is no one who is truly sane.

 

[Kurona]

But anyway, on topic. I battled the Maison boss for the basic singles line the other night; the frontier brain theme remix made it so much more satisfying smacking around her team with Mega Beedrill. My 20th century self is finally at peace being able to use Beedrill effectively in a serious battle.

Seconding this. I've been using Mega Beedrill a lot in the Battle Maison and it is SO fucking fun. And that remix is... I... *sighs happily*

 

[Alphanex20]

Seconding this. I've been using Mega Beedrill a lot in the Battle Maison and it is SO fucking fun. And that remix is... I... *sighs happily*

Interesting that Beedrill of all things is regarded as amazing lol. Sadistic me, I have been not listening to any of the new themes so as not to spoil myself. Unfortunately I am only just past Fortree lol so there is a LOT I have missed...

On another note, where are the everstone and destiny knot in game? I've been thinking of doing some breeding projects before the E4 (mainly an Adamant Synchronize Ralts for Groudon and Rayquaza, I have the parents for one).

 

[Kurona]

Interesting that Beedrill of all things is regarded as amazing lol. Sadistic me, I have been not listening to any of the new themes so as not to spoil myself. Unfortunately I am only just past Fortree lol so there is a LOT I have missed...

On another note, where are the everstone and destiny knot in game? I've been thinking of doing some breeding projects before the E4 (mainly an Adamant Synchronize Ralts for Groudon and Rayquaza, I have the parents for one).

Everstone on wild Geodude/Graveler, Destiny Knot from that young couple people have been talking about.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Interesting that Beedrill of all things is regarded as amazing lol. Sadistic me, I have been not listening to any of the new themes so as not to spoil myself. Unfortunately I am only just past Fortree lol so there is a LOT I have missed...

On another note, where are the everstone and destiny knot in game? I've been thinking of doing some breeding projects before the E4 (mainly an Adamant Synchronize Ralts for Groudon and Rayquaza, I have the parents for one).

There's an Everstone in the bottom of Granite Cave, near a Steelixite. (a sparkly spot) You'll need the Mach Bike to reach it, though.

 

[Age of Kings]

I found this on reddit, 4chan being the source its authenticity is questionable but I'm glad that I'm not alone in being seriously disappointed and bored with these games. If this is real, I am very concerned about the future of Pokemon especially since there was that Siliconera article recently that shows that the proportion of older players in relation to children is increasing. I hope that Gamefreak has a wakeup call and stops watering down game content until everything is being spoonfed. And please don't take this as talking about QoL changes like flying to routes, those are awesome changes, I'm talking about intentionally removing anything that presents a challenge or making up lazy bullshit excuses for not including something that was widely requested.

/rant

 

[DHR-107]

I am currently at the Seafloor Cavern trying to navigate that maze...

But agreeing with the above. XP Share breaks the game in half. My friend had it on the entire game and he was in the early 40's before even facing Winona. He was forced to turn it off past there because it was getting stupid.

There are a lot of other small changes that would have been awesome to have too, Hoenn were never my favourite games, but ORAS seems to have toned them down a lot. The first time I reached the sea routes way back when, I was totally lost. Now they have closed them up, shortened them, and people STILL moaned about too much water? What's that about? The thing I dislike the least though is the lack of other Pokemon from other gens. I know the Dexnav helps with that (After it can unlock that feature) but why didn't they have a super low chance of finding them... Like I would have loved to have Foongus in Petalburg woods, or Noibat in Whismur Cave. Hell, the route which you can find Joltik with the dexnav, why didn't they add a slim chance for you to find it anyway? Honestly, I think it is because we have been spoiled by BW2 and especially XY where there is a huge number of possible teams you can make from the first handful of routes.

Other thing I don't like is the amount of gates/loading areas in the game. I know its because the game is 3D etc and it takes time so the maps had to be split up a bit... But it was much better disguised in XY. Hoenn was almost a totally continuous expanse of region.

But hey, the music is pretty good and I like how they've redone certain areas (The Lilycove Hideout for one). Mauville I think is a little OTT, but Hoenn needed a larger/more built up city. Previously Slateport or Lilycove would have been called the "Capital" (Like Goldenrod, Saffron or Lumiose), now it seems that Mauville is. I also really like the new Mt Chimney top area, and a lot of the gym redesigns are awesome too.

 

[Lady Vader]

Other thing I don't like is the amount of gates/loading areas in the game. I know its because the game is 3D etc and it takes time so the maps had to be split up a bit... But it was much better disguised in XY. Hoenn was almost a totally continuous expanse of region.

That's what happens when you enhance a map designed for something else.

 

[thelaytonmobile]

Random thing I found out today: You can ride the Mach Bike on the white rails. You know, the bike that goes really fast and is difficult to control! But you can't jump to the next rail. That's unsafe, or something.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Random thing I found out today: You can ride the Mach Bike on the white rails. You know, the bike that goes really fast and is difficult to control! But you can't jump to the next rail. That's unsafe, or something.

You could do that in the original games, too.

 

[Belle]

I found this on reddit, 4chan being the source its authenticity is questionable but I'm glad that I'm not alone in being seriously disappointed and bored with these games. If this is real, I am very concerned about the future of Pokemon especially since there was that Siliconera article recently that shows that the proportion of older players in relation to children is increasing. I hope that Gamefreak has a wakeup call and stops watering down game content until everything is being spoonfed. And please don't take this as talking about QoL changes like flying to routes, those are awesome changes, I'm talking about intentionally removing anything that presents a challenge or making up lazy bullshit excuses for not including something that was widely requested.

/rant

Yeah there are a couple of r/pokemon threads reacting to this interview. I feel like it's different for us though. Judging by the fact that most of Smogon has decent spelling and grammar, we're among the older demographic of Pokemon players, who probably played the original games. I remember being stuck so many times - trying to save Silph, finding the stupid Gold Teeth and Surf, or getting through Rock Tunnel. They didn't have helpful characters making sure you have everything you need to progress and your rival was a jerk. But were those just badly thought out design decisions, or were they intended to increase game difficulty? Every subsequent generation has made the game a little easier, but that also makes the game more streamlined, so maybe it's not *just* about catering to younger players.

However ORAS definitely took it a little too far. The main story was a breeze and the Delta Episode was tedious, but straightforward. However, for lack of Frontier and gym rematches, I think that's actually more laziness and time constraint. First of all, if they could replicate Maison in Hoenn, why couldn't they have Chateau in Hoenn also? Their contrived reasons for the Battle Chatelaines touring Hoenn was also so disappointing. I would've happily traded away Lisia and Aarune just to have Frontier Brain cameos. Like, they don't even need to fight me. Just cameos. Just *one* cameo. And no, Delinquent Lucy doesn't count since she didn't even get her own sprite.

BF was my biggest regret for ORAS, with trainer customization a distant second. If these two had been implemented, it would been the perfect game for me, similar to how I felt about Crystal many years ago.

 

[Flareon]

I'm soft resetting for a shiny Kyurem right now. With the shiny charm, I'm currently at 3084 resets and no shiny... Did they patch in a shiny lock, or am I just very unlucky?

 

[Nexus]

I'm soft resetting for a shiny Kyurem right now. With the shiny charm, I'm currently at 3084 resets and no shiny... Did they patch in a shiny lock, or am I just very unlucky?

unllucky, it's not uncommon for people to go in the thousands. At the end of the day it's around 1/1365 chance you would get it with the shiny charm.

 

[Dark T]

A few questions about Super Secret Base.

1)When you share your base code which Pokemon does your opponent get to battle? Are they the ones in the Battle Box or in your party? Can you battle more than just 3 Pokemon in Singles? And which 3 of your 6 Pokemon end up getting battled if 3 is the limit?

2)When you get a Super Secret pal from a base you have scanned, do you have to have their permission to take them to your base? Do they even know?

 

[noobcubed]

On the difficulty thing (Age of Kings Belle) I used to feel that the decreased difficulty was a bad thing. Nowadays I feel more like asking Pokemon to be more challenging is like asking Mario to have a more original story - it just misses the point of the franchise. In any case, we all know the real challenge lies in competitive battling - so maybe streamlining the single-player a bit to make it a bit quicker for players to unlock everything they need for Wi-Fi battling isn't such a bad move.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Yeah there are a couple of r/pokemon threads reacting to this interview. I feel like it's different for us though. Judging by the fact that most of Smogon has decent spelling and grammar, we're among the older demographic of Pokemon players, who probably played the original games. I remember being stuck so many times - trying to save Silph, finding the stupid Gold Teeth and Surf, or getting through Rock Tunnel. They didn't have helpful characters making sure you have everything you need to progress and your rival was a jerk. But were those just badly thought out design decisions, or were they intended to increase game difficulty? Every subsequent generation has made the game a little easier, but that also makes the game more streamlined, so maybe it's not *just* about catering to younger players.

However ORAS definitely took it a little too far. The main story was a breeze and the Delta Episode was tedious, but straightforward. However, for lack of Frontier and gym rematches, I think that's actually more laziness and time constraint. First of all, if they could replicate Maison in Hoenn, why couldn't they have Chateau in Hoenn also? Their contrived reasons for the Battle Chatelaines touring Hoenn was also so disappointing. I would've happily traded away Lisia and Aarune just to have Frontier Brain cameos. Like, they don't even need to fight me. Just cameos. Just *one* cameo. And no, Delinquent Lucy doesn't count since she didn't even get her own sprite.

BF was my biggest regret for ORAS, with trainer customization a distant second. If these two had been implemented, it would been the perfect game for me, similar to how I felt about Crystal many years ago.

I'd have to ask if perhaps the main story being a breeze has more to do with it being a remake of games we've already played - we've already solved most of these puzzles, and the developers don't want to stray too far from the original story. The lack of gym rematches and the utter tease of a Battle Frontier that probably will never be still sucks, though.

 

[Mario With Lasers]

I found this on reddit, 4chan being the source its authenticity is questionable but I'm glad that I'm not alone in being seriously disappointed and bored with these games. If this is real, I am very concerned about the future of Pokemon especially since there was that Siliconera article recently that shows that the proportion of older players in relation to children is increasing. I hope that Gamefreak has a wakeup call and stops watering down game content until everything is being spoonfed. And please don't take this as talking about QoL changes like flying to routes, those are awesome changes, I'm talking about intentionally removing anything that presents a challenge or making up lazy bullshit excuses for not including something that was widely requested.

/rant

Just want to say that print is legit. I read the interview and, while I don't know Italian... I know Portuguese and they're similar enough to have a grasp of what's going on. They seriously gave off that half-assed unexplicable excuse for no Battle Frontier (and managed to contradict themselves with the first answer wtf).

 

[SnazzySwampert]

On my third rematch with Lois and Hal, I got my second Destiny Knot!(I used my one from Y, so now I can use both day-cares, although only after I get my second everstone).

I find it really funny how two trainers are really famous, Lois and Hal. And then probably the next famous trainer is Winston, and then maybe Tabby and the other guy(forgot his name)

Edit:Finally got my second Everstone by dexnav chaining Geodudes and got a Timburr in the process!​

 

[Flareon]

Just want to say that print is legit. I read the interview and, while I don't know Italian... I know Portuguese and they're similar enough to have a grasp of what's going on. They seriously gave off that half-assed unexplicable excuse for no Battle Frontier (and managed to contradict themselves with the first answer wtf).

Out of curiosity, what excuse did they end up giving? I'd love to know

 

[colours]

Personally, Battle Frontier didn't really break the game for me per se (as I still find the game fun, even without the inclusion of BF, surprisingly), but it did, to a great extent, hinder how I enjoy the games. To be completely honest, I was fully expecting to re-live the kind of fun experiences that I had gone through while playing Emerald as a kid so many years ago, but was fairly disappointed when all I was given was the Battle Maison.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Battle Maison isn't a bad thing, but I'd like to have something fresh. Perhaps some of the old Battle Facilities in addition to Battle Maison. I know GF could've thought more out of the box for ideas on battle facilities since it was so wonderfully executed back in the old Gen III days, but ORAS post-game just seems to be rather disappointing save for the Delta Episode (which was fun as fuck admittedly, but that's mainly because of Zinnia's character and whatnot).

This is the kind of stuff that bothers me about Pokemon games in general, though. In BW2 they took a step in the right direction by adding in the PWT so you can battle old favorites like Blue and Red and Lance and whatnot, and had they incorporated that somehow in ORAS, then it would've somewhat migitated the issues with the missing battle facilities, but not even that was done. 9.9

 

[User 86934]

Out of curiosity, what excuse did they end up giving? I'd love to know

http://i.imgur.com/W2FOAOn.jpg

From Age of Kings post.

 

[Kurona]

That does kind of make a lot of sense; you wouldn't want to waste a lot of development time and production on a feature that comparatively few people would end up actually using.

 

[colours]

Guys, I just thought of this:

Am I really the only person who finds it shocking (in a humorous way) that both your rival and Wally are literally completely oblivious to the whole Team Magma/Aqua thing??? Like when you reach the Battle Resort, Wally just rushes past Team Magma/Aqua and is like "lol excuse me sry ma'am" and just goes on about doing his thing (I don't think he recognizes who they are) while I felt Brendan/May (whoever isn't your main character) is just massively disconnected until literally just before you catch Kyogre/Groudon in the Cave of Origin (this is mostly because your rival still thought of Team Magma/Aqua as the enemies when in reality they kind of dropped whatever dumb shit they were doing by that time, anyway).

I just...find that funny, still. You would've thought two traveling trainers would've at least caught wind of Team Magma/Team Aqua's reputation, or at least be somewhat caught up in what's going on and stuff. u_u

 

[SnazzySwampert]

Guys, I just thought of this:

Am I really the only person who finds it shocking (in a humorous way) that both your rival and Wally are literally completely oblivious to the whole Team Magma/Aqua thing??? Like When you reach the Battle Resort, Wally just rushes past Team Magma/Aqua and is like "lol excuse me sry ma'am" and just goes on about doing his thing (I don't think he recognizes who they are) while I felt Brendan/May (whoever isn't your main character) is just massively disconnected until literally just before you catch Kyogre/Groudon in the Cave of Origin (this is mostly because your rival still thought of Team Magma/Aqua as the enemies when in reality they kind of dropped whatever dumb shit they were doing by that time, anyway).

I just...find that funny, still. You would've thought two traveling trainers would've at least caught wind of Team Magma/Team Aqua's reputation, or at least be somewhat caught up in what's going on and stuff. u_u

True, even random guys in lilycove know of Team Aqua/Magma