Pokémon Black/White in-game discussion

[AuraSphere]

Originally Posted by Fat Redtype

@Green Mage - I agree with most of what you're saying here. Starters suck both aesthetically and functionally. IVs are useless and need to go. And removing the autolevel in Wi-Fi battles ruined the game completely for me. -.- However, I do like the music and don't mind random encounters much since I spam Repels whenever I want.

Personally I found the game to be ridiculosly easy, even for Pokemon standards. The difficulty level of these games reached Kirby levels, which is downright horrendous. A few examples of the game "easyness":

- critical capture
- Audinos
- Poison doesn't work outside of the battle
- a doctor/nurse on every goddamn route. I hardly felt the need to buy healing items when I knew that a pseudo-PokeCenter would be just a few steps away...
- unlimited TMs (yes, it's extremely useful for competitive, but it also makes the game much easier since NPCs rarely use TMs themselves)
- every second NPC gives you something useful, be it a TM, or a Poke Ball, or a hold item.
- free Lucky Egg mid-game. What. The. Fuck.
- weak E4 for first time you encounter them, and considering I don't have much initiative to play after that point...
- and a very minor one - a free Fresh Water in each Gym

I don't get why these games get such good reviewes, they were nowhere near as good as HG/SS. They hardly introduced any changes to the game mechanics (like the famous physical/special split in DPPt), the 3d graphics are not THAT impressive and the new side-games (Pokemon Musical and Dream World) just plain suck.

-Sprite Animations
-Random Matchup
-Pokedex now ends at 649, rather than the smaller 493.

[Green Mage]

Obviously musical taste is extremely subjective lol. I personally loved those pleasant piano melodies that dominated diamond and pearl. Black and White have this non-harmonious techno thing going on.

I forgot about the dumb side games. Everything about the dream world sucks: repetitive and boring minigames, time limit, once a day, etc etc. Not to mention that the only reason to do it is to get the ev berries because you can just grab any female DW pokemon off the GTS. And I don't even know wtf the pokemon musical is.

The easiness thing was a bit annoying too, but I find it is mostly because of the god-like in-game pokemon that are available early and easy to obtain. I could solo the entire game with just archeops if I wanted to. Same with Victini. At least you no longer have the option to blow through the last parts of the game with the cover legend; that was always a bit extreme.

And yes, the sprite animations are jerky and disjointed and the backsprites are on green's level of sheer crapola, but honestly i'd rather have crappy animated sprites than static sprites.

It may seem like i'm complaining a lot, but black and white are still the best pokemon games imo. I'm really just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking. Maybe some GF employee will read this and understand what they can do to make the next games better or something (yeah right).

[Cheapoman]

Originally Posted by Fat Green Mage

I forgot about the dumb side games. Everything about the dream world sucks: repetitive and boring minigames, time limit, once a day, etc etc. Not to mention that the only reason to do it is to get the ev berries because you can just grab any female DW pokemon off the GTS. And I don't even know wtf the pokemon musical is.

The Dream World is a bit ridiculous. It would be better if the dream world was 2 or so 1 hour sessions w/ 50/50 male-female ratios as well(87-12 % ratio pokes **** >.>;).

Looking for ppl's berry patches to water is also mind-numbing... ...

[Green Mage]

Originally Posted by Fat Cheapoman

The Dream World is a bit ridiculous. It would be better if the dream world was 2 or so 1 hour sessions w/ 50/50 male-female ratios as well(87-12 % ratio pokes **** >.>;).

Looking for ppl's berry patches to water is also mind-numbing... ...

I really don't understand why I can't water most people's berries. I spend a half hour of my hour wandering from home to home trying to find waterable berries. I can't even water my own berries half the time.

[R_N]

Originally Posted by Fat Green Mage

Obviously musical taste is extremely subjective lol. I personally loved those pleasant piano melodies that dominated diamond and pearl. Black and White have this non-harmonious techno thing going on.

They do? The only one I can think of is, what, Black Opelucid?

Nothing else really seemed "techno". Nuvema, Accumula (I love getting the Piano & Drums every time I go there), the route music, White Opelucid (it is bliss), Sky bridge and so on.

[alphatron]

Dreamworld is an overall poorly implemented feature if you ask me. Lousy music, the same four flash minigames every now and then, inability to add your own friends to your dreampal list, etc.

Playing it feels like such a frggin chore. Unlocking the additional areas does not boost my morale at all when the areas contain so little pokemon. The pokewalker was a better side option overall, with more areas and six pokemon per area. I don't care for decorating my house at all. In the future, maybe we'll get more minigames and more areas. Even so, my interest has dried up and the only thing that keeps me are the berries and drought Vulpix.

As far as the in game difficulty goes, I let that slide. Looking at nearly any series these days, it can easily be said that video games in general are being made easier to appeal to a wider audience. There are some exceptions (games like Megaman 9 and 10, obviously made to appeal to a certain group of people). It's noticeable with pokemon since the series was easy to begin with.

[R_N]

I guess I'm weird, I like the DW music. It's very soothing while being peppy; I like that.
And honestly I think there's enough variety within the areas, but yeah they could use at least one more minigame to help break it up.

I find it is far less of a chore if you just go at your own pace and not worry about how many points you get in a session or getting a certain Pokemon on a trip.

Hopefully they continue to add things to it and make improvements as Gen 5 goes on, it has a lot of potential to be great.

[Shroomisaur]

Originally Posted by Fat R_N

I guess I'm weird, I like the DW music. It's very soothing while being peppy; I like that.
And honestly I think there's enough variety within the areas, but yeah they could use at least one more minigame to help break it up.

I find it is far less of a chore if you just go at your own pace and not worry about how many points you get in a session or getting a certain Pokemon on a trip.

Hopefully they continue to add things to it and make improvements as Gen 5 goes on, it has a lot of potential to be great.

Urrrghhh... you like a song with an 8-second loop playing over, and over, and over, and... over. =_=

Hmm... I thought DW was fun when it was released, but at this point the same 4 boring flash games over, and over again is incredibly tiring. I was expecting new games to come with each new area, but no dice. It is now very much a chore (and I still have yet to find a female DW Gligar, despite meeting 8 males). I hope they make improvements in the (near) future.

[133k]

Originally Posted by Fat Shroomisaur

Hmm... I thought DW was fun when it was released, but at this point the same 4 boring flash games over, and over again is incredibly tiring. I was expecting new games to come with each new area, but no dice. It is now very much a chore (and I still have yet to find a female DW Gligar, despite meeting 8 males). I hope they make improvements in the (near) future.

This.

That's really all that needs to be said.

[Ssargon]

DW would be better if you could actually use more than one of those 10 slots for taking Pokémon to the Entralink. Why give us 10 when you close the rainbow bridge after one wish? It's mad...

[R_N]

Originally Posted by Fat Ssargon

DW would be better if you could actually use more than one of those 10 slots for taking Pokémon to the Entralink. Why give us 10 when you close the rainbow bridge after one wish? It's mad...

For event Pokemon, so you can bring them all over at once.

[Shroomisaur]

Originally Posted by Fat R_N

For event Pokemon, so you can bring them all over at once.

Ah, I'd been wondering why there were 10 slots. When I first started playing, I thought I was doing something wrong since I could only bring 1 over at a time!

[A.K. Swashbuckler]

Originally Posted by Fat Redtype

@Green Mage - I agree with most of what you're saying here. Starters suck both aesthetically and functionally. IVs are useless and need to go. And removing the autolevel in Wi-Fi battles ruined the game completely for me. -.- However, I do like the music and don't mind random encounters much since I spam Repels whenever I want.

Personally I found the game to be ridiculosly easy, even for Pokemon standards. The difficulty level of these games reached Kirby levels, which is downright horrendous. A few examples of the game "easyness":

- critical capture
- Audinos
- Poison doesn't work outside of the battle
- a doctor/nurse on every goddamn route. I hardly felt the need to buy healing items when I knew that a pseudo-PokeCenter would be just a few steps away...
- unlimited TMs (yes, it's extremely useful for competitive, but it also makes the game much easier since NPCs rarely use TMs themselves)
- every second NPC gives you something useful, be it a TM, or a Poke Ball, or a hold item.
- free Lucky Egg mid-game. What. The. Fuck.
- weak E4 for first time you encounter them, and considering I don't have much initiative to play after that point...
- and a very minor one - a free Fresh Water in each Gym

I don't get why these games get such good reviewes, they were nowhere near as good as HG/SS. They hardly introduced any changes to the game mechanics (like the famous physical/special split in DPPt), the 3d graphics are not THAT impressive and the new side-games (Pokemon Musical and Dream World) just plain suck.

Are you legitimately complaining that this game doesn't force you to grind for hours by introducing Audinos? You have to be since you say it isn't as good as Heart Gold and Soul Silver, which are remakes of the games that are by far the worst offenders for this.. And if you don't like reusable TMs then I don't even know. Do you enjoy fun?

Seriously: "What the fuck Gamefreak? A free LUCKY EGG? What the FUCK!? What the FuCK!? WHAT tHe fUcK? WhAT thE fUCk?"

[CPU]

VISUALS:
-Overworld is a definite improvement from the 4th Generation games. The 3D transition is much better, too.
-I like the interface pictures overall, crisp and effectively placed.
-The fact that the backsprites are zoomed in is annoying, but moving sprites are fairly nice (though they do have the disadvantage of effectively eliminating creative poses from sprites).

INTERFACE:
-Being able to register more than one Item is amazing; I love the flexibility you have with the Itemfinder, Bike, and Fishing Rod.
-I enjoy being able to skip directly to the overworld with a single tap from almost any screen.
-Automatic Item sorting is great (though I wish it was more than just alphabetical). You can also skip down a "page" with a button click, also nice.
-The Battle Interface is fantastic. The fact that weather no longer takes a huge chunk of time every turn is lovely, as is the fact that Abilities are more obviously noted (but in a way that's not obstructive). Pokémon commands are usually easy, though one can run into trouble with two fainted Pokémon being replaced.

GAMEPLAY:
-The starters aren't bad, though they're not that great, either. Snivy isn't very good in-game, Tepig isn't very fast (though Flame Charge can help this), and Oshawott is... well, decent I guess (I haven't used it).
-I enjoyed being able to use HMs from the moment of obtaining them, as well as most of them not being necessary.
-The game flows from one area to another fairly seamlessly, which is nice.
-As per usual, the games are fairly easy. I don't complain about nurses/doctors and Infinite TMs, and here's why:
•Nurses and Doctors make it much easier to go through areas that would otherwise require an annoying amount of backtracking, and are great for training Pokémon
•I honestly hated how TMs were one-time use, since it made them impractical in-game. I was, basically, forced to just use my team's level-up movepool if I wanted to use a TM competitively. I'm a collector; I don't like using one-off Items if I can help it. Sure, the TMs make the game somewhat easier, but for the most part you can't get the really good TMs until later in the game, which helps balance.
-The Gyms are... well, the Gyms. Same basic story progression.
-However, the story itself was excellently executed (the best in any Pokémon game yet, IMO), as is the twist ending.

CHANGES:
-The Experience System change was... good, as far as reason goes, but it rather forces the game to give you a Lucky Egg about half of the way through. I will say, though, that with this combination, there's really no reason that you'd have to grind.
-Special terrain patches are, in my opinion, a fantastic addition. The ability to find Pokémon that would otherwise require evolution or those that are very rare gifts (like the monkeys).
-The Dream World is a good concept, but it's, in my opinion, poorly executed. I suppose that the minigames themselves are fine, but when you're doing them all the time, they can get boring.
-Certain move changes were rather obnoxious, most notably the buffs to Jump Kick and Hi Jump Kick, as well as Tackle (which, by the way, is now statistically superior to CUT.)
-Being able to fight the Elite Four in your own desired order is lovely.

MUSIC:
-Honestly, Black and White's music is excellent compared to that of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. There were only a few tracks in DPPt that I sincerely disliked, the bike theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoEbDs39lY8) being one of them, but the songs were, for the most part, not all that memorable. The Galactic Battle themes, Cyrus Battle theme, Sunyshore City theme, and the Mt. Coronet Top ones were the only ones that really stood out to me.
-Black and White's music, however, works very well. The music fits its region, for the most part, and a lot of it is quite catchy and memorable. Many of the songs incorporated old sections from earlier games, which helps with the nostalgia value, but also makes the songs stronger, overall (in my opinion). One of my favorites is definitely Alder's theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fquuOdoeG7Q), which has a sagely sort of sound.

BIGGEST GRIPES:
-The fact that swarms still exist. They really make no sense to me, as far as logic goes; when they increased the chance of finding otherwise rare Pokémon, I was fine with that, but now they're just a cheap way to give players older Pokémon.
-Making Zekrom and Reshiram a necessary storyline capture. Game Freak, legendaries are better when they're hard to find and hard to capture. Sure, a capture rate of 3 is much more annoying than that of 45, but these Pokémon are supposed to be tough to capture; it is, in my mind, part of their charm.
-Making Zekrom, Reshiram, and Victini impossible to be caught as Shiny. Uh, what exactly is the point of that? A "screw you" to RNG manipulators who use that to get powerful Shinies? A revolt to the dedicated Shiny collectors? If you can't get the Shiny form, then the sprite for it is kind of pointless, yeah?
-BROKEN BRIDGES (as in the gameplay kind, not literally). Game Freak has always been bad about this, but some of these really just bugged me. For example: I can't break the Galvantula web covering the hole to Chargestone Cave, even though I too have a Krokorok, which is even stronger than Clay's, just because the game says that I can't.
-Cynthia hanging around. She's kind of annoying by now, and she wasn't cool in DPPt (in fact, she was kind of a jerk). Bring back Blue or Steven or something.
-Censoring nicknames. I was never one to nickname my Pokémon offensive names, as I believe that it's juvenile and pointless. However, the censoring blocked some innocently given nicknames. To wit, Poof (apparently a slang term for a homosexual in Britain) for Cottonee, as well as Chi-Chi (a term for breasts), which would have been given in honor of Goku's wife in Dragon Ball Z. If you're going to censor those, then why not just ban nicknames altogether? Practically anything can be taken in an offensive of sexual way. They even went so far as to change the initial move-replacement sound (from "poof" to "ta-da") and change descriptions of some moves (Present had a reference to "booby-trapped" removed).
-Berries not being harvestable in-game. This is lame, especially since you have to use the clunky Dream World to harvest them.
-Pinch Berries still not widely available. And then you taunt us by having Morimoto use them on his monkeys and give them to Subway Pokémon.
-The Pokémon Musical. You basically leave the placing of Props to chance, since you give no indication of what kind of prop fits each kind of Pokémon and Musical style. You choose these of the (at least somewhat) skill-based Contests? NO.
-Roamers still being obnoxious. They're easier to track now, but still really annoying to capture (and it's very difficult to reset for them because of this).

BIGGEST APPLAUSES:
-Expansive places to explore, including some that have some new areas when you visit them again.
-Pokémon Names being properly capitalized.
-Making almost all Moves and Abilities have an in-battle effect. I'm still waiting on Teleport and Run Away, off of the top of my head, but they made headway.

I know I had some more to put here, but I think that this is enough (for now). I really do think that these are the best Pokémon games yet, even though there are still many problems with them.

I'll comment on the Pokémon some other time.

[A.K. Swashbuckler]

Originally Posted by Fat CPU

A shit load of correct things.

This is a good post. However, I still don't get everyone thinking that Snivy isn't good in-game.. He's just as good as the others once he gets a few coils, and Leaf Blade is incredible even without the boosts. He's also way more fun to use than Ganon and Samurott and he's regal as fuck.

[Nitzleplick]

Originally Posted by Fat Green Mage

Ahaha. No. Hey, this is my list. I figured that an 'in my opinion' disclaimer would be a given after every sentence.

They really don't solve the problem because they aren't permanent and don't last nearly long enough.

I can't agree here. They are a part of all JRPGs, which are now largely viewed as inferior (mostly due to their inability to evolve past random battles). RPGs like Elder Scrolls and Demon Souls are two of the best RPGs ever made and you get to pick your own battles instead of stopping every couple of seconds to run away from a worthless enemy. Not to mention MMOs, most of which have worthless enemies run away from you (always really cool).

Sorry, but Demon Souls was a JRPG produced by From Software and SCE Japan, and it basically followed in the followed in the footsteps of Monster Hunter. Also there are just as many JRPGs with random battles as there are WRPGs. Other notable RPGs without them is Disgaea, other Tactics games, FF12.

[Green Mage]

I knew someone would point that out, lol. When I said 'jrpg' i meant the final fantasy style of rpg, not just every rpg that was made in japan. Demon Souls is most definitely not a jrpg...though it was made in japan.

-The fact that the backsprites are zoomed in is annoying, but moving sprites are fairly nice (though they do have the disadvantage of effectively eliminating creative poses from sprites).

Ah yes, I forgot to add this to my list.

-Weavile's Sprite
Sort of like Frillish evolving into Jellicent, one of the coolest sprites in pokemon history turns into one of the lamest in BW. Way to go, trollfreak.

-Censoring nicknames.

I'm fine with this. There is nothing more pathetic than some of the stuff that attention-starved children will come up with. I don't want to see it.

-Pokémon Names being properly capitalized.

Oh dear god yes. This was personally my favorite change, and it was a long time coming. Those capital letters were beyond obnoxious, and trying to come up with my own nickname for everything just to get rid of them was a chore. Now I don't even care that my stuff isn't nicknamed.

[Tenodera]

The names not being in all caps is really cool, but it does mean I have to correct the capitalization of everything I Poketransfer in for the sake of continuity!

[Expeditious]

Originally Posted by Fat Green Mage

This says what I wanted to say better than I said it. You can't even take three steps. It's utterly ridiculous. Sometimes you don't even get to move; you can get into a random battle just by changing direction. Not even kidding here.

If they were much less common it wouldn't even be a noticeable problem.

That ties into several other things. While there seem to be fewer areas in this game, all of those areas are bigger. Presumably that's why all the doctors and nurses are around. But it also means you have a fucking huge area to go through with random Pokemon bothering you every few steps.

I actually quit the game for a few days when I hit Victory Road, just because being constantly bothered by little 240 XP nobodies was annoying me that badly.

I eventually just said screw this and bought a bunch of Repels. Which worked, but Repels are meant to be for when you're wandering around low level areas for some reason, not as a bug fix for an absurdly high encounter rate.

[CPU]

Originally Posted by Fat Green Mage

I'm fine with this. [nickname censoring] There is nothing more pathetic than some of the stuff that attention-starved children will come up with. I don't want to see it.

I'd be fine with it, too, if it didn't end up blocking things that would usually not need to be censored. Adding insult to injury is that it prevents some non-nicknamed Pokémon from being traded on the GTS (Cofagrigus, for one).

I like the concept, but they did it in a weird way.

[Death Phenomeno]

Previous episodes.

Team at the end of previous episode:

Georgianna Fuzzles - Lv 35 - Signal Beam, Electroweb, Electro Ball, Thunder Wave
Anton - Lv 35 - Smack Down, Acrobatics
Velvet - Lv 35 - Ice Beam
Zachary - Lv 35 - Foul Play, Swagger
Callidorah - Lv 35 - Will-O-Wisp, Hex
Eustace - Lv 29 - (Benched, holding Exp. Share)

Now, we shall try to enter Twist Mountain, but we'll find a surprise.

Episode 7: Flying Gym -> Ice Gym

Cheren 6 attacks us just as we reach the stairs. This is getting old. Old and boring, but at least we get some experience & much needed money. We get a little scared, since Dewott somehow sees through Illusion and tries to use Revenge. Luckily, Brightpowder activated. Alder shows up right after and we're given Surf.

We manage to Fly away since Anton just evolved, and replace Eustace for our usual Strength (and now Surf) slave. We go south and collect some nice things. Plus an egg and some musketeers.

We return to our path, returned Eustace to the team, and even visit the Moor. Finding nothing spectacular, we return to Icirrus and prepare for the Gym. Just as I'm about to swap team, Eustace evolves. Not a moment too late. But I digress. Anton and Callidorah remain on the team. Oh, and Ernest finally returns.

Varuna - Lv 1 - (Benched, holding Lucky Egg)
Ernest - Lv 39 - Flame Charge, Brick Break, Heat Crash, Rock Slide
Anton - Lv 39 - Rock Slide, Acrobatics
Callidorah - Lv 39 - Hex, Inferno, Telekinesis
Doreen - Lv 39 - Fire Blast, Protect
Kingsley - Lv 39 - Gear Grind

I almost felt sorry for this Gym. Almost. Maybe it's because I really like ice. But yeah, they stood no chance.

After the Gym, Varuna went all the way from level 1 to level 27. Doreen and Kingsley each gained a level as well.

Now, the thing about Doreen is that she has to stay below green health at all times. On top of that, she has to survive the first turn in order to activate Zen Mode (hence, Protect). Literally, you have a level 40 Pokémon with 64 HP at all times. And since I won't bother to manage the correct amount of HP during battles after healing, the next episode will have the challenge of being unable to use healing NPC's until the next team swap. My Moo Moo Milk reserves are going to hate this.

Episode Ate: Ice Gym -> Dragon Gym

Dragonspiral Tower gives us no trouble. We manage to get a Golett with Iron Fist on the first try, though. I'm seriously consider buying a mass amount of Super Repel when I get a chance.

Relic Castle was long and tedious, but without much trouble as well. I must admit, however, that I got a little lost once. My healing reserves begin to suffer, but we can still manage.

After talking to Lenora, we finally return to our designated path. Bianca 5 tries to get in our way, and we tear her apart. Varuna finally starts catching up with the rest of the team, so less lead swapping happens from now on.

My healing reserves get dangerously low, but we manage to reach Openlucid before we reach a critical point. We clean the city, and finally reach the Pokémon Centre. Time for another swap!

Hradek - Lv 43 - Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance
Druscillah - Lv 43 - Dragon Claw
Carter - Lv 43 - Ice Beam
Velvet - Lv 43 - Ice Beam
Blodwyn - Lv 43 - Icicle Crash
Ernest - Lv 42 - Flame Charge, Brick Break, Heat Crash, Rock Slide (Benched)

I could have used Ernest on the couple of Deino that were also lurking within the Gym, but I didn't do it in the end. Amazingly, my team killed every opponent on sight before they could move. Something tells me that they were trying to use Dragon Tail, however.

After the Gym, no level gain.

And so all the Gyms have been completed, but we still have a long way to go. Will we make it?

[Virizion]

Originally Posted by Fat CPU

I'd be fine with it, too, if it didn't end up blocking things that would usually not need to be censored. Adding insult to injury is that it prevents some non-nicknamed Pokémon from being traded on the GTS (Cofagrigus, for one).

I like the concept, but they did it in a weird way.

They fixed that.

[CPU]

They did? Good. I don't really use the GTS, so I only know from hearsay.

[Dunk]

Basically, I love this game so far. The music is absolutely orgasmic (okay, a bit of an over-exaggeration, but I still like it a lot), and the game is giving me more challenges (ie, my Pokemon are dying fast as fuck) than I recall the 4th Gen ever giving me in the beginning.

I am also playing through the games for the first time. I've been soft resetting for a shiny Tepig since the games were released in the US, and I finally got a shiny Tepig today. Yes, I am obsessed with shiny Pokemon. But nothing beats killing Plasma Grunts with a golden Tepig :)

Edit: Currently in Pinwheel Forest with a team of Pignite, Pansage, Patrat, Pidove, and Tympole. Patrat, Pidove, and Tympole are future HM use, but Tympole is surprisingly strong. I might use it later on. But Patrat and Pidove are basically death fodder

Edit2: I definitely plan on using Archen as well

Edit3: Oh, and thank fucking GOD that this game is actually fast now. The slowness of D/P/Pt and even HG/SS at times annoyed the shit out of me. With battle animations off, this game, I feel like I'm playing at light speed!

[Baztard]

Originally Posted by Fat Dunk

Basically, I love this game so far. The music is absolutely orgasmic (okay, a bit of an over-exaggeration, but I still like it a lot), and the game is giving me more challenges (ie, my Pokemon are dying fast as fuck) than I recall the 4th Gen ever giving me in the beginning.

I am also playing through the games for the first time. I've been soft resetting for a shiny Tepig since the games were released in the US, and I finally got a shiny Tepig today. Yes, I am obsessed with shiny Pokemon. But nothing beats killing Plasma Grunts with a golden Tepig :)

Edit: Currently in Pinwheel Forest with a team of Pignite, Pansage, Patrat, Pidove, and Tympole. Patrat, Pidove, and Tympole are future HM use, but Tympole is surprisingly strong. I might use it later on. But Patrat and Pidove are basically death fodder

Edit2: I definitely plan on using Archen as well

Edit3: Oh, and thank fucking GOD that this game is actually fast now. The slowness of D/P/Pt and even HG/SS at times annoyed the shit out of me. With battle animations off, this game, I feel like I'm playing at light speed!

You don't need HM slaves at all. Just Cut once, and Surf is actually a good move so give it to Tympole.