Sad news
My Battlequest has finally come to an end. I was on the last floor of the Ice round, with the exit tile in sight even, when I got into an unexpected double battle. My lineup this round was Tauros, Swampert, and Gengar. My Tauros had been KO’d by an earlier opponent’s Regice and I forgot to revive it.
Opposition led with Rhydon and Salamence, I with Swamper and Gengar. To cut it short it was a Dragon Dance ‘Mence who managed to sweep me; it outsped me so I couldn’t even cheese it with Gar’s D Bond. Before I knew my streak was done for. 1588 floors in total; proof attached as usual. On an authentic cartridge. I don’t think I have it in me to go through all that again just to catch back up with my record. This may well be the last post I make here.
Good night. The Doctor is out.
Late reply, but congrats on your amazing streak! I have followed your journey and I am really impressed by how far you have climbed. I really like your strategy of using Perish Song in the Pyramid, that is genius and something I have never even considered. It shows that there are still a lot of potential new and undiscovered strategies for the Pyramid.
I'm also very sorry about your loss. Unexpected Multi battles are always annoying and can cause really bad situations. But I think you should be happy about your streak, you will be #1 on the Pyramid leaderboards once Kommo-o adds your streak!
What is your favourite Battle Frontier facility? Why? Do you have any reasons for that? Do you have any stories about that facility? And what is your least favourite?
I sort of posted about this in my Battle Frontier review last year, but I figured I might as well repost it with some changes and additions. I'll rank all seven facilities, from favorite to least favorite.
1. Pyramid. My favorite. I love the exploration aspect of it. Battling wild Pokémon, avoiding trainers (or sometimes battling them), picking up items and looking for the exit. I like how there are 20 different themes for the wild Pokémon. When I played, I adapted my team for every different round, trying a different strategy. This was fun as it allowed me to use more Pokémon than usual! I also love the feeling when I finally reach the top and get to watch the world below from the summit, with the sun in the background. There are only two real negatives with the Pyramid, the first one is that going through a round usually takes a long time, which makes it feel like a test of patience rather than skill. But I think it handles that in a good way, so I don't really mind. The second is that the Pyramid is quite easy. But I don’t have a problem with this either, this is one of the situations where I’d definitely take having fun over a challenge.
I have some stories from the Pyramid that I want to share. The Pyramid was the first facility where I got the Gold Symbol, which was a big moment for me. Before this, I had been unsure if I would be able to get just one Gold Symbol (not to mention all of them), but the Pyramid proved that I could do it! Another thing is that the Pyramid was the facility that made me raise serious teams in order to try and beat the whole Frontier once and for all. It happened because I experienced a sour loss here in the early rounds. I was trying to farm BP for a Move Tutor move, using a team of really bad Pokémon (probably from my in-game team). After the loss, I realized that I needed better teams in order to win. I raised new Pokémon, and my goal eventually shifted from farming BP for MTs to getting all Gold Symbols. Looking back now, the Pyramid is technically the whole reason I started battling in Battle Facilities in the first place. The Pyramid is also the only facility in Emerald where I still have an ongoing streak, and it is my longest streak in the game. I might go back and continue on it in the future, but I don't think I will ever continue to the point that I get further than Doctor_Rob and Carloss97.
2. Dome. Second favorite. I love how it has a high focus on strategy. The way the tourney works, getting to see the opposing team before the battle and picking two of my own Pokémon against two of the opponent's. I also love how fast it goes to complete a round here since every round only features four battles, and all of them are 2vs2. Destroying Gold Tucker with Shedinja is just some extra icing on the cake. Like with the Pyramid, the Dome is pretty easy, but I don’t think that is something negative. Once again, I'll gladly take fun over a challenge in this case.
As for a story, I had a weird experience with the Dome since it took me many tries to reach Gold Tucker for the first time, but once I beat him, I managed to continue on my streak and win a lot more afterwards, getting my second highest streak (in terms of battles) at the Emerald Frontier. I used Shedinja to destroy Tucker in every rematch, which was super fun.
3. Pike. Third favorite. This is a very fun facility, featuring a nice mix of exploration and battles. The theme of this facility is luck, but in reality, there's a lot of strategy and skill involved. You don't know what awaits behind the next door, but you always have a choice. Do you go for the door the maid gave you info about, or one of the other two? And even if you go for the door you were told about, there's still 2 possible options as for what lies behind it. The Pike also requires you to manage your resources since healing is limited and partly luck-based. In addition, there's a lot of variety regarding what you might encounter. Wild Pokémon, Single trainer battles, Multi trainer battles, tough trainer battles, healing, random status, or nothing at all! It contains many surprises, and that's one thing that makes it really fun. I think the Pike combines luck and strategy in a great way. I also love the atmosphere here, it feels creepy and the music just makes it better. When I first tried it back in 2005, the place creeped me out to the point that I didn't even complete the round! But later on, I gathered enough courage to go back and make it through many rounds. Going through a round here usually goes very fast, which is neat. Overall, a very good facility.
As for a story to share from the Pike... it is the only Facility where I have made it to the Gold boss without losing first. Two times, even! I first made it up to Gold Lucy on Level 50, then I cancelled my original streak so I could farm BP easily against Silver Lucy. Much later, made a new serious try and reached Gold Lucy without losing first once more. I also beat Gold Lucy on Open Level, but I am pretty sure I had lost at least once before reaching her there.
4. Tower. It’s okay. The standard facility, no special rules or regulations that affect anything, just regular battles. So why is it not more than okay? The reason is that I find it a bit boring compared to the other facilities in Emerald since it isn’t really “special” in any way. Having to go through 70 battles just to reach Gold Anabel is also a lot. In addition, I find it very primitive compared to the Subway/Maison/Tree. Those facilities did some massive improvements to the standard facility in terms of raw gameplay and QoL. When I battle at the Emerald Tower, I can’t help but compare it to the newer facilities. Since it lacks a lot of the things that make the modern facilities great, it feels a bit aged. That said, I don’t think it is downright bad, it just isn’t super great either.
My most memorable story from the Tower is that it is the only facility where I have lost against the Gold Boss. The first time I made it to Gold Anabel, I misplayed against her and got haxed, leading to a very sour loss. But I made it up to her again on the very next try, and managed to beat her!
5. Arena. Another facility that’s okay. I like how it puts some restrictions on your team and playstyle since you can’t switch and you only have three turns to move before it gets down to judging. However, this makes it very matchup-dependent, which means that you are at the risk of auto-losing if you get into a bad matchup. The judging categories are also a bit odd since they make you very susceptible to hax. Not a bad facility, but not one of my favorites either.
A story worth telling from the Arena is that this is where Gardevoir became my least favorite Pokémon. When I tried to get the Gold Symbol, I initially used a team of Heracross/Gardevoir/Salamence, but I kept losing. I then changed Heracross' hold item and switched Gardevoir for Starmie, and with this new team, I got to Gold Greta on the first try! And beat her, of course. Since then, Gardevoir has been my least favorite Pokémon... but ironically, it won me the Gold Symbol in the next facility.
6. Factory. I have a love-hate relation to this place. I love how it is so challenging and difficult to beat. But I also hate how it is so challenging and difficult to beat. Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed the Frontier a lot more if the Factory hadn’t existed since it was always a big obelisk which stood in my way of getting all Gold Symbols. At the same time, I think I would have enjoyed the Frontier less if the Factory hadn’t existed since that would have made the whole place a lot less challenging. I like the concept of having to battle with rental Pokémon, but I think the execution makes it very luck-based and unnecessarily difficult. A bad draft or a bad matchup can make you auto-lose, which is never fun. I think the Battle Agency in US/UM did it better, but still far from perfect. In the end, I think the negatives outweigh the positives for the Factory, so it is one of my least favorites.
The best Factory story I have to share would be when I finally beat it and got the Gold Symbol, which happened last year. Read about it
here. It was the last Gold Symbol I needed, getting it meant that I had finally completed the Frontier... apart from winning 100 battles in a row at the Tower, but that's just a bonus challenge which I might get around to at some point in the future... or not.
7. Palace. My least favorite. It just isn’t that fun to play. I appreciate the concept of it. Your Pokémon are supposed to battle for you based on their Natures, which is cool in practice, but I think the execution is a bit lacking. I will admit that I have never tried using an optimized team for the Palace (such as the common and popular “Hasty” strategy), but playing it with standard sets isn’t all that enjoyable. In many battles, there were several turns where nothing really happened, making the battles very slow-paced and sluggish. In the end, I just don’t enjoy the Palace very much. I don't have a story to share from it, can't think of anything that's worth talking about.
Those are my thoughts on the Emerald Facilities. Thanks for reading!
