Gen 6 Alpha Sapphire: Take 3

[BacklogGamer]

Well I've just wasted most of the night trying to think how to start this, so imma just wing it. Alpha Sapphire has finally come up on my Backloggery, and there's some prep work that needs to be done before I can actually play it. This'll be my 3rd attempt at playing the game, and I'd like it to be my last. In order for that to be a thing, I'll need some help setting some rules and guidelines so I can properly play and enjoy the game- without all the ocd tendancies. First and foremost, THIS IS NOT A LOCKE-RUN. I am simply looking to play the game without making it too easy for myself (and I'm well aware this game is- compared to others) and being able to use the game's features- both new and old- without letting them ruin my experience.

Here's what I have so far (in no particular order):

Capturing pokemon:

• No soft-resetting unless it's to catch a stationary legendary, and only if it is accidentally killed or otherwise avoided capture.
• Only 20 pokeballs, 10 greatballs, and 5 ultra balls are to be had at any time, as well as 3 of any special ball to avoid getting easy captures by simply spamming balls. Anything found in-game is fair game. 30 premier balls are also permitted, and to be reserved for shinies only.
• A pokemon's gender is not to be decided prior to capture; unless it exibits predominantly masculine or feminine qualities. Coloration is not a valid excuse.
• All pokemon must be captured using the dexnav as a hiding, overworld pokemon.
  • If the area in question is one in which pokemon do not appear in the overworld without the physical use of the search function by my own action, any pokemon that has not been obtained before must be captured when engaged in battle- even if it can be found through the dexnav as an overworld pokemon in another area.
    • Mobile Clause- Upon aquisition of the 5th badge, wild pokemon will begin to appear in these areas as 'mobile hidden pokemon.' At this point, the original rule will then be applied to all areas.
• The first pokemon of a species that is encountered as an overworld pokemon using the dexnav (assuming it's a 1st stage), must be captured regardless of statistics revealed prior to the encounter.
• The dexnav is to remain off in areas where all available pokemon have been captured. Areas may be checked if uncertain, but will otherwise prohibit its use.
• No pokemon is to ever be released unless it was simply used as a placeholder for a one-way benificial trade.
• No predetermining natures or abilities prior to capture through means like syncronize or simple beam.
• UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD A POKEMON'S MOVEPOOL BE RESEARCHED PRIOR TO CAPTURE. NO EXCEPTIONS.
  • Specific questions regarding game mechanics may be looked up. However, item locations, area maps, and other such topics must be figured out without online help if at all possible. Looking at a specific website is to be a last resort if the desired information cannot be found through aid of someone in the shoutbox; and only by using google to search for that specification. (to avoid temptation among various links while finding the way to the correct page)

Battling:

• All battles with gym leaders must be fought with an equal number of pokemon as the leader, and well as 2 hp healing items. (always thought that was a bit unfair that we got a full party)
  • 1st has 2.
  • 2nd has 2.
  • 3rd has 3.
  • 4th has 3.
  • 5th has 3.
  • 6th has 4.
  • 7th has 2.
  • 8th has 5.
• Any pokemon swaps must be made after the opponent has sent out thier next pokemon. (adjusted in the game's settings)

Training:

• All pokemon are to fight their own battles unless physically unable due to a lack of damaging moves or any such scenerio.
• The Exp Share is only to be activated for battles with important characters. This includes, but is not limited to: rivals, Team Aqua/Magma bosses (basically anyone they bothered to give a name to), Gym Leaders, Steven, and the Elite 4.
  • This rule is nulled once all plot-related gameplay is complete.
• Lucky eggs may not be used until post-game, or for quickly catching up new party pokemon to a level appropriate to the point in the game. This also applies as an exception to the Exp Share when need be.

Evolving:

• All pokemon must be allowed to evolve as soon as they try to, provided it is desired that they evolve in the first place. Pokemon with evolution methods that differ from normal leveling or affection will evolve when the time is right; given the pattern of limited movepools in such post-evolved pokemon.

Secret Bases:

• While searching for a suitable place, the location is to take top priority. If the location doesn't match the criteria, the move 'Secret Power' is not to be used in order to maintain fluidity within the game and not stopping to check every single indent, bush, and tree while playing through the game.
• Difficulty to locate and reach, are to be taken into consideration when making a selection. Once a potential spot has been approved, base size and shape will be the deciding factor.

Contests & Cosplay Pikachu:

• Contests are to be entered as each contest hall is introduced in order to give a bit of seperation from the normal battles.
• Cosplay Pikachu is to be the only pokemon used for contests, and to be used, as well as trained, solely for that purpose. Other pokemon may be used once the main story is complete. (this of course excludes the first contest needed to enter to obtain the Cosplay Pikachu in the first place)
• Only one contest type is to be participated in throughout the game until the main story is complete. This is to be determined by the gender of the player character to match their contest outfit.
  • A side-goal of winning every ribbon for Cosplay Pikachu will be set.

Shiny Beldum:

• The shiny Beldum is to remain on X until the normal Beldum has been given by Steven in order maintain balance within the early-game.
• Once this point has been reached, it is to be trained along side the normal Beldum as a means of keeping it balanced in terms of level.
• Movesets of each will be determined based on their individual natures and stats to best suit the pokemon.
  • The Metagrossite that came with it is to be retreived from @BetterBettyBisquitBureau when the opportunity arrises.

Extra:

• Due to previously rushing through Ruby Version as May, she well be selected as the player character. This will hopefully help to ignore the issues with Off-Brand-an with him only appearing occasionally in-game as apposed to a constant reminder of the irritant that is his wrongly colored hair.

That's all I can really think of off the top of my head. That may seem like quite a lot, but there are still a few things I'd like some help deciding on:

What I'm looking for:

• Additional rules or ammendments. I think my preparations are finally complete! But maybe I missed something? Please post below any changes or new rules you think may help towards my goal of completing, and having fun with the game; without making it too easy.

If anyone has any other rules, alterations to my existing rules, or most importantly suggestions to the main things I'm having trouble with, please please please post below. I'll be more than happy to offer something in thanks for any help provided, but I need to actually get the help first. And I'd like to restate that this is NOT A LOCKE-RUN. Please help me to get through this game and actually enjoy it. And please no spoilers if at all possible. I've previously played up to Mauville I think.

And finally, thank you all who have taken the time to read and help me with this. I really don't want to have to skip another mainstream pokemon game. I already have to go back to B2/W2 at some point.

 

[3905]

I think the stuff you set is pretty much set. It's clear and solid how you wish to play and enjoy the game. Hopefully you can get to beating the game this time around. By the way if you want to make the game a little harder on yourself then turn off experience share, since it gives all Pokémon in the party exp.

 

[BacklogGamer]

yea i do remember getting the exp share pretty early on... but if my pokemon are gonna be overleveled anyway, it'll lower that factor if the exp is split among my pokemon. Besides, the less training I have to do post-game- the better. It was so tedious evolving everyone in X once I was trying to complete my dex. As for it being "clear and solid how i wish to play and enjoy the game", i refuse to even start the game again without being 100% sure on those last 5 points. 4/5 of those could, and have ruined my last attempt at properly enjoying the game.

 

[3905]

Well you have to play through it at some point @-@

 

[BacklogGamer]

there's no point playing it if i can't enjoy it.

 

[3905]

I guess. Which is why some people think games are bad because some things didn't work the way they wanted.

 

[Samuel_1802]

How to go about contests throughout the game. Should I train pokemon seperately for them? Ignore it completely until post-game? Try to find a good balance between battles and contests?

In my opinion it's better to leave the Contests for post-game, I find them more enjoyable that way, plus, you can focus solely on making movesets and farming berries for Poké Blocks that way. You don't really need to train separate Pokémon for it if you like the Pokémon you're carrying, levels don't matter and neither do natures (unlike Gens III and IV). You don't get anything that'd help you through the storyline of ORAS for completing every contest and beating Lissia (you get a couple berries, an Antidote and a Lucarionite) since Lucario isn't obtainable in Hoenn. The only way you can get one is to trade a Riolu/Lucario from XY.

What to do with cosplay pikachu. It kinda feels like I'm being forced to use such a unique pokemon. Should I use it in battles? Make it my goal to win it every ribbon there is?

If you don't want to use it you don't really have to. She's a gimmick form of Pikachu they made to promote Contests IMO. BUt if you want to win every Contest with her I'm not stopping you, specially because her Contest stats (Cleverness, Cuteness, Toughness, Coolness and Beauty) are already pretty high, which means that you won't have to spend much time farming Berries.

What to do with the shiny beldum. Should I keep it with me as it levels faster than the rest of my pokemon? Should I even use it at all early on as an easy catcher with its Hold Back move? Or it's overly convenient Iron Head and Zen Headbutt moves? Or would that be too big of an advantage?

Like Cosplay Pikachu, you don't really have to use Beldum if you don't want to. It's a little overpowered in the early game, having type advantages to both Brawly and Roxanne if you want to consider that. You can pick it up later in the game when you feel is the right time though. Bear in mind that this Beldum also holds a Metagrossite, an item unavailable until the post-game.

What types of areas allow hiding pokemon to appear in the overworld without the physical use of the search function by my own action. I know normal tall grass and water surfaces have pokemon show up on thier own. And that caves never do without my own use of the search function. What about the desert? Undersea? The double-battle high grass? Are there any other types of areas I should be concerned about for this?

Every area where wild Pokémon can be found will activate the DexNav on its own.

Who to even play as. I used to love Brendan as the most unique male player character with his white hat (previously thinking it was his hair like everyone else) But them changing his hair to brown really irks me. Do I play as him but change his name so it's not Brendan? Or play as May so I'm not constantly reminded of it- but be more irritated when I see the male character called Brandan by default with the wrong hair color? I do personally like May's contest outfit better...

Well, I don't have too much of a word here, this is a problem either way! >.< I think it's better if you picked Brendan if you really like him better, you can always imagine that his hair is white and that his actual, brown hair is part of his "headband". It's all up to you though!

I hope this helped! ^.^

 

[PersonSP]

I know one! Switch up your team after every gymleader. Otherwise you'll just steam-roll them with an all lvl 70 team and that's it. Another thing that is fun, but perhaps best reserved for only battles is a silly wreck-it-all pokémon team. For instance, a lvl. 100 6iv magikarp and a flabébé and zubat with the same. Next up? Beating people with the pokémon they hate most.

I also made two challenges for myself, but I don't know whether you'll like them (and it takes really long):
1) Catch them ALL; one male, one female and one shiny of each. And if they exist, all their event forms too.
2) Every pokémon I own must be trained up to level 100 (with the exception of pre-evolutions, they may evolve first!). This can be done over the course of years (because with those two goals combined it's gonna take a loooot of time)

 

[BacklogGamer]

@Samuel_1802 a lot of what you're saying seems to just be "do what i want" which isn't exactly helpful as a large portion of this is to influence my decision one way or another based on reasoning other people can give me. and as for "Every area where wild Pokémon can be found will activate the DexNav on its own." i know for a fact that isn't true for caves. i think people are having a hard time understanding what i mean with the dexnav, but i honestly have no idea how else to explain it. pokemon appear on thier own in the overworld hiding in certain areas to be snuck up on and engaged in battle. (not pokemon like wingull that are always landing on the beach but can never actually be fought) but certain areas like caves (and i assume others which i'm trying to find out about) can't be snuck up on as overworld hiding pokemon unless the touch screen is used to search for (i think) a pokemon that has already been previously captured. i want to know which of those area types each situation applies to without provocation by myself in searching for them.

@PersonSP i'm not really looking for compeditive play against other people. that can be done on my own time and has never really been a big interest for me in the past. and i do still have other games i wanna play. not really looking to complete a living dex any time soon. same goes for getting everyone to lv100. though that is something i've always wanted to do, its tedious as hell to battle the same trainers over and over again. no matter how good exp they are. after experiencing all the solo content, i plan to just play until i get bored. i'm not really as motivated for in-depth training when i'm playing as another character as apposed to X where i'm playing as myself. that's the main reason i tried to name as many pokemon as i could in that. (which wound up being like 30 but considering how bad i usually am with names, that's pretty good lol) as for the gyms, i usually never let my start leave my party until post-game at least. just cuz of the whole "first pokemon" thing that i'm accustom to from watching the anime. but i may have to make an acception this time with the fair battle rule i have set for gyms.

there. a "small" wot for each of you. xP

 

[Samuel_1802]

a lot of what you're saying seems to just be "do what i want" which isn't exactly helpful as a large portion of this is to influence my decision one way or another based on reasoning other people can give me.

Oh, I see. I didn't want to sound too restrictive/imposing. Regarding the Contests I think I made my point pretty clear, they're not important until the post-game, I (and most people I know) left it as the last thing I completed in the game since it's somewhat time consuming, really has nothing to do with the plot and it's not very rewarding.
I don't like using Cosplay Pikachu and Shiny Beldum for 2 specific reasons:
1. Everybody and their mother have them in their team. I'm the kind of person that likes to stick to a plan, I always choose the Pokémon I want to use beforehand so I don't have to struggle deciding later, no matter what perks some free Pokémon have (in this case, perfect IVs on Cosplay Pikachu + exclusive moves, and excellent moves that the Beldum doesn't get that early on + Shiny + early Metagrossite).
2. They're stupidly overpowered (yes, even Cosplay Pikachu. There's a Light Ball hidden somewhere in the Safari Zone so you don't even have to bother to steal one from wild Pikachu). Cosplay Pikachu gets moves a regular Pikachu doesn't and Mega Metagross laughs at anything it hits with a physical move. They're good, but making the game a cakewalk is not fun.
On whether you choose Brendan or May... I don't really know

i know for a fact that isn't true for caves. i think people are having a hard time understanding what i mean with the dexnav, but i honestly have no idea how else to explain it. pokemon appear on thier own in the overworld hiding in certain areas to be snuck up on and engaged in battle. (not pokemon like wingull that are always landing on the beach but can never actually be fought) but certain areas like caves (and i assume others which i'm trying to find out about) can't be snuck up on as overworld hiding pokemon unless the touch screen is used to search for (i think) a pokemon that has already been previously captured.

That's what I referred to. I'm pretty sure you can find hidden Pokémon that you can sneak on to engage in battle in any area where you can fight wild Pokémon, regardless of whether or not you've caught them. I've spent more than enough time playing ORAS to be sure of that (+700 hours), I restart my AS copy every once in a while too and the DexNav detects hiding Pokémon pretty much everywhere (grass, tall grass in Routes 119-123, all bodies of water, caves, the desert and in seaweed)

 

[BacklogGamer]

yea i think i did wait till post-game to worry about contests back in 3rd gen. (talking about it makes me miss my old claydol ) but it'd be kinda nice to break up the story with a contest once in a while ya know? and i swear i walked all over at least 2 or 3 caves before restarting (again) without getting a single hiding pokemon to appear in the overworld without using the search function. are they just far more rare an occurrance than in tall grass?

 

[Samuel_1802]

I does seem to activate more commonly in grass/water/seaweed than in the desert and caves, but it does happen. It's particularly noticeable in narrow caves like Granite Cave and Rusturf Cave. It probably has something to do with the amount of spaces where they can spawn but I'm no game designer so it's just a wild guess.

 

[BacklogGamer]

hm... that might cause some issues then with my rule... i wonder if anyone has done a data rip or w/e it's called that could tell me the chance of an overworld pokemon appearing in a certain area?

*edit*
oh according to bulbapedia, pokemon don't start appearing caves and such (pretty much anything that isn't a type of grass) until after the 5th badge which would definately explain my lack of seeing them. so i guess i just don't catch cave pokemon until then? but that's still a long way off so i might stick with my original rule until that point.

 

[Leaandro15]

@BacklogGamer i think you should use pokemon amie not give advantage just to pet your pokemon and love for who they are .

 

[BacklogGamer]

that hardly helps with my issues. and anyway it's not as enjoyable anymore. they need more minigames. just more ways to interact with them in general. i sorta lost interest in those when i beat the highest rank in all of em.

 

[BacklogGamer]

not that i'm surprised that my thread isn't getting much activity (i'm rather used to it by now >>) but i'm bumping this for the sake of not yet fulfilling its purpose.

 

[Marc]

Capturing pokemon :

- The use of the master ball is banned.
- Special poke balls should be limited to 3 instead of 5.
At first I was going to say you must replace one of your previous pokeballs and have a capacity of 35 poke balls at any time (20 poke balls, 10 great balls, and 5 ultra balls, not counting premier balls).

Battling :

- If a Pokemon faints during battle and you don't revive it, you can't use it until you've obtained your next gym badge. This sort of makes the healing process time a bit more realistic, and it makes the gameplay more challenging and fun >.<
- You cannot use berries during battle. Some are like healing/supporting items.

Overworld :

- You can only use a TM once. In XYORAS, they gave you the ability to use TMs unlimited times.

 

[BacklogGamer]

tbh i did always think the masterball was a bit tacky lol. too much purple i'll have to think about lowering the special ball limit. more often then not, i'll use em because i think it matches the pokemon, rather than it actually being suited for the situation lol. not exactly sure what you mean with the red text though... i don't think i can do the healing thing. i usually heal a fainted pokemon right away if i can (unless i'm in a closed off area like a big cave or something) just so thier happiness doesn't go down too much. for berries, i've never had to use em that much in the first place, but prefer them over mecine healing items just cuz they're "natural" but i'll surely be using the flutes whenever i need to as they were some of my favorite items back in 3rd gen. xP i also don't really use tms that much either. usually just for some type coverage, but i generally don't like too many pokemon to know the same move. or if it'll learn the move on its own anyway and i just wanna speed up that process. it might be hard with power-up punch though cuz that's one of my favorite moves

 

[BacklogGamer]

I've updated my rules with what I've decided on thanks to various people in the shoutbox. But I still have a couple more things answered before my playthrough can start! I've also updated that portion with an important factor regarding the dexnav; and am always welcome to hear any additional input people have. My goal is to have everything ready by the time I finish with my dentist in the next week or two. (so anywhere from later in the day on Friday 17th to 2 weeks past that if this first visit just ends up being setting up an appointment and I need to request off for it) So please show your support and share your thoughts so I can take my ad down. It's eating away at my pc. =x

 

[bubken99]

Well I would just like to say that Alpha sapphire can be like any pokemon game just turn off the exp share and it's actually kind of hard. The experience share will ruin the game for you as I think it's only for training and beginners on their first run. Those are my words of wisdom do not use the exp share