Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

TheMG2

2010-04-24 04:49:00 pm

Wait are you recording? I thought you were doing a test run.

Hariyama465

2010-04-24 04:53:52 pm

It's a test run, but I'm also recording, since I plan on uploading it to youtube. That way more people can see it and help with improvements, since beyond the errors I mentioned I think so far everything's been pretty perfect.

Plus, recording it helps me go back and evaluate all the mistakes and see whether or not I can make them better, so that when I try it again and actually submit it all the errors will be taken care of.

TheMG2

2010-04-24 05:08:22 pm

Then you wouldn't have to worry about it being rejected. It would be fixed in the final run.

I guess you should heal in the bed, then get the lemonades and great balls later.

Hariyama465

2010-04-24 05:19:02 pm

Makes sense. I think I'll go ahead and do that.

Actually from what I'm seeing having the Pokeballs now doesn't really effect much, I can just reset if I don't catch the pokemon but, for now until Snattle I think it'll be something like:

1] Shadow Snorunt up until Shadow Meowth in one segment, saving when I need to.

2] Getting the Great Balls and Lemonades, then fighting the Justy's (if it's necessary, otherwise just skip the Justy's and this segment is moot)

3] Phenac Stadium will probably get it's own segment, I really want Snattle fight to be at the beginning of next segment, considering his Quagsire/Lanturn are gonna cause me maaaajor problems. I'll also probably grab a PP Up here, it's free in a chest, and I could use it on Thunder or Thunderbolt.

4] Snattle fight up until whatever.

Then after Snattle I'll deposit all my guys and lose against Zook, etc etc etc.

Snagem hideout I was originally going to pick up Shadow Ball, to teach it to Houndoom since Houndoom's got okay Physical stats, but this is kind of redundant. Faint Attack takes care of Psychics/Ghosts and Fighting types'll just get Flamethrower'd anyway.

A good point about post Snattle is that you get Flamethrower TM like immediately after him. Whereas for Thunderbolt you actually have to wait a while, meaning i'm going to probably be doing a loooot of Thunder manipulation.

Makes sense. I think I'll go ahead and do that.

Actually from what I'm seeing having the Pokeballs now doesn't really effect much, I can just reset if I don't catch the pokemon but, for now until Snattle I think it'll be something like:

1] Shadow Snorunt up until Shadow Meowth in one segment, saving when I need to.

2] Getting the Great Balls and Lemonades, then fighting the Justy's (if it's necessary, otherwise just skip the Justy's and this segment is moot)

3] Phenac Stadium will probably get it's own segment, I really want Snattle fight to be at the beginning of next segment, considering his Quagsire/Lanturn are gonna cause me maaaajor problems. I'll also probably grab a PP Up here, it's free in a chest, and I could use it on Thunder or Thunderbolt.

4] Snattle fight up until whatever.

Then after Snattle I'll deposit all my guys and lose against Zook, etc etc etc.

Snagem hideout I was originally going to pick up Shadow Ball, to teach it to Houndoom since Houndoom's got okay Physical stats, but this is kind of redundant. Faint Attack takes care of Psychics/Ghosts and Fighting types'll just get Flamethrower'd anyway.

A good point about post Snattle is that you get Flamethrower TM like immediately after him. Whereas for Thunderbolt you actually have to wait a while, meaning i'm going to probably be doing a loooot of Thunder manipulation.

TheMG2

2010-04-24 05:32:51 pm

I don't think you have to fight the Justys outside the Pregym.

Paused

2010-04-24 07:38:27 pm

Quote from Yamasaur:

It's a test run, but I'm also recording, since I plan on uploading it to youtube.

Any chance of uploading what you have so far?

Hariyama465

2010-04-24 08:31:44 pm

Of course, my good man. I would be happy to.

Let me get right on that and I'll reply as soon as I get the links.

Oh hey, does youtube take MPG files?

Paused

2010-04-24 08:45:04 pm

Quote from Yamasaur:

Oh hey, does youtube take MPG files?

Well...

Quote:

Once you're happy with your final result, you'll need to save the video in a format that YouTube can accept in order to upload. Unless you're a professional video producer, we recommend that you save your videos as either QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, or .MPG files - these are the most common formats and they work well within our system.

Yep, appears so.
^{(From...http://www.youtube.com/t/howto_makevideo)}

And Cheers. Looking forward to see what you come up with.

Hariyama465

2010-04-24 08:50:21 pm

Fantastic. My DVD Recorder provides (in my opinion) pretty good quality, so it's nice to know that I don't have to butcher those files in any way, thereby lowering the quality a little.

Good to know I've got a little support, and sorry if my segments so far tend to be a little disappointing.

Paused

2010-04-24 09:02:38 pm

Quote from Yamasaur:

Good to know I've got a little support, and sorry if my segments so far tend to be a little disappointing.

Well your only half way through your 1st test run, and you already seem to have more than a few new ideas swimming in your head, so your doing pretty good from what I can see. You've nothing to worry about.

Hariyama465

Edit history:

Hariyama465: 2010-04-24 10:33:32 pm

2010-04-24 09:07:50 pm

:')

My first ever run too, this. Well, first run I'm seriously thinking about working towards submitting. Uploading those segments right now to my youtube account, I'll have links available shortly.

EDIT: Or not. 100 minutes to upload 400 megs? Jeez. it's going to take forever to upload these segments...

Should I just run them through Windows Movie Maker, dumb the quality down a bit, and drastically reduce the file size? Actually, I don't think I'll do that. I'll just wait for the files to upload. Casino Royale is coming on, anyway. And the rest I'll just upload overnight.

Hariyama465

Edit history:

Hariyama465: 2010-04-25 10:44:53 am

2010-04-24 11:51:47 pm

Well, this sucks. All my videos are getting rejected cause they're above 10 minutes, even though my channel is set to Director. Is there any way to be able to upload videos more than 10 minutes long?

TheMG2

2010-04-25 12:49:44 pm

No. You would have to make individual segments into multiple videos. Example: Segment 1: Part 1 and Segment 1: Part 2.

Hariyama465

2010-04-25 01:02:29 pm

Bah. Figures. Well, I'll just use WMM to cut them up then, I guess.

TheMG2

2010-04-25 02:06:02 pm

BTW: Have you made any progress on the test run?

Greenalink

Edit history:

Greenalink: 2010-04-25 02:16:36 pm

2010-04-25 02:10:43 pm

DS Dictator

Quote from Yamasaur:

Well, this sucks. All my videos are getting rejected cause they're above 10 minutes, even though my channel is set to Director. Is there any way to be able to upload videos more than 10 minutes long?

Becoming a Youtube partner is the only way these days to get the 10+ minute upload perk but that is risky because you are uploading videos that are technically copyrighted by the respectful owners.
Youtube Director method only works when you had a Directors account since 2006.

I'm sure Dailymotion can upload videos up to 20 minutes.

Hariyama465

2010-04-25 02:35:40 pm

Thanks Greenalink. I'll just use Dailymotion, since WMM is being retarded with my .mpg files as always.

But anyway, I haven't made any progress on the run unfortunately. This segment's difficult, since I have to catch about 5 Shadow Pokemon in a row all the while keeping my pokemon alive. So I took a break to upload my segments to Dailymotion, but I'll try to at least finish this segment by tonight, if not, tomorrow.

Hariyama465

2010-04-25 04:23:54 pm

Sorry it took so long to upload but here's Segment 1, at least. I'll hopefully be able to upload all the segments by tomorrow. Unfortunately it takes like an hour and a half to upload one of these buggers, so I'll probably just leave my computer on overnight. I also wrote my own comments to go along with the Segments, but they're not entirely necessary and you don't have to read them.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2ue2_pokemon-xd-test-run-segment-1_videogames

Segment 1 - From the Start of the Game to catching Shadow Teddiursa.

For what it's worth, name entry was flawless. I've had a few ridiculous screw ups trying to enter the name.

My god. This segment. Sooo many resets trying to get a Modest Eevee, but I finally got it, which is why I let the 3 or so minor mistakes in this segment slide. But you know, at least the intro cutscene is only like a minute long, in comparison to say Wind Waker's. That's the only thing that made the resets bearable, knowing that the cutscene was so short.

Salamence vs Metagross fight is cake. Just use Earthquake twice. There were a few attempts in which my EQ critical'd, leading to an OHKO, which saves time, but it hardly ever happened plus my resets were based off of whether or not Eevee was Modest, not whether or not Salamence critical'd. Funny thing is, sometimes METAGROSS was the one that Critical'd with Sludge Bomb, but even if I got poisoned and critical'd, it wasn't ever enough to kill Salamence. Maybe it's faster to use Brick Break after that first EQ, since the animation might be short, but I think the time saved would be negligible.

After the Simulation fight I immediately check Eevee's nature, then jump up and down (joking) when I get modest.

It's actually required to go and check out the ONBS Broadcast BEFORE you talk to Adon about Jovi's location. I found in one of my attempts, that if you go and speak to Adon first, when you try to exit that room you'll be approached by a scientist who suggests that you check out the broadcast. Then you get warped to the TV room (which is literally, one room above the room you were just in) but you have to go through a bunch of speech bubbles before you can regain control, which timewise is quite expensive.

Point being, you've got to check out the TV before you talk to Adon. I figured it would be more efficient to go downstairs first, get the PDA, then go upstairs, check the broadcast, and talk to Adon. (Which, by the way, anyone notice the name? Adon? Street Fighter?)

Anyways, I get the potions in the PDA room because they're right there and not out of my way, plus I use them later on so they're useful.

Leaving the HQ Lab was kinda sloppy. For no good reason I curve to the right a little, and while it may not cost much time it looks damn stupid. I don't know why I did that, but I assure you that mistake won't ever be made again.

There are a total of three exits out of the HQ Lab. One to the south, one to the west, and one to the east. The south one's the fastest one to use, obviously, so I use it most of the time except in one instance later on.

Kaminko's Aide Chobin goes down easy too. Just use bite twice on Sunkern.

Second mistake of the segment. Accidently talking to Aidan. For some reason I thought you had to do this, and I kicked myself in the teeth after realizing my mitake, but I wasn't about to reset, considering I got a Modest Eevee, but it was pretty disheartening nonetheless.

I'm not entirely sure if you have to talk to the old man wearing the blue shirt upstairs. You might just be able to ride the elevator upstairs then immediately downstairs, but I'm not sure. I don't think talking to the old man triggers Prof. Krane being in that room, but I could be wrong.

Naps fight is where I make the third mistake of the run. Instead of going to ITEMS and selecting Pokeball, I accidentally hit POKEMON option, prompting Prof. Krane to call me a dunce and tell me I'm doing it wrong.

Immediately after that fiasco, I save. End of first segment. All things considered I think it went great. Got a Modest Eevee, no major screwups besides those minor mistakes I mentioned, so I don't know how you could make this segment any faster. Just for the record, I use Bite instead of Tackle because, even though Tackle might get STAB, Dark moves are special in this game and Modest Eevee (and later, Jolteon) can play off their good special attack stats to do some good damage with Bite.

Sorry it took so long to upload but here's Segment 1, at least. I'll hopefully be able to upload all the segments by tomorrow. Unfortunately it takes like an hour and a half to upload one of these buggers, so I'll probably just leave my computer on overnight. I also wrote my own comments to go along with the Segments, but they're not entirely necessary and you don't have to read them.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2ue2_pokemon-xd-test-run-segment-1_videogames

Segment 1 - From the Start of the Game to catching Shadow Teddiursa.

For what it's worth, name entry was flawless. I've had a few ridiculous screw ups trying to enter the name.

My god. This segment. Sooo many resets trying to get a Modest Eevee, but I finally got it, which is why I let the 3 or so minor mistakes in this segment slide. But you know, at least the intro cutscene is only like a minute long, in comparison to say Wind Waker's. That's the only thing that made the resets bearable, knowing that the cutscene was so short.

Salamence vs Metagross fight is cake. Just use Earthquake twice. There were a few attempts in which my EQ critical'd, leading to an OHKO, which saves time, but it hardly ever happened plus my resets were based off of whether or not Eevee was Modest, not whether or not Salamence critical'd. Funny thing is, sometimes METAGROSS was the one that Critical'd with Sludge Bomb, but even if I got poisoned and critical'd, it wasn't ever enough to kill Salamence. Maybe it's faster to use Brick Break after that first EQ, since the animation might be short, but I think the time saved would be negligible.

After the Simulation fight I immediately check Eevee's nature, then jump up and down (joking) when I get modest.

It's actually required to go and check out the ONBS Broadcast BEFORE you talk to Adon about Jovi's location. I found in one of my attempts, that if you go and speak to Adon first, when you try to exit that room you'll be approached by a scientist who suggests that you check out the broadcast. Then you get warped to the TV room (which is literally, one room above the room you were just in) but you have to go through a bunch of speech bubbles before you can regain control, which timewise is quite expensive.

Point being, you've got to check out the TV before you talk to Adon. I figured it would be more efficient to go downstairs first, get the PDA, then go upstairs, check the broadcast, and talk to Adon. (Which, by the way, anyone notice the name? Adon? Street Fighter?)

Anyways, I get the potions in the PDA room because they're right there and not out of my way, plus I use them later on so they're useful.

Leaving the HQ Lab was kinda sloppy. For no good reason I curve to the right a little, and while it may not cost much time it looks damn stupid. I don't know why I did that, but I assure you that mistake won't ever be made again.

There are a total of three exits out of the HQ Lab. One to the south, one to the west, and one to the east. The south one's the fastest one to use, obviously, so I use it most of the time except in one instance later on.

Kaminko's Aide Chobin goes down easy too. Just use bite twice on Sunkern.

Second mistake of the segment. Accidently talking to Aidan. For some reason I thought you had to do this, and I kicked myself in the teeth after realizing my mitake, but I wasn't about to reset, considering I got a Modest Eevee, but it was pretty disheartening nonetheless.

I'm not entirely sure if you have to talk to the old man wearing the blue shirt upstairs. You might just be able to ride the elevator upstairs then immediately downstairs, but I'm not sure. I don't think talking to the old man triggers Prof. Krane being in that room, but I could be wrong.

Naps fight is where I make the third mistake of the run. Instead of going to ITEMS and selecting Pokeball, I accidentally hit POKEMON option, prompting Prof. Krane to call me a dunce and tell me I'm doing it wrong.

Immediately after that fiasco, I save. End of first segment. All things considered I think it went great. Got a Modest Eevee, no major screwups besides those minor mistakes I mentioned, so I don't know how you could make this segment any faster. Just for the record, I use Bite instead of Tackle because, even though Tackle might get STAB, Dark moves are special in this game and Modest Eevee (and later, Jolteon) can play off their good special attack stats to do some good damage with Bite.

Phở

2010-04-25 04:39:05 pm

Too cool for 7th grade.

The site says "This video is in the middle of being published" or something. Why is the internet against a run of this vid? Tongue

Are you going to purify any of the pokemon in this run? I remember wasting an hour trying to get the harmony or whatever right to purify my pokemon.

Hariyama465

2010-04-25 04:49:23 pm

It's being encoded, shouldn't take too long. Video works for me on my end.

And, to put it simply, only Houndour. And Teddiursa but well that's forced. But yeah I think a 100% purification run would take like 50 hours or something. I only have to snag them all.

And Shadow Dragonite, too, which I didn't think of when I first had the idea of running this game. But I'll be using Master Ball on him so it's all good.

PMIT

2010-04-26 12:32:45 am

Hey, it's great that somebody's working on this. I had made a nearly full route of the Jolteon/Houndoom any% run and I know I still have a save right before Eldes in that test run. Espeon vs. Jolteon is worth considering, even though once you get Thunder you can pretty much just plow through everything. I made up for the sometimes poor damage output through manipulating critical hits, and getting a decently powered Hidden Power Grass (ignoring the awful amount of time that would take) would help get around the Ground issue a bit.

It sounds like you're going for some fairly large segments akin to the Colosseum run too, and that's fine, but it will certainly cost you some time in the end. Checking Eevee's nature mid-segment and forgoing the flinch/critical on Sunkern already makes up the time it takes to save the game, and it'll only take up more time when the battles get longer. I don't believe the save penalty is accounted for in this game, so you're free to save to manipulate luck as much as you want.

In any case, I'd be glad to help you out with this run. I can send/post the route I had if you want (as well as turn-by-turn strategies and move lists for every trainer starting from Snagem Hideout, although it's probably not as useful for the 100% run).

Also, you aren't required to fight the Justy clones, but the two I think you were missing can be found in the mayor's house. The CDs they drop will be there after defeating Snattle.

Hey, it's great that somebody's working on this. I had made a nearly full route of the Jolteon/Houndoom any% run and I know I still have a save right before Eldes in that test run. Espeon vs. Jolteon is worth considering, even though once you get Thunder you can pretty much just plow through everything. I made up for the sometimes poor damage output through manipulating critical hits, and getting a decently powered Hidden Power Grass (ignoring the awful amount of time that would take) would help get around the Ground issue a bit.

It sounds like you're going for some fairly large segments akin to the Colosseum run too, and that's fine, but it will certainly cost you some time in the end. Checking Eevee's nature mid-segment and forgoing the flinch/critical on Sunkern already makes up the time it takes to save the game, and it'll only take up more time when the battles get longer. I don't believe the save penalty is accounted for in this game, so you're free to save to manipulate luck as much as you want.

In any case, I'd be glad to help you out with this run. I can send/post the route I had if you want (as well as turn-by-turn strategies and move lists for every trainer starting from Snagem Hideout, although it's probably not as useful for the 100% run).

Also, you aren't required to fight the Justy clones, but the two I think you were missing can be found in the mayor's house. The CDs they drop will be there after defeating Snattle.

Hariyama465

Edit history:

Hariyama465: 2010-04-26 11:36:54 am

2010-04-26 11:29:27 am

At first I was pretty disappointed with Jolteon, but going through it, especially in a 100% snag run, Jolteon is way too useful.

Maybe not now, but Thunder Wave should probably make the difference later on, since there's no Master Ball trick like there is in Colosseum, I'll have to rely on paralysis + Ultra Balls to catch Greevil's pokemon.

Plus, doing the damage calculation, Espeon does similar amounts of damage with Psychic as Jolteon does with Thunderbolt, but Jolteon with Thunder will do way more damage than Espeon would ever, so I do agree that with Thunder you can plow through everything. And its minimal PP can be made up for with PPUps, I know you get several in the game that you don't really have to go out of your way to get (like in the Phenac Stadium before Snattle).

At the moment, I don't really need turn-by-turn strats or move lists, but if you posted (or sent, doesn't matter either way) your route, I'd really appreciate it. You've already gone through this game and as such, you probably know the best route to go through this game. I'm sort of just making my route as I go along, since it is a test run and all.

Nonetheless, I'm grateful for your help on this game, are you working on submitting an any% run, yourself?

To be honest I wish I had started work on this a bit sooner. School lets out for me in about 2-3 weeks, and until then I've got studying for finals. It isn't too rigorous, thankfully, but I can't really work on the run (or upload my segments) since I'm studying for Bio Lab final right now. But I should still be able to set aside time on the weekend, and as soon as I let out for summer I'm devoting myself entirely to this game. Until then, I hope to have my test run completed before summer starts, so I can just hit the ground running then.

I'm recording everything and I'll be uploading it all to dailymotion, since youtube has a retarded 10 minute policy, which reminds me:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2vxf_pokemon-xd-test-run-segment-2_videogames

Segment 2 - Start of Gateon Port to Beginning of Agate Village.

Let me first say, I hate this segment. I had an attempt which was going amazingly, the best I've ever had, but then I screwed up on the rotating bridges part so I had to reset. Another time, I was having a really good segment but I forgot to talk to Perr again to get the Machine Part, so I had to reset. Honestly, I only accepted this lousy segment because I really just wanted to move on, but it could be better. Definitely could be better.

Not that this segment is BAD, it's not (well not entirely), I just didn't get as lucky with Bite as I would have hoped. That's just luck manipulation though, and resetting will fix the problem, but more on that later on, let's begin the analysis.

I'm fairly certain it's faster to just use the left side elevator than use the right one, but I could be wrong. I haven't timed it myself, but I have a hunch.

As hilarious as the Zook stuff is, I'm peeved it takes so long to get through. Considering that I had to reset quite a bit on this segment (mostly due to my own stupidity) it was annoying to have to go through the Zook sequence so many times.

Aaaaaand then right after Ms Novelist and her daughter have to talk to me. Blegh.

You have to enter the shop and talk to the Sailor, I believe, because otherwise Perr won't fix the rotating bridges. I actually tried it out and went straight to Perr after the Emili/Acri scene, but nothing happened. Anyways I have to talk to that sailor anyway to pick up a Thunderstone, so it was necessary.

Now, I evolve Jolteon as soon as I can here, but I don't know if that's quite a good idea yet. The thing is, Jolteon needs to learn Thundershock at 16, but until then you don't really NEED Jolteon. And I think it's harder to raise Jolteon, meaning Eevee would probably level up faster than Jolteon, which if that's the case, I'm considering just holding on to that Thunderstone until Eevee hits 15.

You'll see it in the Agate Village segment, Jolteon barely gets enough EXP from the 5 forced fights you have to go through there. Eevee would probably get more experience, and by the Hexagon Brothers, would probably be a higher level so Thundershock would come easier.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, back to the segment. After talking to the Sailor I go straight to Casual Guy Cyle, and snag his Ledyba. This part was annoying, because I was really hoping Eevee's bite would cause Ledyba to flinch at least once, but it didn't happen in this attempt, while it happened in others.

Climbing the lighthouse was flawless. I grab those PokeBalls because I really don't have to go out of my way to get them, but looking back on it, it may not be entirely necessary. Since I waste all my money on scents, I have to buy more pokeballs after the Hexagon Brothers, but I noticed I bought like 10 too many, so I don't think picking up the pokeballs in front of the lighthouse is necessary. In one of my attempts, I actually didn't realize you could use the elevator to get back down, and I actually climbed the lighthouse manually before realizing my mistake.

Poochyena is largely the same as Ledyba. I use Bite here because for the most part Bite did the same amount of damage as Tackle (because Jolteon I guess doesn't get STAB on Tackle like Eevee does). Furthermore, Bite has a chance to flinch so it's probably a better bet, but it didn't happen here, much to my dismay.

Luckily Poochyena used Shadow Hold here. The significance of this is that, had he used a damaging move, I would have probably had to waste time healing before Agate. Because I don't take any more damage, I can just go straight to those Agate fights without having to heal. Other than that, catching Poochyena was fine.

Like I said, on one of my previous attempts I actually forgot to get the machine part from Perr, which meant reset, of course. All in all, this isn't one of my favorite segments but I guess it went okay.

At first I was pretty disappointed with Jolteon, but going through it, especially in a 100% snag run, Jolteon is way too useful.

Maybe not now, but Thunder Wave should probably make the difference later on, since there's no Master Ball trick like there is in Colosseum, I'll have to rely on paralysis + Ultra Balls to catch Greevil's pokemon.

Plus, doing the damage calculation, Espeon does similar amounts of damage with Psychic as Jolteon does with Thunderbolt, but Jolteon with Thunder will do way more damage than Espeon would ever, so I do agree that with Thunder you can plow through everything. And its minimal PP can be made up for with PPUps, I know you get several in the game that you don't really have to go out of your way to get (like in the Phenac Stadium before Snattle).

At the moment, I don't really need turn-by-turn strats or move lists, but if you posted (or sent, doesn't matter either way) your route, I'd really appreciate it. You've already gone through this game and as such, you probably know the best route to go through this game. I'm sort of just making my route as I go along, since it is a test run and all.

Nonetheless, I'm grateful for your help on this game, are you working on submitting an any% run, yourself?

To be honest I wish I had started work on this a bit sooner. School lets out for me in about 2-3 weeks, and until then I've got studying for finals. It isn't too rigorous, thankfully, but I can't really work on the run (or upload my segments) since I'm studying for Bio Lab final right now. But I should still be able to set aside time on the weekend, and as soon as I let out for summer I'm devoting myself entirely to this game. Until then, I hope to have my test run completed before summer starts, so I can just hit the ground running then.

I'm recording everything and I'll be uploading it all to dailymotion, since youtube has a retarded 10 minute policy, which reminds me:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2vxf_pokemon-xd-test-run-segment-2_videogames

Segment 2 - Start of Gateon Port to Beginning of Agate Village.

Let me first say, I hate this segment. I had an attempt which was going amazingly, the best I've ever had, but then I screwed up on the rotating bridges part so I had to reset. Another time, I was having a really good segment but I forgot to talk to Perr again to get the Machine Part, so I had to reset. Honestly, I only accepted this lousy segment because I really just wanted to move on, but it could be better. Definitely could be better.

Not that this segment is BAD, it's not (well not entirely), I just didn't get as lucky with Bite as I would have hoped. That's just luck manipulation though, and resetting will fix the problem, but more on that later on, let's begin the analysis.

I'm fairly certain it's faster to just use the left side elevator than use the right one, but I could be wrong. I haven't timed it myself, but I have a hunch.

As hilarious as the Zook stuff is, I'm peeved it takes so long to get through. Considering that I had to reset quite a bit on this segment (mostly due to my own stupidity) it was annoying to have to go through the Zook sequence so many times.

Aaaaaand then right after Ms Novelist and her daughter have to talk to me. Blegh.

You have to enter the shop and talk to the Sailor, I believe, because otherwise Perr won't fix the rotating bridges. I actually tried it out and went straight to Perr after the Emili/Acri scene, but nothing happened. Anyways I have to talk to that sailor anyway to pick up a Thunderstone, so it was necessary.

Now, I evolve Jolteon as soon as I can here, but I don't know if that's quite a good idea yet. The thing is, Jolteon needs to learn Thundershock at 16, but until then you don't really NEED Jolteon. And I think it's harder to raise Jolteon, meaning Eevee would probably level up faster than Jolteon, which if that's the case, I'm considering just holding on to that Thunderstone until Eevee hits 15.

You'll see it in the Agate Village segment, Jolteon barely gets enough EXP from the 5 forced fights you have to go through there. Eevee would probably get more experience, and by the Hexagon Brothers, would probably be a higher level so Thundershock would come easier.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, back to the segment. After talking to the Sailor I go straight to Casual Guy Cyle, and snag his Ledyba. This part was annoying, because I was really hoping Eevee's bite would cause Ledyba to flinch at least once, but it didn't happen in this attempt, while it happened in others.

Climbing the lighthouse was flawless. I grab those PokeBalls because I really don't have to go out of my way to get them, but looking back on it, it may not be entirely necessary. Since I waste all my money on scents, I have to buy more pokeballs after the Hexagon Brothers, but I noticed I bought like 10 too many, so I don't think picking up the pokeballs in front of the lighthouse is necessary. In one of my attempts, I actually didn't realize you could use the elevator to get back down, and I actually climbed the lighthouse manually before realizing my mistake.

Poochyena is largely the same as Ledyba. I use Bite here because for the most part Bite did the same amount of damage as Tackle (because Jolteon I guess doesn't get STAB on Tackle like Eevee does). Furthermore, Bite has a chance to flinch so it's probably a better bet, but it didn't happen here, much to my dismay.

Luckily Poochyena used Shadow Hold here. The significance of this is that, had he used a damaging move, I would have probably had to waste time healing before Agate. Because I don't take any more damage, I can just go straight to those Agate fights without having to heal. Other than that, catching Poochyena was fine.

Like I said, on one of my previous attempts I actually forgot to get the machine part from Perr, which meant reset, of course. All in all, this isn't one of my favorite segments but I guess it went okay.

TheMG2

2010-04-26 06:29:47 pm

BTW: You might want to play around a little in Snagem Hideout. It has "GLITCH ME" written all over it. However, I have yet to find a short cut.

AA

2010-04-27 02:15:40 am

All Pokemon in the same evolution family gain experience at the same rate. Every single one of Jolteon's stats are better than Eevee's corresponding stats, Eevee doesn't learn any more moves until level 16, and Run Away essentially does nothing in XD so Volt Absorb is a strictly superior upgrade as well. The only way in which Jolteon is not strictly superior to Eevee is type which you could use to do well against different things or exploit the STAB on Tackle, but that should not affect too much. You are definitely correct to use the Thunderstone early.

You could probably make this easier and get a better time by segmenting more heavily. For instance, if you saved right after the Metagross fight, you could ensure you didn't have as lousy of luck as you did in the fight itself (at least not accepting being poisoned or crit'd; waiting for your own crit would probably be ridiculous though awesome if you get lucky) and then check Eevee's nature and IVs off the clock. Modest is probably not the only acceptable nature; Mild (+SAtk, -Def) and Rash (+SAtk, -SDef) are not much worse (Losing speed or not gaining Satk are probably unacceptable so I would definitely not consider any other natures). As per IVs, here's what a perfect level 10 Modest Eevee would look like.

HP: 34
Attack: 17 (19 if Mild or Rash)
Defense: 18 (16 if Mild)
Speed: 19
Special Attack: 18
Special Defense: 21 (18 if Rash, indicates IV range of 20-31)

In every stat, that is 30 or 31 IV which would be a near perfect Eevee and would require thousands of resets or insane luck to get. However, getting something relatively close (and not worrying about unimportant stats like Attack, of course) would probably be wise, and getting a set of good IVs with Mild or Rash will be better than getting a set of lousy IVs with Modest. Doing something similar with Houndour would be advisable but of course more difficult since you can't see his nature and have to rely on calculations with his stats (I use Shoddy Battle's team builder to toy around and see if I can figure out the spreads on any given Pokemon).

Speaking of segmenting, there's really no reason not to segment before every fight with a shadow Pokemon or before any trainer battle with a non-trivial amount of talking and/or running around to be lost if the fight doesn't go very well (and restart if any fight doesn't go very well). It doesn't take long to save in this game much unlike Colosseum (you took 10 seconds to save in segment 1, and if you were faster on that cursor, I bet you could have done it in 9), and you can make sure all your fights go very well. Animations in battle are very long in this game so I bet cutting a single turn off a battle saves more time than you lose by saving. Especially for the earlygame ones, you can just throw a ball turn 1 against Shadow Pokemon and hope you get lucky. If not, well, it's probably less than 2 minutes per attempt... Maybe some people think it looks stupid to have a hundred or more segments, but really, it's a very luck reliant game with super long animations that lets you save any time outside of battle. It's only natural, and even more, getting lucky means you can cut heals out of the route which saves even more time. If I were you, for the real run, I'd break your current segments 1 and 2 like this:

Segment 1

First fight
Save

(off the clock, don't save): Check Eevee's nature and IVs, make sure they are good

Segment 2

Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save before Chobin

Segment 3

Crit Chobin's Sunkern to end fight on turn 1 before Sunkern moves
Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save before fighting trainer with Shadow Ledyba (Use the Thunderstone when you are in the menu for this save to save a trivial amount of time)

Segment 4

Snag Shadow Ledyba on Jolteon's first turn, kill Taillow with Teddiursa
Everything you did
Save before fighting trainer with Shadow Poochyena

Segment 5

Snag Shadow Poochyena on Jolteon's first turn, kill Zubat with Teddiursa
Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save right before the next trainer battle, whenever that may be

All Pokemon in the same evolution family gain experience at the same rate. Every single one of Jolteon's stats are better than Eevee's corresponding stats, Eevee doesn't learn any more moves until level 16, and Run Away essentially does nothing in XD so Volt Absorb is a strictly superior upgrade as well. The only way in which Jolteon is not strictly superior to Eevee is type which you could use to do well against different things or exploit the STAB on Tackle, but that should not affect too much. You are definitely correct to use the Thunderstone early.

You could probably make this easier and get a better time by segmenting more heavily. For instance, if you saved right after the Metagross fight, you could ensure you didn't have as lousy of luck as you did in the fight itself (at least not accepting being poisoned or crit'd; waiting for your own crit would probably be ridiculous though awesome if you get lucky) and then check Eevee's nature and IVs off the clock. Modest is probably not the only acceptable nature; Mild (+SAtk, -Def) and Rash (+SAtk, -SDef) are not much worse (Losing speed or not gaining Satk are probably unacceptable so I would definitely not consider any other natures). As per IVs, here's what a perfect level 10 Modest Eevee would look like.

HP: 34
Attack: 17 (19 if Mild or Rash)
Defense: 18 (16 if Mild)
Speed: 19
Special Attack: 18
Special Defense: 21 (18 if Rash, indicates IV range of 20-31)

In every stat, that is 30 or 31 IV which would be a near perfect Eevee and would require thousands of resets or insane luck to get. However, getting something relatively close (and not worrying about unimportant stats like Attack, of course) would probably be wise, and getting a set of good IVs with Mild or Rash will be better than getting a set of lousy IVs with Modest. Doing something similar with Houndour would be advisable but of course more difficult since you can't see his nature and have to rely on calculations with his stats (I use Shoddy Battle's team builder to toy around and see if I can figure out the spreads on any given Pokemon).

Speaking of segmenting, there's really no reason not to segment before every fight with a shadow Pokemon or before any trainer battle with a non-trivial amount of talking and/or running around to be lost if the fight doesn't go very well (and restart if any fight doesn't go very well). It doesn't take long to save in this game much unlike Colosseum (you took 10 seconds to save in segment 1, and if you were faster on that cursor, I bet you could have done it in 9), and you can make sure all your fights go very well. Animations in battle are very long in this game so I bet cutting a single turn off a battle saves more time than you lose by saving. Especially for the earlygame ones, you can just throw a ball turn 1 against Shadow Pokemon and hope you get lucky. If not, well, it's probably less than 2 minutes per attempt... Maybe some people think it looks stupid to have a hundred or more segments, but really, it's a very luck reliant game with super long animations that lets you save any time outside of battle. It's only natural, and even more, getting lucky means you can cut heals out of the route which saves even more time. If I were you, for the real run, I'd break your current segments 1 and 2 like this:

Segment 1

First fight
Save

(off the clock, don't save): Check Eevee's nature and IVs, make sure they are good

Segment 2

Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save before Chobin

Segment 3

Crit Chobin's Sunkern to end fight on turn 1 before Sunkern moves
Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save before fighting trainer with Shadow Ledyba (Use the Thunderstone when you are in the menu for this save to save a trivial amount of time)

Segment 4

Snag Shadow Ledyba on Jolteon's first turn, kill Taillow with Teddiursa
Everything you did
Save before fighting trainer with Shadow Poochyena

Segment 5

Snag Shadow Poochyena on Jolteon's first turn, kill Zubat with Teddiursa
Everything you did but make sure to check who you absolutely have to talk to
Save right before the next trainer battle, whenever that may be

Nightmare

2010-05-04 09:24:43 am

I was planning this SS any % (and still plan on finishing it that way), but if you're doing a segmented run, the one area that needs to be segmented with no exception is the battles with Eagun's Trainers to purify the Teddiursa. Where you have no control over this on a minimalist speed run SS, on Segmented you absolutely have to break after each trainer and save, and MAKE SURE you get a call on the Teddiursa after EVERY battle. You can pretty much non-segment everywhere else (though that'd probably not be advisable, but getting that Teddiursa purified at once is VERY VERY important. It's going to cost you AT LEAST 15:00 if you miss a Call, if not more.

That was the biggest breaker in my SS run by far. Sometimes it took me 10:00, other times an hour, and I had no control over it.

-James