Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Talk about what you are playing now or join in with one of our forum games.
farleyf
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby farleyf » 29 Nov 2016, 00:48

Jenelmo wrote:Added info, also the link in the first post is broken


Thanks for the heads up - i went in and fixed the link to the sheet in case anyone else wants to come join us

Also i will fix up my Signature to include the Discord channel as well. more people are using this ATM so the more the merrier
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RebelliousUno
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby RebelliousUno » 29 Nov 2016, 06:34

FWiw for those offering starters I'd be keen to get hold of CuteOwl and CircusSeal
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Antitonic
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Antitonic » 29 Nov 2016, 07:59

RebelliousUno wrote:FWiw for those offering starters I'd be keen to get hold of CuteOwl and CircusSeal

I have a discount on seals, would you prefer Egg'd or hatched? They're discounted, as I make no claim to their combat effectiveness.
RebelliousUno
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby RebelliousUno » 29 Nov 2016, 10:38

I have no preference as to the egghead of said CurcusSeal
Kapol
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Kapol » 29 Nov 2016, 13:19

RebelliousUno wrote:FWiw for those offering starters I'd be keen to get hold of CuteOwl and CircusSeal


Feel free to send me a message with a good time to trade if you still need either/both. I'll try to have them ready ASAP.
Kapol
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Kapol » 29 Nov 2016, 15:34

So, three things. The first is, is anyone playing on a non-English game? If so, I'd like to try getting a good IV Ditto from chaining if possible. I'd be willing to try getting one in return, and it sounds like chaining ditto isn't very difficult once you get the right setup.

Secondly, I now have Tepig, Chikorita, Sphinx, Dratini, Cyndaquil, Togepi, and Bengineerings(Totodiles) that I can breed for people.

Thirdly, for those interested, the first mythical Pokémon will be available in about a week. Magearna will be available via QR code for anyone who has beaten the game. More info during the link. Link.
Last edited by Kapol on 30 Nov 2016, 17:34, edited 1 time in total.
DiamondTiki
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Joined: 23 Mar 2014, 01:26
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby DiamondTiki » 30 Nov 2016, 15:39

Hey, guys. After having some trouble setting up a trade and at Farley's suggestion, I'd like to add a bit of info here, should anyone find themselves in the same situation.

The Festival Plaza settings have three different option toggles for communication: friends, VIPs, and guests. Now, one would assume that if you wanted to communicate only with people on your friends list and people you add to VIP, you'd keep the first two on and the third off.

But if you turn off "communication with guests" you don't see anyone on your list, including 3DS friends. Presumably if you've already added someone to VIP, you'd see them, but if you're looking up someone new, 3DS friend or not, "communication with guests" should be on.

This one was pretty specific, but I think the general advice I can give to anyone having trouble connecting with other people is just turn everything on.
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pixel_p
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby pixel_p » 01 Dec 2016, 17:10

I tell ya what the Battle Tree doesn't mess around. It's giving me a headache with all this stalling and walling.

Also, the Arceus event is put back up again for X/Y and OR/AS for those who might have missed it in August. It will aparently run until the 31st. Go to Mystery Gift > Receive Gift > Get With Code and then enter ARCEUS20 for US players and ARCEUS2016 in Europe. Internet connection needed, obviously.
Just got mine for my AS cart and shipped him to the Bank.
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Kapol
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Kapol » 01 Dec 2016, 17:41

Yeah. I'll admit, between the Battle Tree being as tough and slow as it is and how easy it is to get cheesed out in the Battle Royal, there's not any good way to get BP. Which sucks, cause I kind of need to get the evolution items and would like to get the breeding items. By the time I wait for the Pokémon Bank to come around in order to get BP, I'll have access to all the Pokémon I need anyways.
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Merrymaker_Mortalis
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Merrymaker_Mortalis » 02 Dec 2016, 06:10

I caught a shiny Zubat. It's now taken my last team slot.
farleyf
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby farleyf » 03 Dec 2016, 03:38

Damn how many Zubats did you have to grind through to get to that, like is Batman in the corner softly weeping at the loss of so many Zubats
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DiamondTiki
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby DiamondTiki » 03 Dec 2016, 04:35

I'm encountering the same problems with both the Tree and Battle Royal and it's extremely not fun. I tried an experiment in Royal to see if I can pull off one specific move with one specific Pokemon (not kill anything, just do the dang move) with high defense (since my high speed pokemon all just get one shotted even by moves they're not weak against). It took seven battles before I stopped being one-shotted before my first move. That's only on the second level.

I don't know what this is supposed to be, but it seems the quickest way to get the BP for the breeding items is to just do 50 battles and kill of my pokemon as fast as possible in each to save time.
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pixel_p
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby pixel_p » 03 Dec 2016, 11:33

I got a streak of 19 before I was stalled out by a Rest Swampert. Why even live. All I want is to unlock battle partners at this point.

But, the good news is I have a few breedject Regenerator Mareanies I can share with my Hodor Squad pals. I wanted Calm nature but I got too fed up and settled with Impish. Breedjects are of varying IVs and natures.
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Merrymaker_Mortalis
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Merrymaker_Mortalis » 03 Dec 2016, 13:17

farleyf wrote:Damn how many Zubats did you have to grind through to get to that, like is Batman in the corner softly weeping at the loss of so many Zubats


Random in Diglet cave. A zubat called for help. The help was shiny.
I will swap it out asap since I have a flying type and a poison type already. It's a gross crobat now.
farleyf
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First Video: Strip Search
Location: Blacktown, Australia

Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby farleyf » 03 Dec 2016, 15:09

Merrymaker_Mortalis wrote:
farleyf wrote:Damn how many Zubats did you have to grind through to get to that, like is Batman in the corner softly weeping at the loss of so many Zubats


Random in Diglet cave. A zubat called for help. The help was shiny.
I will swap it out asap since I have a flying type and a poison type already. It's a gross crobat now.


Damn are you the owner of the Lucksack or something :p :) Congratulations are in order
F For Farley
F For Flavors
F For Fabulous
F For Fast
F For Food

Come Join Hodor Squad
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Omega Lairon
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Omega Lairon » 03 Dec 2016, 22:00

(Mental note, remember to post here more often.)

So after a slow start, I'm sitting at ~24 hours played and about halfway through the 3rd island.

Current / final party: (I'm one of those weird trainers who plans ahead a little and only catches /raises literally the Pokemon I intend to use for the end-game and not a single 'mon more... unless it's a shiny.)

Click to Expand
Decidueye @ Decidium Z
* Spirit Shackle
* Razor Leaf
* Pluck
* Nature Power


I always take the grass starter, and first runs of a new game, I will always use my starter. He's been doing some good work so far - definitely pulls his weight. Could use better coverage though.

Slowpoke @ Twisted Spoon
* Psychic
* Zen Headbutt
* Scald
* Yawn


He's a level or 3 off from finally evolving, which I'm hoping will finally get him some serious playtime on my team. Slowpoke is... to be blunt, kind of dead weight so far. I haven't checked his IV's, but he always seems to drastically under perform compared to ever other team member. Better yet, it looks like he's much better suited for physical attacks over specials... with a nature that actively neuters his attack stat. *sigh*. Oh well, he's a good guy at heart.

Magneton @ Expert Belt
* Mirror Shot
* Charge Beam
* Tri Attack
* Thunder Wave


One of the big special powerhouses on the team - he's a little (surprisingly) fragile though, so I don't get to whip him out as much as I'd like. Has one of those neutral natures that doesn't boost/nerf any stats, so... not fantastic, but could be worse. Definitely one of my top players.

Sylveon @ Silk Scarf
* Draining Kiss
* Fairy Wind
* Swift
* Echoed Voice


I didn't really plan on Sylveon much - I just noticed that I had a bit of a blind spot on my team for dealing with dragons and dark types, and I happened across a wild Eevee reasonably early on, so I figured why not? He's been a real team player, and seems well suited to special defense. Similarly to Slowpoke though, he looks to built towards special attacks, but has his nature actively working against that plan. Still, he's powerful enough that it rarely comes up.

Salazzle @ Poison Barb
* Flame Burst
* Venoshock
* Thief
* Toxic


She's been an absolute all-star since she joined the team, putting in some very impressive damage and managing to hold her own defensively too - she's really gunning for the coveted "best pokemon of gen 7" title. So far my only major gripe is a slightly weak HP pool, but that's really no big deal in the long run. And that ability too... nothing gets to live for very long in her presence, not even those so called "immune" steel and poison types.

(this spot intentionally left blank - I only ever train a team of 5.)


It's been... pretty mixed for me so far. The gameplay has been just classic Pokemon action, which is always excellent, I did have a few minor nitpicks with some of the design elements / choices.

* The hand-holding is incredibly overdone, even *for* a Pokemon game. I constantly feel like my intelligence is being insulted that I can't remember something I was told mere seconds ago. And don't even start with the "it's for kids" argument... for one, Pokemon Company / GameFreak (I forget which of the two are more directly in charge to blame) have been making a point to specifically recognise the long-time fans since at least gen 6, and secondly, not even very young children are as dense as the game would seem to think they are.

* Oh man, the SOS battle thing can f*** right off and die horribly. Like it doesn't already take a jillion f***ing hours to grind up and get from point A to B, but to get unintentionally caught in a loop of getting a Pokemon down to like 10%, only for it to summon back-up, kill them, damage the back-up to 10%, have them summon... etc.

I noticed they put in an "adrenaline orb" item to *increase* the instances of SOS battles, which I guess is fantastic for late-game grinding, but unless I'm missing something, why the f*** wasn't there an opposite side item to decrease / prevent them? Better yet, if they were a competent game design company, they'd have included it as an option in the game's sorely needed difficulty menu (alongside such favourites as "global game / AI difficulty", and "tutorials on/off" [I've been playing for 20 years, I think I know how to throw a f***ing Pokeball by now!])

* Probably some other stuff I can't think of immediately, but will come to me later.

THAT SAID

I still think it's a great game despite these few rough patches. I... still probably prefer it less than the last few generations of games though - honestly for me this generation has felt like one of the worst in the series. BUT! it's still a great series I love to bits, so I can't even begin to call it "bad" or even "mediocre".

A 8/10 is a great score, it's just that most other games have been like a 9/10. *shrug*
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Kapol
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Kapol » 04 Dec 2016, 03:35

I didn't mind the handholding as much as the constant cutscenes. Being taught how to catch a Pokémon doesn't bother me too much, since it's normally a one and done thing that takes a minute or two. And the map having waypoints is kind of nice. Though I'd prefer it didn't mark every single event and just current character goals instead. But the 'story' felt like it was stopping the action every few minutes. It wouldn't be as bad if not for the fact a lot of cutscenes could have been cut.

SOS battles are a feature I actually like, but I feel was implemented very poorly. The ability to grind EVs, get better IVs, get hidden abilities, and even a higher chance of shinies are really nice. So is the ability to grind experience pretty quickly, though it'd be better with the other experience system for late-game. I really like the concept as a way to make the totem Pokémon stand out.

But it should be optional. And you should also be able to catch one of the Pokémon if there are multiples. Because the system makes catching Pokémon much more annoying in general. And when you have a long chain, there's no way to tell which Pokémon has the IVs/nature you'd want and little way to see which has the ability you'd want. And those are some of the bigger benefits of the system. Being able to catch 4-5 would make that 50 Pokémon chain not feel as bad to fail at.

I'll also say that the fact there are SOS only Pokémon that aren't just evolutions was a bad idea. As was having some SOS Pokémon be incredibly rare.

All that said, as I'm reaching the end of my journey with Sun/Moon, I'll say I think they're my favorite games so far with X/Y not far behind. Despite my issues, I love the region. It feels more fleshed out and unique, the look of the game is solid and less cartoon-y, and I enjoyed a lot of the Pokémon from this generation. I wish we'd had Alola forms beyond generation 1 Pokémon, but we did get one of my favorites at least.


In more personal news, I've more or less completed the Alola Pokedex! I'm just waiting to do most of the trade Pokémon with a friend, and I'll have it all done. I did have to use a Master Ball to catch a Politoad that had Perish Song'd, since grinding BP is really frustrating and it seems to be a super rare SOS Pokémon. But I got it none the less.
Paranundrox
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Paranundrox » 04 Dec 2016, 10:41

As of yesterday, I've completed my Alola Island Dexes, and I only need the 2 Moon-specific UBs and the Moon Cover Legendary. I feel like this generation had a lot of mechanical changes that I liked (seeing EVs, better IV judging, etc.), but there were also a lot of design choices that I wasn't a fan of, that held me back from absolutely loving it (primarily the cutscenes, worst of which was the Post E4 one).

I think the SoS system is alright, though it is a bit more annoying when you can't one shot certain Pokemon, but what I really disliked about it was how rare the Sos-only pokemon and SoS-weather Pokemon were to spawn, especially those SoS only's that you needed to find a Pokemon with a 5% chance to start (Happiny etc.)

Other than that, I'm kinda meh on the Battle Tree and Battle Royale, so I'm not really sure what this game has to offer me now that I've beat it, aside from trying to either grind for a Living Dex of the region, or grinding Shinies (I've never really cared much about Competitive Breeding).

Also - a tip for trading on the GTS: The rarer weather pokemon (castform/vanillish) and some of the harder to get trade Evo's (Porygon-Z and Weaville) are incredibly good Pokemon to trade for/with on the GTS, and everyone is looking for them. So if you get one of those, you can breed some of them to trade, or just trade them away to get something else you need on your dex.
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Omega Lairon
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Re: Welcome to the Hodor Squad

Postby Omega Lairon » 10 Dec 2016, 14:15

Quick progress update - up to the 4th island.

* Slowbro evolved, and is finally starting to contribute in a meaningful way. ('Bout f***in' time [Kappa])

* Got a little roadblocked on some of the recent "miniboss" fights, which was extremely annoying/frustrating, especially the resetting and sitting through like 5 minutes of crappy, unskippable cutscenes just to get dunked on again. (...well, for given values of "dunked on". The fights were absolutely winnable, but I do NOT tolerate even a single Pokemon fainting, which extended things far longer than it should have.)

* Team Skull are... absolutely the most boring and forgettable team in Pokemon history. They're idiots (and not in the charming/adorable way of previous evil teams), have a crappy gimmick, don't f***in' do anything important... I mean, their music is kind of okay, but man, f*** Team Skull forever.



Overall, the game is still "just okay". Still probably my least favourite gen so far thanks to all the design / story / pacing nitpicks I already had. On the positives, most of the new Pokemon designs are pretty sweet, and the difficulty curve seems just about right (barring trial captains who specialise in a type my team isn't well suited to counter). I don't really like the "Not!Hawaii" aesthetic, but it's not a big problem besides not remembering any of the stupid town or island names. Also Z Moves... not a fantastic idea, TBH, but then I'm sure lots of people said the same for Mega Evolution (myself included), and that eventually grew on me (MAggron helped a LOT for that). Who knows?
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