[OR/AS] ORAS Progress

[Murkrow]

People keep mentioning chaining. Is the Pokéradar in this game/where is it?

[Superbird]

Beat the league, beat the delta episode, transferred over my complete dex and have registered 719/719, beat all the master rank contests with cosplay pikachu but have yet to beat Lisia, beat the league again, made a kickass secret base and got a gold flag, and now it's legendary hunting and Battle Maison cheezing with my old gen5subway team.

secret base code

At present, my team is
Swampert lv. 71
Breloom lv. 70
Bisharp lv. 71
Ninetales lv. 71
Swalot lv. 71
Altaria lv. 71

What I really really like about Hoenn is how fleshed out it is, as a region. There's always cool stuff to explore if you stray from the path - Sea Mauville, the routes to/from Dewford, the desert, meteor falls, that route between Mauville and Mt. Pyre, the entire ocean, shoal cave, pacidiflog town itself, etc. Despite being a shorter game than X/Y, the region feels more real because of these sorts of things, whereas X and Y were too linear and didn't have very many side areas at all.

But what's really terrible about this game is that (SPOILER for postgame) there's no Looker sidequest. Just a cameo. You don't even get his cool upbeat music or anything, only a slowed down, sad version. And also, your trainer card color is only influenced by your dex completion, story completion, and Battle Maison ratings. No contests, no secret bases, nothing else, and that makes me sad because in the past they've had a lot more they've done with it and I'm a completionist who wants validation.

I have also taken Alpha Sapphire as an opportunity to start catching competitively viable legendaries, now that I have the ability to and since they all come with at least 3 perfect IVs (and often they have a fourth at around 27-28). I've built a small army of Ralts with Synchronize, one for each nature, and I've caught most notably a good-IV, good-nature Terrakion, Heatran and Cresselia. I've always stayed away from legendaries before because I couldn't obtain them ingame, but now that I can, why not?

[Dar]

Badges: 6
Current Location: Team Aqua Base
Team:
Me Toitle (Torkoal, Lv. 36)
Teeko (Sceptile, Lv. 38)
Ruby (Latias, Lv. 36)
Mike (Pelipper, Lv. 37)
Lisara (Pikachu, Lv. 36)
Maka (Mightyena, Lv. 36)

I really wish that there was an option to turn off receiving Secret Bases. That icon is too tempting to click on. I'm also considering restarting after the E4 to do a Nuzlocke run.

[Autumn]

I keep investigating everything in the Sea Mauville.
Holy shit I just got incredible fucking feels in the one room immediately to the left after the dive part. Pokémon just got deep.
Edit: ALL OF THE ROOMS ARE GIVING ME FEELS ; ;

[Professor Wesker]

Just beat Winona and am heading for Mt. Pyre!

Thoughts

* As expected, Norman was as terrifying as ever. Whoever decided his Slaking needed Swagger was an evil, evil man. Though unlike any Gym Leaders so far, he actually was a challenge!

* After beating Norman, Wattson didn't wait outside of his gym to activate the New Mauville quest like he did in R/S/E. Has anything regarding that place changed?

* I freaking love Aqua Admin Matt. Really, the Team Admins look and act much more memorable than their GBA counterparts. Now if they actually had good teams...

* Getting a mandatory Lati with a Mega Stone was totally unexpected and awesome!

* I think Cacturne may be my new favorite Hoenn Pokémon. That attack power, man... And no one cares, but I renamed him since Cacturne's design is so awesome and scarecrowish.

* Fortree's ladders are tedious as hell to climb.

* As expected, the long grass routes look beautiful in 3D.

* Is there any point to the Scorched Slab? All it had of interest was a Sunny Day TM.

* And Sea Mauville has way too many sealed off areas. Is most of it closed off without Dive? I swear that there was more to do on the Abandoned Ship even without Dive.

And one last thing, is it just me, or is this game much better written than X and Y? I mean sure, the characters aren't fantastic or anything, but I actually like my Rivals, Steven, some Gym Leaders, the Aqua Admins, and especially Archie. I think Team Aqua's motives making more sense helps a lot.

My Team

Cass the Marshtomp (Female, lv. 35)
Lazy Kong the Vigoroth (Female, lv. 35)
Fatman the Electrode (lv. 35)
Ivan the Machoke (Male, lv. 34)
Combs the Cacturne (Named him after Jeffery Combs, one of Scarecrow's voice actors from Batman the Animated Series. Male, lv. 35)
Nadia the Latias (Female, lv. 34)

[M&F]

Originally Posted by Murkrow

People keep mentioning chaining. Is the Pokéradar in this game/where is it?

You can chain with the DexNav.

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

* After beating Norman, Wattson didn't wait outside of his gym to activate the New Mauville quest like he did in R/S/E. Has anything regarding that place changed?

Some things changed. I don't know what triggers Wattson coming out of the gym this time (maybe you'll need Dive), but you'll be able to find him waiting in front of the Prism Tower replica when the time is right.

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

* Is there any point to the Scorched Slab? All it had of interest was a Sunny Day TM.

In the original RSE it was more of a reference to the legend of Amaterasu. Not easy to catch when you're not Japanese. In ORAS now it's also become the place where (SPOILER) you can catch Heatran.

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

* And Sea Mauville has way too many sealed off areas. Is most of it closed off without Dive? I swear that there was more to do on the Abandoned Ship even without Dive.

There do seem to be a few trainers less and quite a few more areas that require Dive. Still, once you get the Dive, the place becomes really interesting.

Also, I've been meaning to change up my secret base -- I'll share the code as soon as I've done that.

[Vipera Magnifica]

Just got the Feather Badge from Winona, and am making my way to Mt. Pyre.

Current team:
Gardevoir, F, Level 43
Aggron, M, Level 43
Sceptile (Woody), M, Level 44
Pelipper (Pepper), M, Level 43
Mightyena (Harley), F, Level 43
Linoone (Ziggy), F, Level 43

[hopeandjoy]

Currently exploring the sea around Mossdeep and grinding because I know Liza and Tate are going to be a bitch.

Player Name: May
Money: 93,581
Play Time: 22:11
Badges: 6

Blaze (Blaziken) f Lv 43 {Blazikenite}
Blaze, Impish
Double Kick
Peck
Flame Charge
Blaze Kick

Juno (Gardevoir) f Lv 42 {Metronome}
Synchronize, Calm
Draining Kiss
Psychic
Future Sight
Magical Leaf

Rose (Roserade) f Lv 42 {Miracle Seed}
Natural Cure, Calm
Giga Drain
Cut
Poison Sting
Petal Blizzard

Brucie (Sharpedo) f Lv 42 {Rocky Helmet}
Rough Skin, Modest
Crunch
Surf
Poison Fang
Ice Fang

Akane (Latias) f Lv 42 {Latiasite}
Levitate, Gentle
Zen Headbutt
Dragon Breath
Mist Ball
Recover

Leto (Banette) f Lv 42 {Banettite}
Frisk, Docile
Will-O-Whisp
Feint Attack
Shadow Ball
Sucker Punch

[Meowth]

Just got the sixth badge as well! My lord Winona's Pelipper is the most frustrating thing ever. Oneshotting her Altaria with my Gardy's HP Ice felt good though.

Also caught a new Lotad today, since I realised Lombre gets no Grass moves and TM53 isn't available for quite a while and thought it best to grab a Lotad with Giga Drain with the DexNav and start over. Team now stands thusly:

Skarmory ♂ lv34 Spikes/Steel Wing/Fly/Rock Tomb
Blaziken ♀ lv36 @Blazikenite Power-Up Punch/Double Kick/Blaze Kick/Strength
Lombre ♂ lv34 Giga Drain/Power-Up Punch/Fake Out/Bubblebeam
Gardevoir ♀ lv33 Dazzling Gleam/Psychic/Thunder Wave/Hidden Power (Ice)

Still no solid ideas what to fill it up with, except that Glalie and Walrein both sound neat so I'll grab one or the other in Shoal Cave most likely.

[Music Dragon]

Headed for Sootopolis Gym now. Meet the team!

Metagross
I got this shiny guy as a Mystery Gift. I wanted to name it Mootagroot, but I can't, because of its original trainer's love for it. Many people - like the Fossil Maniac and Mr. Stone - have commented on how much it reminds them of Steven's shiny Pokémon. Is it... is it actually the same one? I'm sorry, but white Metagross all look the same to me.

Decibelle the Exploud
Decibelle knows Boomburst, it wrecks everything. Very useful. The fact that she has holes all over her body is a bit unsettling because of my trypophobia, and I also don't like loud noises. So as you can guess, we don't get along very well. However, we have reluctantly joined forces due to the circumstances. I want my money, she wants revenge on her father's killer - the enemy of my enemy is my friend, know what I'm saying?

Prostagma the Camerupt
Prostagma likes berries, long walks on the beach, and cracking open the very earth beneath her enemies' feet and engulfing them in lava. She dislikes hipsters, the Mauville Food Court during lunch hours, and Sharpedo. Prostagma is looking for that special someone to put the spark back in her life. Will it be you?

Crowdoot the Crawdaunt
She's so angry that I named her Crowdoot, but she can't do shit about it. Haha! Sucker.

[Meowth]

The gang's all here!~ (Albeit not fully evolved yet.)



We just beat Tate and Liza despite being like 5 levels underleveled. Solrock and Lunatone immediately wiped the floor with Lombre and Mega Banette, but then got pretty much obliterated with a couple of Steel Wings apiece.

[Autumn]

Taking a break to play X so I can prepare a bunch of Pokémon from that to move over to OR later... by putting them in Poké Bank for a while to rack up Poké Miles.

[Meowth]

Fully evolved my team, caught Kyogre, and spent P60,000 on Meowth dolls. I'm not even sorry.

[I liek Squirtles]

After not even losing once with Pikapi the Contestchu in Coolness Contests, I am now on my way to sweeping Cuteness Contests with Yoomtah the Jigglypuff. Oddly, both of these gals were level 20 in their Contest Debuts, although Yoomtah gained a level. I feel contests were too hard to get into before, but too easy to get into now. I've managed to win pretty much all my contests by having my contestants binge on Pokeblocks until they excel in their category.

I think I'm going to try and take on the League with a monotyped team of each type; it would be interesting to see how it turns out. I'll start with this right after I beat them with my ingame team the second time.

[Vipera Magnifica]

Just beat the Pokémon League!

Current Team:


Gardevoir, F, Level 61
Aggron, M, Level 61
Sceptile (Woody), M, Level 61
Mightyena (Harley), F, Level 61
Pelipper (Pepper), M, Level 62
Mega Altaria (Cumulea), F, Level 64

Comments

* I caught Primal Kyogre in a Poké Ball. This was extremely hard because it kept healing with Aqua Ring.

* I used quite a lot of revives fighting Steven. I was planning on nuzlocke-ing Omega Ruby so I'd better watch out for him if I make it that far.

* Holy shit soaring is the best thing ever.

* Don't you think Wallace's gym is a little too difficult to figure out for the average kid playing this?

* Oh god I can't wait to play the Delta episode just the intro is giving me chills.

[Murkrow]

I'm currently hatching a bunch of Skarmory

(SPOILER for stuff in Mauville) Some weird guy gave me a nugget and told me there's nothing funny about nuggets.

The old guys with different coloured hair who hang out in the Pokémon center just merged with some depressed guy and he became Mr. Bonding. ...wtf

[Professor Wesker]

So I just beat Tate and Liza!

Thoughts

Caught a bunch of Pokémon in search of a shiny. No luck. :(

Found a guy who mentions Genesect in Mauville City. Is this a hint to a future Genesct event? I hope so, because he's the only Unova event legendary I missed out on.

Speaking of legendary Pokémon references, dat Jirachi reference in Archie's hideout. Funny thing is I HAD a Jirachi, but I deleted a Soulsilver save with him still on it like a dumbass.

Mossdeep's Space Center once again has become totally useless. At least in Emerald you did SOMETHING in it thanks to Team Magma attacking it.

Speaking of Mossdeep, I hope we finally learn what's in that sealed off room in that one guy's house. Young me desperately wanted to see what was inside.

And HOLY SHIT that level jump in Tate and Liza's gym! Two level 45's against my level 40's... thankfully my Cacturne pulled through like a badass! I'm worried about what it says about the levels all future opponents are going to be at. Will I have to grind like hell before visiting the Seafloor Cavern?

My team:



Cass the Swampert (Female, Level 40)
Lazy Kong the Slaking (Female, Level 41)
Fatman the Electrode (Level 41)
Ivan the Machamp (Male, Level 40)
Combs the Cacturne (Male, Level 41)
Nadia the Latias (Female, Level 40)

[Superbird]

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

Found a guy who mentions Genesect in Mauville City. Is this a hint to a future Genesct event? I hope so, because he's the only Unova event legendary I missed out on.

I'm pretty sure he's just there to give you Genesect's drives if you happen to have it in your party. Like the person who gives you the reflection glass if you have Thundurus or the gracidea flower if you have Shaymin.

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

Mossdeep's Space Center once again has become totally useless. At least in Emerald you did SOMETHING in it thanks to Team Magma attacking it.

(SPOILER) It becomes important in the postgame.

Originally Posted by Professor Wesker

Speaking of Mossdeep, I hope we finally learn what's in that sealed off room in that one guy's house. Young me desperately wanted to see what was inside.

It's for special event secret bases now, apparently.

[Meowth]

I beat Steven! I really expected to have trouble with the E4, since my team was pretty much a round lv50, but I ended up pretty much one-shotting nearly everything. Mega Metagross nearly annihilated my whole team after knocking out Mega Blaziken but Walrein managed to just hang on from his Giga Impact and finish him with a crafty Crunch. :3

Final thoughts: all in all, a freaking phenomenal game and an amazing recreation of the original. It's so nice that you get to fight May one last time after the credits (speaking of which have I mentioned May is the most adorable thing ever like seriously), and even the credits sequence itself was great. Can't wait to get into the Delta episode (a Pokemon game with an actual postgame story, fuck yeah).

My hall o' fame team:
Blaziken♀ lv54 Brave Bird/High Jump Kick/Blaze Kick/Earthquake
Ludicolo♂ lv51 Giga Drain/Zen Headbutt/Rain Dance/Surf
Gardevoir♀ lv52 Moonblast/Psychic/Hypnosis/Thunderbolt
Skarmory♂ lv50 Steel Wing/Rock Slide/Fly/X Scissor
Banette♂ lv52 Will-o-Wisp/Thunder/Shadow Claw/Phantom Force
Walrein♂ lv51 Crunch/Ice Beam/Swagger/Waterfall

[Professor Wesker]

So I now have all my badges, Elite Four here I come!

* I freaking love Sea Mauville more than perhaps any other Pokémon location. I like just how relatable the place's backstory is, with its employees having to deal with things like unemployment, families falling apart, and tyrannical overseers. In particular, the letters young Professor Cosmo sent to his dad really tugged at the old heartstrings.

* The final battle with Archie was awesome as hell, even though it wasn't that hard. The awesome backdrop helped.

* Not going to spoil anything since I don't know how to post spoiler tags, but the part with Primal Kyogre feels more like it should have been the end of the game, it feels weird continuing to get badges and fight the Pokémon League.

* Stupid sexy Wallace and his stupid sexy revealing outfit! Though on the topic of Wallace, it felt surreal yet damn good to have a gym leader actually use more than three Pokémon against you! What happened, Gamefreak?!

* I freaking love the Eon Flute. With it, Fly becomes pointless.

* Found Mesprit in some remote cave. O_O

* And I was surprised to see Wattson's wife, an Ace Trainer who can't be any older than half his age unless she's older than she looks. Wattson you old dog, you really scored!

* Speaking of Mauville Heights, the way you obtain the Loppunite kind of spooked me. I'm positive it's original owner is dead now.