Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire

Oh crap I'll have to go renew my Jap PokeBank

I have to say, this game has tired me out. I was disappointed with X/Y and as soon as I received the EXP share in this game I knew the feeling was going to return. Even with it turned off the game is just way to easy! I mean, surely its not just me feeling this way right? I always get hyped for a Pokemon release yet the last two have just completely thrown me off the bandwagon.

I'm still getting a lot out of this, but it isn't just you. I remember Brawley being a monster to face in the originals - this time he folded like a wet paper bag, even without early access to a Sableye. I think it's a combination of generational power creep (Wingull didn't learn Water Pulse in the old games, did it?) and switching monsters still giving you full experience.

I'm up against Norman next: hopefully he'll be tougher.

Done, done and done! Finished the game with a formidable team: Lv. 64 Charizard, Lv. 64 Metagross, Lv. 66 Tentacruel, Lv. 68 Venasaur, Lv. 68 Spiritomb and Lv. 70 Garchomp. I'll do a review later in the reviews thread later, but I must have got through the whole game with less than five of my Pokémon fainting (two of them in the very last battle).

Balladeer wrote:

I'm up against Norman next: hopefully he'll be tougher.

Newsflash: he wasn't.

They ruined the Trick House! Enjoyed the Lati-episode, though, even if the dragon itself went straight into my PC.

I still highly disagree that the revised exp share is what made these games easy (or the sole and prime reason at any rate.)  In my opinion they're easy because they were designed to be very easy.  Time spent exp grinding is superfluous difficulty, it's an inconvenience at best.  

What's even stranger is how gamefreak can possibly think making the games easier benefits anyone.  If I was a little kid and I beat the game and then went online I'd be utterly slaughtered, because absolutely nothing in the story even remotely prepares the player for the enormous gulf of skill between the game itself and the multiplayer part.  That in turn would lead me to quiet the game and play something else, when good game design would have prepared the player enough to at least know what they were getting in to.  

They seem to have got in their heads that players want these games to be mind numbingly easy, as suggested with comments from them about the battle frontier being difficult and therefore supposedly not being used by many players thus resulting in them not including it.  Personally I think that's a load of bulltwaddle and I think it's one of those reasons devs trot out rather than say "we're saving it for another version to make you buy it", but nevertheless it does show how they're approaching the design of the games now.  And it stinks.  As I've said before, when you make something too easy there is absolutely no joy from the player for beating it, and having beaten the game in a nuzlocke I can safely say I feel there is absolutely nothing that would make these, or x and y, even remotely challenging.


I know I've already given this horse a good flogging, the game has me annoyed over a different design choice right now so I felt like another flogging was in order. Between the difficulty and the ridiculous conditions required to compete online properly I'm almost at the point of just dumping the game, and it's doubtful if I do that I'll bother with any pokemon game before generation seven, and perhaps even then I might not bother.

You know what's not easy? The Ace Trainer with a Milotic on Route 120. Level 36, when my monsters were at best 33. Refresh, Recover, rain-boosted Water Pulse. My team's only water resist was a Gyarados. Nightmare.

What also wasn't easy was choosing between a Mega Absol and a Mega Sableye, after catching a level 37 Absol with DexNav. Sorry Ice Eyes, but your time is up.

Catching Giratina is not easy either

Yeah, I remeber that fight actually.  One of the few times I felt I might lose a pokemon from challenging design.  Milotic's a pain to kill at the best of times, it's actually one of the pokemon I'd like to raise and add to my online team.

Haven't had the opportunity to catch giratina yet despite it being my favourite legendary pokemon, although I can't see it being all that much more difficult than the cresselia I've got. The o-powers remove most of the tedious parts of catching legendaries.

That's what I plan on doing as well and I'm also thinking about including a Luxray for some reason

Balladeer wrote:

You know what's not easy?  The Ace Trainer with a Milotic on Route 120.  Level 36, when my monsters were at best 33.  Refresh, Recover, rain-boosted Water Pulse.  My team's only water resist was a Gyarados.  Nightmare.

Ahh, I have a team of four (Swampert, Lombre, Electrode, Dustox) so their levels are usually higher than the opposition. I've tried weakening my team by adding Spinda and Castform along the way but it's against my nature with Pokemon to do things that aren't efficient.

I just really miss the exp system they introduced in Black/White.

Vidofnir wrote:

I have to say, this game has tired me out. I was disappointed with X/Y and as soon as I received the EXP share in this game I knew the feeling was going to return. Even with it turned off the game is just way to easy! I mean, surely its not just me feeling this way right? I always get hyped for a Pokemon release yet the last two have just completely thrown me off the bandwagon.

This. I've not really returned to it since beating the Delta episode, which surprised me: I was certain Hoenn would keep me coming back like it did on the GBA, but it feels strangely less compelling this time around.

I also agree with the Black and White EXP system comments. I've probably mentioned this already but Black and White felt like Pokemon balancing perfected: Game Freak knew it was challenging at points: those doctors/nurses you battled (who you could then return to in order to restore your health) was testament to this. In a way Black/White were a love letter to old fans, particularly given the all-new Pokedex.

I don't understand why they have decided to make the games easier either, as Athrun has also mentioned. Zero Jones brought up how some of the trainers and positioning of trainers has changed as well, which is worth noting.

Pokemon's always had a low skill floor and a very high skill ceiling, though, and you could point to the Battle Maison (or whatever it is now) for a challenge, but it's a shame those initial 30 or so hours have become trivially easy.

fronkhead wrote:

In a way Black/White were a love letter to old fans, particularly given the all-new Pokedex.

The Gen 5 Pokédex always felt like a 'Best Of The Pokédex' to me: lots of 'mon very similar to previous ones (the Geodude clone being one such example).

I didn't like the BW-era Exp-scaling: I prefer getting the same amount of points, no matter who I defeat a monster with. That aside, BW were pretty great. (Roggenrola and its family can naff off, though.)

I have just finished breeding and raising a Competitive (see what I did there! ) Milotic for the Doubles online competition. I'll be breeding a Salamence next and I have a vague idea of what the other members of my team will be, but spot six of the team is still undecided. So for a limited time I'm offering you guys a chance to decided what Pokemon I will have for my sixth team member for online!

There are rules however, nothing too awful, they just have to be native to the Hoenn pokedex, not be a mega evolution, and have stats that allow them to be viable against fully evolved pokemon if they aren't one themselves. Examples of what to pick would be Pokemon like Absol or Wailrein, examples of what not to pick would be Sableye and Tropius. It also can't be Milotic, Gardevoir, Salamence, Breloom, or Azumarill.

Room there for a Speed Boost Blaziken. Baton passing a couple of boosts and that.


Anyway, I came up against difficulty for the second time in the game last night, against the Orca of Doom. Origin Pulse murders my team, yes, but what was really annoying was Aqua Ring. I've got Hold Back (False Swipe clone), but what good is that when the bloody thing keeps healing itself up again?

In the end, I got lucky when it got stuck on an Ice Beam/Body Slam loop for long enough for me to Ultra Ball it. Oh, and the cave thingy where you fight it is the first really pretty area in the game.

Seriously catching Giratina took me forever and I had to use most of my Pokeballs.. To which in the end it was caught in an actual Pokeball.

Now have Kyruem, Landours and Heatran to go

Using Ultra Balls and Poké Balls on legendaries?! Kudos, both!

I got this for Christmas, and I've been moving veeeeeery slowly through it. I'm enjoying what I've played so far - Gen III is probably my favourite, so getting to revisit this world again is a treat.

Balladeer wrote:

Room there for a Speed Boost Blaziken.  Baton passing a couple of boosts and that.

The problem have with Blaziken is I've already got three physical attackers, and baton pass doesn't really work all that well in the doubles wi-fi metagame, although I'll definitely give it a few matches to see how it compliments the team. It might not use Baton Pass but I'm sure I could get something good going with it.


I'm still taking suggestions by the by, the more suggestions the better! I'm planning on trying out every suggestion and seeing which gels more, so everyone feel free to keep them coming!

JayMoyles wrote:

I got this for Christmas, and I've been moving veeeeeery slowly through it. I'm enjoying what I've played so far - Gen III is probably my favourite, so getting to revisit this world again is a treat.

Agreed with that last bit. Still a great world, although I do see what IGN meant by their much-maligned "too much water" line. (@ZJ: )

I beat the E4 last night. The game up until then had been so easy that I decided to dive straight in without grinding. Steven was actually pretty tough! What with his Metagross being 8 levels higher than my highest-level monster. Very touching ending too, although I would have liked some EXP from the credits battle. And how about Wally's battle theme!

Tiny ending spoiler:

ZeroJones wrote:

Using Ultra Balls and Poké Balls on legendaries?! Kudos, both!

I haven't used a Master Ball in years. I always feel like I may need to save it for something more important, then never end up using it.

I use 'em for roaming legendaries, mostly. Dunno if ORAS has any, actually...

According to our good friend Google: no there are not. This seems a bit odd, but they've been pretty heavy with the redistribution of legendaries in recent years.

There's loads of legendaires to catch ORAS.