Pokémon (Not-So) Griefing Thread - Scarlet and Violet Released with 10 Million Copies in First 3 Days in Buggy States

[Two Dollars]

Where it was almost entirely unchanged from gen 1...

Gen 1 didn’t disguise his trainers, it only had the invisible walls. And they weren’t even completely invisible, you could still see them.

 

[whatever I feel like]

View attachment 5432067

The kid was like 7 or 8.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Good shit.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Onto the final stretch with Supergold97 right now. I've got rematch with Red, Rainbow Island + Blue and rematch with Elite 4, all of which are the toughest fights in the game. More grinding may be required for me to take them on, but I finally settled on my final team

Spoiler: Final Roster

Progenitor the Mew
*Metronome
*Psychic
*Headbutt
*Ice Punch
You capture Mew in the postgame on what I assume is the same island as the event Mew in Pokemon Emerald. Annoyingly, this one is level 5, so a lot of grinding is ahead of me to get it to a level I want. You may notice Ice Punch instead of Ice Beam, well that's because Move Tutor that teaches it is missing and there is no TM for Ice Beam in this game! Looks like the newest version of the game added the Move Tutor, but I'm out of luck. Headbutt is there because I want a mixed set(Mew has 100 base stats in everything). Metronone is there just for the hell of it, move selection in this game is awful just like in fina Gold so there is little in way of variety. If nothing else, Metronone has higher than average chance of being useful, since this is a mixed attacker.

Democrat the Ampharos
*Dynamic Punch
*Thunderbolt
*Thunder Wave
*Attract
Not much more to say that I haven't already, really good pokemon but a bit slow for an Electric type. Para-tract is an annoying combo, and pokemon staying still uselessly gives Democrat ample time to score a Dynamic Punch or a few Thunderbolts. Currently one of my most leveled pokemon, and one that has been on my team for nearly the entire game, along with my starter.

Tricky the Bomseal
*Megaphone
*Flame Wheel
*Surf
*Encore
I trained Entei and Moltres, so there is more powerful Fire types at my disposal. However, Bomseal's unique typing, along with me just really liking it made me chose it above the other two. I can use Entei and Moltres sometime else, this is the only game with Bomseal. I wish it learned Flamethrower, but I will have to make do with Flame Wheel. Encore and Megaphone will come in handy for foes that are clearly going to outpower me, so this pokemon is rarely at a disadvantage.

Sessler the Aquarius
*Safeguard
*Surf
*Aurora Beam
*Bite
Just like with Ampharos, this one has been with me for pretty much the entire game. Very solid choice, my only gripe is that it doesn't learn Ice Beam and it is a tad bit too slow for Bite, would prefer Crunch instead. Safeguard is going to come in handy thanks to all the confusion and sleep based moves my remaining opponents are likely to use, but that can be somewhat circumvented with the use of beta items that actually prevent certain status conditions when held(which were later reworked to become abilities starting with Gen 3).

Granite the Golem
*Rollout
*Defense Curl
*Headbutt
*Earthquake
I debated between using her and Steelix, which is more leveled and overall more powerful. Deciding factors were Golem having STAB on it's Rock move and Steelix lacking Earthquake, which is more important in the long run. Not much to say here, Golem doesn't learn Body Slam for some reason so I am stuck with Headbutt or Strength, if I think I need more power. Rollout + Defense Curl is a powerful combo but prevents me from giving it Explosion and takes a turn to "set up", which gives enemy two hits due to how slow Golem is. Should be fine, as long as I keep it away from Water types.

Darkness the Umbreon
*Quick Attack
*Sand Attack
*Psychic
*Sludge Bomb
Umbreon was originally a Poison type in the beta, not a Dark type(you can actually still see remntants of that in the final game, it's Pokedex entry mentions that it sweats poison). Stats are the same, it is a wall with mediocre attacking stats. I was debating teaching it Toxic, but I settled on Sand Attack since there aren't really any Pokemon with sufficient enough strategies or stats for stall, it's best to go on the agressive and maybe disable the opponent if possible. You would think Leftovers would be an essential item on this pokemon, or something like Twistedspoon/Poison Barb, but I found that King's Rock + Quick Attack makes for an infuriating combo that can often flinch the opponent without it being able to do anything. Will have to keep that in mind for future playhtrus, maybe slap that on a Normal type Pokemon. As for Umbreon here, it's type has many disadvantages, but the power of Sludge Bomb and Psychic along with it's high defenses make this one a keeper, even if I can't handle the current pokemon I can sand attack it's accuracy away and switch out.

Like I said, once I'm done with the game proper, I will write a little analysis for the game. Definitely having a fun time with this one, but unfortunately all the cons of the early Gameboy games are still there, that's the short of it.

 

[30+GameOvers]

I'm done with the romhack, so I will write my final thoughts now. If you're a mod, feel free to combine the two posts if that's your fancy:

One disclaimer, I slightly changed my team from the above. I switched Mew for my Gengar(same as in my other post, Hypnosis/Dream Eater/Shadow Ball/Mean Look) and Umbreon for Tauros(Strength/Protect/Hyper Beam/Rock Smash). Mew seemed like a long stretch where as Gengar sweeped the Elite 4 the first time around, and for Umbreon I wanted something more offensive, doesn't get much more aggressive than a Tauros with a Hyper Beam.

SuperGold97, as I already said, is a mod based off the Spaceworld Leak of the 1997 Build of Pokemon Gold and Silver. There were many differences between the final product and what was originally planned, namely different stat chart, completely different Pokemon(many of which were cut, others were reformed and many of those that shipped were absent from this build). There were many elements that were never seen after this beta again, such as ability to use a skateboard or travel the entire region of Japan in one game(this would span four entire generations with Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, all 4 of which are represented in this game as "Nihon Region). Sadly, not much is known about the story, but what was confirmed made it in and the rest is theorycrafted. The story, much like everything else, feels like a hybrid between the released version of the game and an alternative timeline release that was more closely in line with Generation one games. I'm not going to spoil the story, but I will give my general thoughts on the romhack:

Spoiler: My analysis/review

First off, I was playing version 6_28, the newest version is 7_xx and the guide somebody thoughfully leaked from dev's discord shows several differences between my version and the newest one(every single beta pokemon name and introduction of the Crystal move tutor being the biggest ones). I personally like the version I played more due to the names being much better, but your mileage may vary, do your research before downloading. As for the gameplay or story, I don't believe any of that is changed, so the player starts in "Silent Town"(originally Silent Hills, equivalent of New Bark Town), gets their first Pokemon and meets their rival. Story is pretty much unchanged from retail Gold/Silver up until Slowpoke Well chapter, after which you will visit Hoenn(briefly) and Sinnoh, namely places like Eterna Forest(here named "Jade Forest"), Canalave Town and Snowpoint City, with what I think might also be an interpretation of Hearthome City due to the little walking zoo that is present. The story beats present and NPCs more or less match those found in retail games, but the details are much different, be it NPC's personality, Pokemon, appearance or mix of those. Again, think of this like an alternative timeline where we got a much different Gold and Silver, the TCRF page has all the leaked content to give you an idea what you're in for. There is enough different content in this romhack that the playthru will feel fresh, and yet enough familiarity with retail version that you will be right at home if you played GSC. There is a larger focus in SG97 in showing how various characters in RBY have moved on or are settling in their new roles, where as retail game has older takes on the characters that are largely doing the same thing they did in RBY. For example, only 1 year has passed since the original titles in SG97 rather than 2 in retail, so Blue is not yet a gym leader and still helping Prof Oak, while Red is not yet a hermit living in a mountain and instead filling in for one of Kanto's gym leaders. Same goes for GSC characters, who are now spread all over and might be fulfilling their original purpose somewhere else or become different characters altogether. Even many existing Pokemon have gotten type or visual overhauls, Three Legendary Dogs showing the most obvious changes. Once you're done with the main game, there is a Sevii Island like quest where you explore a little island with it's own towns, dungeons and ability to challenge several tough trainers and catch all Kanto Legendary Pokemon. That Island seems to be the same one as in Pokemon Emerald, where you catch an Event Mew, as there is an exact same event unlocked once you complete the main questline of the Island. Speaking of the post game, while you don't get a whole new region to explore(idea was only brought to life thanks to the late Satoru Iwata's ability to compress data and let Gamefreak develop more maps for the game), you still get to re-battle existing gym leaders for a much tougher battle, and you still get a Red-like final battle(with Blue taking his place) and a much harder Elite 4 rematch. You even get to fight Professor Oak himself, an infamous bit of cut content from RBY. All pokemon are available to be caught either during the main story or post game, and there is even a way to evolve trade-only Pokemon like Haunter or Machoke. Sadly, with so much land to cover, some of the towns do feel small in comparison with what they are supposed to represent, biggest victim of this being what I assume is Saffron City, which is big for a Pokemon Town but I think that's only because it is supposed to literally be the entire Kanto region squished together into one giant Pokemon City. You will have to let your imagination do the heavy lifting sometimes, like in many other Gameboy titles.


Gameplay is exactly like you remember it from Gold/Silver, but that sadly means that there is no quality of life improvements from Crystal(no animated sprites, no multiple apricorns per day forcing you to give only one ect.). A strange QoL feature I noticed that some bushes that you use HM Cut on stay gone...while others don't, and annoyingly enough those few that stay have berry trees behind them, forcing you to take out a useless member of your party every day to get to them. Sadly, all the outdated/bad parts of Gen 2's design are still there, but the good parts are also functional: Game has a day/night cycle with various events happening at various points during the day or even during various days of the week. Those remain unchanged from retail game, so if you remember your dates you will still find the Week Siblings with their item giveaways and various shops being open in Goldenrod's Department Store(now called Westpoint City). Team Rocket is your antagonist again, but without spoiling much they are much better this time around and seem like an actual threat, something that rarely happens in those games. If you remember a certain character that was present in TCG but was never part of the games, you might get an idea who the new villain is. There is, of course, additions from the Beta that never made it into the retail build as well, namely a whole slew of items that give your Pokemon resistances to various status conditions and one-time use items that increase specific stats when battle starts(good example that made it into retail would be "Berserker Gene" item). While I didn't bother with stat boosting items, they are available right from Westpoint and can be useful for those who like using X items, however the items that prevents ailments like Sleep, Confusion ect. are much more useful and are the earliest point in time when Abilities were considered(which would become a standard feature starting from Gen 3). You have no idea how much better encounters with Zubats and other annoying enemies are when you cannot get put to sleep or get confused. Much of the useful TMs can now be bought from stores, but unfortunately the 1 TM per game problem that wouldn't be solved until Gen 5 is still present, leaving many Pokemon without useful movesets struggling as you only have one copy of crucial moves like Psychic or Earthquake available per playthru. Breeding is still in the game, however it might be difficult without consulting the guide, for those who are into this sort of thing there is A LOT more baby Pokemon than in retail. In fact, only a small fraction of them made it into final, almost as a half forgotten feature, and many of them had their designs changed to boot. They are still useless gameplay wise, but they are cute, I guess.

Speaking of Pokemon, all of them are as they appear on the TCRF page above. Of the starters, only Chikorita made it into retail unscathed, the other 2 look and play differently from retail. I chose the water starter, and it proved to be an ace for the entirety of the game, it has good all around stats and useful coverage moves making it a no-nonsense choice for any playthru. You get all the Nihon starters and all Kanto starters in the post game, so don't worry about losing out on any. Beta Pokemon that didn't make it thru are rather interesting, there are some ideas that wouldn't make it into the games until as far as Gen 6, such as a fire/water Pokemon like Bomseal(My favorite of the Betamon, along with Water Starter). Many of the betamon are hard to find and have to be hunted down or traded, much like new Pokemon introduced in the retail games, however there is also common ones like the dark type cat reminiscent of Purrloin from Gen 5 or a prototype for Carvanha/Sharpedo, now a water/steel type rather than water/dark. The new types introduced in Gen 2, Dark and Steel are also completely different, changing the entire metagame(Generation 1 rules are also still effect, hence why poison is super effective against bug and vice versa). Dark is only strong against itself, ghost and psychic Pokemon, where as normal types are now supereffective against the few dark Pokemon roaming around. This makes early game aggressive Pokemon like Rattata have much more value late game, and Pokemon like Tauros or Snorlax now have genuine prey they can hunt down and spots on the team they fulfill. Normal type moves are also more or less mandatory on every physical Pokemon, much like in Gen 1. Steel, on the other hand, has little to no resistances, but will actually be resistant to fighting types rather than be super effective against them. Since steel types are only weak to water and electric types, this makes them de-facto physical walls due to steel types having high defense and all around average to above average resistances to physical attacks and very poor resistances to all special attacks. In a way, not that different from retail game, but not same enough to think about in the same light as with modern Pokemon. I should add that the latest update is a lot less preservationist about the type advantages, and steel type is similar to how it is portrayed in retail titles as of the newest update. Lastly, I am saddened to say that the awful leveling curve is back from retail, while not as bad there will be difficulty spikes and wild Pokemon too weak to train on, leaving a lot of grinding if you aren't good in planning ahead in those games(guide helps with that). Starting from Elite 4 and until the end of the game I was almost always underleveled by 5-15 levels, however I managed to beat the entire game without a single wipeout, even against the toughest opponents and with me using much less leveled Pokemon than them. Do note that I am an experienced Pokemon player so I more easily roll with the punches, your mileage may vary and I would recommend grinding out a bit before going up against the final leg of the game to avoid trouble.

Lastly, the question is "Would I recommend SuperGold97?" I would say definitely, if you liked original GSC titles. The game is a fascinating part remix part what-could-have-been that is much more interesting than the recent de-makes, DLC and mainline titles. SG97 plays, acts and feels like a genuine Gamefreak title released in 1997, capturing the feeling of actually going cross country across the entire island of Japan like no other game before or since managed to do. It is a very unique experience, and yet so familiar as well. Not only do you get to explore pretty much every place you would see in gens 1-4 in glorious 8bit, but after doing so you get to go back all the way where you started out, in "Silent Town" before facing the League atop of Mt. Fuji. Few games capture this feeling of being Mr Worldwide and finally coming home a completely changed man, definitely no other Pokemon game released officially does so to this degree.
I should point out that I never played a Pokemon ROMhack before this, and I think this game was "worthy" of breaking my cherry. If that tells you anything, then you already know if you will be interested in this ROMhack. Personally, now that I have seen the light I am interested in playing more "ultimate" fanmade mods that improve the quality of each game(physical special split, fairy type, all pokemon catchable ect.). With Gen 1 completely invalidated by existence of Fire Red and Leaf Green, I will take this my contribution to Gen 2 and move on to either Emerald Romhacks or Colosseum one(singular, unfortunately)

 

[The Ultimate Ramotith]

The guide has already been posted a few pages ago.

Moreover, Satoru did not compress any data, but rather had image data decompress and load a scoach faster. That algorithm was a scoach bigger compared to the old algorithm; the reason why they could fit Kanto is because they got a ROM cup that had twice the size of the original one.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Interesting video I found on Pokemon unreleased games, including a never before seen Pokemon game debuting in this video

Edit: It's less of a never before seen one and more like one that has been shut down for 20+ years, until it's been recently leaked and archived

 

[Catgirl Tyranid]

I'm set up for a vanilla Colosseum Nuzlocke. Seeing as I'm absolutely terrible at Nuzlockes though I expect a swift death.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Satoru did not compress any data, but rather had image data decompress and load a scoach faster. That algorithm was a scoach bigger compared to the old algorithm; the reason why they could fit Kanto is because they got a ROM cup that had twice the size of the original one.

I believe this was something that was only recently discovered, since I remember everybody parrotted that even 2 years ago. Here is a video explaining what you mean in more detail

The video also covers the less known 1999 build of Gold and Silver once Masuda started getting more influence over the series. The designs for some of the Pokemon there are baffling, like they don't even belong in the game's world. As weird as some of them looked, the 1997 designs definitely look like Pokemon. In the 1999 build you also started to see the designs you would see in the retail game being finalized, so that's pretty cool.

 

[Squawking Macaw]

The video also covers the less known 1999 build of Gold and Silver once Masuda started getting more influence over the series. The designs for some of the Pokemon there are baffling, like they don't even belong in the game's world.

Can't imagine why you'd say that.


Scrapped Pokemon stuff is definitely interesting. No idea if this was mentioned or not, but the Cutting Room Floor has a lot of unused and leaked Pokemon, and Dr. Lava's Xitter and Youtube also have info on the topic, including translated interviews.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Can't imagine why you'd say that.
View attachment 5446267

Scrapped Pokemon stuff is definitely interesting. No idea if this was mentioned or not, but the Cutting Room Floor has a lot of unused and leaked Pokemon, and Dr. Lava's Xitter and Youtube also have info on the topic, including translated interviews.

The gun Remoraid(and tank Octillery) are actually part of the 1997 build, and are in fact playable in SuperGold97. I meant more the flaming raccoon, the minimalistic ghosts and other really basic designs that look like generic JRPG fodder and not actual pokemon. So glad they removed them, but I wish they kept some of the designs from 1997 instead, like the fire seal or the voodoo doll.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

The gun Remoraid(and tank Octillery) are actually part of the 1997 build, and are in fact playable in SuperGold97. I meant more the flaming raccoon, the minimalistic ghosts and other really basic designs that look like generic JRPG fodder and not actual pokemon. So glad they removed them, but I wish they kept some of the designs from 1997 instead, like the fire seal or the voodoo doll.

I wish they kept them all, I liked them.

 

[TVB]

kept them all

Yet they couldn't catch 'em all

 

[Executive Petrel]

Beta hitmontop is Nightmare fuel tho.
Imagine this in photorealistic graphics, you'll have something the gen 1 sprite exeggutors would tell their spooky campfire storys about.

 

[Soycast Guy]

I’ve been playing Pokémon shield and got bored pretty quick. Maybe it’s because of the same gameplay loop that never changes with each game, but I just can’t play it without getting distracted by something else. It doesn’t help that the soundtrack sucks, and at the very least even games with repetitive gameplay can pull me in if the soundtrack is good.

 

[AnotherPleb]

I’ve been playing Pokémon shield and got bored pretty quick. Maybe it’s because of the same gameplay loop that never changes with each game, but I just can’t play it without getting distracted by something else. It doesn’t help that the soundtrack sucks, and at the very least even games with repetitive gameplay can pull me in if the soundtrack is good.

It is still a goddamned crime that Spikemuth's gym had no voice acting.

 

[30+GameOvers]

I’ve been playing Pokémon shield and got bored pretty quick. Maybe it’s because of the same gameplay loop that never changes with each game, but I just can’t play it without getting distracted by something else. It doesn’t help that the soundtrack sucks, and at the very least even games with repetitive gameplay can pull me in if the soundtrack is good.

The setting sucks, game is too easy and you don't even have all the pokemon/moves to play around with. These games are surprisingly dull when the nostalgia wears off, and that happens a lot quicker if the game simply isn't fun or interesting. That's why I think Dexit and the general direction Gamefreak is taking now will eventually kill the franchise, you can only depend on genwunners and idiot consoomers for so long. Actual fans who like the games always will be the lifeblood of any franchise, and there is less of them every generation.

It is still a goddamned crime that Spikemuth's gym had no voice acting.

It's a crime there is no voice acting. period. That works for a gameboy title, but when you have a 3D game where there is an actual speech given to an audience at the start, and there is no VOICE ACTING? What were they thinking? Even worse is that I think the crowd is actually cheering, so there IS voices, just not the chairman talking. The laziness that GF can get away with thanks to their insane fanbase is off the charts, I can't imagine any other RPG getting away with any of that

 

[AnotherPleb]

It's a crime there is no voice acting. period. That works for a gameboy title, but when you have a 3D game where there is an actual speech given to an audience at the start, and there is no VOICE ACTING? What were they thinking? Even worse is that I think the crowd is actually cheering, so there IS voices, just not the chairman talking. The laziness that GF can get away with thanks to their insane fanbase is off the charts, I can't imagine any other RPG getting away with any of that.

There is more voice acting in goddamned Pokemon Stadium than either of the last two gens.

 

[Squawking Macaw]

That's why I think Dexit and the general direction Gamefreak is taking now will eventually kill the franchise, you can only depend on genwunners and idiot consoomers for so long. Actual fans who like the games always will be the lifeblood of any franchise, and there is less of them every generation.

You're being too optimistic so allow me to doom.
Sword and Shield are the second best-selling games right behind the original Red and Blue, and Scarlet and Violet aren't far behind. If anything, the controversy over Dexit caused a Streissand effect and ballooned their popularity.

You can absolutely rely on idiot consoomers, just look at the sales numbers of the yearly EA sports games, the gacha shit and the microtransaction-infested AAA games. Actual fans are a minority, most people who buy Pokemon play it for an afternoon and then do something else, or they're kids who don't care about the quality of the games and a decade from now will be calling them hidden gems and classics. If you want to play good Pokemon games, stick to fangames or return to the old stuff, I still play HeartGold.

 

[McMitch]

The setting sucks, game is too easy and you don't even have all the pokemon/moves to play around with. These games are surprisingly dull when the nostalgia wears off, and that happens a lot quicker if the game simply isn't fun or interesting. That's why I think Dexit and the general direction Gamefreak is taking now will eventually kill the franchise, you can only depend on genwunners and idiot consoomers for so long. Actual fans who like the games always will be the lifeblood of any franchise, and there is less of them every generation.

It's a crime there is no voice acting. period. That works for a gameboy title, but when you have a 3D game where there is an actual speech given to an audience at the start, and there is no VOICE ACTING? What were they thinking? Even worse is that I think the crowd is actually cheering, so there IS voices, just not the chairman talking. The laziness that GF can get away with thanks to their insane fanbase is off the charts, I can't imagine any other RPG getting away with any of that

There is more voice acting in goddamned Pokemon Stadium than either of the last two gens.

Voice acting literally adds nothing, modern voice acting is garbage enough to detract from what is on screen. Adding voice acting would hamper/reduce what content they can put into the already barebones games.