Who should I raise in emerald, without the gen-3-only stipulation? Discord discord.gg/gs33PKEdkn Watch streams twitch.tv/ji_mothy Patreon www.patreon.com/ji_mothy Thx for being here
one of my absolute favorites from Gen 3 is Flygon. but I feel like one of the Gen 3 fossil pokemon would make for an interesting team member in Emerald
I think part of the reason there are no pokemon in the Game Corner in RSE is because it's not ran by a criminal organization trying to make a profit off of stolen pokemon. EDIT: Side note, Zigzagoon's evolution can solo the elite 4. Belly Drum is a hell of a move.
Just to confirm for Gym 3 Torchic would be a fighting type with Double Kick which could deal with Magnemites, Marshtomp will negate and Grovyle will resist, so not sure why you’re not using a starter on a “play as intended “ play through.
@@MasterworkLeathercraft That's something the fandom decided, devs could've just made starters impossible to release or trade generations ago if that was the point.
@SonnyFRST Maybe so, but like. the dev teams clearly had intended for you to take your starter with you for at least the first gym - see the see B&W 1, where your starter determines which gym leader you fight
@@FrostFire425 Okay sure, you gotta go through at least a gym or two before you have enough catch options, but my point still stands that people are the ones who choose complacency, not the devs. (in this case, cause there are plenty other areas where they are super complacent)
@@SonnyFRST Please don't give Gamefreak any ideas, after what they did with set mode and the Exp. All I actually wouldn't put it past them anymore to add a 7th team slot that is permanently occupied by your starter. Also, why are you being so needlessly contrarian here? It's really obvious the devs intend for you to use your starter for most/all of the game, they just let you make the (usually) suboptimal choice of boxing it in the name of team building freedom or personal preference. That's why, if you play any older Gens without your starter, you'll quickly notice that the game is more difficult, almost as if it was balanced around having a comparatively strong Pokemon early on. So yes, playing the game "as the developers intended" and then boxing your starter early is a very odd choice. You can even argue he shouldn't box his starter at all, since that is how the absolutely *vast majority* of people play Pokemon games. And we know both in word and deed from the devs themselves that they design to target even the most casual of players.
If you go back to the top of Mt. Pyre after Groudon you'll see Maxie return the orb he stole, which is the finale to his arc. The game doesn't tell you to go there, but the Maxie wrap-up is there to be found, similar to the Rival finally evolving his Golbat in Gen 2 being exclusive to fighting the Elite 4 on Monday and Wednesday.
@@ji_mothy not to mention that zigzagoon can learn cut surf and rock smash to free slots up for most of the game, if you let one of them get to lvl 20 then linoon can add strength to that list too. Even if surf is strong enough that you're not gonna be mad about putting it on your water type
The creator's would have intended on you keeping your starter for at least the first gym. You could have grinder torchic and got a fighting type eventually.
I always feel pretty confident that the creators intend for you to get through the Elite Four with your first Pokémon. That's part of why starters get the three evolutions and the last one tends to be very viable.
The trade Pokemon are more with contests in mind for this game. Each of the Pokemon you get start with a contest stat raised. Iirc the Makuhita starts with raised toughness, Skitty with raised cuteness, and Corsola with raised beauty. That might be just for emerald, though, but I'm pretty sure it was for Ruby and Sapphire as well.
"Phoebe's Sableye has no counter" Manectric learns Odor Sleuth at level 25, which can expose a fighting type weakness in Dark/Ghost Sableye. Or, if you really wanted to be a nutjob, Zigzagoon learns it at level 17 AND can learn a fighting type move... Rock Smash.
I distinctly remember playing Emerald as a kid and not buying any TMs until very late in the game when I was loaded with money because they DON'T TELL YOU WHAT THE TM IS and I didn't somehow memorize the numbers.
it feels like this game especially was made for a daily interaction rather than grinding it out in a day, which while GSC did this with forcing content behind the day/night, this game feels like youre supposed to stop playing after an hour, and so every time you come back you remember a bunch of backtracking like "oh yeah i gotta switch bikes, oh yeah i gotta do the trick house" but without a forced thing like Day/Night, it becomes super inconvenient for people grinding the game out in a day
@@ji_mothy tbh, i dont think so, at least not intentionally. I think it was made that way so schoolchildren could discover new things on old routes every day when they had time. The game feels so lived in, in ways older pokemon games dont, and this also helps because then while youre backtracking, theres a certain amount of forced exploration because you dont know which conversation will give you the pokeblock case or thunderbolt
HGSS doubled down on this concept, with specific events on different days of the week, like the Bug Catching Contest, the day-of-the-week siblings, rotating Pokeathlon prize pool, and other random things like Friday Lapras spawn, Wednesday Hoenn radio and Thursday Sinnoh radios. Even the final rival battle can only be rematched on specific days of the week.
Yeah, I think a lot of quirky Pokemon design choices can be explained as the devs wanting players to play very casually, sometimes stumble across stuff, and chat with their friends about what they've seen at school. All the odd, excessively complex mechanics are likely there to create a sense of variety or randomness. The "intended" way to fill a Pokedex is probably just having a largish friend group that can cycle hard to get Pokemon around through trades. I mean, how else do you explain nonsense like Feebass? This is, of course, poison to completionists and many forms of optimization.
Combusken is good in Wattson's gym aswell, at least in Ruby/Sapphire. It might've been a good idea to keep your starter up until that fight at least. In Emerald however, pretty much only Geodude or Marshtomp are good.
@@jtyler9130 Most agreed! : ) Emerald does make sure to give you so many options to balance your early-game team... Until you reach Norman and suffer a painful death from its four-members-big team. Removing a Slaking to instead put more variety was a deviously-nice decision...
Okay but seeing that Encarta Encyclopedia disc case gave me the strongest “Anton from Ratatouille” flashback I’ve had in a good while. Love this series btw. Keep up the very good work sir.
I just think it defeats the purpose of playing as the game designers intended when you don't use any of the starters then you complain that the game favors offensive teams or Defensive. That is the point, I always tear through the game with Blazikien plus with all of the starters having access to wide move sets in their evolution lines it really doesn't makes sense to play the game without them. It just seems like you're making the game way harder using a Shroomish in you're starters place than it needed to be. Bit that's just my opinion from years of playing Pokémon. I still enjoy these videos.
No, you're totally right. The starters in this generation onwards have a tendency towards being very well-rounded and seem designed to be used throughout the game. I was also a bit confused about his criticism regarding the Pokémon being more active and less defensive, because personally I REALLY wouldn't want to go back to the gen 1 style of "some Pokémon get one or two attack moves and neither are of it's type". I don't think Pokémon has perfect balancing, but I prefer my Pokémon being able to have a two-way type advantage, both defensive and offensive versus stuff like a Sandslash that's never going to have a special effective attack because all its moves are normal.
I suppose he boxes his starter to have an easier time building the team accordingly to what the game's suggested strategy is instead of building your team around your starter but yeah, i love gen 3 starters and they do have a wide selection of moves to choose so i don't see why you would box them (same with all the following generations)
I can def understand the decision to drop your starter in general, but Gen 3 def is NOT the generation I would do it in. The starters are just too solid! I always boxed my starter when I played Diamond, tho. It feels like the game's lack of fire types forces Chimchar as the best pick. But I never liked Chimchar! So my "starter" would always be a Shinx lol.
@@MegaSpideyman cause they don't particularly like any of the starters of that Gen? Or they might get more attached to another early game Pokémon. In my case I just don't like the final evos for any of Gen 4's Pokémon, I used to box my starter immediately but on a replay nowadays I'll begrudgingly maintain Chimchar early on. I feel the same way about the starters in Gen 8, their final evos are all weird lanky anthros and I'm just not interested. You get access to the open area pretty fast so it's not like you're particularly low on early game options, and it's not like that game is hard either.
It bothers me a little that flutes require so much ash. In my Emerald playthrough I picked up a Yellow Flute, which cures confusion and was pretty handy for the few times I actually used it. But _everyone_ I tell about the yellow flute is surprised, because no one wants to spend 10+minutes running around collecting ash for each flute. They'd rather ignore the mechanic entirely and I can't blame them. It was nice to hear mention of Tropius! Such a poor 'mon for such a fun design. Even its ability to carry HMs is overshadowed by Zigzagoon. (Did you catch that Gloom offscreen or did I have a stroke?)
On the subject of Mudkip, the fact it's barely threatened by anything in vanilla Gen 3 games makes it worthwhile despite Water types being plentiful in Hoenn.
I started following you for the "Fromsoft as intended" series and I've loved seeing you expand into other games (still waiting for the ME2 as intended video *cough cough*) Your Pokemon retrospectives are absolutely incredible. Seeing all of the planning and effort you put into these games and the videos on them is inspiring. Looking forward to whatever games you make videos about in the future.
I do want to mention that Acro Bike has more use than mentioned, you can use it a bunch in the Safari Zone to reach areas with rarer spawns and helps with the Jagged Path Route if you happen to miss a trainer/item. Beyond that it’s easier to control and a better experience as a bike. Also, Magenton counter: Combuskin. More edits, Hidden Power being a buyable TM is used for Competitive battling since hidden power gave a free type coverage move. Shoal Cave’s ice basement is given for Elite Four dragon coverage and exclusive area for the Snonut line. And while I agree surf routes were long especially with the currents, I feel that GF made those because it wasn’t apparent to go dive for Groudon/Kyorge story progression. Plus gave players a way to catch the Regi trio, since like the first two games, the player was allowed to catch the prelim legendaries pre-Elite Four as a reward for exploring. Trade Pokémon in this game were made to be used for the Contests! Each one had a move set that was specific to one of the contest “types.”
@@ShiningJudgment666 yea for in-game play, but the move really wasn’t made for in-game play. It was almost exclusively used for competitive play and battle tower/frontier.
I like how this series not only covers the way the pokemon games were designed, but is also covering how the series develops over time with every new entry
As always, i really loved this video and the care that you clearly put into making it. I absolutely love the pokemon series, and it's very clear that you do as well. I also really appreciate all the unique perspectives that you offer on various aspects of the game that i had never considered, just like you do in all your videos. Thank you for making this, and looking forward to whatver game you post a video about next!
You're very welcome! I love making them. Emerald will come sometime after Halloween but I don't think I can avoid making something for the SH2 remake...
I'm very confused by why you even thought to box Torchic when you don't have a full party? Sure, you have to share the exp around more, but it's a free fire type.
This series is awesome, can't wait to see what you get up to next for spook time. Always loved Gen 3 too, cool to see how it stacks up to gens 1 and 2 :)
the dual bike situation is really interesting to me actually because if you switch every time you're in mauvile you'll basically always have the right bike at the right time & be able to see all the bike requirements. since mauvile is such a central city that you literally have to walk through multiple times in the main course of the game, it's actually not really inconvenient at all & i think it plays on hoenn's banger map design
Absolutely LOVE your videos and these types of "As the dev intended" videos but I gotta call bologna on ditching your starter as I highly doubt Gamefreak expects anyone to box their starter. Obviously people do that but there's no way that's the original intent for the player lol. Also just want to add that the player has access to Makuhita back in Granite Cave as well as the newly acquired Rock Smash HM in Mauville to help deal with Wattson's Magneton. Your Torchic would have worked pretty well too since on evolution into Combusken it learns Double Kick but ideally still has Ember as well. All that said, keep up the amazing work dude, your videos are awesome and I look forward to everything you put out down the road!
Someone else does a similar idea of "as intended"-playthrough of various games, but using the official strategy guides approved by Nintendo as their basis. And in all of them, the guide expects you to keep your starter through the entire thing. Also, to catch whatever you need for gyms, if you're lacking type coverage - not just exclusively the newly introduced Mons. So, yeah, this is getting less "as the desv intended" and more "as Monty wants" by now.
Sad thing is that the water had a disgustingly easy solution: keep rivers encounters cave-like, but make patches of seaweed for wild encounters in the oceanic routes. (reason this is so easy is cause that was already implemented underwater)
That would absolutely fix my issues. (And maaaaybe set the levels better per-area. There's no reason to have level 35 tentacool encounters sneaking through your repels the minute you learn to surf)
For anyone who doesn't know, Shedinja copies moves AFTER evolution and new moves learned. This means that if you delay evolution till 25, your invincible bug will know Swords Dance! Great for abusing that immunity to get free set up turns.
I'm guessing the female Nincada has something to do with the need for a male Cascoon earlier? You're planning to breed the two to get a new Nincada with an egg move from the Dustox? Based on Bulbapedia, I'm guessing Silver Wind and/or Gust? Edit: keeping the Exp Share on the Dustox to "boost him up for content" reinforces this expectation because it gets Silver Wind at level 34 which isn't super early. Edit 2: Yay! Do I get a heart?
Gen 3 is like the awkward middle evolution starter of the transition from 2 to 4. We get all the good stuff, like better moves learned by leveling and fixing some of the combat, but then we get the fails like the lacking story end and of course the heavy type bias you can encounter. We like it well enough, but it's easy to prefer the final evolution or the first form because of how janky the middle is.
I didn't say anything in other vids but since it keeps happening, I just wanted to let you know that if you don't start the chapters section in the description with a 00:00 timestamp, it won't create chapters (I'm pretty sure that's how it works at least). Love the vids, can't wait for the Black 2 White 2 ones.
1. The traded Pokemon do seem like a scam. The game designers intended each of them to be good at a specific Contest, which is why unconventional (not useful) choices are there. 2. Grass Pokemon did not shine because of the water routes. 90+% of Water encounters are not weak to Grass. Most commonly are the Tentacool and Wingull lines, with only the Dive sections weak to Water, but even they have Chinchou
59:15 For the Hoenn games, I think there's an argument to be made for running two of them, provided they have different secondary typings, since this allows both to have nearly full movesets, as opposed to being forced to carry Surf, Dive, AND Waterfall all at once. Depending on the version, you might have access to Ludicolo, a Water-Grass with different set of weaknesses compared to starter Swampert or part-flyer Pelipper. I believe Chinchou and Spheal are also both available in the later part of the game, allowing for two more unique Water type combinations. Though outside of those few, the rest of the Hoenn water dex is unfortunately basic. Even the partially interesting ones like Sharpedo and Crawdaunt are hampered by the lack of physical/special split, and then there's Tentacool, which has been as ubiquitous as Geodude and Zubat so far, a very "safe" (but boring) Water pick. I think Staryu/Starmie are also available in these games, via Super Rod, but comes so late in the game, and requires so much TM investment to be usable, that it might as well not even matter.
Thank you for the well considered comment. Doubling up would certainly open up a lot of team design space. I've tried to avoid doubling on the team but perhaps that's the best way to use water types. I'll leave it as an option for Emerald!
I think the problem with the water routes is that they're all 1. Full of VERY repetitive encounters. They needed more possible encounters. 2. Visually similar. They just all look the same. And 3. It's half the game.
Which Costanza is your Manectric? George or Frank? I feel like Hoenn's water problem is less the amount and more the lack of variety. You have an underwater cave and a sunken ship, then that's pretty much it for route diversity. Why not something like a drifting ice floe?
Playing along with this, by the time I got to Mauville my Shroomish was close enough to level 23 that I used the trick house rare candy and did a very small amount of grinding and had a Breloom before dealing with the troubling Magnemite. Something to think about when it comes to exp routing
That's an interesting point about the lack of dialogue regarding the apocalyptic event. NPCs are just standing around in 300 degree weather and chatting about their day. Chrono Trigger is another example of a game that did a good job at altering dialogue. Once the Black Omen monster ship is flying in the air, its visible in all future time periods you can travel to, so the NPCs acknowledge that its flown in the sky their entire lives.
I know I played through this. I remember playing it in my grandparents basement trying to figure out things. But for the life of me, I don't remember most of this, unlike Gen 1 and 2.
You got me with "once more into the beach". I would give you a second like. Also, I generally like water and orca whales, but for some reason I've picked both Ruby and Omega Ruby and I truly cannot articulate why.
Gen 3 is always my go to Pokémon game, emerald specifically. Not really sure why as Gold holds the most nostalgic value for me. Also, I think Slakoth is pronounced like Slack-off. If the Slay-Koff pronunciation was bait, I've been well and truly got. Another banger, keep up the good work!
Writing this at almost the 10 minute mark, when you were talking about environmental changes or crisis: these games were heavily influenced and a kind of response to a conflict in a Japanese prefecture involving water and land and environmental changes. I only ever heard about this in Tama Hero's Ruby and Sapphire review, really recommend you watch that if you're interested! Since it sounds like you may be. If I'm not mixing videos up in my head, that one includes a part of an old interview with someone from Pokémon about that whole thing or explaining that they made the games because of that conflict or something. For how immensely popular gen 3 is, somehow that piece of its story, its basis, is never brought around. The video is many years old but I only watched it in 2022 or early 2023, and had never heard about that part of the story before and I haven't since either.
Oh oh AND the best part is that it involved fishermen versus government people or something who wanted to extend land which would've been bad for the fish and the fishermen (or that's what was already happening) and like, in real life, the water team was right (the fishermen) which is why in Sapphire, Team Aqua has a much more valid reason than Team Magma does in Ruby for executing their plans (Aqua says they need more water because the current amount of land is hurting sea wildlife while Magma want more land for more human development, one is a response to something bad that is happening, so they feel almost like vigilantes, while the other isn't, so they lack something to make their actions feel somewhat honorable which makes them more "evil" than their counterpart), or at least I remember her explaining something like that. I may watch that one again after this one or at least the part where she explained this.
YESSSS MOTHY FOR LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!! Now i'm even more keen for Emerald, it was my first ever Pokemon game. Treecko was my first and I got a Grovyle tattoo cause he's just the coolest starter of all time
I try and get through each playthrough without losing a battle. I started with Treecko and I can't remember who else was in my party (Swellow, at least), and I also pretty much caught only Pokemon that I would have in my party at the end of the game. I had so much trouble with Wattson that I consigned myself to spending my money down as much as possible and losing a whole bunch, getting XP and working out a strategy. It took a while, but I eventually managed to beat him. Also, I never understood the utility of the contests.
One thing ill say on using only new pokemon , gen 2 made it harder not just in the fact that many gen 2 mons are objectively weak, but many are also just not even available in joto. Mismagius, houndoom, tyranitar, and magcargo off the top of my head if i recall correctly.
I would like to respectfully disagree on the threats v answers issue. I think threats have to be balanced against answers, because having answers be too strong makes Fury/Grief rakdos scam the best deck in modern for 2 years straight. Creature decks were straight up unplayable, because there was never any point where an opponent didn't have access to a 0 mana board wipe. That being said, Standard kind of sucks right now, so maybe the real answer is just game design is hard, Temporary Lockdown is cracked, and Slickshot Showoff shouldn't have been printed into Standard.
I'm crusty and old but I just feel like lightning bolt never should have gone away. Building boring value piles used to be a risk when Red could go under and keep you honest. And black should never lack a Terror at common etc.
@@ji_mothy Black has targeted instant speed removal that says "destroy target creature or enchantment" on it now. So yes, you are indeed crusty and old. As I am.
1:08:30 Interestingly-enough, in competitive, sweepers... aren't proned apparently! Instead, gen 3 is a stall, defense-oriented battlefield, so the pvp meta is opposite to the pve one according to your experience! most interesting! :D Your take on Pokemon Contests is also interesting as Emerald... removed three contest halls, replacing them with Battle-Frontier-lite facilities, the only one left being in Lilycove, thus joining up what you said regarding it being mostly post-game content. I have yet to truly experiment with it, as I'm waiting for the right moment to, who knows, makes some kind of Let's Play? I dunno... but your videos make me want to replay those old games again. Heck, got myself a legit Pokemon Silver catridge because of you, soooo... Thanks! :)
Congrats on the silver cart, enjoy! Thanks for the interesting analysis. It actually makes me happy competitive uses slower strategies, since that opens up so many other items and moves for viability.
@@ji_mothy Staryu and Starmie alongside Altaria, which you used, have the ability "Natural Cure" which is pivotal in status ailment play, as they aren't immune to them, but can heal upon a switch, thus adding more strategy. As a counter-measure, some entry hazards exist, but then again, the star line has a move to remove those very same hazards. I most recommend you to look up FalseSwipeGaming's video on gen3 competitive, I'm sure you'll find it fascinating while you take a well-earned Poké-Break :)
in regards to slapping the cover legendary on the team and choosing Ruby for Groudon over Kyogre, I think you made a point earlier in the video about how at a certain point in the game getting access to a new water type is kinda meaningless because your water spot on the team should have been filled long ago already and you probly don't want to swap out of nowhere, so despite me liking Kyogre more, I fully get it. A team with an extra in the 6th slot just for pickup would want a new groudon far FAR more than a new kyogre for the final battles with the last gym and league
I asked for it once in the past, but since you said that your gonna make some content for spooky season next, now seems like a good time to try again. So here's hoping for "Hollow Knight as Team Cherry intended", because that game fits the spooky vibe quite well with all the bugs creeping and crawling around.
Who should I raise in emerald, without the gen-3-only stipulation?
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Definitely a Gardevoir
Skarmory if possible!! Lil guy is one of my faves and was my first ever full odds shiny 💚💚
Guts taillow
Zangoose for sure
one of my absolute favorites from Gen 3 is Flygon. but I feel like one of the Gen 3 fossil pokemon would make for an interesting team member in Emerald
I think part of the reason there are no pokemon in the Game Corner in RSE is because it's not ran by a criminal organization trying to make a profit off of stolen pokemon.
EDIT: Side note, Zigzagoon's evolution can solo the elite 4. Belly Drum is a hell of a move.
That makes sense :( lore had to kill my favorite feature
Also helps that Linoone is in a pretty great Speed tier.
I mean, most pokemon that can learn Belly Drum are usually either bulky enough or speedy enough, frogs excluded lmao.
It's for the best. Rip porygon price gouge
Belly Drum, Substitute, Return, Shadow Ball. Godslayer Linoone, Terror of the Elite!
Pretty glad this series is continuing
Emerald video when? 😃
Just to confirm for Gym 3 Torchic would be a fighting type with Double Kick which could deal with Magnemites, Marshtomp will negate and Grovyle will resist, so not sure why you’re not using a starter on a “play as intended “ play through.
Idk if boxing your starter before the first gym qualifies as “playing how Nintendo intended” lol
It's by far the weirdest / worst choice he makes in these playthroughs, feels completely unjustified beyond his personal dislike for the starters.
@@MasterworkLeathercraft That's something the fandom decided, devs could've just made starters impossible to release or trade generations ago if that was the point.
@SonnyFRST Maybe so, but like. the dev teams clearly had intended for you to take your starter with you for at least the first gym - see the see B&W 1, where your starter determines which gym leader you fight
@@FrostFire425 Okay sure, you gotta go through at least a gym or two before you have enough catch options, but my point still stands that people are the ones who choose complacency, not the devs. (in this case, cause there are plenty other areas where they are super complacent)
@@SonnyFRST Please don't give Gamefreak any ideas, after what they did with set mode and the Exp. All I actually wouldn't put it past them anymore to add a 7th team slot that is permanently occupied by your starter.
Also, why are you being so needlessly contrarian here? It's really obvious the devs intend for you to use your starter for most/all of the game, they just let you make the (usually) suboptimal choice of boxing it in the name of team building freedom or personal preference. That's why, if you play any older Gens without your starter, you'll quickly notice that the game is more difficult, almost as if it was balanced around having a comparatively strong Pokemon early on.
So yes, playing the game "as the developers intended" and then boxing your starter early is a very odd choice. You can even argue he shouldn't box his starter at all, since that is how the absolutely *vast majority* of people play Pokemon games. And we know both in word and deed from the devs themselves that they design to target even the most casual of players.
If you go back to the top of Mt. Pyre after Groudon you'll see Maxie return the orb he stole, which is the finale to his arc. The game doesn't tell you to go there, but the Maxie wrap-up is there to be found, similar to the Rival finally evolving his Golbat in Gen 2 being exclusive to fighting the Elite 4 on Monday and Wednesday.
This series has quickly become one my favourite on youtube. And I'm so happy to see it continue.
3:04 Pfft, a *real* gamer would fill his party with these Pickup masters, and then only swap one out upon obtaining a new permanent party member
I HATE THAT YOURE RIGHT
@@ji_mothy not to mention that zigzagoon can learn cut surf and rock smash to free slots up for most of the game, if you let one of them get to lvl 20 then linoon can add strength to that list too. Even if surf is strong enough that you're not gonna be mad about putting it on your water type
Perfect pfp lmao
Combusken with fire moves or even fighting moves trivialises both magnemite and magneton in the third gym.
"Because Mr. Stone said so" brilliant script writing
gave my like to the vid and this comment for that reference-joke
And that’s the bottom line.
The creator's would have intended on you keeping your starter for at least the first gym. You could have grinder torchic and got a fighting type eventually.
I always feel pretty confident that the creators intend for you to get through the Elite Four with your first Pokémon. That's part of why starters get the three evolutions and the last one tends to be very viable.
The trade Pokemon are more with contests in mind for this game. Each of the Pokemon you get start with a contest stat raised. Iirc the Makuhita starts with raised toughness, Skitty with raised cuteness, and Corsola with raised beauty. That might be just for emerald, though, but I'm pretty sure it was for Ruby and Sapphire as well.
"Phoebe's Sableye has no counter"
Manectric learns Odor Sleuth at level 25, which can expose a fighting type weakness in Dark/Ghost Sableye. Or, if you really wanted to be a nutjob, Zigzagoon learns it at level 17 AND can learn a fighting type move... Rock Smash.
I distinctly remember playing Emerald as a kid and not buying any TMs until very late in the game when I was loaded with money because they DON'T TELL YOU WHAT THE TM IS and I didn't somehow memorize the numbers.
it feels like this game especially was made for a daily interaction rather than grinding it out in a day, which while GSC did this with forcing content behind the day/night, this game feels like youre supposed to stop playing after an hour, and so every time you come back you remember a bunch of backtracking like "oh yeah i gotta switch bikes, oh yeah i gotta do the trick house" but without a forced thing like Day/Night, it becomes super inconvenient for people grinding the game out in a day
That feels accurate. Way before fortnite, was pokemon practice to hook us on live service games?
@@ji_mothy tbh, i dont think so, at least not intentionally. I think it was made that way so schoolchildren could discover new things on old routes every day when they had time. The game feels so lived in, in ways older pokemon games dont, and this also helps because then while youre backtracking, theres a certain amount of forced exploration because you dont know which conversation will give you the pokeblock case or thunderbolt
HGSS doubled down on this concept, with specific events on different days of the week, like the Bug Catching Contest, the day-of-the-week siblings, rotating Pokeathlon prize pool, and other random things like Friday Lapras spawn, Wednesday Hoenn radio and Thursday Sinnoh radios. Even the final rival battle can only be rematched on specific days of the week.
Yeah, I think a lot of quirky Pokemon design choices can be explained as the devs wanting players to play very casually, sometimes stumble across stuff, and chat with their friends about what they've seen at school. All the odd, excessively complex mechanics are likely there to create a sense of variety or randomness. The "intended" way to fill a Pokedex is probably just having a largish friend group that can cycle hard to get Pokemon around through trades. I mean, how else do you explain nonsense like Feebass?
This is, of course, poison to completionists and many forms of optimization.
The game has a "day/night cycle" in a sense, with the clock you setup at the start. It's just not visible on the field like G/S/C.
Combusken is good in Wattson's gym aswell, at least in Ruby/Sapphire. It might've been a good idea to keep your starter up until that fight at least. In Emerald however, pretty much only Geodude or Marshtomp are good.
Starting with Torchic and grabbing Lotad gives you all three types on two Pokémon, then Aron or Mawile to get deal with Wattson
@@jtyler9130 Most agreed! : ) Emerald does make sure to give you so many options to balance your early-game team...
Until you reach Norman and suffer a painful death from its four-members-big team. Removing a Slaking to instead put more variety was a deviously-nice decision...
Okay but seeing that Encarta Encyclopedia disc case gave me the strongest “Anton from Ratatouille” flashback I’ve had in a good while. Love this series btw. Keep up the very good work sir.
Saaaaame. Our first family computer came with Encarta and Cinemania 95 and I lost hours to those discs 😅
Can't wait to see the Emerald video along with future generations too hopefully
I just think it defeats the purpose of playing as the game designers intended when you don't use any of the starters then you complain that the game favors offensive teams or Defensive. That is the point, I always tear through the game with Blazikien plus with all of the starters having access to wide move sets in their evolution lines it really doesn't makes sense to play the game without them. It just seems like you're making the game way harder using a Shroomish in you're starters place than it needed to be. Bit that's just my opinion from years of playing Pokémon. I still enjoy these videos.
No, you're totally right. The starters in this generation onwards have a tendency towards being very well-rounded and seem designed to be used throughout the game.
I was also a bit confused about his criticism regarding the Pokémon being more active and less defensive, because personally I REALLY wouldn't want to go back to the gen 1 style of "some Pokémon get one or two attack moves and neither are of it's type". I don't think Pokémon has perfect balancing, but I prefer my Pokémon being able to have a two-way type advantage, both defensive and offensive versus stuff like a Sandslash that's never going to have a special effective attack because all its moves are normal.
I suppose he boxes his starter to have an easier time building the team accordingly to what the game's suggested strategy is instead of building your team around your starter but yeah, i love gen 3 starters and they do have a wide selection of moves to choose so i don't see why you would box them (same with all the following generations)
I can def understand the decision to drop your starter in general, but Gen 3 def is NOT the generation I would do it in. The starters are just too solid!
I always boxed my starter when I played Diamond, tho. It feels like the game's lack of fire types forces Chimchar as the best pick. But I never liked Chimchar! So my "starter" would always be a Shinx lol.
@@jaceybella1267 Why would someone box their starter?
@@MegaSpideyman cause they don't particularly like any of the starters of that Gen? Or they might get more attached to another early game Pokémon.
In my case I just don't like the final evos for any of Gen 4's Pokémon, I used to box my starter immediately but on a replay nowadays I'll begrudgingly maintain Chimchar early on.
I feel the same way about the starters in Gen 8, their final evos are all weird lanky anthros and I'm just not interested. You get access to the open area pretty fast so it's not like you're particularly low on early game options, and it's not like that game is hard either.
The EEPROM joke glitched my brain for a second.
I’m gonna replay my old sapphire version because of this, you’ve breathed life into my nostalgic childhood memories and I greatly appreciate it
My favorite Pokémon generation. Just recently started a new emerald run and ran into a full-odds shiny Shroomish. Love this game.
Short answer? Yes
It bothers me a little that flutes require so much ash. In my Emerald playthrough I picked up a Yellow Flute, which cures confusion and was pretty handy for the few times I actually used it.
But _everyone_ I tell about the yellow flute is surprised, because no one wants to spend 10+minutes running around collecting ash for each flute. They'd rather ignore the mechanic entirely and I can't blame them.
It was nice to hear mention of Tropius! Such a poor 'mon for such a fun design. Even its ability to carry HMs is overshadowed by Zigzagoon.
(Did you catch that Gloom offscreen or did I have a stroke?)
On the subject of Mudkip, the fact it's barely threatened by anything in vanilla Gen 3 games makes it worthwhile despite Water types being plentiful in Hoenn.
I started following you for the "Fromsoft as intended" series and I've loved seeing you expand into other games (still waiting for the ME2 as intended video *cough cough*)
Your Pokemon retrospectives are absolutely incredible. Seeing all of the planning and effort you put into these games and the videos on them is inspiring. Looking forward to whatever games you make videos about in the future.
Tysm sheep! I just gotta get famous so I can do ME2 :)
Damn, not even 10 minutes in and already with the top tier puns, esp the raising Taxation and moth-E. Keep up the great work!
Am I nuts, or wouldn't torchic/combusken also have been an acceptable counter for the third gym? I guess it wouldn't do much against the voltorb.
It would have helped a lot. Those shock waves HURT though!
I do want to mention that Acro Bike has more use than mentioned, you can use it a bunch in the Safari Zone to reach areas with rarer spawns and helps with the Jagged Path Route if you happen to miss a trainer/item. Beyond that it’s easier to control and a better experience as a bike.
Also, Magenton counter: Combuskin.
More edits, Hidden Power being a buyable TM is used for Competitive battling since hidden power gave a free type coverage move.
Shoal Cave’s ice basement is given for Elite Four dragon coverage and exclusive area for the Snonut line.
And while I agree surf routes were long especially with the currents, I feel that GF made those because it wasn’t apparent to go dive for Groudon/Kyorge story progression. Plus gave players a way to catch the Regi trio, since like the first two games, the player was allowed to catch the prelim legendaries pre-Elite Four as a reward for exploring.
Trade Pokémon in this game were made to be used for the Contests! Each one had a move set that was specific to one of the contest “types.”
Hidden Power is unreliable if you're looking for a specific one with good base power though for in-game play.
Didn't know the trades were Contest-based, wow!! Thanks a lot, I'll know for when I replay those games :D
@@ShiningJudgment666 yea for in-game play, but the move really wasn’t made for in-game play. It was almost exclusively used for competitive play and battle tower/frontier.
I like how this series not only covers the way the pokemon games were designed, but is also covering how the series develops over time with every new entry
These analyses of yours are so fun and interesting! Honestly can't wait for the next one, and especially the Gen 4 and 5 ones.
As always, i really loved this video and the care that you clearly put into making it. I absolutely love the pokemon series, and it's very clear that you do as well. I also really appreciate all the unique perspectives that you offer on various aspects of the game that i had never considered, just like you do in all your videos. Thank you for making this, and looking forward to whatver game you post a video about next!
You're very welcome! I love making them.
Emerald will come sometime after Halloween but I don't think I can avoid making something for the SH2 remake...
@ji_mothy I'm sorry but I don't recognize that acronym. If you don't mind, what does SH2 stand for?
It's Silent Hill 2.
@mastermarkus5307 ah cool thank you
I'm very confused by why you even thought to box Torchic when you don't have a full party? Sure, you have to share the exp around more, but it's a free fire type.
This series is awesome, can't wait to see what you get up to next for spook time. Always loved Gen 3 too, cool to see how it stacks up to gens 1 and 2 :)
the dual bike situation is really interesting to me actually because if you switch every time you're in mauvile you'll basically always have the right bike at the right time & be able to see all the bike requirements. since mauvile is such a central city that you literally have to walk through multiple times in the main course of the game, it's actually not really inconvenient at all & i think it plays on hoenn's banger map design
Loving these videos, I'm devastated I've caught up... looking forward to the next one!
Absolutely LOVE your videos and these types of "As the dev intended" videos but I gotta call bologna on ditching your starter as I highly doubt Gamefreak expects anyone to box their starter. Obviously people do that but there's no way that's the original intent for the player lol. Also just want to add that the player has access to Makuhita back in Granite Cave as well as the newly acquired Rock Smash HM in Mauville to help deal with Wattson's Magneton. Your Torchic would have worked pretty well too since on evolution into Combusken it learns Double Kick but ideally still has Ember as well.
All that said, keep up the amazing work dude, your videos are awesome and I look forward to everything you put out down the road!
Someone else does a similar idea of "as intended"-playthrough of various games, but using the official strategy guides approved by Nintendo as their basis. And in all of them, the guide expects you to keep your starter through the entire thing. Also, to catch whatever you need for gyms, if you're lacking type coverage - not just exclusively the newly introduced Mons.
So, yeah, this is getting less "as the desv intended" and more "as Monty wants" by now.
I absolutely love this series!
love routes like 41:37
Sad thing is that the water had a disgustingly easy solution: keep rivers encounters cave-like, but make patches of seaweed for wild encounters in the oceanic routes.
(reason this is so easy is cause that was already implemented underwater)
That would absolutely fix my issues. (And maaaaybe set the levels better per-area. There's no reason to have level 35 tentacool encounters sneaking through your repels the minute you learn to surf)
I love that Mothy is a Crystal convert now
esp after starting as a gen 2 hater
Bro out here referencing Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny... legendary. Great video!
The Job from Arrested Development quote absolutely slayed me
For anyone who doesn't know, Shedinja copies moves AFTER evolution and new moves learned. This means that if you delay evolution till 25, your invincible bug will know Swords Dance! Great for abusing that immunity to get free set up turns.
Torchic makes the third gym easy as well because it is good against mageton
The strange nicknames of these 'mons, I love that. It makes the reviews much more dynamic than just "the mon".
they let us give nicknames for a reason! Everyone should
i just noticed that the couple's names at 35:05 is probably a malcolm in the middle reference
Ty for saying this, I saw it too and thought there's no way right? But maybe...
@@ji_mothy given the time frame the game came out i really hope it is
I'm guessing the female Nincada has something to do with the need for a male Cascoon earlier? You're planning to breed the two to get a new Nincada with an egg move from the Dustox? Based on Bulbapedia, I'm guessing Silver Wind and/or Gust?
Edit: keeping the Exp Share on the Dustox to "boost him up for content" reinforces this expectation because it gets Silver Wind at level 34 which isn't super early.
Edit 2: Yay! Do I get a heart?
Gen 3 is like the awkward middle evolution starter of the transition from 2 to 4. We get all the good stuff, like better moves learned by leveling and fixing some of the combat, but then we get the fails like the lacking story end and of course the heavy type bias you can encounter. We like it well enough, but it's easy to prefer the final evolution or the first form because of how janky the middle is.
51:50 10/10 joke 10/10 writing. Beauty. Poise. Timing. Perfection
@ji_mothy torchic is also a viable Watson counter right ?
i love how you run these. it looks so easy and instinctual, which hides just how much work has to have gone into playing these games like you have
ji_mothy saying ruby/sapphire being best gen deff earned his spot in my subscriber book. Incredibly W take, really appreciated the ending piece
I didn't say anything in other vids but since it keeps happening, I just wanted to let you know that if you don't start the chapters section in the description with a 00:00 timestamp, it won't create chapters (I'm pretty sure that's how it works at least). Love the vids, can't wait for the Black 2 White 2 ones.
all your videos are straight BANGERS
I'm very pleased my larval assistance assisted you in making this video Mothy
For I am Costanza, Lord of the Pokemon.
1. The traded Pokemon do seem like a scam. The game designers intended each of them to be good at a specific Contest, which is why unconventional (not useful) choices are there.
2. Grass Pokemon did not shine because of the water routes. 90+% of Water encounters are not weak to Grass. Most commonly are the Tentacool and Wingull lines, with only the Dive sections weak to Water, but even they have Chinchou
59:15 For the Hoenn games, I think there's an argument to be made for running two of them, provided they have different secondary typings, since this allows both to have nearly full movesets, as opposed to being forced to carry Surf, Dive, AND Waterfall all at once. Depending on the version, you might have access to Ludicolo, a Water-Grass with different set of weaknesses compared to starter Swampert or part-flyer Pelipper. I believe Chinchou and Spheal are also both available in the later part of the game, allowing for two more unique Water type combinations.
Though outside of those few, the rest of the Hoenn water dex is unfortunately basic. Even the partially interesting ones like Sharpedo and Crawdaunt are hampered by the lack of physical/special split, and then there's Tentacool, which has been as ubiquitous as Geodude and Zubat so far, a very "safe" (but boring) Water pick. I think Staryu/Starmie are also available in these games, via Super Rod, but comes so late in the game, and requires so much TM investment to be usable, that it might as well not even matter.
Thank you for the well considered comment. Doubling up would certainly open up a lot of team design space. I've tried to avoid doubling on the team but perhaps that's the best way to use water types. I'll leave it as an option for Emerald!
You're going to cry if/when you battle legendaries in Platinum onwards
Magnemite is steel type, too. It's weak to fire. Your starter was torchic.
Yay love these series. Glad to see another one 🎉
Can’t wait to watch this after class. Love this serious, Mothy- super happy to see another one!
I think the problem with the water routes is that they're all
1. Full of VERY repetitive encounters. They needed more possible encounters.
2. Visually similar. They just all look the same.
And 3. It's half the game.
I don’t understand the Watson bit, if you had your torchic it would sweep his steel types with fire moves
Which Costanza is your Manectric? George or Frank?
I feel like Hoenn's water problem is less the amount and more the lack of variety. You have an underwater cave and a sunken ship, then that's pretty much it for route diversity. Why not something like a drifting ice floe?
Enjoy your videos brother
A Signs reference is so based
Playing along with this, by the time I got to Mauville my Shroomish was close enough to level 23 that I used the trick house rare candy and did a very small amount of grinding and had a Breloom before dealing with the troubling Magnemite. Something to think about when it comes to exp routing
Shroomish evolves into an absolute monster when it learns spore.
That's an interesting point about the lack of dialogue regarding the apocalyptic event. NPCs are just standing around in 300 degree weather and chatting about their day.
Chrono Trigger is another example of a game that did a good job at altering dialogue. Once the Black Omen monster ship is flying in the air, its visible in all future time periods you can travel to, so the NPCs acknowledge that its flown in the sky their entire lives.
Legit been re-watching the gen 1 and 2 videos waiting for this one.
Jimothy treating us to another banger just before autumn, thank you my guy 🙏🏻❤️
I know I played through this. I remember playing it in my grandparents basement trying to figure out things.
But for the life of me, I don't remember most of this, unlike Gen 1 and 2.
50:40 Fear and Hunger mentioned (please make a video on these games if you can)
You got me with "once more into the beach".
I would give you a second like.
Also, I generally like water and orca whales, but for some reason I've picked both Ruby and Omega Ruby and I truly cannot articulate why.
Gen 3 is always my go to Pokémon game, emerald specifically. Not really sure why as Gold holds the most nostalgic value for me.
Also, I think Slakoth is pronounced like Slack-off. If the Slay-Koff pronunciation was bait, I've been well and truly got.
Another banger, keep up the good work!
Props on boxing starters. I do that too.
I'm so used to evolving to shedinja at level 25 for swords dance that seeing one evolve at 20 feels wrong.
Love this series!
Writing this at almost the 10 minute mark, when you were talking about environmental changes or crisis: these games were heavily influenced and a kind of response to a conflict in a Japanese prefecture involving water and land and environmental changes. I only ever heard about this in Tama Hero's Ruby and Sapphire review, really recommend you watch that if you're interested! Since it sounds like you may be. If I'm not mixing videos up in my head, that one includes a part of an old interview with someone from Pokémon about that whole thing or explaining that they made the games because of that conflict or something.
For how immensely popular gen 3 is, somehow that piece of its story, its basis, is never brought around. The video is many years old but I only watched it in 2022 or early 2023, and had never heard about that part of the story before and I haven't since either.
Oh oh AND the best part is that it involved fishermen versus government people or something who wanted to extend land which would've been bad for the fish and the fishermen (or that's what was already happening) and like, in real life, the water team was right (the fishermen) which is why in Sapphire, Team Aqua has a much more valid reason than Team Magma does in Ruby for executing their plans (Aqua says they need more water because the current amount of land is hurting sea wildlife while Magma want more land for more human development, one is a response to something bad that is happening, so they feel almost like vigilantes, while the other isn't, so they lack something to make their actions feel somewhat honorable which makes them more "evil" than their counterpart), or at least I remember her explaining something like that. I may watch that one again after this one or at least the part where she explained this.
Yessss another ji_mothy banger.
I know why you did it but it's kinda funny seeing how 'playing the game how the developers intended' ends up with you abandoning your starter asap
"like the dad in the ring" fucking lol'd at that
"..." ~ Red
YESSSS MOTHY FOR LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!! Now i'm even more keen for Emerald, it was my first ever Pokemon game. Treecko was my first and I got a Grovyle tattoo cause he's just the coolest starter of all time
I try and get through each playthrough without losing a battle. I started with Treecko and I can't remember who else was in my party (Swellow, at least), and I also pretty much caught only Pokemon that I would have in my party at the end of the game.
I had so much trouble with Wattson that I consigned myself to spending my money down as much as possible and losing a whole bunch, getting XP and working out a strategy. It took a while, but I eventually managed to beat him.
Also, I never understood the utility of the contests.
One thing ill say on using only new pokemon , gen 2 made it harder not just in the fact that many gen 2 mons are objectively weak, but many are also just not even available in joto. Mismagius, houndoom, tyranitar, and magcargo off the top of my head if i recall correctly.
The Ultimate Showdown reference is unmatched 👌🏻
6:00 Nice Reference!
I would like to respectfully disagree on the threats v answers issue. I think threats have to be balanced against answers, because having answers be too strong makes Fury/Grief rakdos scam the best deck in modern for 2 years straight. Creature decks were straight up unplayable, because there was never any point where an opponent didn't have access to a 0 mana board wipe. That being said, Standard kind of sucks right now, so maybe the real answer is just game design is hard, Temporary Lockdown is cracked, and Slickshot Showoff shouldn't have been printed into Standard.
I'm crusty and old but I just feel like lightning bolt never should have gone away. Building boring value piles used to be a risk when Red could go under and keep you honest. And black should never lack a Terror at common etc.
@@ji_mothy Black has targeted instant speed removal that says "destroy target creature or enchantment" on it now. So yes, you are indeed crusty and old. As I am.
15:27 caught me so off guard i nearly spit my drink out
Boxes his starter and complains the whole way through, smh 😂
You did get me with E tho, enjoy the like!
1:08:30 Interestingly-enough, in competitive, sweepers... aren't proned apparently! Instead, gen 3 is a stall, defense-oriented battlefield, so the pvp meta is opposite to the pve one according to your experience! most interesting! :D
Your take on Pokemon Contests is also interesting as Emerald... removed three contest halls, replacing them with Battle-Frontier-lite facilities, the only one left being in Lilycove, thus joining up what you said regarding it being mostly post-game content. I have yet to truly experiment with it, as I'm waiting for the right moment to, who knows, makes some kind of Let's Play? I dunno... but your videos make me want to replay those old games again. Heck, got myself a legit Pokemon Silver catridge because of you, soooo... Thanks! :)
Congrats on the silver cart, enjoy! Thanks for the interesting analysis. It actually makes me happy competitive uses slower strategies, since that opens up so many other items and moves for viability.
@@ji_mothy Staryu and Starmie alongside Altaria, which you used, have the ability "Natural Cure" which is pivotal in status ailment play, as they aren't immune to them, but can heal upon a switch, thus adding more strategy. As a counter-measure, some entry hazards exist, but then again, the star line has a move to remove those very same hazards.
I most recommend you to look up FalseSwipeGaming's video on gen3 competitive, I'm sure you'll find it fascinating while you take a well-earned Poké-Break :)
8:15 I admit, I owe you a like.
51:55 Sick rhyme.
in regards to slapping the cover legendary on the team and choosing Ruby for Groudon over Kyogre, I think you made a point earlier in the video about how at a certain point in the game getting access to a new water type is kinda meaningless because your water spot on the team should have been filled long ago already and you probly don't want to swap out of nowhere, so despite me liking Kyogre more, I fully get it. A team with an extra in the 6th slot just for pickup would want a new groudon far FAR more than a new kyogre for the final battles with the last gym and league
I asked for it once in the past, but since you said that your gonna make some content for spooky season next, now seems like a good time to try again. So here's hoping for "Hollow Knight as Team Cherry intended", because that game fits the spooky vibe quite well with all the bugs creeping and crawling around.
I always felt like Wally's elec/metal types were fair since Roxanne gives you Rock Tomb
16:00 great band and wordplay
I'm a huge programming nerds, and these games to me represents the snappiest engine Pokémon ever used and it's a rough road since (gen 5 was aight)