Pokemon BDSP Playthrough Discussion

[maplesyrup689]

Lol. First encounter, literally the first encounter in the game(PAIN)

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BTW, I have been playing the game like with Gen. VII and Gen. VIII. The EXP share is kinda broken. I think even my lv. was a bit too high... Chimchar having Power-up punch at Lv 12(and the EXP share) making the first gym quite trivial, though I was knocked out by the Geodude with a crit, defense curl boosted Rollout.
I have around 2.5 hours playtime and at cycling road. I only played Platinum before and wish to see how this go.

 

[Chadlad50]

Current squad: Grotle, Staravia, and Buizel. Not overleveled so far I think. Grotle is 18, Staravia is 17, and Buizel is 11, and I'm on my way to Eterna

I've also got all 3 of my mythicals already, although I'm not using them. I'd like to use Manaphy but I kinda have to use Buizel/Floatzel.

I'm very impatiently waiting for the Grand Underground. You get access to it in Eterna right?

 

[Scorpio]

Speaking of the Grand Underground, is someone able to confirm when we get access to the area right in the center. I’m planning to use a Froslass in one of my runs.

 

[Chadlad50]

One more question: Anybody know if you can change the Poketch's time from military time to normal?

 

[R_N]

Fun how if Budew had access to Mega Drain properly this go around it'd probably full sweep Roark's entire team at level 12(/13 when it gets a level)
Absorb already does most of the job and Budew can survive a Bulldoze & Headbutt with ease.


Honestly probably could've just use Piplup's water gun and gotten clean kills on everything but hey is what it is.

One more question: Anybody know if you can change the Poketch's time from military time to normal?

No. There's an Analog Clock you can get later but there's no "digital 12 hour" clock or anything.

 

[Chadlad50]

Second gym down. I'm not done with Eterna yet but I figure I log it now so I don't forget.

Staravia goes so hard. It took 0 damage in the entire gym until Gardenia's Roserade outsped it and did a lot more damage than I expected with Grass Knot. Luckily for me, Pluck ate it's Sitrus Berry and gave Staravia a nice health boost.

Staravia is level 22, Grotle is level 21, and Buizel is level 17. Still seems on par to me, although bear in mind I don't fight every single trainer.

Now it's time for me to access the Grand Underground and finish my team

 

[NaturalTropius]

I wanna use a Yanma. I know it's not in the main game, but I really wanna use Yanmega on my main team. If anyone has one...?
I'm working with a pretty nice little squad right now- Prinplup, Misdreavus, Magby, Swinub, and a few rotating Pokemon. Might add a Cleffa soon, and hoping to get a Yanma to round out my team.

 

[Chadlad50]

I tried to catch a Gligar in the Underground cause even if I'm not using it, I might still want it...turns out it was level 28 and it ohko'd my Buizel :(

Looks like I need to focus on getting Cranidos. Is there a specific place I can look in the Underground to find one, or is it chance?

 

[NaturalTropius]

I tried to catch a Gligar in the Underground cause even if I'm not using it, I might still want it...turns out it was level 28 and it ohko'd my Buizel :(

Looks like I need to focus on getting Cranidos. Is there a specific place I can look in the Underground to find one, or is it chance?

You'd need to find a Skull Fossil from the sparkly things in the walls. It's random, I think, but I got a Fossil pretty quickly myself.

 

[Chadlad50]

You'd need to find a Skull Fossil from the sparkly things in the walls. It's random, I think, but I got a Fossil pretty quickly myself.

I haven't seen a single sparkly thing in the wall yet. I've been digging where the markers are on the map if that's what you mean?

 

[R_N]

I haven't seen a single sparkly thing in the wall yet. I've been digging where the markers are on the map if that's what you mean?

If you're doing the digging minigame, that's where you get them.

It's completely random.

 

[TheMantyke]

Anyone know if there’s a protector available before the post game? Never used a rhyperior for an in game play through before. Was hoping to use it or Hippowdon as a Ground-type options.

 

[R_N]

Anyone know if there’s a protector available before the post game? Never used a rhyperior for an in game play through before. Was hoping to use it or Hippowdon as a Ground-type options.

Doesn't seem like it.
Same goes for the Razor Fang, Reaper Cloth, etc.


There was a report of finding a Razor Fang in one of the Caverns as just an item laying around but looking at Serebii's page on the Underground I suspect that was people confusing it for the Dragon Fang. The only evolution items you can seem to find down there are the Dusk Stone and....the Deep Sea Scale...??

Which completely ruins any hope I had of using Gligar so good going, game.

 

[Ze Diglett]

So does anyone know exactly how finding Spiritomb works? I've seen some videos and sites around the web saying you can interact with NPCs OR other players in the Grand Underground to trigger the event, but the thing is I haven't found a way to "talk" to other players in the Underground period and I've been stuck at the 15-21 threshold no matter what I do. What exactly counts as interacting with other players in this case, and if I can't, is there a way for me to grind NPCs to get Spiritomb ASAP, or do I have to progress further to find more?
Anyway, as of Route 209, my team consists of Bronzor (Lv. 24), Elekid (25), Cranidos (24), Swinub (24), and Monferno (29; yeah, that's what happens when you don't get a second team member until the second gym). I'm hoping to fill that final slot with Spiritomb, but on the off chance that I can't, I've been carrying a Murkrow around to potentially fill that spot if need be. I really hope I don't have to do that, though.
Finding a Skull Fossil was surprisingly easy for me (I even have three leftover at the end of the day), but the grind to get a Swinub with Icicle Crash was MADDENING. I must've been putzing around the Underground for 2-3 hours before one finally graced my presence. It was worth it, though, since now the little guy's one-shotting everything in his path with one of his strongest STAB moves and he's not even evolved. Finding an Elekid with Fire Punch was surprisingly quick and painless, though I still gotta find one with an Electirizer. God rest my soul.

 

[R_N]

So does anyone know exactly how finding Spiritomb works? I've seen some videos and sites around the web saying you can interact with NPCs OR other players in the Grand Underground to trigger the event, but the thing is I haven't found a way to "talk" to other players in the Underground period and I've been stuck at the 15-21 threshold no matter what I do. What exactly counts as interacting with other players in this case, and if I can't, is there a way for me to grind NPCs to get Spiritomb ASAP, or do I have to progress further to find more?

It must be a NPC

I don't know if you can just exit/reenter and spam NPCs but I think it has to be unique ones in which case it has to wait until post game to get enough.

 

[Chadlad50]

Anybody know where to find a member of the Ralts line? It's the last one I need to complete my team but the Grand Underground is still a bit confusing to me

 

[Ze Diglett]

Anybody know where to find a member of the Ralts line? It's the last one I need to complete my team but the Grand Underground is still a bit confusing to me

I saw one in a Crystal den when I was grinding for Elekids earlier. Just run in and out of one of those and you should find one.

It must be a NPC

I don't know if you can just exit/reenter and spam NPCs but I think it has to be unique ones in which case it has to wait until post game to get enough.

That's... immensely upsetting to hear, if true. What I wanna know is, if they really did make Spiritomb effectively postgame, at that point, why didn't they at least adjust its level? I mean, aside from being a dumb fucking decision, who's gonna wanna carry a level 25 mon into the postgame in the first place?

 

[Nokocchi]

No one here actually remembers DP, people only played that when they wanted a Murkrow/Misdreavus, and immediately tossed them to Platinum to breed them. Stop overreacting.

I actually remember going through my Pearl version a lot more than I do my Platinum, because when it first came out I REALLY got into the online trading scene, even managed to make a trade thread on another forum, and got many rare events and shinies via handing out GTS-cloned copies of the events I personally obtained(like many of the 10th Anniversary events and Mystery Mew). I also spent countless hours in the underground playing with my younger brother, who got Diamond.

I also recently played through the original Diamond a few months ago, mostly because I got it in a used game store and it was the only Gen IV title I didn't have yet, I decided to merely continue the(barely touched) save file that was already on it and used some mons they had that I had never used in a Sinnoh run before, like Chimchar and Geodude.

I know people constantly shit on Diamond and Pearl, but they're far from unplayable, I'm the type of person that can have fun with any of the Pokemon titles, no matter how archaic they are or if they are outclassed by other games in the series is almost every way.

 

[MrHands]

How has everyone been feeling about XP share and difficulty in general?

 

[Hada Yaba]

How has everyone been feeling about XP share and difficulty in general?

Finished the game, reminder that i used 6 mons right from the very start and fought every trainer to prepare in advance for the rematches. All my mons were lvl 59 before the elite four and about lvl 61 after finishing lucian. However, the evs are very noticeable in the champion fight making the level climb relatively minor; for instance, garchomp ohkoed my lvl 62 rhyperior after a swords dance despite having good evs and my naughty lvl 63 electivire failed to 2hko the similar levelled milotic when marvel scale activated. I don't think this was the case back in the original ones. That's why i'm confident the gym leader and elite four rematches will definitely not be a disappointment in terms of challenge.

For the rest of the game though, the exp share felt hideously overpowered except for the early part about up to gardenia. I thought it was quite fair back then. That's why roark was not a pushover; his cranidos outlevelled everyone and has evs to buff it up further (i believe so, i've played dppt a lot and piplup wasn't destroyed that badly before). However, things went downhill after that due to the sheer amount of trainers between eterna and veilstone so I outlevelled the route trainers by like 10 levels at that point. Combined with the weak rosters and the stupid affection system which activates as soon as you took out a mon for one second, I was hardly ever hit including by gym leaders.

Tldr; good end + post game; non-existant prior hand though using 6 mons early and fighting everyone might've mattered a lot

 

[Siggu]

After three or four hours, I managed to get the Skull Fossil and FINALLY challenge Gardenia. The team is not complete yet.

By the way, I noticed Box Link is disabled while within a gym. Does that apply to the Elite Four challenge, too? Because that would throw a giant obstacle in my plan if I can't swap Pokémon between each member.

 

[Ironmage]

View attachment 386415

After three or four hours, I managed to get the Skull Fossil and FINALLY challenge Gardenia. The team is not complete yet.

By the way, I noticed Box Link is disabled while within a gym. Does that apply to the Elite Four challenge, too? Because that would throw a giant obstacle in my plan if I can't swap Pokémon between each member.

I'm just completely distracted by the fact that all of the models are below the icon rather than being centered. Does the option to use older menu sprites fix this?

 

[powergo1]

I'm just completely distracted by the fact that all of the models are below the icon rather than being centered. Does the option to use older menu sprites fix this?

wait, you can change to sprites? how?

 

[R_N]

How has everyone been feeling about XP share and difficulty in general?

I'm dead eyed watching my levels climb higher and higher and just clicking my tongue, but we'll see where i am by end game

 

[Lalaya]

Finished the game, reminder that i used 6 mons right from the very start and fought every trainer to prepare in advance for the rematches. All my mons were lvl 59 before the elite four and about lvl 61 after finishing lucian. However, the evs are very noticeable in the champion fight making the level climb relatively minor; for instance, garchomp ohkoed my lvl 62 rhyperior after a swords dance despite having good evs and my naughty lvl 63 electivire failed to 2hko the similar levelled milotic when marvel scale activated. I don't think this was the case back in the original ones. That's why i'm confident the gym leader and elite four rematches will definitely not be a disappointment in terms of challenge.

For the rest of the game though, the exp share felt hideously overpowered except for the early part about up to gardenia. I thought it was quite fair back then. That's why roark was not a pushover; his cranidos outlevelled everyone and has evs to buff it up further (i believe so, i've played dppt a lot and piplup wasn't destroyed that badly before). However, things went downhill after that due to the sheer amount of trainers between eterna and veilstone so I outlevelled the route trainers by like 10 levels at that point. Combined with the weak rosters and the stupid affection system which activates as soon as you took out a mon for one second, I was hardly ever hit including by gym leaders.

Tldr; good end + post game; non-existant prior hand though using 6 mons early and fighting everyone might've mattered a lot

can totally vouch for this, ESPECIALLY from after Gardenia to basically Fantina the game is just such a pushover since there are lots of weak opponents you can easily deal with
a bit unfortunate, but w/e