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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha (3.0.2, last update 3/5/2025)

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About this release

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General idea
Explorers of Alpha has been developed with replayability and accessibility in mind. Ever since injecting custom code has been normalized in the Sky modding community, most of the changes aim to implement new mechanics and provide the most complete and interesting experience possible while retaining the core Explorers of Sky story and environment.


About starters and getting started
All leader/partner combinations are available to the player, meaning the starter and partner can now share the same type or species (credits to Frostbyte).   

Starter List Selector

- You can choose any player and partner independently from the six following lists:        

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- If you'd like your starter to be randomized, a "Surprise me!" option is available. Each time it's selected, it generates a fully random list.
- The starters screen has proper descriptions for all normal starters, explaining their stat curves, moves, starter moves, typing, IQ group, and more (credits to Adex for the code). The base game's starter and partner restrictions have been lifted.

Starter Selection by Inputting an ID

  • This ID corresponds to the entry's internal ID and is strictly between 1 and 552.
  • No guide is linked to this option as it is not intended to be fully user-friendly but rather an option for those who want a fully customized game experience. The game lets you preview the selected entry as both leader and partner so you can decide before starting a playthrough.

With both options, your starter receives an egg move depending on its ID:

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Additionally:

  • Ascend Stone Mark I and Mark II are now the common evolution items for your starter and partner. They evolve via normal means otherwise.
  • Completing a one-attempt optional dungeon after Sky Peak grants you two Mark I stones, unlocking earlier evolution.
  • 2 Mark II stones are awarded after clearing Zero Isle Center.


General game feel changes

  • The general game UI has been overhauled. This includes Arceus-themed splash screens for the start menu, taken directly from HeartGold/SoulSilver.
  • You start the game with a 48-slot bag and 1,000 slots in storage.
  • Super Mystery Dungeon-style item icons appear before item names (patch created by me).
  • Upon joining the guild, you will receive a set of useful starting items.


Game modes

After finishing Beach Cave and registering as a new Exploration Team, you can choose from the following game options:

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L-Trigger Overworld Menu

The L-trigger in the overworld opens a menu where you can manage various in-game options:

  • Recruitment Toggle

      Enable or disable recruitment at any time (still disabled in certain story dungeons).

  • Experience Share

Toggle Exp. Share on or off.
The default experience amount depends on the upgrade level (see below).

  • Challenge Management

Forfeit challenges (if allowed) or switch challenges if new ones are unlocked.

  • Level Scaling

Enable or disable level scaling.

  • Inverse Mode Toggle

Reverse type matchups.
Unlock this mode by recruiting Palkia.
Note: Inverse mode interactions account for special mechanics such as Psychic moves on Dark-types affected by Miracle Eye or the Metang Scarf, and Scrappy effects on Ghost-types.
Inverse mode can be disabled even during forced scenarios.

  • Daily cutscenes

Enable or disable daily cutscenes (Sharpedo Bluff, Guild eating). Allows to circumvent some game issues.

  • Difficulty Adjustment

Before Darkrai, you can only lower your difficulty if it's too challenging.
All difficulties are unlocked after defeating Darkrai.
Vanilla and Difficult difficulties can be switched freely at all times.

  • Text Speed

Change the speed of in-game text at any time.

  • Custom Typings

Toggle custom typings on or off.


Player oriented Quality of Life

  • An update system ensures that save files from previous versions are compatible with the latest version.
  • The FAQ board in Guild Sublevel 1 has been revamped to provide an actual Explorers of Alpha FAQ. It also includes a section crediting everyone who contributed to the game.


NPC changes

Croagunk’s Swap Shop
- Costs have been increased to 250 (previously 150).
- With a password, Croagunk allows access to higher-quality items even if you lack the full requirements.
- No items are needed for transactions in God Mode.

Chimecho’s Assembly Menu
- Menu options have been optimized for faster navigation (credits to an anonymous contributor).

Xatu’s Appraisal
- Appraisal cost has been reduced to 100 (previously 150).
- An "Appraise All" option has been implemented to uncover every box in your inventory at once (credits to an anonymous contributor).

Electivire’s Link Shop
- Linking costs are increased to 1,000 (previously 500).
- Shop options have been reorganized for a more natural flow.

Wynaut’s Recycle Shop
- Expanded item selection and reorganized menu options for clarity.
- Stat-boosting items (Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, and Life Seeds) become available after recycling 50–55 items.
- Recycle Shop has even more offers !
New Normal offers:

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Special offers:

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Spinda’s Juice Bar
- Ginseng can no longer be selected for a drink.
- New items (Sweet Heart, Aspear Berry) added for juice recipes.
- Juices provide stronger effects (e.g., +4 Max HP instead of +2 for status berries).
- Golden Apple juice has a 50% chance of giving a Miracle Drink or Event Drink effect.
- Plain Seed juice guarantees a reduction in stats by 1–3 points.

Clefairy
- She is found outside of Wigglytuff’s Guild and gives rewards based on the number of unique species recruited

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Wigglytuff
- He grants rewards for recruiting legendary Pokémon, They can be claimed after unlocking Marine Resort.

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Dusclops
- Dusclops is unlocked after increasing your money pouch capacity. He lets you store and withdraw stacks of $99,999, allowing more than $100,000 in your bag.

Porygon2 (New NPC at Crossroads)
- Porygon2 is a very important NPC now found at Crossroads. They offer a bunch of utilities: some are always available like the Password menu, some are based on your rank.

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Gliscor 
- Gliscor is found at the Passage of Time after unlocking Destiny Tower. He trades some of the best items in the game for rare resources.

System changes

  • Crossroads Adventure Menu has been changed:
    - After graduating from the guild, a direct access to Luminous Spring is unlocked.
    - After starting the Shaymin event, a direct access to Shaymin Village is unlocked.
    - After finishing Special Episode 5 and completing the Darkrai events, a direct access to the Passage of Time is granted. This is the only way to explore Future Dungeons, including Atomic Wastes and Forgotten Inlet in future versions. Some NPCs can only be found in this location.
  • Mission Rankings
    - Missions now reflect the actual difficulty of the game and rewards have been adjusted to align with these rankings.
  • Sharpedo Bluff
    - The base warp now provides direct access to Crossroads, with the option to choose Sharpedo Bluff’s outside area.
  • Wonder Mail S
    - It is automatically unlocked at the start of the game in God Mode. In other modes, it is unlocked after completing Destiny Tower on any difficulty.


Gameplay Additions and Changes

- A new overworld section has been added between the Stockade and Chasm Cave. This segment includes a unique challenge that impacts gameplay if failed.
- The Fairy-type, Fairy Gummi, and Fairy-type relationships have been introduced (credits to an anonymous contributor). Several Pokémon now have the Fairy typing, and Fairy-exclusive items are available.
- Following new quests and game events, a bunch of new dungeons have been added and others have been updated:

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- You can now rematch story bosses in harder fights by using a Dream Catcher in specific places.
   Dream Catchers can be found at the end of certain dungeons.
   Rewards include the boss's 3-star exclusive item and a high chance of receiving a Dream Shard.
- An Emergency Bag is available through Porygon2 mid-dungeon NPCs in Vanilla and Difficult difficulties. It provides useful supplies to ensure success in story dungeons. In Difficult mode, the bag is available only once per dungeon and requires clearing a dungeon to refresh the option.
- Pelipper Island offers additional support for story dungeons before Darkrai events (excluding Hardcore difficulty).


Major dungeon changes
Revamped Dungeon UI
- HP Bar displays the HP ratio instead of just the first 112 HP. Thanks to an anonymous contributor and Frostbyte for implementation support.
- New UI indicators show current difficulty, level scaling option, and Pokémon Belly on the main screen.
- When pressing L, players can see their Pokémon's raw stats, stat boosts, and whether Inverse Mode is active alongside the move list. Thanks to Nov for key implementation help.

Story Dungeon Adjustments
All story dungeons now emphasize unique mechanics across all difficulties. Changes include:

  • Beach Cave: Contains general supplies on each floor.
  • Mystifying Forest: Kecleon Shops guarantee Evolution Items every three floors, starting from Floor 1.
  • Oran Forest: Replaced with Nectar Forest, a dungeon for farming Nectars.
  • Aegis Cave: Puzzle mechanics are now less frustrating. A new section has been added, housing Regidrago and Regieleki.
  • Destiny Tower: Adjusted to match the Super Mystery Dungeon (SMD) variant.
  • Mazes: Offer a gradual difficulty curve and opportunities to farm Gummies. Access is limited to once per day before defeating Dialga.
  • Grid Rooms, taken from Gates to Infinity, are special in-dungeon sections featuring puzzles, mini-bosses, or unique encounters with special enemies. Their availability varies based on dungeon difficulty. They are often found in story dungeons.

New Gameplay Mechanics

  • Enemy rosters are now more varied.
  • Spawn rates for enemies, traps, and items now scale based on difficulty settings.
  • When a Pokémon’s HP is critically low, a pain portrait is shown (if available), thanks to Chesyon’s patch.
  • The map dynamically updates like in recent Pokémon Mystery Dungeon titles, courtesy of Chesyon.
  • Free Camera Mode: A new mode allows players to look around a room using Select and the D-pad:
    Enemy Inspection: Pressing A on an enemy shows its typing, level, and abilities.
    Target Display: Holding R and pressing Y when facing a target provides similar details.
  • Team members are teleported to the team leader before purchases to prevent exploitative setups.
  • Enemies can now regenerate HP, preventing exploits that break the game balance.

Improved Visual Feedback

  • Enemies in a "pinch" are now marked with an exclamation mark above their heads, signifying abilities like Blaze could be active on it.
  • Level-up summaries are more concise and faster to process.
  • Using the last PP of a move now triggers an animation and notification.

Other Adjustments

  • Stat boosts and drops have been overhauled for balance. Offensive stat caps have been lifted.
  • The turn-based speed system has been adjusted for fairness:
    Pokémon can no longer chain infinite movements after attacking.
    This change is disabled in Vanilla mode for players seeking a classic experience.
  • A new status condition, Frostbite, behaves as a special burn:
    It reduces special attack and causes damage over time.
    The chance of inflicting Frostbite with moves is higher in Hail or Snow.
    Ice-types are immune to Frostbite.
    It is cured by walking on lava or being afflicted with burn, poison, or paralysis.
    Permafrost is introduced as a Frostbite-inflicting move with its own TM.
  • Critical Hits now ignore the attacker’s drops and the defender’s buffs, matching main-series mechanics.
    Default chance is 1/32.
    High critical-hit ratio moves have a 1/16 chance to crit.
    Scope Lens, Super Luck, Sharpshooter, and Patsy Band now double chances.
    Focus Energy multiplies critical-hit chances by 8 and lasts 15 turns.
    Type-Advantage Master now grants +50% critical-hit damage on super-effective hits, stacking with Sniper.  
     

Complete Team Control (by Cipnit)
- Automatic mode only allows you to control the party leader.
- Manual mode allows you to control party members individually. Following action order, you decide how to spend each party members turn. They can do anything the leader can do, even opening the Treasure Bag! However, their Belly will deplete during their turn. This mode can be triggered on and off by pressing Start on your Leader's turn. A Manual mode indicator has been added to improve clarity for players.
- Belly consumption is applied correctly to all allies, preventing exploits like walking through walls without Belly depletion.

Mysteriosity System
The Mysteriosity System, inspired by Gates to Infinity, introduces a dynamic layer of unpredictability to dungeon exploration. This feature becomes available after defeating Darkrai and operates daily based on two variables:

  • V-Wave Type
    The Windmill at Crossroads reveals the V-Wave type for the day.
    Effects: Pokémon of the V-Wave type (both allies and enemies) deal 50% more damage in dungeons.
     
  • Level of Weirdness
    Determined each morning by your partner’s dialogue:
    - Great day: Level 0 (15% chance)
    - Bright day: Level 1 (25% chance)
    - Fantastic day: Level 2 (25% chance)
    - Amazing day: Level 3 (20% chance)
    - Fascinating day: Level 4 (10% chance)
    - Wonderful day: Level 5 (5% chance)
    - Stressful day: Level 6 (0.025% chance)
     
  • Effects by Weirdness Level
    - Level 1
    Increased item density (+70%), enemy density (+50%), and trap density (+20%).
    Sticky items have a 5% chance of appearing.
    1-species floors (10% chance, not present at Level 5 or higher).

    - Level 2
    Adds random effects such as Embargo, Heal Block, Gastro Acid, Taunt, or Mist.
    Monster House spawn rate increases (10% chance).

    - Level 3
    Locked rooms appear, requiring a key to access rare items.
    Golden Rooms have a 10% chance to appear.

    - Level 4
    Golden Halls have a 1% chance of appearing, transforming entire floors into Golden Rooms with Sitrus Berries, Golden Apples, Joy Seeds, etc...
    Cursed Halls (4% chance) appear, tripling Belly depletion.

    - Level 5
    Enemies no longer experience damage reduction.
    Terra Incognita, a mysterious location, becomes accessible (planned for future updates).
     
  • Managing Mysteriosity
    - Flygon is a new NPC found in Shaymin Village. He will use a Mystery Part in your bag to manually adjust the Weirdness Level. He also can disable the Mysteriosity System for free if desired.
    - Mystery Parts are found in dungeons like Mysterious Geoglyph, Fallen Star Remains, Fire Field, and Trackless Forest through wall excavation.
     
  • Restrictions
    Mysteriosity is disabled in certain key dungeons, including Future Dungeons, Hidden Land, Temporal Tower, Chaotic Wilds, Spacial Rift, Zero Isles, Destiny Tower, and Special Episodes.


Ginseng System
The Ginseng mechanics have been completely reworked, adding depth to move upgrades and power scaling.
Previously, using a single Ginseng increased a move’s base power by 1.
Moves now level up with Ginseng, affecting multiple aspects such as base power, accuracy, and PP:
- Levels 1–10: Requires 1 Ginseng per level.
- Levels 11–20: Requires 2 Ginsengs per level.
- Level 20–Crown: Requires 3 Ginsengs per level.
- Level Crown: The maximum upgrade level through regular Ginsengs. Crowned moves gain significant power, accuracy, and PP boosts.
- Level Infinity: Achieved with a Ginseng Infinity after reaching Level Crown. Unlocks ultimate evolution, granting even greater stat boosts and PP.

Note: PP boosts vary by move type and are capped differently for balance.


Pokemon additions
Several new forms and species have been added, each with unique portraits, stats, movesets, exclusive items, and sprites:
- Unovan Forms: Zoroark-line.
- Alolan Forms: Raticate-line, Raichu, Sandslash, Ninetales, Dugtrio, Persian, Muk, Golem, Marowak.
- Galarian Forms: Rapidash-line, Cursola-line.
- Hisuian Forms: Arcanine-line, Electrode-line, Sneasler-line, Overqwil-line, Zoroark-line.
- New Evolutions: Ursaluna, Annihilape, Farigiraf.

Exclusive Evolution Methods:
- Ursaluna: Evolves from Ursaring using a Coronet Rock and Lunar Ribbon.
- Annihilape: Evolves from Primeape with a Broken Bangle and Lunar Ribbon. Gains damage reduction while under the Rage status.
- Farigiraf: Evolves from Girafarig when its IQ reaches 950+ and it knows Double Hit. The move Psybeam hits twice instead of once.

Legendary Pokémon Additions:
- Regidrago and Regieleki: Both have been added with exclusive items:
         Volt Sash: Protects Regieleki from stat reduction.
         Drake Sash: Protects Regidrago from stat reduction.
- Genesect comes with three exclusive items:
         G-Pulse: Prevents PP consumption when attacking.
         G-Drive: Protects Genesect from move-disabling effects.
         G-Fuel: Absorbs Fire damage and converts it into HP recovery.
- Diancie:
         Comes with the Royal Jewel, which protects her from critical hits.
- Marshadow:
         Comes with the Zenith Torc, granting a chance for invisibility when taking a hit.
- Eternatus:
         Comes with the Nuclear Core, which allows him to ignore Reflect and Light Screen when attacking.

Note: Exclusive items for all non-legendary Pokémon are available in Croagunk’s Swap Shop.


Pokemon changes
Many Pokémon have received updated typings to reflect modern games and provide a different gameplay experience:

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NOTE: A toggle in the L-menu allows players to disable non-Vanilla typings if desired. The standard for Vanilla typings is Generation 6.

- All stages of evolution now benefit from rebalanced and personalized level-up stats, allowing them to remain viable throughout all the game's content.
- Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina can hold their respective items (Adamant Crystal, Lustrous Globe, or Griseous Core) to switch between Alternate and Origin forms. Origin forms provide significant boosts to STAB moves and alter stats.
- Kyogre and Groudon can undergo Primal Reversion by holding Alpha or Omega Shards. Their primal forms summon super-weather conditions (Harsh Sunlight or Heavy Rain) with enhanced effects.
- Rayquaza can Mega Evolve when holding the Delta Shard. It also summons Strong Winds, reducing Flying-type weaknesses.
- Diancie Mega Evolves with the Diancite, trading defensive stats for heightened offenses.

Shiny system
- Strong Foes from RTDX have been added to the game, they are Shiny Pokémon that can now appear in specific dungeons, offering recruitment opportunities for rare species. Shiny Pokémon have enhanced stat curves, sometimes unique ability sets and special IQ groups.

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Item Changes
- Golden Mask: Boosts recruitment rates by 25%.
- Miracle Chest and Wonder Chest: Adjusted boosts for balance. Miracle Chest provides 1.5× the previous Wonder Chest boost, while Wonder Chest now provides 1.3× the previous Miracle Chest boost to account for rarity differences.
- World Treasures now boost recruitment rates by 30%. The term "World Treasures" has replaced "Seven Treasures" to reflect the expanded pool of treasures and related events.
- Amber Tear has been replaced with Holy Lyre, granting a 100% recruitment boost.
- Updated exclusive items following Fairy-type implementation: Stern Sash, Afire Collar, Barrier Bow, Friend Torc, and Fairy Bow.
- Exclusive effects from Nidoking-line, Dewgong-line, Blissey-line, Pelipper-line, Plusle, Minun, Roserade-line, Wailord-line, and Lunatone who recover their PP upon being damage have a chance reduced from 30% to 10%.
- Old Brooch (Aerodactyl) now protects from thrown items.
- Life Ring (Mew) extends self-move effects to the entire team.
- Silver Veil (Lugia) matches Rainbow Veil, occasionally bouncing status moves back to the attacker.
- Ice Sash (Regice) halves damage taken from special moves.
- Steel Sash (Registeel) reflects status moves back to the user with a chance.
- Revive Robe (Deoxys) now gives a chance to consume no PP when using a move.
- New Exclusive Items:
   Manaphy: Oceanic Globe increases Movement Speed by 1 in Rainy Weather.
   Shaymin: Gratitude Bouquet extends self-move effects to the entire team.
   Primal Dialga: Corrupted Shield protects from status problems and boosts Defense/Special Defense.
   Primal Palkia: Corrupted Blade protects from status problems and boosts Attack/Special Attack.
   Antagonist Darkrai: Harbinger’s Robe allows attacks to bypass Reflect and Light Screen.


Moves Changes
General Updates
- Move Names have been updated to match the most recent names from the main series.
- Certain outdated moves, such as Kinesis, Sharpen, Spider Web, Barrage, and Vacuum-Cut, have been removed. These are replaced with newer-generation moves in learnsets.

Balance changes
- Moves generally have increased accuracy and PP to match higher spawn rates and enemy difficulty.
- Fixed AI behavior for moves that previously acted incorrectly like Ice Shard.

Move additions
A variety of moves from Gen V onward have been implemented, complete with unique animations and effects:

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Moves down below have been introduced following Fairy-type implementation:

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Move reworks
- Regular attacks now always hit their target. To balance this, their power is quartered instead of halved. All instances of the Sure-Hit Attacker IQ Skill have been replaced by Cautious Creeper.
- Bone Club, Bone Rush, and Bonemerang deal double damage when used by Marowak or Alolan Marowak. When used by Alolan Marowak, these moves become Ghost-type and gain Same Type Attack Bonus.
- SmellingSalt, Mega Kick and Mega Punch are now Fighting-type
- Dream Eater has been replaced by Soul Eater, a Ghost-type clone of Giga Drain. When used by Drowzee or Hypno, it becomes Psychic-type instead.
- Thrash functions as a clone of Outrage or Petal Dance.
- Pursuit now deals damage, with power doubled if the target has a status condition.
- Avalanche deals direct damage, with power doubled if the target is below 50% HP.
- Tail Glow boosts Special Attack by 3 stages.
- Growth boosts Attack and Special Attack by 1 stage by default and heals some HP if used under Sunlight.
- Moonlight, Synthesis, and Morning Sun heal a percentage of HP based on the weather instead of a fixed amount.
- Roost now heals a percentage of Max HP instead of flat 40 HP.
- Recoil Moves now deal recoil damage based on the actual damage dealt. Most recoil moves now also pounce the user toward the target, allowing them to hit from a distance.
- Memento reduces the target’s Attack and Special Attack by 5 stages, sets the user’s HP to 1 but no longer warps them. It also fails on boss floors.
- Charm lowers the target's Attack by 3 stages.
- Screech lowers the target's Defense by 3 stages.
- Aurora Beam lowers the target's Attack by 2 stages.
- Hidden Power now always has a base power of 12.
- Crush Grip deals damage while ignoring the target's stat boosts.
- Aqua Ring triggers every 2 turns and restores 1/16th of the user’s Max HP.
- Magic Coat reflects status moves, even those used at a distance.
- Wish affects the entire party and lasts 100–150 turns, but its PP has been heavily reduced.
- Stealth Rock deals 1/6th of the target's Max HP to all non-Rock-type Pokémon.
- Frustration and Return now scale damage based on IQ, with fixed-damage variants available by holding the corresponding item (available via Kecleon Shops in Zero Isles)
- U-Turn, Flip Turn and Volt Switch now swap the user with the Pokémon directly behind, following GtI+ mechanics.
- Rage deals damage while maintaining its classic effect like in GtI+ games (credits go to Kuz)
- Knock Off deals bonus damage to targets holding items; removes the item if the target survives. (credits to Adex once again)
- Hyper Beam/Giga Impact has range extended to 10 tiles and causes wall-breaking explosions.
- Nature Power has more diverse effects in dungeons. Here's the list of available moves:

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Status duration reworks

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Area and Range adjustments

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Abilities
Updated abilities

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Removed Duplicate Abilities

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Added abilities

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IQ Mechanics overhaul
- All IQ groups now have 32 skills (previously 24).
- IQ Group S contains 48 skills, exclusive to Shiny Legendaries and Purple Kecleon.
- IQ Group Alpha contains 56 skills, exclusive to Arceus.
- Feeding gummies and Nectars grants way more IQ points.

Skill Adjustments
- Lava Evader is replaced with Heat Protector, granting immunity to burns.
- Sure-Hit Attacker is Removed and replaced by Cautious Creeper, which prevents waking sleeping enemies when walking past them.
- Multitalent now increases max PP by 25% of the base value instead of +5 PP.
- Trap Buster no longer destroys Wonder Tiles.
- Brick-Tough now increases HP by 1/8 of the Pokémon’s max HP instead of a flat +10 boost.
- Intimidator has its proc rate reduced from 32% to 18%; no longer drains PP unless interrupting multi-hit moves.

Boss fights
Important Notes
- In Expert and Hardcore, bosses no longer run out of PP. This change prevents defensive setups from forcing bosses into a self-KO using Struggle.
- Field effects are disabled in Vanilla and Difficult.
- Boss stats (except HP) scale with difficulty:
  Vanilla: Approximately 75% of Expert stats/levels.
  Difficult: Approximately 88% of Expert stats/levels.
- In Expert and Hardcore, bosses deal more damage than regular enemies.
- Items cannot be stolen or knocked off during boss floors to prevent the loss of critical items.

Field effects
Boss battles sometimes operate under certain conditions.
When the message "A mysterious aura flared to life!" appears at the start of the fight, it means you are under these conditions! Currently, the active field effect is only displayed in the message log, with no direct visual indicator.
When the aura strengthens the boss, it may recover from status effects more quickly.

Depending on the location, here are the auras that can affect bosses:

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Sometimes, auras boosts stats:

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Sometimes, auras summon cataclysms:

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Some fields only trigger for specific species:

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Sometimes, auras are detrimental to your party:

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Miscellanous and various dungeon additions

Inventory and Item Changes
- On Vanilla difficulty and God Mode, you retain your full inventory even if you lose in a dungeon.
- A password system allows you to keep your inventory across other modes as well.
- Heavenly Apple replaces Mime Jr. in the Secret Bazaar. It is a dungeon-exclusive item that disappears after you leave the dungeon.
- An Escape Orb replaces Shedinja in the Secret Bazaar, as both items served the same function.
- Grab Bags from Swalot no longer have a fixed 50% chance to provide an Oran Berry. The available items list has been expanded and normalized across all dungeons.
- The game’s mechanic, which replaced duplicated items in Fixed Rooms with Reviver Seeds, has been removed.

Weather Adjustments
- Rain and Sun effects now increase Water/Fire-type damage and decrease Fire/Water-type damage by 25% (previously 50%).
- Cloudy weather no longer reduces Ghost-type move damage.
- Foggy weather reduces Flying-type move damage.
- Hail now boosts Ice-types' Defense, similar to Sandstorm boosting Rock-types' Special Defense.
- Weather damage no longer cut you off from running in a hallway (courtesy of Frostbyte).
  Likewise, this game behavior has been applied to secondary terrain.

Status and Mechanics Adjustments
- Burn: Reduces physical damage by 25% and no longer affects special damage.
- Attempting to poison a Pokémon already poisoned will trigger Bad Poison, which increases damage over time, capping at 20 HP per tick.
- Electric-types are now immune to Paralysis.
- Grass-types are immune to Powder and Spore moves.
- Ghost-types are immune to Shadow Hold.

Dungeon Mechanics Updates
- "immune" damage has been nerfed (50% -> 25%), Same Type Attack Bonus has also been nerfed (50% -> 33%)
- Spammy messages like “is watching carefully” or “protected by Magic Guard” now appear only in the Message Log to avoid slowing down gameplay.
- Trying to leave a floor with a pending mission triggers a warning to prevent accidental progression.
- After reviving Luminous Spring, you receive a passive 1.25× EXP boost and gain additional Explorer Points from missions, easing the grind toward higher ranks.
- Non legendary room moves have an AI range of 2-tiles away
- Camera transition are 3 times faster than in normal game
- Allies can now trigger traps on their own
- Magnezone and Magnemite clients have fixed stats and movesets (and are also Shiny in dungeon now). This has been done to reflect their importance in the Pokémon world.

Gameplay Updates
- Sentry Duty has upgraded rewards
- Kangaskhan Rocks are replaced by Porygon2 in dungeons. They allow for more options in general to prepare for the upcoming boss fight.
- An optional evolution-related event has been added after completing Sky Peak.
- You can now feed Manaphy with a Blue Gummi or Wonder Gummi. Feeding it a Wonder Gummi triggers a slightly different cutscene.
- An optional boss fight against “Cresselia” has been added in The Nightmare.
- Some areas now feature permanent dungeon field effects.
- Future Dungeons (Chasm Cave, Dark Hill, and others): Pokémon’s most proficient stats are boosted in higher difficulties.
  In Difficult, the enemy damage reduction is lifted instead.
- Hidden Land Segment: Time Gears provide a 1.1× stat boost (except Accuracy and Evasion) during the first visit in all difficulties except Hardcore.
- Spacial Rift and Chaotic Wilds: These dungeons feature permanent Inverse Mode.
- Explorer Rank upgrade dungeons are unlocked after recycling 150 times along with Zero Isle Center if you have beaten World Abyss.
  Updating the game won't unlock the dungeons, they will be unlocked instead from the Crossroads menu
- Zero Isle North proposes a new restriction: you're given a survival bag, and your goal is to finish the dungeon with it.
  At the end of the dungeon, you will keep your inventory.
  The bag pools are fixed and you have a fixed chance to get any of them: 3 bags are at 30% and focus on one specific type of item management, 2 bags are at 5% and focus on overall survivability... or not.
- Zero Isle East is a stat-reset dungeon where all entries stats are recalculated following the main series formula.
  You cannot gain any Exp and the stats return back to normal when leaving the dungeon.
  For limitation reasons, your stats other than HP are calculated using half your level.
  That means a level 86 Pokémon will have its HP at level 86 with 252 EVs while it will have its Attack at level 43 with 252 EVs and a neutral nature.
  The speed stat is also taken in account for the crit chance, which is calculated like in Gen 1 (barring the glitches) depending on the Base Speed.
- Zero Isle South is a level-reset centered around item management and replayability inspired by Etrian Odyssey.
  Legendaries have a special restriction which drains their belly drastically faster, this is to make up for the higher level 1 stats they have.

Screenshots

New Title Screens

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New UI

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More Starter choices

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Systems added to the game

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A few game additions

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Some QoL features

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A fraction of Porygon2's features

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Small look into new puzzles and events

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A bunch of dungeon changes

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... and more to experience!

Known bugs
- Using the Inspector mode with R+Y messes up with your game
- Swapping from Alternate to Origin forms or Mega-Evolving Diancie/Manectric has a chance to cause ally sprites to disappear. Also "apparent" forms might not be affected by exclusive item effects
- Triggering the anti-steal check or the no-proximity check from Kecleon shops in specific positions might cause a very very long loop of warps
- Ultimate Items calculation might work incorrectly. The feature is still experimental, don't forget to post all feedbacks!
- Deoxys and Shaymin might be unstable. Report bugs related to them if you find one!
- Randomizer and Starter selector don't check for total duo size when validating your party. Don't report bugs related to them as I am currently not in capacity of handling them. Also if you replaced sprites in the game and it crashes, you brought this upon yourself...
- MelonDS Mobile is having a lot of issues with the game. The emulator is initially very unstable due to its experimental nature so I'll recommand you change to another emulator if you find bugs on it in order to make sure the bug isn't emulator-tied.

Upcoming plans

Explorers of Alpha 4.0 aims to include all the mons, moves, abilities from Gen I to Gen IX in Explorers of Sky's setting while retaining Explorers of Sky's mechanics (Exclusive Items, IQ Skills, etc), expanding on field effects and custom mechanics even more.
As per usual, no ETA, it's going to be a long journey doing that alone.

Special Thanks

Frostbyte, Adex, Hecka, Nov and an anonymous contributor: they helped me a lot with all the tech support all along. Working alone on the tech part of the project is very hard sometimes, they helped me a lot with my bug fixing process and I can't thank them enough for that.
Fafnir, Anpyron, VOID, Kalor, Eixalde, Argon, Tokie, Aerophii, FlowerSnek and Picalex: they are my beloved testers and did most of the work for me, testing through the game over and over again, patch after patch, providing bug reports and feedback, helping to make the most fulfilling experience for everyone.
NikolaP: he is an idea guy and the best source of ideas I came across in this community. He provided so much gameplay ideas that I'm sometimes frustrated that I don't have time to test them all but I'm still happy to see him post his 452186451th idea nonetheless!
CapyPara, Audino, techticks, PsyCommando and UsernameFodder: they worked on documenting the game and developing tools around understanding and editing the game. They completely carry developers on their back at times and I can't thank them enough for the resources they put at our disposal.
baroness faron, emmuffin, FunnyKecleonMeme, Soulja, Deeshura, Cait Sith, JaiFain, Garbage, Nooga...
They are working on filling in assets for SpriteCollab. I wanted to credit the most active ones because they are absolutely cracked.

Here is the xdelta patch for the 3.0.2 patch: Alpha_302.xdelta. It is meant to be patched on a clean US Explorers of Sky ROM with xDelta UI. It should be completely compatible with all supports. If you'd like to contact me, you can try to shoot me a DM on Discord (@lingeringlifeline) or on Twitter (@EoAlpha_off).

Edited by Alphadaemon
Emergency fix for 3.0.2
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  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha (Important fix: 2/2 10:55 PM, UTC+1)
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Alphadaemon
Alphadaemon

About this release General idea Explorers of Alpha has been developed with replayability and accessibility in mind. Ever since injecting custom code has been normalized in the Sky modding

Alphadaemon
Alphadaemon

No losing penalty for Exclusive sounds fair, I'm gonna add it ! Thanks for the idea !   Drastic seems to be 100% compatible in the next version so there's that.   Max Elixirs a

Alphadaemon
Alphadaemon

Thanks for the kind words! All credits dued for SMD move shortcuts go to End and Irdkwia, not me, just so you know. 2.0 adds a ton of stuff to make the game more enjoyable for everyone, I'm

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  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha 1.0.2 (2/5 7:40 PM UTC+1)
Cygnus_Harvey

Cygnus_Harvey

Posted
Posted

Hey, this seems legit amazing. I know documentation is not ready yet, but could you tell me some of the starters's changes? I'd like to know what I can get before choosing anyone!

  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha 1.1 (2/8 3:26 PM UTC+1)
  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha 1.2 (2/22 5:57 PM UTC+1)
Wark

Wark

Posted
Posted

Hi! :)

If I can make a little criticism, i think that the increased spawnrate is a little bit frustrating, it dramatically slows down the gameplay and makes the experience less enjoyable.

It is really a shame considering the amount of amazing stuff you added to the game! 

Anyway, i also wanted to ask if there's actually the possibility to obtain a shiny starter and/or partner. Thx in advance!

  • Ditto 1
Alphadaemon

Alphadaemon

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 2/24/2021 at 3:51 PM, Wark said:

Hi! :)

If I can make a little criticism, i think that the increased spawnrate is a little bit frustrating, it dramatically slows down the gameplay and makes the experience less enjoyable.

It is really a shame considering the amount of amazing stuff you added to the game! 

Anyway, i also wanted to ask if there's actually the possibility to obtain a shiny starter and/or partner. Thx in advance!

Expand  

I've been told about spawnrate being frustrating in the second and third dungeon, at the start of the game, haven't heard anyone complaining about spawnrate being an issue afterwards (maybe in Mt. Horn it's an issue but I've heard no complain about Mt. Horn so...). That's one of the main goals of the hack and you have to get used to it. Other "hardmodes" still spawn a pokemon each 36 steps which makes the hack ridiculously easy.
I wanted this hack to be a real hardmode and chose the difficulty over the potential "slow gameplay" you're mentioning.
Gameplay isn't "slow" as you're stating here later in the game so I assume you've just started playing, but I admit it's slower and sometimes frustrating early in the game because of layouts being basic and restricted in their generation
As I stated in the post, Shiny are only for Gender Exclusive pokemon like Gallade or Vespiquen and a few exceptions, and I don't think you will ever get a shiny of your starter in Explorers of Alpha...

  On 2/11/2021 at 12:54 PM, shrimpy said:

is it possible to make pokemon evolve like in the regular games? always found it odd how a shinx can beat dialga or whatever.

Expand  

Sadly not yet, maybe one day we'll have a way to evolve pokemon during the scenario (after Luminous Spring revives for instance), but for now it's not possible

  On 2/2/2021 at 3:30 PM, Ryoung42 said:

Hey I Can Help You With The Sprites And The Portraits Since Im A Spriter

Expand  

If you want to help, you should join SkyTemple Discord and submit the sprite you made under spritebot section here. That's the best way you could help me here

20alever

20alever

Posted
Posted

Hello! I have ran into an issue while playing through this hack. The hack is wonderful, and I really do enjoy playing through it. When I beat Dialga, I ran into an infinite loop with the cutscene after you beat him. There is no way for me to get around it. It really is a shame, as it took me so long to reach him. Has the issue already been fixed?

 

Alphadaemon

Alphadaemon

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 2/28/2021 at 5:35 PM, 20alever said:

Hello! I have ran into an issue while playing through this hack. The hack is wonderful, and I really do enjoy playing through it. When I beat Dialga, I ran into an infinite loop with the cutscene after you beat him. There is no way for me to get around it. It really is a shame, as it took me so long to reach him. Has the issue already been fixed?

Expand  

Issue already fixed since 1.0.1. It's written in changelogs above. Friendly reminder for future posts:

- updating your game will solve your issue 99% of the time since I fixed a ton of bugs between versions, and I'll fix a ton of bugs again if needed

- look for bug fixes to see if your issue is referenced in

- some bugs occur when you downgrade your game and port a save from current version to previous ones. Check if these bugs are present in the last version of the game before reporting it

 

That being said, I'm happy to tell you you can beat Dialga once again in an updated version and resume your journey !

  • Relieved 1
  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha 1.2 (2/22 5:57 PM UTC+1) (Post concerning future updates: 3/4 11:59 AM UTC+1)
Alphadaemon

Alphadaemon

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 3/1/2021 at 1:45 AM, Corvo said:

Where is the latest version so that I can patch it.
Sorry still kind of new to all of this

 

Expand  

At the very end of the post, there's a xdelta. It's the patch you need, and you need to apply it on a NDS Explorers of Sky Rom

  • 1 month later...
JasonTheHero

JasonTheHero

Posted
Posted
  On 2/24/2021 at 3:51 PM, Wark said:

Hi! :)

If I can make a little criticism, i think that the increased spawnrate is a little bit frustrating, it dramatically slows down the gameplay and makes the experience less enjoyable.

It is really a shame considering the amount of amazing stuff you added to the game! 

Anyway, i also wanted to ask if there's actually the possibility to obtain a shiny starter and/or partner. Thx in advance!

Expand  

This is my same complaint. I really want to play the game out, but I'm at waterfall cave and if I go the wrong way, I end up stuck in a mob of pokemon. Its not hard, its boring. It took me 10 minutes with the game on 1.5x just to get to level 5. I really think the spawnrate needs to be 75% or 50% of what it is now.

 

Other than that, this looks and plays really well. I can't wait to see the end game

  • 2 weeks later...
AtlasCrushed

AtlasCrushed

Posted
Posted (edited)

Loving the hack so far. Just a quick note, I think I may have found a bug involving moves like flamethrower and sludge bomb that fire in a line. Whenever my partner sees an enemy in front, he'll use it, even if I'm between him and the enemy so I get blasted. Just wondering if you know about it.

Edited by AtlasCrushed
Dimedime

Dimedime

Posted
Posted
  On 5/7/2021 at 3:35 AM, AtlasCrushed said:

Loving the hack so far. Just a quick note, I think I may have found a bug involving moves like flamethrower and sludge bomb that fire in a line. Whenever my partner sees an enemy in front, he'll use it, even if I'm between him and the enemy so I get blasted. Just wondering if you know about it.

Expand  

I've also had this happen to me on one occasion. The Celebi escort in the story gets Aura Sphere (line of sight move), and if I use manual team control to make them use it when I'm between an enemy, I'm the one who gets hit. The Gap Prober IQ skill (enabled by default for all Pokes at 0 IQ) is supposed to allow it to attack through teammates, but maybe it doesn't apply for escorts?

Anyways, this hack is super fun. The development time really shows, looking forward to 1.3. I got a lot of shiny legendary recruit grinding to do in the meantime, along with waiting for Entei's challenge letter.

Alphadaemon

Alphadaemon

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 5/7/2021 at 3:35 AM, AtlasCrushed said:

Loving the hack so far. Just a quick note, I think I may have found a bug involving moves like flamethrower and sludge bomb that fire in a line. Whenever my partner sees an enemy in front, he'll use it, even if I'm between him and the enemy so I get blasted. Just wondering if you know about it.

Expand  

This issue comes from Gap Prober, it's an issue I can't fix by myself for now unfortunately

  On 4/27/2021 at 10:09 PM, JasonTheHero said:

This is my same complaint. I really want to play the game out, but I'm at waterfall cave and if I go the wrong way, I end up stuck in a mob of pokemon. Its not hard, its boring. It took me 10 minutes with the game on 1.5x just to get to level 5. I really think the spawnrate needs to be 75% or 50% of what it is now.

 

Other than that, this looks and plays really well. I can't wait to see the end game

Expand  

It's gonna be 40%, I have found another way to deal with spawning

  On 5/12/2021 at 3:01 PM, Dimedime said:

I've also had this happen to me on one occasion. The Celebi escort in the story gets Aura Sphere (line of sight move), and if I use manual team control to make them use it when I'm between an enemy, I'm the one who gets hit. The Gap Prober IQ skill (enabled by default for all Pokes at 0 IQ) is supposed to allow it to attack through teammates, but maybe it doesn't apply for escorts?

Anyways, this hack is super fun. The development time really shows, looking forward to 1.3. I got a lot of shiny legendary recruit grinding to do in the meantime, along with waiting for Entei's challenge letter.

Expand  

I'm glad you like my take on EoS!
Celebi has IQ Group I, which means I still have this issue with Course Checker being in this IQ Group. It'll be fixed in 1.3
Speaking of 1.3, I'm slowly working on it. Being busy with real life and personal issues has delayed my project a lot, though I'm slowly but gently coming back into it with more new stuff

  • Like 1
Attila0501

Attila0501

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a problem. After completing the 1st Special episode, the game softlocks while looking up the Jobs Bulletin Board. Why does this error keep happening?

Nevermind. Problem solved somehow.

Edited by Attila0501
  • 4 weeks later...
sunvalkyrie

sunvalkyrie

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello. I've been playing Explorers of Alpha for over 40 hours now and I am really grateful for all the hard work put into this amazing game. 

I've been wondering for a while now, but are there specific pokemon that can be shiny, while others can't, or is it absolutely random?

For me, I've found at least 30 shinies in one run in Surrounded Sea, and I found 7 shiny Milotics before being able to recruit one. And yet I've been looking for a favorite of mine which is Mawile, but I've had no luck. Its a question I been worrying over, and I'm grateful for any information.

I've ran into a few softlocks regarding job bulletin and outlaw missions, both when looking for missions as well as completing them, but nothing that grave that would make me unable to play. I took the habit of saving often hehe.

Also it would be really helpful if there was a IQ group table and which pokemon belongs to what group. Building a team for some missions or situations would be much more efficient with a simple table.

I apologize if it sounds like I'm complaining. I'm loving the game thus far, and just to imagine that there will be more updates to it makes me even more excited. Thank you very much for the game, and I hope all the best for you and your team. Cheers.

Edited by sunvalkyrie
Typos
Bardish

Bardish

Posted
Posted

Hi there, hoping you are well!

I downloaded the original rom, downloaded the patch, applied it with (I think) with an xdelta UI programme, it works fine when I run it on my PC's emulator, but I figured I'd also try to use it on the emulator on my phone. The rom worked prior, but when I use the patched version, it crashes the app on startup. Do you happen to know of any way around this or can this version not be played via a mobile (Android by the way)

Thanks!

  • Alphadaemon changed the title to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha 1.2 (patch: 2/22 5:57 PM UTC+1) (Last news: 6/18/2021 9:15 PM UTC+1)
Alphadaemon

Alphadaemon

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
  On 6/18/2021 at 9:18 AM, sunvalkyrie said:

Hello. I've been playing Explorers of Alpha for over 40 hours now and I am really grateful for all the hard work put into this amazing game. 

I've been wondering for a while now, but are there specific pokemon that can be shiny, while others can't, or is it absolutely random?

For me, I've found at least 30 shinies in one run in Surrounded Sea, and I found 7 shiny Milotics before being able to recruit one. And yet I've been looking for a favorite of mine which is Mawile, but I've had no luck. Its a question I been worrying over, and I'm grateful for any information.

I've ran into a few softlocks regarding job bulletin and outlaw missions, both when looking for missions as well as completing them, but nothing that grave that would make me unable to play. I took the habit of saving often hehe.

Also it would be really helpful if there was a IQ group table and which pokemon belongs to what group. Building a team for some missions or situations would be much more efficient with a simple table.

I apologize if it sounds like I'm complaining. I'm loving the game thus far, and just to imagine that there will be more updates to it makes me even more excited. Thank you very much for the game, and I hope all the best for you and your team. Cheers.

Expand  

I've ran into a few softlocks regarding job bulletin and outlaw missions, both when looking for missions as well as completing them, but nothing that grave that would make me unable to play. I took the habit of saving often hehe.
Could you give me some examples about this one? Wasn't it only with Job Bulletin?

Also it would be really helpful if there was a IQ group table and which pokemon belongs to what group. Building a team for some missions or situations would be much more efficient with a simple table.
I haven't changed IQ Groups, they are all vanilla aside of Purple Kecleon being S-Group, Shiny Celebi being I group, and all Shiny Legendaries being S-Group

Shinys are as follows (+ locations!):

  Reveal hidden contents

 

  On 6/18/2021 at 6:47 PM, Bardish said:

Hi there, hoping you are well!

I downloaded the original rom, downloaded the patch, applied it with (I think) with an xdelta UI programme, it works fine when I run it on my PC's emulator, but I figured I'd also try to use it on the emulator on my phone. The rom worked prior, but when I use the patched version, it crashes the app on startup. Do you happen to know of any way around this or can this version not be played via a mobile (Android by the way)

Thanks!

Expand  

It was tested on Mobile and works, I really don't know what's the cause of this issue honestly...
Alpha works on real hardware, Phone and PC emulators, all these were tested and work

Edited by Alphadaemon
sunvalkyrie

sunvalkyrie

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 6/18/2021 at 7:37 PM, Alphadaemon said:

I've ran into a few softlocks regarding job bulletin and outlaw missions, both when looking for missions as well as completing them, but nothing that grave that would make me unable to play. I took the habit of saving often hehe.
Could you give me some examples about this one? Wasn't it only with Job Bulletin?

Well, it stopped softlocking after mid-game / post game. It was pretty random. But the instances where a softlock happens is Opening the bulletin board / outlaw board at any time while in town, and also after a mission, before you even receive items or rescue mission points. The text wouldn't even appear, but the music plays normally. Everything else works normally, haven't had any issues with anything else. Shutting down the game solves it, but it stopped happening at all lately, so I guess it wasn't a bug or anything.

Also thanks for the table and all the information. Gonna start shiny hunting hehe. I appreciate it a lot.

Expand  

 

Edited by sunvalkyrie
Dimedime

Dimedime

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

Wow, thanks for the progress report.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

  On 6/18/2021 at 7:37 PM, Alphadaemon said:

Shinys are as follows (+ locations!):

Expand  

Much appreciated. Just another addendum to this list:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Edited by Dimedime
not done, accidentally hit crtl+enter to post

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