hack Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Alpha (3.0.3, last update 3/10/2025)

[JS_]

4 minutes ago, Yom said:

Just started playing the hack, and got my butt kicked on Hardcore. Is this difficulty designed to make you optimize your MC and Partner from the get go, or is it expected for you to reset like 5+ times just to get one clear of an exploration run?

Felt like early game enemies were too strong and too numerous for a random team of Cubone + Ralts to reliably clear a dungeon without a bag full of status items (which I dont have)

My team is h growlithe and finneon wich has some nice synergy with strom drain but i didn't really optimise my starters but they work pretty well

Early game definitely increases difficulty by trowing a lot of bodies at you but I'd say for me there was a mix of getting used to it and it also decreasing at some point 

But I also definitely struggled a bit at first 

But if you pick increased difficulty struggling and then getting better is the point no?

Some of the things I learned was using roar in combination with 2 tile moves to kill things you have no business killing this Early like in the dojo

I basically always have a joy ribbon and a miracle chest equipped and especially Early game joy ribbon can probably double or triple the exp you get

I think some status moves might be underrated especially early game

And you can press start to manually input commands for everyone incase you didn't know 

[JS_]

Once you do a couple of trades in spinda cafe you can also get nectar forrest (name might be wrong but you'll probably understand what i mean) and that gives you a lot of easy access to nectar and stuff 

That you can then use with the pirce hurler iq skill (a lot of groups get it but i vergot wich ones) for even more value

Im not shure if hardcore is already the hardest difficulty or the one before but if it is eat all your gummies on the spot you cant mix them to drinks anyway 

You can "farm" the century duty rewards by getting everything right as lat as possible so you can always get a perfect highscore for max rewards

If you don't already have it you can download sky temple and open the rom there 

This one specifically is nodding prove so if you change something here it won't be reflected in game but you can look at iq groups and level up movesets and stuff 

[JS_]

And if you find a guide or something online link it here I want to know what other people think about the game

(I also haven't read trough all the pages here yet because for now i don't have too much free time)

Also get good and skill issue or something but you probably knew that already jkjk

[Yom]

6 minutes ago, JS_ said:

Im not shure if hardcore is already the hardest difficulty or the one before but if it is eat all your gummies on the spot you cant mix them to drinks anyway 

I'm currently just past Drowzee and still havent ate any of my Gummies and Nectars yet, so this is good to know

11 minutes ago, JS_ said:

I basically always have a joy ribbon and a miracle chest equipped and especially Early game joy ribbon can probably double or triple the exp you get

I think some status moves might be underrated especially early game

And you can press start to manually input commands for everyone incase you didn't know 

Is EXP so important when enemy levels and stats scale off of your team's highest levelled pokemon anyways? The only status move I have right now is Disable on Ralts, while my only 2 range option is Shadow Sneak on Ralts too (who is my partner. Not MC). So I've been having difficulty dealing with enemies with ranged STAB moves, since I can't reliably deal with them before they get 1 or 2 hits in (while I usually die in 2 hits)

I'm currently trying to play while banning Manual Mode, cause I grew up without it. But if the difficulty is designed with it in mind, then I'll reconsider it 

[JS_]

Enemies do scale to your level 

But 1 they will get levels ither way when you progress with the story 

2 I think most of the starters have increased level up stats like a lot more +2s than normal 

3 you get level up moves 

(Especially in the special episode thingies there are some level up moves tou get after like 2 levels that make it a hole lot easier)

4 I just finished future and was like 5 -10 levels below grovile

But I still see where you are coming from and if someone else says farming exp is bs and they have a good explanation ill probably stop aswell 

It's just what I have been doing till now and I think it worked out

Banning manual mode just seems like addig more difficulty when its already not easy for you but I guess its more true to the original and you can do lots of stuff with tactics iqs and turning moves on amd off but manipulating ai a lot of the time takes a lot longer than switching to manual mode for the turn

 

[JS_]

I also saved all my gummies and nectar and when I found out I couldn't turn them in to drinks I was like dam I really made that harder for myself for no reason xd

[JS_]

Also quests and getting rank exp where a lot harder I'd sometimes be forced to end a dungen early after like the second quest even tho there would have been a 3rd just because there was a non 0 chance that I'd just die

[JS_]

Oke so maybe have exp items all teh time isn't necessary because there is a stat cap at 90 for the story apparently and I just hit that

But I would still recommend it for the start 

[Brendell]

18 hours ago, Yom said:

I'm currently just past Drowzee and still havent ate any of my Gummies and Nectars yet, so this is good to know

Is EXP so important when enemy levels and stats scale off of your team's highest levelled pokemon anyways? The only status move I have right now is Disable on Ralts, while my only 2 range option is Shadow Sneak on Ralts too (who is my partner. Not MC). So I've been having difficulty dealing with enemies with ranged STAB moves, since I can't reliably deal with them before they get 1 or 2 hits in (while I usually die in 2 hits)

I'm currently trying to play while banning Manual Mode, cause I grew up without it. But if the difficulty is designed with it in mind, then I'll reconsider it 

I don't think the difficulty was designed with Manual mode in mind. I pretty much only use it in situations that are insanely unfair. (I'm also playing full randomizer, so some BS does happen.) I think hardcore is intended to be innately unfair. I also think it's possible to play it without hyper optimizing from the get go, it just throws problems at you that you have to find a solution to. Sometimes the solution is cheesy, like equipping a joy ribbon and standing next to the stairs in the beach cave while shelders nip at your toes; occasionally eating an oran berry. Sometimes it's a last resort, like frantically digging through you bag to swap your stamina band for a defense band or even a mobile scarf and hiding in a wall to heal. Sometimes it's tactical, like using the 'wait here' tactic (manual mode) to set up in a hallway or bend, then running ahead to bait the monster house into the hallway. I dunno, there are a ton of options; what is the biggest wall for you at the moment, maybe I have something that can help.

I think the biggest benefit to leveling up a bunch despite the enemy scaling with you, is the breadth of the moves you have access to. For example: I know that Gardevoir, and I assume Ralts, gets Imprison. This is a very strong status move, as forces the paused condition on the target for several turns. Unfortunately I think it's pretty late. Ralts does get Future Sight pretty early, which I've used in level reset dungeons to make the auto targeting, range 10 geo pebbles deal x3.5 damage; or make throwing sticks with garbage ralts attack stat actually worth something. Also to note, raising Ralt's IQ actually provides team buffs as well, I think they have cheerleader, which gives extra attack and sp attack.

As for Cubone, I'd actually hang onto mud slap for a while, as lowering accuracy is pretty strong throughout the game. Another move you're coming up to is Focus Energy, which is real spicy in this game. The base crit has been changed to ignore the attacker's stat drops, and the defender's stat ups; and also has a base chance of 1/32. Focus energy takes that, and multiplies that chance by 8. If my math isn't wrong, that's a 1/4 chance to crit. If you can find a high crit TM, their base chance is 1/16, pumped to 1/2 by Focus Energy.

Speaking of TMs, they are very useful in the early game, though horribly hard to find and expensive. That said, Ralts has plenty of ranged moves they get acces to through them. Cubone is also one of those strange Gen 1 pokemon that gets access to a bunch of elemental TMs for little discernable reason. Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Blizzard- you know. This can be very helpful, though, as both Blizzard and Earth Power are Room clearers, and can attack outside of straight lines; letting you hit foes without retaliation. Just make sure to stop by beach cave every now and then to restock all the Max Elixirs you'll be chugging. ;3

[Adriandlfg]

Is the keep inventory pass out? In playing in expert and i like it being difficult but losing half my items is really a pain, i wouldnt mind losing revive seeds as its part of the game but losing other items makes you want to restart from a save point 

[Kirbypink]

1 hour ago, Adriandlfg said:

Is the keep inventory pass out? In playing in expert and i like it being difficult but losing half my items is really a pain, i wouldnt mind losing revive seeds as its part of the game but losing other items makes you want to restart from a save point 

I've created an account to ask this very same question. Absolutely loving this game so far, but after being almost softlocked trying to beat Groundon in expert mode without being able to go back and buy fresh items, I realised just how much I would enjoy the game having the inventory password.

I came looking for it in this thread: I am unsure whether this is one of the "mysterious three passwords" the creator has hinted is somewhere in the game that we need to search hints for, or if it simply does not exist. If anyone has access to it please do share. (Or if the creator would like these passwords to remain incredibly eluisive, please do send a message to me or Adrian!)

[Adriandlfg]

58 minutes ago, Kirbypink said:

I've created an account to ask this very same question. Absolutely loving this game so far, but after being almost softlocked trying to beat Groundon in expert mode without being able to go back and buy fresh items, I realised just how much I would enjoy the game having the inventory password.

I came looking for it in this thread: I am unsure whether this is one of the "mysterious three passwords" the creator has hinted is somewhere in the game that we need to search hints for, or if it simply does not exist. If anyone has access to it please do share. (Or if the creator would like these passwords to remain incredibly eluisive, please do send a message to me or Adrian!)

I just defeated groudon as well, difficult as hell unless you have 5-6 revive seeds, i had to go back to the start of the dungeon to be able to access storage and take all my revive seeds, that and a protect mt i got while i was cimbling back i was able to defeat it, good rng is needed as precipice blades is broken, also depends your starters and attacks but yeah, from now on ill have to bring with me at least 5 revives 

[Kirbypink]

14 minutes ago, Adriandlfg said:

I just defeated groudon as well, difficult as hell unless you have 5-6 revive seeds, i had to go back to the start of the dungeon to be able to access storage and take all my revive seeds, that and a protect mt i got while i was cimbling back i was able to defeat it, good rng is needed as precipice blades is broken, also depends your starters and attacks but yeah, from now on ill have to bring with me at least 5 revives 

Right! It was insane, I was not expected them to give the boss an AOE move, along with permanent mist so no manipulating his stats. It felt good finally beating him, though.

I ended up spamming cosmic power on Clefairy and my partner used howl + protect (I have a feeling protect will be needed a lot). The only danger was getting crit - he had so much hp that I was genuinely sweating. It was super fun strategising but definitely hoping to find that password - I'll let you know if I find aything ingame! 

[Alphadaemon]

On 7/29/2025 at 9:52 PM, Brendell said:

I don't think the difficulty was designed with Manual mode in mind. I pretty much only use it in situations that are insanely unfair. (I'm also playing full randomizer, so some BS does happen.) I think hardcore is intended to be innately unfair. I also think it's possible to play it without hyper optimizing from the get go, it just throws problems at you that you have to find a solution to. Sometimes the solution is cheesy, like equipping a joy ribbon and standing next to the stairs in the beach cave while shelders nip at your toes; occasionally eating an oran berry. Sometimes it's a last resort, like frantically digging through you bag to swap your stamina band for a defense band or even a mobile scarf and hiding in a wall to heal. Sometimes it's tactical, like using the 'wait here' tactic (manual mode) to set up in a hallway or bend, then running ahead to bait the monster house into the hallway. I dunno, there are a ton of options; what is the biggest wall for you at the moment, maybe I have something that can help.

I think the biggest benefit to leveling up a bunch despite the enemy scaling with you, is the breadth of the moves you have access to. For example: I know that Gardevoir, and I assume Ralts, gets Imprison. This is a very strong status move, as forces the paused condition on the target for several turns. Unfortunately I think it's pretty late. Ralts does get Future Sight pretty early, which I've used in level reset dungeons to make the auto targeting, range 10 geo pebbles deal x3.5 damage; or make throwing sticks with garbage ralts attack stat actually worth something. Also to note, raising Ralt's IQ actually provides team buffs as well, I think they have cheerleader, which gives extra attack and sp attack.

As for Cubone, I'd actually hang onto mud slap for a while, as lowering accuracy is pretty strong throughout the game. Another move you're coming up to is Focus Energy, which is real spicy in this game. The base crit has been changed to ignore the attacker's stat drops, and the defender's stat ups; and also has a base chance of 1/32. Focus energy takes that, and multiplies that chance by 8. If my math isn't wrong, that's a 1/4 chance to crit. If you can find a high crit TM, their base chance is 1/16, pumped to 1/2 by Focus Energy.

Speaking of TMs, they are very useful in the early game, though horribly hard to find and expensive. That said, Ralts has plenty of ranged moves they get acces to through them. Cubone is also one of those strange Gen 1 pokemon that gets access to a bunch of elemental TMs for little discernable reason. Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Blizzard- you know. This can be very helpful, though, as both Blizzard and Earth Power are Room clearers, and can attack outside of straight lines; letting you hit foes without retaliation. Just make sure to stop by beach cave every now and then to restock all the Max Elixirs you'll be chugging. ;3

Difficulty was designed with Manual mode in mind and thoroughly tested to use it in all difficulties.

On 7/29/2025 at 2:12 AM, Yom said:

Just started playing the hack, and got my butt kicked on Hardcore. Is this difficulty designed to make you optimize your MC and Partner from the get go, or is it expected for you to reset like 5+ times just to get one clear of an exploration run?

Felt like early game enemies were too strong and too numerous for a random team of Cubone + Ralts to reliably clear a dungeon without a bag full of status items (which I dont have)

Edit: Ah, please don't take this as me complaining about the difficulty's design though. I'm more curious about the intent and thought process behind how you designed this and how I should be approaching it. Expert felt too easy, while Hardcore felt too much than what Im usually comfortable with. So I'd like some pointers to find a nice balance in difficulty

It's designed as a "you should learn how to play the game more carefully and how to use game mechanics to your advantage". I know Cubone leader has already cleared HC and same goes for Ralts leader and partner  without any form of save abuse so it's definitely doable.

As for the keep inventory password, it's not something that's all that necessary to give. It can be found fairly easily if you look into the menus too. 

Groudon boss fight: just like all the boss fights, it has been tested to be doable with no items in Hardcore. It's a game of positions and it won't Precipice Blades unless it sees a target at Line of Sight. Also it takes place at a level you can get access to setup moves like Bulk Up, Cosmic Power, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, etc. It's more a game of preparation and less a game of bruteforcing your way.

[Adriandlfg]

35 minutes ago, Alphadaemon said:

Difficulty was designed with Manual mode in mind and thoroughly tested to use it in all difficulties.

It's designed as a "you should learn how to play the game more carefully and how to use game mechanics to your advantage". I know Cubone leader has already cleared HC and same goes for Ralts leader and partner  without any form of save abuse so it's definitely doable.

As for the keep inventory password, it's not something that's all that necessary to give. It can be found fairly easily if you look into the menus too. 

Groudon boss fight: just like all the boss fights, it has been tested to be doable with no items in Hardcore. It's a game of positions and it won't Precipice Blades unless it sees a target at Line of Sight. Also it takes place at a level you can get access to setup moves like Bulk Up, Cosmic Power, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, etc. It's more a game of preparation and less a game of bruteforcing your way.

The passwords secretism is killing me but i get it. Id only like to know if possible if its accessible at this point of the story or keep inventory password requires a npc not unlocked yet after groudon? I guess it is 

About groudon i didnt realized it was doing precipice blades counting with his line of sight but when either precipice and fire punch kills my sword dancer, it was kinda difficult, im agreed its doable with better preparation as having protect is a game changer, as well as some special specific mons items for example but being throw into this is totally unexpected at first, fun tho

[dumater]

Is there any kind of cap on max HP before completing the main story? I got a bunch of life seeds from Oblivion Forest, bought the Lvl. 6 HP booster upgrade for Porygon, and tried to use them, but the effects don't stick. It shows the new amount initially, but it seems like every turn in a dungeon sets it back to the previous base (258 HP in my case). I've tried using them inside of a dungeon and in Spinda's bar. This happens for anyone on my team, except escorts for some reason. I'm on expert difficulty, lvl 100, and just made it to Aegis Cave.

That aside, thanks for making the mod! I've had a ton of fun with it so far.

 

[Alphadaemon]

6 hours ago, Adriandlfg said:

The passwords secretism is killing me but i get it. Id only like to know if possible if its accessible at this point of the story or keep inventory password requires a npc not unlocked yet after groudon? I guess it is 

About groudon i didnt realized it was doing precipice blades counting with his line of sight but when either precipice and fire punch kills my sword dancer, it was kinda difficult, im agreed its doable with better preparation as having protect is a game changer, as well as some special specific mons items for example but being throw into this is totally unexpected at first, fun tho

Passwords are meant to be either something people discover or something I give once an update drops. This one is the first case as it's something that kind of breaks the original experience so it should remain hidden until someone really commits to find it (which, again, isn't hard to find since it can easily be found in the options menu).

Also idk which difficulty you are playing on but you have to know Quicksand Cave's boss and Groudon sets are toned down in Expert 3.1 because they were too good at this point of the game haha

2 hours ago, dumater said:

Is there any kind of cap on max HP before completing the main story? I got a bunch of life seeds from Oblivion Forest, bought the Lvl. 6 HP booster upgrade for Porygon, and tried to use them, but the effects don't stick. It shows the new amount initially, but it seems like every turn in a dungeon sets it back to the previous base (258 HP in my case). I've tried using them inside of a dungeon and in Spinda's bar. This happens for anyone on my team, except escorts for some reason. I'm on expert difficulty, lvl 100, and just made it to Aegis Cave.

That aside, thanks for making the mod! I've had a ton of fun with it so far.

 

Expert and above difficulty have stat caps before Darkrai

[JS_]

Is there a way to disable exp so you don't get level ups while you are at the stat caps or something? 

[Alphadaemon]

1 minute ago, JS_ said:

Is there a way to disable exp so you don't get level ups while you are at the stat caps or something

I won't do that. It's the player's choice to push to the stat cap, in an attempt to break the game most of the time as you don't reach it naturally. The docs state about stat caps and there are easy ways to farm IQ without farming stats. Also causes several issues with Exp share and blocking the player's progression to name a few inconveniences. Level impacts damage dealt so this is still progression.

[JS_]

37 minutes ago, Alphadaemon said:

I won't do that. It's the player's choice to push to the stat cap, in an attempt to break the game most of the time as you don't reach it naturally. The docs state about stat caps and there are easy ways to farm IQ without farming stats. Also causes several issues with Exp share and blocking the player's progression to name a few inconveniences. Level impacts damage dealt so this is still progression.

Makes sense 

Didn't know that level impacts damage 

Stat caps are 90 before dialga right? 

I might also just be stupid 

Im just unsure if ill be able to get stats after the cap is of since bar dosnt exist so gummies dont give to many stats and asside from that and level ups im not shure how you would farm stats

[Yom]

8 hours ago, Alphadaemon said:

Difficulty was designed with Manual mode in mind and thoroughly tested to use it in all difficulties.

It's designed as a "you should learn how to play the game more carefully and how to use game mechanics to your advantage". I know Cubone leader has already cleared HC and same goes for Ralts leader and partner  without any form of save abuse so it's definitely doable.

 

Knowing that its designed with Manual mode in mind helps. Cause I won't have to worry about eventually trivializing the game later by using it.

After playing with Manual Mode, Hardcore got a lot more manageable even without a good 2 range move on either the MC or my Partner. The biggest problem I had before was how much juking you'd need to avoid getting pot shotted to half health by a rando with QuickAttack/BulletPunch/WaterGun/whatever. But actively using Manual Mode makes the positioning puzzle to avoid that a whooooooole lot more manageable. Plus, now I have 2 actions to make use of the bag compared to 1 on Auto. Which is a HUGE difference maker (and one of the many reasons I banned Manual Mode at first)

Certain items not dropping as often outside of certain dungeons is taking me some time to get used to, though. Room-wide status Orbs, Oran Berries, and Max Elixirs being the one I've been really aching for lately. Gotta make a short list of places to farm them in mind

All that said, I very much appreciate the overall design and challenge of this hack though. Really feels like I can sink my teeth into the mechanical meat of these games with this difficulty 

[Kirbypink]

4 hours ago, Alphadaemon said:

Passwords are meant to be either something people discover or something I give once an update drops. This one is the first case as it's something that kind of breaks the original experience so it should remain hidden until someone really commits to find it (which, again, isn't hard to find since it can easily be found in the options menu).

Thanks for the hint - this should help a bunch. I want to start using my exclusive items (like cleffa fang and vulpix tail), but the fear of losing them and having to find them again is enough to start the search for this password. Time to dig through the options menu!

[Adriandlfg]

1 hour ago, Kirbypink said:

Thanks for the hint - this should help a bunch. I want to start using my exclusive items (like cleffa fang and vulpix tail), but the fear of losing them and having to find them again is enough to start the search for this password. Time to dig through the options menu!

Day 1 lf password,Ive been searching and trying for a while now but nothing found so far, im at a point im even trying the first letter of each word from different menus or even different words without vocals and plenty things which makes no sense lol

[Alphadaemon]

19 minutes ago, Adriandlfg said:

Day 1 lf password,Ive been searching and trying for a while now but nothing found so far, im at a point im even trying the first letter of each word from different menus or even different words without vocals and plenty things which makes no sense lol

Ngl you should try to play normally first, it's a good start. You already have resources to keep inventory like... soft-resetting then retrying when you fail lol

I throw a bone because there are complaints but at this point it's getting sidetracked over a problem you're posing to yourself

[dumater]

6 hours ago, Alphadaemon said:

Expert and above difficulty have stat caps before Darkrai

Makes sense, I'll save those for later then, thanks!