aninymouse

Looks like you put a ton of work into this. I'd definitely play this.

Wow, thanks a lot, Andi! Cutting back on hex editing is always helpful... especially when it's late at night and you start winding down. Nothing like a cup of hot chocolate and some rom editing, heh.

This is a hack, not a new game. I can only change what's already there... adding new maps and huge blocks of data like that isn't possible. I don't care for the monkeys much, personally. If they were going to be true starters, I'd have to totally overhaul them. And since they're not impressive to me... not likely. Plus, I'm no sprite artist. I'm not interested at all in making new sprites for the opening sequence. Gen 5 doesn't have the capacity to change the wild Pokemon by time of day or day of the week... Day of the week seems like a pretty poor idea, since some people can only play on the weekends. At least with monthly seasons, you have the chance to play in all of them on a consistent basis for a while. Time of day, though, is something I miss from the days of Crystal. I really think there's a lot of... a sense of reality afforded to the time of day system. I miss it, but I can't bring it back. These aren't bad ideas, they're just not for this project.

I really wish you'd release a few of the completed parts. I know you want to just have one program to update, and I respect that, but releasing individual programs will also give you more bug feedback. This will allow your final release to be more bug-free upon release.

Because it would make Flygon a worse Pokemon? A good Bug-type? Yes. A better Dragon? Not by any means. Worse overall? Yes. Why would you want to make a Pokemon worse? Okay, so you make Vibrava & Trapinch bugs -- great, I agree. But Flygon shouldn't be one.

Yes, thank you. I gotta say, Gen IV is getting opened up more and more...

I really like the idea of giving Porygon Techno Blast. Liquid Ooze on Smearlge, too, is a great fit. I don't really see the point in removing Toxic, Thunder Wave & Flash from most Pokemon, though... that's not really leveling the playing field. No one thinks that Thunder Wave makes or breaks a Pokemon.

Changing the "type chart" of Gen 5 is still on top of my wish list, but the data doesn't seem to be stored in the same form as it used to be up 'til now. I haven't been able to find out how to change effectiveness. If I were able to change the balance of Pokemon types, then of course other types of changes could be minimal and you would still end up with a more balanced game. Unfortunately, since it seems like I cannot do what I want in this area, larger changes elsewhere are necessary to make Pokemon like Kingler or Manectric remotely useful, for instance. Some Pokemon, like Wailord, Tropius, Garbodore and Weezing will never be worth anything compared to Scizor, Tyranitar, Conkeldurr or Gengar... without stat increases. And some stat increases just make sense. I mean, how is it that a giant whale body slamming you hurts far less than a small, flaming ape tackling you? Editing the effects of abilities is beyond my level of skill. I've never even heard of anyone doing that beyond Gen 3. I try to remain realistic in my goals, since this is a project I want to actually complete someday... besides, the selection of good abilities is WAAAAAAAAY better than Gen 4 now. Not really necessary. I'm not sure if the habitat data will automatically update itself if the encounter tables are edited or not, but I do know that ever since HGSS, the Pokedex has not been able to be edited to remain 100% accurate when you change what Pokemon appears where. All the rest of your ideas seem very doable, though Haha, though I think that I kind of already hold the title of Director, here. And Producer. And all the titles, really, since no one else is working on this at the moment. I do value ideas, brainstorming, and suggestions, however! Pokemon is a game of possibilities... far too many for one man to come up with them all.

Blazard. Heh. Haha. Oh my. The rest looks good, though. Good job! I always enjoy the freedom that Gen III offers. Really brings out creativity.

...What? Why wouldn't you be able to go to Twist Mountain? Of course you can go there after beating the Champion. That's the default.

I can't re-write the main story, no. Even if there was a way to open up Twist Mountain & Iccirus & the swamp... and that's a huge "if"... you'd still have to block access to Route 9 and beyond or else you'd have to rewrite a ton of the story... All that dialogue and all those events... That's far too much work. Trust me, I love the Moor and Route 8. It's a really cool-looking place! I love the swampy atmosphere and the possibilities of the Pokemon found there... I dunno. If I took out Marshal... hmm. If I attempted to take out Marshal and opened up Twist mountain, you'd still have to take Skyla's plane to Lentimas Town. That's a lot of backtracking! Granted, you'd have HM Fly by that point. But the problem with having a huge amount of freedom in a linear RPG like Pokemon is that you get wide swaths of land that all have the same levels in wild Pokemon AND trainers. Remember Gold & Silver, after you beat Chuck? You could either battle Jasmine or Pryce, and so the levels of everything from Cianwood City, ALL THE WAY to the Lake of Rage, Mt. Mortar & Mahogany Town and all the routes in between are all about the same. As a result, your Pokemon rarely level up. The excitement and expectation of the next challenge suffers, since you don't feel like you're being challenged anymore... you yearn to move on to the next area instead of enjoying where you are. Now, if you skipped Twist Mountain and flew to Lentimas Town, the game momentum would proceed as normal. However, detouring to Iccirus City, in this case, hurts game momentum overall, since the game was designed with going to Lentimas Town in mind. Think about it this way: Southern Unova is tiny compared to Northern Unova because Skyarrow Bridge is off-limits. Southern Unova is also forced to be perfectly linear in this way. If you don't block Twist Mountain, you end up with Northern Unova being an unbroken circle of towns and routes with nothing stopping you from circling in either direction. Since locations have set levels, the levels have to make sense. Besides, there's Dragonspiral Tower in Iccirus, and that HAS to be off-limits. There really is no goal, no motivation to even go to Iccirus anymore, except to capture a ton of Pokemon. No Gym, no new areas... in fact, you'd be retracing your steps from Black & White. Do you really want to play a sequel set in the same location as the first game... and then take the SAME path, more or less, as the first game? No way.

Thanks for the tutorial, andi. It's been a long time since I've done any image editing and this was very helpful.

Overworld events. Legit, man. Looks great!

Well, you beat the pants off what I was working on. Can't wait to try it out! My only question is: does this only work with the Japanese version, or does this also work with the USA version? I ask because I see that the type images still say ひこう, etc.

Thoughts as I play through White 2 for the first time: Distribution of wild Pokemon * I love how many new areas there are to explore in the sequel! * Some of the new areas are really expansive... like Castelia Sewers, Reversal Mountain, Relic Passage... * Unfortunately, some of these great, big, new areas have only a few types of Pokemon. * This means that as you're exploring in these areas for 20+ minutes, you get sick and tired of the place. * These new areas should be places of excitement and adventure. You shouldn't have to feel like, "Get me outta here!" * With shaking grass and dark grass, there's no excuse for some outdoors areas being so boring, either. Victory Road is an insult. * When I'm going to add new Pokemon to an area, I will never completely remove the ones that are already there. This way, the Pokedex & Habitat is always somewhat accurate. * Some Pokemon that people generally disdain, like Skitty & Delcatty, will become rare. More popular Pokemon, like Boldore, will be slightly more scarce, but will not be very rare. * It seems like a shame that seasonal changes were implemented, and yet they seem to hurt more than they help. Messing with the DS clock is such a nuisance. * I think each season ought to be more unique! At least, if you're stuck with them, there ought to be a point to them other than Cubchoo and items you can't get. Like... there's no advantage to Summer or Spring! Pokemon trainers * Skyla was such a pushover! Gotta make her tougher. * Pokemon breeders ought to have Pokemon that give the same EVs, to help with EV training during the main story. * I think Gym leaders ought to have more Pokemon in Normal Mode, like Challenge Mode: 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5 * I think Challenge Mode will allow Pokemon of other types to be used in Gyms, keeping you on your toes. Level-up moves * Some Pokemon have too few attacks early on, like the starters, Mareep, Pidove, Riolu... great Pokemon, almost no attacks. * Before, when there were only 150 Pokemon in Unova, this wasn't such a big deal. Now they doubled the number, and it shows. Samurott, Serperior & Emboar all suck, honestly. Gotta fix that.

Well, for one, Kazo has a mugshot editor, too.

Wow, awesome! Thank you! Can't say I'd really want to edit them too much... they're really well done. But hey, you never know.

Haha, wow, those are awesome. I can't believe I never went as far as to beat Alder in BW... I've never seen those before! Ripping those... hmm. They probably have their own narc. There's only so many narcs though.

Some of those fakemon are really good... most are really same-y. Since the project is bunk, I'd hate for some of those to go to waste. The Seaking, Electrode, Tentacruel, Chimecho and Kecleon evos are all really good, and there are some really good originals, too. Fat Heracross is lol.

Really excited about the plans you have for this, and you're making great progress! Thanks for considering Drapion again, lol. Fakemon can be pretty exciting, but of course it can be hard to do them right. However... a Weezing evolution? Sounds fantastic to me! Weezing definitely reminds me of a poison-type Magneton... just begging for an evo.

Thanks again for updating this fine program.

Map editing in Gen 4 is very difficult and not explored much. The same goes for Gen 5. Though it might be possible to remake a Gen 3 game on the DS, you can only go so far. If you've never done ROM hacking before then I would venture to say you will not be able to do it. Start with projects that are more realistic and work up towards the skill level needed to do something like this. Also, say hi to Khari, who is trying to do something similar. Maybe teaming up with Khari would be a good idea at this point.

Sounds awesome to me! Keep up the good work. I look forward to having something to take a large chunk of the tedium out of the process

The motorcycle sounds awesome :]

No fakemon for me. I've got enough on my plate already However, I've planned to add new "forms" to select Pokemon to make certain trainers tougher! You know, so a Pokemon can be really powerful without making all Pokemon of that species like that. Like a "boss character." To give you an idea, I was going to give Red a beastly Pikachu. If I can get it to work, I have plans to do this kinda thing for several other trainers, too.