wraith89

Ah okay. I don't like it when anything is reliant heavily on TMs, but such is some of the Pokemon in this game. Eevee definitely needed a lot of TMs, that's for sure, and Vulpix could stand on her own. My favourite so far is the Igglybuff one. Not for the gameplay of course, but for the story; it is always about the story for me. He definitely has the best story in MD I've ever seen so far. The Bidoof one was also very good and very touching and the Sunflora one was very enjoyable. Why I'm not so intent on continuing with Team Charm, I really don't know. Maybe because I don't really like Team Charm much... but since it has Gardevoir... I can live with it. I'm planning on finishing it, as it looks like the last two episodes are incredibly long or something. The last episode is definitely something I want to finish; that's the one I really want to know what happened. As they always say, save the best for last. All right. I'll load up the game now and finish off Team Charm's story EDIT: It was a bit short, but it wasn't half bad. At least Wigglytuff showed up. Unfortunately Gardevoir was the least capable in battling of the three It seems Medicham was the best of the three ironically despite being the lowest level, and Lopunny is a troll but workable. I still liked Sunflora's episode slightly better, and Igglybuff's is still top. Time to play the 5th and final episode.

Oh. I'm terribly sorry about the clashing between the text and the forum skin. I suppose highlighting the text you read will be the remedy to such problems. Which starter did you play with by the way? Since I did not play a lot of these Pokemon, I'm only rating them by how they look on paper (for some at least) and not by true experience, so some of this can be quite wrong as a person's experience can vary a lot. It would be great if you can get me some insight, especially on things like Riolu, which seems to be very popular as a starter. Yes, you are correct about the French, and yes, Mr. Mime can be both male and female. But whatever it is, I won't know, but MD tends to make Pokemon the gender that it looks more like. BTW, the Save files attached were converted by your save converter, but I cannot advertise.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2: Explorers of the Sky [icon]133[/icon]Introduction So here's another unnecessarily long thread I'm starting because not many of us are paying much attention to the Pokemon spin-off series, myself included. I suppose there really is no point, but for some people who want to take a break from the mainstream series, want a good laugh, or want to see what Pokemon do when there aren't humans around, this game may just be for you! For those who already play this game, many of the things I state here are OBVIOUS, but this is mostly directed towards people who haven't had the chance to look over the Mystery Dungeon series and want to try something else, be you a casual Pokemon gamer, a competitive battler, or someone who hasn't played any of that (though why you would be here in a Pokemon boards is beyond me). [icon]115[/icon]For Parents No there are no swear words in this game, there is no murder or actual violence, and no sexual or mature themes either. Yes Pokemon disappear once you defeat them, but only graphically, as evidenced by boss fights and the following cutscenes. It is assumed they ran away or escaped the dungeon. But if games are harmful or don't want your children addicted, stay away from this game, and in fact, every other video games out there, as most of them, even something as simple as Tetris, can get a person hooked for ages, which is detrimental to one's health, lest they want to end up like me. Now that I got that over with... [icon]040[/icon]Story Pokemon Mystery Dungeon offers a very colourful cast of characters ranging from good guys, bad guys, Pokemon of mysterious natures, and so forth. For mainstream game players, if some Pokemon did not seem so notable to you (perhaps Loudred), or some turned out just annoying or trollsome (like Bidoof) then this game might help remedy your perceptions to some Pokemon. Each Pokemon introduced in this game have very vibrant personalities and are easily recognisable that way. In fact every time I played through this game I could actually "hear" the voices of each Pokemon due to their tone of speech and how they go by. So in terms of characters, this game is INCREDIBLY rich and will hardly disappoint. They even have the lazy Team Slackers (a Slowpoke + Slakoth duo) who will do nothing but laze around! Maybe some of you competitive players might decide to use some of these Pokemon in your own team rosters! . . . No? Aww, and here I thought I could dream. Also, some of the legendaries are assigned a gender when talked to, which is also pretty cool. Though I did see a rescue request with a Bronzong being referred to as "she", which I found quite bizarre, but I suppose it happens. Some characters though, only show up like once (like boss fights) and are never seen again, which is disappointing, especially when they are "notable" Pokemon in something like competitive battling and such, but that's fine. Your player character is a silent protagonist (though (s)he does some talking), and your partner is the talkative sidekick who seems to always talk before thinking, much like the Apostle Peter. But that's always what they do. As many of us may or may not know, the Pokemon you play as is dependent on the result of a personality test, which is pretty fun in itself. There is a wide array of Pokemon, ranging from the starter Pokemon from Kanto to Sinnoh to the famous Pikachu. However, Phanpy, Shinx, and Riolu may ONLY be Male while Vulpix, Eevee, and Skitty may ONLY be female. Some people genuinely follow the personality test, while others look at a guide to manipulate what they get. I took it while I was playing its predecessor Explorers of Darkness and got a Chikorita (Calm type Male) but I decided to play as an Eevee in this game because I just love Eevee. Although Meowth and Munchlax are NO LONGER available as starter Pokemon, they can be chosen as partners. Yes, the player gets to choose their partner Pokemon, though not every one are available, just a select few apparently. After seeing that Vulpix in that list, I couldn't resist and chose the fox immediately. You get to name both yourself and your partner. If your partner wants to "meat you", I think you might be safer without one. The story starts off with a Pokemon (your partner) who watches Krabbies (plural of Krabby?) blowing bubbles in the beach during the evening, which is always nice to look at. This fellow is quite nervous, but he (or she in my Vulpix's case) always wanted to join an exploration team, which are basically a group of Pokemon who go through Mystery Dungeons for the sake of exploring or grabbing treasures, gaining fame, etc. Basically this is what Pokemon do when we trainers aren't around, or something. But with human-like features? Yeah I don't know... they're breaking the lines between human and animal features from Pokemon these days, but if that's the direction they're going, that's where it's going. Speaking of human, you (the player) are found lying on the beach, and the partner Pokemon finds you unconscious and that's where you two meet. Aww. And then you two make fast friends, though you say something; you were a human and all of a sudden you've turned into a Pokemon. What? Yeah... that's the weird part of the story, and I'm not sure if I'm enamoured with the whole human becoming Pokemon concept, but stuff like Yamask were apparently human in their past lives according to the Unova Pokedex. Anyways your partner starts blabbering off and stuff about how he always wanted to be an explorer and says ever since he found this Relic Fragment, some small rock with a mysterious symbol on it, and he shows it to you. Well, that is until these two stinkers come in (Koffing and Zubat) and decides to steal it and run into Beach Cave. Ewww. So you and your partner team up and chase them down your first mystery dungeon (Beach Cave) and find the two evildoers at the end of the cave, basically making them your first boss. So your partner retrieves his Relic Fragment and because you apparently gave him support, both of you decide to go to the famous Wigglytuff's Guild Base and start a life in being an explorer. Once that's done, you get to name your own Explorer Team! Hurray! Yeah well, no, I'm not spoiling the rest of this; it is up to you to find out. As for the story that comes after this, I admit, I felt VERY childish playing through this game. Sometimes the characters were talking for just TOO long, saying things unnecessarily, elongating stuff and playing through many flashbacks and sometimes stating the obvious when you could have figured out what was going on by then. However, since this game is intended to be played by children more than adults, I suppose I cannot complain there. But long dialogues aside, the story will definitely not disappoint. The character development and how each integrate into the story are definitely something to look forward to and it's the story that seems to get people to continue playing, much like Pokemon Black and White I suppose. There's a lot to do with Time and Space like the mascots of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are based off. The Sky Version seems to promote Shaymin in the cover, so maybe Shaymin is involved. Heh, we'll see. [icon]037[/icon]Gameplay Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is of the Roguelike genre, which is basically a turn based game where one needs to navigate through randomly-generated labyrinths (which is why it is called Mystery Dungeon), finding treasures, thwarting hostile enemies (in this case, Pokemon living in these mystery dungeons), and eventually reach their goal, which is usually finding some special treasure or a boss fight. Because of the randomly generated dungeons, there is very little chance of ever finding two mazes ever alike; the floors will be randomly generated as you go in. If anyone is familiar with the game Shiren the Wanderer, this game is a LOT like it, except with Pokemon. As for the actual gameplay... right. Well, as for you regular Pokemon game players; this does NOT follow the mechanics of the actual game quite right. Most of the mechanics in this game you might consider quite unorthodox. In fact, you're bound to see your Squirtle defeating many Exeggutors with Water Gun, or your Eevee smashing Tyranitars with two Quick Attacks. Yeah, base stats and whatever do NOT factor in this game. IVs and EVs? Natures? Forget about it. Just because you got Relaxed Female and got a Vulpix does NOT in any way add Defence and reduce Speed and therefore detrimental. That would be in mainstream Pokemon, but not in Mystery Dungeon. So all your competitive knowledge and stuff? Say goodbye to that. We don't need it! Speaking of Speed, that stat doesn't even factor in Mystery Dungeon, although speed boosting/speed decreasing moves still exist. Those serve a purpose though; if your speed is doubled, you can move two tiles before the slower foes can. It serves as a strategic move and is in no way in any effect of "who attacks first". This isn't Pokemon as you know it. Also, Pokemon also have BOTH of their abilities; meaning Bronzong will have both Heatproof AND Levitate. As for type advantage/disadvantages... No Effect: 0% in Main Series, 50% in Mystery Dungeon Not-Very-Effective: 50% in Main Series, 70% in Mystery Dungeon Neutral: 100% in Main Series, 100% in Mystery Dungeon Super-Effective: 200% in Main Series, 140% in Mystery Dungeon STAB: 150% in Main Series, 150% in Mystery Dungeon STAB moves are more effective than super effective moves... and Ground moves will do damage against Fliers. That's not to say immunities don't exist; immunities stil come in the form of abilities such as Levitate or Flash Fire. However, just by sticking to raw power will get you nowhere; there are also particular items that can be of help. Oh, and Storm Drain and Lightningrod works a lot like its GEN V counterparts; it grants immunity, but it does not raise Special Attack. As usual, dual types have their type weakness/resistance multiplied if two types clash, not added. So you want an evolution? Too bad. In this game, you are pretty much STUCK to your form, meaning NO evolution. Well actually I lied. You cannot evolve until much later in the game, and that is during post-story. Aside from adding + 10 HP/+5 stats, evolution doesn't do much else. Remember, stats are not the same like in regular Pokemon; and any Pokemon can reach a max of 999 HP and 255 Stats I believe with the aids of vitamins (you know, Protein and Calcium and stuff?), except you're not limited to 100 EVs and stuff because THOSE VALUES DO NOT EXIST! This means if you like how a mid form Pokemon looks better than its final form (like those people complaining about Dragonite and fauning over Dragonair), you may as well keep it as Dragonair and say no more. Mind you, there is still the whole movepool issue with that; Dragonite learns more moves than Dragonair so it's always wise to think about whether you want to evolve or not. How to evolve your Pokemon? Not saying anything about it; you shouldn't even worry about it until post-main story. With that being said, base stats did not translate too well to this game. Surprisingly, you'll see Blissey become offensively capable in this game but wonder where half of her HP went. Yes, the game WILL have you fight some legendary Pokemon as bosses. I know you are freaking out, as you are going to be using your "wimpy little guys" against big scary, I don't know, Zapdos. How do you deal with big ol' scary Zapdos then? We use items! What? There are many items we will concern here. What good explorers do is they carry a lot of Oran Berries, Max Elixirs, Orbs, and Seeds. B-b-but... don't Oran Berries give you 10 HP? What's the point to that? Not in this game! It restores 100 HP, making it very useful early throughout the game. Then what are orbs and seeds? Okay, there are many types of Orbs which can do all sorts of different functions, such as Radar Orb which scans for enemies in the mini map or Slumber Orb which puts every enemies in your room to sleep. However, the Orbs ONLY WORK in Mystery Dungeons and will not work in Boss Fights; it will just say "A mysterious power prevented it from working" or something, effectively wasting your turn. Seeds, however, work to your benefit in dungeons and in boss fights. Reviver Seeds are the MOST important seed to carry when going on expeditions. As the name states, it instantly revives your Pokemon the moment (s)he hits 0 HP, but when it is used up, it turns into a Plain Seed, which is basically a space hogger; it does nothing. Heal Seed is like Full Heal from mainstream games; it removes bad status like burn or poison. However, there are seeds you do NOT want to eat. Stuff like Sleep Seed puts you to sleep and X-Eye Seed makes you cross-eyed, which means you're not hitting anything properly. Then why would you carry them? It's simple; it's to put that Zapdos to sleep. How? You chuck the seed at the enemy by selecting it and selecting THROW, not EAT. See how many useful strategies this game has already? These items were primarily designed for boss fights I suppose, as it goes a LONG way in helping your team secure victory. Like those MMOs and whatnot, every Pokemon has a "normal" attack, which is executed by simply pushing A. This move becomes obsolete later though but it is always there as a "last resort" when your actual attacks start running out of PP, or to actually defend yourself against a Shedinja if you have no moves that can hit it. I think many of us are familiar with the techniques + PP system. Basically, the PP is how much an attack can be used. If it reaches 0, the move cannot be used anymore. In this game, every step you make counts as one turn; as you move, the other Pokemon in the dungeon makes a move. You will have to continually access the menu to use techniques such as Tackle, but you can bypass this step and automatically use Tackle by selecting it in the menu and select "Set". This way, all you have to do is push R + A to execute the move, like a hotkey. You can even link two moves, such as Tail Whip + Tackle, for a strategic effect. If you use a linked move, you will execute both moves in one turn, making it quite effective. To link a move, you have to talk to an Electivire in Treasure Town, but all this detail can come later in game. Some attacks work differently. For example, multi-hitting moves are nearly broken as they do colossal damage, but they have poor accuracy. Moves like Pursuit and Uproar does no damage in this game; the former sets you in a state where you counterattack anything that hits you (provided you're not knocked out) while the latter just wakes everyone up and puts you in a "sleepless state". Mirror Move is a broken move which makes you impervious to like everything and reflect back the moves that hit you until its duration runs out. Protect is incredibly broken too; you take NO damage for like a few turns while you can still attack during that state. Moves like Imprison got all of a sudden useful, as it puts a Pokemon in a "Paused state" (basically means they cannot move) for a duration. Bubble can hit anyone from far range, making it a very useful move while you would probably laugh at it in mainstream games. Powder Snow looks weak but in this game it's rather scary because it can hit EVERY FOES in the room, making it a great room cleaner. Area effects and such are of great importance here so it would be wise to know what they do. However, for the most part, many of the moves are alomst similar to their mainstream games counterparts; Iron Tail is still Iron Tail, Tackle is still Tackle, etc. There is another mechanic called IQ. You know how Return and Frustration is based off happiness in the mainstream games for their power? In this game, it is all dependent on IQ. Well, what is an IQ? IQ is pretty much what gives different Pokemon all sorts of different abilities. By eating Gummis, Pokemon can gain IQ points to power themselves up with all sorts of cool abilities. For example, PP Saver is an IQ that works 8% of the time to not use any PP while using a move. Nonsleeper is basically Insomnia; your Pokemon cannot sleep if it has that IQ. Some of the tough later bosses in game has this ability called Intimidator, which basically halts any melee attacks from striking 33% of the time, which is very scary. Most of the IQ skills can be turned on and off depending on the person's preferences. Most of the time it would be beneficial to turn on most of the IQ skills however. You can acquire different Pokemon to be part of your 4-Pokemon team. Sometimes during the dungeon if the LEADER FINISHES off a Pokemon the opposing Pokemon will sometimes ask if you want it to be part of your team. Answering yes will allow you to well, basically in trainer equivalent, catch the Pokemon, even giving them a nickname. You can change around who will stay and who will standby with Chimecho in the guild. There are other ways a Pokemon can join your team, but that is for you to find out. Keep in mind that some Pokemon can NOT be recruited by "normal means" amd will require other ways to get. As for the terrains in each dungeon, it's randomised, as I have said. Sometimes you can even start in the same room as the staircase. Once you go through a staircase you're not coming back down; you will continue progressing through floors. Some of these dungeons have water, which only water Pokemon or flying Pokemon can traverse over, some will have lava which Fire Pokemon can traverse over and others cannot cross over it by normal means. If you somehow do get into a lava and are not a Fire Pokemon, you will get burned, which isn't a good thing. Ghost Pokemon are incredibly annoying as foes; they can go through walls and can attack from the walls while being impervious to any attacks you try to use against them. You will encounter tiles called Mystery Tiles, which are grey blocks with a green arrow on it. These things remove any stat modifications on contact, which is essentially "Haze" in mainstream Pokemon. Later in games you will need to watch out for trap tiles, which are hidden, will activate on contact, and will do some nasty things like turning your Apples into Grimy Foods or putting you to sleep and the likes. There's more! Sometimes dungeons will possess a Kecleon who sells a bunch of items for any dungeon passengers. You can leave some items in some empty shop tiles to sell them to Kecleon. However, if you steal items from Kecleon, you WILL BE SORRY. I know, you mainstream players are wondering how that's even possible, since Kecleon isn't much of a threat in mainstream. Guess what? You're in the world of Mystery Dungeon, where moves like Bullet Seed means serious trouble to Heatran. Kecleon is pretty much uber in this game, and if you steal from him, he will attack you and have his other cronies come in if he fails. In other words; don't do it unless you are looking for trouble. Oh no. PLEASE. NO. And what more troubles can this game present you aside from angry wild Pokemon, obscured trap tiles, and enraged Kecleons? Many of you Mystery Dungeon players will shudder (or cheer) on this word MONSTER HOUSE. A... monster house? You mean where Wraith lives-*gets shot*- may I continue? Okay, good. During the later stages of the game, there can be a room (usually full of gummies) and all sorts of goodies. It looks so tempting to grab them until the music then decides to change drastically and a bunch of Pokemon start falling from the sky with the frightening message "IT'S A MONSTER HOUSE!" In a monster house, a gazillion Pokemon decide to gang up on your poor little team and decide to do... something really bad to them. Yeah... 2-4 Pokemon against like... 16 Pokemon in one room isn't something to look forward to, no sir. They'll usually come with a Pokemon or two with access to moves like Agility, which basically speeds up the whole room (remember speed in Mystery dungeon terms) allowing them to move TWICE, and that is not fun. Sometimes they're jerks and put the staircase in the Monster House room... and sometimes they're even bigger jerks by placing you into a Monster House as soon as you enter the floor. The rewards are usually a lot of goodies like Gummies and of course, large amount of EXP, but sometimes it isn't worth the bunch of Reviver Seeds used up in the progress. Stuff like Petrify Orb or something of that sort can be useful to beat Monster Houses, or a screen cleaning move like Blizzard or Heat Wave works really well too. Other than that, if one is not prepared to face a Monster House, it usually means GG for the explorer. But that's one thing to keep in mind when going inside the dungeon. Of course, there are good things in this game as well. There can sometimes be a hidden stairway that can lead to a Secret Bazaar (only available in Sky version), which is hosted by a Kirlia. There's a Mime Jr. which heals all your Pokemon for 100 Pokés, a Swalot who sells Grab Bags for 100 Pokés (mostly contains Oran Berries but other good stuff are in there too), a Lickilicky who cleans up your dirtied items for 100 Pokés, and a Shedinja who offers escape from the dungeon for 100 Pokés. Or take the staircase to the next floor. So you can clearly see this game is rich in surprises as well. As for Wifi connectivity, if a person gets stuck on a dungeon, one can send a SOS Mail to someone else to rescue them in a dungeon. Ever since Sky version, there were Special Episodes that allowed you to play through the perspective of some other Pokemon you've met in this game. I think that's a pretty cool touch and it allows you to get to know more about each characters. In fact I think that's what made me appreciate Bidoof more and it is pretty fun playing through them. There are 5 in total. [icon]025[/icon]Personality Quiz I think we all know about the whole personality quiz that this game has to offer in the start, which determines your starter. The personality quiz asks some normal questions, but there are some weird questions like "What would you do if a hand stuck out of a toilet?", and one of the choices was "Shake hands with it". Eek! Once you get your starter, the partner offered are never the same type as your starter. For example, if you get a Bulbasaur, the partners offered will not be Grass types. Unless you are using a guide to get a Pokemon, you can try to just play around with the Pokemon that is apparently most like you. But most people just use some guide I've noticed to get the Pokemon they want, such as this one. If you are starting this game and want an easy time, I suggest you grab a Pikachu. It has a good set of IQ, can learn a room cleaning move Discharge and has Agility to help it and its teammates move faster in a dungeon. Pikachu is pretty much the "easy mode" of this game. Some Pokemon, as I've stated before, are gender specific. In Sky version, Riolu, Shinx, and Phanpy are Male exclusive while Eevee, Vulpix and Skitty are Female exclusive. If you are a girl and want to play a Riolu for instance, if you really insist, it doesn't quite matter. Just pick male for the sake of Riolu then since I doubt people really use the personality quiz to get their Pokemon most of the time [icon]001[/icon]The Starters I guess from here I'll rate on how useful each Pokemon is and which partner works best for them... or whatever. Of course there's no stopping you from selecting the Pokemon you really like if you really like it. That's what I did, and there's many options for a starter Pokemon. [icon]134[/icon]My Playthrough As I've mentioned, I had an Eevee starter and a Vulpix partner. The story got me going a lot and even though the game was incredibly aggravating at many times that I just wanted to throw the DS out the window, it was a fun ride. I'll attach two save files in the end, one after the end of the first part of the game, and the other after the second part of the game. Because Tbird is a troll and named his Vaporeon Violet, which I used to do many times before he did, I named my Eevee Viola and my Vulpix Vixie. Vulpix was infinitely superior to Eevee. She leveled faster, took hits much better, and usually ended up saving my life quite often. The team's name is Team A Minor. I tend to name teams after musical keys. I've had G Minor and E Minor and stuff like that before in other Mystery Dungeon games. I think I ended up like this before I evolved the two... [hgsssprite]133[/hgsssprite] Viola @ Silver Bow - Flail - Quick Attack (SET) - Dig - Shadow Ball [hgsssprite]037[/hgsssprite] Vixie @ Special Band - Flamethrower - Imprison - Extrasensory - Quick Attack Right now Viola is a Level 54 Vaporeon and Vixie is a Level 55 Ninetales. Ninetales was no problem getting used to as it was essentially an upgraded Vulpix, but Vaporeon turned out even weaker than Eevee and was overall very hard to get used to. However, after adjusting her moveset to fit the role of Vaporeon better, it turned out a lot better for the most part. [sprite]134[/sprite] Viola @ Silver Bow - Flail - Water Pulse (SET) - Blizzard - Shadow Ball [hgsssprite]038[/hgsssprite] Vixie @ Special Band - Flamethrower - Imprison - Extrasensory - Dark Pulse Since I cannot execute the double Quick Attack strategy that was more frequent with Eevee + Vulpix combo, I had to adjust it like so. That's to give you an idea of how I play my characters. I might get rid of Flail though as it is much weaker than what Eevee's was. Both of their IQs are around 4 stars right now, so Viola has Multitalent. If I ever want to run through the game again, I might try a Treecko or something. Maybe even the difficult Skitty. As for the Special Episodes, I've completed the first three. I have yet to even start on the last two, but I certainly want to get ahead and beat those too. Particularly the final one. My Wifi access is busted; I cannot perform rescues unfortunately. Maybe some day... [icon]004[/icon]A Quick Look in Treasure Town and Beyond Attention: PEUT ou NE PEUT pas contenir des Spoilers I will not reveal every single major characters, but I'll give you an idea of what the Pokemon in Mystery Dungeon are like. This game is incredibly rich in characters, and even then I haven't mentioned every single one of them. [icon]352[/icon]Buy or Rent? And may we interest you with this TM? All yours for only 6500 Poké! If you ARE interested in playing this game at all, definitely buy. Renting is just too short unless you plan on just completing the main story, because there is just way too many post-game content and a lot of Wifi connective activities to spread the fun around. I really wouldn't consider the "Rent" option. If your friend has Explorers of Sky (doesn't seem to work with Time or Darkness versions), then you can use DS Download Play to get a taste of what it's like. Or so I see from the main menu; I don't really know how the DS Download Play works. [icon]253[/icon]Closing Words Well, I don't know what else to say. I know many of you are mainstream Pokemon players, and haven't really tried these spinoff games much because they're hardly like the mainstream Pokemon games. I know it's weird to see Pokemon personified and with human-like traits rather than animal-esque traits. Yes, it really is. It's true that you won't see Quick Attack destroying Tyranitar in two hits in the actual game, but if for some reason you get, well, tired of the competitive battling or want to try something else, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is always available for you to try out. I have a love-hate relationship with this game but it did entertain me for quite a while, so you can definitely try it out if you really want to. To me it's all about the story and character development... that's all games are for me. I suppose that is why it enamoured me so. Pokemon Mystery D.sav Pokemon Mystery D.sav

I think he meant Wailord. Wailord has Pressure... but Wailord isn't good of a wall because of his frail defences. He has high HP sure... but it doesn't counteract those base 40 Def much Stallrein is what made hail teams boss As for Cotton Guard... I tried it. It's okay, but it's not amazing. I used it on Altaria and Ampharos many times... but they're rather "slow" that it doesn't take much to destroy them through other means either. A Flygon's EQ still broke my Sub on Ampharos after + 6 Def, to give you an idea, so I was rather upset. Maybe if I invested a bit more there, it'd be fine, but I would rather not so I can get more into the SpDef/HP/SpA/whatever.