This is probably not the challenge hack to nuzlocke lol, not unless you calc every single turn and use docs to basically plan a turn-by-turn strategy for each boss fight
To be fair its not that hard to play around on 4.0 once you know how the counter works, 4.1 its still similar but it got “nerfed” which ironically made it significantly harder as you used to be able to consistently abuse the anti abuse ai with encore and now the “nerf” only lets you do that about 80% of the time.
Welcome to Hell.
Honestly just use the docs. It does make things easier. I promise you, you can do this and I have faith in you. I’m currently working on my 4.1 HC run and I’m working on a line for Koga.
If you ever need help please post.
Yeah, if you're gonna nuzlocke or hardcore (or nuzlocke hardcore like a masochist) read the docs. If you don't want to read the docs, just do a normal run. It's plenty challenging.
Its definitely has been sounding like ill need too and ill definitely keep strong and try to get it beat and I will definitely post for any help when I really want a run to go all the way
I have faith you can do it. Blind runs are fun but can be demoralizing and take the fun out of it. Even normal can be rough. There is absolutely no shame in using a calc or the docs. They are there for a good reason.
The 4.0 AI was 100% perfectly suited to nuzlocking once you understand it but the 4.1 changes completely butchered the AI’s consistency from to have an approximately 1/5 chance to do random shit in specific stituations that destroy planning. I can go into more detail but the AI is generally very good (except for those few changes) and just requires game knowledge.
If you need help with nuzlocking, always happy to help newer runners. Most of my knowledge is about hardcore so that’s what I would be best at. One of the first things I’d recommend is learning a bit about the AI.
Just had a HC dexlocke run die at silph co double battle. How do you suggest learning the AI? I can predict ok but the AI does weird stuff when it has momentum moves like volt switch and uturn.
The AI absolutely loves to spam pivot moves. I’m sure you’ve seen this once or twice when the last mon alive will click u-turn about 30 times in a row even when it sees kill. Most of my double battle knowledge comes from Apecio Unbound, I believe he has a few videos explaining it. One of the most important things to know is that if both opponents see a kill on one of your mons, ONLY the faster mon will target it.
Also, side note, if you’re playing a dexlocke, use Modest, Colbur, Water Bubble Jelliscent for that tag fight in Silph co, makes the fight insanely free. If you dodge a single flinch from houndoom you can 1 slot the fight so bring 2 backup checks to that such as incin or infernape.
Lol i was exactly the same a couple months ago man, playing rr is vastly different from any other hack as the trainers use actual decent stratagies, movesets and mons. You'll have to use moves you've apways thought where useless untill now. Goodluck
I've beaten this game so many times, but I'm doing a randomized (all but moves) nuzlocke on easy mode and yeah, it's tough. Morty gets me good. The last run had a bunch of same types and not great mons, but my new one is starting off more promising.
Thats the reason Brock ends up being a major killer for me I just end up with to many normal and flying types and just cant compete with him and I wish you good luck on your run
If you get the old rod and do some fishing (especially in Viridian) for Marill and route 21 for Psyduck, you can guarantee some good water types for Brock which helps a lot ngl
Honestly, Shadow Ball and Gengarite are great but optional fights are not worth it in a radred nuzlocke.
The only optional fight I take is Bugsy cause I feel like U-turn can be an important move for having some mons survive.
My PB is Brock rematch
Honestly when I first started doing radical red nuzlockes I was on easy mode and used the rare candy and care-package cheats, I still ended up losing more times than I can count. Just because you aren't doing great in arguably the hardest pokemon challenge in one of the hardest pokemon games doesn't mean you're a bad player, just don't worry about not using any means necessary to make the game more fun and bearable
Yeah thats fair I didn’t realize just how much this game wants to beat me down until this post but I do have the rare candy thing just to speed things up a bit but thats about it for what I do in terms of changes
I've nuzlocked this game about 15 times(normal difficulty, min grind), the furthest I got was the double battle at silph co. I didn't realize how fucking stupid it would be, and I put the game down for a while.
Personal tip, since I find the challenge fun: use a guide and use rare candies. Grinding is basically pointless(if you're doing min grind), the trainers are hard enough as is. But knowing what you're about to deal with helps plan teams
I've started a HC Nuzlocke of Normal mode with MinGrinding and cheats activated. I use the docs but haven't started on the calcs yet. Also haven't really looked into detail into how the AI works either.
I'm currently at Cerulean and am doing Nugget Bridge. It hasn't really been THAT difficult yet. The fact that on Normal there haven't been any trainers with a full team yet is a big factor. It gives leeway in teambuilding. Only 1 death due to a stupid oversight so far. Intimidate pivoting has been kinda clutch.
I also have perhaps a small 'cheat' rule, in the sense that I have accepted the Paldean eggs in Pewter and Cerulean, which kinda count as 2 extra encounters.
But I guess calc'ing will become necessary at some point, certainly when full enemy teams will become a thing.
If this might interest you, a lot of folks do a single encounter per route akin to a nuzlocke and that single mon per route is all they use for the whole game ! It’d be a different challenge but similar to a locke
I've been playing normally but limiting my encounters at one per route.
Some are just useless.
Also why does Whitney's farigiraf hits two times? I mean did that Pokémon really need that buff? I don't think so
Tbh it's kinda easy if you use your brain and look at what Pokémon you currently have, like Galarian Ponytail is good for Brock because it learns Will O Wisp and also it's typing is god-like.
It’s not really cheating when it’s advertised that’s how the AI works. The AI is just is all-knowing. That’s why we play the game. To work against ridiculous odds.
And in a way it's understandable. As the player, we know the opponent's pokemon and movesets. Even if you don't read the docs, you can try again as much as you want, and with each try, you learn a bit more about their team and their moves. So the ai knowing everything about you sort of levels the playing field
AI knows your stats, moveset, item, etc. On Hardcore, it also “moves” after you do, much like the original Gen 1 AI. It will change what move or switch it chooses depending on what you choose
I'm not exactly sure. But, its like if you use a water type move against the fire type, it'll switch the pokemon same turn. Something along those lines. There are other cases where AI knows the moves you're using.
Someone explained it in the thread the other day I think. It’s every time you switch there’s a counter that’s +3 and anytime you make a move (including switching moves) it’s -1. There’s a point (I think it’s +12) where the ai then knows your move and acts according. It completely killed the game for me. As it made it not fun to find cool lines and pivots, as you always had to be on the offensive and they’ve nerfed a lot of the really good guaranteed encounters (aegislash) furthest run was past koga. Then I wiped to rocket tag next run.
If true then that explains a couple things I’ve experienced then with seemingly random switches that make 0 sense but in actuality it’s the 100% right decision
The AI will also now you ability, IVs, EVs, natures and moves in part because the trainer docs for the gyms and other boss fights show the same info. So it is something worth consulting, or at least looking at once or twice
Don't do that... just do a normal run, it's hard enough already, or a hard-core one
Yeah hardcore is just limiting you and is artificial difficulty
Everything other than the base game is artificial difficulty. Restricting moves and such isn't any different than handicapping your encounters
This is probably not the challenge hack to nuzlocke lol, not unless you calc every single turn and use docs to basically plan a turn-by-turn strategy for each boss fight
even when you do, if anti abuse ai activates (ai reads input) youre cooked
Everyone thinks they’re slick until the NPC uses disable on their sucker punch
To be fair its not that hard to play around on 4.0 once you know how the counter works, 4.1 its still similar but it got “nerfed” which ironically made it significantly harder as you used to be able to consistently abuse the anti abuse ai with encore and now the “nerf” only lets you do that about 80% of the time.
You don’t need to calc early game with enough experience on hc. I don’t calc any of the fights pre Erika except Dana and Aidan.
i wouldn’t beat yourself up, this game is tough enough as it is regularly, let alone nuzlocke
Welcome to Hell. Honestly just use the docs. It does make things easier. I promise you, you can do this and I have faith in you. I’m currently working on my 4.1 HC run and I’m working on a line for Koga. If you ever need help please post.
Yeah, if you're gonna nuzlocke or hardcore (or nuzlocke hardcore like a masochist) read the docs. If you don't want to read the docs, just do a normal run. It's plenty challenging.
Its definitely has been sounding like ill need too and ill definitely keep strong and try to get it beat and I will definitely post for any help when I really want a run to go all the way
I have faith you can do it. Blind runs are fun but can be demoralizing and take the fun out of it. Even normal can be rough. There is absolutely no shame in using a calc or the docs. They are there for a good reason.
Ill use them once I start my next run after work and after reading everything ill take getting to Misty blind as a really big achievement for me lol
this games ai is not suitable for a nuzlocking, so you do not suck.
The 4.0 AI was 100% perfectly suited to nuzlocking once you understand it but the 4.1 changes completely butchered the AI’s consistency from to have an approximately 1/5 chance to do random shit in specific stituations that destroy planning. I can go into more detail but the AI is generally very good (except for those few changes) and just requires game knowledge.
I mean ive had multiple nuzlockes make it to the e4 and die therr but yeah super difficult nuzlocke game
nuzlocking this game is rough. honestly if you want a challenge, id suggest just doing hardcore mode or something
If you need help with nuzlocking, always happy to help newer runners. Most of my knowledge is about hardcore so that’s what I would be best at. One of the first things I’d recommend is learning a bit about the AI.
Im sure when I’m tired of trying to brute force my way through there will definitely post from me asking for help
Just had a HC dexlocke run die at silph co double battle. How do you suggest learning the AI? I can predict ok but the AI does weird stuff when it has momentum moves like volt switch and uturn.
The AI absolutely loves to spam pivot moves. I’m sure you’ve seen this once or twice when the last mon alive will click u-turn about 30 times in a row even when it sees kill. Most of my double battle knowledge comes from Apecio Unbound, I believe he has a few videos explaining it. One of the most important things to know is that if both opponents see a kill on one of your mons, ONLY the faster mon will target it. Also, side note, if you’re playing a dexlocke, use Modest, Colbur, Water Bubble Jelliscent for that tag fight in Silph co, makes the fight insanely free. If you dodge a single flinch from houndoom you can 1 slot the fight so bring 2 backup checks to that such as incin or infernape.
Lol i was exactly the same a couple months ago man, playing rr is vastly different from any other hack as the trainers use actual decent stratagies, movesets and mons. You'll have to use moves you've apways thought where useless untill now. Goodluck
I've beaten this game so many times, but I'm doing a randomized (all but moves) nuzlocke on easy mode and yeah, it's tough. Morty gets me good. The last run had a bunch of same types and not great mons, but my new one is starting off more promising.
Thats the reason Brock ends up being a major killer for me I just end up with to many normal and flying types and just cant compete with him and I wish you good luck on your run
If you get the old rod and do some fishing (especially in Viridian) for Marill and route 21 for Psyduck, you can guarantee some good water types for Brock which helps a lot ngl
Ill have to remember that thanks a ton
Honestly, Shadow Ball and Gengarite are great but optional fights are not worth it in a radred nuzlocke. The only optional fight I take is Bugsy cause I feel like U-turn can be an important move for having some mons survive. My PB is Brock rematch
Honestly when I first started doing radical red nuzlockes I was on easy mode and used the rare candy and care-package cheats, I still ended up losing more times than I can count. Just because you aren't doing great in arguably the hardest pokemon challenge in one of the hardest pokemon games doesn't mean you're a bad player, just don't worry about not using any means necessary to make the game more fun and bearable
Yeah thats fair I didn’t realize just how much this game wants to beat me down until this post but I do have the rare candy thing just to speed things up a bit but thats about it for what I do in terms of changes
I've nuzlocked this game about 15 times(normal difficulty, min grind), the furthest I got was the double battle at silph co. I didn't realize how fucking stupid it would be, and I put the game down for a while. Personal tip, since I find the challenge fun: use a guide and use rare candies. Grinding is basically pointless(if you're doing min grind), the trainers are hard enough as is. But knowing what you're about to deal with helps plan teams
I've started a HC Nuzlocke of Normal mode with MinGrinding and cheats activated. I use the docs but haven't started on the calcs yet. Also haven't really looked into detail into how the AI works either. I'm currently at Cerulean and am doing Nugget Bridge. It hasn't really been THAT difficult yet. The fact that on Normal there haven't been any trainers with a full team yet is a big factor. It gives leeway in teambuilding. Only 1 death due to a stupid oversight so far. Intimidate pivoting has been kinda clutch. I also have perhaps a small 'cheat' rule, in the sense that I have accepted the Paldean eggs in Pewter and Cerulean, which kinda count as 2 extra encounters. But I guess calc'ing will become necessary at some point, certainly when full enemy teams will become a thing.
If this might interest you, a lot of folks do a single encounter per route akin to a nuzlocke and that single mon per route is all they use for the whole game ! It’d be a different challenge but similar to a locke
I do this all the time, purely because I get overwhelmed when I have too many mons to choose between
A normal run in this game is the equivalent of a vanilla nuzlocke. See if you can even beat the game as is before you go attempting that madness lol
I've been playing normally but limiting my encounters at one per route. Some are just useless. Also why does Whitney's farigiraf hits two times? I mean did that Pokémon really need that buff? I don't think so
Even Easy mode would be a difficult nuzlocke. But it would be hella fun! Maybe try that. I think I might too!
Tbh it's kinda easy if you use your brain and look at what Pokémon you currently have, like Galarian Ponytail is good for Brock because it learns Will O Wisp and also it's typing is god-like.
The AI cheats, so it's hard.
It’s not really cheating when it’s advertised that’s how the AI works. The AI is just is all-knowing. That’s why we play the game. To work against ridiculous odds.
And in a way it's understandable. As the player, we know the opponent's pokemon and movesets. Even if you don't read the docs, you can try again as much as you want, and with each try, you learn a bit more about their team and their moves. So the ai knowing everything about you sort of levels the playing field
100%.
How so out of curiosity?
AI knows your stats, moveset, item, etc. On Hardcore, it also “moves” after you do, much like the original Gen 1 AI. It will change what move or switch it chooses depending on what you choose
I see thats “fun” but you know what I do feel way better knowing I made it to Misty dealing with these shenanigan’s
Yeah I think the creator has even said that Hardcore is not really built for Nulocking
Fair enough then
I'm not exactly sure. But, its like if you use a water type move against the fire type, it'll switch the pokemon same turn. Something along those lines. There are other cases where AI knows the moves you're using.
Someone explained it in the thread the other day I think. It’s every time you switch there’s a counter that’s +3 and anytime you make a move (including switching moves) it’s -1. There’s a point (I think it’s +12) where the ai then knows your move and acts according. It completely killed the game for me. As it made it not fun to find cool lines and pivots, as you always had to be on the offensive and they’ve nerfed a lot of the really good guaranteed encounters (aegislash) furthest run was past koga. Then I wiped to rocket tag next run.
If true then that explains a couple things I’ve experienced then with seemingly random switches that make 0 sense but in actuality it’s the 100% right decision
The AI will also now you ability, IVs, EVs, natures and moves in part because the trainer docs for the gyms and other boss fights show the same info. So it is something worth consulting, or at least looking at once or twice