Public Test: Exp. Rework

[Paprikaflow]

Hoenn Region

 

Elite 4 Hoenn Champ

Spoiler

 

Gyms

Spoiler

Rustboro Gym

Spoiler

 before

 after the trainers

 

 before the Gym Leader

  after the Gym Leader (I got 0 exp. here, not sure if intended)

 

 

Dewford Gym

Spoiler

 before the gym

after the trainers

 

 

 

Mauville

Spoiler

 

Lavaridge Gym

Spoiler

  

 

Petalburg City

Spoiler

 

 

Fortree Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Mossdeep

Spoiler

 

 

Sootopolis Gym

Spoiler

 

 

 

Feedback  

"hell hoenn" became true once more. The story of hoenn itself is very long and sometimes exhausting but that is all part of the fun. Unfortunately less fun were the challenges the story gave me. It felt my mons could never reach and apropriate level and farming in the wild is pointless since it gives little to no exp. I would like to see more exp.-gains to make the gaming experience more enjoyable. For me it felt like I have to use a cheesy strat aswell to have a chance. 

 

What I liked about hoenn is the general story and how the trainers are constructed. With a few exeptions such as mt. pyre where you do not gain any experience despite it being one of the most exhausting parts.

 

The real pain is the Sinnoh Quest. It took me about 10 hours which really disliked. Half the time would still be enough. Without help from other players or maybe the possibility to level mons effectively (like in Ceru-Cave) it became a painfull grind. The Quest itself is than also really hard, as you can see my team is not up to the challenge to beat ev trained level 100 mons.

 

The Exp-Share was again a great tool all through out the Hoenn story. They way it functioned and its pure existence is a positive gain for game. Thumbs up. 

 

I am sorry that I am that negative, my apoliges but I really didn't like the hoenn experience. It hope that my feedback is still usefull. As you can see in the spoiler below I spend the same time in hoenn as I did in the other two regions and that did not include the Sinnoh quest. 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Paprikaflow

[Jpasrv]

before mahagony gym^^

after mahagony gym ^^

[Jpasrv]

before blackthorn gym^^

 

after blackthorn gym^^

[Karyoplasma]

Kanto feedback post

 

Johto screenshots:

Spoiler

Gym 1 - Violet City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Note: I screenshotted after the first gym trainer because I forgot. Geodude was close to lvl13 before entering.

 

 

Gym 2 - Azalea Town

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Gym 3 - Goldenrod City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Gym 4 - Ecruteak City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Gym 5 - Cianwood City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

 

Gym 6 - Olivine City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Note: Jasmine was HARD, got almost no EXP out of it because I lost like 10 times.

 

Gym 7 - Mahagony Town

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

Gym 8 - Blackthorn City

Spoiler

before:

 

after:

 

After E4:

 

As you may see from my "team", it was another instance of "get sturdys to debuff and then setup and sweep". Experience gain is just too low to try anything else, you will fall behind too much. I have used the EXP Share in the beginning, mainly because I wanted Stealth Rock on Graveler and that put my starter pretty behind, so after the rock hit 30, I stopped using it for the rest of the region. I EV-trained to make up for the lack of levels on my starter; leveling another mon alongside would have been a no go in the long run.

I did some wild EXP test in Blackthorn and leveled from 71 to 72 on my Feraligatr in Dragons Den, here are the screens of that expedition:

As you can see, it took almost 25 fights to get a single level, so I just didn't bother to level up more and went to the gym. Clair+gym was a sweep, don't think I even used any potions.

 

I didn't take a screenshot before entering E4 because I was debating whether I should farm them for a bit, but ultimately decided against it. I farmed will twice on my Butterfree, but it was honestly more of a struggle than just pressing on, so I stopped quickly.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Karyoplasma

[Therionbloodeye]

KANTO

Spoiler

First Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Second Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Third Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Fourth Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Fifth Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Sixth Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Seventh Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Eight Gym

Spoiler

 

 

Elite Four

Spoiler

Before Lorelei and after Victory Road

Spoiler

Before Bruno

Spoiler

Before Agatha

Spoiler

Before Lance

Spoiler

Before Gary

Spoiler

Kanto Champion

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Final thoughts

Spoiler

In comparison, I took a lot less time to finish the first 4 Gym than in the standard PRO account.

I noticed, though, that after that the exp gained was too low and I had to rely mainly on Gyarados, Graveler and Magnezone.

The Exp Share gave me a hand when I needed some exp on low level pokemons.

Overall, Kanto it's not a difficult region if you know how to approach it, it's just a bit more grindier after the fourth gym.

 

JOHTO (Work in Progress)

Edited September 23, 2022 by Therionbloodeye

[Erasmoreisinho]

Gin saffron

[Glogs]

Kanto:
Pewter

Spoiler

Before 1st gym

 

After 1st gym

Spoiler

Before 2nd gym (well technically start of it, please don't sue me)

After 2nd gym

Spoiler

Before 3rd gym

After 3rd gym

Spoiler

Before 4th gym

After 4th gym

Spoiler

During 5th gym clear (woops)

After 5th gym

Spoiler

Before 6th gym

After 6th gym

Spoiler

Before 7th gym leader because i'm forgetful

After 7th and 8th gym (more or less the same thing)

Elite 4 Kanto:
 

Spoiler

Lorelei

Bruno

Agatha

Lance

Gary

Johto:

1st gym

Spoiler

Before

After

2nd gym

Spoiler

Before

After

3rd gym

Spoiler

Before

After

4th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

5th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

6th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

 

7th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

8th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

Elite 4
 

Spoiler

Will

Koga

Bruno

Karen

Lance

 

Hoenn:

1st gym

Spoiler

Before

After

2nd gym

Spoiler

Before

After

3rd gym

Spoiler

Before

After

4th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

5th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

6th gym

Spoiler

Before (I was actually asleep at this time and completely forgot, needless to say I spent way too long getting past this gym and i hated every second of it, I hope we can overlook this transgression)

After

7th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

8th gym

Spoiler

Before

After

Elite 4

Spoiler

Sidney

Phoebe

Glacia

Drake

Steven

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts:

Note that I do have before/after of each e4 member in all regions, but I feel like I'm posting enough as is <.< I cannot save the formatting at this point, so I hope the spoilers continue to come out in a chronological order that is followable.
 

Thoughts on EXP in general:
Early and midgame exp is fine, but you fall considerably far behind somewhere around the 6th gym compared to the gym leaders. It's playable to a certain extent for players with reasonable knowledge who like the challenge, but should never be set as the bar for newer players, especially without better places to earn EXP (and exp at better rates).
The level differences in Johto are especially egregious when comparing the trainer levels in the routes to the wild Pokémon.
 

Hoenn was a rather miserable experience for me because I committed to more than one Pokémon at the beginning (don't do that). It took me a considerable amount of time to get back on even footing with someone who was doing basically the same things as me but funnelling one Pokémon instead. For all the struggles I had at 6th gym and Deoxys, completing 7th and 8th gym was hilariously easy the second I learned to count to 5. I'm pretty sure I spent more time preparing for Deoxys than I did doing the entire Elite 4 and I certainly spent more time levelling for the 6th gym than I did levelling in the entire playthrough combined... actually that was the singular time in the playthrough I resorted to wild battles for EXP (barring the start of Kanto). Hoenn certainly could use some rework love when it comes to the storyline, it is very insufferable in its current state (especially when you commit to Mt. Pyre trainers). You move between cities to do a minor thing way too frequently and the majority of it has no purpose other than being convenient for the storytelling.
More available EXP for story has to be available somehow and curve better into the mid-game without feeling like a chore and grinding 2 hours to prepare for a gym.. and I don't even really know what I did wrong, at the end of the day, the only thing that changed the battle wasn't the level of any of my mons (unless you consider access to Baton pass part of that), it was the change in strategy (thanks to the levels). I don't think the majority of new players will look towards the best combinations of rat Pokémon at the start of every region, so unless they spend an inordinate amount of time grinding, the game in this version is too difficult.

 

The mid-late game exp needs a significant readjustment. I don't care much for the exp mechanics of getting exp when catching a Pokémon, but it's a pretty nifty feature if nothing else. EXP share was nice to have, helped keep some minor mons in the team up to the level they needed to be at to still be useful. I imagine an implementation on live server(s) would solve a lot of minor annoyances one might have to go through to level a Pokémon at times.
 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Glogs

[Drkshdw]

Kanto

Spoiler

 

 

Johto

Spoiler

 

 

-------------------------------

My experience from this test started very well i liked watching my pokes evolve without having to stop them. In kanto at 4 first gym's things was easy,from then on i feel that it was not the same.I was struggling to the gyms and also with the trainers.

It was like exp doesnt have the same result as the 40 first levels. Same for Johto.

I like the caught poke exp so much i find it very useful.

The exp share item i found it useful but i dont feel the same for the general exp mechanism im not sure that works as much as now.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Drkshdw

[Adonar]

 

Spoiler

Feedback : painful, tears and blood. I'm not a fan of the new system. It's very hard, without Gyarados you can't win. A thought for those who do not know Pokémon well, they will be rolled over

 

[C0mp]

JOHTO:
 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Thoughts:
There is a noticeable difference at the beginning of the game compared to before because of the increased exp gain from wild mons and trainers, and the EXP share allowing you to train up Pokemon that would otherwise fall behind. This allows for somewhat of an equal-leveled team in the beginning. Then, when you get around to gym 5-6, you find yourself not really gaining much at all from wild Pokemon, without even using the EXP share.  Initially, I tried to put together a cohesive, fully balanced team that could potentially beat the region, but I kept finding myself under-leveled, even when I spent a lot of time grinding levels - my team just couldn't catch up. This resulted in me just spamming one Pokemon like Feraligatr or Gyarados and attempting to sweep the region from there. Another problem (particularly in Johto) was not gaining EXP when you fought some trainers: Jasmine, Yellow, some Rocket Grunts, etc. I don't understand the reason why I don't gain anything when I fight trainers with formidable teams.

I do like that you can simultaneously EV train Pokemon with the EXP share, that you can now evolve your Pokemon as soon as possible, and I also don't mind the extra EXP you get from catching a Pokemon. New players who like to spam one Pokemon will find it difficult, but it will certainly be easier for them once they know about the Gyarados-spam strategy. The players who want a more diverse, balanced team will be sorely disappointed; they simply won't be able to achieve this without it being agonizingly difficult. I remember I had to grind up a level 40 Feraligatr against level 15 Rattatas, and I can tell you that was not fun at all.

Clair was by far the hardest gym leader for me because all I had was an over-leveled, mediocre Feraligatr that couldn't power through her team that was mostly faster and had several coverage moves to beat me. I also did not want to go allll the wayyy back to catch something like a Voltorb, train it up to a point where it outspeeds Kingdra, and take another ten hours. That Focus Energy Kingdra was ridiculous. I can only say I got through it by getting a bit lucky.

Overall, I think the levels/EXP of the wild mons in the middle/later stages need to be reworked. It's too grindy, especially for newer players. I will not be completing the other regions because I personally find Hoenn far too tedious.
 

Edited September 23, 2022 by C0mp