Sinnoh Elite 4 is nerfed

[Dante012]

Hey there,

So, I loved what PokeMMO did with Sinnoh. Quite faithful to the original game, except with a higher difficulty, and some nice surprises.

However, there's one thing that really disappointed me: the Elite 4 is relatively easy, especially compared to the original gameI

I noticed two major issues:

- the Fire-type Trainer never uses Sunny Day. In the original game, its entire strategy is based around it: it hits harder with its fire types, water-type attacks are less effective, and it has Solar Beam. It all makes it far harder to defeat him even with Water-types and Ground-types. In PokeMMO, it's far too easy because it never uses it. Maybe it has it, but personally, I haven't seen it...

- Cynthia is nerfed!!! The others have slightly better levels, but for some reason, all of Cynthia's Pokemon have 4 levels less than in the original game! Why would you do that? Cynthia is memorable because she kicks the players' butts hard. Right now, in PokeMMO, Cynthia is relatively easy to handle...

 

Anyone else frustrated because of that? I still loved what they did, but frankly, when I replayed the original game last year, I found the Elite 4 much harder... Hopefully it will be balanced in a future update...

[GaloisField]

If you find the E4 too easy, you can rebattle it. It gets harder with each try up to lvl 100. There they even got tools unavailable to us - legendaries and hidden abilities.

[Mike]

3 hours ago, Dante012 said:

the Fire-type Trainer never uses Sunny Day.

Some probably do have it but the AI just doesn't understand the value of those moves yet so it will usually opt for an attacking move. Flint is also a big joke in the original games. There is only so much the limited fire types that exist in Sinnoh can do. 

 

3 hours ago, Dante012 said:

4 levels less than in the original game!

This is really only done because the EXP curve is different in PokeMMO. If we stayed true to the actual levels of the original games most players would get to the elite four with a team of around 48-52, depending on the team/species/how they use their mons, with our EXP curve. At that point you're just so far underleveled it's not fun anymore. Of course grinding is an essential part of a MMO but in all honesty needing to level up 4-6 levels on each mon just to have a chance would be bad game design.

 

I would say one of the main reasons why it might feel particularily easy is due to the free healing in between members. But before Sinnoh came out a lot of players were struggling with the story Elite Four as they do generally use better Pokemon, movesets, items and teams than their original game version. And this was too harsh to also continue to force players to use healing items. As many people just ran out of money and were hard stuck because of it.

 

That being said as pointed out above if you want to have a challenge rebattle the Elite Four a couple of times. They will end up using fully EVed stuff and some more surprises. On top of that the free healing is only during the first time you fight them. The rematches you need to heal everything yourself.

[Dante012]

I know I can rematch the E4 and they'll get harder, but it's not the issue. I don't complain because it was too easy for me, I complain because it changes the experience compared to the original games.

People who discover Platinum with PokeMMO will judge the game based on their playthrough in PokeMMO. If they find the E4 too easy, they'll think the E4 in Platinum was too easy, because they'll think they played Platinum when it's not really the case.

I'm sure it's the case for every other region now, but when I played those (that was years ago), I didn't feel like it changed the experience compared to the original games. It's really the first time I have this feeling that the balance is wrong (for E4 ; again, the rest of the game was great imo).

 

I wouldn't say Flint was a joke in the original game. He isn't hard once you know how to handle it, but before you do know him, his Sunny Day really is challenging (I should mention I never use bag items during battle, like potions and revives ; I have a fair fight policy, even against AI). I wouldn't say he's incredibly hard either, but at least he was clever ^^. I kind of felt like he had a brain decease during his transfer to PokeMMO, xD.

 

About Cynthia, I suspected it was about balancing, but I really think she was levelled down a bit too much. Losing is part of the game, and many people remember Cynthia for the amount of butt-kicking she gave them. If you make her too easy, people who discover Platinum in PokeMMO won't understand why she's considered one of the most powerful Trainers we get to fight in the entire franchise.

 

On a side note, I actually love the fact that Pokemons get healed between each battle (I don't know since when it does that because I hadn't played PokeMMO in a while, so it was a surprise for me, and a nice one, xD). It doesn't change the battle difficulty, so I really don't mind that. I really only care about the battles, and I felt that the E4 battles were underwhelming. Now if it's only me, fair enough ^^.