Emerald Question

[Cammy White]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not particularly new to Pokémon, or these boards, but I haven't really played much over the past few years.

Now that I'm interested again (possibly a distraction from university work... meh) I was wondering if Emerald was worth picking up.

I already own Sapphire and Fire Red is on its way (well, it better be...) and didn't know if there was much difference between the versions to make it worth my £27 (unless I get it cheap on eBay, but you know how the prices like start start low then go past retail sometimes...)

I read some reviews but they just gave a kind of general overview, so I thought it best to ask somewhere where the people tend to know what they're talking about! Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks! Steven

[mr_pikachu]

Hi, Cammy! Welcome back to the boards; stay as long as you like! :)

I'm not particularly familiar with European currency or the exchange rates, but I would guess that Emerald is about $35, maybe $40 in America, so I'll base what I say off that approximate price.

The most important thing might be to ask how far you are in Sapphire. If you've already gone through the Elite Four and done a good bit of the contests, then you've probably got about as good of an idea as to what the game has to offer as you ever will. (Smaller things, like individual battles and completing the Pokedex, might still remain; these aren't really major gameplay points, though.)

Really, I wouldn't recommend buying Emerald unless you're sure that you'll get a decent amount of enjoyment out of the extra features. Sure, the selection of Pokemon is a bit different between Sapphire and Emerald (as well as FireRed), but you can complete your Pokedex without Emerald, I believe, so that's inconsequential.

And realistically, the only major change between the two gem games is the Battle Tents and Battle Frontier. So let's take a look at those.

First of all, the Battle Tents are mainly preparation for the Battle Frontier, like a trial run of sorts. You see, the Battle Frontier offers somewhat different ways of battling. In the Battle Tents, stationed all around the Hoenn region, you can test out some of the newer battle methods for small prizes (stuff like Potions). You get the prize if you complete the challenge, but the prizes are small, so it isn't too hard to get the hang of most of the different styles. At least, it isn't difficult to master everything well enough to blast through the tents.

The Battle Frontier is a different matter. This is by far the biggest challenge in Emerald. In fact, one of the biggest reasons to get Emerald is for this incredible challenge; I honestly don't think anyone on TPM has been able to complete the whole thing. When the best team-builders in the AG (Advanced Generation, where this thread is) forum say they haven't even come close, you know it's incredibly hard. Think of the Battle Tower in GSC. Yeah. That's the kind of difficulty I'm talking about.

Now, the Frontier is set up sort of like an amusement park for Pokemon trainers. The biggest things to think about, though, are the seven attractions where you'll be doing that tough battling. I'll outline each section for you.


Battle Dome - This attraction is run in the second-most straightforward and familiar style. Every time you challenge this area, the game sets up a tournament with fifteen computer opponents and you. Before that, however, you must pick three Pokemon to be on your team. (This is pretty standard for the Frontier. For each attraction from now on, unless I say differently, just assume that you pick three of your Pokemon to make a challenge.) Then the game sets up the tournament brackets. It's a single-elimination tournament; win your match and you're healed, lose once and you're done. Before each of your matches, you can do a bit of an analysis of your opponent (as well as other tournament participants, if you like). You can look at their three Pokemon, their battle style, any special emphasis toward any particular type of move, and how they've done against any previous opponents in the tournament. But before the match begins, you have choose two of your three Pokemon to actually take into battle. From there, the battle is held like any other battle, except that each of you only has two Pokemon to work with. Repeat this process until either you lose or you make your way through all four rounds of the tournament.

Battle Pike - This is a bit of a weird attraction in that it's extremely dependant on luck. This time, you take your team of three into a series of rooms. These rooms come in two varieties. The first gives you a choice of three corridors to enter; the second is the corridor you've chosen itself. The rooms alternate back and forth. Your goal is simply to survive through 14 rooms (I believe... someone correct me if I'm remembering the number wrong). Simple, right? The problem is that you don't have a clear idea what lies in each corridor until you actually choose one. Some may be easy to pass through, others may actually help you, and still others will really test your skills. Good possibilities range from simply walking through the corridor to getting some or all of your Pokemon fully healed. Bad possibilities can be a trainer battle (although sometimes your whole party will be fully healed if you make it through the match), a double battle, or having one or more of your Pokemon inflicted with a harmful status condition (Poison, Paralysis, etc). Each of the rooms with one of the three-way intersections will have a lady in it who you can talk to briefly. She will give you a vague clue about one of the paths, but even if you can decipher your hint (guides are helpful with this), the actual nature of the path she tells you about will be determined through probability. (Eg. A 75% chance of a trainer battle, a 25% chance of being healed. Something like that.) Clearly, it's all about luck here.

Battle Palace - For many, this is the most hated attraction of all. Here, you battle like you normally against seven consecutive trainers (or until you lose). You get to heal after each one, so you're on an even playing field with each opponent. But there's one catch: the only thing you're allowed to do is switch out Pokemon. Your Pokemon have to decide what moves to use for themselves! This is determined by the nature of the Pokemon (Hardy, Modest, etc.), and unfortunately, the nature of their battle style sometimes is different than the strategy their nature would normally make them good at using. Also, when a Pokemon gets low on health, its battle style will often change. This is a difficult and sometimes frustrating area, but that pretty much covers the essence of it. (If you want a more in-depth analysis of the effects of natures, there should be something detailing that on the first page of the AG forum.)

Battle Pyramid - This is somewhat straightforward. Basically, you have to fight your way through multiple levels of a pyramid, moving around as you normally do on the map. But before you start, your items are confiscated, and you're given a replacement pack for the duration of the challenge. (You might be able to put items in the pack you take with you, but if you lose, I'm pretty sure you lose those items, too. Not sure about this.) Also, Pokemon aren't allowed to hold items here, so you're going with just your three choices and nothing else. Throughout the Pyramid, you'll find wild Pokemon and trainers to weaken your Pokemon. You might also come across items scattered across the floor; those are precious and should not be wasted! You'll want to use them only when necessary. The area is set up like a maze, but it's also very dark. Flash won't help you here; the only way to light things up is to beat trainers, like in the Dewford Gym. Your goal is simply to make it through all the levels of the Pyramid (I'm not sure on the number here).

Battle Arena - Ever had someone judge your battling style rather than just whether you win or lose? Don't want to experience it? Too bad. This is what the Arena is all about. You simply fight seven consecutive trainers (again, you're healed after each one). You're not allowed to switch out Pokemon until it's KOed... or eliminated by a "decision". What's that, you ask? Well, the battle is divided into rounds. The first round begins when you and your opponent send out your first Pokemon. Each time a Pokemon is eliminated, that round ends and a new round starts when the new combatant(s) is/are sent out. But if a round lasts through three turns with neither Pokemon KOed, the game will judge which Pokemon wins. There are three categories: Body (how much HP each Pokemon has remaining as a percentage of its max HP), Mind (the percentage of attacks out of the overall moves you used), and Skill (how well your Pokemon attacked; super effective moves are good, ineffective moves and misses are bad). You're given 2 points for a win in each category, 1 for a tie, and 0 if your opponent wins the category. Whoever has fewer points is automatically eliminated; in the event of a tie, both Pokemon are eliminated. This continues, round by round, and battle by battle.

Battle Tower - This is very simple. You just fight seven consecutive battles with regular rules in the three-on-three format. No gimmicks, no tricks. Just straight up battling. This should be very easy to get the hang of.

Battle Factory - Okay, now things get tricky. This is one of the weirdest attractions here, in that you do not use your own Pokemon. Yeah, you heard me. Leave the team behind, because you're going to have to take what you can get from the Factory itself!

This one is going to take a bit of explaining. At the start, you're given a series of Pokemon. With each one, you can look at its nature, item (if it has one), stats, abilities, type(s), and moves. You have to select three Pokemon, put them in an order of your choosing, and move with your makeshift team into battle. This is difficult, because sometimes its hard to know how well a Pokemon will do until its actually in battle. And other times you'll end up with a good portion of your choices being obviously useless, leaving you with a bit of an uphill battle, so to speak.

From here, you move into the battles. Now, the battle itself is done normally, like a regular three-on-three match. But afterwards, if you win, you'll have the option of swapping Pokemon with the trainer you beat. That is, you can (if you choose) take one of your three Pokemon and trade it with one of your opponents. But there's a catch. When you first chose your team, you got to see everything about each Pokemon you considered. When you swap with your opponent, you only get the names of the opponent's Pokemon. Any other information you get has to come from your knowledge of what happened in the battle. So you have to be really careful with this. Also, if you swap, the new Pokemon takes the same place in the order as the one you're giving up. So if you, for instance, drop the last member of your team for a Baton Passing Ninjask... you'd better hope you only need those first two Pokemon. It's tricky business.


Now, each attraction also has a leader who presides over the event. If you beat an attraction a certain number of times consecutively (yes, consecutively), the leader will appear and battle you under the rules for the attraction at the end of the last successful challenge you make. For instance, you have to beat the Battle Pike twice in a row in order to face the leader there (I won't spoil it for you). But you have to face her in exactly the condition you're in when you complete the challenge - like the rest of your journey through the Pike, you're not healed unless you pick a lucky corridor! Similarly, you can face the leader of the Dome if you beat it three straight times.

If you beat a leader of an attraction like this, you get the Silver Symbol for that area. Lose, and the number of consecutive wins resets to zero. But wait! There's more! If you can beat that attraction a greater number of consecutive times, the leader will challenge you to a rematch. The leaders will be harder then, though. Beat them again, and you'll get the Gold Symbol for the attraction. But it's not so easy to get to them a second time. (Well, it's not really easy the first time, but you have to jump through hoops to pull it off again.) For instance, to get a rematch in the Dome, the number of consecutive wins necessary increases from 3 to 6. The Pike becomes insane with this; it skyrockets from 2 to 10! Other attractions also have tougher scores for you to attain to reach the leaders.

Well, that's pretty much a rundown of the Battle Frontier, which really covers the main difference between Emerald and Ruby/Sapphire. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Anyway, see you around! :wave:

[Cammy White]

Wow, thank you so much! That's way more extensive than I expected!

The whole Battle Frontier seems quite interesting, it sounds as though it provides a kind of challenge in a game that's been lost since the days of RBY (Obviously it sounds a lot tougher, but I found RBY to challenge the player more than recent games.)

I'm considering getting Emerald, I found a copy on eBay for what I think is the equivalent of $22 including delivery. I've played through Sapphire before, but I recently restarted, but not very successfully as I couldn't decide what I wanted for a team.

It might just be the way you're describing it, but the Battle Frontier sounds like it could be quite enjoyable, if not fairly impossible for someone of mediocre skill like myself.

Steven

[mr_pikachu]

Hehe, you're welcome. I'm just happy to help.

I agree with you about some of the newer games being less difficult; even though it may have just been my unfamiliarity with Pokemon at the time, I found RBY to be quite difficult. In GSC, the only real challenge was the Battle Tower and catching the legendary dogs (that was a pain), and in RSE I've merely had to keep from ripping my hair out over all the Pokemon I haven't had access to because they don't do Pokemon Tours anywhere near my home.

I was in a bit of a hurry earlier, so I forgot to mention a couple of minor differences between Emerald and the other gems. There are a few storyline differences, for one thing; the criminal organizations are both against you this time, and the whole Kyogre/Groudon thing turns out a bit differently. Also, one of the Gym leaders isn't who you might expect if you've played Ruby/Sapphire, and you face a different opponent in another major battle, as well... Some of your Pokenav features are also slightly different, like the Match Call system, for instance. But those really aren't big changes; the Battle Frontier is the main change, in my opinion.

$22 does sound like a pretty good price to me, even if it is used. New copies are still going for high prices in the US, so $22 for a used cartridge might not be too bad. But it all depends on whether you think the changes would be worth another purchase. I'd advise waiting a couple of days on it if possible (though that may not be feasible with eBay) to make sure that you think it's worth your money.

And as for needing a lot of skill for the Battle Frontier, don't worry about that. Sure, you might need a lot of experience and a good deal of luck/time to get all the Gold Symbols, but I just threw a few Pokemon together from my in-game team with literally no planning, and I've got two Silver Symbols just from that. So if you do get it, have fun with it! :)

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Wow, thank you so much! That's way more extensive than I expected!

The whole Battle Frontier seems quite interesting, it sounds as though it provides a kind of challenge in a game that's been lost since the days of RBY (Obviously it sounds a lot tougher, but I found RBY to challenge the player more than recent games.)

I'm considering getting Emerald, I found a copy on eBay for what I think is the equivalent of $22 including delivery. I've played through Sapphire before, but I recently restarted, but not very successfully as I couldn't decide what I wanted for a team.

It might just be the way you're describing it, but the Battle Frontier sounds like it could be quite enjoyable, if not fairly impossible for someone of mediocre skill like myself.

Steven

[color=magenta]OMG Cammy I haven't seen you around these boards forever!! Welcome back to TPM!! ^_^

mr_pika gave you an excellent rundown of the Battle Frontier in Emerald. If you want to do well at the Frontier, you will have to have your Pokémon trained extremely well, with good movesets, EV training, and natures if you want to obtain the Gold symbols. The Silver symbols aren't quite as hard though. It is by far the hardest in-game challenge ever in a Pokémon game. Luck is also a huge factor, no matter how good you are and how good your Pokémon are trained, there will be some setbacks. (For example, a Quick Claw Rhydon that knows Horn Drill. One time it completely destroyed my team, the Quick Claw activated three times in a row, and Horn Drill connected three times in a row... talk about bad luck... lol it was like the game told me that I had gone far enough or something!!) You just have to be patient and keep at it, have fun, and don't get discouraged with it like I did!! It has been months since I tried the Battle Frontier again. I have all of the silver symbols, but only 2 gold symbols.

[Cammy White]

Wow, thanks for the welcome! I didn't think anyone knew who I was here! Especially since I've never really posted much, or anything worwhile, he he.

The eBay item is a Buy It Now with 82 of them available, so I guess it would make sense to wait, especially with my getting Fire Red soon.

Although, I'm quite curious about the Battle Frontier now, so having said I'll wait I'll most likely order it soon... :-/

The information you guys have given me is so great, so thanks very much for that! Even if it is swaying me to part with hard earned cash ;)

Only thing is I've never really understood the whole EV/IV thing, so I guess it's something I'm going to have to look in to! It sounds really complicated!

Steven

[andyizcool]

Only thing is I've never really understood the whole EV/IV thing, so I guess it's something I'm going to have to look in to! It sounds really complicated!
Once you understand that you'll have better chances at the Battle Frontier on Pokemon Emerald because that place is just one tough cookie.

[rinku]

A couple of more important differences in Emerald that make it worthwhile for me:

There are a whole bunch of added breeding effects that are not found on any other cart - for example you can use an Everstone to increase the chances of a baby having its mother's personality, and can halve steps taken to hatch an egg if you have a pokémon with Flame Body in your party.

It also has a bunch of extras from Fire Red/Leaf Green, like wireless and the ability to add and remove items on pokémon still in the box (very, very handy if doing bulk item transfer using Pokémon Box!). It also has all the FR/LG move tutors, which since they are one-per-save events are useful even if you have Fire Red as well.

If you don't have access to Colosseum, it also gives you a large number of Johto pokémon.

Battle Frontier battle points can also be traded in for a bunch of move tutor moves, many of which have not been available before. You can also trade one battle point for a vitamin (i.e. Calcium), which is a heck of a bargain.

Depending on your interests, here is how I'd rate Emerald:

Breeding: Best game for doing breeding on, bar none. Even if you have Ruby AND Sapphire, worth getting if you are breeding maniac.

Long term play: Very good. Battle Frontier is something you can came back to again and again.

Just want to play it through: Probably not worth bothering if you already have Ruby or Sapphire, though it does have differences.

Buying it as a reset cart to get starters, legends and moves: Better value than any of the others - you have access to both Kyogre and Groudon, plus a choice of Latios or Latias per game, plus the move tutors. Also, you get one of the Johto starters after beating the Elite 4.

Access to the rest of the Johto pokémon: Better than Colosseum as they are caught wild, mainly in the Safari Zone instead of only getting the one. Gives a realistic chance of shinies and you can use pokéblocks to attract certain personalities.

I was umming and ahh-ing over getting it, but was lucky to get it as a birthday present last year. I can state without doubt that it has been the best single pokémon game I've played (which includes Sapphire, Ruby, Leaf Green and Colosseum, plus Yellow and Silver on an emulator).

[Dark Dragonite]

Now I have a question about Emerald...
I can get my hands on Emerald for $30, for $35 I can get the battle frontier collectors tin...so my question is that extra $5 is just for the tin, or do you get something extra, like I heard something about a battle frontier card?

[mr_pikachu]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who has the tin... it's really not worth it. Unless my tin was somehow missing a bunch of stuff, all you get is a miniature "guide" to the Battle Frontier, which has a basic summary of four of the seven areas (this thread alone has much more info) as well as pieces of tactical advice that are obvious (oh my gosh, Water attacks are super-effective against Fire Pokemon!), incorrect (Growl does not lower Defense, dang it!), and/or ill-advised (Hydro Pump = no).