Who was that guy...? Whatever, I think I need to train more...
It took some time, but I've gotten the six puppets I'll be using against the rival ready. Before I introduce the new and improved puppets, allow me to quickly go over how stats work in pokemon/touhoumon.
In earlier installments, you've probably heard me throw around terms like "base stat total" or "base x score", where 'x' is one of the six basic stats in pokemon: hp, attack, defense, special attack, special defense, and speed.
What this means is pretty simple. By the time a puppet/pokemon is level 100, it's score in a given stat will be equal to 5 + (2x base value). So a puppet with a base 100 attack score will have, before factoring in other modifiers, 205 attack by level 100. Those other modifiers, however, can make a HUGE difference.
The first of these modifiers are EV's, or Effort Values. I mentioned these last installment. Basically, every pokemon or puppet defeated gives your puppet effort values for a specific stat. As an example, defeating a trainer's Blissey in Pokemon will give 3 hp ev's to the pokemon that defeated it. Your pokemon/puppet can only have 510 effort values total, and 255 max for any individual stat. You only benefit, however, from 252 effort values max. This is because the effect effort values have on your mon's stats is equal to the total number of effort values in that stat/4 by level 100 or +63 to a given stat. In the above example, a puppet with base 100 attack and 252 effort values would have 268 attack at level 100.
The next modifier are known as IV's or Individual Values. These basically exist mostly to make every pokemon/puppet unique from another one of the same species. IV's are determined randomly, though you can control them to some degree through breeding. In the 4th gen games in particular equipping a power item - items that give 4 bonus effort values for defeating any pokemon when equipped - to a pokemon being bred will cause the baby pokemon to inherit the parent's iv for the associated stat. Third gen... you can control iv's to some degree too, but only if you know the parent's iv's. Even competitive battlers often wouldn't bother with iv's unless they're using pokesav to generate a pokemon that already has the right iv's/ev's/nature. Some people frown upon doing such, though.
IV's range from 0 to 31, and give +0 to +31 to a given stat by level 100. IV's are random for each stat a pokemon/puppet has, so it could have 20 hp iv's, 14 atk, 31 def, etc. Going back to that puppet above, with base 100 attack, 252 ev's, and 31 attack iv, it would have a total attack score of 299 by level 100. It's almost gained 100 extra stat points now.
The final factor in a pokemon's stats are natures. Natures apply to every stat but hp and any given nature will raise one stat by 10% and lower another by 10%. This might not seem like much, but natures are applied last in this equation. So in the above example, base 100 attack + 252 ev's + 31 iv = 299 at level 100 before applying nature. All decimals are rounded down, so +10% to 299 attack adds 29 for a final attack score of 328.
Now let's compare this to another theoretical pokemon that has 150 base attack, which is an incredibly massive bas attack score to have. The legendary pokemon Groudon has a base 150 attack score. But with 0 iv's, a neutral nature, and no effort values, the ends up being only 305 attack by level 100. A Mew, with 100 base attack, adamant (+atk, -s.atk) nature, and 252 attack ev's would beat it at a score of 328. That same Groudon, however, could top off at 438. So ev's and iv's make a huge difference, as you can see. EV's and IV's alone add anywhere from +63 (assuming 0 iv) to +94 to a stat.
If you're just playing through the typical pokemon/touhoumon main game, you don't need to know ANY of this. Feel free to teach special moves to your physical attacks and vice versa while you're at it. Just use your favorite pokemon/touhous and take it easy. You only need to get into such nitty-gritty details if you're challenging certain post game areas like the Battle Frontier, Battle Tower, or Battle-whatever.
Now that all that explanation is over... on to my actual training. Because breeding for IV's is so hard, I didn't bother and focused solely on breeding puppets with the natures I wanted. Let's not think about the mechanics of puppet breeding too much, seeing as how those Pot Holes only covered a handful of the things potentially involved.
Instead, let's focus on the results!
- Firstly, I bred a few male puppets specifically for teaching techniques to puppets. cPatchouli with Flamethrower, Earthquake, Psychic Flash, and Five Elements. cAlice with Ice Beam, Aura Beam, Psychic Flash, and Mana charge. cTewi with Rock Slide, Brick Break, Poison Claw, and Dig. cTewi can learn any TM, so I threw a bunch on her. cShizuha with Leech Seed, Giga Drain, Maniac Laugh, and Magical Leaf. cHina with Maniac Laugh, Giga Drain, Poison Bomb, and Kamikaze. Feel free to insert your own explanation for how male puppets work.
- First puppet I bred for my team was a relaxed cSakuya, raised her with a focus on HP ev's and some defense/special defense. Delayed Ex evolution to learn Luna Dial, which she normally wouldn't learn until level 63. Learned Ice Beam from using cAlice as the father. Relaxed nature is +defense, -speed. Stats here.
- Bred a lonely Fairy that evolved into Lily Black. Now has much, MUCH higher offensive potential. Drawback? She's so frail that, if she becomes confused, hitting herself in confusion is a 3HKO. Stats here.
Bred two other fairies too but will raise them later. Lonely nature is +atk, -def.
- Bred an Adamant cTokiko using a cTewi father to teach her Poison Claw and Brick Break. I kept her from fully evolving until she learned Aeroblast this time. Has a lot of attack and speed now, but not much better off defensively than Lily Black. Stats here.
Adamant is a fairly typical nature for a physical attacker, giving +atk/-s.atk.
- Bred a Calm cParsee, but forgot and raised her as if she were Relaxed. The difference? One nature boosts special defense, the other defense. As a result, Parsee got a lot more special defense EV's than she needed. At least her HP is plenty high. Both stats lower speed, which a defensive puppet doesn't need to worry about generally. Stats here.
Reason she ended up calm was because I bred calm first and decided that was good enough and I'd just put more ev's in defense to compensate.
- Bred a Relaxed cMedicine. She ended up roughly the same in terms of physical defense as the old ExMedicine, more hp, more special defense, much less speed, and slightly less attack and special attack. Biggest change is the new Medicine having access to Leech Seed and Giga Drain, courtesy of the cShizuha she bred with, making her much better at taking down powerful foes. Stats here.
- Lastly, Jolly cChen. Was aiming for Adamant but decided the extra speed might be good against some enemies. For that same reason I kept Mud Shot this time. If I'm having difficulty against a fast opponent, one Chen can't take on herself, I can slow it down with Mud shot. Jolly gives +spd, -s.atk. A good nature for a physical attacker that wants more speed. Also has Earthquake now thanks to the cPatchouli. She's become a LOT stronger and faster. Stats here.
With my team retrained, time to finally take on my rival.
Note her dialogue, seems she's trying to hint at some actual plot here?
For the most part, this battle actually goes exactly as planned. ExSakuya goes out against her LwAya. This Aya has Intimidate instead of Speed Boost for some reason. Personally, I'm having a hard time picturing Aya being intimidating. Anyway, freeze her with Luna Dial, which freezes everytime, then keep trying it expecting a switch. This AI has a tendency to switch out when they're at a type disadvantage and get hit by a super effective attack. This time around she took her time and I considered switching to Ice Beam toward the end. Good thing I didn't since at that point she switched in LwFlandre.
This version of Flandre is a pain. More powerful than ExFlandre in every way and now sporting Speed Boost instead of Insanity. Even with ExChen's impressive speed, she'll only outspeed Flandre on the first turn. Which meant I had to hope that freeze stuck for at least two turns. Freezing though, unlike sleep, can potentially last the entire battle. Sleep lasts a max of 4 turns I believe. One Earthquake takes Flandre down.
LwSanae is another dangerous foe and can just barely survive ExTokiko's Aeroblast with her impressive defenses, and has Blizzard to OHKO in return. Fortunately Aeroblast's high crit rate saves the day, otherwise I would have been relying on Chen and maybe my ExMedicine to finish her job.
Speaking of Chen and Medicine, guess what matchup is next? Medicine versus a fully evolved LwChen. A LwChen that manages to score a crit with Earthquake on the first turn. Ow. Fortunately, Medicine endures it and plants a Leech Seed. From there it's a stall match entirely in her favor. Leech Seed is a much better option for Medicine than poison will ever be, ironically. Especially when every enemy has four Full Restores.
LwReisen comes out to finish the job and I almost regret for a moment not focusing more on ExLilyB's special attack as her Black Wind just barely manages a 2HKO. Still, Lily Black did her job at least in taking down another Reisen.
Finally, we have the last puppet, and this one is a pain. LwYukari. I'm sure you remember how beefy my own Yukari's defenses were. Now evolve that all the way to Last Word. Yeah, none of my attacks had much chance of doing much to her and LwYukari is no slouch in the offense department either. I think she might have the highest stat total of any Last Word puppet.
However, even a Last Word Yukari is no match for the jealousy of an ExParsee. Parsee was so jealous of Yukari's superior stats, defenses in particular, that she laid a curse on her and then stole her hit points in envy. My victory was pretty much guaranteed at this point and, since the battle was dragging on, I brought Sakuya back in to just freeze Yukari. Battle over, my team of Ex's stand triumphant over Karen's team of Last Words.
After the battle, Karen says something about this world not being what I think it is. If she's trying to say this isn't really Gensokyo... you don't say! I NEVER would have figured that out on my own!
Anyway, wrapping things up, I grab the Cut HM - or HS or HC or whatever they want to call them in this game - from Komachi, who is apparently seasick.
The S.S. Titan then sets off, presumably for the afterlife. Or I'm hoping at least. Then it's good riddance to all those LwNitori and LwKomachi-using bastards.
Next installment, I'll finally be taking on the gym leader of Dragon Palace. Though, from what I can gather, she seems like a joke by comparison to Karen. Guess we'll find out next week.
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