Julius

Welp, there are multiple methods now to clone Pokémon now, meaning much faster ways to duplicate items. Fastest I've found: Reminds me of hearing about the GTS cloning method back on the original games. Man, this game is so busted, but still, guess this will save me having to buy loads of Balls now, as well as the time that the other exploit took. It's tough because I don't like making use of such exploits, but it just saves time plus, I still need to catch the things! @Glen-i let me know if you'd be interested in a Dialga clone that you can keep for a Palkia clone, until there's an event I guess this will probably be the only way I can get a Living, BDSP-Caught #387 - #493

Atlus really are bringing everything to the Switch besides mainline Persona, huh? Thanks for reminding me that I've had the PS4 version sitting on my shelf, SEGA hopefully this will bump it up the pecking order some!

Finding an Electirizer took around two hours, probably 30+ Elekid, and that's with a Super Luck Absol out front using Thief, a Pokémon with Static in my party, and only Electric-type statues in my base. That was painful. On the upside though, I now have 10+ Electirizers for anyone who needs one

@Glen-i I've got the remaining four exclusives you need hatched and ready to trade for Thursday: Caterpie, Ekans, Seedot and Kecleon. I'll keep them to the side for you will also have a few trade evolutions to do when the time comes too, which could help with your Dex also: Graveler, Machoke, and Porygon > Porygon2 > Porygon-Z (I have a few Upgrades and Dubious Discs ready for that one). The Ditto trade is definitely helping because there are now eggs popping out of these Pokémon I'm breeding like Catholic rabbits So I've got all of the non-legendary exclusives apart from Larvitar ready to go, if anyone else needs them / wants them earlier in the game: In terms of rare Pokémon, a Feebas would be greatly appreciated, and I'm also looking for a Yanma if anyone manages to get one at the Great Marsh (I've had no luck so far). I'll also need a Magmarizer to evolve Magmar, though it's a pain to find (seems like the only place to find it is in the Grand Underground with a 5% attach rate to Magby; thanks to the duplication exploit, you should only need to find one to duplicate!), so that would certainly be appreciated, and I'll be hunting down an Elekid with an Electirizer next and duplicating that for trade too. Why they didn't keep the attach rates the same as they were in the original games I have no idea, that's got to be one of the strangest decisions in the game given some of their other decisions, like how many starter Pokémon I'm encountering in the Grand Underground. Think I'm adjusting my aims to a completed Sinnoh Dex and then a Living, BDSP-caught #387 - #493 (I mean, bar Palkia of course!). Beyond that I've got a list of things I want to do now before I put the game down, not sure how much I'll bother with the Battle Tower and National Dex at this point, so at least I've set myself an endgame of sorts. Already spent much more time with this than I did Sword... though that does make me want to check out the DLC and even Let's Go. Though I might save my hunger for more Pokémon until Legends: Arceus so that I don't burn out! Also... Yeah, still works like a charm. First Mesprit encounter, Mean Look + False Swipe + Hypnosis and then caught with the first Ultra Ball. I guess making faithful remakes meant keeping quirks like that around

Thanks again Glen!

That would be great if you don't mind! Also @Ike I just tested the duplication method you shared and it works like a charm! Definitely going to be helpful in avoiding the Dex evolution grind and to duplicate trade evolution items, thanks for sharing it going to make a rule for myself to only use those Rare Candies to evolve Pokémon I'm not going to use (because these post-game battles are proving to be a fun challenge!), but man, as if this game needed something to make it even easier for newcomers. Then again, it gets rid of the need to grind out the post-game, which might be nice. Oh the sweet, sweet irony of the last Pokémon game I cheated in also being the first one I cheated in, with a friend's Action Replay months after we'd all finished the original Diamond & Pearl, and the remakes being the next one's I could potentially now go for 999 Rare Candies in. Doubt I'll need that many, but this takes me back for sure

Awesome, I've got to cross all my fingers for a Porygon to turn up at Trophy Garden and find some Electirizers, but for now it's back down into the mines for me to find those other exclusives! Cheers @Glen-i

Yeah I'm trying to catch them in the same Balls I used back on the original Diamond! Also, that's what the Mean Look Ralts are for

Oh yeah that's fine, these poor things are going to be stuck in the PC a loooooong time

Just coming in now

Yep, sounds great my only trade evolutions are Dusclops and Rhydon, so that's cool too. I'll be a couple of minutes, just going to sort out a box so I don't lose track

Cool did you want them all as eggs, or just the Elekid? As most of mine are already hatched or are freshly caught, so if you do want them all as eggs, I might be a little while did you want a Mean Look Ralts? Also got a couple of trade evolutions to trade and trade back too (Dusclops and Rhydon)

Well, that could definitely save me needing to farm cash for more Poké Balls...might have to give it a try Also, re: breeding / exclusives / rare Pokémon, I'm not done getting all of the version exclusive Pokémon yet, but here's what I've got so far and am starting to prep for trading through breeding or catching duplicates: I also have two spare Mean Look Ralts for anyone looking to get an ultimate catching Gallade going (Mean Look / Hypnosis or Thunder Wave / False Swipe / etc.) if anyone is interested. Also up to swap my Ditto with someone else's to make breeding easier for both of us @Glen-i I'm in the process of breeding Elekid right now if you're still waiting on one (sorry, I know I've taken a while, so you might already have one?); if you do still need it, do you still want it as an egg? I have Lv. 1 Elekids and an egg too, so either way, if you still need it I've got you covered! I've seen that the Electirizer is Brilliant Diamond exclusive and can seemingly only be found with a 5% attach rate to Elekid, which I've only come across once in the Grand Underground (walked in and out of the room 10+ times too!), so that could be a pain to get a hold of if that is the case. I might just need to just keep walking in until I find one and then try to duplicate it as Ike shared.

Man, this really is a game of two halves. Playing last night I heard their take on Route 228 (Night), and it might be one of the most botched tracks in the game when compared to the original version. It actually makes me wince hearing what they did at 0:25. I paused a podcast to walk into the area last night, and at what cost?! But on the other hand, they nailed Route 228 (Day) and I spent hours exploring a small fraction of the Grand Underground. What they did with the Pokémon Hideaways and having so many rare Pokémon around and visible might be one of my favourite Pokémon-hunting experiences in a Pokémon game, the only real downside seems to be that I'm quickly running out of Poké Balls! Got to imagine the resort / Vs. Seeker exploit is still around with how faithful this game is to the originals, so I might need to do some cash farming

Housemarque and the Returnal team seem to be teasing something... DLC in time for The Game Awards perhaps?

If anyone is into musicals, would highly recommend Tick, Tick...Boom! after watching it last week. Guess I would also recommend if you aren't into them, too It's Lin-Manuel Miranda's film directing debut, and while it's not without flaws (it can get a little preachy and the pacing is a bit off at times), Andrew Garfield carries the entirety of the film portraying Jonathan Larson (the playwright for Rent who passed away on its first day of Off-Broadway previews), and I fully expect him to get an Oscar nomination for this performance. Dude can sing! I typically avoid musicals (they aren't really my cup of tea), but while there were still some performances I cringed at a bit, there are some great performances in there. Therapy might be one of my favourite sequences to lace together separate acting and singing performances, and there are some other songs I just haven't been able to get out of my head, like 30/90. Good stuff, worth giving it a watch

Everyone knows that you just pass your little brother the controller that's not connected, and suddenly everything's multiplayer

Yeah, first place I went to check just to see what they said after seeing everything in the Sinnoh Dex great reward, though in handheld mode it sounds awfully...tinny? Anyways, haven't been able to play too much this week unfortunately, so will probably spend the weekend focusing on catching more exclusives

Oh, nice! Still waiting for mine, but yeah, I'm either going to sell them or save them for my brother's birthday next year, still undecided. CeX is a decent shout if I do decide to sell them, would definitely save the hassle of trying to find a buyer on eBay or elsewhere

Ah, that was quick, seems like they've sold through their stock then! Can't imagine there was much to begin with honestly. Wasn't planning on picking it up just yet but I had to for £39.99 and new

Bumping this, because... ...it's back in stock at Amazon for £39.99, which is definitely the lowest you'll get a new copy for in the UK at the moment by some margin (I was looking on eBay at secondhand copies last month and it ain't cheap!). Thought I'd share in case there was anyone else still interested in tracking down a physical copy got to wonder if Black Friday clearing their warehouses meant they found a box in the corner filled with copies of game

Eh, looks like a bug, especially considering the voting process isn't concluded I don't think? It's still hilarious either way though I enjoyed Rift Apart much more than R&C 2016, and besides having only played half of It Takes Two, I can't really comment on the others. I'd be very surprised if Rift Apart won though, I just don't think the energy or excitement is really there for it to win GOTY (I think most are still in shock that Returnal wasn't nominated - don't worry @drahkon, my copy arrived today, so I'll probably be playing that after Pokémon! ), not to mention most won't have played the game anyways seeing as PS5 stock shortages are still a thing, so I don't think the votes would be there anyways. That's not to say I didn't have fun with it, but...GOTY? I'm not sure. From the outside looking in, based on industry buzz (so, not at all what the general audience is going to vote for), I imagine it would be between Psychonauts 2, It Takes Two, and Metroid Dread. Deathloop winning would be great for Arkane, but that game just seemed to be forgotten so quickly, and almost everyone I've listened to or watched talk about Resident Evil Village over the last year doesn't think it deserves to be on this list. That being said, it's probably sold the most copies of the lot, so I have no idea

I feel like part of it is probably a cultural thing, both in terms of company culture and national culture. Phil Spencer has been pretty bang-on when being honest about Xbox's failures since he took the role at the top. There was that GDC Xbox party with women dressed as schoolgirls, obviously the botched launched of the Xbox One which he's talked about a fair bit in retrospect, and so on. Compare that to Nintendo, who are essentially gaming's Disney. They are ubiquitous with the medium, known by all, and own up to very, very little. Joy-Con drift is an issue they've dodged a lot, and the Wii U is something they - perhaps quite rightly, in a lot of.l opinions I've seen and heard over the years - seem to be trying to erase our memories of. Obviously I haven't worked in Japan, so I could be way off and it is probably a generalisation (it probably is down to individuals defining work culture from the top), but dwelling on past mistakes in terms of company image just doesn't seem to be something they take head on, and when that has happened, it's been down to individuals (such as Iwata, or for example Yoshi-P with XIV's crazy turnaround). And, honestly, I'm just not sure with PlayStation these days. Most of my gaming is there, but since the restructure and seeing a lot of people I liked as an onlooker leave the company (Boyes, Layden, etc.) and having Shuhei relegated to a Lucius Fox role has just been very bizarre to watch. It's been said before, but there really isn't an individual to really latch onto that represents the brand, and it's definitely not Jim Ryan. Despite the company being globalised over the last few years and moving out of Japan, shuttering studios and moving HQ, I can see why the folks over at Sony Japan would have wanted him, he just seems to be business first...for better and for worse. And that means not really dwelling on the past. Case in point, the PS3's 15th anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and I don't remember seeing anything about it on any of PlayStation's English communication channels. I don't see anyone over there right now who would talk about 2006 and the botched E3 reveal - perhaps they just haven't been there that long or wouldn't be in a great position to speak, though - or to bring it closer to the present, the PSN issues over the years. I don't know, I've probably veered way off topic, but yeah, I appreciate Xbox being candid in their reflections on past failures too. I do think it's a culture that spreads from the top with Phil Spencer, and I'm very curious to see Xbox's growth over the next few years; this isn't to say they don't have their issues right now, I'm sure they do, but they're doing a pretty good job of managing them. The raving reviews and impressions for Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite's multiplayer nearly made me pull the trigger on a Series X the other day (I'm trying to exercise patience and be aware that outside of those the only thing on the horizon really tickling my fancy is Starfield), which brings me onto the "problem" Xbox probably needs to take aim at next: I personally have no friends I would play multiplayer games with that has an Xbox, and none of my friends really play on PC, so it's bridging that gap I guess. Which xCloud should do I guess? So it's just waiting for that rollout to continue over the next few months/year.

The gaming world would be a very different place if Rick Thompson's PA didn't type everything in all caps