Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX

[Glen-i]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I've put around 4 hours into the game and have enjoyed what I've seen so far. As Sam said, the gameplay loop is quite addicting and the fact that a dungeon visit can be as lengthy or snappy as you want is great. 

Again, I've not progressed much at all. The main mission I've got to do is to do with a Caterpie and Team Meanie but I'm having so much fun just doing jobs that it has taken a backseat. 

I've been concentrating on getting my rank up more than anything. I like that it rewards you with things like the ability to carry more items and have more camps. It feels like grinding does have some good payoffs.

The catching mechanic is a weird one. Having it so your leader has to get the killing blow is a bit troublesome when you have the rest of your team also attacking. It hasn't been too much of an issue as I tend to use Charmander as he has got a decent long distance attack. It's pretty annoying when you catch a Pokemon but don't have the camp yet.  Sure, you can carry one of those orbs but I tend I not to carry cash with me into the dungeons.

This got a good chuckle out of me.

Spoiler

Well, back to the grind I go...

[drahkon]

Reached Platinum rank just now.

Not sure what exactly I want to do, now that I've started the post-game journey.  I think I'll just keep completing random missions.

[S.C.G]

11 hours ago, S.C.G said:

Well, after nearly four hours on the clock, twenty-odd levels of exp and a load of items later, I think I'll call it a night now.

I'll rescue that Diglett tomorrow... maybe.

This game... it just has that 'one more go' loop which all the other titles in the series have, once it gets you, that's it then... in until the post-game.

It has so much charm to it as well, especially with the redone visuals; excellent stuff.

Diglett check... who has actually rescued that Diglett?

Also... completely unrelated question but, what is the level cap for this game?

Asking for a friend.

[Glen-i]

31 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Diglett check... who has actually rescued that Diglett?

Also... completely unrelated question but, what is the level cap for this game?

Asking for a friend.

100, just like regular Pokémon games.

[Glen-i]

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

Reached Platinum rank just now.

Not sure what exactly I want to do, now that I've started the post-game journey.  I think I'll just keep completing random missions.

Spoiler

You have talked to Absol, right?

Might be worth taking his blatant hint. Trust me, it's worth it.

 

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

  Spoilers for people who haven't seen the credits (Reveal hidden contents)

You have talked to Absol, right?

Might be worth taking his blatant hint. Trust me, it's worth it.

 

Spoiler

I have and I've immedately tried to fight Zapdos. He was able to deal 100+ damage to my Pokémon. I decided to escape.

Now that I've levelled up a bit I might go back.

I would assume that you can recruit legendary Pokémon? Is their recruitment also decided by RNG?

I wish there was a way to gauge the difficulty of a dungeon in the menus. It's a little annoying to enter a new one, realize that your level is not high enough and then immediately use an Escape Orb. Not a huge deal but still a weird decision. 

Also: A "skip all rewards"-button/option would be great  

[Glen-i]

Apparently not @drahkon, it's guaranteed.

In the original GBA/DS game, it was RNG based.

[S.C.G]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

100, just like regular Pokémon games.

Hmm OK, thanks... I thought it might be but I wasn't sure.

In that case, I'm wondering if there's an ideal level to be for the end of the game as there has to be a balance between grinding a bit and still having levels to get in the post-game.

Being that I'm level 25 or so, it's probably time to rescue that Diglett later, maybe.

[Glen-i]

20 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

Being that I'm level 25 or so, it's probably time to rescue that Diglett later, maybe.

Just a tad...

[drahkon]

Managed to recruit:

Spoiler

Zapdos

Wasn't too difficult. Items are definitely key in this game. My Magneton was responsible for confusing the opponent pretty mucht the entire fight. First with wands, then with his attacks. Larvitar and Houndoom unleashed hell  And occasionally healed when it was necessary.

The newly recruited team member has quite a high level. I might actually remove Magneton and have the above Pokémon in my current go-to team.

Love this game. I'll keep playing this for quite a while. Either until I get bored or until Tangledeep is getting a sale in the eShop   

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm guessing that the lack of any other big game releases, along with the addition of being a Switch exclusive, has resulted in the game going straight to number 1 in the UK charts. I've also heard that Hell has just frozen over.

[S.C.G]

After another session this evening I'm now halfway through Normal Rank and I've made some progress with the main story.

So much for grinding too much though, I didn't make it through the story mission I'm on at the moment, had to use an escape orb.

Did some more dojo training and grinding after that, will have another go at it tomorrow, still very much enjoying the game though.

[Hero-of-Time]

I didn't get to play this half as much as I would liked over the weekend. Crown events on Monster Hunter and Mario vs DK sucked up most of my time. Still, I did mange to squeeze in 6 hours, most of which was just repeating dungeons over and over again. I also dabbled with helping people online. I ended up doing this for an hour straight mainly because it just feels so good knowing you are helping out a real person who has ran into some trouble.

I'm halfway through silver rank and I think once I reach the next rank (I assume it's gold?) I will then move on to helping out that Caterpie. Plus, I think the points needed for the rank after my next one will be quite high and the current set of missions ain't going to cut it as i'm only getting 50 points a pop. I just want to reach gold rank early on to see if Snubble says anything different. Little prick said my team wasn't anything special because i'm not a high rank. 

[Glen-i]

9 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm guessing that the lack of any other big game releases, along with the addition of being a Switch exclusive, has resulted in the game going straight to number 1 in the UK charts. I've also heard that Hell has just frozen over.

I'm astonished though! The original Rescue Team games might have been the best selling Pokémon spin-offs of all time, but they could never dream of topping the charts. Especially in the UK.

Hopefully, Pokémon Company react too quickly and ask Chun Soft to start that Explorers remake before Animal Crossing comes along and chops off its legs like the Axe Welding Psycho it is.

[drahkon]

I've played this for 24h over the weekend  

Spoiler

Recruited all three legendary bird Pokémon.

Zapdos is awesome.

My team now consists of Larvitar, Houndoom and a spoilery Pokémon (see spoiler tag). Houndooms rare quality, Steamroll, ensures that I won't switch him out anytime soon.

I have set myself an ultimate goal: Make Larvitar the strongest Pokémon, i.e. max out all his stats, if there is a relatively reliable way to farm certain items. Do I want to evolve him with the knowledge that it'll get a sandstorm ability? Probably because there's always a nullify band  

Anyway, my short-term goal:

Spoiler

Clear the current story dungeon that, I assume, houses Kyogre

 

[Hero-of-Time]

How freely should I be using things like Rainbow Beans and training tickets? I've only used one of each as i'm too afraid to use them in case their number is limited or I end up wasting them on a rubbish Pokemon. It's like when I play a typical JRPG, where I end up hoarding items in case I need them later down the line but then never actually use them.  

[drahkon]

5 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

How freely should I be using things like Rainbow Beans and training tickets? I've only used one of each as i'm too afraid to use them in case their number is limited or I end up wasting them on a rubbish Pokemon. It's like when I play a typical JRPG, where I end up hoarding items in case I need them later down the line but then never actually use them.  

As far as I know there's an unlimited supply of all items. The green frog Pokémon has a new assortment of items for sale every day and the randomized jobs you get are infinite. 

Ah yes, hoarding items...a habit that is tough to break   "Houndoom noticed that a Pokémon is paralyzed. Use healing item?" - Thank you, Sir, but FUCK OFF.

I use items regularly now, though. It's necessary.

[Hero-of-Time]

So there's no real downside to using the tickets and training at the dojo? I'll probably have a look online for some hints and tips because there are a few mechanics that i'm still trying to get to grips with. Saying that, these may get explained in the game but because I refuse to move the story forward i'm still in the dark.  

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said:

So there's no real downside to using the tickets and training at the dojo?

Don't think so. I keep getting tickets quite often. Especially from friend rescue missions.

[Glen-i]

Everything is infinite. There's always a way to get stuff like Gummies and Iron and Life Seeds and stuff. I encourage using them as much as you like.

@drahkon, it's indeed possible to max out the stats of a Pokémon. 500 is the amount HP caps at and 255 is the cap for all the other stats.

The great thing about PMD is that almost every Pokémon can perform well if you build them up. (Well, except Magikarp, it's movepool is too crap to salvage. But at least you can evolve it.)

There are, in my opinion, three Pokémon that I know are in this game that really shine with the mechanics here.

Kecleon is really hard to recruit, arguably so hard that by the time you do get one, you probably don't need it. It's an utter monster with absurdly high stats that make legendary Pokémon look like a complete joke.

I mentioned Smeargle (Farbeagle in German) before, because it can learn any move in the game. It's super flexible and even has a great ability in Own Tempo, which prevents Confusion. The only downside is that it's stats are kinda rubbish, but that can be fixed with stat boosting items.

Shedinja (Ninjatom) is the ultimate tank, thanks to it's ridiculous ability, Wonder Guard, which nullifies any attack that isn't super effective. It can still get Status conditions, mind. It gets a room clearing move in Ominous Wind, as well as Fury Swipes, so that's a decent movepool. The only problem is it's HP, which is astoundingly low. You need to really pump it full of Sitrus Berries and Life Seeds to get the most out of it.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

4 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I mentioned Smeargle (Farbeagle in German) before, because it can learn any move in the game. It's super flexible and even has a great ability in Own Tempo, which prevents Confusion. The only downside is that it's stats are kinda rubbish, but that can be fixed with stat boosting items.

Interesting. I recruited him not long ago. Didn't know he can learn any move  I think it's time to give the purple frog Pokémon regular visits to find great TMs.

Right now a certain Pokémon in my team wrecks everything with an attack that hits every enemy in a room (Discharge). As long as I bring enough Max Ethers, I'll be fine  

[Glen-i]

13 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Interesting. I recruited him not long ago. Didn't know he can learn any move  I think it's time to give the purple frog Pokémon regular visits to find great TMs.

Right now a certain Pokémon in my team wrecks everything with an attack that hits every enemy in a room (Discharge). As long as I bring enough Max Ethers, I'll be fine  

It can't use TM's. Instead, it has a move called Sketch, which copies the last used move of the Pokémon it uses it on. So when I say any move, I really mean any move.

So make Farbeagle the leader, take a Pokémon that has the move you want to learn with you. When that Pokémon uses the move you want to learn, use Sketch on it.

You can then go back to that shop that lets you remember moves and relearn Sketch. Rinse and repeat until you have the 4 perfect moves you want.

Fair warning, I don't know if it's different for this game, but in the last game, you couldn't use Sketch on giant Pokémon. So you might not be able to learn Discharge from that particular Pokémon you're using.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

Reached Diamond rank  

Also tried to...

Spoiler

...recruit Rayquaza.

The fight went very well until it mega-evolved. Did not expect that to happen...
If I had more revive items with me I might have won, but I ran out of said items. Managed to escape, though, so I still haven't been defeated  

I guess I'll move on to other battle first.

Edit: Bought all camps  Another item from the checklist done!

Edited March 9, 2020 by drahkon

[Glen-i]

I might have spent most of yesterday running around in earlier dungeons trying to recruit Pokémon while raising my rank.

I probably could do that 40 floor dungeon, but why do that when I haven't even recruited a Wurmple yet?

How can I possibly finish that dungeon without a Wurmple I'll never use!?