| 3) FAQs This is the section where I answer some of the questions about the game. Be warned: If you ask me a question by e-mail that's already in here, it will be ignored completely. Q: Which Pokemon are not available in Crystal in any legitimate way? A: The Red/Blue starters and their evolutions (the Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle families), Omanyte and Omastar, Kabuto and Kabutops, the mystical birds (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres), Mewtwo, Mew, the Vulpix family, the Mareep family, the Remoraid family, the Mankey family, Girafarig, and Celebi. Q: What are the main differences between Gold/Silver and Crystal? A: -The Pokemon locations have been shuffled around. Snubbull, for example, is all over Kanto. -You can play as a female trainer. (I did.) -There is a Battle Tower in Olivine City that offers a unique challenge. -Suicune doesn't run from you anymore. It's in the bottom of the Tin Tower. -Several Pokemon learn new moves by breeding, and level up. The most notable is the Baton Pass that Eevee learns at L36. -The in-game trades are different. Want the Machop in Goldenrod? You'll have to give up an Abra for it. (In G/S, it was a Drowzee.) -This game is GBC exclusive. -The graphics for several levels (most notably the Ice Cave) have been redesigned. -There's a new Radio Show in Johto that can lead to some great items. -The Daycare People on Route 34 give you an Odd Egg. What's in it? Who knows.... -The Move Tutor is now available, and he's invaluable in team making. -It's possible to get more than one Element Stone of each type. -There's a Pokemon Seer in Cianwood Island who can tell you where a Pokemon was originally caught, among other things. Q: What HASN'T changed in the past 10 months? A: -The Gym Leader's Pokemon haven't changed at all -You still have a choice of Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile as a starter. -Celebi is not in the game (&*$^&$^*) -The TMs haven't changed locations -Red still has a team that can wreak havoc on you -That's about it, really. Q: How do I breed? A: Leave a male and female Pokemon, or a Ditto and the Pokemon you want to breed, in the Daycare on Route 34. Eventually, there should be an Egg. (See the Breeding section for more info.) Q: What's the Move Tutor? A: A man near Goldenrod's Game Corner will teach one Pokemon Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, or Flamethrower for 4000 coins on Wednesday and Saturday after you beat the Elite 4. You get one shot a day. Q: When does the Time Capsule open? A: The day after you hit Ecruteak City. See the walkthrough for more info. Q: What Pokemon are eligible for the Time Capsule? A: Any of the original 151, as long as they have no new moves. Q: What Pokemon swarm, and how do I find out? A: Pokemon swarms happen only if a trainer calls you and says "You've gotta see this! A whole bunch of (insert Pokemon here) are swarming all over (insert location here)!" The Pokemon and trainers you need to contact are: Ralph on Route 32 tells you when Qwilfish swarm. Fish Route 32 when they do. Anthony on 33 has information on when Dunsparce swarm. The Dunsparce are in Dark Cave. On Route 35, get Arnie's number to find out about when Yanma swarm. Yanma will be in Route 35. The # of Pokemon that swarm has decreased since Gold and Silver (Remoraid's gone, Snubbull's common, and Marill's more common in Mt. Mortar). Q: Where are the Once-A-Week Siblings, and what do they have? A: Sibling Location Day Item Sunny Route 37 Sunday Magnet (powers up Electric) Monica Route 40 Monday Sharp Beak (Flying) Tuscany Route 29 Tuesday Pink Bow (Normal) Wesley Lake of Rage Wednesday Black Belt (Fighting) Arthur Route 36 Thursday Hard Rock (Rock) Frieda Route 32 Friday Poison Barb (Poison) Santos Blackthorne City Saturday Spell Tag (Ghost) Q: Uh... you've got the trainer's Pokemon listed a certain way, but the trainer went differently for me. Why? A: The order that the Pokemon come out is random. Though when you fight the Elite 4, they'll try to bring out a Pokemon that beats yours. I just list it in order of levels, lowest to highest. Q: What attacks are based on the Attack stat? And what about the Special Attack stat? A: Normal, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Bug, Rock, Ghost, and Steel are all considered physical attacks, and run on the Attack stat. By the same token, Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Psychic, Dragon, and Dark are Special moves. Hence, they run on the Special Attack stat. Q: What is STAB? A: STAB = Same Type Attack Bonus. If the element of the move and one of the Pokemon's types match, there's a 1.5x bonus. Normal moves do get STAB, and there's no difference between single and dual-types. (Dodrio's Body Slam is just as powerful as Snorlax's for example, and their Body Slam is stronger than Golem's, even though they have the same max Attack rating.) Q: What Pokemon evolve by Element Stones? A: Fire- Vulpix (Ninetales), Growlithe (Arcanine), Eevee (Flareon) Water- Poliwhirl (Poliwrath), Shellder (Cloyster), Staryu (Starmie), Eevee (Vaporeon) Thunder- Pikachu (Raichu), Eevee (Jolteon) Grass- Gloom (Vileplume), Weepinbell (Victreebel), Exeggcute (Exeggutor) Moon- Nidorina (Nidoqueen), Nidorino (Nidoking), Clefairy (Clefable), Jigglypuff (Wigglytuff) Sun- Gloom (Bellossom), Sunkern (Sunflora) Q: Where are these stones? A: Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric: The Route 25 side quest. (See the walkthrough for more info). After they are exausted, you can Mystery Gift them. Sun- Win the Bug-Catching Contest. Moon- Route 26 (Waterfall area), Mt. Moon on Mondays, Mom might buy one for you, complete a Ruins of Alph puzzle You can also pick up extra Stones from trainers in Crystal. Fire: Schoolboy Alan on Route 36 Water: Fisherman Tully on Route 42 Thunder: Lass Dana on Route 38 Leaf: Picknicker Gina on Route 34 Q: What areas are considered forest, and what areas are considered mountains? And why does it mean anything? A: Forest areas are generally considered to be anything between Azalea Town and Ecruteak City, plus the areas to the west. Everything else is mountain. It matters because different Pokemon can be found by using Headbutt (TM 2) on trees in these areas. Forest area: Caterpie family, Weedle family, Ekans, Venonat, Hoothoot family, Pineco*, Exeggcute*, Ledyba, Spinarak Mountain area: Ekans, Spearow, Aipom*, Heracross* *This Pokemon can only be caught by Headbutting the trees. Q: I'm in Cianwood Island, and have heard of a Poke Seer. What does he do? A: His job is to check when/where a Pokemon was caught, at what level it was caught, and how happy it is. Q: What are DVs? And do they have any practical use? A: The Hidden Power element (and the basic damage) is based on a Pokemon's Diversification Values, or DVs. Each stat (HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Special) has a different value. These are locked in when you catch a Pokemon. (NOTE: These may appear under different names, so the acronym DV is used.) The DVs are a number between 0 and 15. A Pokemon with a DV of 15 in a particular category can achieve maximum stats. If the DV is lower, then two points are deducted from the stat at L100. (Example: A Tyranitar with an Attack DV of 8 would lose 14 points from its attack, creating a 352 Attack Tyranitar.) To determine the Pokemon's DVs, get a ton of Rare Candies, and pump the Pokemon up to L100, then box them until the stats don't increase anymore. Compare the stats you have to the max stats in the Pokedex, and you'll find the DVs. (NOTE2: If you catch a Pokemon with maximum DVs in every category, consider yourself extremely blessed: The odds of getting a max-DV Pokemon are approx. 1 in 1,040,000.) Use this chart to find the DVs. DV # Off Max Stat 15 0 14 -2 (-1) 13 -4 (-2) 12 -6 (-3) 11 -8 (-4) 10 -10 (-5) 9 -12 (-6) 8 -14 (-7) 7 -16 (-8) 6 -18 (-9) 5 -20 (-10) 4 -22 (-11) 3 -24 (-12) 2 -26 (-13) 1 -28 (-14) 0 -30 (-15) Another check is to catch the Pokemon you want, then Rare Candy it up to L50. From there, subtract the stats you have from the L50 max in the Pokedex. The answers are the DVs. To find the HP DV, start with H(HP DV) = 0 If the attack DV is odd, add 8. Otherwise, add 0. If the defense DV is odd, add 4. Otherwise, add 0. If the speed DV is odd, add 2. Otherwise, add 0. If the special DV is odd, add 1. Otherwise, add 0. Whatever H equals at the end is your HP DV. Q: What's this Stat Experince I hear about? A: For this question, we go to Sonuis... --------------- Stat Experience --------------- Stat Experience is not the normal experience you see and gain everytime you finish a Pok�mon battle. For you see, this type of experience is what the stat development is based on. When your Pok�mon has acquired all of its maximum Stat Experience, then its statistics have been truly maxed out, based on the Pok�mon's DVs of course. The total amount of Stat Experience your Pok�mon can acquire is 65,536. Now, there is no exact way of determining how much Stat Experience your Pok�mon has, due to the fact that it is not on the viewable list through the Pok�mon sub-menu of your menu screen. You know if you've used all the vitamins that you've got 6,553 points, but what happens from there? There is a way ou can tell however, if your Pok�mon has acquired all of its Stat Experience. If you know your Pok�mon's DVs, and the stats meet the maximum of the certain DV, then you know that the Pok�mon has acquired all of its Stat Experience. However, if they do not meet the potential of the DVs, then well... you've got more work to do. Note that each stat has its own calculation of stat EXP. (The work Sonuis refers to is the Box Trick.) Q: How the heck do you figure out Hidden Power? A: The HP damage formula is: Base Power = ((X � 5 + Y) � 2) + 31 To get the Hidden Power, you need to determine the DVs of your Pokemon. *See above* My example is a Jolteon with DVs of 15 in Speed and Special, and 14 in Attack and Defense. These yield a HP DV of 3. (His L100 stats are 304 HP, 226 Attack, 216 Defense, 358 Speed, 318 Special Attack, 288 Special Defense.) Next, convert each DV into a binary number (be it 0 or 1) If DV = 8+, let # = 1. If DV = 7-, let # = 0. Plug them into a number, in the order of Attack, Defense, Speed, Special. Mine came up 1111. Check this chart to find what your binary number equals. Binary X 0000 0 0001 1 0010 2 0011 3 0100 4 0101 5 0110 6 0111 7 1000 8 1001 9 1010 10 1011 11 1100 12 1101 13 1110 14 1111 15 So, the X part of the formula is 15. To find Y, we take our Special DV and convert it. In this case, the highest possible number is 3. Anything above this number is reduced to 3. So our formula looks like this: Base Power = ((15 � 5 + 3) � 2) + 31 Order of operations rules state that we do brackets first. So, we get: (75 + 3)/2 )+31 (78/2) + 31 39 + 31 70 Our base damage is 70. But what element are we hitting with? To determine the type we'll be hitting with, convert the Attack and Defense numbers to binary. 14 in binary is 1110, and we use it twice. Combine the last two digits of the number. 10 + 10 = 1010, or 10 in decimal numbers. Use this chart to determine type. Value Type 15 Dark 14 Dragon 13 Ice 12 Psychic 11 Electric 10 Grass 9 Water 8 Fire 7 Steel 6 Ghost 5 Bug 4 Rock 3 Ground 2 Poison 1 Flying 0 Fighting So, Jolteon's got a base 70 Grass Hidden Power. This allows him to almost KO a Quagsire in one hit, but his HP are in the crapper. NOTE: Even though you've figured all of this stuff out, the game will still say that HP's type is Normal. That only comes into play if someone decides to Counter your Hidden Power. (I've heard of Zapdos with HP Ice let fly against Sandslash, only to have it Countered back in their face for a faint. Watch it.) Q: Donald, are you doing a guide for Ruby and Sapphire? A: As of right now, the closest to an answer I can give is a "definite maybe". I recently received the opportunity to help Versus Books write their Ruby/Sapphire guide, so I may not be allowed to write an RS FAQ - it'd be a breach of contract. If, however, this whole Versus thing doesn't pan out, I will more than likely team up with striker64 to put something together for Ruby/Sapphire. And based on our past histories, it'll rock. |