Part 20: Orre Done

Part 20: Orre Done

Colosseum Round 3



Welcome back to the final update of both XD and the LP of both the Orre games. We're using the other five Pokemon selected by you guys (and Roosevelt) to take on the next two rounds of the Orre Colosseum. Pretty much most of this update is going to be this place. Look, I'm surprised the postgame lasted this long.



Hiyah is max Speed and can do some serious damage, but is also oneshot by a Jolteon, so that's annoying.



Nothing stops the goddamn President.



Oh god please die to this (it didn't).



Okay, that's the two strongest Eeveelutions down, so whatever else this guy has is whatever.



Case in point, but we still needed to bring Brr Bird out.



How did we go from an Eevee team to THIS?




Please stop owning me in front of a live studio audience.



Oh hey, is that Skill Swap? Why, yes, yes it FUCKING IS AHHHHHHHHH




Getting the AI to EQ itself is way too easy, apparently.



But since Boned can survive a few of those, she can chunk Slaking no problem, letting R-Wing pick up the rest.



Theme is... physical attackers, I guess?



Neat, this time Hiyah can actually get an attack off.




Rocks fall, my team dies. Wait that doesn't sound right.



These speedy Normal types crumble under my power.







Ah, our SIXTH battle against Chobin. Truly our greatest rival.



Annoying that our max SpAtk Hiyah wasn't able to knock out Ninjask in one hit. It's getting a bit scary.



Oh no now Mr. Mime has +2 Atk and +1 Spd. That does literally nothing for it, so I am very confused.



Okay, now that's more terrifying!



Even at +1, Mr. Mime was still slower than Hiyah (not surprising really). But cause of the Protect, Kangaskhan has +2 Spd.



Since it only targets Hiyah, Brr Bird can take it out no problem.



Sure, have Marowak and Ninjask target Brr Bird, that's not annoying.



Still, while TyrantTata dies to Boned's EQ, the sandstorm kills Ninjask. Uh, just as planned.



Phew, we're over halfway through this place.



DAVID! CHOBIN admits defeat! Even CHOBIN's ROBO GROUDON could not defeat DAVID! So CHOBIN wishes to confer on you a very special title. It is "Defeater of CHOBIN"! What do you think? CHOBIN thinks it is a very enriching title you would be proud to say. CHOBIN is certain that you will like it.



Ah, Sludge Bomb. Still a great move this late.



Oh hey it's Team Snagem. I wonder why.



Sick of this shit, both your Pokemon are fainting too.



Also a very short battle. This is a lot of fun, making this place actually tolerable.



Jedo is a previous Snagem goon we faced in this game, which is pretty neat. Where the fuck did he get a Raikou?



Annoying, but Feraligatr is a physical attacker, so I won't die to that.



R-Wing will die to that though.




From there it's basically a clean sweep. Boo to you for not bringing Meganium.



Of course we'll fight Wakin again, who actually uses a story related Pokemon, unlike most of the returning trainers we fight in this place. Also strange that they didn't put Agrev in this round, but since they gave his model to Wakin, it's like he's here in spirit.



Which is more threatening of the two? Well I could go for either.



I guess I chose wrong?



Well Roosevelt is a monster, so maybe not.







Gonzap still loves that Hyper Beam, though his Skarmory no longer learns it, since it, uh, can't. Also, hey, Choice Band Slaking, I used one of those to terrifying effect. I'm scared.



Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea, but I'm sure we'll be fine.



We've got some tanky boys here.



Oh man that was very nearly very scary!



Okay we should probably do something about that Blastoise.



We should've lost this battle twice over by now.




But hey, Brr Bird is a legendary after all.



It's a rotten shame, but you're in a way bigger league than TEAM SNAGEM. It's sad, but TEAM SNAGEM's not big enough for you. I'll do the next best thing. I'll make you an honorary member of TEAM SNAGEM. If you get sick of your life, come to us anytime. You're always welcome.



Hey, Rest can be useful for some strats. But we're running out of time for these.

Colosseum Round 4



Now for the last two rounds we'll be using a familiar team! Of course we couldn't end the LP without seeing these six bozos again! They've been tweaked to be effective in this postgame facility, but they're also mostly the same from when we last saw them.



Oh here we fucking go again.



This damn bitch is too damn bulky for its own damn good!



Ah well, Umbreon can take a couple Ancientpowers.



Does every Dusclops have the same moveset???



Well doesn't matter anyway.



These guys probably don't appreciate this after a five year rest.



Some things never change, I guess.




Hey, that lets us survive that. I wasn't sure if Flygon would go down to one attack, but then it got crit and the Fighting move went to the wrong mon. Still did a crapton, Choice Band yo.




It comes close, but Carbuncle has survived worse than this. We can easily use this team here.



Ah, a sun team. Didn't our team make use of that weather?



Ah dammit Garchump is faster than Jumpluff.



Well this isn't going well.



But Magnolia can take those easily.



Now for Dhalsim to smack things really hard.



This is what we have Magnolia for. How I've missed it. Too bad about the Fire weakness.



This is too much for Dhalsim to handle, but we've only got one opponent left.



Alright, now we've got a shot.




As the AI will absolutely waste a turn doing that.



Oh goody, a rain team. But only one mon with Lightningrod, so it's not that bad.



Of course they led with it, but I also wasn't expecting it to be the weather setter.



Still, Magnolia doesn't care.



But I'm not an idiot, I know the weather will get set back immediately, so there's no way I'm going for Solarbeam. Wasn't expecting Umbreon to survive that, but it means Manectric goes down!




Alright, that's enough of that.



Ah, now we can start properly using the sun. This is why you go for Ice Beam, as fun as Hydro Pump in the sun might be.




Man this team was so much fun.







Alright, due to Shadow Pokemon squashing your team synergy last time, let's see how you match up. Uh, ignore that Quick Claw activation, but Starmie was obviously gonna attack Mawuh.



Let's slow that boy right the heck down, while Mawuh remains the Aerodactyl killer.



Man this guy brought the wrong team.



I really shouldn't have kept Octazooka, but I am an easy to please fool.



And that's how I beat Ardos with just two Pokemon.



In all of ORRE, I've never seen a POKEMON TRAINER of your caliber. You appear to be the biggest threat to CIPHER. To make sure my underlings watch you with caution, I give you the title "CIPHER's Biggest Enemy." From now on, CIPHER's battle crews will be constantly tracking you. Watch yourself.



Ah, Steel Wing. Why are these nice coverage moves so deep into the postgame?



And of course, we couldn't end our 3D Pokemon game without bringing over our Emerald team! Sure I didn't do that for my previous ones with Stadium, but uh, don't think about that! Let's take down the final round of the Orre Colosseum in style!



We'll start off with an ineffective Heracross. Sure, sounds good.




You really wanna do that again?




Cause it still won't work. Spread moves are great.




The one time I actually get to hit it with a Fire Blast...



Maybe I should've used this strat. R-Wing did have a Liechi Berry, since I couldn't think of anything interesting to give it, but it never went off.




Why is no one targetting Nobunaga? Well, it's their funeral.



No Belly Drum, no dice.



Okay this second battle is a LITTLE mean.



All that BP we got let Ranmaru have some coverage.



It's good when WarGreyMon takes down two legendaries in one attack.



OH YOU MOTHERFU



Oh never mind, our kaiju is wrecking faces.



Ah shit Articuno has coverage, so that didn't last forever.



Let's bait the Fire attack and let Calbrena take out another monster.



Wait, did we speed tie? If I knew I could be slower, then I would've just gone boom instead, that's a sha- oh, it's holding a Quick Claw. Cool.



But obviously Cold Gregg can take down a legend no problem, even if it is going for Hidden Power. Grass won't cut it here, friend.



There are too many Lightningrod strategies in this game.



How about we get rid of it then. Marowak are always scary regardless and this one is no different.



This Lapras is gonna be a butt, since we have plenty more Water types to worry about.



Case in point.



And again. Man Ranmaru is having a field day.



But hey, this team has had more practise than any against Water types. Too much practise. Too much water.







The final fight of the colosseum is gonna be a real toughie, but Calbrena will make things a lot easier.



But of course the Snorlax also has Shadow Ball.



Still, since these super effective attacks haven't been STAB, we can easily survive and bait attacks. That's the monster duo out of the way. Still, thank god Soul Dew is banned.



I don't know what I did to make the AI do this so much, but it is wonderful.



Ah what do I care, Nimbus is focused on the real monster.



Still, this Snorlax is a tough nut to crack. I think we should go out in style.



And that is farewell to the Orre Colosseum. It's a pretty shitty place that expects way too much from you. But when you actually bring over some proper mons, then yeah, it's fun. A variety of Pokemon and strategies is a nice way to end an LP. Still prefer the Under Colosseum and hell, even the Trainer Hill.



I'm satisfied that I was able to battle to my heart's content. I would like to confer on you the title "ELDES's Top Rival." With your skills, you shouldn't lose against even the best TRAINERS from around the world. I guarantee it. Let us meet again.



Our final reward is Dragon Claw. Long after your Dragon type needed it to keep up. Why is this TM always at the end of the game??? But that's all seven rounds, that was a hell of a time. I guess there's nothing else left to do. But since this is the last update and all, there's one little thing.



After all, there's one last person to battle in the postgame.



He acts like we're about to fight him for the first time, but we snagged his entire team, right?

Greevil Battle







Since you can rematch Greevil, he has a completely new team that replaces any Pokemon you snagged, meaning our team fresh from finishing the main game is at the perfect level to take him on! After all, we need to feature our team one last time in the final update after all.



The battle isn't hugely notable, even if you immediately fight Greevil like I did, he's a lot weaker than before since he doesn't have a bunch of Shadow Pokemon to blast you.



So hey, let's go over both games and compare them, it's the only thing left to do. Honestly, I prefer Colosseum to XD, what Colosseum does, it does really well, and XD improves on that, but for the most part it goes too far in a certain direction and ends up worse off. I had more fun playing Colosseum overall than I did XD, but since I obviously did a long LP of both games, I still had a blast playing them, so that's not saying XD is a bad game. As far as Pokemon games go, it's pretty solid.



But let's go over what Colosseum did right. It wasn't too hard for most of it, but it wasn't exactly a cakewalk either. Since it was a shorter game it meant you got the juicy difficulty in the lategame and it didn't overstay its welcome, for the most part. The endgame is pretty fucking rough, but also in a good way. As you noticed, XD was super easy for most of it, since it had the weird level curve of Johto for whatever reason, so we were fighting trainers with level 20 Pokemon for way too long. And then the difficulty is kicked up a notch for the endgame, but not in a fun way.



Ah I've missed Revival Herbs. That's another thing Colosseum did right, the Shadow Pokemon were a reward at the end of the battle, as well as a final obstacle. It meant there was some real tricky moments of getting through a tough battle and then having to restart since the Shadow Pokemon recoiled itself. That's not fun, but barely catching a mon at the end is quite a rush. Not only that, but they had other moves to be a threat and contributed towards the overall strategy, which meant they were a proper puzzle piece in their own right.



I think that's the biggest difference between Colosseum and XD, Shadow Pokemon in this game just completely ignore synergy with the rest of the team since they have their own moves. Also, trainers tend to send them out first so once you catch them, you don't have to think about it, instead of not having a breather until the very end of the battle. This becomes a problem for the later battles, where there's nothing to mention about the Cipher Admins' various strategies, since their multiple Shadow Pokemon choked out anything interesting about their teams, which is a major shame.



Oh yeah, there are way too many Shadow Pokemon in this game. Like it's ridiculous how many you have to catch, especially in the last part of the game. Colosseum maybe has too few, since the midgame doesn't have anything interesting to really add, but man, catching Pokemon kinda fucking sucks, especially while you're worrying about double battles and endless Shadow moves. I would praise the raised catch rate most Pokemon in this game had, but it also meant most of the Shadow Pokemon catches were really mindless, which didn't make for very interesting viewing. So yeah, XD just goes too far in a certain direction, usually to its detriment.



Despite all that, XD was a fun romp, it's always cool going through a sequel, though it's a shame we never saw Wes or Rui, nor did any previous game areas really change a huge amount. Still, I think these two games should be played as a whole, though Colosseum is definitely my preference. Still, XD is so much smoother than Colosseum and has so much more to it, the Battle CDs were great, Battle Bingo was alright and the new exclusive areas are pretty cool.



There were also a lot of trainers in Colosseum that had kind of strategy to them, which their Shadow Pokemon was sometimes a part of, and that made the fights slightly more interesting (though Justy can go to hell), while XD's trainers only had basic movesets and didn't really try anything interesting. That's what makes Colosseum more fun to play overall, since I like having a bit of a think when I'm fighting my hundredth trainer. Still, if XD had just copied what Colosseum did, I think the longer length wouldn't have worked out. I think it's also unique since Colosseum did all of this stuff first, so XD doesn't have its own identity, which is why I'm making these comparisons. Am I right? Do you agree? I'd love to hear it.



Anyway, how's the battle going? ...oh no!



Okay phew, we're done! So why exactly did I battle Greevil again?



The final cutscenes play out as usual, but that's not what we're here for.



If you've purified every Shadow Pokemon and beat Greevil, then there's this additional moment. We're hopefully done with Shadow Pokemon forever. It was a neat concept that could've had a bit more to it with the capture side of things, but overall, these two games combined are absolutely a fully fledged main Pokemon game. They should definitely be experienced and a real good case that other developers can also make excellent Pokemon games.



But that is everything in XD: Gale of Darkness. Man, both games combined and the Battle CD related stuff, there were FORTY ONE separate parts to this LP, easily more than Emerald. I hope you really enjoyed these games, cause I sure did, I am super happy I was able to not only get them running on my above average laptop, but also cover absolutely everything I wanted to and then some! Now, I know what you're thinking, of course I'll be LPing Platinum, fuck me do I love that game. Buuuuuuut, after doing two long Gen 3 LPs... I'm a bit tired of Pokemon right now. Gen 3 is good, but I've done way too many battles in these games in too short a time to be considered healthy, so I think I need to LP another game, one that I've been preparing for for quite a while, uh, since I was supposed to do it after Conquest, but still felt the itch to poke mans.

Next time, I hope you'll join me for one hell of an odyssey.

...

No not that one