Chapter Text
Gameplay wise
- Overall trainer AI is boosted a shite ton
- “Boss” trainers (Rivals, Gym Leaders, and so on) switch when needed, use Super Effective Attacks when they can, basically they think like a player
- Gym Leaders have 30IV Pokemon and they’re EV trained w/ Beneficial Natures, as you climb up the ranks they start to have held items
- Hop, after the Opening Ceremony, always has a full team of six that changes every time. Wooloo, Rookidee/Corvisquire, and his starter are never rotated out, until Bede where the bird and sheep disappear
- Hop has coverage and he uses it, he also has held items. But only if the player has access to it to. Like, the fight on the bridge in route 5, Hop has a Sharp Beak on his Corvisquire that he got from Route 4
- Marnie & Bede have access to held items that you can find/buy near Spikemuth, Hammerlocke, and Wyndon (Bede gets the Wyndon ones, but they both get Hammerlocke stuff)
- Marnie & Bede also have Coverage that matches with a Pokemon’s stats (like if Bede’s using a Hatenna it has Mystic Fire at some point)
- Boss trainers also have TR moves the moment you get access to the Wild Area
- Everyone has a full set of 4 moves because what the fuck why doesn’t Hop’s Dubwool have 4 moves in the Champion Cup
- VS Seeker Returns
- Routes have Master Trainers on there that you battle after you beat everyone in that route once
- Route Masters give you Competitive Held Items that you can’t normally find, if you’re given one of those one-use items (Weakness Policy for example) you can rematch that Route Master to get it again
- Milo starts off w/ 3 Pokemon, no held items. Nessa has 4, w/ a few weaker held items. Kabu has five with slightly better held items. Bea/Allister and onwards have a full team of six with some fineass items
- Regular trainers don’t have held items, EVs, and stuff, but they do have slightly better AI than the average wild Pokemon
- Route Masters have AI on par with Gym Trainers
- Speaking of, Gym Trainers act as sort of previews of their Leaders’ Strategy
- Certain Gym Missions have been changed to be a bit more like Opal’s, in that they add on to the battle with the Gym Trainers
- Nessa’s mission has changed so if you press the wrong button you switch to Underwater mode, and when you battle her trainers it acts as if it’s raining, but the boost is much higher
- Kabu’s mission is the same capture mission, but there’s more Pokemon outside of fire types. Fully evolved, midstage, first stage. You don’t keep them, of course, but the stronger the Pokemon you catch the more points you receive. Also you have to get a lot more points than in canon. It’s like the Safari Zone, except you can damage the Pokemon to make it a bit easier to catch them and your Pokemon dodge their attacks. No Gym Trainers, unless you need to restock on pokeballs, then you have to fight them and boy do they like their statues effects
- Bea/Allister’s Gym Mission are mazes that mirror each other. Bea’s Maze is really bright so its hard to see (even if you lower your brightness on the console), Allister’s Maze is really dark. Lower accuracy for moves.
- Opal’s Gym Mission is the same, except more questions and they’re a lot more bullshit. Oh and instead of lowering your stats when you fail a question, the opponents stats are boosted
- Gordie/Melony, same puzzle but every time you fall you fight a slightly weaker Gym Trainer to get out. Also it has a lot more holes in it. Things like Stealthrock are used
- Piers’ Gym is you fist fighting your way to victory, be careful which alleyway you go down or else you’d enter a triple or double battle or something!
- Raihan’s is that you have to traverse the wild area that’s currently have a lot of highly active weather and you gotta find certain items after each item find you fight a trainer in that condition. Aria, Sebastian, and Camellia have teams of 4 and its just Weather hell, while the others are just teams of 2
- Raihan has a Tyranitar w/ Sand Stream & a Kommo-O w/ Overcoat
- More fashion choices because I said so, there are no boundaries between the gender of clothing items because fuck that noise
- Dying clothings returns, except now you can choose more accurately what exact colour you want
- If you’re wearing a hat w/ a rim, you can choose to have the glasses be on that instead of on your face
- Those hair accessories from Alola return because that was some good shit
- Bracelets and earrings
- You can minorly edit your Gym Challenger Uniform, but before you become Champion, you can only add in a jacket and maybe a different coloured glove
- Gym Challenger outfit varies between stadiums, you wear something warmer in Melony’s Gym, and something cooler if you’re in Kabu’s
- VS Seeker is similar to ORAS’ version, but also like FRLG’s version
- You can battle fellow Gym Challengers by encountering them in special scripted events that you get after completing an unrelated sidequest, you can rematch them whenever after a certain cooldown period
- These fellow challengers have lower AI than your main rivals, and are generally weaker than them. The money they give also varies greatly
- You can pet your Pokemon in Camp
- Something similar to the Pokegear happens with phones, except the calls are texts and don’t interrupt anything outside of making a small sound. Fellow Challengers, Gym Leader’s you’ve defeated, Hop, Leon, Sonia, Ball Guy, and Mum are all contacts
- Depending on the team you have, people will comment on certain Pokemon, specifically the Ace/Mascot of a famous person’s Pokemon (like if you have a Flygon people will comment on how Raihan does too, same if you had a Chewtle, people will say that Nessa had one but it’s evolved)
- You can watch your Gym Battles on playback but also hear the commentary you don’t get to hear when it happens
- Sidequests to point Leon to the correct place to go when he gets lost
- Option in the settings called “Storyless” where it shortens dialogue by auto choosing the option that leads to the shorter response, turns off all forms of cutscenes, and so on
- Opposite version exclusives are available in the other game through certain repeatable sidequests
Story Changes
- Sonia’s arc is expanded so that she finds her resolve in the main story instead of the post-game story
- She deals with a lot of stubborn pricks that won’t give her the info she’s looking for
- Sonia & Leon are seen a lot more, same with the Gym Leaders
- Sonia & Leon are seen awkwardly catching up a lot in the early parts of the story
- Leon & Raihan interact a lot when you’re in Hammerlocke (when you first go in, when you come by with Opal, when you come in to fight Raihan)
- Nessa & Sonia also interact a lot when you’re in Hulbury (you see Nessa & Sonia gazing at the sea near the lighthouse)
- Eternatus’ plotline is rewritten to be a possession story where Rose is actually innocent