It lives up to the hype of being much harder than the original, lemme tell you that. I came near death multiple times in Mt. Bristle (the third dungeon) no thanks to brutal Starlies and Doduos, and got my ass kicked into next week by a criminal (Double Kick Nidorina). Oh, Drowzee's Confusion hurts like hell if you're Bulbasaur, just so you know.

I heard recruiting would be easier this time around... so far I struggled with that, with only a Geodude and Machop to show for it. By the way, speaking of Geodude, I should inform you that Rock Polish is NOT, I repeat, NOT a clone of Agility like I thought it would be - instead of one speed boost to the whole team it only grants two speed boosts to the user. Whether it's a good or bad thing is your choice... I personally think it'd be better if your leader is the one with it, but no starter first form gets it, and among their evos only Torterra does.

And if you haven't started yet (or did and drew Skitty), if you don't care who you get and end up with Skitty as starter, START OVER. Normal Skin is forced upon you, with all the inconvenience it brings. Now I don't think anyone here really likes the thing, but that's one extra reason to shun it.

So, did anyone else get to try the game? How is it so far?

Oh crap. I forgot that it came out today.

Oh well. I'll get it tomorrow, I guess.

I'm waiting till the internet has guides for it.

What kind of guides? The kind of guide that tells you which Pokés are good and which to avoid?

Anyway, a word of warning to fellow Bulbasaur players. If you want Sleep Powder, you'll have to go to Electivire's shop, since when Pokémon can learn several moves at the same level, they can only learn the first one naturally. However, that also means Electivire needs to have opened shop to get Sleep Powder, and he hasn't done so yet in my game.

On another note, gotta hate how there's now limited storage at Kangaskhan's. I haven't hit the limit yet since I got to Bronze Rank fairly quickly, but that's one thing MD1 was awesome for: unlimited storage. Gotta hate how you can't fuse packs of Geo Pebbles or Gravelerocks or other projectiles, which takes up a lot of space fairly quickly since they're so common. Unless there's a trick to merging those packs and I don't know it, and if you know of one I'd really like to hear it. Also, gotta hate how 10 Apples take 10 slots instead of just one like they did in MD1.

SPECIAL NEWS REPORT!

The special mission passwords are the same. Which means that the english and japanese passwords are equal. Which means... here are the passwords >_>:

Event passwords

Hmm, never got the first one, but I may pick this one up.

When I have money. Being broke sucks :|

I now have MD2. I will now start playing it. <_<

I got Chimchar with a Turtwig as a partner. Any spoilers?

By the way, if anyone finds WM codes for version exclusives, make sure to let others know.

As for me, I'm interested in what some of the new moves do, so if you find out anything interesting (I'm especially interested in TM moves, like Focus Blast and Stone Edge), please inform me here. I'll make sure to post my findings as well... right now, all I know is Rock Polish (explained in the first post), Dark Pulse (hits enemies all around you) and Draco Meteor (hits every enemy in the room for extreme damage, sharply lowers SA).

Stealth Rock: Creates Stealth Rock Trap below the user. Only read TM description though.
Toxic Spikes: Only saw it used, looked like a poison needle trap from the first game.
Stone Edge: Regular rock attack, hits only one space in front, high critical hit ratio. Disappointing.

Those are all new moves I saw so far, excluding those you mentioned. I have a good feeling about Discharge though, I hope it hits the whole room. Leaf Storm probably does the same thing as Draco Meteor, which would be awesome.

I'm thinking of starting a second game on Darkness, to see all the differences with Time. I'll try Treecko and Chimchar. Chimchar gets Fury Swipes at level 15, which will be an awesome leg up and Sceptile is a personal favorite of mine. I was wondering if anyone spotted the Bullet Seed TM? Treecko can't stand out much without it and I'm at chapter 16 in Time and still didn't see it.

Considering Overheat only hits all around the user, I wouldn't get my hopes up for Leaf Storm. Fact of the matter is, Draco Meteor is one of those moves you need an assload of IQ to teach. Good thing Gummis seem much more accessible than in MD1.

Stone Edge hits in front of you? That's it? Boo. It's official, Rock Blast remains king of the mountain, with Rollout a solid second.

Right now my team is Bulbasaur, Torchic, Geodude, Machop. I did Waterfall Cave late yesterday, and I found out that Surskit had very nice stats (on top of starting with the awesome Bubble and Quick Attack). However, I need to find out more about its stat growth before I start using it seriously, since several Pokés I have have good starting stats, but dismal growth (I'm looking at you, Doduo and Starly). So if Surskit's growth sucks, I might be using Machop a little while longer - unless there are other Pokémon from Waterfall Cave I don't have that could do the trick. I'm hoping Poliwag's good, for one. Starting with Bubble and Hypnosis and learning Mud Shot down the road is great.

In response to the stat growths, when I started using Elekid he gained only +1's for the first 20 levels. Past that he started getting +2's and +3's, although attack is all that really mattered, and he quickly tied my starters. What I'm saying is give Pokemon you like a shot even if their growths seem desperate at first.

I've also heard very good things about Surskit, I intend to try him when I can. I reached chapter 5 on my newly started Darkness version just now, so I'll try to recruit it.

As for Gummis, I've fed about 100 to my Turtwig in Time and it just got half it's second star. Type match all your Gummis, since feeding the wrong ones adds practically nothing this time around.

The IQ abilities are definitely worth it this time around though. To name a few I have Bodyguard, which takes ALL the damage a critical health ally next to you would take. It saves your life in monster houses. Another one I got is a permanent HP boost, around 10-15 points, which was a nice surprise. There are probably even better ones later on.

Heh, I just finished the game, as I type, the credits are rolling. Lemme tell you, the final boss fight is a bitch. Being lvl 36 and I was 1 attack from dying. If it wasn't for an X-act seed, Id've lost.

What does X-Act Seed do anyways? <_< I'm up to the 2nd boss and I'm getting my ass handed to me by Numels and Slugmas. Stupid Chimchar and Turtwig.

Apparently there's a TM called Vaccum Cut that hits the whole room.

Beat the 2nd Boss. 3 Sleep Seeds ftw.

Yeah, for a fixed 35 damage. It was around in MD1 too. Seriously, getting a Silver Wind TM is a much better alternative.

Oh, and Novkris, you seem to know a lot about stat growth. Are there any tables about that around? I can't seem to find any. And quite honestly, I'm not sure I should freeball it and go with something like Starly hoping it'll catch up with Bulbasaur and Torchic after a while, because it can come back to bite me in the ass and never happen. As I said, I'd need stat growth tables to make a fully justified decision.

I got Darkness yesterday and I love it so far, I've played through MD1 a couple times, and I find this one to be better (Although quite a bit harder), I just beat Apple Woods and the game seems to be out to get you if you start out with a Grass-type (Turtwig for me), with all the Starlys, Doduos, Glooms, etc. throughout the firt few dungeons.

I picked Mudkip as a starter, dunno why, and my other two team spots are an Anorith and Geodude.

Yeah, and Electivire's shop still doesn't want to open. I WANT SLEEP POWDER DAMMIT.

So Apple Woods is tough with a Grass-type, huh? *checks dungeon lineup* Yeah, looks like it. Every last thing on there is weak to Fire, so I'll let Torchic do its share of the fighting. And I might just let Geodude sit out of this one and use Machop instead. Surskit shouldn't fare too badly thanks to its unique typing... speaking of which, it's a keeper, I just saw it level up, and it's the kind of stat growth reserved for starters. And just look at the moves it gets... Bubble and Quick Attack right from the start, Agility at level 31, Silver Wind, Ominous Wind (both attacks that hit everything in the room), Stun Spore and Air Slash after evolution... I say this guy is staying on my team for a long time.

By the way, the Dojo is ****ing impossible for now. I went in the Grass Maze with level 15 Bulbasaur and Torchic, level 13 Machop and level 12 Surskit... first floor's easy, second floor's okay, third floor hits really hard and everything on the fourth floor falls just short of a OHKO.

Just a question for those who tried out Burmy... how do the cloaks work exactly? Are the cloaks they come with permanent, or do they change like in D/P?

I don't use any stat growth tables, I just went with how it was for me so far. At the risk of spoiling some of the game to you, there's at least a good half of it where you won't be allowed to use Pokemon you recruited, so don't break your head picking members this early on. Just try them now and keep them in mind for later.

Anyway, I decided to not try Surskit after seeing it learned about 8 moves total by level and went with a Poliwag. It started at level 9 and got straight 3's in HP and Attack, varying between 2's and 1's for the rest. It seems like a solid choice and I would have loved Damp in some later Dungeons in my Time version. Hypnosis helps take down outlaws relatively early, but the fact Poliwag only has water attack moves until level 15 won't make leveling it very easy at the point where you get it. The move at 15 is Double Slap though, so it's all good.

Another new attack I remembered today was Feint. The animation looks fancy but it just hits in front. I think it pierces Protect/Detect, as it states in D/P, which is a plus, but Riolus appear after the boss that knows protect so too little, too late. There might be more Protecting bosses down the road for all I know though. While I'm talking about Riolu: Steadfast and Inner Focus at once is really pro.

Another thing I noticed is that IQ skills are different depending on the Pokemon. My Turtwig got Bodyguard, which I explained earlier, while Treecko got PP saver, which randomly lets it use a move for free. This explains something about one of the bosses. I noticed that whenever it missed with a move it dashed backwards to avoid harm. It must be an IQ skill I don't have access to yet. This means that any Pokemon you recruit could have heaps of hidden potential, and picking your team should take those into consideration. Unless someone hacks max IQ on all 493 Pokemon and writes the abilities down, the only way to find out is to raise the IQ yourself and see if you're a winner.

If you really want stat tables though, I managed to dig this up:
http://www.upokecenter.com/games/dungeon/guides/
It doesn't show any 4th gen Pokemon though, and there's no guarantee it's the same stats for this game as well, but I hope it helps.

UPC's documentation is what I used for MD1, and most of what it says about the moves remains true here (except for PP, of course). Speaking of PP, Bubble's has been nerfed to hell and back, so Water Pulse, which has 12 as well, is a minor improvement over it because of the confusion chance. But back to UPC... it's common knowledge the stats had a massive overhaul in this game, so everything that has to do with stats is completely outdated.

Electivire finally opened shop, so I now have Sleep Powder. I might give the Dojo another go soon.

Anyway, Surskit DOES have only 9 moves, but it has two great ones right off the bat, Bubblebeam might still have more PP than Bubble (AND be stronger AND more accurate), and Agility's still among the best moves in the game. Not to mention all the goodies that rain down on it when it evolves... it's almost too good. No joke. Not saying Poliwag is bad though, I'd probably be using it instead if it wasn't for Surskit (that, and the fact Bulbasaur has a MUCH better sleep move). Bubble, Hypnosis, Doubleslap, Mud Bomb, Dynamicpunch (which actually has pretty good accuracy here) for Poliwrath... and of course Ice Beam as TM, and maybe Focus Blast depending on whether it's ranged or not. Of course, both movepools pale in comparison to Mantine, who had the best stats of all Pokémon in MD1. Hopefully that trend continues.

As for Riolu... they didn't do anything to cop out of that contradiction? Meaning Steadfast essentially does nothing.

Now, SPOILER TIME. Turn back right now if you don't want the game spoiled.

I'm assuming the recruit-less segments are the expedition and the trip to the future, right? Well, I still gotta say, raising team members remains important, because I hear Dialga's a huge pain in the ass. And anything that can divert hits and increase firepower in the large-scale battles (Luxray and Dusknoir) is much welcome, too.

Minor spoliers ahead.




So I just beat the Groudon illusion and got into Amp Plains, at the and you fight against Luxray and an assload of Luxios (8 I think, may be off though) and it is absolute hell, at least for me, because of my damn Mudkip and them constantly Sparking it. I'm gonna have to raise my Geodudes levels a bit because even with Magnitude it still gets raped by them. I found a TM for Energy Ball and tought it to Turtwig to check it out, it seems to be ranged, and of course has the chance of lowering special defense like in D/P.

EDIT:I actually completely forgot about getting an Electrike to join my team, Lightningrod would help a ton.

Another edit:Finally beat the damn things, I recruited 2 Electrikes to help me out and still almost died, Lightningrod is god against them.

So I hit Silver Rank late yesterday, and man is the increase in storage ever worth it. Which is good, as it looks like I'll be staying there for a long time.

Energy Ball's ranged? That's cool, but there's just one problem... it's the same type as Bullet Seed. Most types would kill for a ranged attack TM, and Grass gets two. Wow.

Speaking of ranged attacks ending with "Ball", here's something I'd like to share with the class (feel free to spread the word!):

EASY SHADOW BALL TM!

I'm scared!
I can't take another step. Someone, help!
Client: Spinarak
Objective: Rescue Spinarak
Place: Mt. Bristle 8F
Restrictions: None
Difficulty: C (20)
Reward: Shadow Ball TM + ?
Wonder Mail:
F6W# -3-M HNT&
%-8Y HN0T 3FMF