Pokemon Umbral Theatre 14: Beloved Godlord Dracorion

[Menarker]

The chance of debuffs might be more frequent later on as more PCs have the option of becoming slayers and have access to Slayer weapons or other features that grant debuffs.

And the tentative duration limit on Tentacle Trauma is acceptable if it becomes required. How long do you think? 2 turns? 1?

In fact, how about we put a duration limit right now, but make it 2 turns and keep it that way?


Of course, I would want to hear input from Gem, whom we're all eagerly waiting for his input for the battle plan I reposted above, as well as my most recent post redirected to him in the previous thread. Heck, I'll link it here for his convenience.
http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpos...&postcount=126


Bard, had you any luck with your battle plan?



Intrusion ~ 80 Pwr, Bug Phys. Choose any 2 slots to attack, which can be the same target twice. First target has 100% accuracy. Second target has 50% accuracy.
A bizarre attack that boldly goes where no man has gone before to the point of real life mosiacs appearing during the attack animation.
Effect: Pokemons, humans and any foe that can suffer morale loss have their ability temporaily changed to "Tentacle-Trauma" (If either target would normally not have an ability, they gain it). Tentacle Trauma doubles all debuffs that they would recieve. This ability stays on for 2 turns. If the foe has multiple abilities, like Poke-Mercs, choose which one is replaced.

[Dracorion]

If by "make it two turns and keep it that way" you mean "nerf it again if it becomes necessary later" then sure!

[Astral Harmony]

Two turns is good. Excellent, even.

Hentai Attack Intrusion is approved as far as I'm concerned.

Now run, Menarker! Post it in your bio before Geminex catches you!

...Oh, fucking finally! My Dunsparce learned another attack move. It was such a bitch to train the little bastard when the only attack move it had was Rage. Rage isn't a bad move, but with only 20 PP, I have to haul his ass back to the Pokemon Center after every 10 or less battles. Now with Rollout, the number of wild Pokemon he can faint more than doubles! That'll help my sanity somewhat.

[Dracorion]

HGSS or what?

Also, run Menarker! Run! Be free as a bird! Geminex can't hurt you anymore!

[Menarker]

*Bio edited and starts frolicking in freedom, wandering candy and ice cream stores, headphones pumping with music, playing games and have a jolly good time.*

^^

[Astral Harmony]

HeartGold. It kinda annoys me about the difference in level between the wild Pokemon and the major battles against gym leaders, Team Rocket and my rival. I mean, seriously? I ground up hundreds of Hoppips. The only Pokemon of considerable level in the wilds are the ones I find by fishing, and it's not very convenient given the sheer number of Magikarps I'm yanking up.

[Dracorion]

Probably figured they needed to do something to ramp up the difficulty.

I stalled out somewhere around Kanto. Think I got around half the badges.

Shame, I was looking forward to Red and the Clair and Lance double battle.

[Menarker]

What team of pokemon are you aiming for ultimately in the game, AB?

[Geminex]

Okay, I was actually gonan wait until tomorrow to post this and go to sleep now, but then I saw you all being happy and carefree and I was all like 'NOT ON MY WATCH'. So I'm gonna finish this now and then be sleep-deprived again tomorrow.
Thanks a lot, assholes.

In regards to Mollesk's attack...
For the love of god, allright. Have your little attack. I'm even gonna ignore the fact that it's way stronger than it should be.
BUT.
That is the last time you will customize Mollesk. Both in this and the next RP. That means no x-th level Mollesk, no ability switch, nothing. First, because you'd be neglecting your other pokemon otherwise. Second, because enough is enough. Give your author-avatar a rest, he's min-maxed more than enough. I am really weary.
Also, bear with me for a moment... My author-avatar is after world domination. Pierce's author-avatar is a great big bubble of testosterone and wanna-be-badass (wanna-be cause we're not letting him). It's been pointed out that this does NOT REFLECT PARTICULARLY WELL on the two of us. But has anyone ever realized that Renny's author-avatar molests people? How has nobody mentioned that before? And if it's been mentioned, how did I miss the opportunity to accuse Menarker of wanting to molest people?

In regards to the effectiveness of defense:
A) This point... what? What're you saying here? Sure, the enemies have more units. But so do we. If they gang up on a defender, the defender dies. But they spend three or four attacks, the trainer gains corresponding rage, and once the Defender is dead, they only have 1 or 2 attacks to hit the rest of our team with, which can then strike back much more powerfully. The defender won't have done much damage, but the team will have benefited greatly. Hell, since offensive pokemon take less hits to kill, this is actually a point in favor of defensive pokemon! Since they're more likely to survive for longer, they're also more likely to get in a few buffs.
B) Naaah. Status moves are totally valuable. I mean, even if you sleep an enemy, they're gonna be out of combat for 2-3 turns at least. Have your defender constantly sleep, and they can on average tie up two enemies constantly, without even needing an attack stat. How's that weak? If you disagree, just ask matt. Count the number of times he's used a sleep move. And this doesn't just apply to sleep, it works with confusion, burn (for the attack decrease) even paralysis if you do some damage beforehand. Status is totally a viable method of support. You just aren't using it.
c) What's with all the points about buffs? Even if these were valid, they'd apply to offensive types as well. Sure, buffing is harder than it used to be, but it's not just hard for defensive types. Easier, in fact, than for offensive types. You seem to be less focused on listing reasons 'why defensive tactics aren't good' and more reasons 'why mollesk doesn't work as well as I'd like'.
D) Depends. If we have high-HP opponents, these can be quite valuable. Toxic isn't great, but if we incpacitate and DOT an individual opponent, we can take out a potentially pretty powerful enemy without investing too many attacks.
E) I think your problem is that you're still trying to fight battles like you'd fight them in the games. Sure, you can't stall the enemy unless everyone suddenly deploys a Mollesk. But just because your old tactics don't work doesn't mean that the pokemon are useless! They're pretty hard to kill. Meaning that, usually, we can count on enemies not eliminating them too quickly. Which, in turn, means they're reliable, and usually have some time on the battlefield. If they do get dangerous enough for the enemy to want to eliminate them, the enemy's gonna need quite a lot of firepower to take one down. They're an investment, of sorts. Not to mention that if it looks like shit is about to start getting real, you can deploy defensive types to take the hits until you've gagued the enemy's strength. And that can be pretty damn valuable. Plus, they take more hits, means they give more rage and healing items work better. Defensive types have lots of uses, both in-combat (status, buffing, generally supporting) and 'tactically'. They're just as valuable as offensive builds!
F) See D. Sure, DOT might not be useful all the time, but it can be pretty good. Though it could use a buff. Not a buff to the effect itself... but if a attack poisoned two targets instead of just one, it'd be a lot more viable. Your guys' thoughts?
G) Once again, I'm thinking status moves can be really effective, if used right. Still, might be worth a buff... Let's observe this. We can decide during the course of this mission.

Whenever Umbreon got knocked out, it was taking hits which would've hurt other members of your team a lot more. I'm pretty sure it did its job just by forcing the opponent to knock it out. 'Valuable' doesn't directly translate to 'deals lots of damge'. Just getting attacked is often plenty. I don't think it needs a major 'role-change'. And what custom move are you thinking about?

And Mollesk contributes a lot more to combat than he should, because he combines the defensive qualities with the ability to deal damage like an offensive build. That's not how it's supposed to work, and it's one of the reasons I'm so pissed at you for making it. Defensive types have their strengths. Offensive types have their strengths. Mollesk has both, and the weaknesses of neither. If it is your response to why excessive customization should be justifed, then I can respond in only one way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOxY_nHdew
Bard, totally love you for introducing me to that. I will never stop using it.

Should mention that the testing we did was in the BEST situation when Renny was beside Harliette. The one who doubles rage? In other situations with other allies, the rage that he would have actually gotten would have been lower.

Okay that... just stop. That's just... no. NO.
That is not how the experimental method works. It just isn't.
There's tons of factors influencing the effectiveness of that fucking item. Just because one factor (Renny next to Harliette) does not, NOT, mean that the entire situation was favorable. Looking at just one factor just... bluh. Is so not-valid, you would not believe. Especially since most of the other factors (not-so-frequent use of togekiss, significant alternate source of rage, stuff like that) weren't favorable. At all. We can analyze the battle, and draw conclusions from it. But to use it as your sole justification why the item in question is balanced? That's like... I don't even know. Like something very stupid.

I don't care about proving you right or wrong. This really is in no way personal. I just don't want Renny to get double rage!

In that vein, I like the '+1 stat when serene grace activates' thing. That can work.

I won't defend my item other than to say that I disagree, that it's thematic and really overcomplicated as long as you know your side's formation. I really don't see how it doesn't work.

As for this:

You shout out that my item sucks because it's too powerful. Double Rage is no good.

Okay, first? Stop it with the tone. You're really making me sound like some sort of whiney bitch (Dracorion? That joke you just thought of? We're all thinking it. No need to make it. You too, Bard.) I don't shout, I don't complain. I suggest improvements. All I do, all I ever will. Implying otherwise is actually really insulting. So.. don't do that, will you?

And yeah. That was the entirety of my point. Too powerful. Double rage is no good. I threw in an explanation as to why it gained double rage. What more do you want? Shall I elaborate why double rage is no good? Considering that we all agreed that double rage (or rather 2.5x, but still) counts as a massive upgrade, I didn't think that was necessary. And like I said, you're looking for alternatives? I'll propose more alternatives once you seem willing to accept or discuss them! A good way to indicate that you're willing to accept or discuss them would be to start by suggesting your own.

And really, I didn't operate any differently during the upgrade customization. My pattern is always:
Identify problem
Agree that it is indeed a problem (I don't even need a 'yes you are right' from you, just an indication that you're considering my points)
Suggest nerfs
Finalize nerfs

We're still at the second point. The only difference to the customization thing, seems to me, is that you're showing yourself a lot less willing to compromise. You've just gone back to just refusing the possibility that a nerf could be necessary. And that's honestly not a personal attack, it's just what I observe. You're just arguing when you don't really have any points left to argue. I really think that you're taking this one personally. Though I was probably also more dismissive of your points than I would have been otherwise. ALso, it's usually past midnight when I write up these posts, so my problem-solving skills are pretty low. Y'know what, let's both, let's all resolve to compromise more frequently. We're all moderately intelligent, with the obvious exception of [INSERT LEAST LIKABLE PLAYER HERE], if we assume good faith on each other's parts, with that assumption should come the realization that they've probably thought of something we haven't. They may not be right, but they probably aren't absolutely wrong.
Mind you, this one's only gone on for, like, 3 posts each. We just write too much.

[Dracorion]

Every time you yell at us for depriving you of sleep, like we give a Pikachu's furry ass, you sound like a whiny bitch.

I call unfairness in the treatment of my author-avatar in comparison to Geminex's.

I mean, sure, I get to shag some bitches. Not as many as I'd like, but okay. But I wanna be the designated badass hero and nooooo. I get shit-all.

And Geminex goes and says he wants to rule the world? You roll the red fucking carpet, design a whole sequel and a truckload of plot points to keep him happy.