Pocket Gaiden 2 FAQ (December 2020)

Pocket Gaiden 2 FAQ (updated Dec 2020)

Q: What is this game?
A: This is Pocket Gaiden 2, a romhack that just came out on August 11th and was created by Ocean for the Relic Castle Game Jam 6.

Q: Is it related to Pocket Gaiden?
A: Yes, and no. It's not a direct sequel with the same characters, but is made by the same creator, is a short hack and has some interesting, challenging mechanics which made it fun to route.

Q: Are you playing on emulator?
A: Yes, on mGBA.

Q: What Pokemon do you use in the run?
A: I'm forced to start with Wailmer, which I won't be manipulating and will only be in two fights, plus as fodder in two fights later. I'll then manipulate a Druddigon in the cave where I previously caught the Zubat to trade and complete the game with that. Haven't worked out a yolo ball yet so for now I'll be weakening it and will have 3 Great Balls to toss at it.

Druddigon has a Serious nature with IVs of 25 HP, 4 Att, 30 Def, 11 SpA, 23 SpD, and 31 Spe. This Druddigon has Sheer Force so all attacks with a secondary effect get a 30% boost (Bite, Crunch, Rock Tomb). The Attack could be better, but since this is a very rare encounter there are limited options. What really matters is this Druddigon has good HP, Defence and Speed. Ideally, I'd want Adamant, Naughty, Jolly, or Impish but couldn't find any of those.

Q: What makes Druddigon ideal for this run?
A: Really high Attack. Speed and HP are a bit lacking which isn't too much of an issue. Being Dragon type means you resist a lot of attacks and most fights are smoother compared with alternatives (Sanchez, Ryan, and Nas 2 are probably the worst). Also having Hone Claws is very nice as there are no X items. Its moveset is insane as well (by L27, we'll have Dragon Claw, Crunch, Hone Claws, and Dragon Rage).

Q: Any weird mechanics in this hack?
A: Yep. You can only use a maximum of four items per battle, you cannot use Revives in battle (this one makes things challenging), and there are no X items. Also, although this has some of the gen 6 mechanics like +50% crits, EXP is not scaled by level. Finally, you get double EXP if you are lower level than the opponent, which I abuse in order to fight a lot less trainers.

Q: What is the WR?
A: 47:55 by me.

Q: What is your goal time?
A: Sub-47 would be nuts, but most likely I'll just be doing marathon strats / no reset runs as I'll be running this at the No Holidays Allowed 2020 Marathon! The run will be on December 16th at 11:04pm EST over on twitch.tv/speedrunslive