Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness FAQ

Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness FAQ

Q: What are you trying to do?
A: Beat Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness as quickly as possible

Q: What are you playing on?
A: A Nintendo Wii up scaled via HDMI through a Frameister

Q: What Pokemon do you use?
A: Espeon and Ursaring for battles, and Ralts so I can give its Twistedspoon to Espeon.

Q: Why Espeon and Ursaring?
A: Stab Psychic and stab Return are really strong, and you have access to these moves relatively early.

Q: Why are you resetting?
A: Probably because my Eevee or Teddiursa has bad stats.

Q: What stats are you looking for on Eevee and Teddiursa?
A: For Eevee I want a Modest, Mild, or Rash with decent defense. It also needs to have 30+ IV Special Attack and 22+ IV Speed with Hidden Power Fire 65+. The Teddiursa needs at least 24 attack and 16 speed minimum.

Q: Why Hidden Power Fire specifically?
A: Via RNG manipulation we can actually narrow down any hidden power and stats we want for the speedrun. It just so happens that HP Fire is the most useful making a ton of fights more consistent throughout the run.

Q: Does Teddiursa have a useful Hidden Power?
A: Yes. If we got Hidden Power grass it would by far be the best out of all of them. Electric would also be pretty good to deal a few Mantine and Pelipper down the road. Other than that I have no clue.

Q: Why are you messing around on the "Battle Now" screen?
A: I'm using a seed finder to find out what seed I am currently in order manipulate stats on my Espeon.

Q: So can you manipulate Eevee and Teddiursa?
A: You can manipulate Eevee but not Teddiursa. The requirements for Teddiursa manipulation are too demanding as of right now to attempt in a run.

Q: What does the "Battle Now" screen have to do with manipulating stats?
A: Much like the trainer ID in Pokemon FireRed, the "Battle Now" 2 lead Pokemon and the hp values of each Pokemon is connected to the seed the game is currently using. Once we go through a few lead Pokemon and HP values, it will find exactly what seed we are on and showcase to us runnable Eevee.

Q: Where can I find this seed finder program?
A: Credit to aldelaro5 for his amazing work! https://github.com/aldelaro5/GC-pokemon-RNG-manipulation-assistant

Q: How do you know your IVs so quickly?
A: If I get the trainer ID connected to my Espeons seed or Teddiursa has runnable stats, I'll plug its stats, nature, and trainer ID into a program which will show me its IVs and Hidden Power.

Q: Where can I find the IV predictor program?
A: Credit to Dabomstew for this program. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/345757810513936384/425005917948477442/XDPredictor_010.zip

Q: Did you just kill your own Pokemon?!
A: Yes! Much like in Pokemon Sun and Moon, we can lose a couple of fights on purpose. Specifically we lose to Exol, Smarton, and Zook. These end up sending time in the longrun at the cost of making a few things riskier.

Q: Didn't you used to catch Ralts and use the Twisted Spoon?
A: Yes, but this has been since routed out. This saves a bit of time having to grab a Great Ball and to weaken + catch him. It does however make a few Pokemon ranges without the 10% boost to Psychic moves, but it still ends up saving time overall.

Q: What are the biggest run killers?
A: Lovrina 1, Snattle 1, and the final fight. Lovrina can be rough cause Teddy dies there easily. Snattle is just awful he decides to team up against Espeon or Teddy. The final Fight against Greevil has a 30% chance of killing you with the most optimal strategies.

Q: Why is the last fight so bad?
A: Greevil has an extremely overpowered team. He has all 3 of the Kanto legendary birds as well as an Exeggutor that can do about 75%-90% of your health with "Shadow End". It does have about a 60% chance to hit each time but if this hits enough it's game over.