Pokemon Diamond Kricketot+ FAQ

      Pokemon Diamond Kricketot+ FAQ

Q: What does Kricketot+ mean?
A: It means I'm going to catch a Kricketot, and use it (along with it's evolution) to beat the whole game. In other words, an alternate Pokemon run using Kricketot!
The + in Kricketot+ is to differentiate it from a potential alt run with *just* Kricketot, where you would never evolve it

Q: Is this run Glitchless or not?
A: Yes, it is glitchless. Alt poke runs are glitchless unless explicitly said otherwise.

Q: Where will you catch Kricketot?
A: On Route 202, just after the catching tutorial.

Q: So is this the fastest way to beat the game?
A: No, the entire point of an alt Pokemon run is that it is not the fastest way to beat the game. Otherwise it would just be...the fastest way, and it'd be the main category.

Q: So how much slower is this going to be?
A: A fair bit. I don't really have an estimate since it's been so long since I've run this, but I have to imagine it'll be under 4:30 still.

Q: How good is Kricketot?
A: Oh no.

Q: What are the hardest fights in this run?
A: Everything that Kricketot does is a real struggle, because you can only use Bide to do damage, and the AI is random so whether they attack or just spam status moves is up to the gods.
As Kricketune, the hardest fight by a long way is Fantina. And the second hardest by a long way is Flint. Other than those, most high level fights present some sort of medium sided challenge, but the 3rd hardest would definitely be Cyrus at Spear Pillar.

Q: Why D/P and not Platinum?
A: There are three reasons for this. The first is that in D/P you can get the Hidden Power TM very early on, and having a decent move early on to deal with especially all the flying types (Zubats/Beautifly) is super helpful. This reason is common across a lot of Alt Mains that prefer D/P to Platinum.
The second reason is that Kricketune actually gets X-Scissor earlier in D/P than it does in Plat, and given it is its best move, that helps quite a bit.
The third reason is that Fantina is so hard for Kricketune, and in Platinum the fight is even earlier before you get X-Scissor, so it sucks (you would have to win with Fury Cutter)

Q: Do you manipulate the Kricketot? If so, what are it's stats?
A: Yes. It's IVs are 27 HP, 31 Att, 19 Def, 27 Sp Att, 27 Sp Def, 30 Speed with an Adamant nature. This also means it has a Hidden Power of Ice, 70 Power. It also comes holding a Metronome.

Q: Why do you pick Piplup as the starter?
A: It's so that the rival takes Turtwig, which is the best matchup for Kricketune to beat.
Starting with Piplup also means I don't have to catch a water mon for HMs.

Q: What are the moves you use in the run?
A: (Growl), Bide, Hidden Power, Rock Smash, Leech Life, Fury Cutter, Brick Break, Return, X-Scissor

Q: What are the rules for alt main pokes?
A: You can find the rules across the series here: https://pastebin.com/uTqgXp6m

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Q: What are you playing on, it is emulator?
A: No, I'm playing on a DS (phat) with a capture board installed allowing me to record game footage

Q: Why do you keep resetting and changing the time?
A: I need to use a specific time in order to use RNG manipulation, so I set the clock in such a way that I can use it.
 The timer counts down to when I need to reset for the correct second.

Q: What is RNG?
A: Random Number Generator, the thing that determines everything random within the game, such as stats, encounters.

Q: What is RNG Manipulation?
A: RNG manipulation is used in this speedrun, which involves resetting on a specific second starting from a specific time, and hitting the correct frame for the correct seed after resetting. This allows for manipulating of the wild encounters, Kricketot's stats

Q: What causes the resets?
A: I missed initial starting seed. There are 2 ways to check whether I hit the correct seed:
1) I check my Trainer ID. The one I am aiming for is 35488. I know if I get this ID, I hit the right starting seed, as that is generated at the same time. This is what I used to do, as it is the first thing you can do to check.
2) I can also check the movement of the NPCs in Twinleaf Town. Because their movement is derived from the RNG, I can tell I hit it based on their movements.
If not I didn't hit the right seed, so I reset. The RNG for the seed advances every frame, so it is a frame perfect trick

Q: Why is your movement so strange at the start of the run?
A: Because you can't get the best possible results off the bat. The movement that I do is designed specifically to manipulate the RNG (from NPCs movement around me, and the like) so that I get my great Kricketot, a Starly, and no other random encounters.

Q: So why don't you just manipulate everything in the game?
A: There are multiple RNGs at play, and not all of them can be controlled the same way. Battle RNG for example, advances just about every frame, including lag frames, making it totally unpredictable.
In Diamond/Pearl, Pokerus is also determined from RNG that advances in Battle, so it is not manipulated.

Q: Why not Pearl?
A: Diamond is slightly faster text wise at Spear Pillar. Dialga also has less speed, meaning it's more likely I will be able to run away.

Q: Why do you play as the girl?
A: Slightly less text
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9pD4oLiFyo

Q: Why do you name yourself and Kricketot 'I'?
A: Because it's faster to name them one character for text purposes, and the letter 'I' gives a nice spin as if the game was self-narrating

Q: Do you catch anything else?
A: I do obtain other Pokes. Those are: Starly (Fly), Chansey (Has Lucky Egg, Strength/Rock Climb), Piplup (Cut/Surf/Waterfall)

Q: What is WR?
A: (There isn't one) See: Splits | https://www.speedrun.com/pkmndpext?h=Alt_Main_Pokes-Bibarel&x=5dw6v6n2-rn10ex18.4qypkmdq

Q: What is your goal time?
A: I don't know, but probably Sub 4:30 first?

Q: Do you plan to do other Alt Pokemon runs?
A: Yeah, in the future. I've already done a few of these in other games, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKdCHbtiZdhA63-FROqfqamattnoWR0xd

I've got quite a few more on my list to do in the future (mostly across Gen 4/5). I definitely don't need suggestions on more - I've thought about and considered everything you can imagine. It's hard to find the right mix of something you get early enough in the game that is actually still interesting to use. But I've certainly got some more planned, it just takes a long time to route the whole game with something else.

Q: What is with those split icons? What does A and B mean?
A: This is a grading system for all of my splits. I'm sure you are familiar with grades, A+ being the best then going down from there. So the idea is, if the split has an A+ next to it, my time there was really good and would be very difficult to beat. If it's a C though for example, it was quite poor, and I should be able to save time there pretty easily.

This way, everyone watching has more accurate information on where I can save time, and where I should be making up time. Also that all time loss is not equal, as losing time vs an A+ split isn't really that bad, whereas losing time vs a C split is really bad. It'll probably take a while for a lot of people watching to pick up the meaning so I will appreciate everyone who explains how this works (correctly) in chat to new people.