Pokemon White 2 Any% FAQ

 Pokemon White 2 Any% FAQ

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 choose Tepig?
A: Because the Tepig evolution family is the best for the speedrun. He isn't used for the whole run, however.

Q: What do you use instead?
A: I catch a Drilbur before Burgh, and use Excadrill throughout the game. I still use Pignite for Burgh's Gym (giving Drilbur exp Share), but then switch to Drilbur straight after as my main Pokemon.

Q: Are Drilbur/Excadrill's stats manipulated?
A: Yes! I manipulate both the dust cloud appearance and Drilbur's stats at the same time. This is a fairly new strat, and changes the run a lot

Q: Wait, I'm sure you used to say that wasn't possible. What changed?
A: Yeah, it used to not be possible. That's because you have to Save and reset in order to do it. Because Pokemon (Glitchless) runs have traditionally used the In Game Timer to time runs, they had to be done without resets in order to be accurate. However, with the new switch to using Real Time, saving and reseting is allowed, which makes this manipulation possible.

Q: How does this run compare to Challenge Mode?
A: All of the Gym Leaders and E4 are much quicker (1 less poke, and also lower IVs, worse moves/items), but all of the 'standard' trainers are a little bit harder, just because you are slightly lower level.

Q: So what are the really hard fights in this run?
A: The worst fight in this run honestly is Cheren, just because you speedtie his Lillipup, making it generally a 50/50 win as I'll play risky there to save time. Other than that, Charles/Rood can be a bit annoying with Drilbur, and Hugh 3 is the worst fight with Excadrill.

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 start the game 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 and pokerus.

Q: What is RNG Manipulation?
A: RNG manipulation is used in this speedrun, which involves resetting on a specific second starting the game at a specific time, a to hit a specific seed.

Q: What causes the resets?
A: I missed initial starting seed. There are 2 ways to check whether I hit the correct seed:
1) After setting my and my rivals name, the game sets up a save. At this point, there is a "clock hand" that rotates clockwise. Where it starts is determined by the seed. So I know that unless it starts by pointing Up Right, I missed it
2) I check the movement of the NPCs in Aspertia City. Because their movement is derived from the RNG, I can tell I hit it based on their movements. This is used as a second check, most runs that get to this check will progress

Hitting the seed is only based off the second, not the frame in gen 5, so it's a lot easier to hit than it is in gen 4/3. However there is another mechanic at play, the "Timer0" fluctuates seemingly randomly, and is what causes the inconsistencies. If you want a rough estimate of the chance of it being the one I want, I can't give you one because it isn't actually a random chance (as far as we know, not actually entirely sure why it changes), but so far I've only hit 5 different Timer0s

For Manipulated Drilbur, the first thing I can use as a guide is whether the Dust Cloud shows up. If it doesn't show up when I know it should, then I know I missed the Timer0 I want. There's also a chance that one will show up but in a different spot, which also means I missed the Timer0 I want, and have to reset regardless.

Q: Why don't you check Tepigs stats? What are Tepigs stats like?
A: Tepigs starting stats are the same every time RNG manipulation is used, and due to the huge number of possible seeds, are perfect in this game (all 31s). The nature however is decided independently to the IVs, and is based on the RNG Frame when I pick him. If I do movement correctly, so that the NPCs move around the right amount, it should be the target: Rash.

Q: What are Drilbur's stats like?
A: Drilbur has 31 IV is everything but Sp Att (which is 9). Drilbur only uses Sp Att in one fight, against Colress, but because it's ability is manipulated to be Sand Force, it's Sp Att does not matter for that fight. It's also an Adamant nature, highest level (19 out of 16-19) and a Female, to avoid Attract from Skyla/Grimsley.

Q: So why don't you just manipulate everything in the game?
A: Quite simply, nothing else is really worth it. There's no roamer/legendary worth getting, no Master Ball lottery, etc. There's also different types, while you are in battles certain RNGs advance making it impossible to control for any length of time. It's also currently possible to manipulate Pokerus (but maybe in future)

Q: Why White 2 and not Black 2?
A: Black 2 has an extra trainer in Reversal mountain, Charles is a Rotation battle instead of Triple, etc. Other stuff is different too but basically White 2 is better in every way.

Q: Why do you play as the boy/girl?
A: As far as I know they play exactly the same. I prefer the girl but because Real Time is used now, picking the boy is slightly faster, and the boy is this game is actually not that bad a design, so going with him.

Q: Why do you name yourself and NOT Tepig '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. Tepig however isn't used enough to make nicknaming worth it, since text moves quite fast in this game. I name Drilbur '9' because it's really close to the OK button to finish nicknaming (and also a naming system I used to do where I'd name a Lvl 19 '9' so you know what Lvl I caught it at)

Q: Do you catch anything else?
A: You need 3 Pokemon to fight Charles (the heartbreaker after elesa), and a slave for Surf and Fly.
So I manipulate both a Pidove and a Psyduck before getting out of the Ranch (to teach Fly, Surf/Strength to respectively). I deposit them after Cheren to skip the double battle, and withdraw them as I heal Drilbur at Nimbasa City (where I also deposit Pignite, as having 1 less Pokemon to kill in Double/Triple battle and Hall of Fame is faster)

Q: What is WR?
A: http://www.speedrun.com/pkmnbw2 | See: splits.

Q: What is your goal time?
A: I think under 3:15 would be nice.

Q: What is with those split icons? What does A and C mean?
A: (Idea totally stolen from Kinghippo, who got idea from MCR)
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. This is a fairly new idea for me, but I really like it, and want to use it on occasion for some of my games (particularly when I can make it pretty accurate). 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. I hope you guys like it too.