Pokemon Platinum E4R2 FAQ

      Pokemon Platinum Elite Four Round 2 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 Piplup?
A: Because the Piplup evolution family is the best for the speedrun.

Q: Huh? But weren't you just using Chimchar for Pearl? Can Platinum really be that different?
A: Yes! Platinum is quite different in it's nature. There is no Hidden Power TM at the start of the game, which makes a big difference to the run. The gym orders are different, the fights are different, and perhaps most importantly, you don't get to catch Palkia for the end of the game, so the whole run is done with your starter. Empoleon has a much better finish than Infernape does.

Q: What is Elite Four Round 2?
A: In several of the newer titles there is a second round of the Elite Four where they are about 20 levels higher that requires certain requirements to enter.

Q: What are the requirements in Platinum?
A: In Platinum you must complete the Sinnoh Dex - you must SEE every Pokemon (catching not required). To accomplish this I will be mostly fighting lots of trainers in order to assure that I see those Pokemon, but occasionally some Pokemon will be seen in the wild as it is faster (on average) to do so.
You must also after completing round 1, do the Stark Mountain side quest where you finish off Team Galactic for good before starting Round 2.

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 and pokerus.

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, and Piplup's starting stats

Q: What causes the resets?
A: I missed the initial seed. There are 2 ways to check to see if I hit the right seed, one is to check my Trainer ID which should be 49741, and the other is to check to movements of the NPCs outside my house. Checking Trainer ID is faster for resets, but obviously takes a few seconds. The RNG for the seed advances every frame, so it is a frame perfect trick

Q: Why don't you check Piplup's stats? What are Piplup's stats like?
A: Piplup's starting stats are the same every time RNG manipulation is used, and also quite decent using RNG manipulaton, but not perfect. The reason for this is because there are a limited amount of seeds you can RNG manipulate for, as you are manipulating so many things, it's literally a game limitation how good they can be.
The Piplups IVs are 24 HP, 27 Att, 28 Def, 29 SP Att, 23 SP Def, 29 Speed with a Mild nature.

Q: Why is your movement so strange at the start of the run?
A: This is to manipulate encounters. You can't just find a seed that gets no encounters with a perfect Piplup by just running straight through (again, game limitation; there isn't one), so I need to do specific movement to manipulate the RNG so that I can avoid these encounters

Q: What encounters will you get?
A: I will catch a Kricketot (for Metronome) and a Starly (For Fly) on Route 201 and then a Bidoof (For Cut/Rock Smash) on Route 202. All other HMs are given to Empoleon (It ends the game with Surf/Waterfall/Strength/Rock Climb)

Q: Krickeot for Metronome? What does that mean?
A: Metronome is a held item, Kricketot's have a 5% chance to hold one. In this run, I have also manipulated one to show up which does.

Q: What does Metronome do?
A: It increases the damage output by an additional 10% for each consecutive time you use a move. So 1.1x, 1.2x, 1.3x etc up to 2x. This may not seem like a lot, but it makes a big difference in the early game. Most notably on Rival 2, you do 3 damage to Turtwig instead of 2 per hit, and end up doing 5 (which saves like 6 turns since he has 29 HP), are able to OHKO Gardenia's Roserade, and numerous other occasions where it saves 1 turn, and/or eliminates what would be damage ranges without it.

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.

Q: Is there anything else in the game you manipulate?
A: Yes! There is one more thing you can manipulate in Platinum and not Pearl- the return of Pokerus! Pokerus is obtained off the third trainer fight on Route 202. Sadly it doesn't go straight to Piplup, to goes to the last Pokemon in my party. But it is also manipulated to spread from Bidoof to Starly in that very fight, then spreads to Kricketot after Rival 2, and then finally to Piplup after I defeat a Wild Onix in Oreburgh Mine for experience.

Q: Why do you play as the girl?
A: The counterpart talks less to you if you are the girl

Q: Why do you name yourself and Piplup '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: Are there glitches in this run?
A: This run is done glitchless, as you can tweak past triggers to avoid completing the sinnoh dex, which defeats the entire purpose of this run.

Q: So what is your goal time?
A: I think I might be able to get under 5 hours with a really solid run, but I think I'd be happy with 5:02 or so.

Q: What is WR?
A: http://www.speedrun.com/pkmnplat#Elite_Four_Round_2 (See: Splits)