The Emerald Starters - Sceptile, Blaziken, and Swampert

[@MrFelst]

Yo, please don't worry about the "equal playthroughs with every Pokemon" stuff. Please just don't skip meals, sleep or time with your wife. It doesn't help anyone if you get sick or get burnout.

[@legendarystormmartialartsg3573]

Exactly, it's never worth sacrificing your body & lifestyle for work, I can't even imagine doing all that just so I can be more of a people pleaser for strangers than my own lifestyle

[@RabbiKrieg]

I demand he sacrifices health and relationships and his third born for MY ENTERTAINMENT!!!! /s, completely agree with you , if he takes care of himself we'll all still be here even if it's a playthrough or two less

[@VectorKnightZX]

Why can't I like this comment more than once? Oh, right, so I can feed The Algorithm[TM] with this comment.

[@ricksdarkness3257]

The best comment in this entire section.

[@bitmen1296]

Scott, Your well being and time with your family are always more important than some person that’s butthurt on the internet. I think anyone that’s worth listening to sees the amount of effort and care you put into these videos. You’re a person with a life and not a content making machine. You could do a 100 hundred runs with each Pokemon and I am confident that someone would find something to complain about. Please don’t take those negative comments to heart.

[@ricksdarkness3257]

Scott please get some rest. Don't worry about these people. You're the one playing and if you say you feel like there's not much else to optimize in a certain mon, we will accept it because you know what you're talking about. Please try not to stress too much about this kind of comment and focus on taking care of yourself, spending time with your wife and the cats, and playing the way you feel like playing. I can't even imagine the amount of work you put on these videos, especially on daily december. And hearing about people saying this kind of thing makes me think the solorunning community doesn't deserve you.

[@PvtPikman]

Scott, Flannery's gym, they're geysers and puddles you jump into and through. No, it doesnt make logical sense, but the point is its supposed to be above a hot spring because of the nearby volcano.

[@TheDetektiveConan]

I have the same opinion. The gym is build at a hot spring spa. It also explains alle the steam in the gym.

[@angelotirado3542]

Youre doing great scotty. This has been a great daily December so far. Don't let the negative minority comments get you down

[@marieshiomi3899]

I'm pretty sure the "trampolines" in Flannery's gym are in fact geysers, i just cannot see anything else that could make sense for a sauna like gym design.

[@thegoldenpepper8702]

In a place where it's only tourist attraction is their hot springs

[@Chronoflation]

You are correct. You can see a bit of water spurting out when being knocked up or crashing down, also when enemies appear on the bottom level

[@mirkwood579]

But it's clearly sand, it looks like sand, and don't the trainers talk about being in heated sand? It doesn't make a whole lotta sense either way, unless they've got psychic types doing teleportation. Or there's warp panels hiding in the sand on the bottom level to send you back up.

[@thomaswilliams1533]

They made it very clear in ORAS

[@mirkwood579]

@@thomaswilliams1533 In ORAS the gym is entirely different, though, there's not people hiding in the sand, they just stand around while the wooden platforms get shot up or you fall down through them. It does make a lot more sense, though.

[@greggellson]

Don't let the vocal minority get you down with how you're doing these playthroughs! What you're doing is amazing. And as others have said make sure you're finding a healthy work-life balance! As for you asking for feedback about glitches and rules, I think the dig/paralysis glitch is like the badge boost glitch. It can happen even when you don't want it to, are you supposed to reset if it accidentally triggers? That seems a bit much. I say keep it.

[@beebobber546]

It’s criminal how short handed Sceptiles moveset was in these games. Wish he got a dragon type pre mega evolution

[@facoulac]

how does it benefit him though? stab dragon claw and neutral to fire, but becomes x4 weak to ice and weak to dragon attacks

[@LitPasta]

⁠@@facoulacdragon is resisted by less types than grass so it gives him another stab and it grants it a defensive niche in quad resisting water, electric and grass. With that all of sudden, it hard walls types that more often than not always have a boss fight representing them in every game. Not to mention that grass dragon is cool and epic

[@ericwolf9664]

@@LitPasta Also the flapple line was very underwhelming in design. Turning into a flat out pie reeks of normal typing shenanigens not grass.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@facoulac I think sceptile should have been a dragon grass type Stab dragon would have helped it vs Steven My prediction is BLAZIKEN is the winner 2 reasons one blaziken is the only one who has access to setup 2. Swampert REALLY struggles vs water and ice n grass 3. Swampert has terrible speed meaning it will move second wasting time

[@Chronoflation]

They probably wouldn't have gone for Dragon back in gen 3. If you notice, pre gen 4, really pre gen 6, all dual type starters had 1 physical and 1 special type. It more likely would've been grass flying, grass steel, or grass poison. I don't think they would've gone for normal, ghost, or bug and they wouldn't have removed its fire weakness with rock, so that's the options we're left with without repeats, and they easily could've excused any choice with some lore about the bulbs on its back or the leaf blades on its arms. Dragon is cooler, but it just breaks the design philosophy of the time. Dragon was the anti-fire, water, grass core type, and they just would not have given it to a starter back then

[@MFMegaZeroX7]

Like others mentioned, I think the dig/paralysis glitch is fair game, and that most of the people that approved of it were silent on the video while those that didn't like it commented on that video.

[@facoulac]

On the fourteenth day of December, Scott's Thoughts gave to me: The best starter trio Three motherly pokemon The Giants of Gen One A deer and a giraffe The two pink blob matchup The Anubis dog herself A big cuddly boy in Kanto Two Airlane Dragon Pokemon Three Bulky Normal Types The Gen I Middle Stages An OP Eevee in Yellow An OP Pikachu in Yellow A slow level up group ice tree And the slowest hitmon brother

[@jameswhite2308]

Thank you for showing what you have argued FOR YEARS!!! While Swampert has a higher floor, Blaziken has as high or higher ceiling in Emerald in a general playthrough. Bulk Up is just so good. You are amazing !!!!

[@trevorparker6400]

I think the dig paralysis glitch is fine. You've said before that in-battle glitches are allowed

[@inventiveusername5191]

I agree. Being a glitchfest is a defining characteristic of gen1, so the specific glitches a mon can use as a trait of, for example, its learnset ought to be a factor in the time it gets.

[@Chronoflation]

I think it only rubs people the wrong way when he uses it as a go-to strategy when dig would otherwise obviously not be the optimal choice and it's clearly glitch fishing cheese. Otherwise it's fine, and I don't mind it cause it's obviously optimal in some circumstances, but it can be a let down when we're wondering how he'll figure out a tough situation and just goes right to that. He's only done it like that a few times, but I think it breaks some of the immersion for his playthroughs cause it's too obvious he's done it before and knows it's the optimal play and is going for optimal before flavorful even on his first runs where the Pokemon usually feel the most unique. I think he should generally save it for second runs unless there is obviously no other choice aside from grinding 10+ levels or if Dig is actually the best choice move against an opponent and it's a happy accident. Doesn't need to be a formal rule, but I think it'd benefit the storytelling of his videos to save it for later runs. I kinda feel the same way about him making mixed attackers use purely a single offensive stats cause they're literally made to be mixed attackers. Like, it'd be cool to see how a Blaziken actually using it's fire type would do if it were trying to play fast and actually take advantage of that special prowess. Maybe it'd one shot Metagross and he wouldn't need all the setup with the bulk ups, for example. Or Lucario not having to worry about fog like it did cause he actually used aura sphere, at least temporarily. Stuff like that for at least the obviously not optimal first runs would help with the flavor of his playthroughs and make them a bit less repetitive. Would also force him to try things he otherwise wouldn't think of, and that could be fun

[@llSuperSnivyll]

I think the problem would be seeking it on purpose. If it happens it happens, but not deliberately fishing for it. I have the same opinion about the badge boost glitch. I don't like the whole "let's use Harden to outspeed or hit harder, but I don't need the Defense boost", that's outright glitch abuse.

[@Chronoflation]

@llSuperSnivyll yeah. Badge boosting I can forgive a bit more because Pokemon don't all get it and it still requires proper use to win with, plus none of them are a TM that most Pokemon get access to (other than double team which is banned), and isn't a guaranteed victory. And since a number of Pokemon just plain don't get the same badge boosting moves, there's still a bit of flavor in what move they do get when they get one. I still don't like it being the go-to, even though it obviously makes some things possible that very obviously wouldn't be otherwise, but I can at least appreciate that the moves are often a natural part of the kit and not a widely usable TM that is handed to you basically for free in the story and then use to farm out a guaranteed victory glitch. I'm fine with it being a happy accident, but really hate dig invulnerabilury being the go-to. Badge boosts are at least a bit different between Pokemon and don't guarantee victory since they require vulnerable turns of setup

[@diegorojas8959]

Unless something goes really wrong it should be Swampert >>> Blaziken >>>>> Sceptile.

[@ONLY_RR7]

More like Blaziken > Swampert >>> Sceptile

[@fortello7219]

Ludicolo

[@BloodfelX]

Bulk Up > Surf/IceBeam/Earthquake > Leaf Blade

[@mason5789]

yeahhhh completely agree. I was a little surprised with the results, idk.

[@tsawy6]

@@mason5789 Remember, classical speedruns are run on very different rulesets. The most notable difference I can see are that the improved stats from being fully evolved let Blaziken's rougher early game be alleviated, and access to x items greatly diminishing the value of bulk up (all mons essentially have access to setup moves)

[@JaCaBrA144]

Finally swampert will get the redemption it deserves. No way it should be surge tier

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Exactly. Considering it can defeat quite a few gyms and steven stone and especially freaking WATTSON UGH

[@evawhite1144]

Good to see Swampert finally got the redemption it so direly needed, getting itself the second best time in the tierlist overall! I knew my boy had it in it to get one of the best times. What's surprised me the most was how close Blaziken's and Swampert's times were, despite the fact that Blaziken got an excellent set-up move in bulk up while Swampert got none. Like, let's be objective here and admit the only reason Blaziken got to be a little over a minute? Faster than Swampert was solely because of bulk up. Set up moves are excellent in solo runs, so we already expect pokemon that get them to put on an excellent performance and outperform the others who don't get these same set up moves by a wide margin. Today, the margin between Blaziken and Swampert was so negligible, it just goes to show how excellent Swampert is at running these games despite not having a stat boosting move to help it. We all know if all 3 of them got access to bulk up, two things would've happened: 1- Sceptile would've gotten a far better finish time, and 2- Swampert would've completely crushed Blaziken. And these are the facts. Pd: just as a comparison, to explain what this race felt like: it's like Blaziken was riding a motorbike, giving it a clear advantage (bulk up), while Swampert was just riding on a normal bike, and yet it still managed to finish at almost the same time as Blaziken! Whereas, poor Sceptile was forced to compete with the other two on foot. That's what this felt like.

[@bettyunicorn6132]

I love Sceptile but man, picking that thing in a causal playthough is a mistake. (Same with picking Charmander in RBY both of them have to wait way to long to get access to decent same type attack moves)

[@evawhite1144]

​@bettyunicorn6132 I know, right. It would've been so much better if it got bulk up. Which, now that I think bout it, might not be very useful for Sceptile because it's a special attacker, so it wouldn't benefit much from bulk up, even if it got access to it. It also makes no sense for it to learn calm mind, a move that's very tied to psychic types. Poor Sceptile was at a disadvantage from the beginning.

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

Sceptile gets its revenge in ORAS where it's movepool is much better and it gets Swords Dance considerably early.

[@justsomeone3962]

​@@TheShinyFeraligatr Blaziken has Speed boost there

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

@@justsomeone3962 There are precisely 0 ways to get your Starter a hidden ability in Gen 6.

[@laggarttixa]

Scott you are an amazing challenge runner and KZbinr the sheer willpower needed to do what you do is insane, please don't be over critical of yourself you are more than great at what you do. Keep that in mind and stay yourself, you made me love playing pokemon again.

[@SandshrewSamurai]

I find number of playthroughs to be an interesting metric. Intuitive pokemon often get their best result in only 2 or 3 while others require many iterations to figure out and that's part of the challenge. I don't think it's reasonable to expect you to replay something intuitive several times just because another pokemon needs a few more runs. And I certainly wouldn't expect you to replay something like Latios just to make the numbers match.

[@mullet_muffins]

This is nostalgic for me, since the og videos for these were around the time I discovered your channel. Excited to see how you improve things!

[@Rebelsk8s]

About the Abra problem: I think you should either not allow the use of it at all or force it to be used in every run. The time you want to measure is the finishing time of the respective pokemon and only that pokemon. Catching and using an Abra is an inconsistency which blurrs the results. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't use Abra at all. Oh and thanks for the great videos and the rapid fire this december

[@dvillines26]

imo it's a little offset for Pokemon bad against Roxanne, but any Pokemon that can beat Roxanne easily shouldn't have it, ever.

[@kiwiciwi123]

I agree and if you do use abra , 100 % catchrate cuz its annoying to catch

[@red-eyessolares1817]

It’s great to see how far you’ve come with your Emerald play with the three starters! Sceptile won in my heart :)

[@rex_melynas]

Leaf Blade went from 70 to 90... But it Also became a physical move, so sceptile was denied of using it's best stat for a signature move. That might even be the reason why it was buffed too

[@arronfrasier4466]

5th versus video in a row. Bringing the heat! 🔥🔥

[@lazypaladin]

"Combusken gains the Fighting Type to help against Roxanne, Marshtomp gains the Ground Type to help against Wattson-" _So Grovyle gains the Grass Type to help against... _*_Juan?_*

[@BloodfelX]

Honorary dragon status so it can use Dragon Claw against Drake - I guess!

[@kode-man23]

Juan but then not the other Water trainer, Wallace 😂 Treecko is my fav first stage and Grovyle is by far my favourite second stage… but even I can admit that this line is sorely lacking. Especially when compared to its monster starter-mates.

[@skeetermania3202]

RBY really needs a way to account for healing items. That Metagross damage range is, in practice, worse than you’re communicating due to the Sitrus Berry.

[@kevinpatridge]

I’ve been dying for these rerankings and they did not disappoint! Great work Scott!

[@flutter5373]

yea, don't worry about playing each one the same amount of times, some Pokemon just take more runs to optimize than others

[@MaladroitMola]

I respect and appreciate your efforts Scott. Gens 1-3 are my golden era of Pokemon then it just became something I did just cause. Can't wait until you're dabbling in the latter gens. They are a doozy to say the least. Anyway, keep up the phenomenal work.

[@evilvitamin]

Now it’s time for Quagsire vs Whiscash, to give the two budget Swamperts a chance to show what they can do.

[@Salnax]

Nice to see you improving so much these past few years.

[@urbestfriend-oz7zf]

The order the AI sends their pokemon in after a KO, if they don't have any more super effective moves, depends on the last move their fainted pokemon used. They basically roll that move with all their party pokemon to see who would do the most damage if they used that move against you.

[@olivernylander]

Regarding the Abra encounter, a consideration might also be if the time save in each playthrough will make your life easier as well. If you can simple shave off 10 minutes of overworld movement, each play through will become filled with more battles and become more enjoyable for you (and therefor, the viewer!)

[@calumv988]

Easily the best poketuber. You have taught me so much about pokemon through your analysis and have made me a better competitive player!

[@rainbowskin3379]

What a glow up. I'm genuinely curious to go back and watch that old swampert video and figure out what you were doing for a full 2 hours lol.

[@saltytyranitar6981]

I imagine a lot of the comments about you not giving a Pokemon its fair chance come from people who aren't as used to your work, Scott. I think most channel regulars can quite easily see your dedication to your work. I still remember your speech about how every Pokemon is someone's favourite Pokemon, and how you want to run each Pokemon like you're running it for that hypothetical person, and I was so, so happy with how well you did exactly that with my own favourite Pokemon earlier this year. I think your work speaks for itself in terms of your treating everyone's Butterfree or Venomoth equivalent with exactly the love it deserves, and if commenters stick around they can see just that shining through.

[@Lumpusax]

Real nice improvements from a year ago! I like watching these runs getting better and better.

[@TomsSauce]

Just wanted to say thank you for the uploads Scott, work has been absolutely killer in the christmas season and knowing I can come home to a high quality upload that you've been absolutely acing is such a relief . And had to say that on this video considering my favourite pokemon is one of the runners

[@ntdan-se3lq]

i love hoenn so much. emerald was my first pokemon game ever & im dedicating my right leg to the generation! ive gotten blaziken and JUST got grovyle done 3 days ago. mudkip is next as a nod to all 3 starters its the ONLY generation where you cant go wrong with your starter (imo) happy holidays, scott!

[@midspaz5226]

Also hope you’re well and love your work thank you for all you do for us. It’s always a joy to watch please don’t take the time out of your personal life it’s so much more important to your community that you’re happy rather than pumping out videos

[@mason5789]

I think the only thing I would say is Substitute can give you an advantage if you’re near Overgrow range with Sceptile! Great run Scott

[@AlexanderJamesWhite]

Its been said alot, but as far as solo run youtubers go, younare extremly throuough. Thanks for all your hard work~

[@raspberries9998]

Love your vids dude! I always put them on whenever I'm doing homework or some other menial task and it really does help to get through it!

[@spacedoyster7686]

For Abra in Emerald, I think the best approach would be to not catch it, since there's no guarantee or fixed location to get Abra, unlike Gen 2. That said, since you have done a few playthroughs with Abra on critters that needed to grind, the best rule might be to stick to what you've already been doing; catch it if you see it.

[@fortello7219]

16:40 You also shouldn't have done this because Tentacool can have the ability Liquid Ooze which damages you for using draining moves against them. I don't know if trainer abilities are locked in, but so it might not always be a problem but it's probably for the best not to make a habit of it.

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

Trainer abilities are locked in. Bosses very rarely can have abilities set that aren't the first, but every trainer Pokemon and 99% of boss pokemon in Gen 3 will have their first ability - this is why you never get Static'd from trainer Voltorbs.

[@tsawy6]

He takes like, 12 damage, you can see it, the problem is just not getting ohkos cuz the tenta line has great spdef but thin def

[@rojachan]

This is not necessarily related to thoughts expressed in this video, but that you have expressed in others. I find it very impressive that you get negative comments, can read them, and still continue to make content. I draw and write and i post stuff but i can't even bear to check engagement. (Granted i do it for fun and not to make money, so i do not have the monetary need to monitor and assess and use feedback to make stuff that gets more eyes/watches/clicks.) It just leaves me in a kind of awe. I'm very grateful that the way i make money does not rely on having to endure other people's judgements on my creative output, and i applaud anyone who can endure that.

[@fozlrof]

Still really enjoying your videos. No complaints here, keep up the good work. Looking forward to data breakdown videos as you complete each generation.

[@renatogb47]

Keeping the Abra encounter natural feels balanced, the pokemon most likely to get an Abra are the ones that need training and the time shaved by having an Abra seems like a fair way to compensate this time loss.

[@redwings13400]

Scott, I just wanna say how insane you are for doing all these runs and spending so much time on this channel. In the end, you’re just one person, playing pokemon again and again a billion times in a row. I don’t think anyone else has your stamina and upload rate for these videos. It’s ridiculous. So I completely believe that you basically use up 115% of your time on this channel. You clearly put everything in it, and you’re only human. I trust you to get the data and do the best you can for each pokemon, and if you don’t have enough time to lower a pokemons time by a couple minutes, it’s ok. Just keep enjoying what you’re doing! Edit: I love the tier list rebalancing! Definitely a better representation of times in emerald version. The starters really redeemed themselves here, it’s crazy how much better you’ve gotten at emerald version over time!

[@Xeraser2]

Your freeze "luck" is genuinely astonishing, I don't think I've ever seen an instance where the opponent didn't defrost immediately.

[@krinkrea]

Hey Scott! It's been a great daily December so far, and I'm glad my boy Blaziken got the redemption he deserved, but pls take care of yourself. You do a fantastic job for all of us number nerds out here and have proven your skills, passion, and excellence in solo speedruns. Anyone who is dissatisfied with your results can run the mon themselves, or give you some ridiculous sum of money to disrupt your life and production schedule for a rerank stream. As far as the Abra is concerned, I'd say that your methodology has always focused around playing the game consistently and (more or less) "as intended." Abra adds a lot of variance to the results, but making one mandatory invalidates a lot of the runs you've done up to this point (including these ones!). As such, if you WANT to add an Abra as a mandatory HM Mon to the runs, you should do so now to make the tier list consistent, or leave it as a boon for the mons that are forced to train before Roxanne (and really need ever advantage they can get).

[@tsawy6]

Notably theres precedent for implementing changes that advantage newer runs if they improve times within rulesets/reduce noise: see skipping sprout tower and removing encounters in mt moon

[@krinkrea]

@@tsawy6 There absolutely is! You can also look at the guaranteed HM mon encounters that have already been programmed in to justify it. Now regardless of the methodological arguments, the amount of time that could be saved in Scott's everyday life should be considered. There are 173 Pokemon that can learn Ice Beam in generation 3, and going off the roughly 45 seconds of backtracking to get TM13 before Fly, that's about 2.16 hours worth of time saved in the initial runs if we let the man have his Abras. That's before considering backports, rerankings, follow-up runs, or other spots to use teleport at.

[@georgiosvavliaras1066]

Don't overwork yourself king Fantastic video as always, my favourite pokemon in my favourite game, Christmas came early it seems haha

[@garrettwalsh1094]

Adding my name to the silent majority - we do not hate your rules, and please don't sacrifice your personal life more than is necessary. Keep churning out the awesome videos Scott!

[@melfice999]

Paralysis glitch should be done as a last resort, a kind of double team lite. as I feel it is very much cheesy, and far more cheesier than most other glitches.

[@DiamondDM13]

Wait, of all times to go with a speed lowering nature, you don't take it for Sceptile?

[@thatponybro6940]

the trumpets in the Gen 3 OST are truly something else, the vives are never wrong with the trumpets

[@ktvx.94]

I don't know what's gonna happen on the follow-ups, but in your first attempt at Glacia with Sceptile you could've subbed again to activate Overgrow and destroyed everything with Leaf Blade.

[@justinh826]

I know it’s probably pure coincidence, but in light of yesterday, I’m really happy to see a gen 3 video today. Thank you so much

[@llSuperSnivyll]

Swampert's redemption arc.

[@ryanbenedetti-kp2yx]

She barely made an appearance in the video but i absolutely love that Roxanne art. Bravo.

[@N12015]

A small question. Did the calculator consider sitrus berry's recovery? Because if it didn't then no wonder why Steven stone was so inconsistent.

[@skeetermania3202]

That’s exactly what I said. There’s a reason competitive players taking healing into consideration when calculating damage ranges.

[@justsomejojo]

I remember Fennekin being shown using what later turned out to be Power Up Punch in one of the many prerelease screenshots and people lost their minds. I never checked if it was one of the many fakes or an actual Corocoro screen though. That short excursion into Fire/Fighting types always brings up good memories.

[@vtmagno23]

Predicting it before the video starts, I'd say it's gonna be a close race between Swampert and Blaziken, with Sceptile as a distant third. Putting my money on Swampert, though!

[@Chronoflation]

Flannary's gym is a series of water geysers on the first floor with corresponding holes in the floor above them. So the geysers launch you up or catch you when you jump down one of the holes. That's why the bottom floor has little splashes when you go up and down

[@Zelgius1]

1:29:44 Even this rebalanced tier list will look so very different, once Scott starts to run at least a few first stage Pokemon.

[@mattildas7515]

With regards to Abra, I think the Pokemon itself is basically like an escape rope: useful for some Pokemon depending on routing. However, the randomness about whether it appears is an issue for the underlying concepts of this series. In games you can guarantee a teleporter go for it, but not in Emerald. With regards to the number of runs each pokemon has, I would look at it as an employment thing more than anything? Yes you are your own boss, but that also makes you your own employee, and a boss who makes their ream skip meals, miss family time and work late needs to think about how they are handling their work. This is particularly true for a case like this where your work deadlines are self set and arguably already met: if you have done a number of runs with a pokemon, then you have got the initial legwork done, and can return to it later. You'll have more than enough material for a video, and discussing the difficulties a pokemon is facing and potential ways to overcome them allows the community to help you out instead of just you banging your head against the wall. I also just don't think number of attempts is that important to standardise outside of comparing first runs to first runs. It might be good to have an attempt counter as a final statistic, particularly for Pokemon that restart a lot at the beginning? But really I think run count more measures consistancy and ease of use of the pokemon, which is not what you are aiming for. It would also be difficult to retroactively apply if you have lost some records of attempt numbers. I think in general, while you are obviously a very good player, the theme I've noticed with the last few videos when you've gotten help from channel members is them pointing out specific details, like doing extra levelling before Brock to manage exp or planning out your move order more carefully. Honestly I think a good way to improve for you now might legimately to do some hard nuzlockes. Either a rom hack like Inclement Emerald or a vanilla game with lots of limitations, like banning pokemon with stats above a certain level. I find these runs are really good for forcing you to really take into account every tool and every detail, which I think will carry over nicely to solo runs.

[@hakonmarcus]

I rarely comment on these, but I've been watching since your very first run. I'm just joining in to say I don't care if you get perfect runs or not. I enjoy the stories you craft, victories and disappointments alike. Don't burn yourself out to please a loud minority.

[@BenediktWindisch]

They did the Sceptile line so wrong. It was the first time that as a child I picked the grass starter and the moveset made it fall apart, especially as a Grovyle in the early to late 20s where I would beat the midgame with Pelipper, Aron/Lairon, Numel/Camerupt and gave Grovyle a exp share and used it again only when it was a Sceptile. It's a really, really bad moveset. It's dead weight from the third to sixth gym. It cant do anything to Magneton, Flannery, doesn't have the damage output for Norman and cant do anything against Winona. Aron/Lairon made especially the 3rd and 5th gym a breeze. It falls only apart against Winona's Altaria with Earthquake and needs some assistance from Pelipper in the 4th but you can't get wrong with a gen 3 Aron

[@kulrigalestout]

I remember Sceptile being quite the train wreck, can't wait to see how it does now!

[@rainbowGZUS7]

Emerald is the only pokemon game where i actually played all 3 pokemon, for multiple playthroughs and have trouble picking a favorite. Best gen ever

[@lewisgregory1996]

It sucks that every starter becomes more resistant to a type that they were weak to except Sceptile

[@BetaFalcon13]

I think actually Leaf Blade would do less damage with Sceptile in Gen IV. Sure it's base 90 power, but it's also a physical move in Gen IV, so I think the lower special attack stat might cancel out the extra base power Edit: After doing a damage calculation against Arceus (because its defensive stats are the same, with base 120 in both) with both Pokemon at level 100, it looks like it does very similar damage either way. Leaf Blade as a base 70 power special move does 67-81 damage, whereas Leaf Blade as a base 90 power physical move does 73-87. So it looks like the increase in base power for Leaf Blade was necessary in order to counter out Sceptile's drop in damage with the move due to the physical/special split. Either way, the move is not significantly better on Sceptile in Gen IV than in Gen III

[@bobosmith101]

Nah, don't force Abra. You made a pretty good case that training on the route is the only reason you'd encounter it. Maybe make the balls better at capturing at most.

[@timeducktorkie]

Blaziken is my favorite Pokémon, so it's exciting to see it do so well! I look forward to seeing it played in other games, too. :D -T.

[@frankieinjapan]

The paralysis glitch is totally fine imo. These are somewhat unavoidable glitches that often happen organically. Gen 1 is hilarious, and all of this is apart of the game as a whole. It's not like you're doing ram manipulation and item bag glitches, which is obv different. Otherwise wow I'm impressed with the new times versus the others. Your emerald play has improved drastically

[@MaddMoke]

I don't remember if it's you or one of the other pokemon challenge youtubers out there who suggested it: but with all the quality of life upgrades, I wish Gamefreak would have a little image pop up when pokemon with Blaze/Overgrow etc. when they hit the threshold. I think they would be so much better abilities with that small change

[@chrisdaignault9845]

Yeah it’s super annoying that even in gen 9 those abilities are entirely invisible

[@MrBda241]

Swampert with the biggest redemption arc ever.

[@fortherepublic6475]

1:23:45 The remakes make it pretty clear that its a two story sauna where you are falling down to the lower floor and shot up by water spouts to the higher.

[@Colin1Moriarty]

I've only just thought of this while watching, I feel like it would be really cool if possible to back port megas in to pokemon yellow! I'd love to see how a mega sceptile would do there as well as the other two Also just as a side note whe ever you sat down to play these attempts where you just like "huh i can boot up a normal game or emerald" because you don't have to code in a different starter? The people who complain about different run amounts for others don't understand the commitment and also it somewhat benefits everyone. It's improving your view and knowledge of the game. Those multiple runs with swampert and blaziken will have indirectly helped sceptile due to the knowledge gained and let's you think more about how to approach it with sceptile etc. Please don't skip meals etc however Scott you provide so much entertainment and I'd never want you to suffer for this! I'd rather have you feel better than have the video uploads

[@kotyrollins]

Blaziken was my first ever solo run waaaay back in the old days of GBA and Gameshark. Probably my favorite starter pokemon.

[@Fixional]

Swampert, my beloved

[@chonwarren9941]

Blaziken really showed why he's my favorite starter

[@robertfaer4522]

Kinda wild I'm saying this but Miracle Seed is in Petalburg Woods and probably would have made Wallace more consistent. Even 10% more dmg would've KO'd Wailord and Milotic Guaranteed, and helped by 15% in Overgrow vs Gyarados. Not sure how much it would've slowed you down to grab it but this is why I don't like the timer comparison because sometimes there are minor adjustments to a route that maybe cost you 10 seconds but make the game so much more consistent in places.

[@marlysalt]

I like your current abra approach. If there was a legitimate opportunity to catch abra, you get abra. The dig/paralysis debate seems to make sense. The badge boost happens even if you don't know it's there, the dig/paralysis invulnerability only triggers when you go out of your way for it. If you're keeping it, then 'No overworld glitches' might be concise. Don't burn out. Time off is good. Other people mentioned the vocal minority. I'm a lurker most days, and I see all the passion and fairness you go out of your way to show and ensure. You're doing a fantastic job, even if I disagree with you on some things here and there (like your trash talk. In my house, we respect our opponents.). I think it's okay if the rules are a little complicated. Just so long as they're accurate.

[@GraceAndGlorySmash]

You should 100% be using Abra. It's optimal. In any real speedrun setting you'd just reset until you got the luck you needed. It's also the perfect universal partner for double battles because Teleport won't affect anything. This is going to save you hours and hours of real time in the long run. It's the correct move in every way.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

17:00 perfect run for sceptile (and 22:47 for blaziken (1:09:16 for the follow up); 28:33 for swampert) ends here, F in the chat Press F to pay respects 1:31:35 and this is why my post like this clocks the first blackout or reset. We can argue semantics and pettiness about perfect runs, however i just see perfect runs as 0 resets and 0 blackouts

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Swampert cleans house here I'm sure 😂

[@goldbanker2777]

Abra adds a ridiculous advantage to runs speeding up time at Dewford island, trips to centers and back tracking. Either every run gets one or none get it in my opinion. Otherwise the data is inconsistent. Just a thought if catching the abra is the problem give the move to whispmer that way every mon gets it for a playthrough.

[@ScottsThoughtsPokemon]

I think there are 3 options: 1. All runs get one 2. No runs get one 3. Only runs that have signficant wild-grinding prior to Roxanne get one The 3rd option seems fair because some mons, for example Ninjask, realistically spend 30+ minutes running around battling Pokemon. In that case, it seems arbitrarily unfair to prevent Ninjask from getting the Abra. But a Pokemon that does no wild-mon training prior to Roxanne would have to get extremely lucky to find and catch an Abra.

[@gunnermike4553]

@@ScottsThoughtsPokemon I personally think the 3rd option is the best because love it or hate it random encounters is a fundamental aspect of pokemon

[@i3vili]

Wonderful video, as always. One of my favorites, up there with the eeveelution video. If ice beam costs 45 seconds, I wonder if picking it up from the game corner for Swampert is potentially faster? Running straight to Mauville City, picking up the coin case, and purchasing the tm that way might save inputs overall. Either way, loved seeing how you performed with the starters.

[@HelloJohnRyan]

Hey Scott, I really like your current rationale about Abra (because it has a small normalizing effect on play time). If you're thinking about forcing an encounter with it, perhaps you could do it after getting the PokéNav? Pokémon that require a lot of training for Roxanne would still have the advantage of potentially finding it sooner, and it opens up a choice / question of efficiency for Pokémon that can speed through the game.

[@vasilykalugin6129]

I dont think a lot of people are hating things you do. I think a majority of the people really like everything you do, but a lot of people dont comment. I think you see the few people that are in the minority complaining, and it sticks out to you. Please dont change

[@PokemonmastersExisfun]

Regardless of how many runs you do per pokemon im glad you do this your commentary is really soothing and these are really fun to watch especially the finale of Emerald of this year btw where is Ludicolo on the tier list i know you did a second run on stream with it

[@Jordon_Washington-Iler]

hey Scott, I appreciate your hard work. as a married man, wife comes first. but she cant be priority if you arent well. take care of yourself, dont worry about naysayers. you are too good at what you do!

[@unboundsoul3582]

I would say, to allow the Abra in your playthroughs for two reasons. First of all, you do manipulate the RNG for your hm users and as well to prevent encounters before repels in games that require them. Secondly, it is not outside of the realm of possibility to reasonably get Abra every time. If you allow yourself to do three encounters either in the route Northeast of rustboro or in granite cave where Steven is, you arrive at about a 28% chance to find abra, and your odds of catching one are about 40%. I forget your exact threshold for tolerance whenever it comes to percentage chance to succeed or in order to successfully get through something, but I ultimately believe that this is tolerable given that you can find ABRA in a portion of the game that every Pokemon has to go through in order to proceed. I would say instead of allowing it immediately after roxanne, you would allow yourself the Abra after broly and getting the second badge or at the latest arriving at mauville City.

[@Witzwo1]

Electric and Ice are an example of One-Trick-Pony-Types. These are really good types, but if you can counter it, it gets walled. So much, that you often dont want to use those pokemon, but others love those types as coverage moves. I learned something from speedruns. Once the path is layed out, the amount of atempts is irrelevant. The only thing that changes, is luck. And even then the better results would not even have a significant improvement. There is no difference in the amount of atempts. The amount of atempts a Pokemon needs is the amount you feel is right. And if time runs out, dont start skipping lunches or canceling free time. Beeing well rested is a big part of a good performance. Maybe just get it out, highlight the parts you really dont like, let the community let the commenting and revisit it one or more years later, like with your first attempt Tier List or your rerankings after updating the ruleset of finding new paths. But the most important thing is, the amount of atempts a Pokemon needs is the one, YOU feel like doing, because you are the one playing.

[@SourceOfBeing]

To get more runs with every Pokémon, what you need to do is hire another Scott and have them do runs until every Pokémon has had Scott do the same number of total runs.

[@tsawy6]

Surely we can just teach his team to use Transform??

[@RezeedTheDataspirit]

Regarding abra, I think it really depends on two things. How much time is actually being saved and how often would some routes ask you to really deviate from the beaten path. For example, if you feel a need to grab ice beam, nevermelt ice, focus Punch, dragon claw and possibly Sandstorm, it really be worth it when the way point is far off.

[@pilkkimies]

Gen 3 ai chooses mons like this: 1. Which mon has the strongest super-effective move? 2. Who is the weakest pokemon with super-effective move against the pokemon they are facing? 3. Does this pokemon share typings on any of the moves with the pokemon that just fainted? I recommend watching Pokemon challenges' Emerald kaizo video for the clear explanation.

[@cpalmer3]

Regarding rules, I agree with you. Don’t over complicate things

[@Vmac1394]

The design philosophy of fire/fighting probably also has to do with how annoying fighting 500 geodudes in every cave is due to all the hikers. Fire/psychic and fire/dark also give you a nice bypass to that type of slog.

[@brotman5319]

Thanks for all the content Scott and Team

[@marcelcote2762]

Uploaded 45 seconds ago... excited for this one!

[@GeneralWiggins]

I say since you still feel like you're learning emerald, allow Abra going forward. You aren't going to be happy with any of these times when you finally feel comfortable with the game, and Abra will help you make that feel better imo.