The Escort Mission Pokemon Games - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

[@droomish1]

Hey this dusknoir guy seems pretty cool

[@alexandergordon648]

Uh oh

[@buttertandoorichicken]

eyyy, a mystery dungeon video! Honestly, you're right, having the partner Pokemon being defeated while in a dungeon is definitely a big issue in the games. I guess I was lucky in that I didn't experience my main partner being defeated as often, but *actual* escort missions with weak NPCs were more of a pain in the butt. You bringing up that mission with Cresselia gave me nightmare flashbacks lol

[@droomish1]

Dang cause I was hoping you could escort me to floor 77 of destiny tower

[@adept27]

i sure love post game PTSD

[@bvd_vlvd]

I actually completely disagree! Even though swapping tactics, iq and moves every turns in tough fights is really annoying after like 7 turns because you want your partner to use status moves whenever the opponent isn't statussed and back to attacks if it isn't, I recognise that we are a team and if my homie falls, I'm not leaving them back to rot there. After all, who brings *you* to the camp if you fall? That's right, your one and only G. -Well, unless you both got discharged by those stupid Porygons and both died lol-

[@resinks2269]

Up to this day reptain is still my favourite Pokemon, just because of mystery dungeon xD Edit: I forgot reptain is the german name, in english the Pokemon is called: Grovyle

[@seven_sirens]

anyone else just get so emotionally attached to their partner pokemon that you cried every time they died? Just me?

[@AkaiAzul]

Only in Super. ;3

[@The_D_ray]

Never actually. Even as a kid I was like: "You stupid dumbass, why did you attack that sleeping Nidoking!"

[@Kekistani_Insurgent]

nah, but I do immediately quit without saving. I’m not letting that shit happen I will admit I’m 24 and wept over what happens at temporal tower

[@jaimeeshivers5001]

yes 😅

[@Chaosjash96]

I actually enjoyed friend areas and missed seeing them in their full glory in the remakes

[@Shadowonwater]

Yeah it was a real missed opportunity

[@aidansherry17]

That was my favourite part of the original. Was pretty disappointed ngl. But hey, was just happy to get switch Mystery Dungeon

[@kitsaitogames]

Without reviver seeds, this game would be 100x longer 🤣

[@gutsmasterson2488]

Even if your partner doesn’t go down, you will end up eating them protecting them.

[@Kekistani_Insurgent]

Don’t forget the pure cheese that is X-Eye Seed

[@robotrain1607]

I know the multiplier for Super Effective moves isn't as severe in PMD, but gosh, it still makes the partner system pretty wild. Revisiting Blue Rescue Team, picking Chikorita as a partner because Chikorita is cute, and then realizing most of the major bosses are Flying-Types was a horrifying experience. Those birds are the worst. I recently played some of the other, non-Pokémon-themed Mystery Dungeon games, and I'll admit it's made PMD hard to go back to. In Shiren the Wanderer, typically, your only penalty for losing a party member is having to do the rest of the dungeon without them.

[@LumosVeil]

After playing Rescue Team and Explorers back to back, as far as the partner AI goes, I think Rescue Team's AI is a lot worse. The partner is much less likely to attack when you want them too, while in Explorers it actually feels like they have more of a functioning brain, even if it still feels like they don't do enough.

[@frankfort332]

Wondering when Droomish evolves into Dreloom

[@tibbyy]

The IQ Skills are so cute if you think about it because it's like you're growing together

[@Papriqa]

I think there's a lot of systematic problems at the core of PMD, but I think these games fall into the category of "so much good stuff that you can get by with the bad".

[@nessmarsh]

My partner getting knocked out was the main reason I died as a kid. Explorers of Sky is still one of my favorite games of all time

[@choatixtherobot]

In Sky specifically, there's a type of post game missions which are the best missions to do, which are the golden chamber missions, which are always escort missions, so I think they did it RIGHT then. In future games, i'm not sure what I think of the game letting you carry on without your partner in future games.

[@kitsaitogames]

I absolutely love videos on niches in spin off Pokémon games, I think its such an untapped mine of content. Great video !!

[@lauravturner]

I don't know man. My Partner saved my bacon many times. I'd scarper and leave them to deal with a monster house whilst I desperately searched for the exit. It is most painfully obvious how important they are in Explorers of Sky when trying to get to Arceus. I still haven't beaten that 100 floor dungeon where you start from level 1 with no team and only 8 items. I have tried it at least 20 times and damn it's so incredibly rough. Having no team makes life suck in those games, even if your companion can be annoyingly naive and dumb sometimes. I love having teammates in that game and I'd never want it any other way. I already got normal RPGs and strategy games like Fire Emblem where I can dictate the moves of my full team. Mystery Dungeon is a different vibe.

[@finnanima2413]

Are you talking about Destiny Tower? That, like Zero Isle South -in Sky, at least- does not allow any items, and it’s other challenging dungeons that allow only 8.

[@emilyrakov2340]

As a young kid, I used an action replay to get me and my partner pokemon to 999 health and to turn off the hunger system and to basically make there be No Challenge to EoT. I somehow still fainted in monster houses sometimes, which shows how much of an idiot kid I was. I digress. Anyway, I do 100% remember being frustrated by my partner dying so much as a kid, before I hacked. When I myself was behaving with AI level strats.

[@FrostGlader]

I’m on the exact opposite end of the spectrum: I legitimately grinded to level 82 JUST to beat the main storyline. Not the Postgame, the Main Story. Ending with Dialga.

[@gutsmasterson2488]

The partner AI can be adjusted with Party Tactics. But the default being the best doesn’t make it good. If your partner can body a dungeon by itself, splitting up to explore a map can lead to great things. But the best thing I’ve learned is the usefulness of making the partner run away when things get dicey. You may need to go find them later which can eat time, but you will still be alive to play.

[@homegrowngamer3411]

1:15 Ok, I suppose I see what you say? But full disclosure I was the weakest link when playing. I'd hold a+b during early dungeons to get my partners to fight for me, and I'd proceed to do that the whole game. I was an absolute slacker! And I'd just sorta... funnel any berries/items, into the partner to keep em strong, And it just kept working, and nobody ever really told me to stop, so I just kept doing it. Lol

[@konumbra]

watching this while playing dx lol! also I kinda liked how bad the partner ai was as a kid. although it was frustrating to keep losing to dusknoir over and over again, I did eventually get it and that adrenaline rush was crazy :)

[@droomish1]

oh my gosh you just unearthed a memory for me, the pop off I experienced beating dusknoir on the hidden highland platform was unbelievable, it felt so good to succeed in these games

[@konumbra]

@Droomish it so did!!! I remember the minute I beat blue rescue team I went downstairs crying to my dad and told him all about the game ! then I DELETED THE SAVE cause I thought that was the end of the game 😭😭

[@jaegershots]

This was an interesting perspective on the games. Its nice this see how good they hold up, despite some of the jank! Thanks for the video :)

[@toniodivichi5749]

Ah...I thought you were gonna talk about the actual escort missions in red and blue rescue teams......because those are tedious. But it turns out the whole franchise is an escort mission. Always has been.....

[@francisduarte8120]

Dude I just spent 2 hours doing only TWO escort missions because the pkmn I’m escorting KEEP FIGHTING super strong pkmn and sucking all my revive seeds.

[@toniodivichi5749]

@@francisduarte8120 Yep, that's exactly what it's like. I feel you dude.

[@The_D_ray]

While I agree on the fact that the partner can be a pain in the butt, you have tons of control over it, and if you use the various options correctly, you can indeed make them more useful. Yes, they mostly feel like a liability, but if you choose them right (like, you pick a partner that would cover your type weakness) they can be life savers. I think the Mystery Dungeon games have far greater problems (such as some broken moves, items, mechanics, or the fact that is 65% luck based) but I still liked to hear your thought about it.

[@whisperingwooper1763]

Omg yes that boss fight with Darkrai made me hate Cresslia in this game! Who thought it was a great idea to have a physic type fight a dark type. And honestly your partner is about as strong as you so I never had a problem with them minus the harder bosses it didn’t bother me too much.

[@DarthFhenix55]

6:54 Actually that feature was remove in mega mystery dungeon.

[@lauravturner]

Always keep a teleport orb and rollcall orb on you.

[@ratman262]

I never really thought of the game this way I got used to controlling the whole party by anticipating how NPCs would move around my character. There's still the odd occasion where they'll pick a fight when you don't want one but its never really a problem

[@mastermarkus5307]

I think that Super Mystery Dungeon, with the ability to switch to your partner Pokémon throughout more of the game, as well as being able to choose to push or pass through them, made it a better dungeon-crawling experience, especially when it came to getting separated. Honestly, if there was a PMD game where there was an option to control your characters one after the other when there were enemies around, I think that would be ideal.

[@mastermarkus5307]

To go along with that, my biggest issues with the partner AI tend to be the fact that effect move or ranged moves tend to be all or nothing so it's less beneficial for you to give your partner anything but attack moves since you can't control what they use. In playing Explorers of Sky, I find that the partner will ALWAYS use a ranged move if an enemy is in range and they have the PP for it, but this is often a waste if you're just trying to avoid conflict or they're using the move on a Pokémon in front of you that you're just going to use the basic attack on to avoid wasting PP and because you know it's weak enough.

[@starpowerel7172]

thankfully there is a mod that allow you to fully control your entire team, its not a necessary, but its good to have more control over your partners

[@TK_1]

Droomish with ANOTHER Banger Video :3

[@thefinalskarm1754]

Everybody everybody everybody. Don't pick eevee as a partner in sky, that's all.

[@kking1173]

And if you do find a Protect TM as soon as possible.

[@Kekistani_Insurgent]

And certainly don’t pick eevee thinking “oh sick i wanna do a jolteon playthrough” like i did 💀

[@MaiSakurajoestar]

I hate the Cresselia and Darkrai quest in explorers of sky, just because Cresselia couldn’t stop dying! Never ended up beating Darkrai.

[@Fulisha]

Honestly the partner was never an issue for me, it's the mission escorts that are bad. Rescue Team especially since the AI was pretty bad with Vileplume or Slaking escorts iirc

[@textnumbers22]

The whole rougelite looking after an idiot mechanics actually really shaped my taste as a kid and i now spend too much of my time on dwarf fortress cause of it

[@dinobox8002]

anybody playing the first two pmd games and having a rough time with bosses, What I do to get past them is make good use of seeds and other items. not just reviver seeds. Blast seeds are good for quick damage early-mid game. Warp seeds can buy you time, even in the boss room. Quick seeds to up your moves per turn. Violent and vile seeds to max out your attack and lower the enemy's defences are a good combo. And there's the obvious stun seed, totter seed, and x-eye seed that can prevent the enemy from attacking. Gravelrocks in the first game are some of the best items you can have if you don't have a ranged move, they do a set 20 damage each time you hit and are good for the earlier bosses in the game. The other thing to somewhat get around the partner's ai is tightly controlling their moves during a bossfight and always making sure the Exclusive Move-User IQ skill is active. This is a basic IQ skill that every pokemon knows right away. You can deselect moves you dont want your partner to use during your turn so they only use what you want. Make sure either you or your partner always knows a move that can prevent the boss from hitting. Smokescreen, sing, thunderwave, etc. If your partner doesn't learn a move like this naturally, its usually pretty easy to find the tm attract in an early dungeon and multiple times throughout your playthrough. Every pokemon can learn this move and in the first game, no pokemon have a gender. (its pretty useful for *you* to know a move like this too tbh.) for multi-enemy bosses and monster houses, its good to have a pokemon that knows ranged moves, and multi-hit moves. moves that can hit the whole room or every tile around you are great for these situations.

[@dinobox8002]

Starter recommendations for rescue team: Bulbasaur is excellent because of it's access to sleep powder and bullet seed. Sleep powder is a move that puts everything in adjacent tiles to the user asleep (except friends). Bullet seed is a ranged multi-hit move. Bulbasaur doesn't learn it naturally but its pretty easy to find. Razor leaf is a good ranged option, and synthesis can let you heal :) Treecko is great for its access to agility, bullet seed, and quick attack. Agility/Bullet seed combo is pretty op against bosses for essentially being able to use a multi-hit move four times in a row before the opponents even get a chance to move. Pikachu is great because it gets thunderwave pretty early, quick attack, thunderbolt (which you can find early as a tm), and agility later on. Meowth with hypnosis, fake-out, and fury swipes m,ake it a good starter too :3 this remains true for the explorers games as well, another good pokemon in the explorers games is Skitty. Sing, attract, fake-out, doubleslap, charm, and heal bell make it really really good despite the normalize ability (type coverage matters less here though so its not too much of an issue) and it can learn plenty of tms if it wants more range. STAB on everything hits Hard. For specifically Sky, Shinx is there as like. Pikachu Again. It can do most of what pikachu can do. fire starters with smokescreen can be helpful in bossfights, Charmander specifically gets an honorable mention for late game dungeons because it gets access to heatwave as Charizard. its one of the best room clearers in the game and 'Zard gets this move from level one. any starter pair can be fun in a playthrough tho ! some just make the game easier

[@dinobox8002]

I enjoyed these games a lot and still play them nowadays. Wanted to leave some tips, I hope these help out some other ppl. When I was a kid I did sometimes find myself frustrated with the ai and its lack of self-preservation instincts but luckily the partners have better ai in the later games. I have yet to play DX btw, maybe someday.

[@pcm1011]

Post game Monster houses became a breeze when Quilava learned Overheat

[@c.c.l3460]

Thats whh I always bring my Beautifly with Vivid silk on, bc it learns silver wind xD

[@sierranicholes6712]

i wonder if how much this effects the game depends a lot on who your pokemon is and who the partner is. i don't remember running into this much, and my partner was usually levelling slightly above me, so maybe that's related. (i think i was a torchic and my partner was mudkip?) i do remember hating the specific escort missions though, i avoided them whenever i could haha

[@awoolensleevelet]

Loving the videos!

[@BlackRaven6695]

I haven't played a PMD game since Rescue Team was new, but I recall it being braindead easy (postgame was brutal though). The idea of your run being in danger due to your partner's mortality actually sounds kinda thrilling lol. Am I wrong though? Perhaps my childhood self simply grinded a massive amount that it ruined the difficulty curve

[@droomish1]

I didn't mention this but I think you're right on the money. Somehow subsequent playthroughs when I had more game knowledge were harder? but that was exactly it, I was grinding less and showing up to bosses 5 or 10 levels down than the first time I played. I guess it kind of expects you to grind if you like the game? definitely worth the consideration and I appreciate it :)

[@TenguLeaf]

Grinding definitely makes the original rescue team games a lot easier. But also the game just doesn't introduce (or heavily utilize) a lot of common mystery dungeon game mechanics until the post-game. Stuff like traps, unidentified items, level 1 starts and the such are mostly relegated to the post-game. Try out Shiren, Gensou Wanderer, or Etrian Mystery Dungeon and you'll realize the main campaigns of Rescue Team are way simpler. Still great games of course.

[@komarunaegi7460]

@@droomish1 Ehhh, idk, it was the reverse for me. Kid me STRUGGLED playing Blue Rescue Team on the first playthrough with zero game knowledge, but once I got good and learned to adjust to the brutal post-game, repeat playthroughs weren't so bad. Grinding can definitely make things easier, but that's not always a product of how experienced or inexperienced you are with the game. And iirc I ended the main story at pretty reasonable levels.

[@HexManiac536]

W for having pikachu as your partner. Best partner ever uwu

[@DonovanFlamingusIII]

Cyndaquil was the most op of all time. Gimme that whiffer boy

[@jonathanmuncil8782]

HE DOESNT MISS 🔥🔥🔥

[@mori9780]

Comment for the Algorithmus. Good video. Keep up the good work

[@armorbearer9702]

Is this why they limited partner Pokémon choice in the original Mystery Dungeon? Having a partner that is a different type from your starter ensures that they are useful to the player. This makes them more likeable escorts.

[@ZackeroniAndCheese]

Red/Blue Rescue Team are my favorite non-fan made pokemon games. DX could have beaten them if they kept friend areas in the game I think the escorting kinda fits. You are a human with human intelligence. Pokemon are animals. Of course you're going to know what to do better than them!

[@Kekistani_Insurgent]

Can we get onto another gripe on this other day? Far worse than any of this for me was: Earth Power Nidoqueen PP-Zero Traps

[@watcherknight8760]

Before even watching the video, Cresselia is an absolute bum and a drain on my reviver seeds

[@ecliptairedux3281]

I have been playing mystery dungeon yearly for almost 20 years and the partner ai in vanilla isn't the best I love the mystery dungeon rom hacking scene since they add the ability to press a button and you control the whole party in a boss fight . But these games have flaws still like super mystery dungeon taking grinding away half way through or some the first games escort missions have the escorted pokemon be level 1 in a dangerous dungeon

[@privatepessleneck]

I like these games, but one thing I kind of don't like about the explorers series is team skull. it's just weird I guess, they're like team meanies from the previous game, but they just don't have depth. they antagonize you for no reason, hell their personality makes me question how they are even in wigglytuff's guild. they force you to lose a mission and you can't do anything about that, I guess its so the other guild members can help you out later. but then at the end they get beat off screen so you don't even get catharsis from their loss. just annoying thing I guess.

[@builderforce6096]

Imo Explorers of sky is the best pokemon game

[@ubear_elena]

I don't mind this all that much but also I go out of my way to take escort missions so my opinion is probably invalid already

[@catdatwat9743]

I mean no offence but this vid just seems incredibly aimless and pointless. You say you have no control over your partners yet you literally control them and the moves they do. Calling the game a “glorified escort mission” is literally incorrect since you control like 98% of your partner. It seems like you’re upset at certain instances of the game where the partner acts out in way you dislike - and in that case, I understand your frustration but it doesn’t really prove that the game is a “glorified escort mission”, it’s just a part of the game design and it is remedied by other game mechanics

[@polocatfan]

You are the first person I've heard that says the story is the worst part of the series.

[@droomish1]

huh? I thought it was good and said it carries you through tedium

[@iBenjamin1000]

yeah I don't recall hearing the story bad either

[@Samsungor]

As a kid it always pissed me off you couldn't evolve. Like why.