u/TheAzureAzazel

They're shutting down bank in about 6 months, but that's no reason to give up now! Putting it bluntly, we knew this was coming at some point, but given that they're replacing it with presumably nothing, that's just not fair.

The time pressure against us is not normal, it's not fair, so don't be afraid to take any advantage you can possibly claw back in order to get this done on time.

That includes, but is not limited to:

* Using speed up on emulators.

* Changing the date and time on your system of choice for whatever shenanigans you deem necessary.

* Using save states to preserve your already built winning streaks in battle facilities.

* Adding in things like rare candies, money, vitamins, and berries to make the whole process faster.

And it also includes a last resort option that, while very cheaty and absolutely completely 100% against the rules as far as the subreddit's HoF is concerned, is possibly your only option left to get this done if it gets all the way to February and you need more time:

Clone your ribbon master, gen all the ribbons on one of them and send it through to Home, then keep the other on the 3DS and earn the ribbons legitimately after the fact. Advice if you do this: make sure to account for the fact that Bank was also how you'd send Pokémon between gens 5, 6, and 7 as well, and make additional copies in all the relevant games if necessary.

Ultimately it's your challenge, you decide what's appropriate and what isn't. If there are some parts of the process you want to do the intended way for your own sense of legitimacy, you go for it. This is me letting you all know what options are available to you and saying not to feel guilty if that's what you have to do. The terms of the challenge have changed, and it's only natural for the means of completing it to change as well.

I've heard the Diamond/Pearl Battle Tower is easier than Platinum's and HGSS's. That in mind, if one player on Diamond connects to another player on Platinum and they both try to get the Pair Ability Ribbon, do they get opponents from the easier or harder variants of the Battle Tower?

I last did this actual years ago and I've forgotten almost everything.

For the Ability and Great Ability ribbons, do we have to lose on purpose to reset it for the next ribbon master? Same question for the other formats, I guess.

Can you get the Pair Ability and the Multi Ability ribbons at the same time, or do you only get one or the other?

Also, is it at all possible to get the Pair and World Ability ribbons via emulator, or would it be absolutely mandatory for me to temporarily transfer my save file to my 3DS?

What's a really good team for the tower that is easy to set up?

All these cliffhangers are going to drive me fucking mad. I need for the rest of the story to get made.

CDs can only be played in music players, and unless you've got Rotom following you around, those are all stationary. I wish we had a backpack expansion for CDs exclusively that let us play them on the go.

I'm doing Ribbon masters in gen 3. I'm done with all the Gamecube stuff and the level 50 battle tower, but I haven't even started the contests yet.

It occurs to me that berries are a major limiting factor here, as only a certain amount can be acquired per game, and they all take time to grow more of.

What would you guys say is the most efficient way of getting a large quantity of mons through the Gen 3 contests?

In case it's important, I have enough PokéCoupons in Colosseum to get 2 out of the 4 available Berries at Mt Battle.

There's so much to do I'm having trouble deciding what to dive into first. It's an amazing problem to have! Honestly, the core game is in such a good state right now, it's unreal. I don't want to rush through it all, I want to take my time and experience all of it.

I love this game, and I really don't want it to end.

What I'd absolutely love right now, and what I think the suits should be doing, is taking this for the opportunity it is. The game's looking great right now, and we've got tons to chew on, which means we'll be busy for a good long while.

If they changed course and started developing the next entry in the Destiny franchise (whether it's D3 or a continuation of D2), they'd have so much time to get things done before we started feeling a sense of content drought. Even then, we've got other games to play, so we can afford to be patient if we know there's something of this calibre (gestures to the update) to look forward to after the wait.

All they need to do is let the devs do their thing. They knocked it out of the fucking park with this one, and I just know that if they're allowed to do what comes next without executive meddling, it'll be great.

Going through all 100 battles in Mt Battle in Pokémon XD for the Johto starter. I know that at the end the opponents reach level 70 (higher than Colosseum), but that I gain XP normally through all the fights.

What level should I aim to be before starting, so that the XP I gain will be enough to get me appropriately leveled by the end?

For context, my team is currently:

• Vaporeon
• Houndoom
• Claydol
• Ampharos
• Ursaring
• Salamence

They all have high tier moves like earthquake and thunderbolt (none of the crap you get just from leveling up), so I'm hoping that'll give me a much needed edge. I'll also be pulling up the stats of each trainer so I know which mons to open with.

Started some new ribbon masters (or rather picked some back up after catching them a while back) and I really want to do things the "right" way, which means no hacking in rare candies to stuff down their throats.

Trying to raise them to level 100 but it's taking forever. Is there a more efficient method than Elite 4 grinding?

I'm trying to figure out if stuff like initiative order could be messed with, or if certain actions they take could echo into the past and future (not sure how to implement that for the former). I also was wondering if maybe some of the enemies fought in reverse? They'd start weak, then as the party hit them, they'd get stronger until they "entered" the battle arena (i.e. leaving, as they'd be doing it in reverse).

I know there are pieces there, but I'm not sure which could fit together in a way that makes for a satisfying combat encounter. Any advice, or maybe some factors I might not have considered?

Research already stays when you go through the Unity, and the recipes you get from that remain, but for some reason you just forget how to make Grandpa's meatloaf? Bullshit.

I'd like a mod that allows us to retain our known recipes through the Unity, or at least re-teaches them to us on the other side or something.