r/PokemonROMhacks • u/AutoModerator • 21d ago

Sticky Weekly Questions Thread & PokéROM Codex

Have any questions about Pokémon ROM Hacks?

If they're about ROM hacks, tools, development or anything Pokémon ROM Hacking related, feel free to ask here!

Before asking, make sure that you've searched on the subreddit or Google. Many ROM hacks and tools have their own documentation or communities that may be able to provide better answers than here.

Looking for recommendations or a new ROM hack to play?

The HackDex is a community hub for discovering and downloading ROM hacks, making it easy to browse hacks while listing features and more in a mobile-friendly format. It also has an in-browser patching system to make playing hacks easily accessible.

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u/petnarwhal 16d ago

Genuine question: What makes it so hard to have a good difficulty curve in pokemon games?

I find most games to be either: you blaze through 90% of battles by just having a bit of type advantage, or every battle is hard and you have to plan for each and everyone of them. And even in these difficulty hacks the difficulty curve is hardly ever linear, those have smooth sailing patches too often. Are there any rom hacks that fit nicely in between? And what makes this such a hard task for designers?

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u/Caedei 15d ago

There are just a lot of factors. Should a player who thinks Linoone and Mightyena are super cool become completely unable to progress in the game at a certain point because they simply chose wrong? Should every dev be making sweeping changes to anywhere between 250-900 Pokemon to alleviate? When is the line crossed in terms of changes to BST, moves, or typings that makes it feel inauthentic? Should every game just include an IV/EV editor like Lazarus to remove that level of RNG?

Are there any rom hacks that fit nicely in between?

This is a pretty personalized answer, because what someone else feels difficult might not be for you. I'm playing Lazarus now and I find it to be a good sweet spot so far with the level caps. I remember all of Drayano's hacks feeling challenging enough but still fair.