Iamteehee

The new rejuv AI is highly predictable, even in doubles, since with a very few number of exceptions (sucker punch 50/50s, in doubles when you lead with two pokemon that are identical in everything, probably a few others I'm missing), given the same game state, the AI will make the same play. If you play this game enough, and pay attention to how the AI behaves, it's certainly possible to get to the point where you can predict the vast majority of the AIs play. I'm far from the best player and I can predict like, 80%+ of the plays the AIs make from knowing their sets and without doing calcs (this is a rate that's far higher than that of any other pokemon game, official or fanmade, that I've played, because this game's AI is really really predictable once you're used to it). As others have said, this game has already been nuzlocked on intense on the current version (on the first nuzlocke attempt). It's certainly a hard challenge, but it's extremely not true that any bad rng or unlucky crit will instantly end the run.

8. @MatthewRatford/Matty

(I realize that intense mode is being discontinued in v13.5. This post isn't really meant to be an argument to Azery/Jan etc about whether it should be removed or not. I've been meaning to write this post for some time, and don't really want it to go to waste, so here it is now.) This essay is sort of rambly and probably doesn’t have a super clear thesis or point. I suppose it is somewhat of a defense of intense mode against accusations of being “unfair” or “too hard,” but that’s not really meant to be the central focus of the essay. I suppose it is just me rambling about design. Maybe someone will find it interesting. A postscript about the game's "difficulty curve":

that's really unfortunate, but understandable

Snorlax got lovely kiss from like one event in 2003, which technically makes it legal

According to something Zumi said in the wiki discord, aevium-Feebas will be available for realsies in the spooky forest to the east of Sashila (which is postgame content).

Are you using something that isn't grounded? The psychic terrain anti-priority only prevents grounded pokemon from getting hit.

Ana is "Hope" (although I think it's slightly buggy and she tries to call you Snow once before calling you the correct one)

I believe (but I might be misremembering), but if you F12 and look at the location during the Melia/Emma encounter, you'll see that's it's called Zeight. This, in conjunction with Melia's dialogue about the obelisk calling out to her at the end of v13, heavily suggests a connection between Melia and the interceptor.

In the description for Huey's Nightmare Realm song on youtube, Zumi notes that there's a hidden message about one of the characters (which is presumably Rune) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBN4Q02M10U Has anyone managed to figure out what the message is yet?

Has anyone mentioned how in the are you ready image: https://imgur.com/jHk0hdK, if you pause the gif at the right frame, there will be additional text in the background? I think there are two different pieces of text at different moments, but i haven't been able to get a good image of either. Edit: on second viewing, I think there's only one, here's two images i've got of them but I still haven't been able to figure out what it says.

I'll share a few thoughts on some Pokemon I used in my playthrough: Vivillion: A solid early game mon and an incredible sweeper midgame once it gets quiver dance, compound eyes-boosted sleep powder and bug buzz (and later, compound eyes-boosted hurricane). Since it's a bug that evolves incredibly early, it's quite strong early game with a 410 BST at level 12 (you might think it gets destroyed by the fire gym, but I found it to be the second best pokemon on my team after rockruff in the fight.) It falls off somewhat after, until it gets all the tools it requires to sweep, which given the weirdish level pacing of desolation, happens pretty quickly. It is somewhat sleep turns dependent on sweeping, but with a small amount of luck, it has one of the highest highs of any sweeper. I'd put it in A. Panpour/Simipour: The two things simipour has going for it is that it (in the form of panpour), learns scald at lvl 22 and acrobatics at lvl 31 (although both are only as panpour, having to delay evolution to get acrobatics is definitely annoying), which are two good moves that are really strong at that point in the game. (It's also one of the best pokemon for thief+recycle+fling cheesing, but I'm not even sure if that's in Desolation). I'd put it in D. Alolan-Muk: An incredibly strong typeline, solid stats, and a very strong level up movepool. The primary downside is that it comes pretty late in the game (I believe it is in the Cellia sewers, although my memory is a little hazy). Probably belongs in B. Decidueye: One of the better starters, with a very good level up moveset, with access to good priority and U-turn (although U-turn is definitely a lot worse than it is in competitive). It gets nasty plot by level up, which is also a really good enabler for a special or mixed set, but isn't nearly as good as it is in other games since there is no access to shadow ball yet, so you're stuck with omnious wind for special ghost STAB. Downsides are that it gets kind of destroyed by the first gym, and it's hidden abilities aren't that great. I see it as a B.