Eh, unlike most, I myself heavily dislike this romhack. I think you made it way way too hard and grindy than it needed to be. The fact that the game will adapt to the order you do the gyms in also doesn't help either.
Smith actually made no changes to the AI. The reason it feels smarter is due to it having options to switch into or use to set up. It really shows what the original AI was built to do.
For example imagine gen 1 AI with good pokemons like Starmie with Psychic/Tbolt/Ice beam/Surf. Since it "predicts" switches perfectly it would be nightmare to face.
I just learned about how the trainer AI works in gen 2 from watching the video "pokemon crystal AI tournament" and it really shows how gamefreak became aware of gen 1's simplistic AI's limitations and polished it up to make for much better trainer battles.
One really neat thing about this rom hack is that if you do the gym leaders in a different order, they'll have different teams based on your number of badges.
The dynamic level scaling for Chuck/Jasmine/Pryce based on the order you faced them in was an amazing change and one of the best things about this rom hack. It only does it for those three, but it's the three that need it the most because of how Johto has two split "routes" you can take after Morty.
I'm going to go over some of the changes that he doesn't go over about the story and nice features I noticed in my playthrough. You can get the fossils and the GS ball from the ruins of alph. You can buy evolution stones in the town where Chuck is and there is a berry salesman in Goldenrod. Rocket Story: it has been improved slightly if you read the dialogue but overall the changes aren't amazing. Silver: Silver in victory road explains that he has been training with the monks in the dragon den and he said while there he learned to trust and love his Pokemon which causes his Pupitar to evolve early.
The Rocket story changes are bad. Giovanni takes the focus away from Lance during the whole Mahogany chapter, which greatly devalues Lance's role as a character and champion, and the 10 minute cutscene in the radio tower is extremely jarring and poorly written. I like the idea to an extent, but it's executed poorly, and Giovanni is best left an off-screen mystery up to the player's imagination. The Silver thing is also really cringe, particularly because it displays Pupitar's evolution text messages in the dialogue box, doing... weird things to the fourth wall in a moment that's played completely straight. The same point could have been achieved by just having his Golbat evolved into a Crobat without explicitly talking about it - and Tyranitar needs no justification, Pokémon games don't do apologetics for their illegal mons. A lot of the beauty of old Pokémon games is in their subtlety, and Smith doesn't understand this. I also dislike how frequently Red is referenced throughout the game, ruining the intended effect of Mt. Silver. Sure, everyone who plays this hack is already familiar with Gen 2, but that's not an excuse to break the things that were fine about the game.
Can you imagine how different Lance's legacy as champion would be if he had a ZAPDOS on his team in the original game? Honestly, making Clair water themed and Lance flying themed is a genius move that not only works well with their designs, but the designs of Dragonair and Dragonite.
Smith's explanation is that Red entrusted Kanto's three strongest trainers other than him to take care of the legendary birds before he ascended Mount Silver.
@@SupahdenningOutside of the elite 4 Blaire is the third strongest trainer in Kanto since Giovanni disappeared and Red wouldn't trust a legendary Pokémon to him and is also a fire Pokémon expert.
@@JayThoman , that would only make sense if there were a separate Indigo Plateau with a separate champion. The Elite Four + champion is it (I mean, how does it make any sense to fight Lance as the champion when you've already dethroned him?). They just require eight badges to get in. They don't care what gyms the badges come from.
I'm glad you had such a fun time trying out PCL!! We'll be coming out with the Kanto update in the near future and I can't wait to see your reaction to the changes made there as we wrap up the region 😊(also I hear those videos on Smith's channel are very awesome and the editor is really cool)
If I've been playing the current version and gotten so far, am I able to patch the file I've been using with a new update and continue my game into Kanto once it's available?
Is this still in the pipeline the kano update for crystal ? I'm aware there's a new yellow legacy out but a full on crystal with revamped kanto would be amazing
The Red Gyarados is the best HM mule ever now. Fly, Strength, Rock Smash, all 3 water-based HM's, easily catchable in the story, and you can freely delete and re-teach HM's without needing to go to the move deleter in this rom hack too.
@@calamelli209 Several romhacks have dispensed with the clunky concept of HMs one way or another, which is the option I'd prefer over reducing the almighty Gyarados to a lowly HM slave. 😅 For example, one romhack might auto-enable Surf for all Surf-capable Pokes once the required badge is earned (whether or not they actually know the move). Alternatively, a key item in the form of a surfboard, swimming fins, etc., can be used in lieu of the HM move if the player wants to use that instead of the HM. A torch, flashlight, or headlamp can obviate the need for Flash, gardening shears can obviate Cut, and so on. Another clever anti-HM mechanic I really liked seeing in a romhack (maybe it was Red++) was that trees hacked down by Cut would never regrow for the rest of the playthrough. I suppose these changes would be too radical for Crystal Legacy, but I'd personally enjoy the game more if it had gone that route.
I don't think anyone really expected the Team Rocket and Kanto stuff to be changed, it's not that bad honestly in terms of Team Rocket and the Kanto part is iconic.
It’s almost like Team Rocket are supposed to be kinda pathetic. And he seems to forget, or not realise, that the purpose of the ROM was to pay homage to the original, the purpose was to tweak it and make it as good as it could have been when it was new. Not make huge changes and delete whole segments of the game. It wouldn’t be Crystal anymore at that point.
Pretty sure Dark was special in G2/G3 only to make the amount of physical/special type more even. Since, as you pointed out, EVERY old Dark-type move was reclassified as physical, and even nowadays special Dark-type moves are few and far between. Why Ghost was physical, given the typical associations with ghosts, I have no idea. Then again, so was Poison... Anyway from what Smith has explained, the theme for Clair was aquatic dragon-like Pokemon, while Lance was aerial dragon-like Pokemon.
Yeah, there's no way they could justify Steel not being physical, so Dark had to take the L. Ghost and Dragon in Gen 1 however should have been swapped, there's no excuse for why they're not.
@@LoveLiveSabu238 Except this logic doesn't fly by, because most G1 poison moves aren't something I'd describe as physical; Acid, Sludge, Smog.. and then there's just Poison Sting, so 3 to 1 (plus 4 status moves).
3:52 Cut being a Bug move in this game makes more sense than being Normal. It cuts down trees just like how Bug-Type moves take down Grass-Types. Also, it fits, as Bug moves have a lot of slashing moves: Fury Cutter, False Swipe, X-Scissor, etc. (Edit: Not False Swipe, that's a Normal move.)
@@SkittleIsDumb You're right, it is a Normal move! I might have thought it as a Bug move because I mostly see Scyther using it. Thanks for pointing that one out!
Being 50 power bug makes more sense than 70 power steel. In Radical Red Cut got turned into 70 power steel which seems balanced (by RR standards) until the new Weedcat with Protean becomes steel type. Not only do I think it's a balanced tweak, but it also gives bug some much needed coverage.
I think Cut is a bit too good, but I also don't see an alternative to it being that way short of backporting lots of modern Bug moves into the game. Cut is the only decent Bug move, great in the early game and still good for the rest of it, and nothing ever replaces it. This also has the upside that trees aren't annoying in this game, so I suppose I wouldn't want it to be fixed, but it's kinda weird.
We absolutely need more jrose11 ROM hack reviews! I'd love to see a review of Pokemon Brown, Prism, and/or Crystal Clear! They're all absolute classics.
@brown is a really good gen 1 but I prefer it's counterpart Pokémon grape Grape has a better story line n a notoriously hard mura rival n waspia bug gym (you WILL have resets vs her) n level up a ton before the Elite four because that level spike is brutal like 10 to 15 levels higher from gym 8 to e4 Crystal clear is AN ALL TIME FAVORITE of mine with Pokémon reborn, desolation red adventures then Crystal clear
According to Smith, in his canon Red gave away all the legendary birds to great trainers that's why Lance has Zapdos and because helps the overall coverage of dragon typing. Still rock type beats all his pokemon, or rock moves for that matter. Nice review Jrose!
@@entwixed3406 Because of the canon: Blaine states, in the videogames, that a fire bird rescued him when he got stranded in a mountain. Hence that was the perfect excuse for smith to add it into his roster.
While I may not have had a hand in making this game directly, as a playtester who watched this game develop and release, I am so happy you enjoyed Crystal Legacy! Im overjoyed seeing one of my favorite youtubers play the game that has become a big part of my life. Your criticisms on the tedious story stuff is valid, but that is unfortunately just how Crystal's story was. I can confirm, though that we will be revamping and expanding Kanto in the future! I hope you consider doing challenge runs for this game, though it's totally understandable if you don't ❤❤❤
SmithPlays is indeed making a Kanto expansion. It may take a few months, but it will include new story bits, and probably a battle with Giovanni (who showed up a couple times during the game, but you did not mention him).
It's funny that you say you don't read the text and then were shocked by Lance having Zapdos considering he says that he has it in his before battle dialogue :P (Actually, a lot of the mechanical changes are brought up in dialogue, so that I was able to mostly suss them out while playing blind, for example the gym guys who in a normal pokemon game just remind you of basic type advantages, instead they tell you hints to the leader changes. Like saying that Bugsy recently discovered Cut is a bug-type move)
@@heliumpai7627 The old AI was actually kinda crazy if you let it actually loose. It is cheating after all because it makes its choice after you make yours, its why Colosseum is so hard in comparison.
@@hawkticus_history_cornerwell that and having like 20 Pokemon available, I know this is an exageration but the amount of good Pokemon their is extremely low
I absolutely love how because JRoss skips dialogue he gets surprised by Lance's team even though Lance spoils the most surprising member of his team in his dialogue lol
just got to the Zapados. I love this because you're using speed up so you miss his text. But Lance says something about his Zapados lol. Great video as always! Now back to finishing it!
I was thinking that. I was almost expecting it when he said he doesn’t read the text. I don’t fully understand that mentality, especially if you are supposedly reviewing the ROM, but that’s his choice I guess. It is hilarious when they act surprised about something the game flat out tells you. Maybe if you paid attention to what the game is telling you…..
Best crossover episode ever! I followed this rom hack in its development for like a year, I absolutely LOVE the final product, and I'm glad to see you like it too! I'm in the middle of my own playthrough, currently halfway through the Kanto portion with a team of Golem, Flareon, Misdreavus, Scizor, Suicune, and Zapdos.
I submitted a ton of moveset ideas alot of which he took The alakazam n gengar nerfs were suggested a ton n slight tyranitar nerf Especially changing bug types I was at the brainstorming sessions n almost every livestream n we just got crazy with ideas on this I can tell he took A TON OF comments seriously as he improved the game a ton over the year n a half project
Awesome review, though your opinion about shortening or replacing the Team Rocket sections is kinda silly considering the whole appeal of this romhack is improving what exists
A cool thing about the gym leaders is you can do price chuck and jasmine and different orders and the teams change Pokémon and levels depending on order
Really glad to see you playing this one. I did a run through this before the first patch came out and it still had a few things I think could be fixed. But at the end of the day I had a fantastic time with it and I’ll be looking forward to the late game changes they have planned. And a fun fact about the AI is that they didn’t actually change anything, they just gave the AI the tools it needed to really show the player what it can do.
You might scoff at Crystal as being outdated due to there being Heartgold Soulsilver. But Crystal is pretty much the mainstay of classic Pokemon, in my mind. Gen 1 is severely mechanically outdated, whereas Gold and Silver have some weird leftover bits like outdated sprites for certain gen 2 Pokemon. And there are several innovations like moving sprites that first occurred in Crystal. Without a doubt, this is where Pokemon truly started for me. But the modding capability makes many of the latter additions relatively easy to implement. In particular, Pokemon Corral version is looking like one of the more ambitious mods for Crystal, introducing later generations of Pokemon and really pushing the envelope on Crystal's design. I think it's worth looking into, although the mod isn't yet completely done.
Smith should do this to all Pokemon games. Might as well fix the issues Nintendo refuses to fix. These games are now even more timeless than ever before.
Out of topic but thanks for not getting into politics, ideologies, stances on wars or social movements, etc... I've had so many occasions where I love a creator but they have to come out and make a statement on something unrelated to their content, which happens to be against my own beliefs and I can never enjoy their content the same way, or at all, again
Holy shib ive followed the creation of this romhack for so long and its such an amazing labour of love and is one of the best "2.0" roms ive ever seen. Smithplays is a legend and its awesome seeing you play it
It was great seeing your first reactions to all the changes, but there were a few things you didn't comment on or seemed confused about that were worth noting, to me. - The lore behind the legendaries is that Red is literally the player character from RBY; he caught all the legendaries and then, preferring not to use the birds, gave them to other trainers. Blaine getting Moltres is extremely fitting, considering the reason he started using fire pokemon at all was because Moltres appeared to him when he was lost in the mountains and it led him to safety. After defeating a trainer that has a legendary, that legendary is released so that you can catch it. - Johto and Kanto share a Pokemon League *building*, but not the League itself, technically; the teams that the E4 prepare for you would differ depending on if you're challenging them with the Johto badges or the Kanto badges, as they are separate Leagues. - The Rival has a whole new character arc built around his Larvitar, and tbh, it annoyed me a little that you didn't even discuss the Rival at all in this video aside from cheesing multiple Lefties from his Crobat at the end. - Giovanni is added into the Team Rocket storylines and you didn't mention him at all??? I know you skip text but a whole-ass new character should warrant a mention, yeah? - Pryce, Jasmine, and Chuck, as many others have pointed out, scale in difficulty based on the order you challenge them in. Pryce and Chuck have teams for being the 5th, 6th, or 7th badge you earn, and Jasmine has teams for either the 6th or 7th with a little mention when she leaves the Lighthouse that she's pretty tough and you might want to go battle the one or both of the others first. - Smith Plays has stated that this version of the hack will remain up as a sort of 'purist' version that stays as close as it can to the base Crystal experience; however, he's planning to create further version(s) that deviate a bit more from the base game, including re-adding locations that were cut from Kanto in Gen 2 such as Viridian Forest and doing a bunch of little pacing adjustments. From your impressions of it in this video, you'll probably greatly enjoy the newer versions he's planning when they release! - Skipping all the text in a complete overhaul hack is a little frustrating, but I get why you did. That said, there were several things that confused or surprised you because you skipped all the dialogue, including alterations that explained some of the things that caught you off guard.
Crystal is one of my favorite games of all time, and I started a new run two months ago with the intention of catching 250 while using mains I’ve never used before. Discovered this channel a few days ago and this seems right up my alley. Great content
My biggest gripe with GSC has always been the lack of... well, gen 2 pokemon being utilized. Falkner did have a hoothoot, but his ace was a Pidgeotto. Bugsy had all gen 1 bugs despite there being plenty of good gen 2 options (rip heracross and ariados). Morty didnt bother even looking at misdreavus. No hitmontop for Chuck, no sneasle for price. Hell, you couldnt even get a decent chunk of gen 2 mons until post game... why... why are so many gen 2 mons over in Kanto instead of Johto?
For me, gen 2 pokemon games were peak. Fixed so many of the issues with gen 1 and was just such a massive game for a freakin GBC. Currently playing through "Perfect Crystal" and loving it.
I loved them but they have problems and the biggest one is that they don’t give the new Pokémon and types they’re rightful due. The introduction of steel type was huge and there were enough steel Pokemon for Jasmine to have a stacked team of dual typed steel mons with crazy coverage. She should have either been a planned elite four member or champion to really push that typing and give a Johto character a more significant role in the story, but instead Lance from freaking gen 1 takes front and center with his lineup of Kanto mons.
Crunch steelix was pretty good. But it's exactly what I would do with a steelix on my team. I think that's what the mod is going for, make the gym leaders feel more like they know what they are doing.
Love your videos Jrose but I have to respectfully disagree with you regarding your stance on the rocket hideout after beating Pryce. It’s exactly as you said, it’s a huge part of Crystal’s identity and that mentality was the entire approach around this ROM hack. Also Smith put in a lot of effort in making the story better and involving Giovanni, which really gave it a fresh coat of paint because I tend to agree it can be a bit long but the revised story was engaging! I know you said that you wanted to just play through with your favourites and not play too much attention, but I think if you slow down and explore the game a bit, you’ll get an even better experience! No flame at all, love you Jrose ❤
Glad to see Pat’s been doing what he loves. I always watched him for his black ops2-3 zombies Easter eggs but his passion for Pokémon always was appreciated too Also side note: at least from what I remember, in Pokemon silver I’m pretty sure you can get mareep before falkner if you go south past the tree and into the grass patches there. Maybe I’m remembering wrong and it’s after but I swear it was possible
@@calamelli209 Yeah Crystal should have added the Mareep line, keep the Growlithe line as a Gold exclusive, and keep the Meowth line as a Silver exclusive.
Crystal Legacy is an amazing ROM-hack. Now.. I am also working on my own take on Crystal, called "Crystal: Rebalanced" Like Legacy, it will allow you to complete the Pokédex in a normal playthrough, which also includes Mew and Celebi. However, the difference is that my version is scaled much more like a Generation 1 game, so trainer teams will be MUCH tougher throughout the game. It does mean that for a solo playthrough, it will not be too difficult, as the XP-gains are way higher. But many of the teams has been reworked, most notably Gym-leaders, and their level progression feels more like Red/Blue/Yellow. Kanto is a true late-game area now, and all trainers has teams of Pokémon that are level 50 and above. Kanto gym-leaders are scaled to level 70+ and they all have revamped teams of 6 Pokémon. Blue retains his Champion team from Red/Blue, but is now scaled to be 20 levels above the teams you face in those games (81 - 79 - 81 - 81 - 83 - 85), and Red is now a true final boss, with sky-high leveled Pokémon. (100 - 90 - 90 - 95 - 95 - 95) - Not to mention that his team has Perfect DV's. Unlike Legacy, the Kanto Gym-leaders retains their type specialization, with a few exceptions. Brock now has a Ninetales (Canonical decision, from the anime), and Misty has a Blastoise (Inspired by the animated Red series by Pedro Araujo). There are some subtle changes, but I won't go too much into detail about those. Johto plays much the same as the regular game, but the routing is much more linear, meaning that the ideal route is to go west from Ecruteak, and face the gyms in the numerical order (Chuck: 5, Jasmine: 6 and Pryce: 7) - Now, the levels are balanced around this, and Pryce especially has seen a major level-buff over the vanilla game. All Johto gyms has new additions on the teams. Clair is taking a page out of Lance's book, and she is aspiring to be like her brother, having an almost identical team to him. However, Dragon type Pokémon has access to a new move in the form of Dragon Pulse. A damage-dealing move, with 90 base power and 100% accuracy. About the new moves: I added three new moves to the game, since certain types needed more love. Dragon Pulse - Like previously mentioned, dragon type moves were pretty under-represented in the base game. It comes with 10 PP by default. Signal Beam - Bug type moves are not common, so a mid-tier between the weaker moves and the strong Megahorn was needed. Signal Beam has 75 base power, 100% accuracy and 15 PP. Iron Head - A steel-type version of Headbutt, with higher power. It has 80 base power, 100% accuracy, 15 PP and a 30% chance to flinch the opponent. Significant move changes: Razor Wind - This move was terrible in its original form. This move is now Flying type, has 110 base power, 90% accuracy, and a high crit chance. It does require two turns to excecute, but it is significantly stronger than it used to be. Dig - Closesly resembles the Gen.1 version. It has 95 base power now. Fly - Has 95 base power and 100% accuracy now, and is essentially an aerial version of Dig. Blizzard - Is now back to its Gen.1 version, with 90% accuracy. Vine Whip - Now on par with other starter moves like Ember and Water Gun. It has 40 base power and 25 PP. Leech Life - Doubled the power from 20 to 40. Giga Drain - Increased base power to 75 and PP to 10. Cut - Is now a bug-type move with a high crit chance. Rock Smash - Increased base power from 20 to 50. Hi-Jump Kick - Increased base power to 95. Skull Bash - Increased power to 110, being a defensive version of Razor Wind. Aeroblast / Sacred Fire - Increased accuracy to 100% and PP is increased to 10 for both. These are much better signature moves now.
I beg to differ. "They fly now?" is not as bad as "Somehow Palpatine returned" from the third sequel movie. That scene actually made me think the filmmakers were trolling.
Problems I have with this gen that the remake didn’t change: - Gym leaders have lots of Kanto mons when most of them have access to a lot more cool Johto mons for their type. A great example is Jasmine who as a steel trainer could use Steelix, Magneton, Scizor, Foretress, and Skarmory. - No Johto Character outside your rival has a significant role in the story. Again, I can think of a gym leader, who already has a storyline in the game, that could have a greater role than she did. - Many Johto Pokémon, new types, and significantly expanded types are not placed in situations where they are visible enough to gain any fanfare. Some Johto Pokémon that aren’t even that rare you will hardly ever see, if ever, from trainers or gym leaders. - The scaling is abysmal and slow. Because the trainers and gym leaders all stop getting any better, you steamroll everything in your way until you hit one wall where this game then becomes more of a grind than the others. Then after you beat the Elite Four, the later part of the game has the same problem where you steamroll everything until you get to Red who has Pokémon twenty-thirty levels higher than the ones you have been fighting against in Kanto for what feels like an hour worth of gameplay. If I were to fix this game it would be a complete overhaul. Get rid of the lackluster steel and fighting gyms and replace them with type gyms that have greatly expanded pools like water and ground. This would be big because it’s where the game really falls off. Replace every Kanto member of a gym leaders team with Johto ones because it can be done, even with them having expanded teams. Give Jasmine a respectable team and hell why not make her champion and give her gym spot to the new water gym in a freaking harbor town full of sailors. Then give Jasmine Lance’s role in the story and have him completely removed with Claire taking his mantle as an elite four member and push Karen out to be the eighth gym leader while overhauling Cyanwood to match thematically. Also give her a freaking Tyranitar because she can literally get one nearby and it’s crazy she was a dark team trainer without the most powerful dark type in the game. I could go on and on because really I think they dropped the ball and failed to put these new characters and Pokémon in a position to actually be remembered fondly by fans.
This is super cool I gotta try this out. As a cod zombies fan I was not expecting to hear a smithplays shout out in a jrose video which was a very pleasant surprise.
Kind of takes the wind out of your sails when you don't bother to look at the documentation. They didn't "anticipate" you going in a certain order, the Gym leaders have different teams based on your badge count.
Honestly the gym leaders have an extra 1-2 Pokémon with a bit more diverse move sets does a lot for the difficulty but also keeps the battels so much more interesting.
31:36 Lance literally mentions Zapdos in the dialogue you skipped prior (30:58)......Even at a glance, watching this video at 1.25x speed, even I saw this.... How you missed that is beyond me.....
Seems like a really cool hack rom. Im currently playing Crystal Clear and i consider it as a "perfect" version of Crystal, but this will be a good alternative too! Ps. I dont like to think hg/ss as a Crystal alternative, they have a completely different flavour, the two a lot more modern and the other a lot more vintage and classic.
Well of course Cut should be bug type: it’s supposed to cut down small trees. Oh hey, look at that Grass/Psychic small tree over there, lookin mighty cuttable
I also love that across the board most pokemon got a buff, I'm playing with Pokemon that I never would have in the original games. And it's not like they're super overpowered, they're just basically now usable instead of being garbage tier. It makes me explore the game all over again like if I was a kid.
yep he does he rushes through dialogue anyway that's why he was also surprised when Zapdos showed up Lance literally says he has it before the battle but Jrose didn't give a crap and button mashed through it
I’ve thought cut should be a bug move for a while now so glad someone else agrees! It makes logical sense that it would be super effective against grass types plus it gives bug Pokémon a better stab move in the early games
One thing I think you might have missed is the level scaling of the gyms at any point where you can choose where to go is based on the number of badges you have, their teams change.
the dark and ghost switch just makes sense when you think about the pokemon from gen 2 using the moves and just from a literal aspect as well nice simple change.
I loved watching him make this Rom all the way through and being part of the community, giving him ideas, and being part of the discussion. Now I get to enjoy my favorite poketubers play it. I can't wait to give it a try myself.
I’ve always thought it’d be fun to do something like this for HGSS, giving Johto gyms some Pokémon more on brand, for example, but ROMhacks are not easy to get right, and take a lot of work. Bravo to Smithplays for this one, the love shines thru
Jrose: "I'm not resetting. This is a casual playthrough." Footage: *Gets one shot by the Cloyster and resets.* Joking aside, this has been fun to watch people experience this blind for the first time. After watching the development videos, seeing it being out into fruition is great.
Awesome to see you playing Crystal Legacy when I'm playing it too. I'm trying a Poison Pokemon run though I'm slow and haven't even beaten the first gym.
Love the video. One thing I absolutely enjoy is your commentary on battles and even though this was a review and not a challenge run you commentate the exact same way which kept me enthralled. Keep up the amazing work! 👍
I absolutely love this, a playthrough and review of a romhack I hadn't heard of before! I like how your style of playthrough narration fits this format, it feels like a normal jrose video but also fresh. Keep up the great work!
@@bugcatcher8989 Idk about you but that's all my "Taco Bell" had to do :) edit: No Night Shade either, I genuinely hope that other people actually used Bellsprout beyond a HM Slave and Heal Item Fodder. I just can't lol
@@MK_ULTRA420 I’ve always preferred to try and beat the game with so called weaker and less popular Pokémon! Especially when the battles are extra challenging the victory is so much more sweet!
59:02 Gonna be honest, the only thing that surprises me of that Mewtwo (I called it since Blaine) is that it wasn't level 90-100, after that level 93 pikachu.
I still get that nostalgic feeling of playing gen 2 for the first time all those years ago. My favorite gen and the Pokemon games I put the most time into and the only ones where I did take the time to catch em all. Edit: now after watching the whole thing this is how the game should have been from the start. This was actually really fun to watch and honestly felt like watching the anime.
Yeah, it’s pretty good. Definitely better than gen 1. Than again, every generation is better than gen 1 because they don’t have generation 1 wrap. Not having gen 1 wrap makes every Pokémon game immediately better by default. I’m very grateful to generation 2 because they fixed that garbage. My sanity is saved. 😊
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 I don’t know what that means. I’m just stating my opinion. Just say “I respectfully disagree with your opinion”. It’s not hard.
I've watched so many of your videos, man! It's an honor to have the romhack featured on your channel! :)
Smith thank you for this amazing game. It has been such an amazing ride watching the development of this game.
hi king
It was a really enjoyable way to hardcore nuzlocke gen2, awesome variety and cool teams, good level curve and movepools. Just all in all really great
Eh, unlike most, I myself heavily dislike this romhack. I think you made it way way too hard and grindy than it needed to be. The fact that the game will adapt to the order you do the gyms in also doesn't help either.
Hopefully the Kanto portion doesn’t take too long to update so we can get that part of the game too
Smith actually made no changes to the AI. The reason it feels smarter is due to it having options to switch into or use to set up. It really shows what the original AI was built to do.
Yeah, the best AI doesn't help you much if you don't give it anything to work with.
For example imagine gen 1 AI with good pokemons like Starmie with Psychic/Tbolt/Ice beam/Surf. Since it "predicts" switches perfectly it would be nightmare to face.
@@Szafirprince You are truly the devil in a commenter's disguise.
I just learned about how the trainer AI works in gen 2 from watching the video "pokemon crystal AI tournament" and it really shows how gamefreak became aware of gen 1's simplistic AI's limitations and polished it up to make for much better trainer battles.
that plus it's not even AI
One really neat thing about this rom hack is that if you do the gym leaders in a different order, they'll have different teams based on your number of badges.
The dynamic level scaling for Chuck/Jasmine/Pryce based on the order you faced them in was an amazing change and one of the best things about this rom hack. It only does it for those three, but it's the three that need it the most because of how Johto has two split "routes" you can take after Morty.
That’s awesome
I think you mean pokemon crystal clear
@@calamelli209m
@@calamelli209😊lmi❤😅j😅5😢 J😅w
Jrose: Don't read pokemon dialogue
Lance: "I am about to pull pro pokemon move"
Hahahaha i noticed too, he said that i dont know what to expect...dialogue: "i have been entrusted to take care of zapdos" xD
I love Jrose saying he doesn't read dialogue, him missing the trainers saying they have a legendary bird, then being surprised when they have it.
Electrode: *explodes itself*
Jrose: Truly incredible
This comment made my day 😂
I'm going to go over some of the changes that he doesn't go over about the story and nice features I noticed in my playthrough.
You can get the fossils and the GS ball from the ruins of alph. You can buy evolution stones in the town where Chuck is and there is a berry salesman in Goldenrod.
Rocket Story: it has been improved slightly if you read the dialogue but overall the changes aren't amazing.
Silver: Silver in victory road explains that he has been training with the monks in the dragon den and he said while there he learned to trust and love his Pokemon which causes his Pupitar to evolve early.
The Rocket story changes are bad. Giovanni takes the focus away from Lance during the whole Mahogany chapter, which greatly devalues Lance's role as a character and champion, and the 10 minute cutscene in the radio tower is extremely jarring and poorly written.
I like the idea to an extent, but it's executed poorly, and Giovanni is best left an off-screen mystery up to the player's imagination.
The Silver thing is also really cringe, particularly because it displays Pupitar's evolution text messages in the dialogue box, doing... weird things to the fourth wall in a moment that's played completely straight. The same point could have been achieved by just having his Golbat evolved into a Crobat without explicitly talking about it - and Tyranitar needs no justification, Pokémon games don't do apologetics for their illegal mons.
A lot of the beauty of old Pokémon games is in their subtlety, and Smith doesn't understand this. I also dislike how frequently Red is referenced throughout the game, ruining the intended effect of Mt. Silver. Sure, everyone who plays this hack is already familiar with Gen 2, but that's not an excuse to break the things that were fine about the game.
Can you imagine how different Lance's legacy as champion would be if he had a ZAPDOS on his team in the original game? Honestly, making Clair water themed and Lance flying themed is a genius move that not only works well with their designs, but the designs of Dragonair and Dragonite.
Imagine if he just ran all 3 legendary birds
@@spindash64All 5
Except Zapdos does not resemble a dragon at all lol. Making Lance’s best Pokémon a bird.
Lance is one of the few trainers in the first two gens that could handle a legendary
It also represents his flying theme. Strong creatures of the sky
I appreciate that a lot :)
It’s cool how it may be implied that Gen1 legendaries have already been caught by strong trainers before the protagonist starts their journey
Smith's explanation is that Red entrusted Kanto's three strongest trainers other than him to take care of the legendary birds before he ascended Mount Silver.
@@reillywalker195 Yup, 'cause he still had his own team to take care of, especially [spoiler redacted]
@@aquartertwo It's a level 1 FEARatatta, isn't it?
@@reillywalker195 Blaine isn't on par with Lance or Green, he is really just arbitrary and the other two are for le boss fight surprise purposes
@@SupahdenningOutside of the elite 4 Blaire is the third strongest trainer in Kanto since Giovanni disappeared and Red wouldn't trust a legendary Pokémon to him and is also a fire Pokémon expert.
I think the intention behind forcing you to rematch the Elite Four is to get your levels a little closer to Red’s
Yeah that's pretty much what it was.
SmithPlays has also said its because the player was only the Johto Champion previously. It makes sense canonically
@@JayThoman , that would only make sense if there were a separate Indigo Plateau with a separate champion. The Elite Four + champion is it (I mean, how does it make any sense to fight Lance as the champion when you've already dethroned him?). They just require eight badges to get in. They don't care what gyms the badges come from.
@@SgtSupaman Very true dude
That being said, they could crank it up a little bit more / change it a bit more to make it more interesting.
I'm glad you had such a fun time trying out PCL!! We'll be coming out with the Kanto update in the near future and I can't wait to see your reaction to the changes made there as we wrap up the region 😊(also I hear those videos on Smith's channel are very awesome and the editor is really cool)
If I've been playing the current version and gotten so far, am I able to patch the file I've been using with a new update and continue my game into Kanto once it's available?
Is this still in the pipeline the kano update for crystal ? I'm aware there's a new yellow legacy out but a full on crystal with revamped kanto would be amazing
Lance: “I have a Zapdos”
JRose: “yeah yeah get to the battle”
Lance: *sends out Zapdos*
JRose: *Pikachu surprised meme*
I didn't catch that the first time around! Hahaha. He does say it in the dialogue! It goes by quick!
@@yesec9 only if you're skipping it.
He did say he never reads dialogues.
He just says it randomly?
@@TheFreestylebeast Yes, Blaine and Green do as well. It's very unnatural and pointless, let it be a surprise in battle like Red's [REDACTED].
“Oh wow, it uses fly. IT FLYS NOW?!?” 😂 That part made me crack up.
The Red Gyarados is the best HM mule ever now. Fly, Strength, Rock Smash, all 3 water-based HM's, easily catchable in the story, and you can freely delete and re-teach HM's without needing to go to the move deleter in this rom hack too.
“They fly now!?” Has to be the only memorable line from the sequel trilogy
@@neonthunder3261"somehow Palpatine returned" is another iconic sequel trilogy lind
@@calamelli209 Several romhacks have dispensed with the clunky concept of HMs one way or another, which is the option I'd prefer over reducing the almighty Gyarados to a lowly HM slave. 😅
For example, one romhack might auto-enable Surf for all Surf-capable Pokes once the required badge is earned (whether or not they actually know the move).
Alternatively, a key item in the form of a surfboard, swimming fins, etc., can be used in lieu of the HM move if the player wants to use that instead of the HM. A torch, flashlight, or headlamp can obviate the need for Flash, gardening shears can obviate Cut, and so on.
Another clever anti-HM mechanic I really liked seeing in a romhack (maybe it was Red++) was that trees hacked down by Cut would never regrow for the rest of the playthrough.
I suppose these changes would be too radical for Crystal Legacy, but I'd personally enjoy the game more if it had gone that route.
How do u re teach?
I don't think anyone really expected the Team Rocket and Kanto stuff to be changed, it's not that bad honestly in terms of Team Rocket and the Kanto part is iconic.
They also introduced giovanni as a part of the story but it was completely skipped over in this video. Granted it didn’t change most of it but still.
It’s almost like Team Rocket are supposed to be kinda pathetic. And he seems to forget, or not realise, that the purpose of the ROM was to pay homage to the original, the purpose was to tweak it and make it as good as it could have been when it was new. Not make huge changes and delete whole segments of the game. It wouldn’t be Crystal anymore at that point.
Pretty sure Dark was special in G2/G3 only to make the amount of physical/special type more even. Since, as you pointed out, EVERY old Dark-type move was reclassified as physical, and even nowadays special Dark-type moves are few and far between. Why Ghost was physical, given the typical associations with ghosts, I have no idea. Then again, so was Poison...
Anyway from what Smith has explained, the theme for Clair was aquatic dragon-like Pokemon, while Lance was aerial dragon-like Pokemon.
I guess the creators of Pokémon wanted to associate ghosts with tsukumogami/poltergeists and have them attack you by throwing stuff around?
Yeah, there's no way they could justify Steel not being physical, so Dark had to take the L. Ghost and Dragon in Gen 1 however should have been swapped, there's no excuse for why they're not.
Because Lick was a Gen 1 Ghost Move, that was typed as Physical. So when Gen 2 came around, they left it as is.
@@LoveLiveSabu238 Except this logic doesn't fly by, because most G1 poison moves aren't something I'd describe as physical; Acid, Sludge, Smog.. and then there's just Poison Sting, so 3 to 1 (plus 4 status moves).
@@Dukstless It does make sense for Poison to be Physical, if you consider the idea that Poison Sting was the first Poison move they made in Gen 1.
3:52 Cut being a Bug move in this game makes more sense than being Normal. It cuts down trees just like how Bug-Type moves take down Grass-Types.
Also, it fits, as Bug moves have a lot of slashing moves: Fury Cutter, False Swipe, X-Scissor, etc.
(Edit: Not False Swipe, that's a Normal move.)
False swipe is normal tho...
Otherwise, makes sense
@@SkittleIsDumb You're right, it is a Normal move! I might have thought it as a Bug move because I mostly see Scyther using it.
Thanks for pointing that one out!
Being 50 power bug makes more sense than 70 power steel.
In Radical Red Cut got turned into 70 power steel which seems balanced (by RR standards) until the new Weedcat with Protean becomes steel type.
Not only do I think it's a balanced tweak, but it also gives bug some much needed coverage.
@hardgay7537 its 55 power with a boosted critical hit ratio like slash/razor leaf. So a decent amount of time it will be a 110 power move.
I think Cut is a bit too good, but I also don't see an alternative to it being that way short of backporting lots of modern Bug moves into the game. Cut is the only decent Bug move, great in the early game and still good for the rest of it, and nothing ever replaces it. This also has the upside that trees aren't annoying in this game, so I suppose I wouldn't want it to be fixed, but it's kinda weird.
We absolutely need more jrose11 ROM hack reviews! I'd love to see a review of Pokemon Brown, Prism, and/or Crystal Clear! They're all absolute classics.
Where can Brown and Prism be played?
I wanna see him play Radical Red
@brown is a really good gen 1 but I prefer it's counterpart Pokémon grape
Grape has a better story line n a notoriously hard mura rival n waspia bug gym (you WILL have resets vs her) n level up a ton before the Elite four because that level spike is brutal like 10 to 15 levels higher from gym 8 to e4
Crystal clear is AN ALL TIME FAVORITE of mine with Pokémon reborn, desolation red adventures then Crystal clear
crystal clear and radical red for sure
Absolutely Crystal Clear, I was so hyped when I beat Shock Slayer for the first time, an absolutely brilliant and difficult challenge!
SmithPlays is awesome! Loved the hell out of his zombies streams and videos when I was in college and ive seen some of his pokemon videos too
Hello nathaliel. Didn’t know you were a jrose fan too
A man of culture
Lol me too
Pat got me through middle school/Highschool
Ain't you Nathaniel B?
According to Smith, in his canon Red gave away all the legendary birds to great trainers that's why Lance has Zapdos and because helps the overall coverage of dragon typing. Still rock type beats all his pokemon, or rock moves for that matter. Nice review Jrose!
I get Lance, and I get Blue, but... **Why BLAINE?**
@@entwixed3406 Because of the canon: Blaine states, in the videogames, that a fire bird rescued him when he got stranded in a mountain. Hence that was the perfect excuse for smith to add it into his roster.
@@entwixed3406You mean the second strongest Gym leader in Kanto that also uses fire types and helped in the creation of Mewtwo?
@@Ash_Wen-lilmao based
While I may not have had a hand in making this game directly, as a playtester who watched this game develop and release, I am so happy you enjoyed Crystal Legacy! Im overjoyed seeing one of my favorite youtubers play the game that has become a big part of my life. Your criticisms on the tedious story stuff is valid, but that is unfortunately just how Crystal's story was. I can confirm, though that we will be revamping and expanding Kanto in the future! I hope you consider doing challenge runs for this game, though it's totally understandable if you don't ❤❤❤
SmithPlays is indeed making a Kanto expansion. It may take a few months, but it will include new story bits, and probably a battle with Giovanni (who showed up a couple times during the game, but you did not mention him).
To add, he gave a good reason for why Lance has the Zapdos, which would be expanded on in the… expansion lol.
@@DemonRaticate He asked Big Bird's nephew to help him out?
@@Shmandalf Red caught the three birds but decided he didn't want them on his team. So he gave them to Lance, Blue, and Blaine.
It's funny that you say you don't read the text and then were shocked by Lance having Zapdos considering he says that he has it in his before battle dialogue :P
(Actually, a lot of the mechanical changes are brought up in dialogue, so that I was able to mostly suss them out while playing blind, for example the gym guys who in a normal pokemon game just remind you of basic type advantages, instead they tell you hints to the leader changes. Like saying that Bugsy recently discovered Cut is a bug-type move)
Tbh cut as a bug type attack makes sense.
@@Ricardo__Milosespecially in situ in context
@@Ricardo__Milosexplain
@@Ricardo__Milosno, it doesn't.
@@YMasterS Why not?
The best part is that there are no ai changes - just better tools available with synergies built into the teams.
Wow, that's wild- I would have never thought gsc ai could make switches like swapping quagsire into an electric move
Damn
@@heliumpai7627 The old AI was actually kinda crazy if you let it actually loose. It is cheating after all because it makes its choice after you make yours, its why Colosseum is so hard in comparison.
@@hawkticus_history_cornerwell that and having like 20 Pokemon available, I know this is an exageration but the amount of good Pokemon their is extremely low
@@dragonmaster3030 Fair, Colosseum had several things going for it to make it harder, the AI is just the most obvious. The other one is so little EVs
I absolutely love how because JRoss skips dialogue he gets surprised by Lance's team even though Lance spoils the most surprising member of his team in his dialogue lol
just got to the Zapados. I love this because you're using speed up so you miss his text. But Lance says something about his Zapados lol. Great video as always! Now back to finishing it!
I was thinking that. I was almost expecting it when he said he doesn’t read the text. I don’t fully understand that mentality, especially if you are supposedly reviewing the ROM, but that’s his choice I guess. It is hilarious when they act surprised about something the game flat out tells you. Maybe if you paid attention to what the game is telling you…..
Best crossover episode ever! I followed this rom hack in its development for like a year, I absolutely LOVE the final product, and I'm glad to see you like it too! I'm in the middle of my own playthrough, currently halfway through the Kanto portion with a team of Golem, Flareon, Misdreavus, Scizor, Suicune, and Zapdos.
RUclipsrs supporting other RUclipsrs like this is what the platform should be all about. Great video and great game!
A crossover I had hoped for but never DREAMED I would see!
what a stupid sentence
I submitted a ton of moveset ideas alot of which he took
The alakazam n gengar nerfs were suggested a ton n slight tyranitar nerf
Especially changing bug types I was at the brainstorming sessions n almost every livestream n we just got crazy with ideas on this
I can tell he took A TON OF comments seriously as he improved the game a ton over the year n a half project
I miss when Pat did Zombies stuff and Top Ten Trends
Awesome review, though your opinion about shortening or replacing the Team Rocket sections is kinda silly considering the whole appeal of this romhack is improving what exists
Wow! Neat to see a crossover like this! Excited to see your thoughts on the romhack!
Wow! NEAT!
The gym leader AI is unchanged it just has tools to work with now
A cool thing about the gym leaders is you can do price chuck and jasmine and different orders and the teams change Pokémon and levels depending on order
Really glad to see you playing this one. I did a run through this before the first patch came out and it still had a few things I think could be fixed. But at the end of the day I had a fantastic time with it and I’ll be looking forward to the late game changes they have planned. And a fun fact about the AI is that they didn’t actually change anything, they just gave the AI the tools it needed to really show the player what it can do.
You might scoff at Crystal as being outdated due to there being Heartgold Soulsilver. But Crystal is pretty much the mainstay of classic Pokemon, in my mind. Gen 1 is severely mechanically outdated, whereas Gold and Silver have some weird leftover bits like outdated sprites for certain gen 2 Pokemon. And there are several innovations like moving sprites that first occurred in Crystal. Without a doubt, this is where Pokemon truly started for me.
But the modding capability makes many of the latter additions relatively easy to implement. In particular, Pokemon Corral version is looking like one of the more ambitious mods for Crystal, introducing later generations of Pokemon and really pushing the envelope on Crystal's design. I think it's worth looking into, although the mod isn't yet completely done.
Smith should do this to all Pokemon games. Might as well fix the issues Nintendo refuses to fix. These games are now even more timeless than ever before.
This was a surprise. I'm in the middle of a playthrough right now and this suddenly popped into my feed.
So?
@@Nishtman420why?
jrose playing the smith plays romhack is the timeline i needed
One of the best timelines
Out of topic but thanks for not getting into politics, ideologies, stances on wars or social movements, etc...
I've had so many occasions where I love a creator but they have to come out and make a statement on something unrelated to their content, which happens to be against my own beliefs and I can never enjoy their content the same way, or at all, again
Holy shib ive followed the creation of this romhack for so long and its such an amazing labour of love and is one of the best "2.0" roms ive ever seen. Smithplays is a legend and its awesome seeing you play it
It was great seeing your first reactions to all the changes, but there were a few things you didn't comment on or seemed confused about that were worth noting, to me.
- The lore behind the legendaries is that Red is literally the player character from RBY; he caught all the legendaries and then, preferring not to use the birds, gave them to other trainers. Blaine getting Moltres is extremely fitting, considering the reason he started using fire pokemon at all was because Moltres appeared to him when he was lost in the mountains and it led him to safety. After defeating a trainer that has a legendary, that legendary is released so that you can catch it.
- Johto and Kanto share a Pokemon League *building*, but not the League itself, technically; the teams that the E4 prepare for you would differ depending on if you're challenging them with the Johto badges or the Kanto badges, as they are separate Leagues.
- The Rival has a whole new character arc built around his Larvitar, and tbh, it annoyed me a little that you didn't even discuss the Rival at all in this video aside from cheesing multiple Lefties from his Crobat at the end.
- Giovanni is added into the Team Rocket storylines and you didn't mention him at all??? I know you skip text but a whole-ass new character should warrant a mention, yeah?
- Pryce, Jasmine, and Chuck, as many others have pointed out, scale in difficulty based on the order you challenge them in. Pryce and Chuck have teams for being the 5th, 6th, or 7th badge you earn, and Jasmine has teams for either the 6th or 7th with a little mention when she leaves the Lighthouse that she's pretty tough and you might want to go battle the one or both of the others first.
- Smith Plays has stated that this version of the hack will remain up as a sort of 'purist' version that stays as close as it can to the base Crystal experience; however, he's planning to create further version(s) that deviate a bit more from the base game, including re-adding locations that were cut from Kanto in Gen 2 such as Viridian Forest and doing a bunch of little pacing adjustments. From your impressions of it in this video, you'll probably greatly enjoy the newer versions he's planning when they release!
- Skipping all the text in a complete overhaul hack is a little frustrating, but I get why you did. That said, there were several things that confused or surprised you because you skipped all the dialogue, including alterations that explained some of the things that caught you off guard.
Crystal is one of my favorite games of all time, and I started a new run two months ago with the intention of catching 250 while using mains I’ve never used before. Discovered this channel a few days ago and this seems right up my alley. Great content
I also love Girafarig, though it doesn’t appear in standard Crystal. Glad that’s different.
My biggest gripe with GSC has always been the lack of... well, gen 2 pokemon being utilized. Falkner did have a hoothoot, but his ace was a Pidgeotto. Bugsy had all gen 1 bugs despite there being plenty of good gen 2 options (rip heracross and ariados). Morty didnt bother even looking at misdreavus. No hitmontop for Chuck, no sneasle for price. Hell, you couldnt even get a decent chunk of gen 2 mons until post game... why... why are so many gen 2 mons over in Kanto instead of Johto?
I've been playing is so much and having an absolute blast. It was fun seeing your reactions to all the changes!
Hell yeah, a new JRose vid is always a fantastic time
For me, gen 2 pokemon games were peak. Fixed so many of the issues with gen 1 and was just such a massive game for a freakin GBC. Currently playing through "Perfect Crystal" and loving it.
I loved them but they have problems and the biggest one is that they don’t give the new Pokémon and types they’re rightful due. The introduction of steel type was huge and there were enough steel Pokemon for Jasmine to have a stacked team of dual typed steel mons with crazy coverage. She should have either been a planned elite four member or champion to really push that typing and give a Johto character a more significant role in the story, but instead Lance from freaking gen 1 takes front and center with his lineup of Kanto mons.
Crunch steelix was pretty good. But it's exactly what I would do with a steelix on my team. I think that's what the mod is going for, make the gym leaders feel more like they know what they are doing.
Smith has to be sad you just skipped all things about Rocket plot, where he included Giovanni's thread
GENERAL Surge! (also, the raindance/surf combo can be a play on words, where a storm swell is often called a "surge")
It’s so great to see more Gen. 2 Pokemon within Johto instead of postgame Kanto
Love your videos Jrose but I have to respectfully disagree with you regarding your stance on the rocket hideout after beating Pryce. It’s exactly as you said, it’s a huge part of Crystal’s identity and that mentality was the entire approach around this ROM hack. Also Smith put in a lot of effort in making the story better and involving Giovanni, which really gave it a fresh coat of paint because I tend to agree it can be a bit long but the revised story was engaging! I know you said that you wanted to just play through with your favourites and not play too much attention, but I think if you slow down and explore the game a bit, you’ll get an even better experience! No flame at all, love you Jrose ❤
Glad to see Pat’s been doing what he loves. I always watched him for his black ops2-3 zombies Easter eggs but his passion for Pokémon always was appreciated too
Also side note: at least from what I remember, in Pokemon silver I’m pretty sure you can get mareep before falkner if you go south past the tree and into the grass patches there. Maybe I’m remembering wrong and it’s after but I swear it was possible
In Gold/Silver you could do that, but they made the Mareep line completely unobtainable in Crystal for some inexplicable reason.
You cant go south since the NPC blocks you if you did not get a badge yet.
@@calamelli209 Yeah Crystal should have added the Mareep line, keep the Growlithe line as a Gold exclusive, and keep the Meowth line as a Silver exclusive.
It's so weird seeing you use more than one pokemon.
Oh my god you couldn't have made my night any better. I can't wait to play this, Crystal Version was always my favorite!
I just love the fact that Whitney's Miltank STILL gives us trouble
Switching?
In a Jrose video??
what a time to be alive
Love seeing your take on romhacks like this one!
Crystal Legacy is an amazing ROM-hack.
Now.. I am also working on my own take on Crystal, called "Crystal: Rebalanced"
Like Legacy, it will allow you to complete the Pokédex in a normal playthrough, which also includes Mew and Celebi.
However, the difference is that my version is scaled much more like a Generation 1 game, so trainer teams will be MUCH tougher throughout the game. It does mean that for a solo playthrough, it will not be too difficult, as the XP-gains are way higher. But many of the teams has been reworked, most notably Gym-leaders, and their level progression feels more like Red/Blue/Yellow.
Kanto is a true late-game area now, and all trainers has teams of Pokémon that are level 50 and above. Kanto gym-leaders are scaled to level 70+ and they all have revamped teams of 6 Pokémon.
Blue retains his Champion team from Red/Blue, but is now scaled to be 20 levels above the teams you face in those games (81 - 79 - 81 - 81 - 83 - 85), and Red is now a true final boss, with sky-high leveled Pokémon. (100 - 90 - 90 - 95 - 95 - 95) - Not to mention that his team has Perfect DV's.
Unlike Legacy, the Kanto Gym-leaders retains their type specialization, with a few exceptions. Brock now has a Ninetales (Canonical decision, from the anime), and Misty has a Blastoise (Inspired by the animated Red series by Pedro Araujo). There are some subtle changes, but I won't go too much into detail about those.
Johto plays much the same as the regular game, but the routing is much more linear, meaning that the ideal route is to go west from Ecruteak, and face the gyms in the numerical order (Chuck: 5, Jasmine: 6 and Pryce: 7) - Now, the levels are balanced around this, and Pryce especially has seen a major level-buff over the vanilla game. All Johto gyms has new additions on the teams.
Clair is taking a page out of Lance's book, and she is aspiring to be like her brother, having an almost identical team to him. However, Dragon type Pokémon has access to a new move in the form of Dragon Pulse. A damage-dealing move, with 90 base power and 100% accuracy.
About the new moves:
I added three new moves to the game, since certain types needed more love.
Dragon Pulse - Like previously mentioned, dragon type moves were pretty under-represented in the base game. It comes with 10 PP by default.
Signal Beam - Bug type moves are not common, so a mid-tier between the weaker moves and the strong Megahorn was needed. Signal Beam has 75 base power, 100% accuracy and 15 PP.
Iron Head - A steel-type version of Headbutt, with higher power. It has 80 base power, 100% accuracy, 15 PP and a 30% chance to flinch the opponent.
Significant move changes:
Razor Wind - This move was terrible in its original form. This move is now Flying type, has 110 base power, 90% accuracy, and a high crit chance. It does require two turns to excecute, but it is significantly stronger than it used to be.
Dig - Closesly resembles the Gen.1 version. It has 95 base power now.
Fly - Has 95 base power and 100% accuracy now, and is essentially an aerial version of Dig.
Blizzard - Is now back to its Gen.1 version, with 90% accuracy.
Vine Whip - Now on par with other starter moves like Ember and Water Gun. It has 40 base power and 25 PP.
Leech Life - Doubled the power from 20 to 40.
Giga Drain - Increased base power to 75 and PP to 10.
Cut - Is now a bug-type move with a high crit chance.
Rock Smash - Increased base power from 20 to 50.
Hi-Jump Kick - Increased base power to 95.
Skull Bash - Increased power to 110, being a defensive version of Razor Wind.
Aeroblast / Sacred Fire - Increased accuracy to 100% and PP is increased to 10 for both. These are much better signature moves now.
I love that these two officially have a crossover. This is everything to me.
I have been absolutely loving this rom hack. Super glad you're shedding more light on it.
I loved seeing the journey of this ROM hack being made and now played. It's so cool
I beg to differ. "They fly now?" is not as bad as "Somehow Palpatine returned" from the third sequel movie. That scene actually made me think the filmmakers were trolling.
I kept expecting a reset whenever a Pokémon died like the normal runs 😂
Problems I have with this gen that the remake didn’t change:
- Gym leaders have lots of Kanto mons when most of them have access to a lot more cool Johto mons for their type. A great example is Jasmine who as a steel trainer could use Steelix, Magneton, Scizor, Foretress, and Skarmory.
- No Johto Character outside your rival has a significant role in the story. Again, I can think of a gym leader, who already has a storyline in the game, that could have a greater role than she did.
- Many Johto Pokémon, new types, and significantly expanded types are not placed in situations where they are visible enough to gain any fanfare. Some Johto Pokémon that aren’t even that rare you will hardly ever see, if ever, from trainers or gym leaders.
- The scaling is abysmal and slow. Because the trainers and gym leaders all stop getting any better, you steamroll everything in your way until you hit one wall where this game then becomes more of a grind than the others. Then after you beat the Elite Four, the later part of the game has the same problem where you steamroll everything until you get to Red who has Pokémon twenty-thirty levels higher than the ones you have been fighting against in Kanto for what feels like an hour worth of gameplay.
If I were to fix this game it would be a complete overhaul. Get rid of the lackluster steel and fighting gyms and replace them with type gyms that have greatly expanded pools like water and ground. This would be big because it’s where the game really falls off. Replace every Kanto member of a gym leaders team with Johto ones because it can be done, even with them having expanded teams. Give Jasmine a respectable team and hell why not make her champion and give her gym spot to the new water gym in a freaking harbor town full of sailors. Then give Jasmine Lance’s role in the story and have him completely removed with Claire taking his mantle as an elite four member and push Karen out to be the eighth gym leader while overhauling Cyanwood to match thematically. Also give her a freaking Tyranitar because she can literally get one nearby and it’s crazy she was a dark team trainer without the most powerful dark type in the game. I could go on and on because really I think they dropped the ball and failed to put these new characters and Pokémon in a position to actually be remembered fondly by fans.
Ain’t reading allat
You don’t have to and I don’t understand why people like you have to insert your snide ass remarks.
You know your romhack is popular when Jrose covers it, especially this quickly.
This is super cool I gotta try this out. As a cod zombies fan I was not expecting to hear a smithplays shout out in a jrose video which was a very pleasant surprise.
I am so glad you didn't Nuzlocke this. It is nice to see someone just play some of these rom hacks.
Kind of takes the wind out of your sails when you don't bother to look at the documentation. They didn't "anticipate" you going in a certain order, the Gym leaders have different teams based on your badge count.
Honestly the gym leaders have an extra 1-2 Pokémon with a bit more diverse move sets does a lot for the difficulty but also keeps the battels so much more interesting.
Also the gym leaders having decent checks to your mons so you can't just come in with 1 type they are weak to and then just steamroll.
31:36 Lance literally mentions Zapdos in the dialogue you skipped prior (30:58)......Even at a glance, watching this video at 1.25x speed, even I saw this.... How you missed that is beyond me.....
Seems like a really cool hack rom. Im currently playing Crystal Clear and i consider it as a "perfect" version of Crystal, but this will be a good alternative too!
Ps. I dont like to think hg/ss as a Crystal alternative, they have a completely different flavour, the two a lot more modern and the other a lot more vintage and classic.
HGSS is a remake with updated graphics and mechanics. It is mostly it’s own thing.
Well of course Cut should be bug type: it’s supposed to cut down small trees. Oh hey, look at that Grass/Psychic small tree over there, lookin mighty cuttable
Exxeggcutor sweating VERY heavily...
Teddiursa "BEARLY" appears, I see what you did there
I also love that across the board most pokemon got a buff, I'm playing with Pokemon that I never would have in the original games. And it's not like they're super overpowered, they're just basically now usable instead of being garbage tier. It makes me explore the game all over again like if I was a kid.
Love the video JRose! I can’t wait to see some nuzlockes or solo challenges in Crystal Legacy
I know Gen 2 gets a lot of hate, but Crystal is probably my favorite pokemon game. I'll have to check this out.
Jrose, you want the entire plot of the game taken out? Because that's what the team rocket "section" is. You want a game without a plot
yep he does he rushes through dialogue anyway that's why he was also surprised when Zapdos showed up Lance literally says he has it before the battle but Jrose didn't give a crap and button mashed through it
I’ve thought cut should be a bug move for a while now so glad someone else agrees! It makes logical sense that it would be super effective against grass types plus it gives bug Pokémon a better stab move in the early games
One thing I think you might have missed is the level scaling of the gyms at any point where you can choose where to go is based on the number of badges you have, their teams change.
the dark and ghost switch just makes sense when you think about the pokemon from gen 2 using the moves and just from a literal aspect as well nice simple change.
I loved watching him make this Rom all the way through and being part of the community, giving him ideas, and being part of the discussion. Now I get to enjoy my favorite poketubers play it. I can't wait to give it a try myself.
I’ve always thought it’d be fun to do something like this for HGSS, giving Johto gyms some Pokémon more on brand, for example, but ROMhacks are not easy to get right, and take a lot of work. Bravo to Smithplays for this one, the love shines thru
Something to say is that Smith specifically stated that he is creating an update for Kanto - it’s not a “maybe”.
Jrose: "I'm not resetting. This is a casual playthrough."
Footage: *Gets one shot by the Cloyster and resets.*
Joking aside, this has been fun to watch people experience this blind for the first time. After watching the development videos, seeing it being out into fruition is great.
Awesome to see you playing Crystal Legacy when I'm playing it too. I'm trying a Poison Pokemon run though I'm slow and haven't even beaten the first gym.
Love the video. One thing I absolutely enjoy is your commentary on battles and even though this was a review and not a challenge run you commentate the exact same way which kept me enthralled. Keep up the amazing work! 👍
Honey wake the kids up, Jrose dropped a new vid
You don’t have a honey bro
Absolutely love where this could take the channel!!
Jrose my dude you're allowed to level your pokemon up, it's okay
I absolutely love this, a playthrough and review of a romhack I hadn't heard of before!
I like how your style of playthrough narration fits this format, it feels like a normal jrose video but also fresh.
Keep up the great work!
I’m so thankful that you mention the Bellsprout line can be powerful and effective. In my Gen 2 play through always has the Bellsprout line!
"What is my purpose?"
"You Cut and Flash."
"....Oh my Arceus"
"Yeah welcome to the club, pal."
@@MK_ULTRA420😂😊
@@bugcatcher8989 Idk about you but that's all my "Taco Bell" had to do :)
edit: No Night Shade either, I genuinely hope that other people actually used Bellsprout beyond a HM Slave and Heal Item Fodder. I just can't lol
@@MK_ULTRA420 I’ve always preferred to try and beat the game with so called weaker and less popular Pokémon! Especially when the battles are extra challenging the victory is so much more sweet!
lets go! Most of the mods on our discord server watched your live steam of Crystal Legacy, they loved your reaction to seeing mewtwo.
Ah, Jrose is gonna check this out. Now I might finally get a perspective on it I can trust
59:02 Gonna be honest, the only thing that surprises me of that Mewtwo (I called it since Blaine) is that it wasn't level 90-100, after that level 93 pikachu.
why would they remove the team rocket section it goes against the entire identity of the romhack?
Happy to see this kind of content crossover
Cannot wait to see challenge runs in this it looks amazing jrose!!!
Really great rom-hack while keeping the spirit of original Gen 2 but making it a lot, lot better
You didnt talk about the silver battle in the victory road with a tyrannitar?????
Never really fully understood Sudowoodos name until you said it so slowly. Felt like a moron. Liked the video at that moment. Thank you Jrose
I still get that nostalgic feeling of playing gen 2 for the first time all those years ago. My favorite gen and the Pokemon games I put the most time into and the only ones where I did take the time to catch em all.
Edit: now after watching the whole thing this is how the game should have been from the start. This was actually really fun to watch and honestly felt like watching the anime.
Yeah, it’s pretty good. Definitely better than gen 1. Than again, every generation is better than gen 1 because they don’t have generation 1 wrap. Not having gen 1 wrap makes every Pokémon game immediately better by default. I’m very grateful to generation 2 because they fixed that garbage. My sanity is saved. 😊
@@dannysmi7162Reddit is that way sir
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 Weird way to say “I disagree with your opinion”, but okay.
@@dannysmi7162 Because Pokemon fans are the most Reddit fanbase out there. And I'm not even one of those dudes that hate Reddit with a passion
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 I don’t know what that means. I’m just stating my opinion. Just say “I respectfully disagree with your opinion”. It’s not hard.
I just wish the Liquid Crystal people would have finished it. Love that hack.