Emerald hack: National History Museum [FINAL RELEASE v1.0.4] - A Pokémon Escape Room

[ablahblah987]

Counter points (albeit tongue-in-cheek ones ;) ):
1. It's got Pokémon from the National Dex
2. There's nothing natural about Pokémon

1. I haven't played your game, but the museum in the game appears to have nothing to do with a national dex.
2.Pokemon are natural within the Pokemon universe and a natural history museum is a type of museum when a "national history" museum is not. See this article for details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_museum
3. Having said that, it's your game and you can call it whatever you want.

 

[wiz1989]

1. I haven't played your game, but the museum in the game appears to have nothing to do with a national dex.
2.Pokemon are natural within the Pokemon universe and a natural history museum is a type of museum when a "national history" museum is not. See this article for details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_museum
3. Having said that, it's your game and you can call it whatever you want.

LOL. That comment wasn't even from me 😂

 

[wiz1989]

Updated to version 1.0.1
See new link and version history in main post for details (includes spoilers!)

 

[Liehon]

Played for another hour yesterday. Didn't record so here's another wall of text/log

Spoiler: Making it to the ground floor

Love the solution for getting past the Tyrantrum. Absolutely inspired! Stroke of genius!

Making it to floor 1 also reveals what to do with the "fav typing"-NPC. The moment I spoke to the downstairs NPC it all clicked (though admittedly having already lucked into the boulder made deciphering the 3 assets easy). Nevertheless, love that the solution to the switches was hidden in such a clever place.

I imagine the updated version delays the appearance of the switches? Might be confusing for the people who unearth the hint in the PC system before getting to room 1.

As for the heart scale I mentioned needing last time. Not a big fan of how you get (I checked bulbapedia and that skill does not generate a heart scale according to that source). In the end I got it by grinding Munchlax to lvl13 (despite your warning that grinding multiple levels is not needed) figuring that with Covet only having 1 PP the moveset might mean another move might be learned at lvl up.

All in all, I was glad to have gotten past the hurdle but double-doubting sources to do so (i.e. basically button mashing till something happens is less fun than I had with solving the Tyrantrum and type NPC.

Maybe the heart scale could come from a different dource? Having the Yamask hold it would be the easy one. I found myself checking the Relicsnth mural several times thinking maybe it ate a Luvdisc and had a Heart Scale stuck between its teeth. Alternatively you could put it in the Kabuto pile as the pokedex mentions they hunt prey and duck them dry.

I also spent some time looking for the heart scale around the Persian exhibit. On account of the couple mentioning NORMAL in capitals and that being the only normal type pokemon I though maybe the scale was on the floor around it as a hidden item.


Currently have the skitty & clefairy. I felt comfortable trading & tutoring moves because the first NPC won't trade Munchlax till you no longer need it. The move tutor regusing to learn moves too early was also a nice fezture.


Guessing I need to win against the couple next. Not sure how to apply the hint of making them hit less hard. Going over the 3 movesets. Noticed one move hot nerfed to 3PP so figure that will fit somewhere in the strat.

Counted the steps the boulder is from each wall and unless we can push it across the ice I don't see how that spot (4down from top, 10 from nearest right wall) will help but that's a worry for when I get strength.

Having lots of fun. Can't wait to crack the double battle & ice puzzles

 

[wiz1989]

Played for another hour yesterday. Didn't record so here's another wall of text/log

Spoiler: Making it to the ground floor

Love the solution for getting past the Tyrantrum. Absolutely inspired! Stroke of genius!

Making it to floor 1 also reveals what to do with the "fav typing"-NPC. The moment I spoke to the downstairs NPC it all clicked (though admittedly having already lucked into the boulder made deciphering the 3 assets easy). Nevertheless, love that the solution to the switches was hidden in such a clever place.

I imagine the updated version delays the appearance of the switches? Might be confusing for the people who unearth the hint in the PC system before getting to room 1.

As for the heart scale I mentioned needing last time. Not a big fan of how you get (I checked bulbapedia and that skill does not generate a heart scale according to that source). In the end I got it by grinding Munchlax to lvl13 (despite your warning that grinding multiple levels is not needed) figuring that with Covet only having 1 PP the moveset might mean another move might be learned at lvl up.

All in all, I was glad to have gotten past the hurdle but double-doubting sources to do so (i.e. basically button mashing till something happens is less fun than I had with solving the Tyrantrum and type NPC.

Maybe the heart scale could come from a different dource? Having the Yamask hold it would be the easy one. I found myself checking the Relicsnth mural several times thinking maybe it ate a Luvdisc and had a Heart Scale stuck between its teeth. Alternatively you could put it in the Kabuto pile as the pokedex mentions they hunt prey and duck them dry.

I also spent some time looking for the heart scale around the Persian exhibit. On account of the couple mentioning NORMAL in capitals and that being the only normal type pokemon I though maybe the scale was on the floor around it as a hidden item.


Currently have the skitty & clefairy. I felt comfortable trading & tutoring moves because the first NPC won't trade Munchlax till you no longer need it. The move tutor regusing to learn moves too early was also a nice fezture.


Guessing I need to win against the couple next. Not sure how to apply the hint of making them hit less hard. Going over the 3 movesets. Noticed one move hot nerfed to 3PP so figure that will fit somewhere in the strat.

Counted the steps the boulder is from each wall and unless we can push it across the ice I don't see how that spot (4down from top, 10 from nearest right wall) will help but that's a worry for when I get strength.

Having lots of fun. Can't wait to crack the double battle & ice puzzles

You're making good progress!
I really enjoy reading this diary style, thanks for sharing!

Most of the stuff you mentioned got already polished in the new update as well.
It also won't break save games.

 

[Bivurnum]

I just want to make sure I did it right and didn't just cheat on accident (I am playing on v1.0.1):

Spoiler:

Was I supposed to "trick" the collector into giving me a second focus sash by having a Pokemon hold the first one and depositing it into the PC? To me, this kind of felt like I was cheating. The collector is presented to me as a means to recover items that were discarded or used in an unintended way. He's supposed to be a safety net and not a part of any puzzles himself, or so I thought. Did I do it right, or did I find a way to cheat through the Tyrantrum fight?

 

[wiz1989]

I just want to make sure I did it right and didn't just cheat on accident (I am playing on v1.0.1):

Spoiler:

Was I supposed to "trick" the collector into giving me a second focus sash by having a Pokemon hold the first one and depositing it into the PC? To me, this kind of felt like I was cheating. The collector is presented to me as a means to recover items that were discarded or used in an unintended way. He's supposed to be a safety net and not a part of any puzzles himself, or so I thought. Did I do it right, or did I find a way to cheat through the Tyrantrum fight?

You actually found a way to trick the game which I have to analyze now. There's implementation in place that should stop you from doing this. But bugs are possible of course. Thanks for reporting!

(For anyone reading this: game is still very well playable, but a small bug was reported)

 

[Liehon]

Welp, last evening and tonight weren't great

Spoiler: as stuck as a jar of pickles that's really stuck

I have the Magic Guard Clefairy, Normalize Skitty and Mummy Yamask.
Yamask has been tutored to have substitute and roleplay (as neither Clefairy nor Skitty can learn these moves). I figure this is correct since the collector doesn't give me heart scales to fix an error.

I'm using another classic trick for solving escape rooms which is working backwards.

Currently I cannot pass the ice puzzle. The floor above has a boulder and a hole, ergo dropping the boulder through might make the puzzle solvable (just to be sure I interacted with each glass case in the ice puzzle, none are shown to have switches, items, pokémon or any other interactable aspects).

Moving the boulder requires strength and the only NPC (this side of the ice puzzle) that I haven't used yet are the double battle couple.

So most likely defeating them gives strength (a field move that Clefairy (who incidentally only has 3 moves atm) can learn.


So yeah, defeat the couple, get strength, drop boulder, solve the ice puzzle.


Only issue being that I'm going in rounds when facing the couple. The only free hint I've got is that Tyrantrum NPC who wished there were a way to make them hit less hard.

The only tool on my belt that changes attack stat is Will-o-wisp. While Persian can't hit the Yamask and I thus can buy some time to burn a pokémon (or even two if I'm lucky thanks to Follow Me or Fake Out) it doesn't give me enough time to faint the Persian and/or Stakkata (the latter's multi-hit move breaks through Yamask's substitute.

After an hour of rinse&repeated wipes and trying to talk to everything downstairs for the umpteenth time I contacted the GM. I figured maybe there was an item or something that I was still missing.

But alas, the GM tells me what I already know: defeat the couple - solve the puzzle. He does throw in a bit about playing around with the abilities to survive the battle. Another thing I already expected given that Yamask has Mummy, Skill Swap and (tutored) Roleplay. It can swap skills and copy skills.



So yeah, looping back to the earlier clue of making the couple hit less hard I've got "inflict burn status to halve attack" and "skill swap the Technician away from the Persian".

I don't know what to do.

I would almost expect on of the pokémon I've received to have the wrong ability except other players have already completed the escape room so ... yeah.


I figure that either I need to weaken their attacks to the point that Skitty can chip away at their health or I need to burn everything and just stall. But I don't know how to survive long enough for either of those strats to be feasible.

The diary above was written just to let you know where I am in the escape room, wizz. Not asking for hints (unless from my story you notice that the game has given me the wrong tools (wrong ability, missing item, wrong attack, ...), just writing it all out in the hopes inspiration strikes

 

[wiz1989]

Welp, last evening and tonight weren't great

Spoiler: as stuck as a jar of pickles that's really stuck

I have the Magic Guard Clefairy, Normalize Skitty and Mummy Yamask.
Yamask has been tutored to have substitute and roleplay (as neither Clefairy nor Skitty can learn these moves). I figure this is correct since the collector doesn't give me heart scales to fix an error.

I'm using another classic trick for solving escape rooms which is working backwards.

Currently I cannot pass the ice puzzle. The floor above has a boulder and a hole, ergo dropping the boulder through might make the puzzle solvable (just to be sure I interacted with each glass case in the ice puzzle, none are shown to have switches, items, pokémon or any other interactable aspects).

Moving the boulder requires strength and the only NPC (this side of the ice puzzle) that I haven't used yet are the double battle couple.

So most likely defeating them gives strength (a field move that Clefairy (who incidentally only has 3 moves atm) can learn.


So yeah, defeat the couple, get strength, drop boulder, solve the ice puzzle.


Only issue being that I'm going in rounds when facing the couple. The only free hint I've got is that Tyrantrum NPC who wished there were a way to make them hit less hard.

The only tool on my belt that changes attack stat is Will-o-wisp. While Persian can't hit the Yamask and I thus can buy some time to burn a pokémon (or even two if I'm lucky thanks to Follow Me or Fake Out) it doesn't give me enough time to faint the Persian and/or Stakkata (the latter's multi-hit move breaks through Yamask's substitute.

After an hour of rinse&repeated wipes and trying to talk to everything downstairs for the umpteenth time I contacted the GM. I figured maybe there was an item or something that I was still missing.

But alas, the GM tells me what I already know: defeat the couple - solve the puzzle. He does throw in a bit about playing around with the abilities to survive the battle. Another thing I already expected given that Yamask has Mummy, Skill Swap and (tutored) Roleplay. It can swap skills and copy skills.



So yeah, looping back to the earlier clue of making the couple hit less hard I've got "inflict burn status to halve attack" and "skill swap the Technician away from the Persian".

I don't know what to do.

I would almost expect on of the pokémon I've received to have the wrong ability except other players have already completed the escape room so ... yeah.


I figure that either I need to weaken their attacks to the point that Skitty can chip away at their health or I need to burn everything and just stall. But I don't know how to survive long enough for either of those strats to be feasible.

The diary above was written just to let you know where I am in the escape room, wizz. Not asking for hints (unless from my story you notice that the game has given me the wrong tools (wrong ability, missing item, wrong attack, ...), just writing it all out in the hopes inspiration strikes

I admire your tenacity!

So first of all: all assumptions and conclusions you make at the top of your post are correct!

I'll give you one tiny hint to understand the NPC messages a little better: CAPS are there for a reason!

Besides that all tools are available for you! Your abilities are correct as well. Focus on them as adviced and also think about why you had to tutor moves. I mean, everything has a reason, right?

I'll cheer you on!

 

[Liehon]

I'll give you one tiny hint to understand the NPC messages a little better: CAPS are there for a reason!

I had noticed those both in the F1 NPC as the F3 NPCs

Besides that all tools are available for you! Your abilities are correct as well. Focus on them as adviced and also think about why you had to tutor moves. I mean, everything has a reason, right?

Thanks for confirming I'm not fighting against a bug or edge case of the code.

I'll cheer you on!

I'm so sorry but

Spoiler: I cracked and peeked at the video you shared in the original post

I was at my wits end. I knew I could spend another 3 hours in the museum and make the same amount of progress so I watched the video.

You were right. Everything was there. I just failed to put it together (lack of imagination, didn't think of using the same move twice in a row)

My only solace is that I was right as well. More time wouldn't have made the difference. The pieces were there and I had all the clues. I just lacked creativity in putting it all together.


Once you get past the initial hurdle the double battle mostly sorts itself out. I say mostly because I did get worried about the Cofarigus switching in and out. Don't know whether it was luck or something but I was literally down to 1 HP from substituting when it stopped switching. One more switch and I would have been a goner.



Despite the stress of the switching in & out I think this battle is just as inspired as the Tyrantrum one. All the tools are there and once you see the path it's rather straightforward and done in a decent number of turns.


With the double battle finished and strength obtained the ice puzzle becomes a breeze. The director's reaction on seeing the Yamask was a fun bit of writing.

No notes there. I think after the difficult double battle a low stakes field puzzle is a nice palate cleanser.


The pacing there is really good which (for me at least) kind of contrasts with the last battle.

Especially for those who found the clues it's clear that you need to stall until conditions take them down. It's just that with the weather, ingrain, aqua ring, leftovers, burns, ... each turn starts to drag on.

We get to see the finish line and then end up in this very long battle and it kills the pacing. I ended up comparing my first 4 moves with the video to confirm I had the solution and then skipped 5 minutes further to check whether there was anything else behind. With the knowledge that the battle was the last and it's just a matter of patience I left it there.



Not sure how to fix that though. Maybe I just had too high expectations for the climax of the puzzle (I thought maybe we could enter the tent and do stuff there). The Egyptian & Fossil rooms are really fun to explore and I greatly enjoyed solving the puzzles. The bottom floor needs ... something. In essence it currently holds 1 clue, 1 pokéball to pick up and a trade. Those don't really feel connected to that room, they could be on higher floors.

Final rating:
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 Victini
Difficulty of puzzles: challenging yet fair
Communication of clues (on a scale of Whismur to Exploud): Loudred (the exact nice sweet spot)

Total: 5 out of 7 - not enough water ;) (or in other words, when's the next escape room?)

Spoiler: Some random bullet points

1. There's some really nice assets (the skeletons, the stack of dome & helix fossils, the wall decorations, the tent, ...) which I thought would've contained clues or a challenge but they were just pretty (not a bad thing per se but maybe there could've been a heart scale stuck among the helix fossil stack instead of having them just on the floor? The other one could maybe be in one of the cases in the ice puzzle (with the clue being that that's the only case which isn't empty))
2. I thought one of the Cofarigus on the wall would come to live at some point (to join us as a team member or to battle). I even tried to interact with them and then turned my back to them (to see if it's like the Boo in Mario).
3. Absolutely loved that this escape room had a unique setting, theme and title rather than just being somewhere in the overworld.
4. The pokemon we have with deviating movesets (1/1 covet, 3/3 moonlight, etc) make me sometimes hesitate how much PP opposing pokémon have and whether I can stall them and what other surprises to expect from them.

 

[wiz1989]

I had noticed those both in the F1 NPC as the F3 NPCs




Thanks for confirming I'm not fighting against a bug or edge case of the code.


I'm so sorry but

Spoiler: I cracked and peeked at the video you shared in the original post

I was at my wits end. I knew I could spend another 3 hours in the museum and make the same amount of progress so I watched the video.

You were right. Everything was there. I just failed to put it together (lack of imagination, didn't think of using the same move twice in a row)

My only solace is that I was right as well. More time wouldn't have made the difference. The pieces were there and I had all the clues. I just lacked creativity in putting it all together.


Once you get past the initial hurdle the double battle mostly sorts itself out. I say mostly because I did get worried about the Cofarigus switching in and out. Don't know whether it was luck or something but I was literally down to 1 HP from substituting when it stopped switching. One more switch and I would have been a goner.



Despite the stress of the switching in & out I think this battle is just as inspired as the Tyrantrum one. All the tools are there and once you see the path it's rather straightforward and done in a decent number of turns.


With the double battle finished and strength obtained the ice puzzle becomes a breeze. The director's reaction on seeing the Yamask was a fun bit of writing.

No notes there. I think after the difficult double battle a low stakes field puzzle is a nice palate cleanser.


The pacing there is really good which (for me at least) kind of contrasts with the last battle.

Especially for those who found the clues it's clear that you need to stall until conditions take them down. It's just that with the weather, ingrain, aqua ring, leftovers, burns, ... each turn starts to drag on.

We get to see the finish line and then end up in this very long battle and it kills the pacing. I ended up comparing my first 4 moves with the video to confirm I had the solution and then skipped 5 minutes further to check whether there was anything else behind. With the knowledge that the battle was the last and it's just a matter of patience I left it there.



Not sure how to fix that though. Maybe I just had too high expectations for the climax of the puzzle (I thought maybe we could enter the tent and do stuff there). The Egyptian & Fossil rooms are really fun to explore and I greatly enjoyed solving the puzzles. The bottom floor needs ... something. In essence it currently holds 1 clue, 1 pokéball to pick up and a trade. Those don't really feel connected to that room, they could be on higher floors.

Final rating:
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 Victini
Difficulty of puzzles: challenging yet fair
Communication of clues (on a scale of Whismur to Exploud): Loudred (the exact nice sweet spot)

Total: 5 out of 7 - not enough water ;) (or in other words, when's the next escape room?)

Spoiler: Some random bullet points

1. There's some really nice assets (the skeletons, the stack of dome & helix fossils, the wall decorations, the tent, ...) which I thought would've contained clues or a challenge but they were just pretty (not a bad thing per se but maybe there could've been a heart scale stuck among the helix fossil stack instead of having them just on the floor? The other one could maybe be in one of the cases in the ice puzzle (with the clue being that that's the only case which isn't empty))
2. I thought one of the Cofarigus on the wall would come to live at some point (to join us as a team member or to battle). I even tried to interact with them and then turned my back to them (to see if it's like the Boo in Mario).
3. Absolutely loved that this escape room had a unique setting, theme and title rather than just being somewhere in the overworld.
4. The pokemon we have with deviating movesets (1/1 covet, 3/3 moonlight, etc) make me sometimes hesitate how much PP opposing pokémon have and whether I can stall them and what other surprises to expect from them.

Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us!
Also thanks for all the feedback you gave along the way!

If you give the last battle another go please let me know in private how you solved it. There was a few solutions possible so far and I'm really eager to see your approach to it!

 

[wiz1989]

I had noticed those both in the F1 NPC as the F3 NPCs




Thanks for confirming I'm not fighting against a bug or edge case of the code.


I'm so sorry but

Spoiler: I cracked and peeked at the video you shared in the original post

I was at my wits end. I knew I could spend another 3 hours in the museum and make the same amount of progress so I watched the video.

You were right. Everything was there. I just failed to put it together (lack of imagination, didn't think of using the same move twice in a row)

My only solace is that I was right as well. More time wouldn't have made the difference. The pieces were there and I had all the clues. I just lacked creativity in putting it all together.


Once you get past the initial hurdle the double battle mostly sorts itself out. I say mostly because I did get worried about the Cofarigus switching in and out. Don't know whether it was luck or something but I was literally down to 1 HP from substituting when it stopped switching. One more switch and I would have been a goner.



Despite the stress of the switching in & out I think this battle is just as inspired as the Tyrantrum one. All the tools are there and once you see the path it's rather straightforward and done in a decent number of turns.


With the double battle finished and strength obtained the ice puzzle becomes a breeze. The director's reaction on seeing the Yamask was a fun bit of writing.

No notes there. I think after the difficult double battle a low stakes field puzzle is a nice palate cleanser.


The pacing there is really good which (for me at least) kind of contrasts with the last battle.

Especially for those who found the clues it's clear that you need to stall until conditions take them down. It's just that with the weather, ingrain, aqua ring, leftovers, burns, ... each turn starts to drag on.

We get to see the finish line and then end up in this very long battle and it kills the pacing. I ended up comparing my first 4 moves with the video to confirm I had the solution and then skipped 5 minutes further to check whether there was anything else behind. With the knowledge that the battle was the last and it's just a matter of patience I left it there.



Not sure how to fix that though. Maybe I just had too high expectations for the climax of the puzzle (I thought maybe we could enter the tent and do stuff there). The Egyptian & Fossil rooms are really fun to explore and I greatly enjoyed solving the puzzles. The bottom floor needs ... something. In essence it currently holds 1 clue, 1 pokéball to pick up and a trade. Those don't really feel connected to that room, they could be on higher floors.

Final rating:
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 Victini
Difficulty of puzzles: challenging yet fair
Communication of clues (on a scale of Whismur to Exploud): Loudred (the exact nice sweet spot)

Total: 5 out of 7 - not enough water ;) (or in other words, when's the next escape room?)

Spoiler: Some random bullet points

1. There's some really nice assets (the skeletons, the stack of dome & helix fossils, the wall decorations, the tent, ...) which I thought would've contained clues or a challenge but they were just pretty (not a bad thing per se but maybe there could've been a heart scale stuck among the helix fossil stack instead of having them just on the floor? The other one could maybe be in one of the cases in the ice puzzle (with the clue being that that's the only case which isn't empty))
2. I thought one of the Cofarigus on the wall would come to live at some point (to join us as a team member or to battle). I even tried to interact with them and then turned my back to them (to see if it's like the Boo in Mario).
3. Absolutely loved that this escape room had a unique setting, theme and title rather than just being somewhere in the overworld.
4. The pokemon we have with deviating movesets (1/1 covet, 3/3 moonlight, etc) make me sometimes hesitate how much PP opposing pokémon have and whether I can stall them and what other surprises to expect from them.

Little remark to the last battle:

Spoiler:

It's actually a run against the clock and I encourage you to give it a try. You only have 10 rounds until they start to struggle and take you down easily.
And it is NOT a stall battle. At least not from the player's side!

 

[wiz1989]

Freezai just released a cut together of his recent stream of the hack.

The link is added to the main post.

 

[wiz1989]

Hey guys,
here's a little update on what's going on at the moment.

1.) new release is out now. Version 1.0.2 includes some bugfixes, a little bit of hint updates and some serious quality of life improvements.
This includes: instant text option, added running shoes and finally running from trainer battles!

2.) There have been a couple streams in these days on Youtube and Twitch. I added the one from Chrism on the main post. There's more to come soon...

3.) Unfortunately there have been reports of rare game freezes at a specific point in time right after defeating Stakataka. This usually doesn't happen and is hard to trace down for me. I am working on it! So long, please make a save state before the double battle!

4.) I added my personal best for any speed running attempts. So go ahead and try to beat 00:24:42! ;-)

 

[wiz1989]

Updated to version 1.0.3 that (hopefully) finally fixes the game freeze glitch that happened in rare cases during the double battle. Root cause was an edge case in the AI switching logic that has now been patched by RHH/DizzyEgg.

Also a few tiles were updated to new graphics after running into copyright discussions with these assets. Sorry for any trouble that was unwillingly caused by this on my end!

Big shoutout to the community here for helping me with both fixing the AI bug and working new graphics, namely @ShinyDragonHunter, @DizzyEgg, Lady Miko and Mudskip!
You're the best!

Also, there is a new stream link in the main post showing how Patterrz managed to play the escape room! It's A LOT of fun to watch!

 

[wiz1989]

Just added the new Patterrz video cut to the main post. Check it out, it's really fun to watch. Dude is getting mad playing this! xD

There will be more new streams and videos coming up in the next few weeks from other well known Poketubers. I'm excited to say the least! :)

 

[wiz1989]

Version 1.0.4 was just released which is most likely gonna be the final release.
I am happy with the state of the hack and the most recent streams went very smooth and didn't bring up any more bugs.

Latest stream event was a four player race between the HC nuzlocke legends Whacko, Drxx, Moxi and Prouty. AstroidVideos also played it on his Youtube channel the same day.
Check out their newly added streams in the main post!

Thanks again to everyone helping me out and spreading the word. Much appreciated! :)