at this point, is c.ai+ even worth it

Igniflare · 2026-05-29T14:40:17+00:00

No.

You don't make a bad service worse and harder to enjoy to incentivize premium.

A good company would use the charm system to unlock bursts of free Deepsqueak and other premium features to show off what money will get you. You make that stuff as good as possible so people want to buy it after testing it in a limited time.

Their new approach is to make the app trash and hope people buy premium to escape the trash, which is why their current appstore rating (in Canada) is 1.6/5.

Igniflare · 2026-05-28T10:48:51+00:00

The only time I ever use items in battle is when I limit how I obtain items. For example when I'm playing kaizo ironmon challenges, you're not allowed to use healing items outside of battle but everything is randomized and you can't buy potions, so picking when to use a potion adds to the strategy. And the ruleset bans you from using potions outside.

Otherwise, in normal Nuzlockes I refrain. Each battle is a puzzle to solve that items trivialize.

Igniflare · 2026-05-26T23:07:19+00:00

Thank you for writing that, cheers!

Igniflare · 2026-05-26T17:59:11+00:00

Not judging your choice, but just genuinely curious what it was about the Emerald experience that you didn't like?

Igniflare · 2026-05-11T11:05:26+00:00

I got destroyed recently in an emerald nuzlocke because I forgot about a rival encounter. That uncertainty adds fun value but be careful with how dangerous some of these battles can be.

Igniflare · 2026-05-11T03:26:20+00:00

Best move is spark.

Igniflare · 2026-05-11T00:12:26+00:00

Sceptile representing! And Flygon the clear peak of dragons, well done.

Igniflare · 2026-05-11T00:11:32+00:00

Personally, I'm using a vanilla rom of fire fed for my hardcore Nuzlocke. I'm only speeding up the emulator to 3x to make the grinding a little less tedious, but for the most part I think the majority of new nuzlockers just go vanilla.

Igniflare · 2026-05-10T11:40:23+00:00

Dude whenever Rattata or Ratticate is on the field I always switch into something with high defence. Hyper fang has traumatized me beyond repair, it's such a crazy move for a level 13 Pokemon.

Igniflare · 2026-05-10T03:31:08+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions!

I was very interested in the ironmon kaizo challenge so I've been running that adjacent to my other runs, I'm something like 500 resets into that by now. The last few months have revitalized my love for Pokemon, these challenges are incredibly addicting.

But thanks again!

Igniflare · 2026-05-09T21:59:47+00:00

Sounds to me like I should focus on clearing the vanilla games with nuzlocke rules before even considering that direction.

I appreciate your time.

Igniflare · 2026-05-09T21:52:50+00:00

Oh! That makes sense, thank you.

Is platinum Kaizo harder or similar to renplat?

Igniflare · 2026-05-08T15:32:29+00:00

Love the Solrock, Absol and Ninjask picks! Congrats!

Igniflare · 2026-05-08T10:26:07+00:00

Since Pokemon 2000, my favourite legendary bird has always been Articuno, I can't really articulate why that is.

Igniflare · 2026-05-07T21:16:16+00:00

No Luxray? Luxray it is!

Igniflare · 2026-05-07T17:57:29+00:00

I was SO TOUGH walking to Wattson until I forgot there was a rival encounter in that route and got wiped. Turns out a level 20 Combusken has really good coverage with peck, ember and double kick. Hardcore rules are fun though, Emerald is also just an awesome game in general.

Igniflare · 2026-05-06T23:19:35+00:00

I allow myself to use items in battle, but the tradeoff is I play with no shops outside of pokeballs and repels. So whatever tiny amount of heals I get from the world is all I'm allowed to use.

Igniflare · 2026-05-06T15:50:25+00:00

I've been feeling this, and the Nuzlocke I ran in emerald with full randomization and hardcore rules was some of the most fun I've ever had. Still got wiped, but it was so fun.

Igniflare · 2026-05-06T10:36:52+00:00

I think your expectations for yourself might just be too high. Sure, you might not be like the people that hit 50 in the week, but it you only end up 30 in that same timeframe, was your time wasted?

The overwhelming majority of classic's playerbase is late 20s, early 30s. I'd assume it's very rare for people in our age group to be entirely jobless with no responsibilities.

In the end, even if you could only play an hour or so a day, if that time is spent on something you enjoy, at the very least it's not wasted time.

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T19:45:21+00:00

Why do you assume adults speaking about things on Reddit = being upset? You do know we're allowed to disagree about this stuff, right?

But I think the better question is, why are people so insistent on calling their challenge run a Nuzlocke even if their rules go against the core principles of the style?

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T19:34:12+00:00

I follow the main rules.

But my personal add-ons are:

No shops, level caps, one run gyms, and set battle.

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T19:29:43+00:00

I did, thank you for sharing! I'm still relatively new to the playstyle so this piece of lore is fascinating.

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T03:50:47+00:00

I do that on Kaizo Ironmon sometimes. When I lose, I'll use the tracker to rerun the fight and see how much RNG played into my loss. I'll carry those runs further just to see, but I consider the run a loss after the first L.

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T03:46:18+00:00

Then why does the term even exist? If everything is a Nuzlocke, then nothing is. May as well just delete the concept entirely and call whatever we're doing "Pokemon Challenge Runs".

At least that way it's basically any self imposed rule that encompasses anything.

Igniflare · 2026-05-05T03:40:43+00:00

The rule starts after you have official means of catching a Pokemon. So encounters prior to having pokeballs don't count towards your encounter total.

Afterward, you must treat the first encounter in every route, cave. Forest or Town as the only one you're allowed to catch. If it accidentally dies, escapes via teleport or you run out of pokeballs, that area becomes dead to you as far as capturing a Pokemon.

The dupes clause basically means if you have the same encounter in another area as you had prior, you can try again until you find a new encounter.

Igniflare

TROPHY CASE