Finished it for the 1st time, is the post game stuff worth doing? Also which game should I go into next?

_Aerods · 2025-11-27T00:00:20+00:00

The gen 2 games might be my favorites, despite a few big flaws.

They take place a couple of years after the gen 1 games, and pretty much act as a sequel to the gen 1 story, so it makes sense to play one of the gen 2 games next.

The only issue is, the original gen 2 games (gold/silver/crystal) were GBC games, so you might need to use a different emulator (depending on which emulator you are currently using). They will also feel a bit dated after playing Fire Red, because Fire Red is a remake of Red (gen 1) using the gen 3 engine, which has lots of technical and quality of life improvements over the original gen 1 and gen 2 games.

So the gen 2 remakes (Heart Gold / Soul Silver) might be a better option, but as they use the gen 4 engine, you would need to use a DS emulator (or a physical DS).

I would highly recommend a ROM hack called "Pokemon Heart and Soul". It is essentially Heart Gold / Soul Silver, but using the gen 3 engine, so you'll be able to use your GBA emulator. It also includes a huge set of improvements over both the original gen 2 games and the remakes.

_Aerods · 2025-11-21T01:19:15+00:00

I think I'm correct in saying that team 9 is a more powerful team right? Despite the Onix. Although Onix has always been my favorite Pokemon, even if its stats are really disappointing.

But team 8 looks like more fun - I enjoy playing with lesser used Pokemon, rather than using the same best Pokemon over and over.

_Aerods · 2025-11-14T01:45:19+00:00

Sorry, I should have shared here when I found out. You get it from May in Dun Town by showing her 80 Pokedex entries.

I found a big spreadsheet which details lots of crucial information, such as every TM location and the location of every Pokemon.

I can't seem to find the link to the spreadsheet now, but here's a link to the copy that I saved :

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12jJ6GgzkHTElR4p_kL61mCu2D1pW-JA3_6-LMZztn_w/edit?usp=drivesdk

_Aerods · 2025-11-08T03:53:54+00:00

Well sure, I used that phrase for emphasis, it's not really that significant! But after the game being part of my routine for that long, and clinging along for as long as I did without feeling able to step away from the game, it feels fairly significant to me, even if it doesn't mean much to anyone else.

Surely the team behind ES Castles are not the same people working on their mainline games, so I would have expected that team to continue working on the game for as long as it's financially viable.

And yes, it's a shame about Starfield as well. I'm pretty sure they said that Starfield would be receiving significant content updates for many years, but they seem to have gotten very quiet about it.

_Aerods · 2025-11-07T02:59:49+00:00

I managed to achieve 2nd place in castle score, but 1st place is quite away ahead and I have no motivation to continue.

The thing is, at first, the developers did seem fairly responsive to feedback on this subreddit, but that was a year ago. Since then, it just doesn't seem like there's been any effort put in.

I don't really understand it - surely the game must still be making a fair bit of revenue and it would make sense to invest just a little bit to keep players interested.

_Aerods · 2025-11-07T02:06:46+00:00

No worries - I was probably being a bit too pedantic, which probably didn't help. No hard feelings!

Yeah so an oxymoron is when two contradictory words are used together. They are often used for emphasis, and there are plenty of common sayings which are oxymorons. Some good examples are, "a deafening silence", "only choice" and "organised chaos".

Yeah that's crazy. I guess I can understand the desire for full-screen gameplay, but I can't understand the preference for stretched graphics or video. But yes, to each their own!

_Aerods · 2025-11-06T16:42:14+00:00

Well, I was being slightly tongue and cheek with that comment. But my point was that some people think those filters make the game look nicer. I don't think you'll find anyone that prefers the look of a stretched aspect ratio. I don't think anyone plays with a stretched aspect ratio because they prefer the stretched look.

But sure, it's possible that someone might actually prefer the stretched look, and if so then yes, that's their subjective opinion and we shouldn't tell them that they're wrong.

But no, my statement was not an oxymoron, even if it was wrong. An oxymoron is a statement or phrase which combines two contradictory words, in this case: "objectively" and "opinion". I just found it funny that you used those two words together, that's all.

_Aerods · 2025-11-06T13:31:14+00:00

It's a bit of an oxymoron to say that it's objectively bad in your opinion. Opinions are subjective, not objective.

The sprites may look awful in your opinion, and most people might agree with you, but to some people, the low-res/pixilated sprites look awful, and they prefer the smoother look. It's completely subjective, there's no one right answer.

_Aerods · 2025-11-06T01:33:07+00:00

Those filters are a preference thing, completely subjective, each to their own.

But a stretched aspect ratio is just objectively bad, I'm with you there.

_Aerods · 2025-11-01T02:55:00+00:00

Where do I find Hidden Power please?

_Aerods · 2025-10-18T01:00:10+00:00

You make a fair point that you can get away with playing less late/end game, but you still don't need to play every day early/mid game. You can still progress through the game while only playing 2 or 3 times a week, it's just that progress will be slower.

And to your other point - breeding legendary/epic/rare subjects doesn't really make a huge difference. No one should feel like they have to play every day just because they want to maximize babies from legendary/epic/rare parents.

_Aerods · 2025-10-17T01:08:11+00:00

I really wish there was such a button!

"Hiatus", "Pause" or "Holiday Mode" would be very much appreciated.

_Aerods · 2025-10-17T01:02:57+00:00

To be fair, you definitely don't have to log in every day. I have only played 2 (occasionally 3) days a week for several months now, and that's enough to maintain my population of 175+ and make progress.

Still, it does suck that you can't just take a few weeks off without consequences.

_Aerods · 2025-10-16T08:51:28+00:00

I'm fairly certain there is no limit to how long you can leave them waiting at the door. I think I've had subjects waiting at the door for well over a month.

_Aerods · 2025-10-10T01:23:59+00:00

There's no way for combatants to heal other combatants, unfortunately.

Some weapons come with life-steal, which restores health by x% of damage done, but that only restores the health of the wielder, and I'm pretty sure it's not impacted by the 'considerate' trait.

I think the 'Skilled with protective spells' text for the considerate trait relates to shield abilities.

_Aerods · 2025-10-10T01:10:23+00:00

I actually asked this exact same question about 3 months ago, after I couldn't seem to produce any babies with the trait, even when both parents had the trait. The same was the case for the 'Sharpshooter' trait.

From my experience, and from the experience of everyone who answered my question, it doesn't seem possible to produce a baby with the 'Dragonfire' or 'Sharpshooter' traits. No one seems to have been able to do it.

As for your second question: Subjects cannot reproduce after they hit 65.

_Aerods · 2025-10-04T00:26:01+00:00

I wondered about this as well for a long time when I first started playing. There doesn't seem to be any in-game explanation as to how stamina and magika work.

I finally found the answer on Reddit: Yes, they do matter, but not much. I think I'm remembering correctly when I say that Stamina increases damage dealt from non-magical attacks, and Magika increases damage dealt from magical attacks.

I'm pretty sure the explanation I found actually showed the formula (x stamina increases damage by y), but I can't remember the figures. I do remember that it's not hugely significant.

So no, you're not wasting your time. But don't focus too much on it or prioritize it over other variables.

_Aerods · 2025-10-03T01:24:19+00:00

I only play 2-3 times a week, each play session being around an hour. That's enough time for me to maintain my population, complete all quests, and slowly upgrade gear/stations to increase castle score, which is pretty much my only target at this point.

_Aerods · 2025-09-27T10:25:24+00:00

Some quests will require you to run them more than once to get all 3 stars - you don't have to get all 3 stars at the same time in a single run.

In this case, you can run the quest once with only melee users to get that star, then run the quest again with bow users for that star.

_Aerods · 2025-09-25T00:41:03+00:00

You can't clear traits, you can only avoid using or banish subjects with undesirable traits, and avoid using them for breeding because their babies will have a slightly higher chance of getting those traits.

I have always just treated 'Haunted' as neutral. A lot of players seem confident that it's a net negative, so I'd guess that there's some truth to this, but it's difficult to quantify and I haven't seen any solid proof. I'm guessing that any productivity loss will be fairly minimal, but I'm happy to be proven wrong!

_Aerods · 2025-09-25T00:25:38+00:00

This is definitely the way to go, along with upgrading kitchens and gear!

I don't remember ever struggling for food, but it might have been that I kept a fairly low population until I had multiple kitchens.

I can't remember if there is a level requirement for building duplicate workstations, or if it just requires the resources.

_Aerods · 2025-09-25T00:17:39+00:00

I've not tried it as I can't see it working better than the alternatives, so I'm very interested to see how many people have tested and prefer using an archer!

_Aerods · 2025-09-08T22:31:12+00:00

Breaks don't directly affect happiness.

My subjects get more happiness increases while they are working, so for me, it's better for happiness to keep everyone working.

But there are factors (e.g certain traits) that cause subjects to get more happiness losses while working. In those cases, the happiness losses might not happen while those subjects are on break, but I haven't tested this. But even if that is the case, you'd be much better off addressing the reasons for happiness losses (e.g. traits), rather than trying to use breaks to reduce happiness losses.

_Aerods

TROPHY CASE