Global Link security and hack checks to get a buff

[Krash]

So by now if you haven't heard, the Japanese Global-Link is rolling out stricter rules regarding the legitimacy and legality of not only Pokemon, but the save files as well. Before I go any further, let me note the definition of "Legitimacy" in this post refers to "any Pokemon obtained in game by legitimate means, that have been unaltered in any way", and "Legality" refers to "any Pokemon obtained either in game or through non-standard methods, altered or not, that can resemble a legitimate Pokemon and can clear the hack check".

So we've finally come to it. Pokemon is slamming the hammer on Powersaves. No more IV altering, no more quick-EV training, and no more fast-hatching. I don't know what else Powersaves can do, but to my knowledge, these are the most common. What this does for the competitive scene is monumental. No more 6-IV Shiny Landorus and whatnot. It brings things back to the days of weekend-long breeding chains. This also means a huge drop in Hidden Power users (and just after I got my Legal HP Ice Zapdos...Ah well, it's a dex filler). I predict tournaments and VGC level out IMMENSELY after this. I don't mean to say that there won't still be huge threats, because let's face it, although the quick methods for raising a Pokemon have been dealt with, those of us with the time to breed the old school way will still manage to bring our A-game.

Now on to the part that scares a lot of the Powersaves users I've spoken to on the matter: Altered Save File checks. Even if you breed properly, Powersaves still gives you the ability to get a boat-load of items. Infinite Master Balls, Rare Candies, and the like, leading a lot of the people I've spoken to to speculate that they will be flagged as cheaters if they participate in Ratings Battles. Queue an onslaught of gamesave resets to ensure THAT doesn't happen.

Now, I don't know if this beefed security will translate globally or remain Japan-specific, but I think it's safe to say that what happens competitively for one country will spread worldwide, like Japan Sand.

I want to hear what everyone else thinks about the new changes. Does this alter your play style? How do you think this will change the competitive scene? Sound off.

 

[Missingno. Master]

Good. Hell, I don't even know why people bother to cheat anymore, the whole process of IV breeding and EV training has been made so much easier than it used to be. Used to be I had to knock out Shuppet after Shuppet if I wanted to max out Attack, and with nothing but the Macho Brace (and MAYBE the Pokérus, if we were lucky!) to help accelerate the process. No hordes, no power items, no Super Training (you had to manually keep count of how many Shuppet you KO'd! Or Zubat, or Sandshrew, or whatever the case may be), no Exp. Share key item splitting EVs among the whole team at once. And screw 6 IVs- back then, you were lucky if you got so much as one perfect IV and the nature and Ability you were shooting for. Breeding was a complete gamble back then. In fact, I'm in the process of leveling up a Phanpy, which I spent an hour or two breeding up and EV training, including getting the Egg Moves I wanted onto it. Perfect nature, 6 IVs... if this was Generation III, I'd still be breeding Phanpy just trying for the IVs and nature, never mind having EV trained it.

 

[Krash]

I lucked in to recently completing a collection of a Ditto with every competitively-viable nature (Thank you, Synchronize), and have all of Super Training completed so I can EV train fairly quickly. While I think the majority of people where, as I said, using less-than-legit methods with their games, I'm fairly certain most were specifically for nature, IV, EV, and hatching. That doesn't make it any less illegitimate, but it's by no means a terrible sin.

I am happy, however, that this will SURELY clean up Battle Spot. Finally, we will be rid of the Shiny Legend teams, or the 6IV, Shiny, Contest Master Ribbon mons we've been seeing.

 

[Missingno. Master]

or the 6IV, Shiny, Contest Master Ribbon mons we've been seeing.

Er... what's wrong with them having the Contest Master Ribbon? I actually got that legitimately on my Shiny Kricketune, and on my Wynaut (the Wynaut's not Shiny, but still).

 

[Krash]

or the 6IV, Shiny, Contest Master Ribbon mons we've been seeing.

Er... what's wrong with them having the Contest Master Ribbon? I actually got that legitimately on my Shiny Kricketune, and on my Wynaut (the Wynaut's not Shiny, but still).

Not a single thing. But when every member of the team has one, each is Shiny, and each has perfect Hidden Powers suited for their species, it begs one to question their legitimacy.

 

[Missingno. Master]

or the 6IV, Shiny, Contest Master Ribbon mons we've been seeing.

Er... what's wrong with them having the Contest Master Ribbon? I actually got that legitimately on my Shiny Kricketune, and on my Wynaut (the Wynaut's not Shiny, but still).

Not a single thing. But when every member of the team has one, each is Shiny, and each has perfect Hidden Powers suited for their species, it begs one to question their legitimacy.

Ah, yeah, that'd do it.

 

[Bittersweet]

This is some news I was really glad to hear. This change can't have come fast enough; can't wait until they roll it out worldwide and improve on it in Gen VII. I really hate running into hackers on the Battle Spot (like, really, I have no problem with hacking if you're doing it for yourself but keep it off public WiFi for heaven's sake).

Calling a few things now:

- Come Gen VII, Game Sync will be compulsory for online play (to make the detection of altered save files easier, and allowing Nintendo to keep tabs on your recent activity... so they'll know if a Shiny legendary pops up in your PC box between saves despite no trades or legal captures taking place for it.)

- Gen VII will make IV breeding far easier with the introduction of some new feature, like how Gen VI made EV training easier with Super Training

 

[Almonds]

Excellent news. The GTS, random trades, and Free Battles are going to get cleaned up for good tbh they should have done this years ago.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

Praise the Pokegods above! I am so tired of running into crap like perfect IV Timid shiny Thundurus and Zapdos who somehow managed to conveniently have great Hidden Powers like Fighting or Ice. Now, it's possible to get them legitimately, but let's get real. It would take a long time to get those kind of Pokemon the legit way, something I don't see the average player who has a day job doing.

Before I had the mentality that Powersaves and Action Replay users shouldn't be scrutinized since they paid money for their devices, but since the scene has become a lot more competitive and actual, big-time prizes are a thing, screw that noise! Use your Action Replay for personal uses for all I care. Don't use them for Play! events or even against another human being online. Just don't. It's really shitty.

Can't wait for this to be implemented and I hope it gets a worldwide overhaul.

 

[Osprey]

Aw sweet! I'm looking forward to the Battle Spot getting gutted of those hackjob teams. The only way this could negatively affect me is if the game won't allow me to transfer my (probably hacked) 6 IV Ditto anywhere. Otherwise, all my teams are 100% legit.

 

[Daddy Frost]

Sweeeet. I stopped battling against others a while ago simply because I got tired of bumping into seriously hacked teams every other battle.

 

[Gard81]

A most welcome change. I'm interested to know though, how do they check the save file?

 

[MonkeyMan213]

As much as everyone is saying that Powersaves will be stopped, i personally think that it won't. I even saw a few posts on Facebook groups saying that Powersaves and PkHex won't be stopped, but what is called CyberSaves which can hack the game and such, which does a lot more than Powersaves, will be stopped. So until the day when they actually do stop Powersaves from working, we'll just have to deal with powersaves.

 

[Krash]

https://twitter.com/pokemon_phd/status/628592791250169856


News is out that the hack check is being improved due to Japanese players injecting their own save files with code that can erase a persons save file after they've battled online with said hacker.

This is scary shit.

 

[Nothia Blue]

I'll be honest, I'm not exactly clean when it comes to hacking and stuff- 3rd gen with an ar device, i think, for legendary Pokemon.
4th gen i used an ar machine to get master balls and money and tms.
5th gen was the cleanest i've been with hacks- absolutely none.
6th gen was fairly ok. I did hack in a legendary Pokemon I wanted and am considering a few powersaves for my files, but maybe not anymore.
But since I'm not competitive, i didn't care about IVs, Stats, hidden power or natures or any of those. and i don't play battle spot with hacked guys, or at all aside from 2 instances with my sister.
I mean, if you absolutely have to hack in legendary pokemon, don't use them in competitive. same with shinies. it's a shame that so many people hacked so many perfect mons that it had to go to this.
But I'm slightly confused; is this simply just spanning battle spot, global link and Tournaments? anything on Pokebank? I'm sure it will hit Pokebank, and I'm scared for that cause my sis does use power save for shinies, and I think she may have had her save corrupted once, only for powersave to save it.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Well, this is a very welcoming change. And I just recently clobbered a guy with a hacked team of shiny legends twice. Finally, no more of that slag. It's been plaguing the airwaves for far too long, and now they've finally decided to do something about it. Now I can feel free to us whatever Mon I catch/breed fairly without it being destroyed by an overzealous hacker/cheater. It's been a reason why I've stopped going on my wifi for battles, as almost every team is perfect in each and every department, and I get demolished in the process. Really dampens one's spirit. The only time I ever exploited something like that was way back in Gen 1 due to Missingno, but that was because I was just a kid messing around. If this spreads out throughout the entire Nintendo airwaves, then this will make wifi battling more fun, as now EVERYONE will be on the same level. No more hackers. No more all-shiny legends. No more "perfect" Mons. No more of that slag. This is a most delightful bit of news. In your face, hackers!

 

[Apawn:p]

Those who have already been confirmed to have done this will have consequences enacted soon. This follows recent instances of save data loss for innocent players after they have encounter certain people with modified data. We'll keep you apprised of further developments.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN U SUE THAT!?

News is out that the hack check is being improved due to Japanese players injecting their own save files with code that can erase a persons save file after they've battled online with said hacker.

I feel sick........

No more "perfect" Mons. No more of that slag. This is a most delightful bit of news. In your face, hackers!

U can still bread 6 ivs

also!!!!!:
http://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/information/fc870890-1b7b-4c57-b84a-92fc4286804b

 

[The Infidel]

Nintendo are trying to sound tough but they will never stop people hacking. You can hack Pokemon now to be perfectly indistinguishable from a Pokemon legitimately obtained.

Yes we all know the guy whose whole team is shiny with 6 IVs perfect natures and hidden power, is most likely a hacker. But there is no criteria that could actually prove once and for all yes he cheated and didn't spend a huge amount of time getting it.

I don't mind them cracking down on online play, but please for the love of God, still allow me to get my event pokemon from Powersaves.

 

[Krash]

also!!!!!:
http://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/information/fc870890-1b7b-4c57-b84a-92fc4286804b

Thank you. I've been looking for the official English post for a little while now.

We all know just how great the hack checks work (Ray Rizzo's Aegislash, anyone?), but hopefully enough players will be tagged by this to instill some sort of fear. I doubt this will hurt people who back up their save files in case of an emergency, but at least there won't be a thousand English Hoopas floating around. Also, it's good to see that the company is taking some action on making online play a bit better. I hope this paves the way for an overhaul of the GTS (I'm not hoping TOO much, being the realist that I am.)

Forums like Reddit and GameFAQ have been discussing the issue too, and Verlisify made a video following the announcement bashing people who hack their games (I always figured he's be one to Powersave), so there are a lot of people happy that they've instilled ramifications for altering the creatures.

 

[DoctorWhy]

Overall, very good to hear. I've been wanting them to increase their restrictions and checks for years. Hopefully they continue to improve the system. I don't care if people use powersaves/PokeGen/RNG/hacking/etc. for their personal enjoyment, but that should all be kept as far away from multiplayer PvP as possible. I feel like everything that involves connecting with another player should be exclusively honest, true, and legitimate not only in Pokemon results, but also legitimate in the means of obtaining.

Those who have already been confirmed to have done this will have consequences enacted soon. This follows recent instances of save data loss for innocent players after they have encounter certain people with modified data. We'll keep you apprised of further developments.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN U SUE THAT!?

News is out that the hack check is being improved due to Japanese players injecting their own save files with code that can erase a persons save file after they've battled online with said hacker.

I feel sick........

No more "perfect" Mons. No more of that slag. This is a most delightful bit of news. In your face, hackers!

U can still bread 6 ivs

also!!!!!:
http://3ds.pokemon-gl.com/information/fc870890-1b7b-4c57-b84a-92fc4286804b

I'm just gonna say...

Holy $#%!

What?

Is that still a thing? I hadn't heard about that. Are we safe from save data loss?? Are our games and data and Pokemon in any danger now??

In any case, I might just avoid all online connection with Pokemon as much as I can.