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How do you feel about the SOS mechanic?

Pokemon have a higher chance of being shiny on a streak of 70+, so up until that point, you could use the Carbink to just speed through without worrying about sand attacks and other stat changing moves.

Otherwise, I guess you could use Guard Spec? A bajillion should do the trick.
 
As I've mentioned before, I was trying to get competitive shinies, not just mons with good IV's, those are easy enough to get indeed. But to get a shiny with the right nature, the Synchronizer has to be in battle all the time, since you never know when a shiny pops up.

Needing to go and get specific Pokémon just to be able to get this chaining done easily is a complaint in itself though, at least Dexnav chaining could just be done with any mon cause all these problems weren't there in the first place, you just gotta knock out each mon you find. There's just so many things you have to take into account, it's annoying imo.

There is also the matter of certain pokemon evolutions being Gneder locked (Vespiquen, but the more relevant being Salazzale) you can have a competivive LC Salandit or a Salandit that can evolve but the nature of Cute Charm and Synchronize makes both mutually exclusive (granted this only applies to Salazzle from a gameplay standpoint unless you wanted to breed and don't have Ditto, and is moot regarding the Unova and Johto starters since they don';t SOS call anyway)
 
Pokemon have a higher chance of being shiny on a streak of 70+, so up until that point, you could use the Carbink to just speed through without worrying about sand attacks and other stat changing moves.

Otherwise, I guess you could use Guard Spec? A bajillion should do the trick.

Only more chance, I recently got a shiny Pikipek on a chain of 1 (yes the first ally was shiny), I ain't risking that. But you're missing my point, which is that this mechanic is annoying as hell for a lot of reasons and no amount of Carbink is going to change that :p
 
which is that this mechanic is annoying as hell for a lot of reasons
You DO have a point, it is quite annoying :v The earliest that I got a shiny was chain 8, a shiny Bagon appeared while I was searching for a Salamence.
For really competitive shinies, I decided to stick with MM breeding. SOS chaining for shinies would be for the trophy shinies, the ones you just want because they are pretty, on my opinion.
GF really should of made something more intuitive for SOS battling.
Anyway, that is my recomendation, if you really want to stick with that for your competitive mons.
 
Meanwhile, i also found a shiny in 1 SOS call, but wasn't shiny hunting for it, i was looking for a different pokemon, for dex reasons.

As for hunting for IVs or shinies, I'll stick to breeding for that, since i find that more fun. Maybe I'll SOS hunt just to try, we'll see.
 
Seeing how easy the games have made it to easily get competitive shinies just through breeding, I've really only had to use chaining for hidden abilities which hasn't been bad. In that regard I've got no complaints.

I really do love it from a world building perspective. Other than the absolute pain the weather SOS pokemon are, it's kinda fun to chain certain pokemon for the other species they'll sometimes call.

I think I'd prefer it though if it only activated after throwing an adrenaline orb. It just became a huge annoyance multiple times when trying to catch things.
 
Looks like I'm one of the few people who like SOS battles. The DexNav was still better, especially for getting HAs and egg moves but at least SOS battles grant an extra perfect IV. I've never had a particularly hard time trying to catch something either, but then again I'm pretty patient and I don't get frustrated easily.
I just wish Synchronize would work more often. Out of my 5 Synchronized shinies only 2 got the nature I wanted.
 
I haven't used this method after getting a Dragonair from a Dratini that called for help. Since leveling up is hellish in this game, I figured I'd chain for a Dragonite, but the moment a level 59 Dragonair appeared, I just caught it and gave it a rare candy.
 
The only reason I use this is 1. Shiny hunt and 2. Get SOS-exclusives.
I also feel like the SOS method had some inspiration from the Mother battling mechanics. A few enemies may call for help, and either they come or no one comes. Can be spammed like in SM, can have no one come constantly, and are both really annoying. Though other games that IDK may also have this feature
 
I like it, but it's kind of annoying. It makes the game more realistic and makes it feel like the wild Pokémon have made bonds with each other.
 
I have mixed feelings about SOS chaining. I'm split between "Great job, Game Freak" and "What the hell were these guys thinking?"

+I love the fact that I fully EV train a 'mon in minutes with EXP share + Pokerus + EV-boosting held item + SOS chain. Using this method, you only need a chain of 7 or 8 to reach max EVs in any stat, and the chains go fast with an adrenaline orb + intimidate + false swipe.

+I also prefer SOS chaining for catching 'mons with good potential. As frustrating as it is to have to create a chain of 30+ to get those 4 IVs, I find it a more reliable way to guarantee that I'm getting at least 4 perfect IVs.

+I also find SOS chaining preferable over DexNav chaining or other types of chaining for shiny hunting, as I have much more control over an SOS chain than I do over other types of chains.

+I also appreciate the lore and backstory behind SOS chaining. I especially love the fact that weaker 'mons can call evolved forms of their evolutionary chain for help. From a lore standpoint, I also like the predatory 'mons responding to the distress cries of their pray (such as Mareanie / Corsola or Sableye / Carbink).

-From a gameplay/completion standpoint, I dislike the fact that certain 'mons are only available via SOS battles. I feel like it made completing the Pokedex unnecessarily difficult. While it makes sense from a lore perspective, it becomes annoying fast having to wait for a different ally to appear, and then having only one chance at catching it, because if you don't then you have to start the chain over again. The fact that the callers are often rare enough to begin with only makes matters worse.

-I also far prefer the old methods of finding 'mons with egg moves or hidden abilities. In this aspect, DexNav chaining was infinitely superior because I didn't have to waste time scouting for special moves or hidden abilities.

I never had a problem with chains not ending, but that's probably because if I see something I want to catch, I just paralyze it on turn 1 if I can, and I did this before I knew how SOS chains worked.

Bonus fact: Wild Salamence can only appear at the top of the cliffs of route 3, while Shelgon only appear at the base of the cliffs in Kala'e Bay. Also, if I remember correctly, Bagon are more common at the base of the cliff than at the top. Bagon's Pokedex entries state that it hurls itself from cliffs one day hoping to fly. I love this bit of detail here, because the implication is that the Bagon are hurling themselves off the cliff, and that those Bagon that finally did grow wings were able to return to the top of the cliffs.
 
I was trying to SOS chain for a Magician Klefki for the sake of it, but it had Draining Kiss and kept healing itself, requiring multiple False Swipes, and it tossed Spikes all around the place so I had to keep healing whenever I switched pokemon. Not only that, but Klefki didn't even call for help every turn and when it did, half the time nobody came to aid it. I gave up at the 17th chain and went and caught an HA Klefki from Omega Ruby using the Dex Nav - which took way less time.
 
Here's an idea:
A while ago there was a BREAKthrough card called something like buddy buddy rescue. What if we had something similar to the graphic on the card- two Pokeballs thrown at once that can catch both Pokémon on the field? I mean, it'd be better than having to" aim."
 
I really liked S.O.S. battles.

But then I went back a generation and played Omega Ruby.

Can we talk about DexNav, guys? DexNav was just great. I miss DexNav. It accomplishes a lot of the same things as S.O.S. battles, offering a means of finding Hidden Ability Pokemon while throwing in good stuff like high IVs and egg moves into the mix, all while giving you demonstrable and lasting progress in the search level system.

S.O.S. battles have phenomenal utility in improving the rates of finding shiny Pokemon and offering a superior means of EV training Pokemon, but I think that's about it. Otherwise, they were pleasantly challenging (Or frightening, depends on who you ask) in Totem Pokemon battles and didn't really offer me much more in comparison.
 
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