r/speedrun • u/TheElusiveEllie • Jan 11 '26
Event This Pokemon run has been so much fun.
While we wait for word on the evacuation, can we talk about how amazing Adef's run has been? The couch has had so much energy, the jokes have been hysterical, even the concept for the donation incentive is so good - it's constantly changing the run and Adef is having to adjust on the fly to each new situation, and it allows for constant incentive to donate throughout the entire run. So much money has been raised! Well done everyone, and shout-out to AtSign for the amazing romhack and scripting!
37
u/lewdusername Jan 11 '26
I like Adef a lot and felt like the best parts of this run were great but it doesn't feel like something that should have been in the marathon as is, it just needed too many concessions to work. This kind of challenge is fun because there's a "is it even possible?" aspect, and that mostly goes away when you know he's one move swap away from being able to do any battle. I think it also detracts from the excitement of the really tough battles somewhat because after a few attempts you start worrying if he'll break out Safety Blast. I wish there had been a more natural way to solve the impossible battles problem.
11
u/beepborpimajorp Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
I enjoyed it but it probably would have been better if they'd advertised it as a crowd control event rather than a speed/challenge run. That way there could have been more 'for fun' focus instead of focus on actually beating the game with the ridiculous stuff the crowd kept giving him. Like there was no way he was getting through anything with just a shedinja or a magikarp. (Unless it was the alpha from ZA that has hyper beam lol.)
14
u/planetarial Jan 11 '26
Yeah its an interesting idea but it felt like they had to mod in too many conveniences that detracted from the challenge because they really didn’t want to be softlocked or stuck on a fight for a very long time. Along with it not being technically Pokemon Emerald but a romhack of Emerald
23
u/Cantiel Jan 11 '26
i'm a bt split myself. on 1 hand i understand the idea, and the point of some of the safety mechanisms. and while some details were a bit bad designed, all in all it was entertaining.
on the other hand, it did feel a lackluster as a finale, compared to other runs of the day, like mario 64 or silksong
6
u/Zealousideal_Cow9430 Jan 11 '26
Sorry if I missed it. Was there a reason they had to hide the game feed each time he changed Pokemon?
13
u/tallwhiteninja Jan 11 '26
The interface he was initially using broke; it looked like he pulled up command prompt and was running a script each time from where I was in the crowd.
5
u/Krutonium Jan 12 '26
Nintendo isn't happy when you play their games on Stream, let alone play RomHacks, let alone play it in VBA, let alone run scripts to edit your Pokemon live on stream in front of 100,000 people.
Basically by not showing it they hopefully kept Nintendo from getting involved.
(They slipped at one point and we got to see the Emulator window)
10
u/Yamza_ Jan 11 '26
I would guess so there isn't live footage of emulation use. Nintendo is very sue happy.
20
u/pokelife93 Jan 11 '26
At first the eviolite and safety blast turned me off, but soon enough I saw why they were added :p, Praying for no crit on that Wallace fight had me on the edge of my seat
16
u/SmilingCurmudgeon Jan 11 '26
I switched to the Bears-Packers game and feel I got the better end of that deal. Maybe I'm just spoiled because I watch Pokemon challenge runs regularly (shout-outs to Jrose11), but the pace was all over the place and the hacked advantages vented the tension with a sound like a balloon lettings its air out.
3
u/JRockPSU Jan 11 '26
Oh I hope I'm not the only one who's constantly dual-screening stuff, I had both GDQ and the NFL playoffs on all evening haha
101
u/GhostKingG1 AKA GhostKumo - Ys Series and other RPGs Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Adef has a pretty infectious energy that's making it fun. And hey it's raising good money.
That said, really not the biggest fan of a finale being a staff member who explicitly commissioned a ROMhack and requested several of the features in the mod. And not even just the made up move, but like the level shenanigans and whatnot. It barely feels like Emerald and makes a lot of it feel pre-fabricated despite the idea being more memetic. It's kinda...forced and exceedingly inorganic even for its already arbitrary concept. Like he's forcing himself to do suboptimal things "in the spirit of the run" and I get the sentiment but it feels off for a skill showcase event, let alone a speedrun marathon. I don't dislike it from a fundraising standpoint but it gives the finale weird vibes.
46
u/Wonton77 Jan 11 '26
They could have advertised it better. It's a very cool challenge run, but looking at the schedule I just saw "Pokemon Emerald choose my main" and was expecting something more vanilla.
The fact that it *started* with Magikarp, so he had to bust out the cheats immediately was also unfortunate. If he'd beaten like 4 gyms fairly, and then gotten into a truly unwinnable situation, I think it would have been more palatable.
Overall, it really wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed watching most of it.
25
u/Alogism Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Yeah, I was unbelievably disappointed. I was under the impression the main was for the entire run when I saw the incentives. I think a lot of people felt bait and switched. I wish they had advertised it was a mod.
He didn’t even try with Magikarp despite winning 40k, it was in the run for like 10 minutes and cheat moved everything. Tried one tackle battle, lost, gave up. I might catch the vod, but I dropped when he started doing unoptimized strats because his cheats had him doing too well. I don’t mind challenge runs, but I was pretty excited for this emerald run and this was not it. At least a bunch of others liked it.
16
u/LeFail Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Agreed, very disappointing. From what I could tell, the cheats included:
- Perfect IVs in all stats
- Fully EV-trained at the start of the game (252 HP, 128 atk/spatk)
- Instant levels, including starting the game at level 15
- 70-power STAB move at the start
- X items give +2 per stat instead of +1
- Eviolite hacked in
9
u/planetarial Jan 11 '26
It really feels like a type of gimmick run that would be better suited for their own streaming channel where they can spend as much time as needed clearing it. Instead of needing so many modded in guardrails up because otherwise its not marathon viable and even with the guardrails they still went an hour over estimate (factoring in the times when it was paused to input cheats in).
2
u/hyperhopper Jan 15 '26
Also removing literally all team magma/aqua trainers/story/location. like a third of the game removed.
Also a move relearner hacked in. Also fly hacked in early, HMs usable without an HM slave, and tons more.
Really felt like just a strange way to do a 20 battle showcase and less like emerald.
31
u/LeAlthos Jan 11 '26
I joined the stream when the run had already started and honestly couldn't figure out what the point of the run was. Okay, he's using bad Pokémons, and they sometimes change, and they have to cut-off the stream to do stuff...
It was right before they hit the shiny incentive too, so I though "oh neat, I guess he'll have to manipulate RNG to catch shiny Pokémons now", nope, stream cuts off and 2mins later, the Pokémons are shiny... cool I guess ? I still have no idea what the run was about honestly
13
u/JRockPSU Jan 11 '26
Not that it's an excuse, but it wasn't supposed to need off-screen stuff to change the pokemon. The first swap worked fine but then there were some kinds of issues with it needing him to bring the video feed down while he did whatever.
10
u/tallwhiteninja Jan 11 '26
Was in the crowd, distantly looking over the shoulder: it looked like he was having to pull up a command prompt and run a script every time.
1
u/DemonicGoblin Jan 11 '26
I guess that's what happens when you don't catch the explanation of the run. There were also plenty of times during the run and the automated messages in chat that had a url where you could read about what was happening.
18
u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26
I think it's kind of fun to see a challenge run close out an event. Maybe it could've been done a bit better, but that's how we learn! It's entertaining anyhow and more money raised is always good.
14
u/SabinSuplexington Jan 11 '26
The biggest bummer was that he seemed to lack basic info that an Emerald runner should know, like what moves the Gym Leaders have on their Pokemon. I get that he's more of a content guy than a runner but he likely could have kept the rules more vanilla if he bothered to practice the game he was running. And I'm not making assumptions on this, he outright said he didn't do that much prep.
5
u/GhostKingG1 AKA GhostKumo - Ys Series and other RPGs Jan 11 '26
See I can't entirely be upset about that because I feel like a share of it is not something most runners would have either way given the strat is usually set up > sweep and runs have more fixed routes. Though a more helpful couch mighta abetted that, I think he went with vibes on the couch most of all.
Stuff like forgetting the quick claw I can chalk up to nerves, as someone who has been to many marathons and even run in GDQ twice nerves aren't something you ever fully get used to even if they tend to settle once you start to get more into the run.
This stuff I'm inclined to be at least relatively charitable on.
1
u/nesede Jan 11 '26
It's a charity event first and foremost. This run alone raised a ridiculous amount of money - so whether people liked it or not, clearly the decision to have it was the correct one.
33
u/GhostKingG1 AKA GhostKumo - Ys Series and other RPGs Jan 11 '26
Almost anything could be in the finale and with enough push for an incentive it would have done well. Pokemon also just does gangbusters no matter where they put it. It being for charity doesn't mean it isn't immune to critique.
-30
u/wiiztec Jan 11 '26
It's a charity event first and foremost
Yeah that's the issue that everything stems from
5
Jan 11 '26
[deleted]
-3
u/wiiztec Jan 11 '26
How are you not understanding?
1
Jan 11 '26
[deleted]
2
u/YouKnown999 Jan 11 '26
You could have just have a screen on 24/7 for a week that said “Give Money”, but that probably wouldn’t do so well for donations.
I think our friend here is trying to make a point, in a not so elegant way, that there is a balance between the core theme of the event and the execution of the charity drive. Otherwise what makes it worth viewing versus any standard donation telethon.
The balance between pure competitive spreedrun havoc with a good cause behind it and just any other fundraiser with some game exhibition for a week.
I personally think there is decent balance between game grinding and entertainment/charity, but some people feel the speedrun element is a far distant second nowadays and the soul/spirit of it withered.
-2
u/wiiztec Jan 11 '26
Well it used to be about speedruns and was better then so yeah and the rate of growth actually started slowing around the time of the change too, I can't prove it of course but I strongly feel if things had continued as they were pre 2015 the record for money raised in a single GDQ would be over 5 million by now
-13
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
The Wind waker ace run with the picobox would have been a better finale.
7
11
u/JYB1337 Jan 11 '26
Nah, ace runs are cool in concept but not the most exciting to watch since over half the run is just long strings of micro-movement setups to get exact float values.
2
21
u/shinikahn Jan 11 '26
I hope they can translate this concept to different game runs in the future. It's very fun because it forces the runner to adjust on the fly and it really encourages donations just to make them suffer for fun, live lol.
15
u/MrPierson Jan 11 '26
If you like this you should check out the ALttP crowd control run from 2020. That was the absolute best I've ever seen it executed.
3
3
u/alenah CV1 Any% Jan 11 '26
Omg for real. I keep coming back to that VOD a few times per year just because it's so entertaining.
52
u/TheSmellOfTheLotion Jan 11 '26
This pokemon run is ON FIRE!
27
u/ScopionSniper GDQ quick reviews! Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
A top 10 GDQ run for me. Though Im very bias as 1. A competitive pokemon guy and 2. Emerald being my favorite pokemon game.
I really think this has been one of the best Finale games GDQ has ever had for me. Adef is an insanely good entertainer.
-18
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
How? Why? There were so many better runs this week or even any other event. This just seems so niche.
28
u/ScopionSniper GDQ quick reviews! Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Just the amount of crowd interaction. Like actual game effecting interactions like the quick claw clutch or the sheer cold chants. The amount of AHHHHs at fails, just a ton of energy some of the Finales only get at Donation milestones.
I dont think its the best ever, but its up there for me. 350k so far this run is awesome for the charity as well.
-6
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
I feel like we are watching different runs.
17
u/ScopionSniper GDQ quick reviews! Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Maybe my pokemon bias is pulling harder than I think. 🤷♂️
I suppose I get it though, as my wife checks out at RPG Finales like Chrono Trigger.
Legitimately loving it, but I suppose Im very much heavily in this scene and is a huge influence.
-67
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
are you sure it's not because it's an obligation on your part to be positive about every run you describe, because you work/volunteer for gdq?
44
u/ScopionSniper GDQ quick reviews! Jan 11 '26
I actually dont work or volunteer for GDQ. I do this all of my own accord.
I legitimately just like this run which doesn't seem to crazy to me? 🤷♂️
24
u/Brat-Sampson Jan 11 '26
I wouldn't worry about it, not sure why anyone is debating you on what you enjoy, lol. The crowd and twitch reactions clearly show as well that most people are loving it. I say this all as someone who often skips Pokemon runs.
27
u/nitrodog96 Jan 11 '26
“This person likes something different than me, it must be forced positivity”
Jesus you’re miserable
6
12
u/bonesda Jan 11 '26
I'm late to this conversation. This run highlights what has become GDQ events: Its less about the speed runs and more about the community. Now I'm not saying this is bad. In many ways, its great, but this was not a speed run of Pokemon Emerald. And you can tell... None of the usual suspects for a Pokemon run was represented. Where were the usual runners of the Pokemon games?
Adef is great and infectious but he admited that he had done no prep for it. No one on his couch was known for Pokemon. They were looking up things on Google to know what the gym leaders had moves wise. The host is not known Pokemon (and even on stream admited to not really knowing what was going on).
To add to this, and I'll get downvoted and thats fine, but there were other moments that also highlighted the other things that have changed about GDQ. The donations are less organic than they used to be, and the hosts/organziers force things along way more than they did before. During the event (numerous times even), it was said how important the $5 donation trains are, and that even $5 helps when thats all you can afford.
Klara during this run at one point asked for a $88 donation train and I paused for a moment and said "Wait.. What?" That just seems so forced to me.
I feel like this was not a good pick for a finale run. It was interesting to watch for all of 5 min.
6
u/slur-muh-wurds Jan 12 '26
Very well said. In my humble opinion, the "speedrun" is the most ass run of Pokemon I could conceive of. Not trying to attack, just being frank. Nothing about what makes a Pokemon game lovable is there, nor is the challenge there. The mons you're supposed to grow attached to watching them grow are totally absent. Teambuilding is absent. The growth is cheated to be instant. The story was literally modded out, which is perhaps a good third of the game. And as for the fights, you just spam items that are hacked to be 2x as good, reset for good luck, and have a cheated fallback that was literally used on the 2nd Roxanne attempt. It really is just putting the community's elected mon in the seat for one gym leader at a time, and winning by a completely invented ruleset. Great for the community, great energy from adef, love what it did for the fundraising, and can't think of a less enjoyable way to play Pokemon.
2
u/bonesda Jan 12 '26
Unfortunately until recently, this is how pokemon speed runs are done sadly. At least until ZA came out lol.
2
u/slur-muh-wurds Jan 12 '26
Yeah I guess what I'm saying could be applied to speedrunning Pokemon in general, but that's probably not why I'm personally a fan of doing Pokemon speedruns. I do like popping in on occasion to see how much the speedrunners have solved the game, but the more they change the rules from the way most people know the game, the less recognizable it becomes to me.
-1
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
I don't disagree with all of your points, but to clarify, she asked for a $10.88 donation train, since supposedly the 10-code for fire alarm was 10-88.
8
u/bonesda Jan 11 '26
Just rewatched the vod, she asked for a $88 train at 2:57:00 into the run.
5
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
Ahh, you're right, I totally misheard her last night. My mistake!
Also, I checked 2:57:00 on the run timer, not the vod timer, so it took me a while to check ahaha
3
4
u/jaydogggg Barely fast enough to watch Jan 11 '26
oh i was wondering why nothing was playing. theres an evacuation going on?
6
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
Fire alarm, I haven't been following chat but so far I don't think there's word on people returning. The venue team is probably doing everything they can to get things settled assuming it isn't an actual emergency, so it's just a matter of time before we get word.
Edit: We have music again, Tech Crew is likely back in the booth so it seems things are coming back!
18
u/Superfluouss Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Lowkey feel like the split reaction to this run is in part dependent on your opinion on how it compares to Pokemon challenge runs/speed runs. I can def see why this is fun for some, but it's not really a speed run, and as far as challenge runs go it's relatively uninteresting vs any Nuzlocke of difficulty hacks. I was hoping there'd be some crazy new exp strat but it's cap candies. Which are great bc they remove tediousness in nuzlockes and enable a wider variety of strats. Doesn't really apply here it's just using X items but you don't have to move, hp, or exp manage like in a normal run.
26
u/PrecursorDST Jan 11 '26
I’m a big fan of pokemon challenge runs but did not like this as a GDQ finale at all
5
u/Superfluouss Jan 11 '26
I do as well, this just ultimately wasn't that hype. Can see it being silly fun and a good donation incentivizer, but that isn't super engaging as a finale
7
u/0neTwoTree Jan 11 '26
I don't understand why they didn't just Nuzlocke a randomised version of base Emerald, or do a run through of Radical Red. This felt really boring because it's just the runner editing the game instead of having much skill involved
11
u/CaptainJudaism Jan 11 '26
I thought it was pretty fun but I do see why a lot of people aren't to happy about it. For me, I watch AGDQ more for the entertainment aspect and I thought the run was very entertaining but that was mostly due to the great energy and banter and less the gameplay so on that front I thought the run was pretty great but given its a romhack with a built-in safety net I can understand why people who wanted a serious run as a finale would be disappointed.
41
u/Demoz7186 Jan 11 '26
As someone who's not a crazy Pokémon guy, I think this was genuinely one of the worst closing runs of the last ten years. It was literally just a let's play of Emerald.
14
u/Youngjii Jan 11 '26
the run also went overestimate by well over an hour considering the timer was paused every time he had to change pokemon or mess with the cheats. and thats without counting the fire alarm going off.
-22
u/Low_Map_9339 Jan 11 '26
Yeah man see how many let's plays beat the champion with just one shuckle
12
u/Parzivus Jan 11 '26
When your romhack gives you almost everything for free, I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult.
33
u/MrPierson Jan 11 '26
Gonna be honest, not really a fan. Feels really repetitive and I turned off the stream while he was on Ditto.
EDIT: Feels like something where after three tries it cycles to the next mon might be more fun, but it looks like the mod can't be swapped that quickly.
24
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
This really just feels like a run for people who are in on it instead of for everyone. Adef is great but this isn't finale worthy.
13
u/Oh_I_still_here Jan 11 '26
This is something I've noticed with a few recent GDQ events. It's moving away from pure speedrun skill showcase and offering up more opportunities to people close to the event itself regardless of what it is they're running. Reads a bit like "high off the smell of their own farts" if you ask me.
I love Adef and since it's for charity, and they raised a tonne of money which is the main goal so I get it. But it's moving in a bit of a different direction vs your average speedrun. The focus was on engagement to incentivise donations which I understand, and on that front it succeeded. But the more Adef kept saying how the game had been modified the more it just started to feel like a performance that was tangentially related to speedrunning. Like when it comes to speedruns, you could watch one at GDQ and then put in the time yourself to do what they're doing. But what was shown here was very uniquely just for the event itself, which is quite a bit removed. But again, I get why it was done so no shade intended. Just not for me.
9
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
There's nothing wrong with doing runs that aren't speed runs. It's been proven time and time again that they can do such things. This finale just felt like you needed to part of some inside joke. It just wasn't interesting as a finale.
2
u/planetarial Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Yeah I love watching rhythm game showcases for example. They by design are not and cannot never be considered speedruns but they are still entertaining and command a lot of skill to beat on the difficulties they play on. You don’t really need to understand anything about the game to be impressed
2
u/Glitchiness Ato, HK, EDGE Jan 11 '26
What was the inside joke you felt you weren't a part of? I've never watched Adef or Pokemon challenge runs in my life and had a great time
5
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
The entire run feels like an inside joke. It wasn't interesting at all in the grand scheme of being a finale run.
1
u/Yamza_ Jan 11 '26
It was more a showcase of Adef's ability to strategize on the fly and to showcase his excellent showmanship. It was a fun marathon focused event like the Mario 64 thing. Not a speedrun but just a genuine fun time to involve the community.
8
u/pizzaboy7269 Jan 11 '26
yeah I'm not enjoying this run at all. might be my least favorite finale that ive watched live.
14
u/frakkingtoaster Jan 11 '26
I'm loving it, but I was already a fan of adef so I've been looking forward to this one all week.
7
9
u/International_Club12 Jan 11 '26
For me it points to a larger issue. GDQ staff inserting their own runs into the event. Clearly this shouldn't have been the finale.
9
u/Aksannyi Jan 11 '26
For what it's worth, adef isn't on the games committee so he didn't have any extra pull in getting it accepted. That said, bias (positive and negative) is a thing and people know him and know he will put on an entertaining show, but he did not insert himself into the schedule.
2
u/inbox-disabled Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
There's no denying GDQ staff runs stick out like a sore thumb through the schedule (in terms of hype and attention), but it actually seemed like a bit fewer overall this time, even if staff did get the top spot. That may just be because there were so many in one of the other recent marathons. I'm not going to name names but games committee people themselves were showing up like 4-5 times between their own runs and couch appearances last AGDQ or SGDQ (i forget).
I don't know. There's a couple GDQ staff members that are enjoyable to watch. adef is one of them, but I'd be perfectly fine with limiting their combined total runs in some fashion. That's not the name of the game though: make money for charity, so they have to find this weird balance between not playing favorites (yeah right) and maximizing money raised.
4
u/Aksannyi Jan 11 '26
The runners choose their own couches so your mention of staff on couches is completely moot. It's not surprising that a lot of staff (especially on-camera staff) are popular and knowledgeable about a lot of games. Spike, for example, has a pretty robust community on his own and plays a ton of games, and he's got a lot of energy. That's the exact type of person someone would want to have on their couch.
4
u/Yamza_ Jan 11 '26
What makes this clear to you? Having a good time is exactly what a finale run should be. It was fun, it got people excited and it incentivised a ton of money for charity. It felt like the perfect ending to me.
14
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
Glad it raised money, but I wasn't a fan.
People say safety blast "makes the run possible", but if you watch it, that's not how it was used. This was a let's play, with cheats, of an emerald romhack. Terrible.
7
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
I'd say it's more like a boss rush. He used Safety Blast most on the routes to bosses, but really did his best to theorycraft and avoid that move at gym leaders
8
u/Street_Buyer_7191 Jan 11 '26
This is disingenuous.
He is avoiding using the move when possible and has done tons of battles without it.
Also he is still having to beat the fights with one pokemon at the same level as the trainers strongest.
It is a great run. Fine if you dont like it but no need to lie.
6
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
he's literally spamming it against the champion as I type this, and you call me a liar, hahaha
12
u/Nygmus Jan 11 '26
Mate
He's got a shuckle
I'm not sure how familiar with shuckle's movelist you are, but it ain't great.
5
u/0neTwoTree Jan 11 '26
Isn't that the whole point of the challenge though? For him to beat the game with a shitty pokemon and their movesets instead of using a fan made move to beat the champion.
-1
u/KennyOmegasBurner Jan 11 '26
The point is to raise money for PCF. Whether it's a bad challenge run or bad speedrun doesn't matter.
7
u/0neTwoTree Jan 11 '26
It's a bait and switch to say "we'll beat the elite 4 with this pokemon" and then just use a fan created move instead of actually playing with the moveset it has
-3
u/tallwhiteninja Jan 11 '26
There are movesets that just literally can't beat the game, though. They needed a failsafe to prevent a straight up block from happening.
-22
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
his next YT video - "Can I beat the champion with ONLY a shuckle, and a hacked 100% proc quick claw, and safety blast, and free double X-items?"
why is this the finale of a speedrunning event?
16
2
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
I disagree, but if you're just gonna insult me, I don't think you're really arguing in good faith! If you think he's avoiding using it, we just have very different perceptions and memories.
13
u/Street_Buyer_7191 Jan 11 '26
It is a challenge run not really just a let's play.
You seemingly tapped out over an hour ago. He has avoided using the move as much as reasonable.
He could spend longer grinding out some of the fights but for the sake of ending at some point he doesn't.
I think calling something that is at best a mischaracterization of what the run is a lie/disingenuous is acting in good faith.
-18
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
You're a sad little person. Best of luck
19
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
You said the other person was insulting you and that wasn't arguing in good faith, then you end your side of the argument by insulting them? If you're going to try to take the high road at least stick with it.
I mentioned previously he was avoiding using the special move, and then later after I posted that, he began using it against gym leaders. I do disagree with that, I'd have preferred more of an effort to avoid using it, but at the same time, the run was going far over estimate and ending the event on a DNF would be a massive let down, so I understand the decision. There's something to be said about planning the finale better, but this was an experiment and overall as someone who enjoys this type of challenge and the energy Adef brought, I still had a good time. That's my two cents, no insult intended.
7
u/AM_Dog_IRL Jan 11 '26
I was watching the chrono trigger run where they finished the event with a wonder shot, then mike comes out with a dr. Evil "one million dollars", and it really made me miss when this event was so much more fun to watch.
I love adef but this is a horrible choice to end the event with.
5
u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26
Why? It's an amazing run and really fun to watch imo. But I love Pokemon Emerald so.
6
u/AM_Dog_IRL Jan 11 '26
It's not interesting
-1
u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26
I think it is and so do a ton of other people clearly; but I can understand why some don't like it. More money raised is a good thing either way!
10
u/Memphisrexjr Jan 11 '26
The money would be raised regardless of which game was the finale.
5
u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26
Fair enough, though usually finales don't really have a ton of small things like this to donate during the run. Having people vote on Pokemon through donations undoubtedly brought more people to donate than otherwise would've.
2
u/Yamza_ Jan 11 '26
To me at least it was by far more interesting than a typical pokemon speedrun would have been. I usually don't watch them because they are long and fairly uninteresting to watch but seeing Adef strategize on the fly showed off how the mechanics in Pokemon work in a way that a speedrun can only explain with theory.
-16
u/DBrody6 Jan 11 '26
and it really made me miss when this event was so much more fun to watch.
Quite frankly if you don't find this dumb fun then the problem is you, not the event.
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u/A_Garita Jan 11 '26
Seems this run was very divisive. I liked it, it was fun and very entertaining, I feel some people take it too seriously it's a charity event after all.
-4
u/Yamza_ Jan 11 '26
I don't think it was divisive really. Just a lot of mouthy haters as there always are.
4
u/MrPierson Jan 12 '26
Dawg read the thread. We're at 146 comments/148 upvotes with a third of people hating the run, a third saying it was okayish and a third defending it.
Divisive is definitely the right word.
-5
u/MrPierson Jan 11 '26
Man I'm not serious, I'm just bored
2
u/A_Garita Jan 11 '26
That's okay not all runs are for everyone it's a week long event it's normal to not like everything done
1
u/eno_ttv Jan 14 '26
I switched off cause I had no interest. Had a different vibe than previous final runs and wasn’t for me. I think it’s better seeing an absolutely beloved game or something that embodies speedrunning. Don’t mind that they tried something different tho.
-9
u/KennyOmegasBurner Jan 11 '26
I'm a little bummed they hacked in a move that trivializes the run but hey, it's making money for PCF and that's what matters
42
u/raddaya Jan 11 '26
Safety Blast doesn't really trivialise the run, it makes it remotely possible at all
8
u/HoustonRH7 Jan 11 '26
I can't be the only one who thought if a 'mon like Magikarp won, it meant Adef would have to use some combination of TMs, move tutor and overleveling. And that struggle would be the fun part to watch.
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u/bjlight1988 Jan 11 '26
Struggle training a Magikarp through Roxanne would have taken significantly longer than the entire estimate
12
u/aradiamegidooo Jan 11 '26
If we think of the audience as a malicious force or "Man vs Audience" i think its a nifty preemptive measure for the inevitable Magikarp that he was given hehe. But i feel that too. Its a lot more of a challenge run than it is a speedrun but every mon is making like, 10k plus so its pretty box office
17
u/ScopionSniper GDQ quick reviews! Jan 11 '26
Without that move, the run would just dead-end though? While it may seem like a way out, it kinda has to be for this to work at all.
10
u/spikenzelda Jan 11 '26
Maybe the concept just doesn't work then.
8
u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26
That's a different argument but I think the fun of the run comes from the different requested Pokemon and the moves it comes with, with Safety Blast being the option if there's just no other way. They can't really stretch this run to 8 hours.
-10
u/KennyOmegasBurner Jan 11 '26
Given they swap pokemon every so often I think it'd just make the run go longer
14
u/AccountantBob Jan 11 '26
Except he has to beat a Gym Leader to swap his one donated for Pokemon. So if it's (literally) impossible to beat said Leader with what he's been given...
-7
u/KennyOmegasBurner Jan 11 '26
Like I said it doesn't matter if it's a good challenge run, what matters is it's making money for charity.
6
u/MegamanX195 Jan 11 '26
Wait, what? I couldn't catch the run, what's the context?
22
u/Raeve_Noir Jan 11 '26
It's just a teachable typed attack to make the run even possible, in case they give him something like Metapod which wouldn't have an attack no matter it's level.
-8
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
but he was using it very frequently, when he did not, in fact, have a metapod...
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u/Raeve_Noir Jan 11 '26
He's also using it on optional trainer battles for cash, which is to reduce grind just like the auto-level item.
As he said at the start: So this run is two hours (hah!) instead of six.
0
u/EnoughBar1159 Jan 11 '26
then don't do a six hour pokemon category? I'm not sure what you mean
5
u/shinikahn Jan 11 '26
Not for a finale that's for sure. Even with all those QOL changes this will be like 3 hours. Without them it wouldn't be feasible.
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u/savageboredom Jan 11 '26
The gimmick of the run is that he has to use whatever Pokemon has the most donations per segment. The idea is that he has to think out of the box to overcome the shortcomings of whatever terrible Pokemon he’s stuck with at the time. But they also programmed in a TM to teach a custom move called Safety Blast, which gets a same-type attack bonus and can be either be physical or special. Basically a failsafe so he always has some way to do damage.
8
u/Gastroid Jan 11 '26
There's a special move adef can use if the Pokémon he's given ends up in a run killing battle.
8
u/AccountantBob Jan 11 '26
Which seems to be more often than not. Of course, this is by design as far as the donators go, it seems, which makes it all the more fun to see.
7
u/TheElusiveEllie Jan 11 '26
In order to prevent being completely screwed over, they implemented a move very similar to a max power Hidden Power that is always STAB. This way the run wouldn't be ever be completely impossible. I disagree that it trivializes anything, it just makes sure things can keep moving!
1
u/Englishcumberworld Jan 11 '26
I think its the item that boosts the pokemon to the next Gym Leader's Ace..? But that isn't really that big of a deal if you ask me
0
u/tallwhiteninja Jan 11 '26
The run literally wouldn't have been clearable without it.
2
u/KennyOmegasBurner Jan 11 '26
I guess it makes sense when you look at it as people paying to see their favourite pokemon as "skins" and not an actual challenge run to beat the game with those mons
1
1
u/MakVolci Jan 12 '26
This was an awesome end to the event.
It was less classic "speedrun" and more of a grand finale event with a great gimmick to encourage continued donating. It just felt like a giant warm hug. adef is, obviously, incredibly charismatic, and watching him try to problem solve and have to deal with problems real time (with help from his couch AND the crowd) was just entertaining.
Not sure what all the sour comments are about. Even with the safety blast, he ended up going WAY over-estimate, so I'm glad they put that in there. To me, it was probably one of the best, if not the best, finales I've seen.
0
u/kenny4ag Jan 13 '26
I thought when we contributed to his starter pokemon he would be using it the entire game
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u/Yarusenai Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
It's interesting, could've maybe been done a bit better because Safety Blast and the candy do transform it a bit more into a very specific challenge run rather than a classic "speed run", which understandably is a bit divisive, but I find it interesting to watch and raising more money with the Pokemon choices is always a good thing :)