Using Action Reply To Acquire Event Pokémon

[Mandychuu]

Sometimes, life hits you fast and hard, so you have to put things on the back-burner for a while - like, for instance, playing Pokémon. For many college students, life starts becoming chaotic around the months of April/May, July/August, and November/December, and unfortunately for me, that period of July through August marked the beginning of a new semester for me and the Enigma Stone event to obtain Latios and Latias that I was fully unaware of until just last night.

My moral game dilemma here (if morals and games together in the same sentence aren't completely ironic) is that I used Action Replay to acquire the Enigma Stone. Generally, I don't use cheat devices to play video games unless my ability to complete a game on a timely schedule (there's no such thing for Pokémon games unless you take into account wifi events) and fully comprehend its plot is hampered one way or another. However, seeing as how you cannot obtain Latios and Latias unless you have a Generation III game and migrate it over to a Generation IV game, I had no choice but to find an Action Replay code to obtain the Enigma Stone and extract the Soul Dew in order to encounter Latias.

I know many players frown upon using a cheat device; I do as well to an extent as indicated above. And yet I'm still left with this horrible feeling, as if I've plagiarized someone's work (maybe that's just the critical analysis talking; see Mandy's British Lit. class.) I understand what I've done isn't criminal and there's no reason I should sweat over it, but I want to know: what do you guys think about using an Action Replay in a situation like this, one in which game completion may be halted?

 

[Ruko]

I have a split opinion on the matter of hacking for event pokemon in general

First side of the coin:
There are two ways you can go about using a device like an action replay; You can either enhance your gameplay experience by using it only to obtain things you would be incapable of otherwise... or you can use it to cheat your way through the main part of the game and cut your overall experience quite short. I'd say your situation undoubtedly falls under the first of the two and you're only trying to get the most out of a game you paid for

Other side of the coin
Since the event period is now over, the amount of legitimate Enigma stones and event-born Lati@s is set in stone while the number of people who want them will only grow. This is where the value of event pokemon comes from, right? If you agree with that then it's safe to say every time someone capable of trading with other players hacks for an event, they slightly decrease the value of legitimate versions since they're removing themselves from the group of people who want one.


You can summarize my opinion as, yes you are slightly decreasing the value of legitimate event Latis, but so long as you aren't directly trading your illegitimate one to other players, I can't say I see anything wrong with what you're doing

All of that aside, I should point out that this statement is incorrect:

seeing as how you cannot obtain Latios and Latias unless you have a Generation III game and migrate it over to a Generation IV game

Latios is obtainable in SoulSilver and Latias in HeartGold with no events or trading/Pal Parking. You can't obtain both in a single game without the event though. [which may have been what you meant, re-reading that statement]

Latios & latias are another pair of roaming Pokémon. When you have obtained the National Pokédex and have exited the Pokémon Fan Club in Vermillion City, Steven Stone of Hoenn will come and tell you that one of them is roaming the land of Kanto. The Pokémon in particular is dependant on your game; Latias in HeartGold & Latios in SoulSilver. Following the same tactics as before, you should be able to narrow them down. They are at Level 35 so be prepared.

So regarding the Enigma Stone event specifically, You really aren't decreasing the value very much at all since both are obtainable through regular means on one game or the other.

 

[Mandychuu]

I'd like to thank you for clearing up the Latios/Latias event for me. I had no clue that they were still obtainable without the Enigma Stone, and when I read about that event, I was really bummed out. Including the strategy guides, I've spent over $100 on these games, and thinking that I couldn't fill up my Pokedex without cheating pissed me off a little.

Of course, as far into this game as I am now, I'm pretty sure I must have talked to the Fan Club President at some point in time, but because of college and other things, I've had to put this game down once or twice. In other words, I must have easily forgotten about it, but now, this does make me wonder: is the Latios/Latias that Steven was talking about in Vermillion still roaming around somewhere inside my game? Or did the Enigma Stone just make it easier to catch?

 

[Sir Red]

If Steven already talked about one to you, and you haven't caught it then it is roaming around Kanto. To see where it is simply go into Kanto and check your map and you should see the little icon for Latios/Latias to show up and then simply go about baiting it to you and catching it.

Enigma Stone lets you get a head to head encouter with the member of the duo that you couldn't previously get in your game. If you have both games (which it would seem like you do) you wouldn't even need the Enigma Stone to get them both between your games. -^^-

 

[Keleri]

Don't worry about it! You're not using your AR to break anyone else's gameplay experience, and neither are you using it to break your game, just to give you the opportunity to catch a single event pokemon. You want to experience an event and catch a single pokemon! How harrowing! What a cheater!

 

[Linkachu]

Like Ruko said above, I see no issue with people hacking themselves event Pokemon that they may be unable to obtain themselves. It's not hurting anyone else so there's no harm done.

What I don't agree with is people hacking up Pokemon and then trading them off. Trying to pass your hack off as something legit is the quickest way to get yourself blacklisted in my books. Sometimes mass cloning of a single Pokemon can be just as bad because you may be stealing potential trade offers away from other members who actually had legit Pokemon to trade.

So, yeah. In the end, it all comes down to what you plan to do with the ARed Pokemon. There's nothing wrong with trying to complete your PokeDex by hacking a few uber rare legendaries if you have no other means of doing so.

 

[PokeTeen]

Action reply to acquire event pokemon, in my opion "dont do it" why? well becase two ressions, one it could mess up your game like gameshark erased my silver verisons file becase of a celibi. 2nd becase trainers all over the world go to events to get the pokemon you get by cheating, i think it is not fair that they travel to get thiers while you just cheat to get yours.

the 2nd ression is my moral/ethical opion on the topic, in retrospect i dont think cheating is right.

 

[Sir Red]

Action reply to acquire event pokemon, in my opion "dont do it" why? well becase two ressions, one it could mess up your game like gameshark erased my silver verisons file becase of a celibi. 2nd becase trainers all over the world go to events to get the pokemon you get by cheating, i think it is not fair that they travel to get thiers while you just cheat to get yours.

the 2nd ression is my moral/ethical opion on the topic, in retrospect i dont think cheating is right.

As somebody who has hacked a game to get an event item that they simply missed, it does not ruin your game. I missed out on the Wifi event for The Secret Key in Platinum (seeing as I bought the game the day after the event ended D, so to transform my Rotom I had to use my Action Replay and it didn't screw my game up one bit.

Besides, the case you're siting is a bit different. That's a much older game, with a Pokemon that has never been legally obtainable outside of Japan (not to mention that you were hacking for the Pokemon, and not the item :T). This is talking about getting an item, that is in the coding of the game, to catch a Pokemon. So the traveling to the events part is kind of null and void seeing as it was a wifi event for an item.

 

[Phanes]

It's not like you're using the 100% success rate of catching a pokemon with any ball without any fighting.
It's an event, if you miss it then you're usually out of luck and those who will want to trade it away will request an arm and a leg for it. I say there's nothing wrong with getting an event pokemon as long as you can still battle and catch it, not big deal. You're still using your own strategy and methods, you're still using your own abilities and pokemon to catch it. So all in all, it's good. So what if those who got the event pokemon fair and square are all ticked about you using AR to get the chance you missed out on.
There's very few hot spots in my area, I don't see why not.

 

[Thepokemontrainer]

I do that a LOT. There is usually no access point in my area so I use my Action Replay Dsi.
Why not?