[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Lord Windos]

On the topic of difficulty, I've noticed/remembered these levels so far:

- Some variation of Easy
- Moderate
- High
- Tough
- Plot Deviced

Easy Encounters are just that, and are pretty much there to either introduce Special/Filler Pokemon for us to interact with if we don't want to take on harder ones or just Train, or a simple Item/event that can be triggered for possible rewards. They're like popcorn: a tasty snack, but not particularly filling unless you totally pig out on them.

Moderate Encounters are just as Dragonstrike said (Doable, but designed to drain resources/pose a problem that takes mental resources to solve), and are the 'average' that everything revolves around. The italian bonito of his campaign, if you will.

Hard Encounters are so far fights designed to overwhelm the players and force them to cope and react to their wild whims and depravities, but their may be puzzles/Stealth sections that also qualify for this spot as well (The Anthenuem Riddles spring to mind, for example). They're well done steak: tough to cut into, but oh so delicious and enjoyable if you can.

Tough Encounters are just Hard jacked up to be heavily lopsidded against whomever takes them on or BEYOND dangerous, and are a relative rarity, but pay out GREAT rewards for those that can conquer the challenge. For example, here are the ones I can remember thus far:
- The Very 1st One: Fisherman with a Gyarados at roughly the early portions of the game. Reward: Great fishing bait (Which lead to Solomon, our Wise King!), a great contact for Ven/maybe Terra (If you let my old chara share such Info to my new one, Iron), and a pretty large dose of XP that helped Michael learn Spore and evolve into Breloom ASAP!
- Battle against a Frosthra that just loved to Blizzard Spam. Reward: Frosthra itself, worth roughly $20000 or so Poke even for such a disobedient Pokemon
- Shield Maidan Brazen, whose strat mandated Terra to pulling out Lapis in order to salvage the thing in his favor once fortune swung even a little away from him. Reward: $4000 Poke, ton of XP, and a contact that came in handy in offloading Safari Pokemon and Nathan's Tubareel for a relatively high rate!
- Now the Gigalith Horde, which are scary for all the reasons I've described. Reward: Lotsa XP, your choice of the Gigalith, and whatever else secrets they may be guarding.

As you can see, Tough Encounters reward pretty well, but they also make anyone but the strong pretty well done in the process, if you see what I mean. They are the beef jerky of Encounters: very tough and stringy, but a robust and tasty meal to those than can handle it!

Plot Device Encounters are pretty much Puzzle Boss Battles were you have no chance of victory if you don't stumble onto the solution/know it and/or have another Plot Device to counter the present one. Naturally, the reward for beating one is pretty fantastic, assuming its possible in the first place. They're like placing a expensive candy/confection in a puzzle box, a worthwhile treat which delightfulness is sorta spoiled by the effort and loops it takes to get to it.

I'm pretty sure not many people have taken on Tough Encounters beyond Ven/Terra, since they don't like the thrill of them/were not prepared to handle their threat level, but seeing as how the entire party is ROBUST AS *$@%! now, I say anyone can take them on and expect success (if at a high cost). So don't let Tough Difficulty deter you from Encounters, if you want to give one a go!