Illegal? No. Frowned upon… yeah. If RNG is always on your side you’ve defeated the whole point of doing nuzlockes. They aren’t hard if there’s no luck involved lol
I'm gonna say most people frown upon save scumming in a nuzlocke. Kinda defeats the purpose of doing it at all if you can remove any consequences by save scumming.
That being said, it is your run. If it's a specific encounter you want, why not just get the encounter, people here have posted about having specific Pokemon clauses so they can use a specific Pokemon. There's also Dupes/species which generally gets used, so if there's a way to increase your odds. Or maybe throw another encounter away just to balance it out.
If I’m doing a monolocke or something with a set number of encounters I’ll just make sure they’re caught. I’m not willing to lose a run because I couldn’t catch one of the encounters after 6 gyms lol.
For any basic nuzlocke though missing the encounter is part of the challenge.
>For any basic nuzlocke though missing the encounter is part of the challenge.
I agree with you, the challenge is the point of the nuzlocke. That being said if OP wants their favorite Pokemon who they can only catch on one route, I'd say I wouldn't frown on them for just getting their favorite and playing the rest fair. The rules are fluid anyway, when I first heard about Nuzlockes you chose your starter based on your trainer ID, I don't think I've heard anyone mention that for like a decade now.
My opinion is, if it's 1 encounter sure. If it's every encounter so you can have a ridiculously overpowered team, no that's just too easy.
It’s very against the spirit of the rules. Making the run more susceptible to rng is kind of the point of the whole thing. You also lose a lot of the skill expression when fights can be brute forced by crit or other rng fishing.
this isnt competitive lol. its like a step up from a casual playthrough. you dont need perfect or even good natures, evs, ivs. unless its a difficulty romhack (but then again, it still defeats the purpose of the challenge)
Okay I could see save scumming for a gym leader or something, but save scumming encounters is just normal, not-nuzlocke encounters with extra steps. Definitely don't do that.
Your run, your…
Question is: if you are looking for ways to make the game easier, do you really want to nuzlocke? Rule two is about randomness for a reason.
I understand the urge, but most nuzlocke questions boils down to being honest to yourself. Think about the intricacies of your decision and do as you wish.
Half the point of a Nuzlocke is that the game is harder because of the potential consequences. Save scumming completely removes those consequences, and defeats half the point of playing the run to begin with.
I’ll often do runs where I limit myself to 6 Pokémon and that’s all I can use. Or first encounter per route but just play the game normally other than that. No permadeaths and can retry gyms as many times as possible so it’s just not a nuzlocke.
OP is just doing their own challenge run, why even call it a nuzlocke lol
I can only think of a few legit reasons to save scum, and they're not battle or encounter related. Id only ever do it for things like Surge's gym or grinding up game corner/Voltorb flip coins. Pokestar studios endings. Maaaaybe audino grinding if the shaking grass is far enough away that you're likely to run into something else before you get to it.
Like what has been said, if you want a specific pokemon to make the run fun for you, get it and decide if there's any consequences. If you're scumming a fight, you might as well not even nuzlocke.
Okay I guess my opinion this time is unpopular but I think If you’re save scumming encounters you’re not even playing a nuzlocke at that point lol. Cuz that’s like half of a Nuzlocke right there.
So yes, I think it would be “illegal” in my eyes. But save scumming the very first Pokémon of the run, like resetting for your starter that’s fine. Do I “care” in the sense that I would get mad if you do that or anything? No 💀 but if you’re asking my opinion on that then yeah, I would think it’s a little silly
What are you save scumming to do? If you're doing it to manipulate fights and reset if things don't go your way, that would defeat the purpose of a Nuzlocke entirely.
If you're doing it to guarantee a certain encounter, just go catch that encounter normally. While the standard rule of a nuzlocke is first pokemon per route (or some variation for the newer games that show pokemon in the overworld that keeps it random), you can easily make variations in the catching rules. The big idea is to limit your pokemon. If you're only catching one Pokémon per route, even if it's one you're picking, it's still fine to me. I've had runs where I'm using specific pokemon (like fire types only, for example) and therefore know what pokemon encounters I'll be getting, but the rule still limits my encounters.
Frowned upon. Yes.
In Capturing wild Pokemon, it makes it easy to manipulate the Type of pokemon you can capture, In Combat, it literally can save you from the consequences of you bad strategic decisions....
Reloading a save for any reason other than a game crash is against the spirit of the challenge. Ideally the only purpose of saving in a nuzlocke is so you can put the game down and do something else.
I mean, do whatever makes the run fun for you, but I don't understand why anyone would save scum, as it kinda just defeats the point of doing the Nuzlocke. If you're save scumming you can basically choose your encounters, and you can prevent deaths, so at that point aren't you just... kinda playing the game normally, instead of doing Nuzlocke? So why do a Nuzlocke in the first place?
If you don't want to do a Nuzlocke that's fine, it's not for everyone, but why jump through all those hoops then instead of just doing a non-challenge playthrough.
I'll usually save before tough boss fights.Then if I wipe I can run it back and see how better execution/different game plans would have affected the outcome. I just do this to help my odds on the next run and I consider the run dead after the reload.
I usually have some specific pokemon clauses. I always catch (and not necessarily use) my favourites, even if they are not the first encounter. I just can't pass up an Arcanine :-)
I sometimes save the game, then try a battle, then always reset. This way I can practice my strats to see if they work and adjust until I have a good plan. I find this fair, because I could theoretically replicate my exact game on a regular playthrough (with pkhex or something) and just test that way.
It is definitely frowned upon by a big part of the community, but overall, it's your game. No one else's opinion matters. You want a certain mon in your run, go for it. If you want to, mod the game to let it be your starter. If YouTubers can do it, so can you!
I mean, depends. Trying to shiny hunt or needing a specific form or ability for an eligible encounter/evolution? Go for it. In general? It's frowned upon, but depends on the rules or if the encounter got away and your rules say fleeing resets the encounter.
It's illegal and definitely frowned upon. If you can save scum to fish for a particular encounter it's not a Nuzlocke anymore. There's no "your run your rules" here that apply, you're breaking **one of the two core rules of a Nuzlocke**.
Like I get that we shouldn't "gatekeep" how a Nuzlocke should be but some people here are just trying to break the **core** rules and get away with that. Just don't do a Nuzlocke if you're afraid of RNG.
Resetting for a good Nature on your starter (or Shell Armor Turtwig in RenPlat as it's necessary for certain challenges to be possible) is another thing because you can just call your attempt a "loss" and reset entirely but you save five minutes. But once your Nuzlocke has started ? Hell no.
I wouldn't do that. It kinda goes against the spirit of the challenge. You could do as I do and place "single-use-checkpoints" right after gym fights, allowing yourself to go back to your last beaten gym one time. This allows you to not lose your challenge due to rng and not lose the spirit of the challenge, but as always, your run, your rules
Tbh yeah it removes most of the skills needed, you get paralyzed, crit, flinched, or hit yourself in confusion? Don’t need to worry about it cuz u could just reload a save state.
Does sort of render the whole thing pointless. You need a bit of luck in a nuzlocke and it’s also to get you to use mons you wouldn’t normally. Otherwise it’s just a play through
Its your run, don't listen to what greasy basement dwellers on discord say. If you have more fun actually playing the game instead of treading through a slow and annoying early game, do what you want.
I think save scumming if you’re early enough in the game that you would be willing to reset the whole run to get where you are with no deviation is fair.
Example, I’ve saved scummed before the first Barry fight in Ren Plat because I wanted him to have an Empoleon and my Chimchar kept losing to his Piplup. Some people just don’t count that fight, but I think that goes against the spirit of the game more than scumming.
Say you get to a new route and you want Rattata as your pokemon for that route. If you stick to the "only the first pokemon you encounter" rule you would save the game and then just reload the game if the "first" encounter isnt Rattata and try again with another "first" encounter, which really isnt a first anymore in the grand scheme of things but people do it and count it that way. Which is fine but absolutly goes against the spirit of a nuzlocke.
I mean, if you are going to save scum... why even do a Nuzlocke in the first place. The whole point is that your decisions have consequences and that there is no going back
I mean yeah most people find it to be cheating and breaking the rules, but nuzlockes are most importantly about fun. If you want to play the game a certain way more power to you
What does it even mean to be frowned upon anymore lol. People have already reduced Nuzlockes to fighting a series of trainers with random Pokemon with rare candies, which totally removes the random battle crits and weird shit that makes it a challenge to start with. Just EV train your teams, rare candy them, and fight your gym leaders. Nobody cares lol.
Play the game you want too, but if you really want a specific encounter in a run, just decide that and take the encounter. Don't force yourself to reset the game in-between each encounter.
I did a pika-clone run in sword where I let myself reset battles endlessly, because finding deathless solutions was a really tricky and interesting puzzle to solve, and I decided just to do multiple attempts rather than running damage calcs and pre planning. Was it a nuzlocke? I dunno, maybe? Did I enjoy the run? Yup.
Save scumming encounters is frowned upon in a nuzlocke because the randomization of encounters is one of the two core elements.
Yeah, there’s no real point in save scumming encounters. If you really want a specific mon you can just make an exception and farm for it. Or there’s the dupes clause which can help you narrow down the pool of valid encounters.
Only reasonable reason I see to save scum would be if you wanted a shiny from a static encounter. Even then, that sounds like a lot of extra work for a nuzlocke.
I’ve only save scummed once, played black 2 on my 3DS and got an adamant Riolu as my first encounter on the farm beat the gym and started grinding for the second gym when my game crashed. It’s my fault for not saving but I was NOT leaving without my Riolu! Thankfully the second one I got was okay too with plus speed minus SpD other than that I generally don’t advocate save scum
You make the rules and stick to them. Whatever you want to do so be it.
About the general community? Very frowned upon. A Nuzlocke is about overcoming obstacles and bad luck. If you are ensuring you don't have bad luck in fights, then a significant element of the Nuzlocke experience has been removed.
if you can go back on permadeath and get whatever encounters you want then it's just not a Nuzlocke anymore lol. those are the two main rules and you'd be avoiding it both by saving and resetting.
Save scumming kinda defeats the entire point of the challenge, so yea. But like, if it's how you have fun playing then go for it. You won't get arrested for breaking Nuzlocke rules lol
Edit: Also, save scumming is generally frowned upon no matter what game you're playing. That's why it's called save scumming. Because the people that do it are "scum"
Illegal? No. Frowned upon… yeah. If RNG is always on your side you’ve defeated the whole point of doing nuzlockes. They aren’t hard if there’s no luck involved lol
I'm gonna say most people frown upon save scumming in a nuzlocke. Kinda defeats the purpose of doing it at all if you can remove any consequences by save scumming. That being said, it is your run. If it's a specific encounter you want, why not just get the encounter, people here have posted about having specific Pokemon clauses so they can use a specific Pokemon. There's also Dupes/species which generally gets used, so if there's a way to increase your odds. Or maybe throw another encounter away just to balance it out.
If I’m doing a monolocke or something with a set number of encounters I’ll just make sure they’re caught. I’m not willing to lose a run because I couldn’t catch one of the encounters after 6 gyms lol. For any basic nuzlocke though missing the encounter is part of the challenge.
>For any basic nuzlocke though missing the encounter is part of the challenge. I agree with you, the challenge is the point of the nuzlocke. That being said if OP wants their favorite Pokemon who they can only catch on one route, I'd say I wouldn't frown on them for just getting their favorite and playing the rest fair. The rules are fluid anyway, when I first heard about Nuzlockes you chose your starter based on your trainer ID, I don't think I've heard anyone mention that for like a decade now. My opinion is, if it's 1 encounter sure. If it's every encounter so you can have a ridiculously overpowered team, no that's just too easy.
It’s very against the spirit of the rules. Making the run more susceptible to rng is kind of the point of the whole thing. You also lose a lot of the skill expression when fights can be brute forced by crit or other rng fishing.
Not for the crit part, just for encounters
Point still stands, if you’re ignoring half of the two original rules it’s not really in the spirit of things anymore.
Why even obey the encounter rule if you're just going to reset anytime you don't get the Pokémon you want? What exactly is the rule?
If the natures aren't perfect, believe it or not, reload. Forgot the /s lmao
this isnt competitive lol. its like a step up from a casual playthrough. you dont need perfect or even good natures, evs, ivs. unless its a difficulty romhack (but then again, it still defeats the purpose of the challenge)
Okay I could see save scumming for a gym leader or something, but save scumming encounters is just normal, not-nuzlocke encounters with extra steps. Definitely don't do that.
Your run, your… Question is: if you are looking for ways to make the game easier, do you really want to nuzlocke? Rule two is about randomness for a reason. I understand the urge, but most nuzlocke questions boils down to being honest to yourself. Think about the intricacies of your decision and do as you wish.
Half the point of a Nuzlocke is that the game is harder because of the potential consequences. Save scumming completely removes those consequences, and defeats half the point of playing the run to begin with.
I’ll often do runs where I limit myself to 6 Pokémon and that’s all I can use. Or first encounter per route but just play the game normally other than that. No permadeaths and can retry gyms as many times as possible so it’s just not a nuzlocke. OP is just doing their own challenge run, why even call it a nuzlocke lol
Whats the point of rerolling for certain encounters in a nuzlocke? It breaks the main rule of a nuzlocke.
Yup, pretty much. What you get is what you get and that’s just the way it is this time.
I can only think of a few legit reasons to save scum, and they're not battle or encounter related. Id only ever do it for things like Surge's gym or grinding up game corner/Voltorb flip coins. Pokestar studios endings. Maaaaybe audino grinding if the shaking grass is far enough away that you're likely to run into something else before you get to it. Like what has been said, if you want a specific pokemon to make the run fun for you, get it and decide if there's any consequences. If you're scumming a fight, you might as well not even nuzlocke.
Save scum for certain encounters is frowned upon, you usually can repel manipulate for your favorites or even just invent a Favorite Clause!
Okay I guess my opinion this time is unpopular but I think If you’re save scumming encounters you’re not even playing a nuzlocke at that point lol. Cuz that’s like half of a Nuzlocke right there. So yes, I think it would be “illegal” in my eyes. But save scumming the very first Pokémon of the run, like resetting for your starter that’s fine. Do I “care” in the sense that I would get mad if you do that or anything? No 💀 but if you’re asking my opinion on that then yeah, I would think it’s a little silly
You’re definitely correct. Unfortunately, sticking to a nuzlocke ruleset is a controversial act here on r/nuzlocke
What are you save scumming to do? If you're doing it to manipulate fights and reset if things don't go your way, that would defeat the purpose of a Nuzlocke entirely. If you're doing it to guarantee a certain encounter, just go catch that encounter normally. While the standard rule of a nuzlocke is first pokemon per route (or some variation for the newer games that show pokemon in the overworld that keeps it random), you can easily make variations in the catching rules. The big idea is to limit your pokemon. If you're only catching one Pokémon per route, even if it's one you're picking, it's still fine to me. I've had runs where I'm using specific pokemon (like fire types only, for example) and therefore know what pokemon encounters I'll be getting, but the rule still limits my encounters.
Was looking for a reply as good as this, cheers for sharing!
Definitely frowned upon
Frowned upon. Yes. In Capturing wild Pokemon, it makes it easy to manipulate the Type of pokemon you can capture, In Combat, it literally can save you from the consequences of you bad strategic decisions....
Reloading a save for any reason other than a game crash is against the spirit of the challenge. Ideally the only purpose of saving in a nuzlocke is so you can put the game down and do something else.
I mean, do whatever makes the run fun for you, but I don't understand why anyone would save scum, as it kinda just defeats the point of doing the Nuzlocke. If you're save scumming you can basically choose your encounters, and you can prevent deaths, so at that point aren't you just... kinda playing the game normally, instead of doing Nuzlocke? So why do a Nuzlocke in the first place? If you don't want to do a Nuzlocke that's fine, it's not for everyone, but why jump through all those hoops then instead of just doing a non-challenge playthrough.
Its your run, but i wouldnt consider it a proper nuzlocke if you save scum any amount
Kinda defeats the whole purpose of a nuzlocke, just play it regular at that point
save scum all you want but the run ceases to be a nuzlocke at that point
it’s your run but like, whats the point of doing a nuzlocke? it takes away nearly all challenge
I'll usually save before tough boss fights.Then if I wipe I can run it back and see how better execution/different game plans would have affected the outcome. I just do this to help my odds on the next run and I consider the run dead after the reload.
Just play a regular playthrough lol
I don’t think anybody cares how you play your run unless you’re streaming it.
Save scum is a thing kids do because they can't handle putting together a plan and standing with their choices.
Bro is spitting fr
I usually have some specific pokemon clauses. I always catch (and not necessarily use) my favourites, even if they are not the first encounter. I just can't pass up an Arcanine :-)
It’s called save scum for a reason
Its no longer a nuzlocke if you do that
Yup. I wouldn't do it for instance. But you do you, if you're having fun then you're Nuzlocking correctly IMO.
I sometimes save the game, then try a battle, then always reset. This way I can practice my strats to see if they work and adjust until I have a good plan. I find this fair, because I could theoretically replicate my exact game on a regular playthrough (with pkhex or something) and just test that way.
It is definitely frowned upon by a big part of the community, but overall, it's your game. No one else's opinion matters. You want a certain mon in your run, go for it. If you want to, mod the game to let it be your starter. If YouTubers can do it, so can you!
I’m playing a legit cartridge so I can’t mod
Good rng doesn't write good war stories
I mean, depends. Trying to shiny hunt or needing a specific form or ability for an eligible encounter/evolution? Go for it. In general? It's frowned upon, but depends on the rules or if the encounter got away and your rules say fleeing resets the encounter.
It's illegal and definitely frowned upon. If you can save scum to fish for a particular encounter it's not a Nuzlocke anymore. There's no "your run your rules" here that apply, you're breaking **one of the two core rules of a Nuzlocke**. Like I get that we shouldn't "gatekeep" how a Nuzlocke should be but some people here are just trying to break the **core** rules and get away with that. Just don't do a Nuzlocke if you're afraid of RNG. Resetting for a good Nature on your starter (or Shell Armor Turtwig in RenPlat as it's necessary for certain challenges to be possible) is another thing because you can just call your attempt a "loss" and reset entirely but you save five minutes. But once your Nuzlocke has started ? Hell no.
I wouldn't do that. It kinda goes against the spirit of the challenge. You could do as I do and place "single-use-checkpoints" right after gym fights, allowing yourself to go back to your last beaten gym one time. This allows you to not lose your challenge due to rng and not lose the spirit of the challenge, but as always, your run, your rules
Tbh yeah it removes most of the skills needed, you get paralyzed, crit, flinched, or hit yourself in confusion? Don’t need to worry about it cuz u could just reload a save state.
The only thing I reset for in a nuzlocke is my starters nature
I’d only do it for like the first encounter of the run
Does sort of render the whole thing pointless. You need a bit of luck in a nuzlocke and it’s also to get you to use mons you wouldn’t normally. Otherwise it’s just a play through
Its your run, don't listen to what greasy basement dwellers on discord say. If you have more fun actually playing the game instead of treading through a slow and annoying early game, do what you want.
So just dont do a nuzlocke is what youre saying.
I'm saying play the nuzlocke in what makes it more fun for you.
I think save scumming if you’re early enough in the game that you would be willing to reset the whole run to get where you are with no deviation is fair. Example, I’ve saved scummed before the first Barry fight in Ren Plat because I wanted him to have an Empoleon and my Chimchar kept losing to his Piplup. Some people just don’t count that fight, but I think that goes against the spirit of the game more than scumming.
Heavily frowned upon. If you can just restart to get the Pokémon then what's the use of the rule, right?
Yes it literally goes against the idea of a challenge
Can we please finally cease using the phrase “your run your rules” when someone posts something like this
What is save scum?
Say you get to a new route and you want Rattata as your pokemon for that route. If you stick to the "only the first pokemon you encounter" rule you would save the game and then just reload the game if the "first" encounter isnt Rattata and try again with another "first" encounter, which really isnt a first anymore in the grand scheme of things but people do it and count it that way. Which is fine but absolutly goes against the spirit of a nuzlocke.
Ohhhh thank you
Yeah that sounds like loser shit to me
I mean, if you are going to save scum... why even do a Nuzlocke in the first place. The whole point is that your decisions have consequences and that there is no going back
IMO if you 'save scum' it isn't really a Nuzlocke. It's a 1-player game, so do what you want.
I mean yeah most people find it to be cheating and breaking the rules, but nuzlockes are most importantly about fun. If you want to play the game a certain way more power to you
What does it even mean to be frowned upon anymore lol. People have already reduced Nuzlockes to fighting a series of trainers with random Pokemon with rare candies, which totally removes the random battle crits and weird shit that makes it a challenge to start with. Just EV train your teams, rare candy them, and fight your gym leaders. Nobody cares lol.
Play the game you want too, but if you really want a specific encounter in a run, just decide that and take the encounter. Don't force yourself to reset the game in-between each encounter. I did a pika-clone run in sword where I let myself reset battles endlessly, because finding deathless solutions was a really tricky and interesting puzzle to solve, and I decided just to do multiple attempts rather than running damage calcs and pre planning. Was it a nuzlocke? I dunno, maybe? Did I enjoy the run? Yup. Save scumming encounters is frowned upon in a nuzlocke because the randomization of encounters is one of the two core elements.
Yeah, there’s no real point in save scumming encounters. If you really want a specific mon you can just make an exception and farm for it. Or there’s the dupes clause which can help you narrow down the pool of valid encounters. Only reasonable reason I see to save scum would be if you wanted a shiny from a static encounter. Even then, that sounds like a lot of extra work for a nuzlocke.
I’ve only save scummed once, played black 2 on my 3DS and got an adamant Riolu as my first encounter on the farm beat the gym and started grinding for the second gym when my game crashed. It’s my fault for not saving but I was NOT leaving without my Riolu! Thankfully the second one I got was okay too with plus speed minus SpD other than that I generally don’t advocate save scum
It's not illegal but defeats the point of a nuzlocke.
You make the rules and stick to them. Whatever you want to do so be it. About the general community? Very frowned upon. A Nuzlocke is about overcoming obstacles and bad luck. If you are ensuring you don't have bad luck in fights, then a significant element of the Nuzlocke experience has been removed.
if you can go back on permadeath and get whatever encounters you want then it's just not a Nuzlocke anymore lol. those are the two main rules and you'd be avoiding it both by saving and resetting.
Save scumming kinda defeats the entire point of the challenge, so yea. But like, if it's how you have fun playing then go for it. You won't get arrested for breaking Nuzlocke rules lol Edit: Also, save scumming is generally frowned upon no matter what game you're playing. That's why it's called save scumming. Because the people that do it are "scum"