Okay all! Inside these three spoilers are some VERY useful information I believe is fitting for this task, carefully compiled by yours truly. May not be the whole shebang, but hope this can help out anyways!
INTERVIEWS + GENERAL INFO
Spoiler:BASICS
Whether you’re a rookie or veteran, there’s one thing to know: Stalkers isn’t just a silly social deduction game. It’s a serious business with (fictional) lives on the line, a case of strangers banding together to save worlds and universes alike... all ran by an Emolga with some occasional help! So how does one get into this? Well, fear not! Regardless if you’re back for more or just getting started, this guide holds the basics that the rules don’t quite cover. In this case, things like piecing hints together and the interviewing system.
HINTS
Hints! Because while we start with nothing, we need nudges to move to victory. No matter what happens, our pal Neo always drops some sort of hint somewhere as far as I know. These could be as helpful as a trait a Stalker has to as vague as linking jobs to a crime. Yikes.
But! It’s very simple indeed to know where to start and stop when it comes to things like this. So let’s begin with what I think is a very important thing that’s NOT a hint:
- Type barriers do NOT always equal Stalker type!
Yep, that’s right. Two examples of this are Embalm and Abatis, as their hideout lairs had quite a few eccentric types. Embalm having Dragon and Normal, while Abatis had Dark, Poison AND Fairy. But here’s the thing:
Embalm was a Skarmory, and Abatis was a Flareon. Neither match a single type lock in their hideout! Doesn’t matter if they can learn a move that matches the barrier’s type. Another thing on this topic, a Stalker almost never uses natural powers. Sure, Vam the Oddish was using Stun Spore and Sleep Powder to drown folk, but here’s an example of the opposite: Philter.
In Season 2, we met Finichi. A depressed, lonely Garbodor who was possessed by Philter. Philter’s main game was to fool victims into believing a Maractus killed them, thanks to a deranged illusion caused by a seed drilling into their brain. Why a Maractus?
You see, one of Finichi’s biggest bullies was Nairek. And what a coincidence, she was a Maractus! So keep it in your head that Enthrallers or whatever our main ‘Molga is cooking up don’t make things obvious. So if you see a Water and Ground barrier or have somebody wind up asphyxiating in mud, don’t instantly go blaming a Palpitoad!
Next thing that I think should be covered:
- Red herrings / Goldeens exist! Misinformation too!
Lies, red herrings… whatever you call them, lies exist in the Stalkers world. Some Stalkers can lie to your face; townsfolk can lie to get rid of you if they aren’t cooperative… the bottom line is not everything is true here. Lies can also be beneficial, and I’ll use two examples here.
The first beneficial type of lie is an outing lie. Say we had a Nev the Gyarados tell you a ripped up note he found basically confirms a Stella the Primarina to be a Stalker. But if the repaired note was shown to Stella, she’d not only say she can’t recall writing this but it’s not even her handwriting. Because hey, Primarina sure doesn’t have good hands to write with. After this, it leaves you with two assumptions about Nev: either he’s a Stalker and needs to be looked into, or he just really didn’t like Stella. Either way, that’s one Pokémon that can’t be a Stalker!
And the other beneficial type of lie is one I’m going to use myself: a searching lie. I’m 99% confident nobody here is gonna know who we are so we may as well make things up to search for information. Whether that be saying you’re an out-of-towner who doesn’t understand the Stalkers or some other believable thing, sometimes twisting your words is for the greater good!
Above examples may not be accurate to what Neo has planned.
THE INTERVIEW SYSTEM
You gotta talk to folk to get help and hints! But how do you know who to talk to and what it’ll result in? This will show you the way!
Firstly, the evolution stages that come into play primarily.
BASIC. Example: Mimikyu, Emolga and Togedemaru. A basic form that doesn’t evolve or be evolved into.
STAGE 1. Examples: Snivy, Oshawott and Wooper. Pokémon that can evolve, and are at the bottom of their line.
STAGE 2A. Examples: Servine and Dewott. A Pokémon evolved from another and can still evolve once more.
STAGE 2B. Example: Quagsire and Rapidash. A Pokémon that’s evolved once and cannot do so again.
FINAL STAGE. Examples: Serperior, Samurott and Mega Slowbro. A third stage in the evolution line, whether it be natural or Mega.
Speaking of Mega forms, it probably begs a question: what stage would Mawile be when it Mega Evolves? This may not be correct, but I’m guessing a Final Stage Pokémon due to having evolved once, and since the Mega form is permanent in the Stalkers it would count as being stuck as a Final Stage unless said Mawile winds up dying and getting reincarnated as something new.
Next, Pokémon types and how they affect interviews.
No shared types = No effect
+ 1 shared type = Positive
+ 2 shared types = Very Positive
You’re strong to them (such as a Pikachu chatting up a Pidgey) = Intimidating
You’re weak to them (As if you were the Pidgey talking to the Pikachu) = Modesty
And these factors all come together to leave a final interview rapport! But now, brief pop quiz moment. Using the information above, what rapport would a Breloom get if talking to a Corvisquire?
Well, let’s look and see!
Both Breloom and Corvisquire have evolved once, making them Stage 2A and 2B respectively. Due to still being Stage 2 overall, that’s a +1 to Rapport.
Breloom is 4x WEAK to Corvisquire’s pure Flying type. That gives us a Very Modest result.
So that would leave us with this:
[Positive, Very Modest]
(+ 1 Shared Evolution Stage)
(Modesty: Grass to Flying)
(Modesty: Fighting to Flying)
And for the other way around, the only thing to swap would be the typing. Which replaces our Very Modest with Very Intimidating. Not quite useful unless you need some info out of somemon or an item they just won’t give up.
BUT! Diplomacy can negate this little system! Using Diplomacy, you can guarantee who you’re talking to will have a Positive rapport with you and at least Neutral with your companions. So let’s say you’re the Corvisquire from above and trying to get a friendly chat out of our Breloom friend here. We’ll name him Springo.
Springo’s pretty anxious by nature, which hasn’t been helped by the Stalkers popping up. So when you, a Corvisquire, show up he’s happy to talk! Just scared out of his mind. Using Diplomacy would let him know you mean no harm, and he may even give you some clues or items if he knows of or has any! Note that clues may not be true.
Rapport can also come into play for getting items. Let’s say that you’re an Inteleon and trying to get Coop, a Scorbunny, to hand over an important item that’ll be vital to tracking down the Stalkers. But with a Very Negative AND Intimidating rapport… the best Coop will do is engage in conversation. He’s a confident, fast paced but at least a well-mannered kid, so he won’t avoid or deny conversation even from an Inteleon like you.
He already knows you mean no harm, you’ve two options here. The first being to have a team member with better Rapport go and talk to Coop a cycle or two later. A Cyndaquil teammate would provide a Rapport score of Very Positive thanks to a shared typing AND evolution stage, Coop would be fine with handing his item over. You’re no Inteleon, that’s for sure!
But what if you don’t have a Cyndaquil, Vulpix or otherwise first stage Fire type? Diplomacy! Using this would allow you to convince Coop to hand his item over, even if you were the Inteleon.
And there you go! The basics on truths, lies and rapport. The next thing we’ll be focusing on will be team spirit and how to play your part the best you can.
BEING A TEAM PLAYER
Spoiler:TEAM SPIRIT
Okay then! This time, as mentioned at the end of just above you, we’ll be focusing on how to be the best team player that you can be. Mostly because in the past, somebody didn’t quite get the teamwork memo… not pointing any fingers or naming any names.
For all examples that’ll take place, we’ll use these made up users: Sprout, who plays as a Grovyle, TwinSwords who is a fitting Doublade and P, a surprising Pachirisu. So let’s begin with something nice and simple.
- Communication is an obvious key!
In the past, I wanted to fly solo with random ideas most of the time and never really shared my plans unless I deemed it mandatory. One of these occasions was beating up a Weavile in a non-deadly spar, but let’s focus on the lesson.
Although there’s no Exorcism this time, let’s say it exists to provide an example on how vital communication can get. So let’s imagine that Sprout, P and TwinSwords had found a Stalker and had all agreed to getting rid of it. P, being the only one who could exorcise, asks the group when a good time would be to do so. Sprout, having Restrain on hand, points out that P actually has 3 Sanity on hand. If you didn’t know, Exorcism drains 3 Sanity points away. So if P didn’t check with the team, they’d be a goner! So Sprout Restrains the identified Stalker while P rests for the night, allowing an Exorcism to be safely executed the next morning.
See, isn’t that the power of attentiveness in its full glory? Let’s use a new example now, regarding searching.
TwinSwords, in this scenario, wants to go and search someplace as he’s sure a key item lurks there. But the place consists of two searchable areas, meaning our Doublade friend would have to use one Day and Night cycle to get himself a 50/50 chance getting the item. Here’s where Sprout comes in!
She tags along and searches where TS doesn’t, and she actually finds the key item while TS winds up with nothing. That not only does the team a massive favor, but it opens up the next cycle for TS to lend a blade instead of him still sticking around that area.
Again, that’s teamwork shining through! Now let’s move on to another important thing that I believe is very important:
- You are NOT useless for passing a puzzle onto someone else.
These Stalkers sure like to leave puzzles laying around. Word searches, logic puzzles, even Sudoku and picross. Most of the time, a few users have taken said puzzles and solved the problem alone. But that won’t always be the case.
People can get puzzles wrong or, bluntly, not even have the tiniest clue on how some of these work. Myself included. So it never does any harm passing things you can’t work out onto someone else who can do it.
You found that puzzle, and it’s going to be solved in the end. So you’ll still get credit for the discovery, while your accomplice shall get their own, equal credit for getting the job done. Nobody gets left out here, unless it’s a total accident!
And on a similar note…
- Ask about things. Nobody bites.
Is how Rapport works failing you? Not sure where to go or who to look for? Heck, have you somehow came in late and don’t know how to get going? It’s fine to ask for help.
Some things may be wrong or outdated due to an Emolga’s silly, occasional mistakes, but Neo’s always happy to inform you on what’s up and he doesn’t mind fixing said mistakes. But something else you can do with him if you feel like it is asking for an action swap. Allow me to provide an example with myself.
Let’s say Neo is writing up a narration post for Sprout, with my action next in the queue and then P after myself. But let’s say something popped up while Sprout’s narration was in development, and I no longer want to do what I originally planned.
So I would ping Neo and ask for a swap before he got started on my post. Most of the time, he gets the memo and the swap can go ahead! But sometimes he’ll be in the middle of a post, and as such the request may get denied. But that’s alright! What’s locked in is gonna help in some way, whether it be obvious from the get-go or not.
So in conclusion! Don’t be afraid to chat with your pals, get ideas across or even send a question or two Neo’s way if something isn’t specified elsewhere. In the Emissary Quarters, curiosity never kills the Meowth!
The next segment will be a test of sorts regarding a bit of a touchy subject: Pokémon identification. So let’s get into it right away!
(NOT MANDATORY) IDENTIFICATION
Spoiler:IDENTIFICATION
Alright! You’ve got the hang of hints plus Rapport and understood what makes a team player, so let’s get into a bit of an important subject: Identifying Pokémon, in case that may be necessary.
There’s always a chance somemon will see some features of a Pokémon, but not the whole thing. They may share that information with you if your Rapport works well, and as such you may need to put some dots together.
Although there’s no guarantee something like this is what Neo planned, it never hurts to know what to think about.
While not the actual Stalkers in question, I’ll run you through some Pokémon and you simply need to think what the Pokémon in question CAN’T possess. Let’s do a warmup with… Treecko.
Looking at a Treecko, it’s primarily green. So would that mean a green scale automatically leads to a resident Treecko?
If you said yes, then that’s not quite it.
Any part of a Pokémon’s body, if it can come off in any way, can be a clue for what it is. So Treecko could give off a lime green scale, deep green scale or even a red one. Not yellow, because that can only come from a Treecko eye and… yeah, I think you can picture the rest. So this here green scale could belong to that shiny Drednaw, a Garden patterned Vivillion… who knows, besides from Neo?
However, note how I said scale. Things you find aren’t always scales, they could also be feathers or skin, petals or fur. So I’ll run a few Pokémon below, and you just need to think if what I’ve said is correct or not.
You good to go? Okay, take these five to start with. Don’t go looking up the Pokémon for this.
An Espeon CAN provide blue fur.
Some beige skin CAN come from a Kantonian Sandshrew.
Wigglytuff CANNOT provide a blue sample of any kind.
Arbok CAN provide a red skin sample.
Hoennian Corsola CAN provide a blue skin sample.
How was that? A bit hard, maybe easy? Well, I can tell you…
Spoiler:All of the above are true! And here’s how.
Espeon has blue in its ears.
Kantonian Sandshrew has beige below the yellow, brick like bits.
Wigglytuff has blue eyes, BUT we can’t get a sample out of that.
Arbok’s chest pattern has red on it.
And Hoennian Corsola has light blue beneath all the pink!
So then. Now that’s in the bag, let’s get into a new topic. Separating similarly colored ‘mons!
Say we have some Beige Fur, and a Lopunny plus Hoennian Zigzagoon. Both have beige fur, so is all lost there?
Not at all! All we need to do is look a tad deeper into this.
Neo, when previously doing this sample stuff, would provide an example of what may have led up to this sample winding up where it is. Snagged off a leg, caught on a fence… stuff along those lines.
So let’s say this fur came off of a Pokémon’s tail. Doesn’t quite help, but when we look closer… you figured it out?
Lopunny only has a brown tail. Hoenn Zigzagoon has brown AND beige! So while the sample has been identified, there’s no guarantee that’s your Stalker. But hey, you just solved that! Pats on the back to you, friend!
Next batch of questions coming up, feel free to look up references if you need help. Just name what Pokémon the sample belongs to! To help, all of this batch originate from Unova.
A blue scale, seemingly torn from a foot.
Some white skin, perhaps from a leg or tail.
A pink petal, separated from the head.
A green leaf unknowingly discarded from the rear area. No, not like that.
And an orange scale, naturally separated from a wing.
Was that more difficult? Well, fortunately I can tell you the answers.
Spoiler:From top to bottom it goes Palpitoad, Watchog, Spring Sawsbuck, Snivy and Volcarona.
Oh? What about forms that aren’t clearly shown on the suspect list?
The right thing to do here is prioritize chatting to this 'mon in question. That’ll show you what form it has for sure.
However, let’s bring shinies into the mix. These genetic wonders can leave you grasping for straws sometimes, so how do you even know who’s shiny and who’s not if Neo ain’t giving up his info?
Simply asking around seems to be the most efficient method instead of going around one by one, as somemon may know what another doesn’t.
