Spinoffs PMD Tips

Bag items like Reviver Seeds, Sleep Seeds, Vile Seeds, etc. are immensely helpful.

 

1. Grind. It's a bit more fun compared to the main games' grinding, but is still a bit needed. You can go through the main story without grinding, but the final boss does get hard if you're not 35+. Grinding also has a bit of a risk, as there's a mechanic which prevents you from being on a dungeon floor for too long.
2. Storage is your friend-keep items you want/need later on in Kangashan's Storage. If you faint in a dungeon you'll lose half your items (or all if you have a small amount), including what you're holding. I've lost my beginning item (which is really good in the long run) due to fainting half-way through the main story.
3. Store healing items, especially Reviver Seeds, Big Apples, and Oran Berries for boss fights. That final boss will need it for sure!
4. You can do multiple jobs at once, which can help on gaining a ton of poke, items, and rank points!

 

I have a weird strategy for boss fights. + - Groudon   is the first hard boss of the game, as it greatly over-levels you. So what I like to do is spam Sand Attack and other status-inflicting moves at it until it cannot hit me at all(while my partner is doing the attacking). Once I feel safe, I'll start attacking the boss until it faints.

 

In boss fights, what I like to do is just press a normal attack first. That way during the next turn, the boss moves towards you and so you can attack it first.

 

Bring Petrify Orbs and Warp Orbs incase of Monster Houses, its a "Get Out Of Jail" Free Card

 

Once you have access to the training dojo, do that as much as possible. There's not really a consequence for going through the dojo dungeons. You won't lose anything if you faint and it won't progress time at all. What will happen is that the jobs posted on the bulletin boards will change each time you go through, so you can collect a bunch of jobs for a single dungeon to do all at once. That's a pretty fast way to level.

For your inventory I'd recommend having a held item for both you and your partner, two oran berries, two apples, at least one heal seed, and, for new dungeons you go to to progress the story, a couple of reviver seeds. You'll get a bow as your starting held item when you first begin playing. It's probably the best held item you can use before post-credits since it raises all of your stats, making your character a defensive shield at the front of your party while still being able to deal a good amount of damage.

A quick note about reviver seeds, if you have a weaker member in your party, you should turn off their IQ ability called "item master" that way if they faint they'll just get sent back home instead of devouring all of your reviver seeds every time they're knocked out. You will want your partner to revive though, because if either you or your partner faint, you'll be kicked out of the dungeon.

Orbs are very useful items. Later in the game, especially if you're in a dungeon that's a bit difficult for you, make sure to have a spurn orb, petrify orb (most recommended), foe hold/foe seal orb, or slumber orb on you. You'll start to encounter rooms in the dungeons where you'll be attacked by a ton of enemies all at once and those specific orbs will help you deal with those. Petrify orbs are the best since they'll freeze enemies until a move is used on them, so you can take them out one at a time to use them for level grinding. There's also a less common orb called a Trawl Orb that you can use to draw all of the items on the floor to you, so if you find a Kecleon shop with items that you want but that you can't afford, you can steal them by using the trawl orb while standing next to the stairs. Just pick up all of the items and head up to the next floor before Kecleon catches you. You can try to steal items from the shop by just refusing to pay, but don't even bother trying it, because you will be 1-hit-KO'd by Kecleon.

You'll also come across items called gummies that are used to raise your IQ. IQ skills are very useful to have and will have different effects based on what Pokémon you play as. You might be able to walk over water and lava, or use your ranged attacks through your partners without hurting them, and avoid hurting your teammates while confused. They can make it so your moves will have more PP or might restore PP when moving to another floor, you won't go hungry as quickly, and there are a bunch of other effects too. Your Pokémon will like whatever color gummi corresponds to their type. (Water types like blue, fire like red, grass types like... grass, not green. bug types like green, and so on) Having your characters eat a gummi they like will increase their IQ a bunch and will also raise their stats, but they can eat gummies of ANY color and still get some benefit from them. Make sure to raise the IQ of both your character and your partner because there are some support IQ abilities that can benefit you if you do.

For your move pool, I'd suggest keeping the first STAB move you learn. It'll be weaker, but have high PP, so you'll have a dependable move throughout the dungeon. You should try to get a ranged move too, so you can hit enemies from far away. Before you get a ranged move, you can use items like geopebbles and sticks to throw at enemies. The pebbles have an arc so you can throw them over allies to hit enemies while the sticks can be thrown in a straight line. They're very weak though, so you should get a move to replace them as soon as you can. Aside from your ranged move, it's good to have one other short-range special move (this could be your first STAB move in the case of something like Ember) since special moves can cut corners. If you can, having a move that affects all of the enemies in the room or immediately around you (Heat Wave, Dark Pulse, etc.) can be useful too. Just be careful you don't use something like Earthquake, which will damage both enemies and allies. For your partner, their moveset should be pretty similar, but make sure to teach them Quick Attack if they can learn it, because Quick Attack is a move that can be used on enemies 2 tiles away, even if there's a teammate in between. So if there's an enemy in front of you and your partner is behind you, your partner can still protect you from the enemy in front with Quick Attack. Quick Attack can also cut corners in this game, so you can use it on your own character in place of a short-ranged special move that also acts like a pseudo-ranged move since it hits 2 tiles away. By far, I'd say Quick Attack is probably the most useful move you can have.

For basic mechanics and tips on how to go through dungeons, if you head back towards the bedrooms after morning rollcall, you can go into the other guild member's rooms and read the diaries written by a couple of the characters. They'll be updated occasionally with new tips while also keeping a record of the story's progression.

I don't know if this is actually a thing in Time, since it's never actually explained, but you'll see a watering hole in front of the crossroads where you go to explore a dungeon. In Explorers of Sky, which is an updated version of Time and Darkness, you can use the watering hole to save your game instead of going back to your bedroom. Since the mechanic is never explained in Time or Darkness, I'm not sure if that mechanic actually works or not because I never figured it out on my own when I played it. If it does work, it will save you a lot of time (no pun intended), so try it out.

 

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned before is that orbs don't work on bosses. At least, the ones I've used. However, seeds do. If you find yourself on a tough boss, you can always throw sleep seeds or blinkers seeds to weaken them. Also, quick seed/Agility is powerful. They allow you to use two moves in one turn on the first stage. There are four stages in total so you can move four times in one turn. I'd suggest it any time your having trouble through an area or boss. The effect does ware off rather fast though.

 

Get Reviver seeds as soon as you possibly can, they are life savers. I also recommend using items like Sticks and the Pebbles/Rocks so you can attack at a distance just in case you find yourself dealing with some pretty hard-hitting Pokémon in the dungeons. Also, you should know that you are unable to use orbs in a boss fight, so don't waste them there.

 

(Just going to say, if you ever get the chance, play Sky. It's the remake of Time/Darkness and answers SO many questions and has an incredible Post Game, specifically Episode 5 where it talks about what happens to Grovyle after he returns to the future.)

 

Stun seeds saved my ass so many times during boss fights, it isn’t funny