Current Events > I never realized that the Dragon Fang was so rare in Pokemon FRLG.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just watched this mini-doc:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfApwARuho

Basically, in FRLG, the only way to get the Dragon Fang item is from wild Dragonair. However, Dragonair are only holding it 5% of the time. Wild Dragonair also only have a 1% spawn rate and are found only in one location: fishing in the infamous Safari Zone. They also have a low catch rate of 8%, and have a 50% chance of fleeing the battle on the first turn.

You can see where this is going.

(In the other Gen 3 games, the Dragon Fang is more accessible, either through stealing from a specific trainer's Pokemon in a late rematch, or from certain Shadow Pokemon in Colosseum and Gale of Darkness.)

That's mildly interesting and I enjoyed learning that, but I see that you explained the issue in a short paragraph laying out the math.

And yet the video is 18 minutes long.

well, that item didn't even exist in Gen 1, so it makes sense that it's rare in the remakes >_>

DodogamaRayBrst posted...

That's mildly interesting, but I see that you explained the issue in a short paragraph laying out the math.

And yet the video is 18 minutes long.

A ton of youtube content is glorified background noise.

DodogamaRayBrst posted...

And yet the video is 18 minutes long.

KhlavicLanguage posted...

A ton of youtube content is glorified background noise.

The video is mostly just vibes. Between the script and the cinematography, BlueBoyPhin is really good at telling a story with his videos, even with something as mundane and repetitive as hundreds of encounters of the same Pokemon. It's worth watching all the way through.

DodogamaRayBrst posted...

That's mildly interesting and I enjoyed learning that, but I see that you explained the issue in a short paragraph laying out the math.

And yet the video is 18 minutes long.

To be fair this is one hell of a interesting 18 minutes.

I came into this topic also thinking "oh damn, a 18 minute video explaining why this thing is hard I don't care about all that", but then I hit play and its so.........interesting. I also lol'd at the one dude taking a smoke break trying to catch that dagonair.

Some youtubers and their editors just have that skill.

Mad-Dogg posted...

To be fair this is one hell of a interesting 18 minutes.

I came into this topic also thinking "oh damn, a 18 minute video explaining why this thing is hard I don't care about all that", but then I hit play and its so.........interesting. I also lol'd at the one dude taking a smoke break trying to catch that dagonair.

Some youtubers and their editors just have that skill.

yeah but it's just like..bait. They get you with that "rarest item ever" hook, when it's something you could farm multiples of if you wanted to waste that kind of time.

The most rare item is still the master ball

thronedfire2 posted...

yeah but it's just like..bait. They get you with that "rarest item ever" hook, when it's something you could farm multiples of if you wanted to waste that kind of time.

The most rare item is still the master ball

After actually listening through that video and the sheer odds of what you go through to get that item in that game (and they actually saw like 2 shiny dragonairs before they finally got that dragon fang) hell no, that is definitely the rarest item in the game to get. Its rarer than damn shiny pokemon in old timey pokemon shiny odds, lol.

A master ball isn't shit. They could have simply played through the game multiple times to get multiple master balls in the time it took to get that one dragon fang.

Calwings posted...

The video is mostly just vibes. Between the script and the cinematography, BlueBoyPhin is really good at telling a story with his videos, even with something as mundane and repetitive as hundreds of encounters of the same Pokemon. It's worth watching all the way through.

I recommend the channel Internet Pitstop if you want some analytical videos with chill as fuck vibes. Hes got a couple of great Pokmon videos

https://youtu.be/DbU1ekrwoPU?si=ru2MCpDa2j6Y5Wdn

Tag for the video

Calwings posted...

The video is mostly just vibes. Between the script and the cinematography, BlueBoyPhin is really good at telling a story with his videos, even with something as mundane and repetitive as hundreds of encounters of the same Pokemon. It's worth watching all the way through.

Yeah thats the type of videos hes been doing lately. Hes trying for a more cinematic documentary approach. He teased a trip to Japan that was Pokemon related and then it just fizzled out. Hes running out of Pokemon things to talk about lol.

DodogamaRayBrst posted...

That's mildly interesting and I enjoyed learning that, but I see that you explained the issue in a short paragraph laying out the math.

And yet the video is 18 minutes long.

The extra time goes over ways to increase the odds of getting the item and shows the players actually doing so.

thronedfire2 posted...

yeah but it's just like..bait. They get you with that "rarest item ever" hook, when it's something you could farm multiples of if you wanted to waste that kind of time.

The most rare item is still the master ball

"Rare" could easily refer to how many players actually have the item, literally everyone who beats these games gets a Master Ball, basically nobody who played FRLG ever got a Dragon Fang in it.

thronedfire2 posted...

The most rare item is still the master ball

Nope, for the simple fact that you're given a free Master Ball halfway through the game.

Literally the only way to get a Dragon Fang in FRLG is by farming wild Dragonair in the Safari Zone.

Didn't they encounter 3 or 4 shinies before getting it? That puts it more into perspective how rare it is.

Storm101 posted...

Didn't they encounter 3 or 4 shinies before getting it? That puts it more into perspective how rare it is.

Yep. Two shiny Dratini (both of whom ran away) and a shiny Goldeen (which they were able to catch).

And yes, this is full-odds shiny (1/8192), with nothing to reduce their rarity, though I don't think such a thing existed in Gen 3.

I love grinding in games. I grind <1% odds like it's my job. I didn't even bother trying this when I played FRLG. Looked up how to get it and said nope.

Pokmon running away is so annoying, especially if they are shiny.

Anony1125 posted...

I love grinding in games. I grind <1% odds like it's my job. I didn't even bother trying this when I played FRLG. Looked up how to get it and said nope.

Yeah I'm a guy that grinded the hell out of phantasy star online games in the past to get the various rare weapons/armors/etc. (this game also has some pretty nutty odds. The original version and version 2 on the dreamcast might as well be impossible to get the better rares, but even the way more reasonable games like PSO episode 1 and 2 and PSO blue burst still had those crazy ones like 1/10,000 (for a enemy that only appears like, 3 or 4 times in a run through the level) I was interested in and this pokemon dragon fang item has me going nope, lol.

Like you have to fish and hope its a dragonair in the first place through many, many mind-numbing encounters, when you do encounter one finally you have to throw the bait and hope it actually goes for the bait instead of running away on a 50/50 chance, and THEN after being blessed enough to actually capture the thing at a 18 percent capture rate its a 5 percent chance it would even have the item. Fuck that. It it was me I wouldn't even have a gameboy advance/sp after that first shiny dragonair running away because it'd be smashed up, lmao.

ok I guess I stand corrected

not sure why anyone would bother though

In RSE its pretty much impossible to get unless you specifically look up a guide for it. Its only held by a Shelgon owned by this random-ass trainer, and it only holds the item from the fourth rematch onwards.

I guarantee that unless you already looked it up, nobody bothered to fight that guy four times, much less just happened to use Thief on his Shelgon.

However you can get a Dragon Fang in the GBA games by transferring it from the Gamecube games, where its much easier to get.

(There was also an event distribution for it, but those events were all physical in-person events in those days.)

But in any case, I dont know why youd go to trouble. The item isnt even good. Probably why in later gens its easy to get.

BlueBoy675 posted...

I recommend the channel Internet Pitstop if you want some analytical videos with chill as fuck vibes. Hes got a couple of great Pokmon videos

https://youtu.be/DbU1ekrwoPU?si=ru2MCpDa2j6Y5Wdn

Thanks, I'll check it out when I can.

--Zero- posted...

Yeah thats the type of videos hes been doing lately. Hes trying for a more cinematic documentary approach. He teased a trip to Japan that was Pokemon related and then it just fizzled out. Hes running out of Pokemon things to talk about lol.

I still remember being absolutely awestruck watching his Ruins Of Alph video. But even his other videos that aren't such a grandiose project are fun to watch because he's so talented at making these videos. One of the comments on this video said it best: "Bro was born to film cinema but forced to obsess over Pokemon, and the world gets these snippets of brilliance"

*Another minor thing that grinds my gears in general.......when youtubers do not list the songs used in their videos. Feels like gatekeeping in a way, lol.

Wanted to know what that song was that started at 6:10 and so I dug through the comments to find a trooper that came through for everyone....

.....its this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8E8N1ePoOk

God damn, lol.*

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


It actually is. In the right Safari Zone area, Chansey has a 4% encounter rate, while Dragonair is always a 1% encounter rate by fishing. And since both of them have a 5% chance of holding their respective item, that means the Dragonair hunt would take about 4x as many encounters to find one that's actually holding the item. Granted, Chansey has a lower catch rate (30 compared to 45) so more of them will flee without you catching them, and since you're taking steps in the grass and not fishing, you'll also waste time getting get thrown out of the Safari Zone and waking back to the correct area. But I don't think that makes up for Dragonair being 4x as hard to find to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, they're both extremely difficult hunts. But I think the Dragon Fang hunt is worse simply based on the mathematical odds.

Isn't Chansey still in Cerulean Cave?

Though sadly, Compound Eyes only started increasing wild Pokemon held item chance in Emerald onward. FRLG just missed out.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Technically no. Even within gen 3 alone, you can get a Lucky Egg for free in Agate Village in Pokemon XD. Granted, you have to beat the game and complete an extra side quest on top of that, but it's a way to get a free Lucky Egg that doesn't rely on RNG.

Umbreon posted...

Isn't Chansey still in Cerulean Cave?

Not in FR/LG. Only in gen 1 (which has no held items) and the Let's Go games (where Chansey can't hold a Lucky Egg in the wild, only its other far more useless item, Lucky Punch).

Oof, yeah I'd rather farm a lucky egg then that. At least lucky egg would have some use although you could probably raise a few pokemon to lv.100 before you got close to getting one. I like a hunt but I'd definitely trade one over before going to that level of grind.

Using the Dragonair noise as a censor is inspired.