Personally, the bigger missed opportunities are not having Dragonitenite or Mega Meganium.
Most of the Megas were/are great. Especially ones that increased older pokemon's viability, like the Beedrilite. Unfortunately, GF decided that Z Moves would be a better option to make obscure pokemon more viable. Z Moves really aren't good for making obscure pokes any more viable, beacuse the reason why they aren't used often is beacuse their stats are not on par with other pokes.Personally, the bigger missed opportunities are not having Dragonitenite or Mega Meganium.
Or even... Z-moves were not primarily meant to be a way to boost Pokémon's viability, or add versatility to competitive play, as much as this: To be the Shiny New Toy for marketing Gen VII. Z-moves were meant to follow up Megas as The Next Big Thing, meaning that the concept of Mega Evolution is ditched like a hot potato and branded yesterday's news, so the spotlight can be put on Z-moves. And they come with quirky little dances that would hopefully go viral among preschool kids. It all reeks of "marketing first" to me.Well, I think Z-Moves weren't really meant to be a way to boost a Pokemon's viability as much as a way to add more strategic versatility to the competitive scene beyond "just slap a leftovers or a choice item on it." Sure they're basically just flashy nukes in-game, but once you step into multiplayer, it becomes far more apparent that they add more diversity to already decent Pokemon even in casual matches.
To be fair, Mantine (Roost) and Pelipper (Drizzle) have gotten a new lease on life, while Torkoal (Drought) has use in VGC and nominal use in singles. Still, that's hardly the kind of upending of the old order we saw last gen.And now Gen VII... made already-strong Pokémon even stronger, and previously outclassed Pokémon are still outclassed. I have yet to see a rags-to-riches story this generation, although the suspect testing of Dugtrio was certainly unexpected.
Not to mention Mantine getting +20 to HP so it can make use of Roost and be the specially defensive wall it always wanted to be. The Alolan formes also add some viability to a few forgotten/heavily outclassed gen 1 Pokemon. Not nearly as much as we hoped prior to Sun and Moon's release, but still.To be fair, Mantine (Roost) and Pelipper (Drizzle) have gotten a new lease on life, while Torkoal (Drought) has use in VGC and nominal use in singles. Still, that's hardly the kind of upending of the old order we saw last gen.
Well, Mence certainly took a big hit in Gen VI where its coverage was suddenly turned bad because it does not really have anything to hit Fairies hard. Then Aerilate Mega Mence and Supersonic Skystrike arrived to patch that issue.Not to mention Mantine getting +20 to HP so it can make use of Roost and be the specially defensive wall it always wanted to be. The Alolan formes also add some viability to a few forgotten/heavily outclassed gen 1 Pokemon. Not nearly as much as we hoped prior to Sun and Moon's release, but still.
And granted, not every Pokemon can be awesome... there's always going to be some that just can't make the cut, both old and new.
And even Mega Evolution dabbled in the already powerful. I don't think Gengar or Garchomp were exactly pining for more power, and Salamence certainly wasn't lacking... (nor did it necessarily always help, as Audino... well, its name says it all)
I mean, Alolan Exe is pretty bad, it traded its 4x Bug weakness for a 4x Ice weakness. More people run ice moves than bug moves for coverage. Furthermore, it gained Atk and lost Sp, which really doesn't help a pokemon that probably should be running a special set (Though it does help if you're running a trick room set).Meanwhile, all Alolan forms bar Dugtrio and maybe Raticate are better than the regular ones (and Dugtrio was the only good Pokemon with an Alola form).
Er, Raichu's hidden ability is Lightning Rod, not Volt Absorb...I mean, Alolan Exe is pretty bad, it traded its 4x Bug weakness for a 4x Ice weakness. More people run ice moves than bug moves for coverage. Furthermore, it gained Atk and lost Sp, which really doesn't help a pokemon that probably should be running a special set (Though it does help if you're running a trick room set).
Alolan Raichu is somewhat okay, but it losses access to Volt Absorb, gains more weaknesses, and its only ability is situational (of course, Tapu Koko is literally everywhere, so that helps, but that utility is based on teammates, not on its own ability).
Alolan Sandslash gained a plethora of common weaknesses (Fire, Fighting, Ground), only a small defense buff, and again, a very situational ability that makes it rely on its allies (Slush Rush and the Evasion one)
Most of the Alola forms are either situational, or just plain meh/equal when compared to their original forms, with the exception of Alolan Marowak.
:P Oops. Almost the same thing.Er, Raichu's hidden ability is Lightning Rod, not Volt Absorb...
Inb4 Z-Crystals get written off in Gen VIII for being "too broken"/to promote GF's new gimmick, like what happened to the Gen V gems.Also, Z-Crystals are better for long-term than Mega Evolutions, since every move introduced from now on will have a Z-upgrade thanks to the generic Z-Crystals, unlike Mega Evolutions... and assuming they don't take them out. At worst, we may not get new exclusive Z-Crystals.
Absolutely but also that was probably the point? They specifically chose a new gimmick they could do as a one and done. All 18 types: covered. Dances: one and done'd. They have a variety of misc effects already to go so they can easily slot those in to any new status moves.I've been thinking about this, and I'm almost certain Z-Crystals will be getting the short end of the stick come Gen 8. There's a lot less you can do this Z-Crystals compared to what you can do with Megas (which I will use as a comparison point). Despite all the hype about possible new megas, Game Fream refused to give us any. There's (going to be) little to no hype about new, exclusive Z-Moves (as a lot of them are hard to get in game and unviable competitively) which means new Z-Crystals are even less likely to be added, and there's nothing else that can really be done for type. Z-Crystals are just this Gen's flashy mechanic, and one that isn't as powerful, unique and hype-worthy as Megas.
The only way I see any Pokemon receiving an exclusive Z-Move is if their flavor texts says they do something real notable or gimmicky that there's no normal move that really fits the mold or does it to the extent you'd think. But of course, will this go on to Gen VIII or will Z-Crystals join Mega Evolutions by being ignored as GF creates a completely new battle mechanic only adding complications and ignoring many player's asking for them to focus and expand on some existing battle mechanics.Absolutely but also that was probably the point? They specifically chose a new gimmick they could do as a one and done. All 18 types: covered. Dances: one and done'd. They have a variety of misc effects already to go so they can easily slot those in to any new status moves.
All the leg work is done, basically. They can just carry it forward for as long as they want and never care about adding a dozen new ones every game. They can throw out a bone if they really want to but don't lock themselves to doing dozens of them and creating that expectation. There's, what, 11 exclusive ones total? And 3 of them are on event pokemon (Mew, Marshadow, Pikashu). I'm guessing stars or remakes w/e will add a small handful tops.
I could see it also happening hte pokemon's marketable enough. There was no real reason for Mew & Snorlax, for example, to get their own z moves. Or even Eevee, really. They're just popular and easily marketable to have them do something funny (Snoralx) or cool.The only way I see any Pokemon receiving an exclusive Z-Move is if their flavor texts says they do something real notable or gimmicky that there's no normal move that really fits the mold or does it to the extent you'd think. But of course, will this go on to Gen VIII or will Z-Crystals join Mega Evolutions by being ignored as GF creates a completely new battle mechanic only adding complications and ignoring many player's asking for them to focus and expand on some existing battle mechanics.
At least you didn't have to breed for a flawless one. 500+ eggs until I got a usable competitive F Salandit (30 in HP with everything else flawless), and it didn't even give it a viable Hidden Power. At least it didn't have to be HA, otherwise I might have committed seppuku. On the plus side, Salazzle is working wonders in my team for doubles, thanks to its access to Sludge Wave, and with everyone bringing fairy types.New annoyance: Was at Akaka and wanted to get a Salandit for myself ingane. Searched the place for 2 hours before I finally got one and it had a Careful Nature. Since I refuse to use Pokemon who had a hindering nature to the stat it needs to use ( but freely accept other natures ), I searched again. Caught another Salandit an hour and a half later. It had a Sassy Nature. At this point, I wanted to throw the 3DS at the wall.
Don't forget it also has to be female for it to evolve into Salazzle. If you don't get a female with a good nature before catching a (bad nature) female and male, I suggest just breeding those two till you hatch an acceptable female Salandit.New annoyance: Was at Akaka and wanted to get a Salandit for myself ingane. Searched the place for 2 hours before I finally got one and it had a Careful Nature. Since I refuse to use Pokemon who had a hindering nature to the stat it needs to use ( but freely accept other natures ), I searched again. Caught another Salandit an hour and a half later. It had a Sassy Nature. At this point, I wanted to throw the 3DS at the wall.
Well this is true to some extent, Director Shigeru Ohmori directed both ORAS and S&M while Junichi Masuda directed X&Y. However, Junichi Masuda helped produce ORAS and S&M, and was the lead designer in creating the Mega system, and he was quoted saying this here. It's probably has something to do more with some Nintendo Fat Cat forcing the dev team to work in a certain way so that they could profit more.It's as if the game director for Sun and Moon held a grudge on the game director for X and Y, and decided to wipe his unfinished work off the table when continuing the franchise.
Made even worse that they were working on a Mega Flygon but couldn't agree on a final design before ORAS had to go into production. It's probably why Aaron has a Flygon and gives you a Garchompite, most likely he would have used a Mega Flygon when you battled him and would have given you the Flygonite for placing 1,000 flags instead of Garchompite.Then there were fan-favourites Flygon and Milotic...
I don't think Nintendo had any involvement in this, it's GF wanting to push new shiny "toys" they made, possibly in an attempt to make the games feel fresher than the previous.Well this is true to some extent, Director Shigeru Ohmori directed both ORAS and S&M while Junichi Masuda directed X&Y. However, Junichi Masuda helped produce ORAS and S&M, and was the lead designer in creating the Mega system, and he was quoted saying this here. It's probably has something to do more with some Nintendo Fat Cat forcing the dev team to work in a certain way so that they could profit more.
The relationship between the triad is really confusing in who owns TPC. It was supposed to be Creatures, Game Freak, and Nintendo, each having a 33% share in TPC. However, Nintendo owns Creatures, and therefore has a majority share in TPC, ultimately meaning that while Game Freak is a separate developer from Nintendo, they ultimately answer to Nintendo, and so any marketable decisions (Such as making physical toys such as a Z-Ring) must go through Nintendo first. Furthermore, if they choose to shoe-horn in something that will help TPC profit, say adding in the aforementioned Z-Rings, they as majority shareholders can just use their leverage to make it so. There's no way to prove that Nintendo forced Game Freak to add in Z-Stuff for the purpose of marketability and toys, but it's the most likely reason (Occam's Razor).I don't think Nintendo had any involvement in this, it's GF wanting to push new shiny "toys" they made, possibly in an attempt to make the games feel fresher than the previous.
When I say "toys" I don't mean a literal toy, I mean it in a sense that GF made a new major game mechanic.The relationship between the triad is really confusing in who owns TPC. It was supposed to be Creatures, Game Freak, and Nintendo, each having a 33% share in TPC. However, Nintendo owns Creatures, and therefore has a majority share in TPC, ultimately meaning that while Game Freak is a separate developer from Nintendo, they ultimately answer to Nintendo, and so any marketable decisions (Such as making physical toys such as a Z-Ring) must go through Nintendo first. Furthermore, if they choose to shoe-horn in something that will help TPC profit, say adding in the aforementioned Z-Rings, they as majority shareholders can just use their leverage to make it so. There's no way to prove that Nintendo forced Game Freak to add in Z-Stuff for the purpose of marketability and toys, but it's the most likely reason (Occam's Razor).