Unpopular opinions

Codraroll

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I thought you could use Butterfree because it has special attacks, and Brock's Pokemon are weak specially.
Yeah, Butterfree is a godsend vs. Brock. I remember failing against Brock several times in a row no matter what I did, but finally I got Butterfree and it roflstomped both Geodude and Onix in two moves each. That Butterfree felt awesome to use early-game, it was easily the most powerful 'mon on my team, and it beat everything


Anyway, new unpopular opinion, and this might be dropping a torch here: I think the main series Pokémon games focus too much on battling, and that several of the games' problems can be traced back to this.

First and maybe foremost, the story: The way the games are currently set up, the story needs to be written in such a way that it can only be resolved via Pokémon battles. Okay, becoming a Pokémon Master is a crucial goal of the games, and as such I don't feel that the Pokémon League is a bad way to solve that creative problem. I mean, you become a master by beating the previous master trainers, that's how it works in many types of sports.
However, problems do arise when you try to make storylines beyond becoming a Pokémon master. The player has do something else than travelling from town to town battling Gym Leaders and eventually the Elite Four. But what is there to do, outside this battle-related quest? Why, battle somebody else, of course. Battling is such a core concept of the games that every aspect of the journey needs to involve it. Everything you do to progress can basically be put in one of three categories:
1) Travelling
2) Battling random trainers
3) Battling meaningful trainers

Now, this arguably is the entire premise of the games, working just as intended. You travel from place to place, battling other Pokémon trainers along the way, and that's how you get stronger so you can beat the next trainer in the Pokémon League (which allows you to travel further). However, after a while you realize that the secondary storylines are also made to fit into this template. For instance, you have a rival, working towards the same goal as you. He/She wants to be a Pokémon master too. How do you interact with him/her? Why, battling, of course. And nothing else, apart from text-filled cutscenes. That was what made many people dislike the Kalos rival group: The story gave each of your friends a separate trait, such as Tierno liking dancing, but the traits could only be addressed in text because you had no other way of interaction. I mean, how can Tierno be shown to like Pokémon and dancing, when the only overlap between the two is the various dance moves available? The only way his dancing trait could be displayed was through a battle, just like any other battle in-game, with his Pokémon using a few exotic moves, and that's it. That doesn't evoke an image of a dancer travelling with Pokémon, but a Pokémon trainer with a penchant for a certain group of moves. The turn-based battle mechanic doesn't work at all trying to tell a story. Your rivals' personalities can thus only be conveyed through dialogue, which doesn't work that well in a game with such constraints on the amount of text.

The worst symptom of the "plot problem", though, is the repeated use of the "evil team" trope. As I said, the games require a storyline that needs to be resolved through battle. A Big Bad Trainer is a very tempting solution to this requirement. Defeat the trainer (just like any other trainer), save the world, story done. To help prepare the player's team for the Big Bad Battle, you need loads of small battles beforehand, which is solved by giving the Big Bad Trainer lots of little trainer minions. And so the story is written around this, inevitably resulting in the same tired trope over and over and over again. Gang of evil baddies, threatening to do bad things, a ploy which is foiled by consecutive Pokémon battles. Admittedly, this overuse of the same story has more reasons than just the game being built around battling, but it's not helped by it either.


Secondly, in the current mindset of things, the Pokémon themselves have no purposes but battling. There are so many cute/cool/badass Pokémon out there with very little battle presence, which makes them just short of useless in the games. Some might work as HM slaves, but if they don't have the right movepool, they're useless for that too. Players will find very little reward in dragging around 'mons such as Illumise, Unown or Delcatty. Even if they're your absolute favourite Pokémon, they will do you no good in the game whatsoever. In a similar vein, beyond battling there is nothing distinguishable between Pokémon like Garchomp, Starmie, Heatran or Tyranitar. As long as your Pokémon can beat opponents, it doesn't matter how, or what other attributes it has. People might criticize Smogon (or the very concept of competitive battling) for reducing Pokémon to nothing but numbers, but their usefulness in-game is determined by the exact same standards (although "outclassing" isn't an issue in-game). If a Pokémon is a good battler, it is good for all purposes as far as the game is concerned. The games only judge viability by battling skills. Only rarely will you find NPCs or mechanics which reference other aspects of Pokémon, such as footprints, height/weight or just the Pokémon being of a specific type or gender. These aspects never have any sort of effect on the story itself.


Thirdly, solutions do exist and are actually somewhat implemented into the games. Actually, there are quite big exceptions to the paragraph above, which really could have helped mitigate the problems with the story and the mechanics.

1) HMs, however much we love to hate them, give many Pokémon a purpose outside of battle. With HMs, you need help from your Pokémon to overcome various obstacles, access certain items or make shortcuts. Alas, the concept is far too narrow and I think integrating it so closely with battles was a mistake. Having HMs actually be moves, which compete for moveslots with the rest of the Pokémon's battling movepool, is just annoying. I like the idea - making your Pokémon do things in the overworld - but the implementation has been flawed since Gen. I, and the only things GameFreak have done to fix it, is making it possible to forget HM moves via Move Deleter.

2)The games have featured a myriad of secondary mechanics, some of which really distinguish many Pokémon and make the worthless ones useful, but they're usually confined to mini-games like the Pokéthlon or Pokémon Contests. I believe these could have been utilized in the main story to a much bigger degree, instead of separating them completely. Pokémon-Amie makes some useful changes to some Pokémon, but alas, they're all battling-related.

3) Field moves and abilities have been a thing since Emerald, but their scope has been far too narrow. They make some Pokémon very good hatching companions, or fishing companions, or useful for hunting items, giving them a use outside of battle. That is the sort of traits every Pokémon should have. In a similar vein, in ORAS you have Sharpedo being a much faster Surfing Pokémon than usual, completely regardless of its ability, moves or stats. I give my standing ovations to this idea, and really wish for the concept to be expanded. It's exactly the sort of mechanics a Pokémon need to stand out if it can't do battle. As shown in the Anime, a big part of a Pokémon journey is dependent on your Pokémon's advantages and disadvantages in various situations. Imagine how much more useful Volbeat would be if it automatically illuminated caves without the need for Flash, or if Swinub could help you walk faster in deep snow. You wouldn't have to give every Pokémon a unique trait, just a little something to justify bringing them with you. And of course, it goes without saying that this should not go on accord with their battling skills. You shouldn't have to choose between field effects or battle-worthy moves/abilities. Sharpedo swiftly swimming without necessarily having Swift Swim is a great example.


All in all, there is so much more to Pokémon than battling, but I believe the games reflect this poorly. Everything but battling is usually shoved aside for side "quests" or one-off gimmicks. These aspects could and should have a closer integration with the main gameplay and story, in my opinion.
 
Yeah, Butterfree is a godsend vs. Brock. I remember failing against Brock several times in a row no matter what I did, but finally I got Butterfree and it roflstomped both Geodude and Onix in two moves each. That Butterfree felt awesome to use early-game, it was easily the most powerful 'mon on my team, and it beat everything


Anyway, new unpopular opinion, and this might be dropping a torch here: I think the main series Pokémon games focus too much on battling, and that several of the games' problems can be traced back to this.

First and maybe foremost, the story: The way the games are currently set up, the story needs to be written in such a way that it can only be resolved via Pokémon battles. Okay, becoming a Pokémon Master is a crucial goal of the games, and as such I don't feel that the Pokémon League is a bad way to solve that creative problem. I mean, you become a master by beating the previous master trainers, that's how it works in many types of sports.
However, problems do arise when you try to make storylines beyond becoming a Pokémon master. The player has do something else than travelling from town to town battling Gym Leaders and eventually the Elite Four. But what is there to do, outside this battle-related quest? Why, battle somebody else, of course. Battling is such a core concept of the games that every aspect of the journey needs to involve it. Everything you do to progress can basically be put in one of three categories:
1) Travelling
2) Battling random trainers
3) Battling meaningful trainers

Now, this arguably is the entire premise of the games, working just as intended. You travel from place to place, battling other Pokémon trainers along the way, and that's how you get stronger so you can beat the next trainer in the Pokémon League (which allows you to travel further). However, after a while you realize that the secondary storylines are also made to fit into this template. For instance, you have a rival, working towards the same goal as you. He/She wants to be a Pokémon master too. How do you interact with him/her? Why, battling, of course. And nothing else, apart from text-filled cutscenes. That was what made many people dislike the Kalos rival group: The story gave each of your friends a separate trait, such as Tierno liking dancing, but the traits could only be addressed in text because you had no other way of interaction. I mean, how can Tierno be shown to like Pokémon and dancing, when the only overlap between the two is the various dance moves available? The only way his dancing trait could be displayed was through a battle, just like any other battle in-game, with his Pokémon using a few exotic moves, and that's it. That doesn't evoke an image of a dancer travelling with Pokémon, but a Pokémon trainer with a penchant for a certain group of moves. The turn-based battle mechanic doesn't work at all trying to tell a story. Your rivals' personalities can thus only be conveyed through dialogue, which doesn't work that well in a game with such constraints on the amount of text.

The worst symptom of the "plot problem", though, is the repeated use of the "evil team" trope. As I said, the games require a storyline that needs to be resolved through battle. A Big Bad Trainer is a very tempting solution to this requirement. Defeat the trainer (just like any other trainer), save the world, story done. To help prepare the player's team for the Big Bad Battle, you need loads of small battles beforehand, which is solved by giving the Big Bad Trainer lots of little trainer minions. And so the story is written around this, inevitably resulting in the same tired trope over and over and over again. Gang of evil baddies, threatening to do bad things, a ploy which is foiled by consecutive Pokémon battles. Admittedly, this overuse of the same story has more reasons than just the game being built around battling, but it's not helped by it either.


Secondly, in the current mindset of things, the Pokémon themselves have no purposes but battling. There are so many cute/cool/badass Pokémon out there with very little battle presence, which makes them just short of useless in the games. Some might work as HM slaves, but if they don't have the right movepool, they're useless for that too. Players will find very little reward in dragging around 'mons such as Illumise, Unown or Delcatty. Even if they're your absolute favourite Pokémon, they will do you no good in the game whatsoever. In a similar vein, beyond battling there is nothing distinguishable between Pokémon like Garchomp, Starmie, Heatran or Tyranitar. As long as your Pokémon can beat opponents, it doesn't matter how, or what other attributes it has. People might criticize Smogon (or the very concept of competitive battling) for reducing Pokémon to nothing but numbers, but their usefulness in-game is determined by the exact same standards (although "outclassing" isn't an issue in-game). If a Pokémon is a good battler, it is good for all purposes as far as the game is concerned. The games only judge viability by battling skills. Only rarely will you find NPCs or mechanics which reference other aspects of Pokémon, such as footprints, height/weight or just the Pokémon being of a specific type or gender. These aspects never have any sort of effect on the story itself.


Thirdly, solutions do exist and are actually somewhat implemented into the games. Actually, there are quite big exceptions to the paragraph above, which really could have helped mitigate the problems with the story and the mechanics.

1) HMs, however much we love to hate them, give many Pokémon a purpose outside of battle. With HMs, you need help from your Pokémon to overcome various obstacles, access certain items or make shortcuts. Alas, the concept is far too narrow and I think integrating it so closely with battles was a mistake. Having HMs actually be moves, which compete for moveslots with the rest of the Pokémon's battling movepool, is just annoying. I like the idea - making your Pokémon do things in the overworld - but the implementation has been flawed since Gen. I, and the only things GameFreak have done to fix it, is making it possible to forget HM moves via Move Deleter.

2)The games have featured a myriad of secondary mechanics, some of which really distinguish many Pokémon and make the worthless ones useful, but they're usually confined to mini-games like the Pokéthlon or Pokémon Contests. I believe these could have been utilized in the main story to a much bigger degree, instead of separating them completely. Pokémon-Amie makes some useful changes to some Pokémon, but alas, they're all battling-related.

3) Field moves and abilities have been a thing since Emerald, but their scope has been far too narrow. They make some Pokémon very good hatching companions, or fishing companions, or useful for hunting items, giving them a use outside of battle. That is the sort of traits every Pokémon should have. In a similar vein, in ORAS you have Sharpedo being a much faster Surfing Pokémon than usual, completely regardless of its ability, moves or stats. I give my standing ovations to this idea, and really wish for the concept to be expanded. It's exactly the sort of mechanics a Pokémon need to stand out if it can't do battle. As shown in the Anime, a big part of a Pokémon journey is dependent on your Pokémon's advantages and disadvantages in various situations. Imagine how much more useful Volbeat would be if it automatically illuminated caves without the need for Flash, or if Swinub could help you walk faster in deep snow. You wouldn't have to give every Pokémon a unique trait, just a little something to justify bringing them with you. And of course, it goes without saying that this should not go on accord with their battling skills. You shouldn't have to choose between field effects or battle-worthy moves/abilities. Sharpedo swiftly swimming without necessarily having Swift Swim is a great example.


All in all, there is so much more to Pokémon than battling, but I believe the games reflect this poorly. Everything but battling is usually shoved aside for side "quests" or one-off gimmicks. These aspects could and should have a closer integration with the main gameplay and story, in my opinion.
One thing I've noticed is that the game introduces you to activities aside from battling such as contests, and NPCs that have goals in these activities. My problem with this is that these activities don't actually result in progression in the game like battling does. For example, the Sinnoh games and anime suggest that people follow two routes - training and battling with Pokemon, or having them perform in contests. The thing is, winning contests doesn't get you anywhere in the story and you're forced to do lots of battles before you can even do contests. Even completing the Pokedex doesn't reward the player as much as it should, and as a result, most people just concentrate on battling in game and don't bother with the other activities. You're almost forced down the path of a trainer because the story focuses so heavily on it.
 
One thing I've noticed is that the game introduces you to activities aside from battling such as contests, and NPCs that have goals in these activities. My problem with this is that these activities don't actually result in progression in the game like battling does. For example, the Sinnoh games and anime suggest that people follow two routes - training and battling with Pokemon, or having them perform in contests. The thing is, winning contests doesn't get you anywhere in the story and you're forced to do lots of battles before you can even do contests. Even completing the Pokedex doesn't reward the player as much as it should, and as a result, most people just concentrate on battling in game and don't bother with the other activities. You're almost forced down the path of a trainer because the story focuses so heavily on it.
And then look at what ORAS gave us, do contests for a mega stone also go collect a lot of flags for another one, no freaking thanks, when they force a game element with something that is actually useful it's where it starts to suck.
 
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I have to agree with Norne here. As much fun as some side quests are, they're side quests for a reason - some people will like them, others won't. In the end, we play Pokemon for the battling because that's what it's about. Forcing the player to do things unrelated to the main game, be it via useful rewards or, God forbid, what they did with Pokestar Studios in BW2 is bound to make players frustrated.

Codraroll still does have a point though. The player isn't really given much choice on how to play the game. Sure, there are lots and lots of Pokemon to choose from, not to mention the amount of possible movesets, abilites, you name it. But in the end, you WILL collect the badges and you WILL fight the evil team, and if you would rather do something else you might aswell go elsewhere.
 
There is some truth to Codraroll's opinion. But as much as I'd want a pokemon game catered to meet all my needs, history teaches us that such an endeavor would amount to mediocrity all around. One or two focus points are all a development team can really handle before the quality begins to suffer. So that's why we have spin-off games! So get up off your butts Gamefreak, and work on that Pokemon Snap sequel!

The Pokemon games were (originally) based on the joy of collecting and discovering in bug catching. And in that sense, Pokemon has always delivered on exploration and discovery of monsters. The internet spoiled a bit of that feeling, but that's not really the developer's fault.

So with the developers framing in mind, while yes, battles is certainly the #2 focus, and they can be very fun at higher level play (Smogon, Battle Spot, Maison) there has been a growing gap between the in-game difficulty and the post-game (full content) gameplay. And that can make the in-game battles seem monotonous. I think part of this is due to increasing conflict between the discovery side (which expands the Pokedex to our 700+) and the in-game approach to difficulty (limited set-list, trainers with common type themes instead of diversity, absolutely no switching). Until all the shackles are released, the battle side is suffering due to how many more options they player gets (again, due to expanded discovery aspect).

Not saying that it should be everything goes from the get go, but if there was a more even difficulty curve ramping up to the post-game instead of the typical giant leap at the end...
 

Codraroll

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To clarify, I don't mean that other activities or side quests such as contests should have precedence over battles in the game. BW2 forced you to go through PokéStar Studios to proceed, which was annoying enough. I'd actually say that the gameplay of the storylines are fine as of today, but very poorly written as GameFreak has failed to consider any alternatives for the increasingly more dated "fight a team of ridiculously dressed villains" plot.

What I would want, though, is for the non-battle-mechanics to have some influence on the gameplay, or at least the way the story is told. The Pokémon games have featured a lot of various non-battle-mechanics over the years, but they've been badly segregated from the main parts of the game. Not only from battles, but also from exploration. A Pokémon's Pokéathlon stats only mattered in the Pokéathlon. The weight of a Pokémon only becomes relevant for the damage calculations of four moves (and for entry animations or Pokédex sorting purposes, I guess...). A Pokémon's size is not utilized in any mechanics whatsoever (well, I think you can sort the Pokédex according to size, but why would you ever do that?). Kudos to the programmers for making Pokémon-Amie stats count for something outside Pokémon-Amie, but it still counts for nothing when it comes to interaction in the overworld. Pokémon-Amie seems to exist in its own little bubble; it's only referenced by certain NPCs, and everybody else are all silent about it.

GameFreak have tried - and succeeded - in the past to make certain aspects of Pokémon relevant outside of battling. Pokémon with Flame Body or Magma Armor, for instance, could still be useless in battle, but they give valuable help with Egg-hatching. You bring something with Suction Cups - anything, actually, regardless of battle prowess - if you want to chain fish. In ORAS, having a Sharpedo on hand (regardless of its ability, moves or level) makes sea travel a lot faster. You have Pokémon with Synchronize helping you catch Pokémon with the desired Nature. Those with Compoundeyes help you find good items. This sort of mechanic helps give Pokémon a distinct usefulness outside of battle, but it's still so limited compared to its potential. What if Pokémon with weather abilities could change the overworld weather? If those with Super Luck had the effect of earning you extra prize money? If certain Pokémon (or Pokémon holding certain Ribbons, for that matter) upped the capture rate of Poké Balls, or helped you walk faster through difficult terrain, or automatically lit up caves, or just changed the background music... It wouldn't be that hard to find some kind of use for most Pokémon, to the point that Pokémon with some kind of overworld utility were outnumbering those without.

And of course, side quests should very well be allowed to lead to side storylines. Not of the type "beat the X class of the Pokémon Contest to proceed in your adventure", but more something along the lines of a contest NPC asking for your help with a little quest if you've beaten the X class of contests. Or some small side areas being accessible only if you bring certain Pokémon. And by that I don't mean overly-specific things such as RSE forcing a Relicanth and a Wailord on you, or ORAS requiring a nicknamed Regice with NeverMeltIce or whatever. Just something like "bring at least one Grass Pokémon to enter the Secret Garden" or "to cross this rope bridge, the total weight of your Pokémon must not exceed 200 kg". Conditions that could be satisfied by a wide range of Pokémon, while still being limited enough to encourage players to box the mainstays of their teams for a while and try out something new. If we can cope with having to bring HM slaves to explore certain dungeons, we certainly could handle other, less invasive limitations on team composition as well.


All in all, there is more to the games than battling. A whole spectrum of different mechanics have been implemented into the games for generations, but see little use, while entire aspects of Pokémon go unaddressed or are troubled with problems. Exploration and (in certain places) game progress has always been dependant on your Pokémon's non-battle-abilites, but the system of HMs has become more outdated and annoying than it is useful nowadays. Meanwhile, there are many Pokémon in the game which are next to useless, owning to their poor battling skills, and battling skills being pretty much the only usefull skills for any Pokémon at the moment. Just giving them a way to be useful, without necessarily making them better battlers, would certainly incentivize diversity in in-game team composition. HM slavery is already such a use, giving relevance to stuff like Pelipper or Linoone, but I feel that more could be done.

Use of certain non-battle-mechanics in-game should not be mandatory to clear the story (no more than HMs should), but for sidequests, Easter Eggs, utility or to add to story telling, I'm all for it. We're halfway there in the games already, but the current system has way more potential than what is being utilized.
 

Pikachu315111

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Aside from the cutscene after seeing it a dozen times (which is only a few second, but still if they gave an option to skip it I would most of the time) Soaring was a great addition. Not only is it fun (especially with the tricks) but they've added a nice amount of things to it:

1. We get an adorable diorama of Hoenn (which makes you feel giant when you fly close to the cities, lol).
2. The music themes are nice (I like the night theme the most, it's so calmed and combined with how beautiful the Hoenn diorama looks at night I could just fly around and doing tricks for a while).
3. They've added wild encounters which, while not many, gave us more Pokemon to catch that otherwise probably be found looking through grass (though it is a bit annoying when you get into a battle despite being on a different elevation of the flock. Also they maybe could have found a way to incorporate the Sky Battle mechanic (maybe not for wild battles but maybe you could find certain trainers flying through the sky)).
4. The Mirage Spots were fun finding for the first week or so (but there are a lot of annoyances with them. Waiting to get trio Legendaries, Legendaries in the sky so you couldn't save in front of them, only getting one Mirage Spot a day and some having TMs on them). The Mirage Spots added a lot of additional Pokemon to get (some with their Hidden Abilities) and the islands looked interesting (though I wish they maybe did more, it feels like they wanted to but just ran out of time).

I'm hoping in the future they expand the Soaring mechanic like maybe letting more Pokemon soar (there's plenty of big Flying-types, smaller Pokemon can still learn fly but since they're small they can use the excuse they're not strong enough to fly with us holding on to them for so long). This also goes for big Pokemon you can Surf on (and PLEASE have some have Sharpedo's speed while Surfing. Love Surfing on Sharpedo).

BUT with all that said, whenever I actually want to get somewhere I do just use Fly. For the most part I always used Fly to go back from a Mirage Spot, especially when all there was left to do was get the TMs which took me months to do but since each island refreshed with a normal item I always went their, collect the items on there, and used Fly to go back to a Pokemon Center or something.

So in the end it all depended how much time I wanted to spend. If I had some time to kill I'd go Soaring but otherwise I'd use Fly.


Not a lot of "exciting" Pokemon in the beginning is one of the problems with Pokemon being a linear story. From a design standpoint, pretty much the only "exciting" Pokemon you should have with you in the very beginning should be your Starter, everything else is just to have fodder on your team. Ideally you'd want to introduce one or two "exciting" Pokemon after each major point in the game (which would be getting a badge or defeating a syndicate admin/boss) so the players have something to look forward to and keep going, if anything just to try out the Pokemon.
Of course the problem with doing this is that people have favorite Pokemon or they want to try out the newly introduced Pokemon and it's annoying having to wait to get those Pokemon (and if those Pokemon are late game people would feel disappointed they couldn't have their favorite/new Pokemon with them for a large portion of their journey). Also people may feel they're wasting experience leveling up a fodder Pokemon or a Pokemon who's already strong enough at the moment.
The only way I can see them fixing that is breaking their traditional game design and letting us explore most of the region without being forced to first needing to get the badges. This would of course require a massive change to how they do things, but if I can think of ways they can do it I'm sure a team of professional game designers can think of one too.


The main problem I see with the side things like Pokemon Contests and Musicals is that those really could use their own storyline and maybe even a rival. For the most part these side things are just that, something you do on the side. You're encouraged to try them out but after that initial encouragement nothing is making you want to continue. Like in ORAS they have a storyline going on but it's nothing that makes you want to see what happens next. PokeStar Studios was a bit better with that by introducing new movies or the next part of a movie, but this is also from the same Gen which had the Musicals which while fun when you're in the mood I don't think many spent a lot of time on.
But with that all said, the games are battle centric because, well, you're the trainer and your goal is to become Champion which involves battling. They could add in a ton of side things with storylines but in the end of the day you'll only progress with the game by battling.
The villain trope is getting tiresome especially when the villains aren't intriguing. In addition there are other topics you can explore, antagonistic force does not need to be a person or a group of people. Or if the antagonist is a person just make sure they're interesting and engaging. Also a villains goal doesn't have to be taking over the world or effect things globally.
The easy solution to all this is something that sadly any business doesn't like doing: getting out of their comfort zone. They need to take risks and do something different, which I feel a franchise like Pokemon can do and make it work. But they have to be willing to accept they may lose some money from initial reactions of people not liking it because its different from what they're used to and not many businesses are willing to do that.


I would like to see more moves and Abilities have outside of battle effects. Not sure how they would have stats effect outside of battle aside working within other mini games or working in conjunction with with moves/Abilities outside of battle. like I'm sure given some time I could think of plenty of things but I don't think it's quite on the level Codraroll describes.


Hmm, I guess I should post some unpopular opinions. I know, honestly I'd rather Pokemon to focus and flesh out older mechanics instead of creating ton of new ones. They're always working on new kind of Moves, evolution methods, battle effects when honestly they have tons of old ones they barely scratched the surface with yet are willing to leave behind to work on new stuff. Building on your old mechanics is just as new as completely new things, it even has the added bonus of showing you want to improve old mechanics and fix any problems people may have had with them.
 
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Okay, here is one that hasn't been listed: when someone blocks you from being able to move, or blocking a path, and you should be able to do something about it.

I'm not talking about something silly, like that guy who was studying a new Pokémon's footprints (or so he thought), after all, who are you to stand in the way of science? I'm talking more about cases where the villains block a path, such as in XY, when a squad is keeping the native Pokémon on that route, so their life forces can be drained to power the Ultimate Weapon. My solution: to battle them, and if they still don't move, well, I believe that I had a Charizard that could burn the general vicinity they were standing in, if they refused to move.

I know it's supposed to be a kid's game, but being so...helpless, is rather insulting.
 

Celever

i am town
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Okay, here is one that hasn't been listed: when someone blocks you from being able to move, or blocking a path, and you should be able to do something about it.

I'm not talking about something silly, like that guy who was studying a new Pokémon's footprints (or so he thought), after all, who are you to stand in the way of science? I'm talking more about cases where the villains block a path, such as in XY, when a squad is keeping the native Pokémon on that route, so their life forces can be drained to power the Ultimate Weapon. My solution: to battle them, and if they still don't move, well, I believe that I had a Charizard that could burn the general vicinity they were standing in, if they refused to move.

I know it's supposed to be a kid's game, but being so...helpless, is rather insulting.
I feel like the only way they could make that work is if they did an 'unbeatable boss' type thing where their Pokemon are level 80 and you've just got your first gym badge. It might end up being even cheaper than just a road block though, since you'd lose some of your money in the process, and you know there'll be a confused kid somewhere grinding their Pokemon up to level 80 in order to beat them.
 
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Okay, here is one that hasn't been listed: when someone blocks you from being able to move, or blocking a path, and you should be able to do something about it.

I'm not talking about something silly, like that guy who was studying a new Pokémon's footprints (or so he thought), after all, who are you to stand in the way of science? I'm talking more about cases where the villains block a path, such as in XY, when a squad is keeping the native Pokémon on that route, so their life forces can be drained to power the Ultimate Weapon. My solution: to battle them, and if they still don't move, well, I believe that I had a Charizard that could burn the general vicinity they were standing in, if they refused to move.

I know it's supposed to be a kid's game, but being so...helpless, is rather insulting.
Or that huge swarm of Crustle in the way blocking you from going to Nimbasa City until you get three badges.
 
I feel like the only way they could make that work is if they did an 'unbeatable boss' type thing where their Pokemon are level 80 and you've just got your first gym badge. It might end up being even cheaper, than just a road block though, since you'd lose some of your money in the process, and you know there'll be a confused kid somewhere grinding their Pokemon up to level 80 in order to beat them.
They could give a hint, like when your Pokémon are being healed: "oh, your Pokémon are nowhere near strong enough to beat his. I'd suggest traveling around the region to get stronger".

Or that huge swarm of Crustle in the way blocking you from going to Nimbasa City until you get three badges.
You should still be able to battle them. If you get beaten, because they are at a higher level, I guess so be it. Or there could be a nature observer, who tells you to be patient. The dialogue could lead to badges, and when he finds out you don't have 3 badges, he'll suggest earning said badge to pass the time. "I'm sure by the time you've earned that third badge, that swarm of Crustle will have gone on their merry way!"
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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Okay, here is one that hasn't been listed: when someone blocks you from being able to move, or blocking a path, and you should be able to do something about it.

I'm not talking about something silly, like that guy who was studying a new Pokémon's footprints (or so he thought), after all, who are you to stand in the way of science? I'm talking more about cases where the villains block a path, such as in XY, when a squad is keeping the native Pokémon on that route, so their life forces can be drained to power the Ultimate Weapon. My solution: to battle them, and if they still don't move, well, I believe that I had a Charizard that could burn the general vicinity they were standing in, if they refused to move.

I know it's supposed to be a kid's game, but being so...helpless, is rather insulting.
Or a better example is inside the power plant. We could have just walked up to one of the scientists at the core, but there's a random grunt blocking the way who refuses to move so your character just decides to take the long way around. Um, no, how about I use my Delphox to use its Psychic power to pin the guy to the wall and to directly to the head villain. I'm not going to hurt the guy that badly, just knock them aside (heck if your Pokemon has a sleep inducing move this conundrum is even more baffling). Lance had his Dragonite use HYPER BEAM (though it looked more like a tackle) on a TR grunt. Or hey, how about going the path of least resistance? I had a Charizard at that point, why couldn't I just hop on my Charizard's back and fly over to the head villain (which would have also worked in the Pokeball Factory instead of riding on the conveyor belts)? This isn't a Gym where solving the puzzle proves I'm worthy of challenging the Gym Leader, I'm trying to stop an evil syndicate from stealing the region's power!

I guess having the guy be stronger would prevent you from doing any of that... but if that was the case why is the guy just standing there? He's part of the evil team and you're trying to stop them, why wouldn't he curbstomp you and anyone else who tries to intervene? Also it'll look pretty insulting for a grunt to have high leveled Pokemon and the big boss to have Pokemon lower in level to them. Also what happens if you found a way to beat them?

But then again we make fun of the "roadblocks" for a reason, they make absolutely no sense since we have elemental monsters of various capabilities at our beck and call. A need a specific HM to Cut a puny tree? How about my Fire-type burns it to ash? Someone is blocking my path? How about I talk with them about it and come to a compromise? Like the guy studying the "new" Pokemon's footprint, how about I be REALLY careful to make sure I don't step on any of the footprints?
 
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Celever

i am town
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Or a better example is inside the power plant. We could have just walked up to one of the scientists at the core, but there's a random grunt blocking the way who refuses to move so your character just decides to take the long way around. Um, no, how about I use my Delphox to use its Psychic power to pin the guy to the wall and to directly to the head villain. I'm not going to hurt the guy that badly, just knock them aside (heck if your Pokemon has a sleep inducing move this conundrum is even more baffling). Lance had his Dragonite use HYPER BEAM (though it looked more like a tackle) on a TR grunt. Or hey, how about going the path of least resistance? I had a Charizard at that point, why couldn't I just hop on my Charizard's back and fly over to the head villain (which would have also worked in the Pokeball Factory instead of riding on the conveyor belts)? This isn't a Gym where solving the puzzle proves I'm worthy of challenging the Gym Leader, I'm trying to stop an evil syndicate from stealing the region's power!

I guess having the guy be stronger would prevent you from doing any of that... but if that was the case why is the guy just standing there? He's part of the evil team and you're trying to stop them, why wouldn't he curbstomp you and anyone else who tries to intervene? Also it'll look pretty insulting for a grunt to have high leveled Pokemon and the big boss to have Pokemon lower in level to them. Also what happens if you found a way to beat them?

But then again we make fun of the "roadblocks" for a reason, they make absolutely no sense since we have elemental monsters of various capabilities at our beck and call. A need a specific HM to Cut a puny tree? How about my Fire-type burns it to ash? Someone is blocking my path? How about I talk with them about it and come to a compromise? Like the guy studying the "new" Pokemon's footprint, how about I be REALLY careful to make sure I don't step on any of the footprints?
Funny you should talk about sleep inducing moves...

In Pokemon XD: Gales of Darkness there are two bodybuilders which block you from getting into the Cipher Key Lair. Your Team Snagem ally Wakin comes in and puts the two guys to sleep with his Gloom's Sleep Powder, letting you walk right on in. It's one of the things I love about the home console games -- they weren't afraid to make fun of the formula they were given. This is the case in a few other non-Game Freak games such as PokePark making fun of Primeape not having a tail but being able to use Iron Tail and all the rest of it.

However, it makes total sense why you don't do it yourself. It's seen as an extremely antagonistic thing to have your Pokemon do anything to humans. In Pokemon Colosseum one of the main reasons why Shadow Pokemon were so bad is that they have no restraint fighting humans. Pokemon naturally don't like doing so thanks to their pure hearts and as such having your Pokemon do anything to the enemy grunts would be solely against their will, wrecking the trust you have between you.

Granted, this reasoning all stems from Pokemon Colosseum and XD, which aren't officially canon, but the games are often used for answers in this community because they actually provides them whereas the handheld series doesn't on several matters >___>.
 
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Or a better example is inside the power plant. We could have just walked up to one of the scientists at the core, but there's a random grunt blocking the way who refuses to move so your character just decides to take the long way around. Um, no, how about I use my Delphox to use its Psychic power to pin the guy to the wall and to directly to the head villain. I'm not going to hurt the guy that badly, just knock them aside (heck if your Pokemon has a sleep inducing move this conundrum is even more baffling).

But then again we make fun of the "roadblocks" for a reason, they make absolutely no sense since we have elemental monsters of various capabilities at our beck and call. A need a specific HM to Cut a puny tree? How about my Fire-type burns it to ash? Someone is blocking my path? How about I talk with them about it and come to a compromise? Like the guy studying the "new" Pokemon's footprint, how about I be REALLY careful to make sure I don't step on any of the footprints?
Yeah, if we could do that the game would be so realistic. Which would probably lead to the discussion of a pokémon MMO with intense graphics and real-life physics with logical solutions to the Snorlaxes that block the way. Or maybe this would push GameFreak to make the moves have really realistic effects (Snivy uses Vine Whip to raise a Pidgey on air and smashes it to a tree = more damage than Tackle, Aerodactyl uses Sky Drop to kill the opposing pokémon because that's what would happen if that poor foe doesn't levitate or doesn't have wings). I think this would turn our beloved franchise into a completely different one. This is why I want the little stupid things to stay, and this is the unpopular opinion. I mean, who wouldn't want to destroy that grunt, push the Psyducks away, jump on the Crustles to get past them and all? Now give me a special snowflake badge, please.
 

Pikachu315111

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Forgot about that happening in Colosseum (which is official canon). Actually if you remember the Snagem grunts did it to YOU first so they could take Micheal's Snag Machine.

Anyway I can think of one reason not do just use your Pokemon to force your way through situations. Not only may your Pokemon feel uncomfortable doing so unless its absolutely necessary (sure we could have knocked aside the Flare grunt to get to the boss faster, but we could go around and avoid Pokemon on human violence which is much more acceptable to Pokemon. Meanwhile there was no way to get to TR's Lake or Rage lab so Lance's Dragonite had to knock the TR grunt aside), but it may escalate things. For some reason the villainous team follows a code of conduct where they'll Pokemon battle you. But if you started using your Pokemon to just knock aside grunts then YOU would have broken the code thus alright if they just started swarming you with their Pokemon. Lance can get away with it since his Pokemon is strong enough to take on an army of grunt Pokemon, but the player's Pokemon probably not. The Snagem grunt is the first villain to decide since he's a bad guy they shouldn't need to follow this code and just uses a move on a trainer outright. Now for those still follow the code that means they can now freely attack the Snagem grunt, but the player is a good guy so wouldn't do that and he runs off after putting the Cipher guard asleep so didn't have to face the consequences.

I guess one excuse to have that code of conduct is that a Pokemon can take a few hits before going down and since Pokemon are protective of their trainers if one injures the other they'll probably also end up getting injured unless their Pokemon is super strong (such as the case with Lance). Since the villains don't want to get hurt if they can ignore it they probably follow the code, assuming their boss would be strong enough anyway to case away us pesky trainers. Besides usually by the time we get to the boss they've finished what they wanted to be done so to them it doesn't matter (though it stops making sense when you're about to foil their entire plan thus probably don't care about physical harm as long as their plan succeeds). Cipher turning Pokemon into Shadow Pokemon get around this rule since its the Pokemon being disobedient attacking the trainer, they didn't technically give the order to.

And OneManFreakShow I'm not asking for them to not have these roadblocks but maybe to explain why can't we just do some other thing to pass them. We can come with with excuses but that's just speculation/fanon which we shouldn't need to do. Also people do want a MMO though I imagine it would be a difficult thing to setup. The only way I can see them doing it is if the story is that they're helping with the creation/expansion of a new region.
 
Yeah, if we could do that the game would be so realistic. Which would probably lead to the discussion of a pokémon MMO with intense graphics and real-life physics with logical solutions to the Snorlaxes that block the way. Or maybe this would push GameFreak to make the moves have really realistic effects (Snivy uses Vine Whip to raise a Pidgey on air and smashes it to a tree = more damage than Tackle, Aerodactyl uses Sky Drop to kill the opposing pokémon because that's what would happen if that poor foe doesn't levitate or doesn't have wings). I think this would turn our beloved franchise into a completely different one. This is why I want the little stupid things to stay, and this is the unpopular opinion. I mean, who wouldn't want to destroy that grunt, push the Psyducks away, jump on the Crustles to get past them and all? Now give me a special snowflake badge, please.
The Unpopular Opinion thread is where everybody is entitled to there opinion regardless of how anybody else feels about it. Hence the title. We don't have to agree, and by title definition probably won't, but we do have to be considerate.

Plus it's not unreasonable to want developers to close the gameplay and story segregation gap. It just means they have to come up with plausible reasons for roadblocks or other things that don't make too much sense storywise but are necessary for gameplay. I would always love a reason that with the fate of the world on the line we, the player, are expected to follow the rules while the bad guys don't.

To steal an example from the webshow Extra Credits, it's like the Plasmids in Bioshock vs. the Vigors in Infinite. The Plasmids had significance and were integrated into the narrative and world, but the Vigors weren't. The vigors were just for gameplay purposes and served little to no purpose outside of it, so they felt cheap and forgettable.

There's a very very loose explanation for some of this I dug up when replaying Platinum, but that's a topic for the Mysteries thread (somebody please bump it so I can post again! I NEED TO FEED MY ADDICTION pursuit of knowledge!)
 
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Celever

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You mean... this thread? If your talking about the Psyduck that block some path I forgot, I am intrigued.
In generation 4 there are Psyduck which block the way to Celestic Town. You have to get medicine from Cynthia in order to move them.

I think that not explaining everything is actually one of the appealing things about Pokemon. Hell, we've got a full mysteries and conspiracies thread about it. Random roadblocks only add to this IMO.
 
I think that any code of honor would be rendered null and void when a grunt taunts me, which is exactly what that Flare Grunt does. I think a Togetic would find what may come next abhorrent, while a Charmeleon or Charizard would find it completely justified. And the grunt doesn't exactly have to stand there and get burned. He can step aside, and accept his failure to stop us. I would start with a threat, and if the grunt calls it a bluff, I'll fire off a warning shot. That seems fair.
 
In generation 4 there are Psyduck which block the way to Celestic Town. You have to get medicine from Cynthia in order to move them.

I think that not explaining everything is actually one of the appealing things about Pokemon. Hell, we've got a full mysteries and conspiracies thread about it. Random roadblocks only add to this IMO.
Reminds me of practically EVERYTHING in Gen V. Instead of using HM barriers to force you to get the HM to progress, they force you to wait for some BS thing like that dance-off in BW2 preventing you from entering the Black City/White Forest too soon practically saying they're doing it to prevent you to leave.

I much prefer HM barriers since theoretically there's a real reason behind it and it would still "exist" after you are capable of passing it. Like my personal favorite was having to use Dive to go to Sootopolis since it was such a natural prevention that it just made sense. In fact, as soon as you finish the Team X Base, the game opened up widely and allowed you to explore the ocean without having any of that BS that prevent you from going to other routes. That just made it feel so much better and larger and without that frustrating thing of not being able to pass.
 
Reminds me of practically EVERYTHING in Gen V. Instead of using HM barriers to force you to get the HM to progress, they force you to wait for some BS thing like that dance-off in BW2 preventing you from entering the Black City/White Forest too soon practically saying they're doing it to prevent you to leave.
Or that stupid "we're trying to see how many people this thing can hold" thing on the Tubelike Bridge.

I much prefer HM barriers since theoretically there's a real reason behind it and it would still "exist" after you are capable of passing it. Like my personal favorite was having to use Dive to go to Sootopolis since it was such a natural prevention that it just made sense. In fact, as soon as you finish the Team X Base, the game opened up widely and allowed you to explore the ocean without having any of that BS that prevent you from going to other routes. That just made it feel so much better and larger and without that frustrating thing of not being able to pass.
I concur. I like how there are actually logical barriers (such as really heavy rocks) that block you from passing.
 
Reminds me of practically EVERYTHING in Gen V. Instead of using HM barriers to force you to get the HM to progress, they force you to wait for some BS thing like that dance-off in BW2 preventing you from entering the Black City/White Forest too soon practically saying they're doing it to prevent you to leave.

I much prefer HM barriers since theoretically there's a real reason behind it and it would still "exist" after you are capable of passing it. Like my personal favorite was having to use Dive to go to Sootopolis since it was such a natural prevention that it just made sense. In fact, as soon as you finish the Team X Base, the game opened up widely and allowed you to explore the ocean without having any of that BS that prevent you from going to other routes. That just made it feel so much better and larger and without that frustrating thing of not being able to pass.
I agree that the forced or plot-check roadblocks were annoying, but replaying Platinum has reminded me that HM roadblocks can get out of hand very VERY fast.

I'd like to see more return to the semi-freedom of Kanto and Johto, where while there was a sequence and some nodes you had to do when the game wanted you to, you could break it in some sections. Lt. Surge can be fought last, Erika/Koga/Sabrina and Chuck/Jasmine/Pryce could be fought in any order, and once you could even skip a rival battle (Gary fight 2 outside Viridian City).

They could still encourage a pattern by setting the difficulty to favor the sequence. To pull another video game example, like Fallout New Vegas where you could avoid the encouraged roundabout route through Novac to Vegas by going through Sloan or the mountain pass, but you'd likely be killed by Deathclaws or Cazadores. But it's still feasible (if very challenging) which makes the option the player's choice instead of the game's. Do you wish for gradual difficulty but longer route, or a short but very hard one? The former is encouraged, but letting the latter option exist makes it feel like you are making a conscious choice instead of the plot forcing you.
 

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