Unpopular opinions

[Mova]

Regarding the placement of the National Dex, it could use a lot of work. Pokémon from Kanto and Johto are placed in a random order, rather than being organized by their native regions' intended locations. For example, one can find Caterpie, Weedle, and Pikachu in Viridian Forest, but they're located in the Dex at different points. The Magnemite and Voltorb lines aren't even close to each other in the Kanto section!

 

[Lady Vader]

Honestly, the entire National Pokedex could use some rearranging so things are grouped together more naturally instead of just being every generation's Pokemon listed in numerical order.

There's a lot of evolutionary lines where one or more members is widely seperated from the others (in some cases, the entire line are seperated from each other, like with the Happiny/Magby/Elekid/Porygon lines), and that's never made a whole lot of sense.

While I wouldn't mind seeing what I've nicknamed the Retcon Dex, I think the National Dex should be left alone. It makes it easy to see what came when and allows for smoother banlists when generation based tournaments happen again in the future (such as the Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova Classics). It's a lot easier to say "#1-#149" than "#1-181*, with the exceptions of Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Crobat...", isn't it? Also, that would likely 100% spell the end of cross generational evolutions (including Eeveelutions) if the National Pokédex has to be updated every time. I mean, about 600 Pokémon that we know about will be pushed up if a new Eeveelution is added in Generation VIII.

*I just did some math and according to my calculations, Dragonite would be #181 if the Dex was retconned as of 23 August 2016.

 

[Taistelu]

It's a lot easier to say "#1-#149" than "#1-181*

Just say "All Pokemon introduced in Gen 1" lol

 

[Kurona]

I think GSC's way of doing it made sense. The 'new' Pokédex which had Horsea/Seadra/Kingdra etc lined up correctly, and the 'old' Pokédex which was the national order.
It wasn't even like the 'new' dex was a regional one; it had all 251 at the time just in a more sensible order. Albeit having the kanto starters up alongside the fossils, pseudos and legends for some reason...

 

[DHR-107]

I reordered a dex for a background that I made a few years ago (during DPPt's prime time).

kinda big image

Basically I moved everything to where it should be related to their families, left the starters were they are (to separate the different dexes), moved all the fossils to the end (after Abomasnow) and then put all the legends roughly in order as well. Rotom's placement was still up in the air at the time I made the sheet (as in no one could decide if it was a breedable legendary, or a normal Pokemon), hence its placement after Garchomp who was at the time the last psuedo legend.

As there haven't been any new evos/prevos added since gen 4 (excluding Sylveon), I would probably continue the pattern, adding the new Fossil Pokemon between Bastiodon and Dratini, and then the new Pseudo's between Garchomp and Articuno, while moving Rotom to directly after Abomasnow but before Snivy. Obviously Mega's would also go in their particular places. I'd probably re-order the legends differently if I did this again.

 

[Johta]

I recently got ahold of a copy of Pokemon Soul Silver ( I've never played the remakes, or gen2 at all for that matter, so it sounded like a good idea to give it a shot given how it is apparently universally acclaimed ) and oh boy, do I sorely regret this decision. IMHO this game is no where near as good as I've been told it is. My biggest pet peeve is how bad the leveling curve is; at one point everything is OK and one route later I'm abysmally underleveled, like how'd that even happen?

Oh, and that's not to mention it shares the exact same sluggish engine as D/P/P. I've fooled myself into thinking it wouldn't be just AS bad. I turned off all animations and it still feels like forever and the one thing I actually like about this game takes a whole freaking day to get done. f**k.

 

[Siggu]

I recently got ahold of a copy of Pokemon Soul Silver ( I've never played the remakes, or gen2 at all for that matter, so it sounded like a good idea to give it a shot given how it is apparently universally acclaimed ) and oh boy, do I sorely regret this decision. IMHO this game is no where nearly as good as I've been told it is. My biggest pet peeve is how bad the leveling curve is; at one point everything is OK and one route later I'm abysmally underleveled, like how'd that even happen?

Oh, and that's not to mention it shares the exact same sluggish engine as D/P/P. I've fooled myself into thinking it wouldn't be just AS bad. I turned off all animations and it still feels like forever and the one thing I actually like about this game takes a whole freaking day to get done. f**k.

The second one is pretty much an universal opinion - the Gen IV games being really sluggish. I tried playing an HGSS ROM Hack after playing BW shortly before and boy, it felt horrible. The Gen IV bike felt slower than running in Gen V.

And if you disliked the leveling curve in HGSS, then don't even try the original ones. It's worse.

 

[hypno28]

Oh, and that's not to mention it shares the exact same sluggish engine as D/P/P. I've fooled myself into thinking it wouldn't be just AS bad. I turned off all animations and it still feels like forever and the one thing I actually like about this game takes a whole freaking day to get done. f**k.

If you're talking about the Apricorn Balls, you can just leave the Apricorns, set your DS clock to 11:59 p.m. and restart the game (have the file opened before the clock rolls over midnight). It's slightly annoying to have to do repeatedly, but it's not really that bad. You can also get different Swarms that way and set it to the appropriate days for Sinnoh/Hoenn things, Bug-Catching Contest, etc.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Pokedex Redex:
I actually made an entirely new Pokedex system that's sort of like a Dewey Decimal System for Pokemon. Instead of each Pokemon having their own number they're ordered by family and given additional numbers depending if they're an evolution, alternate forme, or Mega Evolution. Here's a few examples:

My Redex

1.1: Bulbasaur - 1.2: Ivysaur - 1.3 Venusaur - 1.3M: Mega Venusaur
2.1: Charmander - 2.2: Charmeleon - 2.3 Charizard - 2.3MX: Mega Charizard X - 2.3MY: Mega Charizard Y
3.1: Squirtle - 3.2: Wartortle - 3.3: Blastoise - 3.3M: Mega Blastoise
...
18.1: Oddish - 18.2: Gloom - 18.3.1: Vileplume - 18.3.2: Bellossom
...
34: Farfetch'd
...
52: Kangaskhan - 52M: Mega Kangaskhan
...
66.1: Eevee - 66.2.1: Vaporeon - 66.2.2: Jolteon - 66.2.3: Flareon - 66.2.4: Espeon - 66.2.5: Umbreon - 66.2.6: Leafeon - 66.2.7: Glaceon - 66.2.8: Sylveon
...
76: Mewtwo - 76MX: Mega Mewtwo X - 76MY: Mega Mewtwo Y
...
98a: Unown (A) - 98b: Unown (B) - 98c: Unown (C) - 98d: Unown (D) - 98e: Unown (E) - 98f: Unown (F) - 98g: Unown (G) - 98h: Unown (H) - 98i: Unown (I) - 98j: Unown (J) - 98k: Unown (K) - 98l: Unown (L) - 98m: Unown (M) - 98n: Unown (N) - 98o: Unown (O) - 98p: Unown (P) - 98q: Unown (Q) - 98r: Unown (R) - 98s: Unown (S) - 98t: Unown (T) - 98u: Unown (U) - 98v: Unown (V) - 98w: Unown (W) - 98x: Unown (X) - 98y: Unown (Y) - 98z: Unown (Z) - 98?: Unown (?) - 98!: Unown (!)
...
178n: Castform (Normal Form) - 178su: Castform (Sunny Form) - 178r: Castform (Rainy Form) - 178sn: Castform (Snowy Form)
...
201n: Deoxys (Normal Forme) - 201a: Deoxys (Attack Forme) - 201d: Deoxys (Defense Forme) - 201s: Deoxys (Speed Forme)
...
331n: Rotom (Normal) - 331h: Rotom (Heat) - 331w: Rotom (Wash) - 331fr: Rotom (Frost) - 331fa: Rotom (Fan) - 331m: Rotom (Mow)

I kept the Pokemon in the same order (including keeping the Nidorans as separate families), for now, as my goal was just to organize them in a way that if any got additional evolutions or forms that it would be easy to add to it.

 

[Johta]

If you're talking about the Apricorn Balls, you can just leave the Apricorns, set your DS clock to 11:59 p.m. and restart the game (have the file opened before the clock rolls over midnight). It's slightly annoying to have to do repeatedly, but it's not really that bad. You can also get different Swarms that way and set it to the appropriate days for Sinnoh/Hoenn things, Bug-Catching Contest, etc.

Oh... but doesn't that mess up with other games that make use of the 3ds clock (yup, I'm playing on a 3ds system)? For instance, you can't check in with Pokemon Shuffle if you do that iirc. But you know what? I might just do it anyways. The sooner I get my hands on those pretty apricorn balls and their matching pokemon, the sooner I can drop this game!

 

[Karxrida]

Oh... but doesn't that mess up with other games that make use of the 3ds clock? For instance, you can't check in with Pokemon Shuffle if you do that iirc. But you know what? I might just do it anyways. The sooner I get my hands on those pretty apricorn balls and their matching pokemon, the sooner I can drop this game!

If you have an older DS system, you could play on that instead to avoid the penalty on Shuffle.

 

[Johta]

If you have an older DS system, you could play on that instead to avoid the penalty on Shuffle.

I actually own 2 3ds systems, but one of them is a special edition so I only use it when I'm at home because I spend most of my day outside and don't wanna risk damaging it somehow ( I have a knack for breaking things ). For conveniency's sake I just left everything digital in the old system since I use it more often.

But oh well, I could use sometime away from Pokemon Shuffle, that thing was getting me addicted again.

 

[Lady Vader]

Just say "All Pokemon introduced in Gen 1" lol

That doesn't make it nice and clear, though. Especially since I don't think generations have been officially mentioned by Game Freak, Nintendo, or TPCi.
It also doesn't mesh with the official language when it comes to what's allowed and what isn't. The allowed Pokémon is always stated in the form of Pokédexes ("Only Pokémon in the Unova Regional Pokédex" etc.) and banned Pokémon within those restrictions mentioned by name ("Banned Pokémon: Victini, Reshiram...").

 

[stage7_4]

A new opinion, I really didn't like Gen 5's moving sprites.

While a good idea in theory, and an essential stepping stone to get where we are now... most of them looked like a pixelated mess to me. Just this glitchy out of focus mess.

That and they didn't really capture the feel of living pokemon, since they just repeat this same motion over and over no matter what was going on. Some attack animations would really make it sink in, like when flamethrowers would shoot out from their midsection or their "taking a hit" action was just pausing and blinking.

The current models aren't perfect (sky battle poses and gas textures for one), but they are the closest to giving the feel of living monsters I've seen so far. They reel back from taking a hit, strike a pose coming into battle, and all have at least two combat animations (usually one for a special move and another for a physical). They look (and move) great!

But Unova's are such a mess that I prefer the static ones from Gen 4 more. I know that sounds like nostalgia goggles, but I guess I can imagine those ones moving in my head, while I find the robotic pixel mess of Gen 5's to be distracting most of the time.

Not to say I hate Gen 5 as a whole, not at all. I just really don't think the moving sprites are all that great.

Edit: Another thing is that Gen 5's are ALWAYS moving. The current models have a "standby" pose that keeps them relatively stable (at least as much as realism allows, like Talonflame's flapping). Gen 5's are always doing their battle dance ALL THE TIME. Chill out dude!

 

[Siggu]

A new opinion, I really didn't like Gen 5's moving sprites.

While a good idea in theory, and an essential stepping stone to get where we are now... most of them looked like a pixelated mess to me. Just this glitchy out of focus mess.

That and they didn't really capture the feel of living pokemon, since they just repeat this same motion over and over no matter what was going on. Some attack animations would really make it sink in, like when flamethrowers would shoot out from their midsection or their "taking a hit" action was just pausing and blinking.

The current models aren't perfect (sky battle poses and gas textures for one), but they are the closest to giving the feel of living monsters I've seen so far. They reel back from taking a hit, strike a pose coming into battle, and all have at least two combat animations (usually one for a special move and another for a physical). They look (and move) great!

But Unova's are such a mess that I prefer the static ones from Gen 4 more. I know that sounds like nostalgia goggles, but I guess I can imagine those ones moving in my head, while I find the robotic pixel mess of Gen 5's to be distracting most of the time.

Not to say I hate Gen 5 as a whole, not at all. I just really don't think the moving sprites are all that great.

Edit: Another thing is that Gen 5's are ALWAYS moving. The current models have a "standby" pose that keeps them relatively stable (at least as much as realism allows, like Talonflame's flapping). Gen 5's are always doing their battle dance ALL THE TIME. Chill out dude!

What I didn't like of those animating sprites in Gen V is how low-res they were. Just take the back sprites. They are the same resolution as the front ones, but since they are closer to the player, they get scaled up, and it looks like they were scaled up on Paint.

And while those idle animations eventually get old, I liked the amount of 'personality' some of them showed, though there were some exceptions.

For the 3D idle animations... I'll be honest and say that it would be better if the idle animations were the ones from Pokemon Amie - not just for Pokemon that have to put awkward poses for Sky Battles, but also some grounded ones (e.g. Hawlucha). And just as I got to talk about this, I'd also include the 'happy' Pokemon Amie animations for when you win, and the 'angry' ones for when something bad happens (e.g. misses) again, for the sake of having Pokemon show personality in-battle. Of course, depending on happiness, affection and how the Pokemon is supposed to react.

 

[noobcubed]

Agreed about BW sprites being ugly (particularly the back-sprites which, in their own way, were as bad as RBY's). But one thing that was awesome was the colour-coding of status effects. Nothing quite as satisfying as whacking an enemy with a Scald and seeing it turn red.

 

[Taistelu]

Sprites were bad but the animation itself was decent. Gen 6 had its fair share of issues with sprites.

 

[Johta]

You guys are being anachronistic though, and that's really unfair to the game. Given the DS' hard/sofware limitations they wouldn't possibly be able to make a more detailed animation and sprite for all 600+ pokemon. That would require a lot of the system and it just wouldn't be able to handle it, me thinks.

For example, Fire Emblem: Awakening's characters didn't have feet simply because the Devs weren't sure how far they could push the system—Gen 5's animations fall under the same premise. Perhaps they could've given a 'livelier' feel to it, perhaps they couldn't; they took the safest route.

Case in point: of course they're bad if you compare them to what we have today, but back then they were absolutely amazing, in my opinion at least.

Don't get me wrong, I can and will respect this opinion, but I needed to voice my own as to why I think it's lacking in fairness.

 

[Taistelu]

You guys are being anachronistic though, and that's really unfair to the game. Given the DS' hard/sofware limitations they wouldn't possibly be able to make a more detailed animation and sprite for all 600+ pokemon. That would require a lot of the system and it just wouldn't be able to handle it, me thinks.

For example, Fire Emblem: Awakening's characters didn't have feet simply because the Devs weren't sure how far they could push the system—Gen 5's animations fall under the same premise. Perhaps they could've given a 'livelier' feel to it, perhaps they couldn't; they took the safest route.

Case in point: of course they're bad if you compare them to what we have today, but back then they were absolutely amazing, in my opinion at least.

Don't get me wrong, I can and will respect this opinion, but I needed to voice my own as to why I think it's lacking in fairness.

The DS is better than you think. Honestly while obviously a graphical improvement over Gen IV there are improvements that can be made to the sprites. For that time they were not the best thing ever, at least in my opinion. Sure they won't be up to 3DS standards but the sprites are defiantly not flawless.

 

[Johta]

The DS is better than you think. Honestly while obviously a graphical improvement over Gen IV there are improvements that can be made to the sprites. For that time they were not the best thing ever, at least in my opinion. Sure they won't be up to 3DS standards but the sprites are defiantly not flawless.

Yeah, I'm aware. They did manage to pull off absolutely stunning games such as Kingdom Hearts 358/2, Okamiden and Metroid Prime, but I'm giving pokemon some leeway just because of sheer amount of different sprites they'd have to work on in order to get similar results.

My problem isn't with those who think Gen 5 looked bad—you're entitled to have your own opinion. What really leaves my jimmies rustled is when someone who wouldn't have called gen 5's sprites bad 5 years ago calls it bad now; that's plain unfair.

 

[Pikachu315111]

The DS is better than you think. Honestly while obviously a graphical improvement over Gen IV there are improvements that can be made to the sprites. For that time they were not the best thing ever, at least in my opinion. Sure they won't be up to 3DS standards but the sprites are defiantly not flawless.

What are wrong with the sprites?

 

[Taistelu]

What are wrong with the sprites?

Gen V has low res issues with sprites. Basically what most of the other people in this thread have been saying.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Gen V has low res issues with sprites. Basically what most of the other people in this thread have been saying.

Oh that. I can agree when it comes to the Pokemon moving in battles that's distracting. I'm sure it happens elsewhere in the game but I personally never noticed/didn't take me out of the experience (mostly due to the chibi-style the overworld takes). But in battle when you have high quality sprites? The sprites when they're still look fine, but when they have certain body parts moving in a diagonal motion they pixelate and that I notice as it looks different from the normal sprite. Of course that's not a problem with the sprite itself, that's a problem with the animation program not properly adjusting the image quality so that the lives & curves remain smooth.

I do have my own issue with the sprites though and its an issue with accentuates your problem and had bled over to the 3D models: lack of dynamic poses. A lot of Pokemon are just standing there, like they're posing for their default art. They don't look like they're in a middle of a battle at moment notice to leap into action. Quadruple Pokemon are especially guilty of this, some of them in the 3D models actually just lean over to the side when they faint! Now there was a reason in Gen V for this as they had the Pokemon Musicals clothes to think about, but the 3D models have no excuse.

 

[stage7_4]

You guys are being anachronistic though, and that's really unfair to the game. Given the DS' hard/sofware limitations they wouldn't possibly be able to make a more detailed animation and sprite for all 600+ pokemon. That would require a lot of the system and it just wouldn't be able to handle it, me thinks.

For example, Fire Emblem: Awakening's characters didn't have feet simply because the Devs weren't sure how far they could push the system—Gen 5's animations fall under the same premise. Perhaps they could've given a 'livelier' feel to it, perhaps they couldn't; they took the safest route.

Case in point: of course they're bad if you compare them to what we have today, but back then they were absolutely amazing, in my opinion at least.

Don't get me wrong, I can and will respect this opinion, but I needed to voice my own as to why I think it's lacking in fairness.

Well, about that...

Gen 5 was considered a LAUNCH title for the 3DS (in North America at least), despite being designed with the DS in mind. And it was coming after Gen 4 which had it's entire lifetime on the DS hardware, so this not the FE-Awakening scenario where a title is adjusting to the new hardware but a final hurrah on a system's twilight years. This is supposed to be a culmination after years of polish, not a first try in the new sandbox.

And let's talk about Gen 4 because Platinum and especially HG/SS are a lot more "crisp" in comparison to Gen 5. Sure that's because the sprites mostly stay still (beyond their opening pose), but they just look a lot cleaner and solid in comparison to Gen 5. And I'm not just talking about the battle models. Replay Gen 5 and go to either Castelia City, Village Bridge, or White Forest/Black City, anytime the zoom on your character changes and watch how... glitchy... the characters get as the focus zooms in and out. Compare this to Goldenrod City, smaller in scope that's for sure, I won't deny that. But it just looks a lot more sharp.

I'll skip how Gen 5 looks a little worse on the 3DS XL because that would indeed be unfair.

And why's it unfair to call out something you don't agree with? Even if it has it's reasons, ugly is still ugly. it's not really "ugly" but I'm using stronger words to emphasize my argument

Now, I'm not saying that Gen 5's art direction with the moving sprites or world design was a bad idea. They were trying to do something, and I support trying something new yet making a few mistakes. I think it's more like your awkward teen years, necessary to grow into the adult you are but not without acne (or in this case pixelation).

In fact, one thing I really liked was that in B2W2 they gave all the trainers their own battle opening poses which was really cool and I was sad they took that away for Gen 6 but I'm really glad it's back for Gen 7. I also really liked Unova's increased "urban fantasy Earthbound" feel in town and route design.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Well, about that...

Gen 5 was considered a LAUNCH title for the 3DS (in North America at least), despite being designed with the DS in mind. And it was coming after Gen 4 which had it's entire lifetime on the DS hardware, so this not the FE-Awakening scenario where a title is adjusting to the new hardware but a final hurrah on a system's twilight years. This is supposed to be a culmination after years of polish, not a first try in the new sandbox.

And let's talk about Gen 4 because Platinum and especially HG/SS are a lot more "crisp" in comparison to Gen 5. Sure that's because the sprites mostly stay still (beyond their opening pose), but they just look a lot cleaner and solid in comparison to Gen 5. And I'm not just talking about the battle models. Replay Gen 5 and go to either Castelia City, Village Bridge, or White Forest/Black City, anytime the zoom on your character changes and watch how... glitchy... the characters get as the focus zooms in and out. Compare this to Goldenrod City, smaller in scope that's for sure, I won't deny that. But it just looks a lot more sharp.

I'll skip how Gen 5 looks a little worse on the 3DS XL because that would indeed be unfair.

And why's it unfair to call out something you don't agree with? Even if it has it's reasons, ugly is still ugly. it's not really "ugly" but I'm using stronger words to emphasize my argument

Now, I'm not saying that Gen 5's art direction with the moving sprites or world design was a bad idea. They were trying to do something, and I support trying something new yet making a few mistakes. I think it's more like your awkward teen years, necessary to grow into the adult you are but not without acne (or in this case pixelation).

In fact, one thing I really liked was that in B2W2 they gave all the trainers their own battle opening poses which was really cool and I was sad they took that away for Gen 6 but I'm really glad it's back for Gen 7. I also really liked Unova's increased "urban fantasy Earthbound" feel in town and route design.

Wait, Gen V was considered a 3DS launch title? How? Yeah it was released around the same time the 3DS was release, but that's because it was in development for the normal DS (as well as Gen VI which was meant for the 3DS). I think Gen V was more meant to be the DS's last hurrah as they then jump full 3d models with Gen VI on the 3DS. This is like saying Sun & Moon are launch titles for the NX just because its the next (hybrid console and) handheld system to be released around the same time.