Unpopular opinions

[Johta]

Ghetsis is indeed a cool villian and one of the scariest in the series alongside Cyrus, but, well, I agree his motives were somewhat lacking. "haha I want to destroy the world" -
every villian ever.

Yeah, the thing I like about Ghetsis isn't what he was trying to accomplish, but rather how.

"You fool... Last time, I was going to use you to capture people's hearts and minds to rule them! But this time, I'm simply going to use overwhelming power and rule with an iron fist!" - quote from B2&W2.

THAT is what makes Black and White so much more interesting than its sequels: it shows that words alone can be just as powerful as any weapon; sheeps will follow their shepherd. Ghetsis kind of reminds me of Jim Jones and Unova could've been Jonestown if he so desired had N not betrayed him, because you, the player, FAILED to stop them the moment the champion was defeated and the Pokemon League hijacked.

Black and White sincerely don't deserve all the hate it gets. Really, the only bad thing about it is the limited amount of pokemon you have to choose from before post-game—everything else is simply amazing to me and that's why I'm so passionate about it. A shame so many people don't even give it a chance 'cause for the Pokémon standards, it was truly a masterpiece.

 

[The_Emperor]

Morty's Gengar isn't that hard in HGSS since you can catch a Miltank that has Scrappy and just Stomp the whole gym (pun intended). Not that hard in GSC since it doesn't have Levitate so you will likely have a Graveler or Golem that has Magnitude. Miltank is just a pain in the ass. You want a Pokemon harder than either of those, look no further than Bugsy's Scyther with U-Turn or Fury Cutter if it gets going.

Where? I never found any. Milktank...at all...in that game...

In my opinion, Bugsy's scyther was easy. His whole team was if you have cyndaquil.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Hm? Did I miss a recent speedrun or something?

TeamFourStar's HeartGold Nuzlocke. I will say nothing else.

 

[stage7_4]

Where? I never found any. Milktank...at all...in that game...

They're in a patch of grass next to the Miltank farm on the route between Ecruteak and Olivine. They are somewhat rare, but not that hard to find. You can also catch Tauros there, at least in HG/SS.

Getting one to fight Morty with is technically sequence breaking, but nothing's actually stopping you from doing it.

I've done mega-posts on Black/White in the past, so I'll keep this in the hide tabs for those that don't want to see it again.

sugar and beef on Black and White

Sugar (positives)
-The world design invoking urban fantasy and Earthbound overtones was really cool.
-The seasonal changes were also very cool, even if I have a bad habit of only playing this in the "winter" months.
-I actually liked the limited Pokedex because it created challenge and gave focus to the new 'mons.
-Can't deny that the Plasma takeover of the Pokemon League and everything that followed it was truly one of the best "final fight" scenarios in Pokemon.
-Ghetsis is truly an amazing villain, even if Gamefreak keeps toning down his implied atrocities.
-Bianca's storyline was very sweet.
-Decreased focus on HM's for travel and roadblocks. However...
-Infinite TM's!
-Made it easy to keep a team of 6 trained up without getting overpowered and almost without grinding.
-Final boss was actually a decent challenge (if not a fair one Mr. underleveled Hydreigon)
-It's a pretty good gateway game for new players, and works pretty well as a stand-alone too.

Beef (negatives)
-Cheren was soooo bland and underwhelming as the rival. N is arguably the real rival.
-The post-game level jump is huge.
-Stupid roadblocks (bridge is down, men dancing for no reason, etc.) This ties into my final point at the bottom.
-Beyond the joy of putting top hats and bowties on everything, Pokemon Musicals were really dumb.
-Some characters were under utilized, especially Concordia and Anthea. The Sages and Shadow Triad too, but B2W2 tried to fix that.

-The story is set-up as exploring the ethics of capturing, raising, and fighting pokemon, but in reality it was never about it at all. It was always about forcing your views on to other people, and in that regard it did tell a pretty compelling story. But if you do go in expecting conclusion or true debate on the ethics of cock-fighting, then you are left really disappointed and the "Team Plasma was lying?!" comes across as a really cheap cop-out to avoid giving it much thought. On TvTropes, this is called "Debate and Switch" or a work of fiction that sets up a moral dilemma or other painful choice, then finds a way to resolve it without addressing the issue it raised. I would have been fine with the "forcing viewpoints" plot if they were upfront with it from the beginning, but disguising it as a poke-ethics plots soured me. I really thought there would be a very deep story there, but they just jumped ship at the halfway point (or even earlier, depending on how you view the "kick the Munna!" scene).

-BUT ALL THAT COULD HAVE BEEN FINE if they hadn't sacrificed exploration for sake of story. One of my personal joys in the Kanto and Johto games is doing things out of order just because I could. Want to go from Lavender Town straight to Sliph Co. to finish the Team Rocket story, or do you want to go to Fuchsia get surf and then beat Giovanni an Articuno just for kicks? While this problem isn't unique to Unova (Sinnoh was just as bad, if not worse), Unova was definitely the most blatant and "in your face" about directing the player here and there just to get you to the next cutscene when the game wanted you to. I don't want to hear kids spitting empty platitudes at me every time a leave town, I want to discover hidden caves and secrets! I'll get to the story when I want to! And exploration was ALWAYS meant to be one of the big aspects of pokemon, and I felt that Black and White dropped the ball on this so they could focus on story instead.

I'm not saying that Pokemon can't have deep stories, Sea Mauville proved that exploration and story can go hand in hand. But I will say that I didn't like how Unova paced there's, and that's my biggest beef with it. The story pacing.

 

[Hyper Cutter]

Yeah, vespiquen is pretty cool. It's low popularity is just due to it being rare and not encountered very often. I think a lot of people like it, it just dosent come to mind much. And combee is amazing.

Well, that and it's a relatively defensive Pokemon that's 4x weak to the most overpowered move in the game.

I really like Vespiquen, but Stealth Rock didn't do it any favors.

 

[InfernapeHunter64]

I personally thinkg Chansey in OU is a joke because of a item. and Knock Off is OP

 

[Lady Vader]

I personally thinkg Chansey in OU is a joke because of a item. and Knock Off is OP

The only reason Chansey was UU before was because of its own Evolution, which did the same thing, only slightly better. There was no reason to use Chansey over Blissey in Gens II-IV. Eviolite simply took an already egg-cellent* 'mon and made it even better (it can take even Physicals hits absurdly well), even over its own Evolution, the only reason it was UU instead of OU**.

*I couldn't resist. I'm sorry.
**This now applies to Blissey.

 

[Meta-Kraid]

The only reason Chansey was UU before was because of its own Evolution, which did the same thing, only slightly better. There was no reason to use Chansey over Blissey in Gens II-IV. Eviolite simply took an already egg-cellent* 'mon and made it even better (it can take even Physicals hits absurdly well), even over its own Evolution, the only reason it was UU instead of OU**.

*I couldn't resist. I'm sorry.
**This now applies to Blissey.

Actually in Gen V weather wars caused Blissey to be better despite eviolite. Negating sand damage was considered better than more bulk. I can really see why weather was nerfed...

I like Vespiquen I used one in my White 2 run, and she did pretty well for most of the game. Unfortunately, late game she became a wasted team slot. Anything I sent her out on out sped and killed her with Stone Edge or Rock Slide. I guess she took on grass and psychic types, but my Emboar and Zoarark did that job way better. I had to replace her before the final Team Plasma fight because of how she kept using revives (and that one time I accidentally clicked on her when trying to use a hyper potion on my last Pokemon... It was so dumb that it wasted a turn, but I wouldn't call that an unpopular opinion)

 

[Darth Manaphy]

At the same time Chansey is HORRIBLE in Ubers and Anything Goes because it REALLY needs that item slot. Stallbreaker Mega Gengar sets shit all over Chansey but Blissey can at least run a Shed Shell.

 

[QuickBH]

Pokemon Battle Revolution is a game I actually really liked. It combines all the good metagame aspects of 4th gen while having team preview, which was arguably the most metagame changing and interesting aspect of gen 5/6. I think the graphics were actually really good and they did a really good job making the battles look really entertaining. I liked how you just fought colleseums with different outcomes and how some like the Magma Colleseum are actually really hard once you go to the levels.

 

[mertyville]

I don't think this is necessary an unpopular opinion but it really annoys me that we have too many useless abilities:
- Slow Start
- Zen Mode
- Honey Gather
- Gluttony
- Defeatist
- Plus/Minus
- Truant
- Klutz
- Illuminate
- Stall

I know you can use some abilities in combination with certain items but again you wouldn't need to have this many useless abilities. Did anyone considered using an Illuminate Pokemon just to find a wild Pokemon more easielly? Usually at the time you get access to those kind of mons are close to end game. Maybe you want to "speed up" your grinding time with that?
I hope Game Freak buffs some of those abilities in some way, not nessecary for competitive play, or doesn't introduce more.

And if people wonder why I didn't list something like Run Away, the answer is that I really appreciate that ability as it makes it easier to hunt for Dittos and it comes in handy in the Battle Pyramide in Emerald. And majority of the monsters that have that ability lose that ability after evolution except for Rapidash.

 

[hypno28]

As long as the abilities make sense conceptually, they really can't be criticized.

 

[Kurona]

I don't think this is necessary an unpopular opinion but it really annoys me that we have too many useless abilities:
- Slow Start
- Zen Mode
- Honey Gather
- Gluttony
- Defeatist
- Plus/Minus
- Truant
- Klutz
- Illuminate
- Stall

I know you can use some abilities in combination with certain items but again you wouldn't need to have this many useless abilities. Did anyone considered using an Illuminate Pokemon just to find a wild Pokemon more easielly? Usually at the time you get access to those kind of mons are close to end game. Maybe you want to "speed up" your grinding time with that?
I hope Game Freak buffs some of those abilities in some way, not nessecary for competitive play, or doesn't introduce more.

And if people wonder why I didn't list something like Run Away, the answer is that I really appreciate that ability as it makes it easier to hunt for Dittos and it comes in handy in the Battle Pyramide in Emerald. And majority of the monsters that have that ability lose that ability after evolution except for Rapidash.

The annoying thing is that a lot of these have ways to make them so much better. Maybe for instance Stall makes you go last every turn, but as a trade-off it increases your defences or something. I won't go too into it as it constitutes as wishlisting but just as an example.
Why did Sableye get a new ability that made it always go last, anyway? That always really confused me. No real battle advantage especially since it doesn't learn anything like Revenge to take advantage of it, nothing in it's design or concept that makes sense with it (and even then you'd think it'd go to something like Slowpoke before Sableye)...

 

[Taistelu]

The thing that bugs me is that Stall isn't just being slow which really bugs me. But I can deal with the bad abilities because for every bad ability we have we have at least two good abilities.

 

[Pikachu315111]

The annoying thing is that a lot of these have ways to make them so much better. Maybe for instance Stall makes you go last every turn, but as a trade-off it increases your defences or something. I won't go too into it as it constitutes as wishlisting but just as an example.
Why did Sableye get a new ability that made it always go last, anyway? That always really confused me. No real battle advantage especially since it doesn't learn anything like Revenge to take advantage of it, nothing in it's design or concept that makes sense with it (and even then you'd think it'd go to something like Slowpoke before Sableye)...

And it's not hard to think of something. Here is some quick ideas I came up with.

Hide

Slow Start: It halves Spd, Atk, and SpA but doubled Def & SpD for 5 turns. After the 5 turns its stats return to normal and is fully healed and cured of any status ailment.
Zen Mode: If this Pokemon's HP is above half and is hit by a move that'll take it below half, Zen Mode stops the HP at half and turns to Zen Mode. (I also think it should have a Signature Item that starts Darmanitan at half HP (thus activating Zen Mode) but increase its Def & SpD stats in exchange)
Honey Gather: If this Pokemon is holding Honey and goes below 1/3 of its HP it'll consume the Honey to fully heal and be cured of any status ailment.
Gluttony: Addition to eating certain Berries earlier, if Pokemon is holding Leftovers it heals twice as much at the end of the turn.
Defeatist: Increases Atk, SpA, & Spd by 1.5x above half HP; stats return to normal between half and a quarter; and halves Atk, SpA, & Spd below quarter.
Plus: Increases Pokemon's stat increases by 1 stage more.
Minus: Decrease opponent's stat decreases by 1 stage more.
Plus & Minus: In addition to increasing Special Attack, in Double/Triple battles depending on which of the two Abilities your partners have increase others stats: Plus+Plus=Atk, Plus+Minus=SpD, Minus+Minus=Def, Plus+Plus+Plus=Atk&Spd, Plus+Plus+Minus=Atk+Def, Plus+Minus+Minus=Def+SpD, & Minus+Minus+Minus=SpD+Spd.
Truant: On "slacking turn" you can still use Slack Off, Rest, Yawn, Sleep Talk, Snore, After You, & Curse
Klutz: If this Pokemon and the target are holding items, when this Pokemon makes contact it'll knock off the target's item and replaces it with the user's (leaving it with no item). Also allows Pokemon to use Fling and doubles the damage of the flung item.
Illuminate: Lowers opponent's Accuracy by 1 stage upon entering battle.
Stall: In Double/Triple battles gives partners +1 priority to their moves.

If I can think of something, GF can too (and probably make them more balanced). There's no reason a Pokemon's Ability should either have no affect in battle or worse purely hinder it. Why did they develop that Ability in the first place then if its suppose to be a natural survival trait?

 

[Siggu]

I don't think this is necessary an unpopular opinion but it really annoys me that we have too many useless abilities:
- Slow Start
- Zen Mode
- Honey Gather
- Gluttony
- Defeatist
- Plus/Minus
- Truant
- Klutz
- Illuminate
- Stall

I know you can use some abilities in combination with certain items but again you wouldn't need to have this many useless abilities. Did anyone considered using an Illuminate Pokemon just to find a wild Pokemon more easielly? Usually at the time you get access to those kind of mons are close to end game. Maybe you want to "speed up" your grinding time with that?
I hope Game Freak buffs some of those abilities in some way, not nessecary for competitive play, or doesn't introduce more.

And if people wonder why I didn't list something like Run Away, the answer is that I really appreciate that ability as it makes it easier to hunt for Dittos and it comes in handy in the Battle Pyramide in Emerald. And majority of the monsters that have that ability lose that ability after evolution except for Rapidash.

Not all abilities have to have an in-battle use (Though it would be fine if it were that way).

Slow Start and Zen Mode have a flawed execution, because of Regigigas not being able to learn the most basic turn-stalling moves and Zen Mode's conditions, respectively. The former can be alleviated by giving it Rest, Protect, etc. (Or at least make the number of turns lower. 3 could be enough) and the latter could be changed to be more like Zygarde's transformation (Although that one does not have different base HP)
Honey Gather is fine for EV grinding if you lack a Sweet Scent user.
Gluttony is quite limited in use, but Salac Berry Belly Drum is not a bad option with it.
Defeatist is not as 'bad' as it seems. Archen and Archeops are more likely to get OHKOed if they get hit than dropping within Defeatist range.
Plus and Minus are doubles-themed, so it's ok... but they suffer from the fact its users are all weak to Ground.
Truant is yet another Slow Start. Perhaps changing it so that it does not trigger if the user did not perform a move last turn? (So as to prevent Protect, at the very least)
I agree I have no idea what GF's idea for Klutz is. At least there is Klutz tricking Assault Vests or Choice items, but that's all.
Same with Illuminate (There is no real in-game advantage at having multiple Pokemon appear) and Stall, which is a joke ability.

 

[WaffleTitan]

And it's not hard to think of something. Here is some quick ideas I came up with.

Hide

Slow Start: It halves Spd, Atk, and SpA but doubled Def & SpD for 5 turns. After the 5 turns its stats return to normal and is fully healed and cured of any status ailment.
Zen Mode: If this Pokemon's HP is above half and is hit by a move that'll take it below half, Zen Mode stops the HP at half and turns to Zen Mode. (I also think it should have a Signature Item that starts Darmanitan at half HP (thus activating Zen Mode) but increase its Def & SpD stats in exchange)
Honey Gather: If this Pokemon is holding Honey and goes below 1/3 of its HP it'll consume the Honey to fully heal and be cured of any status ailment.
Gluttony: Addition to eating certain Berries earlier, if Pokemon is holding Leftovers it heals twice as much at the end of the turn.
Defeatist: Increases Atk, SpA, & Spd by 1.5x above half HP; stats return to normal between half and a quarter; and halves Atk, SpA, & Spd below quarter.
Plus: Increases Pokemon's stat increases by 1 stage more.
Minus: Decrease opponent's stat decreases by 1 stage more.
Plus & Minus: In addition to increasing Special Attack, in Double/Triple battles depending on which of the two Abilities your partners have increase others stats: Plus+Plus=Atk, Plus+Minus=SpD, Minus+Minus=Def, Plus+Plus+Plus=Atk&Spd, Plus+Plus+Minus=Atk+Def, Plus+Minus+Minus=Def+SpD, & Minus+Minus+Minus=SpD+Spd.
Truant: On "slacking turn" you can still use Slack Off, Rest, Yawn, Sleep Talk, Snore, After You, & Curse
Klutz: If this Pokemon and the target are holding items, when this Pokemon makes contact it'll knock off the target's item and replaces it with the user's (leaving it with no item). Also allows Pokemon to use Fling and doubles the damage of the flung item.
Illuminate: Lowers opponent's Accuracy by 1 stage upon entering battle.
Stall: In Double/Triple battles gives partners +1 priority to their moves.

If I can think of something, GF can too (and probably make them more balanced). There's no reason a Pokemon's Ability should either have no affect in battle or worse purely hinder it. Why did they develop that Ability in the first place then if its suppose to be a natural survival trait?

Some of those abilities would be pretty OP. Honestly, I kinda get things like slaking with truant and stuff, he would be an absolute monster without it, but if anything deserves its ability to be changed, it's regigigas. He's a legendary for crying out loud, not only that, but he's also a trio master, and without an event, he's arguably the most difficult/time consuming Pokemon to obtain. Having to get all three Regis in RSE, then having to transfer them and bring them all to a cave, with regice named or whatever, just to be able to battle it at level 1! He deserves better.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Some of those abilities would be pretty OP. Honestly, I kinda get things like slaking with truant and stuff, he would be an absolute monster without it, but if anything deserves its ability to be changed, it's regigigas. He's a legendary for crying out loud, not only that, but he's also a trio master, and without an event, he's arguably the most difficult/time consuming Pokemon to obtain. Having to get all three Regis in RSE, then having to transfer them and bring them all to a cave, with regice named or whatever, just to be able to battle it at level 1! He deserves better.

Which is why I said GF would make more balanced Abilities.

At least Regigigas is "easy" to get in ORAS even if the method to get him makes no sense and there's no hint on how to do it.

 

[Hydrachomp]

Which is why I said GF would make more balanced Abilities.

At least Regigigas is "easy" to get in ORAS even if the method to get him makes no sense and there's no hint on how to do it.

There is a girl in Pacifidlog town that mentions that Regice has to hold a frozen item. But I'm not sure if she mentions anything about nicknaming the Regice.

 

[mertyville]

Not all abilities have to have an in-battle use (Though it would be fine if it were that way).

Slow Start and Zen Mode have a flawed execution, because of Regigigas not being able to learn the most basic turn-stalling moves and Zen Mode's conditions, respectively. The former can be alleviated by giving it Rest, Protect, etc. (Or at least make the number of turns lower. 3 could be enough) and the latter could be changed to be more like Zygarde's transformation (Although that one does not have different base HP)
Honey Gather is fine for EV grinding if you lack a Sweet Scent user.
Gluttony is quite limited in use, but Salac Berry Belly Drum is not a bad option with it.
Defeatist is not as 'bad' as it seems. Archen and Archeops are more likely to get OHKOed if they get hit than dropping within Defeatist range.
Plus and Minus are doubles-themed, so it's ok... but they suffer from the fact its users are all weak to Ground.
Truant is yet another Slow Start. Perhaps changing it so that it does not trigger if the user did not perform a move last turn? (So as to prevent Protect, at the very least)
I agree I have no idea what GF's idea for Klutz is. At least there is Klutz tricking Assault Vests or Choice items, but that's all.
Same with Illuminate (There is no real in-game advantage at having multiple Pokemon appear) and Stall, which is a joke ability.

Of all the abilities I listed, only 2 are usable outside of battle and even then they aren't worth it.
I already addressed Illuminate and why Honey Gather isn't worth it is mainly that the Pokemon with those abilities are as not easy to obtain as Sweet Scent Pokemon.
I am also aware that you can abuse Switcheroo/Trick in combination with Klutz and use a Truant + Entrainment Durant to get easy wins in the Battle Subway and such.
While you can take somewhat of an advantage of a Gluttony Belly Drum set, Plus and Minus completely rely on each other to work at all. Once one leaves the field, the other is completely "abilityless". Maybe getting an ingame boost to a stat each time the other one switches in, there might be some use or maybe give them an ability usable outside of battle attracting maybe certain genders (Minus for male or Plus for female).

 

[CTNC]

Honey Gather is fine for EV grinding if you lack a Sweet Scent user.

I agree with the rest of you post, but with Honey Gather, I thought the same thing until I remembered that every Pokemon that gets that ability also gets Sweet Scent. They just had to give it only to Pokemon that have the move that outclasses it... Maybe a Gen VII Pokemon will get Honey Gather without Sweet Scent? (I doubt it.)

Although I agree with you on Stall being a Joke Ability, I'd like to mention that Metal Burst is a counter move that doesn't have negative priority, but Sableye didn't get that move until Gen V, so Stall is only Non-Joke Ability retroactively. It would have been forgivable if Sableye gained Stall and Metal Burst in the same game.

 

[Vinc2612]

Payback doubles the damages when you hit last That's something.

Klutz idea is to trick negative items. Flame Orb, Toxic Orb, and Assault Vest in gen 6 (and some other things so random I couldn't bother finding the English name). Especially the latter, this is a niche reserved to Klutz users, as it permanently disable indirect moves from a Pokémon (not like Choices trick who "just" discourage from using them).

I'm fine with all those abilities because all Pokémon are either "too good in term of stats and movepool only" (read Slaking, Regigigas, Archeops in an extend) or they have other abilities that you can use if you're not interested in the small niche the "useless" abilities provide (if you're not interested in switcheroo, gives Limber to Lopunny. If you're not interested in Plus/Minus, give them Lightninrod/Volt Absorb/Static/Whatever).

I find truant actually very clever. Slaking, a Pokémon that could easily be the best non-legendary, is send to the depth of the competitive Pokémon because of its laziness. That's a common trait to the humans, we all know several people being "too smart to study", getting the best grades without trying until their bachelor degree, then try the master degree and fail due to the lack of work. I really like the Pokémon adaptation.

And please, never give an ability that drops accuracy when entering the battlefield. Especially not to something like Starmie who's already decently good. That would be terrible (maybe almost as terrible as giving +1 in Atk/Spa/Spe to Archeops when it enters the battlefield, do you even realise the sheer power it would provide?)

 

[InfernapeHunter64]

I have another. Trick and Knock Off should be banned. OP moves that fuck up any team that relays heavily on items. which is most.

 

[Taistelu]

I have another. Trick and Knock Off should be banned. OP moves that fuck up any team that relays heavily on items. which is most.

>OP as fuck.

Do I need to comment further? EDIT: If I do refer to Pikachu315111's post.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I have another. Trick and Knock Off should be banned. OP moves that fuck up any team that relays heavily on items. which is most.

If someone's team is going to rely so heavily on an item or two to win that's their problem and they should prepare to protect their item. Losing or getting an item which has a negative affect is going to put you at a disadvantage, but if its downright means your going to lose maybe you should have your Pokemon able to perform without that item. Also you can have a Trick/Knock Off user of your own to even the odds if that's a concern.