Well, in the original game, when flying to routes weren't possible, it was a good staging area for when you wanted to go open the cave to the Regis or train in Sky Pillar
Plus, you used to get the TM for Return/Frustration every week there.
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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Plus, you used to get the TM for Return/Frustration every week there.
At least Pacifidlog is unique and memorable. Oldale literally has nothing special about it.
I'm annoyed that the additional information about a Pokemon's Mega Evolution isn't recorded anywhere in the game. All Mega Evolutions have sort of their own dex entry... except their on the XY and ORAS website.
The fact that there's no in-game database for Pokemon stats is just annoying and honestly really odd. I know they probably expect us to go to Bulbapedia by this point, but when you have over 700 creatures and the game is portable (where you won't always have internet access) there should be something in-game to tell you hard numbers.
I can sort of understand why they wouldn't want to have the exact numbers (despite getting said numbers is incredibly easy) as they don't want players to focus just on that. But with that said I do wish they would at least give us a vague system like a stat bar or something so that we can at least know what stat that Pokemon excels at in comparison with its other stats.
The fact that Game Freak had the nerve to weaken various moves, for no apparent reason; the worst is Aura Sphere, which dropped 10 Base Power points (90 to 80), and which screwed users of it (90 BP with --- Accuracy is far superior to 120 BP with 70% Accuracy; 80 BP with --- Accuracy just loses so much power in comparison).
Or Hidden Power, which is locked at 60 BP; good for the few specially-oriented Technician users, but they're all very low on the ladder (Persian, Mr. Mime (which prefers Filter or Soundproof, as it has no 60 BP STAB), Roserade (again, no good 60 BP STAB, especially when put against Giga Drain's HP restoration)). Why not retool the mechanics so HP Fairy could be a thing, along with 70 BP? Or a boost to 80 BP, which would've been amazing? Stupid.
Oh, don't get me started on how annoying the rivals now are; Serena is not tough in the slightest, and May just keeps popping up in places she never used to - Meteor Falls (annoying Tag Battle, when you're most likely strong enough to not need her 'help'), Route 103 (to see the impossible - wild Beautifly flying past), just before the Mt. Chimney cable car (to point the player towards it), Route 113 (to tell you 'Hey, this is the right path, even though it's clearly visible on the map')...so utterly annoying. NO, GAME FREAK, I DON'T NEED THIS HANDHOLDING, ESPECIALLY FROM AN ANNOYING PEST. I PLAYED GENERATION III BEFORE, AND THERE'S GUIDES ONLINE FOR THOSE WHO DO NEED ASSISTANCE. Sigh...glad I got that out of my system.
Not to mention that I would never take someone so utterly annoying and unhelpful to a meteor shower, especially since I wouldn't likely go to one in the first place.
Oh, that's right - both Serena and May get Mega Bracelets after you beat Diantha/Steven, and how they obtained them is never explained. What was the point of that 'fight' over the Mega Bracelet back in the Tower of Mastery? Remember that, Game Freak? It was said that there was only one left, not two. May's is even murkier, as she only gets it in that post-credits battle (and the Battle Maison, but who picks her when Steven is stronger, and having two 3DSs is even better?). Where EXP and cash aren't rewarded. Making the battle pointless, and preventing the player from resetting/skipping the credits. Utterly, utterly annoying.
Or Hidden Power, which is locked at 60 BP; good for the few specially-oriented Technician users, but they're all very low on the ladder (Persian, Mr. Mime (which prefers Filter or Soundproof, as it has no 60 BP STAB), Roserade (again, no good 60 BP STAB, especially when put against Giga Drain's HP restoration)). Why not retool the mechanics so HP Fairy could be a thing, along with 70 BP? Or a boost to 80 BP, which would've been amazing? Stupid.
Oh, don't get me started on how annoying the rivals now are; Serena is not tough in the slightest, and May just keeps popping up in places she never used to - Meteor Falls (annoying Tag Battle, when you're most likely strong enough to not need her 'help'), Route 103 (to see the impossible - wild Beautifly flying past), just before the Mt. Chimney cable car (to point the player towards it), Route 113 (to tell you 'Hey, this is the right path, even though it's clearly visible on the map')...so utterly annoying. NO, GAME FREAK, I DON'T NEED THIS HANDHOLDING, ESPECIALLY FROM AN ANNOYING PEST. I PLAYED GENERATION III BEFORE, AND THERE'S GUIDES ONLINE FOR THOSE WHO DO NEED ASSISTANCE. Sigh...glad I got that out of my system.
Not to mention that I would never take someone so utterly annoying and unhelpful to a meteor shower, especially since I wouldn't likely go to one in the first place.
Oh, that's right - both Serena and May get Mega Bracelets after you beat Diantha/Steven, and how they obtained them is never explained. What was the point of that 'fight' over the Mega Bracelet back in the Tower of Mastery? Remember that, Game Freak? It was said that there was only one left, not two. May's is even murkier, as she only gets it in that post-credits battle (and the Battle Maison, but who picks her when Steven is stronger, and having two 3DSs is even better?). Where EXP and cash aren't rewarded. Making the battle pointless, and preventing the player from resetting/skipping the credits. Utterly, utterly annoying.
PokeMaster99999:
Weakened Moves: If you'll notice its mainly the Special Moves that got weakened. GF said they noticed Special moves were too powerful so decided to decrease a lot of Special Moves power. However this doesn't make much sense as I can name just as powerful Physical moves. I think GF might have been mistaking there being many powerful Special moves as Special moves being too powerful.
I'm more willing to think they decreased the power of Special moves to give the illusion that Fairy moves are super powerful. All but one attacking Fairy-type moves is Special. And while they decreased many of the moves that had 95 Power (Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Surf), oddly Moonblast was allowed to have 95. Hmm...
Also this caused a rather odd unbalance moment. Groudon and Kyogre both got Signature Moves this generation. They're a copy of of the powerful but 85% accuracy moves. Groudon is a Physical attacker so Precipice Blades is 120 Power. However for some reason, Kyogre's Origin Pulse is 110 Power, and I can only think its because its a Special move. Why? It's a Signature Move of a Legendary! It's suppose to be overly powerful! It's also suppose to be equal to its physical counterpart!
That said I do think next gen they're going to restore them to their original power since Fairy would no longer be new so no reason to try to sell them to us.
Pulse Moves: Speaking of Aura Sphere I do kind of find the lack of consistency with the "pulse" moves Power kind of odd. Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse are now 80 (though Aura Sphere was 90), Dragon Pulse is 85 (though was 90), and Water Pulse is 60. With the release of the Ability Mega Launcher I would sort of think they would have all of them be around equal in power like maybe 85 and 90 (especially for Water Pulse as even with the 50% boost it only becomes just as strong as Gen VI Surf).
Hidden Power Redo: I think Hidden Power needs to be changed. While at the time it was a cute gimmick that the move was dependent on the Pokemon's IVs, nowadays its just a pain and questionable if worth bothering with. I think the three changes they should do 3 changes with it:
1. Make it so you can choose whether its a Special or Physical move (that way Physical attackers can have a weak move for type coverage).
2. Make it so you can choose what type it is (that way you can also have a Normal or Fairy HP).
3. Set the power to 70 (making it weak but not too weak. The point of Hidden Power is to have a weak move that's a type the Pokemon can't learn normally. I also think it shouldn't be 60 so that Technician users aren't able to power it up giving them a bit of an unfair advantage).
Mega Rival: Them getting a Mega Bracelet/Bangle was a bit odd, especially for May/Brendan. Like for Serena/Calem you could just say the Tower of Mastery was able to get another Key Stone so contacted Serena/Calem giving them the chance to claim it (which maybe would have been a fun post game quest to do, help them get their Mega Bracelet), but for May/Brendan? I don't think they ever showed any interest in Mega Evolution, it just seemed like they were given one just to have the post credit battle. Like Wally getting one at least had some symbolism.
GF did need to work a bit on Serena/Calem's character. They're all about wanting to be your rival and as strong as can be... which falls flat on its face for several reasons. For one you keep beating her at every encounter and its focused on when you both battle for the Mega Bracelet. Like Blue too claimed he was strong but always lost, but he was arrogant so shrugged it off and later proved how strong he was by becoming the Champion. With Blue, though you needed to beat him to continue the story, beating him didn't feel like you proved anything just yet as he was mainly just messing with you. But in-story Serena/Calem are trying which makes it feel all the more sad for them. Also Blue at least taught all his Pokemon four powerful and appropriate moves. If you look are Serena/Calem's final team you'll notice 3 of them only have 3 moves (including their Starter) and the power of their moves are rather lacking for some (most evident with their Eeveelution, especially Flareon who for some reason is using Fire Blast instead of Flare Blitz).
As for May/Brendan its actually tough to call them a rival since at some point they stop and Wally becomes the main rival. Like at the very least we get to see them use their starter's final evolution in ORAS (you didn't in the original RSE which was annoying for those trying to complete their Pokedex). However I didn't really mind May/Brendan popping up more often, their scenes didn't go on too long (unlike Steven's who goes on for several minutes about a philosophy topic) and for new players them putting them on the right track doesn't hurt (and for those who don't want to be handheld you can just say no to them). I also didn't find her personality annoying, maybe a bit absent-minded and too perky though I say that's more a sign of the times. Remember that before RSE the previous rivals were Blue and Silver, both major jerks. So it was kind of nice having a friendly rival when RSE came about. However since then all the rivals have been nice to the player so its no longer a novelty. Also I like the ORAS post credit battle with May/Brendan as it was a nice bookend (and, even though they only has 5 Pokemon, I can tell looking at their team they at least tried more than post game Serena/Calem).
Weakened Moves: If you'll notice its mainly the Special Moves that got weakened. GF said they noticed Special moves were too powerful so decided to decrease a lot of Special Moves power. However this doesn't make much sense as I can name just as powerful Physical moves. I think GF might have been mistaking there being many powerful Special moves as Special moves being too powerful.
I'm more willing to think they decreased the power of Special moves to give the illusion that Fairy moves are super powerful. All but one attacking Fairy-type moves is Special. And while they decreased many of the moves that had 95 Power (Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Surf), oddly Moonblast was allowed to have 95. Hmm...
Also this caused a rather odd unbalance moment. Groudon and Kyogre both got Signature Moves this generation. They're a copy of of the powerful but 85% accuracy moves. Groudon is a Physical attacker so Precipice Blades is 120 Power. However for some reason, Kyogre's Origin Pulse is 110 Power, and I can only think its because its a Special move. Why? It's a Signature Move of a Legendary! It's suppose to be overly powerful! It's also suppose to be equal to its physical counterpart!
That said I do think next gen they're going to restore them to their original power since Fairy would no longer be new so no reason to try to sell them to us.
Pulse Moves: Speaking of Aura Sphere I do kind of find the lack of consistency with the "pulse" moves Power kind of odd. Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse are now 80 (though Aura Sphere was 90), Dragon Pulse is 85 (though was 90), and Water Pulse is 60. With the release of the Ability Mega Launcher I would sort of think they would have all of them be around equal in power like maybe 85 and 90 (especially for Water Pulse as even with the 50% boost it only becomes just as strong as Gen VI Surf).
Hidden Power Redo: I think Hidden Power needs to be changed. While at the time it was a cute gimmick that the move was dependent on the Pokemon's IVs, nowadays its just a pain and questionable if worth bothering with. I think the three changes they should do 3 changes with it:
1. Make it so you can choose whether its a Special or Physical move (that way Physical attackers can have a weak move for type coverage).
2. Make it so you can choose what type it is (that way you can also have a Normal or Fairy HP).
3. Set the power to 70 (making it weak but not too weak. The point of Hidden Power is to have a weak move that's a type the Pokemon can't learn normally. I also think it shouldn't be 60 so that Technician users aren't able to power it up giving them a bit of an unfair advantage).
Mega Rival: Them getting a Mega Bracelet/Bangle was a bit odd, especially for May/Brendan. Like for Serena/Calem you could just say the Tower of Mastery was able to get another Key Stone so contacted Serena/Calem giving them the chance to claim it (which maybe would have been a fun post game quest to do, help them get their Mega Bracelet), but for May/Brendan? I don't think they ever showed any interest in Mega Evolution, it just seemed like they were given one just to have the post credit battle. Like Wally getting one at least had some symbolism.
GF did need to work a bit on Serena/Calem's character. They're all about wanting to be your rival and as strong as can be... which falls flat on its face for several reasons. For one you keep beating her at every encounter and its focused on when you both battle for the Mega Bracelet. Like Blue too claimed he was strong but always lost, but he was arrogant so shrugged it off and later proved how strong he was by becoming the Champion. With Blue, though you needed to beat him to continue the story, beating him didn't feel like you proved anything just yet as he was mainly just messing with you. But in-story Serena/Calem are trying which makes it feel all the more sad for them. Also Blue at least taught all his Pokemon four powerful and appropriate moves. If you look are Serena/Calem's final team you'll notice 3 of them only have 3 moves (including their Starter) and the power of their moves are rather lacking for some (most evident with their Eeveelution, especially Flareon who for some reason is using Fire Blast instead of Flare Blitz).
As for May/Brendan its actually tough to call them a rival since at some point they stop and Wally becomes the main rival. Like at the very least we get to see them use their starter's final evolution in ORAS (you didn't in the original RSE which was annoying for those trying to complete their Pokedex). However I didn't really mind May/Brendan popping up more often, their scenes didn't go on too long (unlike Steven's who goes on for several minutes about a philosophy topic) and for new players them putting them on the right track doesn't hurt (and for those who don't want to be handheld you can just say no to them). I also didn't find her personality annoying, maybe a bit absent-minded and too perky though I say that's more a sign of the times. Remember that before RSE the previous rivals were Blue and Silver, both major jerks. So it was kind of nice having a friendly rival when RSE came about. However since then all the rivals have been nice to the player so its no longer a novelty. Also I like the ORAS post credit battle with May/Brendan as it was a nice bookend (and, even though they only has 5 Pokemon, I can tell looking at their team they at least tried more than post game Serena/Calem).
Okay if we're talking about ORAS hand-holding I really hate the bit after Norman's gym. Wally takes you to Mauville without giving you the option to say no.
That's fucking stupid. I just got surf and you take me as far away from the large water routes between Petalburg, Dewford and Slateport?! You don't let me explore the area above Rustboro?! You don't let me grab the items in Petalburg literally begging to be grabbed since the beginning of the game?!
Going through ORAS again really made me cringe at how much hand-holding there was but that wa by far the worse. What the fuck
That's fucking stupid. I just got surf and you take me as far away from the large water routes between Petalburg, Dewford and Slateport?! You don't let me explore the area above Rustboro?! You don't let me grab the items in Petalburg literally begging to be grabbed since the beginning of the game?!
Going through ORAS again really made me cringe at how much hand-holding there was but that wa by far the worse. What the fuck
Weakened moves: thanks for that; now I have some idea as to why they did that, though it's still freaking stupid. The unbalanced power of Precipice Blades vs Origin Pulse is a bit odd, yes, but I do agree with your last sentence there - if Game Freak doesn't restore special moves to their original power, and strengthen Origin Pulse, then I'm going to be so peeved.
Pulse moves: every single Mega Launcher-boosted move should be 90 BP, I agree, as that's what the majority were before this stupid power shift (well, except for Origin Pulse, of course, which should be 120). Though I think strengthening Water Pulse like this would lead to some revamping of learnsets, because it's often a very early move (the latest level Water Pulse is learned at is 46, for Manaphy and Phione, and the earliest is 7, for Shellos), which might get a bit complicated.
HP Redo: I do think that people should be able to choose the type of the move, instead of leaving it completely up to chance (or, uh, using unsupported 3rd-party tools). The idea of locking it at 70 is good, too, as there's not that many specially-oriented Technician users anyway (and those that do exist are pretty bad). The idea of choosing the category (physical or special), though, I don't agree with - I think another move should be created, identical in every way to this new HP, except that it's physical, like what some Pokémon fanmade games accomplish.
Mega Rival: they should've made it clearer on how the rivals obtained their Mega Bracelets (like how they should've fleshed out AZ's story more, but that's a different topic). XY's postgame was already lacking as it is (it's literally just helping Looker for about 30 min, then going to Kiloude City and getting peeved about the freaking hopeless Friend Safari), so your idea would've added something else to do.
The practice of not giving important Trainers full teams or movesets (seen all too often in Gen VI, compared to every earlier Generation) needs to stop - the Kalos Elite 4 (5?) never gets any stronger, for whatever reason, and the E4 only have FOUR Pokémon. Seriously? This practice began in Gen V, but at least the Challenge Mode option gave them an additional 'mon in their first encounter. In XY? No dice. Glad they wisened up for ORAS (which really should've been Delta Emerald, but that's another topic).
I guess I can see your opinions about May's character, but I personally will always prefer her Gen III persona over her Gen VI persona - only seeing her every now and then, without all the handholding (and without the post-credits pointless battle).
It would've made a LOT more sense if Wally and the player had left through the northwest exit, because then you could presumably go through Rusturf Tunnel. As it is, it doesn't make much sense.
Pulse moves: every single Mega Launcher-boosted move should be 90 BP, I agree, as that's what the majority were before this stupid power shift (well, except for Origin Pulse, of course, which should be 120). Though I think strengthening Water Pulse like this would lead to some revamping of learnsets, because it's often a very early move (the latest level Water Pulse is learned at is 46, for Manaphy and Phione, and the earliest is 7, for Shellos), which might get a bit complicated.
HP Redo: I do think that people should be able to choose the type of the move, instead of leaving it completely up to chance (or, uh, using unsupported 3rd-party tools). The idea of locking it at 70 is good, too, as there's not that many specially-oriented Technician users anyway (and those that do exist are pretty bad). The idea of choosing the category (physical or special), though, I don't agree with - I think another move should be created, identical in every way to this new HP, except that it's physical, like what some Pokémon fanmade games accomplish.
Mega Rival: they should've made it clearer on how the rivals obtained their Mega Bracelets (like how they should've fleshed out AZ's story more, but that's a different topic). XY's postgame was already lacking as it is (it's literally just helping Looker for about 30 min, then going to Kiloude City and getting peeved about the freaking hopeless Friend Safari), so your idea would've added something else to do.
The practice of not giving important Trainers full teams or movesets (seen all too often in Gen VI, compared to every earlier Generation) needs to stop - the Kalos Elite 4 (5?) never gets any stronger, for whatever reason, and the E4 only have FOUR Pokémon. Seriously? This practice began in Gen V, but at least the Challenge Mode option gave them an additional 'mon in their first encounter. In XY? No dice. Glad they wisened up for ORAS (which really should've been Delta Emerald, but that's another topic).
I guess I can see your opinions about May's character, but I personally will always prefer her Gen III persona over her Gen VI persona - only seeing her every now and then, without all the handholding (and without the post-credits pointless battle).
What makes the post-Petalburg Gym thing really odd is that Wally takes you the wrong way - you go out through the southeast exit, which means the only way to get to Mauville is through Route 103. But you need Surf to get across, which because of the automated process you don't get a chance to teach to anything until you've already done the impossible. Extremely weird.
It would've made a LOT more sense if Wally and the player had left through the northwest exit, because then you could presumably go through Rusturf Tunnel. As it is, it doesn't make much sense.
PokeMaster99999:
Pulse Moves: I'd say 90 Power for Aura Sphere and Dragon Pulse, 85 Power for Dark Pulse and Water Pulse (and obviously 120 for Origin Pulse). I don't think they should all be 90 for Dark and Water; Dark Pulse is a Dark-type move and their gimmick is being weak but having a tricky secondary effect. As for Water Pulse it going from 60 to 90 seems a bit of a jump and would be too close to competing with Surf (and Muddy Water).
As for the Pokemon with Water Pulse, that's only 51 Pokemon who will be affected. For those they can either move up/remove Water Pulse replace its place with Bubble Beam or Brine.
HP Redo: Why make two Moves when it can just be one more option? Well I suppose that means you can have both a Special and Physical Hidden Power, but as I said HP is meant to be sort of an emergency move. There should only be one.
Mega Rival: Fleshed out AZ's story? I felt we were told what we needed to know about him. Like I wouldn't be against learning more about him, but I felt I had a good grasp on his character and don't really have that many questions regarding him.
Also the Unova Elite Four did get a full team of 6 on rematches. However I was happy to see that the ORAS Elite Four got Megas in their rematches. I found it very odd the Kalos Elite Four didn't get a full team or even a Mega Pokemon so hopefully with XY2/Z they'll fix that mistake.
Pulse Moves: I'd say 90 Power for Aura Sphere and Dragon Pulse, 85 Power for Dark Pulse and Water Pulse (and obviously 120 for Origin Pulse). I don't think they should all be 90 for Dark and Water; Dark Pulse is a Dark-type move and their gimmick is being weak but having a tricky secondary effect. As for Water Pulse it going from 60 to 90 seems a bit of a jump and would be too close to competing with Surf (and Muddy Water).
As for the Pokemon with Water Pulse, that's only 51 Pokemon who will be affected. For those they can either move up/remove Water Pulse replace its place with Bubble Beam or Brine.
HP Redo: Why make two Moves when it can just be one more option? Well I suppose that means you can have both a Special and Physical Hidden Power, but as I said HP is meant to be sort of an emergency move. There should only be one.
Mega Rival: Fleshed out AZ's story? I felt we were told what we needed to know about him. Like I wouldn't be against learning more about him, but I felt I had a good grasp on his character and don't really have that many questions regarding him.
Also the Unova Elite Four did get a full team of 6 on rematches. However I was happy to see that the ORAS Elite Four got Megas in their rematches. I found it very odd the Kalos Elite Four didn't get a full team or even a Mega Pokemon so hopefully with XY2/Z they'll fix that mistake.
Something else I just remembered (or rather, encountered in-game):
Horde Battles are hilariously pathetic; the Pokémon involved are always stupidly underleveled for the point in the game when they appear.
The Pokémon involved should be much stronger, and that's particularly so for the ~2 Team Magma/Aqua Grunt Hordes that are encountered - the first time, the Grunts use Pokémon in the Lv. 34-37 range. The Horde? Level 18. Why? It might've been a challenge of sorts if they had used Lv. 35 or so Mightyena, but 5 Lv. 18 Poochyena? Pathetic.
Second time? 5 Lv. 25 Mightyena (with Intimidate), when the only other fight in the Mossdeep Space Center is against Matt/Courtney (Lv. 55 Sharpedo/Camerupt) and a Grunt (Lv. 51 Mightyena and either Muk or Weezing, depending on Team). Why isn't the Horde Lv. 40-48 or something?!?
Just pointless.
Horde Battles are hilariously pathetic; the Pokémon involved are always stupidly underleveled for the point in the game when they appear.
The Pokémon involved should be much stronger, and that's particularly so for the ~2 Team Magma/Aqua Grunt Hordes that are encountered - the first time, the Grunts use Pokémon in the Lv. 34-37 range. The Horde? Level 18. Why? It might've been a challenge of sorts if they had used Lv. 35 or so Mightyena, but 5 Lv. 18 Poochyena? Pathetic.
Second time? 5 Lv. 25 Mightyena (with Intimidate), when the only other fight in the Mossdeep Space Center is against Matt/Courtney (Lv. 55 Sharpedo/Camerupt) and a Grunt (Lv. 51 Mightyena and either Muk or Weezing, depending on Team). Why isn't the Horde Lv. 40-48 or something?!?
Just pointless.
Horde battles do need some work, at least for the Trainer Horde Battles. For wild Pokemon it makes some sense as the idea is strength in numbers, an individual doesn't need to be extra strong when together the group can chip away at any threat they faced. In addition since a trainer can only focus on one Pokemon even if one is captured it doesn't matter in terms of the group as there's probably another Pokemon of that species they can recruit in the area.
But this only works for wild Pokemon as that would be how a wild animal would think. But for a Trainer Horde? While the idea of "strength in numbers" still apply being these are trained Pokemon you'd think at least one member who have Pokemon are of levels of the ones who battle by themselves. Like I suppose maybe a group of the weaker grunts decided to team up but at the same time why wouldn't the stronger grunts do that of why wouldn't the Admin or even the Boss have a batch of grunts back them up?
Also for the Trainer Horde we have the logic problem of why aren't we sending out 5 Pokemon? It sort of makes sense for a Wild Horde Battle we only use one Pokemon as we may be looking to catch a member of the horde or specifically training the Pokemon sent out. But when up against the villain team who just sent 5 Pokemon against you? Why am I not sending out 5 of my Pokemon, or at least 3 if the idea is that we can't split our focus that much.
I agree; I even point out that Matt/Courtney battles alongside a singular Grunt. Why not, I dunno, ramp it up by adding 3 more Grunts, like a villainous mob would (most likely) do in real life?
In DPP, two Galactic Commanders team up against the player, and they had multiple Pokémon. Why not introduce a scenario where a Team's Boss enlists the aid of his four Admins/Commanders to (in his eyes) destroy the player? Yes, sure, people might complain about a 'difficulty spike', having ~(3+2+2+2+2) = 11 Pokémon to fight, and 5 out at once, but that would make sense for a villainous group. It would also compound the sense of victory, as winning such a hypothetical battle (the top 5 members of said Team) would feel enormously gratifying, just like winning against Mars and Jupiter (except multiplied by 2.5). It would also likely result in a bunch of EXP and cash, considering the (should-be) high levels and evolved forms used by the Boss and his Admins/Commanders.
Or if this Trainer Horde idea is to be forever limited to mere Grunts (despite not being 'realistic'), then at least make them competently levelled and actually worth fighting, just like every other Grunt is. Yes, even with crippling things such as 5x Intimidates or something - make the games a tad more difficult; you already have an 'Easy mode' in the 'Exp. All' Exp. Share and Pokémon-Amie's bonus EXP thing, along with rematchable Trainers and easily-gotten Lucky Eggs. Don't just unnecessarily weaken Hordes because of the 5 v 1 aspect, Game Freak - that's why things like Bulldoze and Surf are useful in such formats (especially Surf, because there's no special version of Intimidate yet).
As a sidenote: is double-posting against the rules here, like it is in many forums? Didn't exactly see it in the general Smogon Rules thread nor the OI rules.
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Yes, it is against the rules. Common forum etiquette. We should probably write it down somewhere, though.
I checked, and it is mentioned in the 'Warnings' article, under "Multiple Posting/Flooding", so it is written down.
However, how many people actually click on the Warnings link down the bottom? Especially since it's not exactly mentioned as 'required reading' but optional information.
I apologise if I sound like I'm insulting the admins, but it's not exactly smart to relegate a common rule to an article very few would bother reading. If I may, can I suggest adding another bullet-point at the bottom of the 'Global Rules' article mentioning it?
In any case, thank you Codraroll for the answer.
However, how many people actually click on the Warnings link down the bottom? Especially since it's not exactly mentioned as 'required reading' but optional information.
I apologise if I sound like I'm insulting the admins, but it's not exactly smart to relegate a common rule to an article very few would bother reading. If I may, can I suggest adding another bullet-point at the bottom of the 'Global Rules' article mentioning it?
In any case, thank you Codraroll for the answer.
For those wondering about why special moves got nerfed relative to physical moves it's because special attackers were very dominant in Gen V VGC (which is what GameFreak cares about after all), for several reasons:
- Weather was dominant, (particularly Drizzle + Swift Swim), and most of the Swift Swimmers were special attackers (eg Kingdra, Ludicolo)
- Trick Room was quite a powerful playstyle too, and most offensive Trick Room setters attacked on the special side (eg Chandelure, Reuniclus)
- Intimidate users were very common (eg Hitmontop, Gyarados, Landorus-T), further tipping the balance in the favour of special attackers.
Of course, because GameFreak are GameFreak, Scald, the one special move that really needed the edge taken off it, was left very well alone. (Well I guess you could argue it was indirectly nerfed by the removal of permanent Drizzle, at least).
- Weather was dominant, (particularly Drizzle + Swift Swim), and most of the Swift Swimmers were special attackers (eg Kingdra, Ludicolo)
- Trick Room was quite a powerful playstyle too, and most offensive Trick Room setters attacked on the special side (eg Chandelure, Reuniclus)
- Intimidate users were very common (eg Hitmontop, Gyarados, Landorus-T), further tipping the balance in the favour of special attackers.
Of course, because GameFreak are GameFreak, Scald, the one special move that really needed the edge taken off it, was left very well alone. (Well I guess you could argue it was indirectly nerfed by the removal of permanent Drizzle, at least).
I see, well the nerf to weather would solve the first problem.
Not sure what they could do about the Trick Room problem aside maybe releasing more slower physical attackers.
Finally I think maybe a Special version of Intimidate could have fixed the third problem.
Well the thing is that the good setters were all special attackers. Honestly the best physical trick room setters legal in VGC are Gourgeist, Dusclops, and Malamar and neither of them are actually any good compared to like Cresselia.
I think the thing is, Intimidate is a balancing measure because Earthquake, the most widely distributed sweeping attack, is a physical move with multiple work arounds (immunities, Levitate), so it was more concerning to mitigate as you were more likely to run into it compared to something like Surf.
I remember that like 4 years ago, I was really annoyed (and still kinda am, although I've understood a few more things now) about how so many things remain unexplained and seem to just have no real purpose, when they could have been so awesome. Take Unown, with HG being my first game, I really thought that they would be something more than alfabet soup in Pokemon. Nope, it turned out to be nothing but alfabet soup. And Ruins of Alph is such a mystical snd awesome place, but has no purpose outside of being Unown's home (and the Arceus Event, but I don't want to count that since it never actually happend). And the ghost girl in XY, she appears later on in a couple of places, but never turns out to have any purpose. There are a ton of more examples, this was just some stuff from the top of my head.
I actually love that the ghost girl doesn't have a purpose. Adds to the mystery in my eyes.
They'll probably explain it in Z or something. Something like that still has to go somewhere.
Honestly, Earthquake could have used a nerf too. It's one of the few 100+ power moves without either a nasty side effect or limited PP, and basically every goddamn thing learns it.
I personally hate how every single Ground-type in the Battle Maison uses Bulldoze. That speed drop starts to get really, REALLY annoying and fast (pun unintended).