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And we done this Unpopular Opinion yet: I like HMs. Yeah, you heard me. I LIKE the HMs. And I like the selection of HMs they gave us even though half of them are Water-type. Now I'm not crazy, the HMs main problem is you can't delete them and a few of them are rather weak (which wouldn't be a problem if you could delete them). But I like the idea of needing to solve natural obstacles in your path with using your Pokemon's skills, showing that as long as you're together you and your Pokemon can overcome any challenge be them a battle or natural barriers. This is also why I like the Trick House, sadly HMs for the most part are a one and done thing so having an extra area require you to use them again is welcomed. Though at the same time I still feel they could do more with HMs, not only with possibly new ones but explore what you could do with the existing ones. Like imagine while Surfing you found a rock blocking a waterway, you use Rock Smash to break it and suddenly the water level rises giving you access to new areas! Or using Strength and Rock Smash to do weight puzzles. Using Strength to force doors open or Cut to cut a circuit. Defog could certainly blow away more than fog. And think about the uses for these HMs while underwater using Dive! There's a lot of potential for HMs, which why I'm sort of sad they might be going in Gen VII but at the same time the PokeRide look pretty cool (though I'm hoping there would be someway to make some of our Pokemon into PokeRides? Probably not, though it does take away a bit of the bonding idea when you're clearing an obstacle with a Pokemon that isn't yours).
Honestly I do to. I love the overworld effects of HMs, and Rock Climb was really fun to use in the overworld; the way you'd just go zooming up the mountain, bringing an entirely new area into view that was previously hidden. I just wish HMs weren't SUCH a pain in the Arceus to put on my pokemon. Also, the "HMs can't be deleted" is an obsolete safety mechanism that prevented players from getting stuck back in Gen I when you could actually deposit HMs into your PC. Since you are no longer able to remove HMs from your bag, there is no risk that you'll delete an HM move from a pokemon in your party and be unable to reteach it when you realize that you're stuck, since you'll still have the HM with you.
And also yes, I agree, when you delete an HM move I think you should still be able to use it in the overworld. Damnit I don't want Surf on my Gyaradose or Azumarill. That's just so pre Physical-Special split.
Wait I thought you can't trade Pokemon with HM moves. I, like most, wish for HMs to be gone (and the useful ones like Surf put into TMs). It's just the same over and over. Find a tree, say yes to say you want to cut down said tree, watch the animation THEN finally, you can move. It's just so boring.
Because HM use outside of battles are restricted by the badges, thus making a clear-cut path through the progression of the game. If all field-based moves were TMs, getting a Pokemon with such moves through a trade would give you free reign over the whole game from the very beginning. That may not necessarily be a bad thing to some, but it would make the game's level curve essentially impossible to balance.
Wait I thought you can't trade Pokemon with HM moves. I, like most, wish for HMs to be gone (and the useful ones like Surf put into TMs). It's just the same over and over. Find a tree, say yes to say you want to cut down said tree, watch the animation THEN finally, you can move. It's just so boring.
I've said this before - HMs were great to begin with but steadily became more-and-more cumbersome as the series evolved, but the series is now kind of stuck with them.
HMs are, to me, a great way of allowing the world within a video game to open up in an organic way, rather than just have the game being a linear progression from one point to the next. Cut and Surf are to Pokemon what the boomerang and the hookshot are to Zelda. Remember back in Pokemon Red & Blue, where you're on route 2 and you spot an item ball on the other side of the cut-bush? Didn't that make you feel excited to find out what was in that ball? Just a little trick like that holds a powerful spell over the player because psychologically, you won't want to put the game down until that little mystery is resolved. That's what HMs can do.
The problem is that the design of Pokemon games has gradually become a more linear affair. You don't really see many cases where you can backtrack to a former area and unlock new secrets with your HM moves. At the same time, movepools have expanded significantly - so the cost of dedicating a moveslot to a really shit move has risen. But we're still stuck with HMs.
I've said this before - HMs were great to begin with but steadily became more-and-more cumbersome as the series evolved, but the series is now kind of stuck with them.
HMs are, to me, a great way of allowing the world within a video game to open up in an organic way, rather than just have the game being a linear progression from one point to the next. Cut and Surf are to Pokemon what the boomerang and the hookshot are to Zelda. Remember back in Pokemon Red & Blue, where you're on route 2 and you spot an item ball on the other side of the cut-bush? Didn't that make you feel excited to find out what was in that ball? Just a little trick like that holds a powerful spell over the player because psychologically, you won't want to put the game down until that little mystery is resolved. That's what HMs can do.
Agreed. Would you rather have the path to the next town blocked by a breakable rock, or an annoying NPC that tries to sell you a RAGECANDYBAR and then tells you to "scram, kiddy! I aint got time for you!"? Although if they made a (violent) HM that you could use on such NPCs I wouldn't complain. They could do that with Flamethrower. Or how about Close Combat? I would LOVE to beat the shit out of condescending NPCs; would make a perfect after-game overworld move.
In Gen VI you can trade pokemon with HM moves, but you can't trade them if they are currently in your party. So you have to deposit them in the PC and then trade them from there.
Edit: Also, they definitely need to make the HM animation much smoother. If I click on a tree and I have Cut in my party, it should just immediately cut it down. Why does it need to ask me if I want to? Likewise, if I try to walk into water, I should automatically start surfing. No need to ask my permission every time.
Edit #2: Oh yeah, and in ORAS if I have two pokemon with Surf on my team, PLEASE use Surf on the Sharpedo.
Edit: Also, they definitely need to make the HM animation much smoother. If I click on a tree and I have Cut in my party, it should just immediately cut it down. Why does it need to ask me if I want to? Likewise, if I try to walk into water, I should automatically start surfing. No need to ask my permission every time.
You can only do this if they are not in your team. They changed a lot of things regarding HM's to prevent players from getting stuck, that's why they have always been able to be used while fainted. I actually encountered this the other day while trying to evolve my Poliwhirl in to Politoed and the game blocked me because it was my only Surf mon (even though I was in a Pokemon Center at the time).
You can only do this if they are not in your team. They changed a lot of things regarding HM's to prevent players from getting stuck, that's why they have always been able to be used while fainted. I actually encountered this the other day while trying to evolve my Poliwhirl in to Politoed and the game blocked me because it was my only Surf mon (even though I was in a Pokemon Center at the time).
I hate the idea of taking HM's out of the game, you do waste a move slot or a whole pokemon for a HM slave but it makes the game more challenging and it makes me feel accomplished once I've managed to get past an obstacle such as the tree.
We need more water routes in games. Surfing is one of the most enjoyable things in the game especially when you can discover hidden places.
I haven't liked the graphics if any pokemon game as much as gen 3's I love the 2D sprites and towns more than gen 6's 3D graphics.
Gen 2 is overrated just because you can travel though Kanto again.
I hate the idea of taking HM's out of the game, you do waste a move slot or a whole pokemon for a HM slave but it makes the game more challenging and it makes me feel accomplished once I've managed to get past an obstacle such as the tree.
We need more water routes in games. Surfing is one of the most enjoyable things in the game especially when you can discover hidden places.
I haven't liked the graphics if any pokemon game as much as gen 3's I love the 2D sprites and towns more than gen 6's 3D graphics.
Gen 2 is overrated just because you can travel though Kanto again.
I think most people at this point (at least, the older audience) have decided that the pokedex is mostly just hyperbole or flat out myths. Some pokedex entries are plausible, but others, like ones you mentioned, are just too ridiculous to take seriously.
Yeah - among the many sins within Pokedex entries:
1) Hyperbole (Ponyta's hooves 10x harder than diamonds, Slurpuff's sense of smell a million times as strong as humans', etc)
2) Contradicting the games (Solrock's entries go on and on about how it basks in the sunlight - so why is it always found in caves?)
3) Contradicting other Pokedex entries (Exeggcute is made of eggs - or possibly seeds)
4) References to the real world (Raichu is as strong as an Indian elephant; Delibird lives on Mount Everest)
5) Flat-out weirdness ("It happened on morning - a boy with extrasensory powers awoke transformed into a Kadabra.")
When you think about it, you're just some kid that's going around logging all the Pokemon. None of these Pokedex entries are official (in-game, I mean, they're totally official on a meta level) or even backed up by data, it's just some excited ten year old writing down what they thought they saw. Of course they're not going to make any sense.
Oh boy unpopular opinions time.
Ugh, I did the thing where I typed way way way too much again. I'll be spoilering all of these just so that my post doesn't take up like half a webpage. You're welcome, I think?
Not only does Pikachu look kinda meh (not too popular an opinion, but certainly not nonexistent), but Raichu looks straight up better in almost every conceivable way, from the elongated ears to the streamlined tail to just overall being bigger. The only things I maybe don't like about Raichu is that it looks too fat to be taken seriously as a "bigger better faster stronger Pikachu" (which is kinda the point of evolutions), and that its colors don't contrast nearly as well as Pikachu's yellow, red, and black. Oh well, a small price to pay for getting to have a cool evo, and certainly nothing that'll make me hesitate to Thunderstone a Pikachu the moment it learns thunderbolt. Now if only they would just bite the bullet and give it a mega...
Idk if this is a popular opinion or not, but I really really want HMs to go away. I do agree that they add to exploration and such, but from a world-building standpoint there is no reason you shouldn't just be able to:
burn small trees down with any fire or cutting move
surf with any Pokemon that would logically be big enough to carry you and should logically be able to swim
break any of those rock smash rocks with any move that should logically be capable of breaking rocks (Ex: Brick Break; if it can break bricks, there's no reason it can't break rocks)
And so on.
The part I think is silly is not the existence of HMs, but that HMs are the ONLY moves that let you do a certain action. As a programmer myself, I can guarantee you that this is not a difficult problem to fix, especially if this is a freshly created Pokemon game and not a ROM hack. Wherever it is that you're coding the moves, you can just add a property of "what sh*t can I do in the overworld with this move." If that proves too infeasible, you could always associate each obstacle with a list of moves and/or Pokemon that are capable of passing that obstacle. There are a lot of moves and Pokemon, but not nearly a large enough number for either option to take up any significant amount of space, especially with modern 3DS cartridges. The only potential issue I can think of is that it may take like three days to look through every single move or Pokemon and figure out what it can do, but given that they change damages and stuff all the time, which would imply that they already do this, I can't see that being a significant issue.
It might also not let them put as many progress limiters in their game (such as needing to beat Gym X to be able to get past obstacle Y), but I fully welcome the loss of that crutch. They've let this kind of thing limit their creativity for too long anyway. Why is Pokemon a linear game again? The entire point of the game, as far as I can tell, is that you explore a massive world and catch a bunch of cool creatures. The kind of linearity that currently exists in Pokemon makes little sense. If you really want to make sure the player clears a gym first, just have some guy stand near the area the player is gonna go next, and have 'em be like "you should probably make sure you can beat the gym leader before you go this way, because the Pokemon in this next area are tough." You know how there was some NPC by Pewter City that stopped you from progressing until you beat Brock? That was annoying, but at least it made more sense than not being able to use ember on a small tree to clear it out of the way.
Then again they're apparently getting rid of gyms in Sun/Moon, so they can't rely on that kind of limitation anyway. Maybe this will force Pokemon to be less linear.
Gen V's Pokemon selection might actually be my favorite in the entire series. As far as sheer numbers go, I can remember more Pokemon introduced in Gen V than for any other region. It's not even because some designs are so bad that they can't help but stick out either; I LIKE a ton of them, even the ones people don't like. Yeah I like Zorua, Archen, Snivy, Joltik, and their evolutions, but I also like Vanillite, Druddigon, Pansage/sear/pour, Emolga, Trubbish, Pidove, Roggenrola, and their evolutions. I would go so far as to say I like the Roggenrola family more than the Geodude family, and the Pidove family more than the Pidgey family. The same applies for almost every single Gen V family that looks like a family from a previous generation.
Actually, I'm looking through the Pokemon that were introduced in Gen V, and...honestly? Other than the Tepig and Oshawott lines, I think I like every single one of them. And the only reason I don't like the Tepig line is because it's another fire/fighting starter, and the only reason I don't like the Oshawott line is because it switches from a ninja theme to the samurai theme for no reason. Other than that, I can say with around 95% confidence that I like every single Gen V Pokemon.
I don't think I can say the same thing for any other generation of Pokemon. Not Gen III. Not Gen II. Not even Gen I. Even Gen VI, with its quality over quantity approach, still has more Pokemon proportionally that I don't like. I might be able to get away with saying that I like just about every Gen IV Pokemon, but I can only give maybe a 70% confidence rating on that claim. I might be forgetting a few Pokemon that I really can't stand or something.
So not only do I like Gen V's Pokemon more sheer number wise, I also like a higher proportion of them! Not that I don't have a ton of Pokemon from every generation, just that Gen V might be the only one that has consistently me with Pokemon that I like.
I also like how you can't get any Pokemon other than Gen V Pokemon in Black and White. This is a far away region, not near those previous four regions that are relatively close together. It shouldn't have any of the same Pokemon. And on a gameplay level, not having any old Pokemon to rely on forces the player to interact with the new ones. On an aesthetic level, this also makes Black and White feel very foreign, even scary, in a way that no Pokemon game could feel since Gen I. It's a technique that I think they can only pull off once, only because adding so many Pokemon so quickly will just overflow the pokedex, but for that one time, I really did enjoy it. Black2/White2 lost that appeal the moment they added Pokemon from older regions again. Now it wasn't a new experience. It was just like every other Pokemon game. Which I feel misses the entire point of Gen V.
I don't like the random encounter system that goes on inside tall grass, or any equivalent throughout the Pokemon series. I feel like the only reason it was done this way in the past was because older systems did not have the capacity to render Pokemon on the overworld walking through the tall grass, and so they had to make them invisible. But if that's the reason, then it's an outdated archaic mechanic that I would not mind seeing replaced. Especially now that Pokemon is a 3D model game, having Pokemon be invisible on the overworld and suddenly appearing out of nowhere feels even more jarring than it did back in the sprite days. And mechanics wise...how many times have you guys run into a Pokemon encounter you didn't want to deal with? Wouldn't that have been so much more tolerable if you just saw the Pokemon some distance away and decided to walk around it? Suddenly surfing around in Hoenn becomes bearable!
I also like how you can't get any Pokemon other than Gen V Pokemon in Black and White. This is a far away region, not near those previous four regions that are relatively close together. It shouldn't have any of the same Pokemon. And on a gameplay level, not having any old Pokemon to rely on forces the player to interact with the new ones. On an aesthetic level, this also makes Black and White feel very foreign, even scary, in a way that no Pokemon game could feel since Gen I. It's a technique that I think they can only pull off once, only because adding so many Pokemon so quickly will just overflow the pokedex, but for that one time, I really did enjoy it. Black2/White2 lost that appeal the moment they added Pokemon from older regions again. Now it wasn't a new experience. It was just like every other Pokemon game. Which I feel misses the entire point of Gen V.
I ab-SO-lutely agree with this one. Something I simply flat-out disliked in Gen IV (And somewhat less so in Gen II. Not counting Gen VI because I didn't play it) was that the new Pokemon easily got the shaft and became minor compared to the already existing ones. Why bother picking the likes of Staraptor, Garchomp or Tyranitar (I'm just taking extreme cases) when you can use the same Pokemon you've always used before? BW1 (And RSE to a lower extent) did a great job by keeping the number of older Pokemon available pre-postgame at a minimum (Or at an absolute zero) so that you WILL know those Pokemon better than in earlier generations.
I think that's kind of part of a reason I like the odd generations more than the even ones, and how these latter ones hold more forgettable Pokemon - the odd generations' new Pokemon get all the attention they deserve.
I don't like the random encounter system that goes on inside tall grass, or any equivalent throughout the Pokemon series. I feel like the only reason it was done this way in the past was because older systems did not have the capacity to render Pokemon on the overworld walking through the tall grass, and so they had to make them invisible. But if that's the reason, then it's an outdated archaic mechanic that I would not mind seeing replaced. Especially now that Pokemon is a 3D model game, having Pokemon be invisible on the overworld and suddenly appearing out of nowhere feels even more jarring than it did back in the sprite days. And mechanics wise...how many times have you guys run into a Pokemon encounter you didn't want to deal with? Wouldn't that have been so much more tolerable if you just saw the Pokemon some distance away and decided to walk around it? Suddenly surfing around in Hoenn becomes bearable!
When you think about it, you're just some kid that's going around logging all the Pokemon. None of these Pokedex entries are official (in-game, I mean, they're totally official on a meta level) or even backed up by data, it's just some excited ten year old writing down what they thought they saw. Of course they're not going to make any sense.
That is exactly what I was thinking until I read some of the other entries that make me wonder, how the hell does your in-game character know or come up with how old an Aerodactyl is or can exactly pin-point the speed of a Pidgeot.
But judging from the fact that the data is filled after you caught the Pokemon, it makes sense.
When you think about it, you're just some kid that's going around logging all the Pokemon. None of these Pokedex entries are official (in-game, I mean, they're totally official on a meta level) or even backed up by data, it's just some excited ten year old writing down what they thought they saw. Of course they're not going to make any sense.
There's no way Pokedex entries are written as you go along, let's be real. A kid's not gonna come up with all the stuff in the Pokedex. I don't know how a Pokedex works, but there's no way one 10 year old kid is writing that stuff.
Yeah, I have a hard time believing the Pokedex entries are written by the player character. They most likely wouldn't know all that information, plus it was explicitly stated in RBY/FRLG that Professor Oak created the pokedex, or at least, the one in those games, meaning he probably made the entries. Likewise, each regional professor made their own entries for their pokedex. So they're not that great at their job, I guess.
I equate it to some of the old Greek philosophers, who had great and innovative scientific ideas for their time, but as time and science progressed, it became increasingly apparent that they were wrong. Though why this problem would exist in pokemon is beyond me, as it seems to be a relatively modern world.
Wouldn't the point be that the information is incorrect specifically because the player character doesn't actually know anything and is making up things that sound cool...?
Wouldn't the point be that the information is incorrect specifically because the player character doesn't actually know anything and is making up things that sound cool...?
I suppose so, though I guess the question would be how the player character is putting that information in. Like, is there some feature that let's them do that? Also, it doesn't make too much sense to me that Professor Oak would create a pokedex with no information on it, expecting you to just fill out out yourself yet giving you no clue as to how.
I think the elimination/reworking of HMs is a pretty popular sentiment in the Pokemon community, though it is hotly debated. I think that the concept of HMs- special abilities that serve as checkpoints to your progress- isn't a bad idea, really. It's the execution that I think is flawed. HMs take up a moveslot that could otherwise be used for more viable moves, and it's even worse when said move does nothing battle-wise. The only ways around that are either teaching Pokemon outside of your main team HM moves and trading them out when approrpiate or having an HM slave on your team (which can effectively waste a Pokemon team slot, too). To fix the problem, you could easily either a) apply the field ability to the Pokemon or b) have the HM system be attached to items instead of moves.
Additionally, Sun and Moon has a Poke Ride system and I would love to see that replace HMs in some way. Instead of using one of your own Pokemon to surf, ride on a Sharpedo or Lapras instead. I think something like the Soaring mechanic from ORAS wuld be a great alternative to HM moves. You can also make them checkpoints in the same way HMs are checkpoints.
Gen V has a lot of great Pokemon concepts that I think a lot of people forget about/overlook such as Sigilyph, Stunfisk, Mandibuzz, and many others. And I think it says something when Game Freak puts in Pokemon designs that aren't something people aren't going to immediately love (Vanilluxe, Klefki, ect.) I think these designs are good reminders that Game Freak isn't just making designs to please the fans. They like doing creative, out of the box things too. I mean, sure, a dragon looks cool, but I think a floating keychain of death is more creative than any generic dragon design.
Wouldn't the point be that the information is incorrect specifically because the player character doesn't actually know anything and is making up things that sound cool...?
The Professors making the entries isn't to implausible. Am I really to believe a 10 y/o child knows all about the ecosystem and nature, as Pokedex entries would imply.
As I said before, Rotom-Pokedex may contain the answer (as it is a Pokemon itself).
