Unpopular opinions

[Kurona]

Also the part where a good bit of the content in the Sevii Islands was based around either events (which either only happened in Japan or never happened at all, I forget which) or a gimmicky peripheral that was discontinued almost immediately outside Japan.

Not... really? Events unlocked two islands (one for Lugia and Ho-Oh and one for Deoxys), I'll give you that, but it's not like there was anything to those islands other than stages to catch those Pokémon. And the peripheral based around different Pokémon appearing at that one cave place is so incredibly minor a detail it's barely worth mentioning.
The Sevii Islands is packed with content and made for a very strong postgame, a few bells and whistles added by events don't even come close to making up an amount of content there that's in any way significant.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

There was those minigames on the first island too that literally required everyone not only have their own copy of FR/LG but also the wireless adaptor.

 

[Xen]

Most copies of FRLG (and I believe Emerald as well) came pre-packaged with the wireless adapter though, so that wasn't really a major setback.

Alternating Cave was disappointing, but not really a huge loss in the grand scheme of things. All the possible Pokemon that you could obtain from it were available in Colosseum and Emerald's post-national dex Safari Zone, so you have cheaper and easier to obtain alternatives to those species.

 

[Rarycaris]

I loved all the gen 6 games and can replay them endlessly, but I can't get into Sun and Moon and I'm not sure why -- it's just a bunch of petty, grognardy annoyances. The map feels oversimplified to make the gridless overworld work, to the point where it feels like there aren't any puzzles and you can only interact with things that serve an obvious purpose. It seems like there are very few secrets or details thrown in just to make the world come alive. So I guess my unpopular opinion is that I want the grid system back.

I also feel like key items like the itemfinder/dowsing machine and even the bicycle are vastly more annoying to use as ride Pokemon and that kinda offsets the advantages of losing HMs to me.

I can't stand the gen 5 levelup system. I'll leave it at that.

And last unpopular opinion: the music feels so unmemorable compared to pretty much every past game. The game certainly has some cool battle themes, but the overworld route tracks sound samey to me and I really miss the little jingles that play as you encounter trainers. There's the Team Skull one, the one that plays for literally all other trainers, and that's it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

And last unpopular opinion: the music feels so unmemorable compared to pretty much every past game. The game certainly has some cool battle themes, but the overworld route tracks sound samey to me and I really miss the little jingles that play as you encounter trainers. There's the Team Skull one, the one that plays for literally all other trainers, and that's it.

I can agree with that. Why they get rid of them? If you didn't make any new ones just recycle the old ones from Gen VI, there was nothing wrong with them.

 

[stage7_4]

I loved all the gen 6 games and can replay them endlessly, but I can't get into Sun and Moon and I'm not sure why -- it's just a bunch of petty, grognardy annoyances. The map feels oversimplified to make the gridless overworld work, to the point where it feels like there aren't any puzzles and you can only interact with things that serve an obvious purpose. It seems like there are very few secrets or details thrown in just to make the world come alive. So I guess my unpopular opinion is that I want the grid system back.

I also feel like key items like the itemfinder/dowsing machine and even the bicycle are vastly more annoying to use as ride Pokemon and that kinda offsets the advantages of losing HMs to me.

I can't stand the gen 5 levelup system. I'll leave it at that.

I don't think we can blame everything on being a grid-less world. Compare Yokai Watch (especially 2) that doesn't use a grid yet the relatively small area is busting at the gills with content, almost creating the reverse problem of the "quicksandbox." So we know it can be done.

I think it's more the same problem that the original G/S/C had: hardware limitations. In their step to make full models for everything they started to hit the 3DS rendering limits, meaning the worlds got prettier but also less deep. Towns are smaller and fewer in number, "dungeons" are almost non-existant until Poni Island, and my favorite format Triples got the cut (and Rotation, but I never really got into that).

I forgive a lot of things due to Sun/Moon taking more steps forward than back, but I also feel some great things were lost in the shuffle. As I said before, everything in this game either feels amazing or disappointing with no middle ground.

I hoping that this is just a growing pain, and in the next game Gamefreak will reinforce the bottom rather than innovate again (which based on the holding pattern, is what they usually do).

Disagree on the item finder though, every iteration of that thing had some degree of annoyance so at least now I get to use it from the back of my giant puppy dog. I also disagree about the world of Sun/Moon not feeling "alive," I actually find Alola to be the region that feels the most "lived-in" out of all of them.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Disagree on the item finder though, every iteration of that thing had some degree of annoyance so at least now I get to use it from the back of my giant puppy dog.

Gen V had the best Item Finder in my opinion. Was on the bottom screen, didn't require any input from you (unlike Gen IV's Item Finder), it just points in a general direction where a hidden item is (unlike Gen VI's and VII's which makes you search the general area and if you get off the track it can sometimes be hard to find the path), and indicates when you're right in front of it.

 

[Siggu]

Gen V had the best Item Finder in my opinion. Was on the bottom screen, didn't require any input from you (unlike Gen IV's Item Finder), it just points in a general direction where a hidden item is (unlike Gen VI's and VII's which makes you search the general area and if you get off the track it can sometimes be hard to find the path), and indicates when you're right in front of it.

I agree in that Gen V's Item Finder was great... but it also had a small issue in that if you wanted to access the menu or the Registered Items list, it shuts down.

But if there's something I've kind of noted is that... Sun and Moon don't really take advantage of the lower screen in the overworld. The Rotom Dex map is fine... but it doesn't really do much.

 

[Wretched Waltz]

unpopular opinion tyranitar is so cute :)

 

[Siggu]

unpopular opinion tyranitar is so cute :)

Incorrect.

That's a fact, not an opinion :P

 

[Gurren Swagann]

Gen 3 was my favorite long, long before the remakes were announced and suddenly everyone was saying they loved Gen 3.

I don't hate Pokemon like Vanilluxe and Garbodor. I don't love them, but they have their place in Pokemon.

Gen V didn't have an amazing story, the twist of Ghetsis just being another take over the world bad guy was lame.

Gen 7 feels like a step backwards

 

[Altissimo]

Gen 3 was my favorite long, long before the remakes were announced and suddenly everyone was saying they loved Gen 3.

I don't hate Pokemon like Vanilluxe and Garbodor. I don't love them, but they have their place in Pokemon.

I agree so heavily with both of these. I was a fan of gen 3 when everyone hated it (back in like 2005-2007) - mostly due to nostalgia but still lol

 

[Siggu]

Gen 3 was my favorite long, long before the remakes were announced and suddenly everyone was saying they loved Gen 3.

Same. Well, until Gen V came out and became my favourite.

I kind of have that situation as well with Grovyle when Mystery Dungeon Explorers was released, being my favourite out of the Treecko line long before Gen IV arrived, but then everyone was all like "OMG Explorers makes Grovyle so awesome!".

(In fact, I still remember it. I had picked Torchic on my first Sapphire playthrough, and the moment I saw Grovyle, I wished I had picked Treecko)

 

[Gurren Swagann]

I love Colosseum to death but on repeat playthroughs it can be irritating to grind through

 

[Wretched Waltz]

Incorrect.

That's a fact, not an opinion :P

I want to protect him

 

[stage7_4]

I agree so heavily with both of these. I was a fan of gen 3 when everyone hated it (back in like 2005-2007) - mostly due to nostalgia but still lol

Part of it was because it cut off Gen 2 and Gen 1, to this date the only generation to truly do that. So at the time we had a limited pokedex with no knowledge that they were remaking games. Cutting out a lot of old favorites tends to make people sour.

Time heals wounds though, so once people knew that the whole pokedex would be included attitudes got a bit better. It was still pretty convoluted though, even for a pokemon game, to get all of them though.

And ORAS really did a lot to de-wrinkle the issues with Ruby/Sapphire, mainly taking the biggest joke of an "evil team" and making then more nuanced.

We can all admit that popularity is a fickle mistress, so what is "in" and "out" is never set in stone. Currently I feel Diamond/Pearl (but not Platinum) is the current least popular game, and due to the technical limitations of them it might stay that way. But who knows what the future holds.

 

[Altissimo]

Part of it was because it cut off Gen 2 and Gen 1, to this date the only generation to truly do that. So at the time we had a limited pokedex with no knowledge that they were remaking games. Cutting out a lot of old favorites tends to make people sour.

Time heals wounds though, so once people knew that the whole pokedex would be included attitudes got a bit better. It was still pretty convoluted though, even for a pokemon game, to get all of them though.

The time period I'm talking about is after FRLG happened, though - the days of RSE when it was just RSE were before my time on the Internet, lol. Even after FRLG people still hated RSE in the parts of the Internet I frequented. But that was definitely part of the reason people hated it - that and "no day/night cycle". Also people complained about the music but those people were wrong

 

[Caramel Prisoner]

I don't hate Pokemon like Vanilluxe and Garbodor. I don't love them, but they have their place in Pokemon.

I'm gonna go one step further and say that Garbodor is actually one of my favourite Pokemon designs. It's literally a pile of trash with the most derpy expression imaginable - what's not to love? I find its design to be hilarious.

 

[Siggu]

And ORAS really did a lot to de-wrinkle the issues with Ruby/Sapphire, mainly taking the biggest joke of an "evil team" and making then more nuanced.

Now that you mention it, I think Magma and Aqua's plans in RSE being nonsensical is entirely intentional.

Otherwise... why would we learn about their intentions in a museum that flat-out states in its exposition items how they are absolutely wrong? Or why would we later encounter them in a weather station, whose scientists also tell us they are going to backfire spectacularly?

They are far from the best and they lack enough characterization to make the aforementioned points clear and I acknowledge that, but they are pretty much a parody of an evil team.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

I agree so heavily with both of these. I was a fan of gen 3 when everyone hated it (back in like 2005-2007) - mostly due to nostalgia but still lol

Adding onto this discussion a bit. I think this is because Pokemon follows the Zelda Cycle. Or we might as well call it the Pokemon Cycle because it is slightly different. When a generation is the newest or the second newest, the majority of fans hate it and think it is the worst thing ever while praising a previous generation. In 2005 for instance, people hated Gen 3 and praised Gen 2. As you pointed out, the Day/Night feature from Gen 2 was widely loved. But nobody praised Gen 4 for bringing it back, so it wasn't that important after all. There were other reasons too, but this seems to have been a very big one.

Then in 2011 and for a few years forward, people hated Gen 5 and praised Gen 3 for being the best generation ever, even going as far as asking for Hoenn Remakes. If you had said something like that in 2005, people would have laughed at you. The reasons for this new hate seems to have been many. New Pokemon always seem to be met with nostalgia-blind hatred though, which I always find sad to see. I did personally always feel left out because I love Gen 5 and like Gen 3, the latter was my favorite when it was new as well. Then there's one more thing. Several of the people who praised Gen 3 were the ones who started with it, not Gen 1 or 2, while the people who started with Gen 1/2 was either less vocal with their opinions on the internet at this time, had changed their minds or moved on from Pokemon. Gen 4 & 6 have also been met with lots of hate at various points in time but I think these examples are enough.

Not sure if this is of any importance but I just wanted to add that.

 

[Karxrida]

I don't buy into the Zelda Cycle. I thought Twilight Princess was only okay when it came out and will always hate Skyward Sword regardless of how Breath of the Wild turns out because fuck those controls.

Gen VI still had a horribly done narrative with easy gameplay while being great with QoL and multiplayer stuff. Gen VII is the opposite, as it actually tries with the plot and is kind of a challenge but it's also shit with its QoL and multiplayer.

 

[Siggu]

Changing topics...

It took me watching the whole game again on YouTube to realize something I was not sure about, but... I don't like Lillie.

I feel that her plot involvement is dramatically low for the amount of exposition she has.

In particular, I dislike her "role" (if she has any) in the early to mid-game where it's basically "Nebby leaves the bag, Lillie buys clothes, Nebby leaves the bag again, Lillie encounters Team Skull, Lillie buys clothes again, Lillie encounters Team Skull yet again, Nebby visits some ruins, Lillie reads a book" (I get this gives some foreshadowing but it becomes annoying quickly) while the game constantly wants you to know she's the nicest girl ever and that everyone is on her side. It's almost Mary Sue-ish at some points.

Gladion and Lusamine do much more in the much lower screentime they have.

I finally know why I liked to be a jerk towards her after the events at Aether Paradise. Well, that and the face she puts when annoyed, but I feel she deserved it, especially at the scene involving three Murkrow that were doing nothing.

 

[Codraroll]

Also the whole "I admire you because you are a Pokémon trainer!"

Lady, you live with a professor whose job is to hand out Pokédexes and starter Pokémon to people who want to be trainers. Poké Balls cost practically nothing at the Mart, and you admit to buying Full Restores and Max Repel all the time. Every other NPC or so in this world is a Pokémon trainer. There is no excuse for you not to be one either. Heck, you've already got Nebby.

 

[stage7_4]

I like Lillie, and find she reinforces the games themes of parent-child relationships (both with her mother and with Nebby) very well. And I admit it was slightly interesting to explore how a non-combatant can cope in a pokemon world without gaining any pokemon (even if as Codraroll pointed out, it makes little sense).

And if you felt nothing in the scene following catching the cover legend then you are lying because even robots cried to that. Except me of course, I didn't cry, I just had an allergy to being sad.

But I also feel that while the plot is really good for a pokemon game, the pacing in the first half leaves something to be desired, especially Akala Island where the A-plot pretty much gets stuck in a ditch until you beat Olivia. I feel some of the complaints about Lillie are related to that, with a mix of hype-backlash.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Let's also not forget that we have no idea what psychological abuse Lillie had gone through at the hands of Lusamine. By her actions I wouldn't be surprised if she had an inferiority complex, her mother caring very little for what she wanted and preferring to focus on the Ultra Beasts. Lusamine probably multiple times told Lillie she might not be worthy of her love when/if she acted up or against what Lusamine wanted. Lusamine is a terrible person, but she's still is Lillie's mother and being rejected and abandoned by your own mother, especially one you had fond memories of growing up and it's only recent times she started acting harshly, can be very traumatic. Especially for someone who was as sheltered as Lillie.

Why doesn't Lillie become a trainer during the the game? Well let's remember Lillie's upbringing was in the Aether Foundation and their conservation ideology. She doesn't like Pokemon getting hurt, and Pokemon get hurt when battling. But her interactions with the player and Hau showed her that trainers wouldn't have their Pokemon battle until they would seriously hurt themselves as she was probably raise to imagine, but rather trainer battles is recreational for both Pokemon and trainer and meant to strengthen the bond between them, between people and Pokemon. This can be shown with Lillie's and Nebby's relationship. Lillie never wanted Nebby to do anything, worried it would get hurt and keeping it hidden in her bag. But Nebby kept escaping, and it was only until recently did she decide to take Nebby to the Tapu's ruins. Lillie was protecting Nebby, but she wasn't thinking what Nebby wanted thus why it kept disobeying her. Her finally helping Nebby do what it wanted, while also protecting it, allowed it to become the Legendary Pokemon. This and witnessing our Island Challenge showed her what a trainer was which let her decide to start her own journey.

Yes, Lillie had Mary Sue traits, but I feel that's pulling from another trope she fully represents: the Woobie. You feel sorry for her at first due to her shrinking violet personality but then for her past. She's kind and polite which explains why the majority of people like/are friendly toward her. But she is missing some Mary Sue traits. She's not perfect, we're told and shown she her skills are limited though she tries her best. And while she has importance she's unable to do anything without help from others, even when she becomes her "Z Form" she needs Gladion to give her the Sun/Moon Flute and the player to accompany her. Now I'm not saying you should or shouldn't like her, there is reasons for both (it's as if she's a well-rounded characters...), but she's not a Mary Sue. Compare Lillie to an actual Mary Sue-ish character, Zinnia, and you'll see how she differs from a Mary Sue.