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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
After all that came after this post, I'm thinking about my (unfinished) play through of Pearl. It was fun at first, I had planned a team with my cousin to have almost every type available (What? xD And that was only three years ago, geeze.) and started the game to a world of 2D sprites, battling, and contests. But looking back... it's really annoying. Fantina is ridiculously hard if you chose Turtwig, and is actually why I never progressed. Maybe I should just buy Platinum, since it seems to be the best liked in Gen 4. But... I still LIKED Gen 4. Yeah, I'm sure all of you who are super competitive (I'm not yet. :3) are annoyed by it. But I still have fond memories of the rage when the save wouldn't work (There was one already on there, so I had to replay that starter scene so many times.) which is actually a bad one, but good memories from when it finally worked and I was progressing up to YOU FANTINA. Let's all agree to disagree, this is the Unpopular Opinions page after all. But can we remember that not every game needs to be reviewed just from the competitive side? Without that $5 Pearl game cartridge I found at a garage sale, I wouldn't of jumped into Pokemon.
Actually... this could be why I found it for $5, a copy of Diamond was there too I think.
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I can understand logic-wise why they removed Steel's resistance to Dark and Ghost. Dark-types would trick a Steel-type into hurting themselves (or would look and exploit weak spots) while Ghost-types just phase through their steel exteriors. However while Fairy-types picked up the slack with Dark resist, Ghost really benefited from this (plus they also got the trait to not be able to be trapped).
The only change with Water what I would do is make it weak to Ice and Ice resist it. As you said, Ice freezes Water and while water would slowly melt ice I'd imagine if the ice is emitting a cold aura like an Ice-type Pokemon would they'll get back the ice that melted away by refreezing the water.
I do wonder how much legitimacy the Butterfree/Venomoth switch has, I ask because Caterpies is a caterpillar which become a butterfly like Butterfree is. Moth caterpillars don't look like Caterpie and Venomoth is clearly a moth. Besides do butterflies look anything like their caterpillar stages? Wurmple looks nothing like Dustox nor Beautifly.
Well that was the point of Fairy, to essentially overhaul the metagame. Though as you said they might have made Fairy a bit too powerful. For example I think maybe they could make it so Fighting receives neutral damage and I think that at the very least they should have some relation to Ghost-types (like Fairy resist Ghost?). As for adding a weakness to Fairy, I do feel maybe they do need an extra weakness but I can't think what (Fire I guess but, while connected to nature, they aren't nature just draw their power from it. Fire just extinguish their power while Poison an Steel corrupts it).
I can understand logic-wise why they removed Steel's resistance to Dark and Ghost. Dark-types would trick a Steel-type into hurting themselves (or would look and exploit weak spots) while Ghost-types just phase through their steel exteriors. However while Fairy-types picked up the slack with Dark resist, Ghost really benefited from this (plus they also got the trait to not be able to be trapped).
The only change with Water what I would do is make it weak to Ice and Ice resist it. As you said, Ice freezes Water and while water would slowly melt ice I'd imagine if the ice is emitting a cold aura like an Ice-type Pokemon would they'll get back the ice that melted away by refreezing the water.
If they weren't going to change it with the past Gen Pokemon then why bother being stingy? Infact why does it even matter if TMs are infinite or not? If someone seriously wanted a move on a Pokemon before but had already used the TM they'd find a way be it playing through the game again, breeding, or even hacking. Making TMs infinite just made things convenient, and that's all. Them acting as if it changes the metagame makes me question how much they really know about the metagame.
Individually Dragonair looks good and Dragonite looks good. I wouldn't put one design over the other as I feel they were going for a different feel for each. Dragonair's sleek serpent look is elegant and mystical while Dragonite's traditional bulky dragon look gives you a hint that it has power (and has a sort of chubby cuteness/friendliness to it). I sort of see Dragonair evolving into Dragonite as it letting go of its dainty frailty for bulk and power. Some may not like the transformation, but you have the option to not evolve it (has anyone tried Eviolite Dragonair?). Maybe they could make a split evolution? I got in my mind that maybe they should be split evolutions for Pokemon who look different from their final evolution, with Mega Evolution I'd imagine it would be the only way we get any new evolutions now.
Dragonair > Gyarados and Magikarp > Dragonite also doesn't look right. Sure Dragonair > Dragonite is off too BUT you can still see where parts of the serpent design remain in Dragonite (remove the limbs and its body is a serpent, they have horns, the shape of the face) just like how Talpr0ne pointed out how Magikarp goes to Gyarados (and the myth it comes from makes some sense out of the transformation).
I do wonder how much legitimacy the Butterfree/Venomoth switch has, I ask because Caterpies is a caterpillar which become a butterfly like Butterfree is. Moth caterpillars don't look like Caterpie and Venomoth is clearly a moth. Besides do butterflies look anything like their caterpillar stages? Wurmple looks nothing like Dustox nor Beautifly.
Absent any official information, all we know is that Venonat looks a hell of a lot more like Butterfree than it does Venomoth. It's entirely possible they were designed to be the same evolutionary line early in development or something.
I assume Lucario is just popular with furries, it always looked like something you'd see on Deviantart to me.
Cresselia~~
Junichi Masuda likes this!!
Yet they freak out with the more humanlike Pokemons, as if they don't know that humans are animals too.
"Pokemon should be animals, not humans" come on, you need a remedial in biology.
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Look, Lucario is a cool Pokemon. It's Fighting/Steel-typing was pretty unique at the time and still is for non-Legendary, in my opinion has a nice design and color scheme, and its stats make it a pretty decent Pokemon to use (sadly it doesn't get over 100 Speed, but its close. It's also a few Fighting-types who have a high Special Attack and learns move to really use them... but people still prefer to use it as a Physical attacker (and who can blame them, its Physical attacks do more damage than any of the Special attacks it can learn. Oh but no GF, Special attacks are the ones which as OP and need to be nerfed...)). The only time I used one was in White 2 since it was an early Pokemon and it was a great member of my party, it did its part and I didn't regret choosing it. I even went with an all Special moveset of Aura Sphere, Flash Cannon, Dragon Pulse, and either Psychic/Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse and it worked out pretty well.
Phew! Finally caught up. Now onto comments after I started posting again:
I personal like Lucario, though I do wonder why it was chosen to become the "poster" Pokemon for Gen IV. Well whatever the reason was it worked and it became hugely popular and GF rode that money train as one would to do. However this came with the unfortunate result that gave Lucario "benefits" when it should have been used and treated like a normal Pokemon. I would say it start innocent enough with the special Aura Sphere Riolu you got from the Pokemon Ranger games and promoted in the anime (which Ash should have gotten), but then came the end of the Unova League where Ash was knocked out by a god mode Lucario, and recently we had it been chosen to become the "poster" Pokemon again for Mega Evolution. There's a giant Mega Lucario statue in the Tower of Mastery, Korrina has two Lucario that can Mega Evolve, and of course we can't forget she gives you one of these Lucario to show off Mega Evolution and to keep (fanon dubbing it "Welfare Lucario"). Oh, and its also a fighter in Super Smash Bros..
Look, Lucario is a cool Pokemon. It's Fighting/Steel-typing was pretty unique at the time and still is for non-Legendary, in my opinion has a nice design and color scheme, and its stats make it a pretty decent Pokemon to use (sadly it doesn't get over 100 Speed, but its close. It's also a few Fighting-types who have a high Special Attack and learns move to really use them... but people still prefer to use it as a Physical attacker (and who can blame them, its Physical attacks do more damage than any of the Special attacks it can learn. Oh but no GF, Special attacks are the ones which as OP and need to be nerfed...)). The only time I used one was in White 2 since it was an early Pokemon and it was a great member of my party, it did its part and I didn't regret choosing it. I even went with an all Special moveset of Aura Sphere, Flash Cannon, Dragon Pulse, and either Psychic/Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse and it worked out pretty well.
I kind of think for the Pokemon franchise side that every Gen should at least get one fighter representative. Gen I is Pikachu (and Jigglypuff, but it has veteran status), Gen IV is Lucario, and Gen VI is Greninja. Gen II could be Typhlosion, Gen III can be Sceptile, and Gen V would finish it with Zoroark. But this is getting into wishlisting so I'll stop. My main point is that if we're going to fill the Pokemon roster let there at least be a reason for some of the choices.
I don't remember having a bad time with DP at the time, I just took it like any other Pokemon adventure and it was alright. Though I did start out with Infernape so I never really encountered the Fire-type problem, at least until I got to Flint in the Elite Four and wondered why the Fire user was only using two Fire-types and 3 random other Pokemon. And looking back now it was slow, guess I just never noticed since I was into the adventure. Platinum is definitely the definitive version and when they decide to remake Gen IV hopefully they'll use a lot of elements introduced in Platinum (they'd still follow DP's individual story of course, though I would lik them to add things from Platinum a bonus post game stuff. Heck they could have a Delta Episode like thing for Giratina and the Distortion World).
Phew! Finally caught up. Now onto comments after I started posting again:
But they made its Special Attack equal to its Attack why are they surprises its being used as a mixed... *sigh*
At least for Lopunny it is, and if you have any questions about it I think its Mega Evolution firmly answered that by having the pattern on its legs look like torn stockings. I think the GF artists need some time out of the dungeon...
It's not that humans aren't animals, its just that due to the mystical aspect to Pokemon many human-like Pokemon come out looking a bit odd. There's sort of an uncanny value feel to them, and the closet they resemble a person the more unsettling the feeling gets. I could point famously to Gen V's Kami Trio or the Sawk/Throh duo who do look a bit out of place next to many Pokemon. They look to maybe have too many human traits, at least compared to other human-like Pokemon such as Jynx, Hariyama, and Gardevoir.
You are talking like it wasn't almost every series that has big parts of their history ignored in the playable roster. Wanna talk about lack of reps from Mario RPGs and party spinoffs, from Zelda 2D games, from the Metroid Prime trilogy or from Mother I? The thing is, Sakurai seems to choose the fighters on the basis of their individual merits rather than for representing something, and I can't really blame him, since choosing reps for the sake of reps can lead to bad choices(see: people suggesting random Prime hunters for the sake of having a Metroid rep that isn't Samus or too big). Whether he ignores characters with great individual merits is another story for another thread. Note also that characters aren't the only major contents that series can be represented with, there are also stages, and at least Pokemon got lucky in terms of stages from games not represented by a character, since it has Unova Pokemon League on the 3DS version. Think about Kirby, with no content from post-Sakurai games, or about Wario, with absolutely zero content from Land games, not even in Wario's moveset(they even removed the iconic shoulder bash, his forward smash in Brawl, for a lame punch), or about Donkey Kong Country, where Sakurai seems to think there is nothing beyond the first jungle level.
Actually, I think the Kami Trio works very well for human-shaped Pokémon. If there are to be any human-shape Pokémon, it seems better for them to actually be highly-skilled, and competently strong Legendaries.
I think that it is the likes of Sawk and Throh which puts off the haters.
I don't mind human-shaped Pokémon, especially since we've been dealing with them since the beginning with things like the Hitmons and Jynx. This is similar to complaining about ice cream when we had tongue and ball Pokémon...and that sounded dirtier than I meant it to be.
I'm sure a tongue and ball Pokemon exists somewhere on DeviantART.
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I think he's talking about Lickitung and Voltorb, respectively. Lickitung has a long tounge that sticks out, and and Voltorb is shaped like a Poké Ball, to be specific.
Aztec/Mayan? The Kami Trio/Force of Nature are based on Fujin, Raijin, and Inari from Japanese mythology.
And I see what you did there. Does Beto have is rubber Ducklett?
I've heard some hate around Diantha's lack in the story of XY... I actually really don't mind. In the games I've played (A quarter of Pearl, quarter of B2, X, and AS.) in all but Pearl (I'm sure she appears at some point, stupid Fantina ruining everything for me. e-e) and X I have right away known who the champion was. "Huh, a guy with crazy red hair and a dress who jumps off a mountain to say hi to me? Yep, champion." "What's this? A guy in a cave gets his own little cinematic entrance? Champion!" but with Diantha, we were introduced, she told us she was a trainer, she left. When I finally defeated the E4 in my first play-through, I was surprised to see that it was her who was the champion. I like that she was barely in the story! It made you think "Who is this mysterious trainer, the one who rules the Elite Four?" and I enjoyed the battle even if some say it can easily be sweeped. Even though yeah... it can. It was interesting for me to not know, while in the case of Steven, (He's so awesome, I won't be angry about him in the story.) Alder, and Iris you know right away that these people who keep running into you are the champion.
I like my Champion to have story to them, though its odd people are saying Diantha doesn't have one. While she had no story role she has a backstory, she's an actor ever since she was a child. Sure that's not much but can you tell me a bit about Lance or Cynthia's backstory?
The Aztec Mayan have the jaguar, eagle, feathered snake/faceless dog(Both associated with corn and the creation of the 5th mankind), hummingbird(The God of death), and lizard as main deities. For the Aztecs it was eagle-snake-lizard-jaguar, it's a recurrent theme among all the mesoamerican settings the most prominent in the Aztec dominion are the ones mentioned however in the south the predominance of jaguar and feathered snake/faceless dog(Venus duality) rises in importance.
The kami trio add up to that imagery odly as they are often depicted as crop deities.
Yes hummingbirds where the God of death given the vicious behavior they expose when attacking each other, often pummeling their foes to the ground and continuing their attack even after the other one dies.
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My thoughts exactly. I can see it being kind of cool.... BUT THOSE HAND WINGS.
I like the hand wings...
While it probably is for the better with their typings, am I the only one who feels like Lugia and Ho-oh's stats are contrary to what their flavor suggests?
Lugia hides in the Whirl Islands because it can unintentionally cause a storm with a flap of its wings, whereas Ho-oh is a being of life (reviving the dogs) and based on a Phoenix, a being that never truly dies, partially held up by its Regenerator ability. I almost feel like Ho-Oh should have been the more defensive and resilient one.
Lugia hides in the Whirl Islands because it can unintentionally cause a storm with a flap of its wings, whereas Ho-oh is a being of life (reviving the dogs) and based on a Phoenix, a being that never truly dies, partially held up by its Regenerator ability. I almost feel like Ho-Oh should have been the more defensive and resilient one.
Weren't their Therian Forms based on the Chinese constellation? Tornadus is the Phoenix, Landorus is the Tiger, and for Thundurus they sort of combined Dragon and Turtle.
I never saw the hands that goofy. I mean they do look odd when he is using them as hands, but when he's flying with them straight out they just look like giant end feathers. Also this could also have to due with Lugia being based on a dragon and not a bird-like creature so they kind of forced in some dragon aspects in there (then again I guess they could have done a wyvern thing).
Lugia needs to have the high defenses in order to survive the extreme pressure of the ocean floor. It able to cause storms is more of a side effect of its power than an indication what that power actually is.
The ability to give/revive life would require enormous amount of power. It has Regenerator because its a phoenix who are able to revive themselves after death.
I really don't want another Pokémon game this year.
Before I go on yeah I know what you're gonna say Codraroll , game freak makes a new one every 12-18 months, but I wish they'd stop because it's a really stupid business practice. It means I have to shell out 40 quid each year if I want the new updated version; they're barely any different from each other, what changes are brought means the former game's changes didn't have time to settle... I really don't like how Game Freak brings out a new game every year. Compare to other game series where there are large gaps between release dates, but each game has something vastly different which gives a different feel to the game while still keeping the core mechanics and themes in mind. With Pokémon you're literally playing the same game each time with minor changes due to the amount of time between release dates.
Oh uh and I'm not sure if this is unpopular or not but I've seen a lot of people support the mechanic, but by now IVs are the stupidest, most pointless outdated mechanic and if I were to remove anything from the games from a competitive standpoint those'd be the first to go.
Before I go on yeah I know what you're gonna say Codraroll , game freak makes a new one every 12-18 months, but I wish they'd stop because it's a really stupid business practice. It means I have to shell out 40 quid each year if I want the new updated version; they're barely any different from each other, what changes are brought means the former game's changes didn't have time to settle... I really don't like how Game Freak brings out a new game every year. Compare to other game series where there are large gaps between release dates, but each game has something vastly different which gives a different feel to the game while still keeping the core mechanics and themes in mind. With Pokémon you're literally playing the same game each time with minor changes due to the amount of time between release dates.
Oh uh and I'm not sure if this is unpopular or not but I've seen a lot of people support the mechanic, but by now IVs are the stupidest, most pointless outdated mechanic and if I were to remove anything from the games from a competitive standpoint those'd be the first to go.
Kurona (Possibly ninja-ing Codraroll here) Companies don't care about how pissed off they make their customers unless those customers actually stop buying the product they sell. So yes GameFreak perhaps makes main-series Pokemon games slightly too often but people do keep buying them, and for four generations of Nintendo handhelds now they have provided the top-selling game on the system. GameFreak additionally is in the unusual position that, while it has other IPs, those IPs have comparatively negligible sales and are generally known as "those other games from the guys who make Pokemon". They really don't have a lot else to do apart from make Pokemon games. What are they going to do, pay their staff to sit on their backsides? It's also worth noting that Pokemon is far from the only annualised video game series. Ubisoft churns out an Assassin's Creed every year, and it's not like Ubisoft don't have a bevy of other IPs to be getting on with. And as for sports games... "Oh there are female footballers in FIFA 16, better drop another $60!"
However I would rather Game Freak moved to a different model, where there was one game per generation, and extra content that would previously have been spun off into separate games was instead sold as DLC. This would make each game feel exciting and fresh, and would reduce the number of gamers getting burnt out by the franchise, whilst keeping their interest in a single game going over a year or more by the continual addition of content. But GameFreak have done the sums and calculated that it would earn them less money, so it won't happen.
However I would rather Game Freak moved to a different model, where there was one game per generation, and extra content that would previously have been spun off into separate games was instead sold as DLC. This would make each game feel exciting and fresh, and would reduce the number of gamers getting burnt out by the franchise, whilst keeping their interest in a single game going over a year or more by the continual addition of content. But GameFreak have done the sums and calculated that it would earn them less money, so it won't happen.