I genuinely found that hilarious.
For one I truly dislike the focus this franchise has taken towards the doubles metagame.
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
For one I truly dislike the focus this franchise has taken towards the doubles metagame.
I have a love-hate relationship with it. I actually genuinely enjoy double battles, but in the games, anime, and everywhere else it is treated like a sidemeta that you can practically avoid for the most part.
I think they need to balance it out with having competitions with Singles and maybe even Triples and Rotational. Having Doubles always be the standard sort of stunts the growth of other battling styles. Heck, just for fun why not have a tournament using Sky and Inverse battle rules.
Doubles is the preferred format for official competitions partly because logistics and partly...who knows. The logistics part is kind of important. We have Pokemon Showdown, where a turn can be simulated in all of five seconds, so we can facilitate large tournaments of Singles play (and even then I imagine that's still a bit of a logistical nightmare). The same turn--in which both mons fire off attacks, plus weather, passive damage, etc.--takes several times as long on wifi. Add that to the longer games you naturally get from just two mons being out on the field at once as opposed to four, and maybe you can see why they've hesitated to institute official Singles competitions.
Definitely agreeing with Pikachu315111, though, it would be nice if they didn't totally neglect Singles. I'd love to see how they balance things, maybe they'd take a few leaves out of our book. Who knows?
I don't really care about the anime breaking the game's rules.
I mean, I hate the anime for a lot of reasons, but this criticism honestly seems just... wrong to me. Why does this bother people? The anime isn't the games, and the translation to a visual story-driven (... pft) medium should include it's own set of rules. Yeah, Pikachu beat Onix with it's electric moves which it can't do in the game... so what? I could understand if the criticism here was about it not promoting finding alternate strategies, but targeting it just not being possible in the games seems kinda dumb. I want to see the Anime do something different from the games, otherwise why would I watch it? Do we need to have it be turn-based and have every character on a square-based grid map? I like seeing Ash's Pokémon pull off shit they couldn't do in the games, that's like the only good thing about the series!
I mean, I hate the anime for a lot of reasons, but this criticism honestly seems just... wrong to me. Why does this bother people? The anime isn't the games, and the translation to a visual story-driven (... pft) medium should include it's own set of rules. Yeah, Pikachu beat Onix with it's electric moves which it can't do in the game... so what? I could understand if the criticism here was about it not promoting finding alternate strategies, but targeting it just not being possible in the games seems kinda dumb. I want to see the Anime do something different from the games, otherwise why would I watch it? Do we need to have it be turn-based and have every character on a square-based grid map? I like seeing Ash's Pokémon pull off shit they couldn't do in the games, that's like the only good thing about the series!
I think it depends on what the deviation is. We can accept that certain things should be shed because it's the real world, but I think people still expect the anime to at least obey the type chart, one of the most basic game mechanics there is.
And I dunno about you, but I remember flipping my lid when I saw the Cynthia/Paul battle for the first time as a knowledgeable battler, knowing full well this took place on the back end of the Physical/Special Split, and thinking "Why the hell is that Weavile using special attacks? Shouldn't it be using Ice Punch?" And this is Paul, somebody who's supposed to be a knowledgeable battler himself! And of course
Long story short, sometimes splitting from the games is not only okay but necessary. Other times, though, you get the feeling the anime writers have never played the games. Such as the aforementioned Electric-type-hitting-Ground incidents.
I do remember reading one of the reasons they went to Doubles was to speed up battles and avoid the dreaded Wobbuffet vs. Wobbuffet and the various other "way too weak to die" battles
I hate the concept of EVs. They are confusing, and I think it makes it harder for someone to jump into the world of competitive battling, especially in-game. IVs are alright, they make sense, you breed for higher stats. EVs don't. How does killing a load of Swablu make my Magikarp have a higher stat? Leveling and IVs should be all that control stats. You level up your Torchic, good job, now the stats depending on the IVs make those ones go higher. EVs... they are confusing, easy to mess up, and hard to keep track of in-game.
@ The Singles stuff.
I'm pretty sure GF doesn't do Singles specifically because of the existence of Stall, which is totally possible to pull off in 6v6 when you throw in a 60 minute timer. I also don't want GF to ever support it regardless because their banlists are total BS.
I'm pretty sure GF doesn't do Singles specifically because of the existence of Stall, which is totally possible to pull off in 6v6 when you throw in a 60 minute timer. I also don't want GF to ever support it regardless because their banlists are total BS.
EVs really aren't confusing; they're just... badly presented. For one thing the Super Training monitor needs to actually say the number rather than some vague bar, and there should be something in the game saying "beat a pokemon that specializes in this thing to get better at this thing".
Also I don't really understand what makes IVs so good??? Like what do they offer to the game; it only wastes time in terms of breeding and soft-resetting for days. At least Natures and EVs provide a degree of options and experimentation; with IVs the only options there are 31 or HP breeding and we all know the hell THAT can be. I can kind of see where you're coming from on EVs; maybe they do need to be changed up a bit, but IVs are a far worse offender if you're talking about someone getting into competitive imo. Completely unnecessary and useless.
I don't like IVs much either, I would be happy if both never existed. Natures is all that makes sense to me, it took me about 7-12 eggs to get the right one for my Ferrothorn that i'm now too lazy to EV-train.
I don't mind them finding alternate ways to use a move. Battles in the anime are not turn based, 3 dimensional action. Of course there's going to differences in the way they battle and I like seeing that. Though my problem is when they either changes a moves effect or do something that doesn't make sense for that move to do.
Changing a moves effect: Aqua Ring heals some HP every turn (which I guess in battle would mean it'll either constantly be slowly healing or every so often would get a small heal). But yet Skyla's Swanna was able to heal its Burn status with it. Now you can make the argument that it sort of makes sense, but the problem is that's not what the move does. They're not using a move in a unique way or combining it with another move, they changed the moves effect therefore making it not the move they said it was anymore. Worst yet Swanna can have the Hydration Ability (it's Hidden but Skyla's a Gym Leader, she can have a special Swanna) so it could have just used Rain Dance and have its Ability heal it.
Move use that doesn't make sense: Thunder Armor. You all saw this coming. So how can Pikachu summoning a lighting bolt down on itself and Swellow for a little while create an energy aura made of lightning around them that can cut through all attacks sent at them? I don't even know what they could have done alternatively (other than the writers not writing themselves in that situation). Maybe had Pikachu stand up front using Spark while Swellow did an Aerial Ace thus creating an Electric Shield strong enough to block special attacks as Swellow gets in attacking range?
A good example: Counter Shield. I don't want to be all negative so how about a good example of the anime doing something unique? The Counter Shield was basically a Pokemon firing off a special attack while spinning around. What this did was make the attack also spin around and can be manipulated to surround the user this acting as a makeshift shield. That's okay, that's using the anime's advantage of having fast action battles. We also got to see plenty of variation of Counter Shields, sometimes even used by Ash's opponents.
Another good example would be when in Sinnoh a Pokemon would eat one of its attacks and gain a power boost. They only did it a few times, but was an interesting idea. What would happen if a Grass-type at an Energy Ball or an Ice-type ate an Ice-type attack? It's something that can't be done in the games and even in the anime it was an odd situation that created surprising results for everyone watching.
Though one final complaint is that I do get annoyed when they don't focus on the right thing about that Pokemon. And I'm not talking about a Pokemon using a Special move when its a Physical fighter, in the anime an attack is an attack (and defending against an attack is defending against an attack). What I'm talking about it a lot of times they say a Pokemon is fast to show how powerful it is when infact that Pokemon has a low Speed stat or what they should be focusing on is its high attack, defense, ability to learn a special move or have a special ability, etc..
EVs and IVs: Hmm, maybe they should make it so that if you increase a certain EV enough it'll increase an IV.
IVs are the genetic potential for a stat to grow. Simple. You want a good pokemon? Selectively breed for it, much like race horses or dogs. EVs represent the actual TRAINING of the Pokemon, specializing in bulk or in strength. Sure they are poorly presented in the game, but THAT is what they mean. And I am okay with their existence.
That would screw with Hidden Power and potentially make EV training needlessly complicated.
Then they'll change Hidden Power. The way Hidden Power is done now is hated anyway. Having a way to easily choose a HP type and not needing to breed a batch of Pokemon to do so would be very welcomed I imagine. like connect it to EVs, at least those can be manipulated.
See... I've heard this argument a lot, and I've always had a bit of a problem with it (the IV part, that is). Since... when did Pokémon really draw in realistic elements to that extent? That's not really a part of the series and it's difficult to see why it's necessary at all. And heck, if we are going to go down that route... of all things, why include superior genes from birth? What? You don't have to feed your Pokémon or groom them or take them to vets or whatever, but somehow the small part of animals we always ignore about some of them being better than others is in? That's... a bizarre choice, to say the least.
But I mean really the thing was stated to be implemented to make each Pokémon 'unique'. Which makes no sense and is really badly implemented, because no it doesn't make your Pokémon unique, it just makes it worse in every way to that one over there.
It'd make far more sense to remove them or let you maximize them without having to resort to a cheating device (i.e. Powersaves), since you'll still support the "power of friendship/love" BS while appeasing the competitive crowd.
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it, too?
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it, too?
Outside of the passing down of IVs (which is still odd, I will admit... why would a knot, magical or otherwise, pass down genes to improve a baby), think of it this way. I have two dogs, one super quick and one super strong. I breed them together and the puppies are as follows: runt, super quick, strong and quick but not like his parents, faster and stronger than either parent, and faster than the fast parent. These traits being shown years later without any training, to guarantee that we are seeing the natural growth and not influenced by non-natural factors. From birth, the puppies are all different, with two being superior from birth to the parents. IVs being randomly better than either parent is much like that. Tiny mutations that happen to work in the favor of the superior puppies.
In regards to Game Freak drawing on something remotely realistic as a game mechanic, might I point out that they finally gave us scuba gear rather than expect us to just ignore the fact we are breathing underwater? Not exactly a game mechanic there, but a LOT of what Game Freak has done in regards to the environments of their games has been realistic. Sinnoh being one of the better examples. The only exception I can think of for realistic environments is Kalos and the Ice-city. Because random Abomasnow causing the city to be snowy all the time.
Yes, and I already acknowledged that - I know entirely what you mean. My point was why include that part? Why does that make it into Pokémon when no other elements as realistic as that does? Where does it fit into the themes of friendship and growing better together Pokémon has going for it? (answer: it doesn't, it completely subverts and mutilates them to the degree Pokémon Black and Blue almost seem justified) Why is it necessary to include it in the game? My post was not concerning the what; simply the why.
Aah, okay. I misread your post's intention.
Personally, I feel that it strengthens the bonds. I feel so much more attached to my Pokemon that I bred to the point I can't bear replace Reggie and Daenerys the Charizards even though I have shiny ones I could use. Same for Lucifer the Staraptor, Fawkes the Pinsirx and Teresa the Bisharp. Plus, if you release all of the breedjects, you help strengthen the wild Pokemon population.
...though I still feel some guilt with Ditto.
You'd still need to Breed for Egg Moves, Abilities, Natures, & Shiny; and the way I think they should improve IVs would still make Breeding a handy tool. Just let us increase IVs but do it in a way that is somewhat costly/time consuming that breeding is just as useful as a tool (free and quick but a LOT more monotonous and have to actual mess around with knowing what to do). Infact you can probably combine both, you get a nearly perfect Pokemon but it has a few low IVs so instead of rejecting it you just increase its IVs by going to a NPC or something. Combining both methods would probably be the best way to do things.
So, when your breeding, we are essentially Pokemon puppy mills. But rather than going for cuteness, we are looking for battle-ready little monsters to destroy our foes.
Okay, the thing with IVs is this - every RPG (and someone please correct me if you can think of a counterexample) has some variability in its characters' stats, and that is fine for the most part, in fact unless you are a strategy guide writer or something you probably wouldn't even notice it most of the time. Pokemon, however, is unique among traditional RPGs in that it has a thriving competitive metagame where a few IVs can make all the difference. If you were Satoshi Tajiri in the mid-nineties, you would have implemented IVs quite naturally into Pokemon Red & Blue as that's what every other RPG did as a small thing to make every player's run-through of the game unique. You could not possibly have anticipated that two decades later people would be spending hours soft-resetting their 3DSes for a 5-IV Timid Latios. And now the series is... kind of stuck with them.
