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.I personally feel Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the worst main series Pokemon games. This is primarily due to technical issues within the game, such as ridiculously slow battles and a mediocre music engine that ruins several tracks in the game. I also hated the sprites used in this game and the limited number of Pokemon in the pokedex (IIRC there were literally only 2 fully evolved fire-type pokemon you could catch pre National dex, which is laughable). I'm very glad that Platinum was able to mitigate a majority of these issues.
I find most, if not all, Gen 5 Pokemon designs to be really great. I always loved the design of Pokemon such as Chandelure, Vanilluxe, KlingKlang, and Amoongus and I personally don't think these Pokemon deserve any of the hate they receive.
I hated the change to weather inducing abilities in Gen 6. It removed a large amount of diversity that many gen 5 playstyles had.
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).Anyway; here's an unpopular opinion for you: The Gen 6 type changes were bad.
To remind people:
They added Fairy. Weak to Steel and Poison, Immune to Dragon; Resistant to Dark and Fighting.
These resistances could not scream 'METAGAME SHOEHORN' more. Weak to the two worst attacking types? Check. Randomly immune to the best? Check. Resists two pretty good attacking types. Check.
Oh; and it's resisted by Fire and not weak to Fire despite the fey often being bound to nature and thus should be fire weak. But fire's a good attacking type! And a bad defensive type! Can't have that. I mean, Fairies are weak to Poison because of their nature connection. But fire? No. We can't have that. Because Fairy is a metagame shoehorn.
But because Fairy was such a shoehorn, it's honestly only displaced Dragon and made a new Dragon. Fairy is as bad now as Dragon was before Gen 6. And Dragon's still almost as good as it was because the number of actually usable Fairies are low.
And the removal of Steel resisting Dark and Ghost was completely uneeded. Steel was a defensive bulkwark type which paid with awful offenses. And the LAST thing we needed was one less type resisting Ghost.
Now Ghost is only resisted by Dark; and the Normal-Immunity. And Dark is only resisted by Fighting and itself. Combined with thew Knock-Off buffs. GOOD JOB GAMEFREAK.
The type changes basically knocked Dragon down half a peg; and made three new Dragon-tier attacking types. While simultaneously kicking one of the types which was supposed to balance out Fairy in the nuts. Mercifully Ghost lacks very powerful STABs, but Dark has Knock Off buffed and Sucker Punch and possibly the dumbest move of Gen 6; Foul Play; and Fairy either has Huge Power boosted Play Roughs or Pixilate Boosted Hyper Voices.
Oh; and of course nothing was done to nerf Water. Despite Water being a pretty overpowered offensive and defensive type in it's own right, not helped by the fact literally every water-type gets Ice Beam to wreck Grass. Speaking of; that really grinds my gears. Fire-types don't often get a reliable Electric move. Grass-types rarely get a move to deal with Fire-types at all outside of occasionally Earthquake. Water gets to hold both sides of the triangle hostage because of Ice Beam.
Also there is no reason for Water to resist Ice or Fire honestly. Water Freezes. Water Evaporates. If anything water should be weak to Ice. And they even made Freeze-Dry to revel in that irony! You could even make a case for water being weak to Fire. A stronger case than Water resisting it.
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.They got weirdly stingy with TMs in gen 5 especially, I suppose because they wanted to balance out their being infinite (but they didn't remove them from the movepools of old Pokemon because... reasons I guess).
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.If you ask me those look awful... It's as if an oarfish mated with an ostrich and the early Embryo was transplanted into a deer with a huge testosterone influx to control the immune system and provoke a mutation to give birth to that thing...
I'm not holding bias but man our orange fat guy looks better.
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).Magikarp has barbels, not antennae. They grow on its mouth, not on the top of its head(Gyarados also has barbels on its mouth). Moreover, Gyarados is also a dragon, just not a Dragon type(probably just for balance reasons, as nothing would hit a Water-Dragon supereffectively in Gen I), and since it's a Chinese legend, it would make more sense for the karp to turn into a Chinese dragon like Gyara, not an European dragon like Dragonite.
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 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.
I assume Lucario is just popular with furries, it always looked like something you'd see on Deviantart to me.I liked Lucario in his debut, but my problem is that he's being over-exposed at this point.
He was a big deal in Gen 4, but then for some reason they chose to keep pushing him in Gen 6 as part of the Mega Evolution sub plot, not to mention keeping him around in Smash Bros despite it being 2 gens later. He's being kept relevant by inclusion, rather included by remaining relevant naturally.
Yet they freak out with the more humanlike Pokemons, as if they don't know that humans are animals too.That's the biggest reason behind canine feline pokemon with humanlike traits popularity on the west as far as I know.
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..Unpopular opinion: Lucario is stupid and really overhyped. I hate the attention it gets. Zororark is cool, though.
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.He was a big deal in Gen 4, but then for some reason they chose to keep pushing him in Gen 6 as part of the Mega Evolution sub plot, not to mention keeping him around in Smash Bros despite it being 2 gens later. He's being kept relevant by inclusion, rather included by remaining relevant naturally.
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).I personally feel Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are the worst main series Pokemon games. This is primarily due to technical issues within the game, such as ridiculously slow battles and a mediocre music engine that ruins several tracks in the game. I also hated the sprites used in this game and the limited number of Pokemon in the pokedex (IIRC there were literally only 2 fully evolved fire-type pokemon you could catch pre National dex, which is laughable). I'm very glad that Platinum was able to mitigate a majority of these issues.
But they made its Special Attack equal to its Attack why are they surprises its being used as a mixed... *sigh*Blame doubles Nintendo Trieste make pokemon appeal to that format and forget to make them useful. It comes from the guys who couldn't believe aegislash was used as a mixed or special attacker.
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...That's the biggest reason behind canine feline pokemon with humanlike traits popularity on the west as far as I know.
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.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.
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.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.
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.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.
I'm sure a tongue and ball Pokemon exists somewhere on DeviantART.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 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.I'm sure a tongue and ball Pokemon exists somewhere on DeviantART.
I actually took the kami trio as a shotout to the Inari and a trinity (it's supposed to be quartet, quintet if you go Mayan) for the Aztec mythos.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.
Aztec/Mayan? The Kami Trio/Force of Nature are based on Fujin, Raijin, and Inari from Japanese mythology.I actually took the kami trio as a shotout to the Inari and a trinity (it's supposed to be quartet, quintet if you go Mayan) for the Aztec mythos.
And Enrique and Beto are fine, I can't hate them XD
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?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.
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.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?
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.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.
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).I like the hand wings...
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.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.