Counterpoint: it makes him looks like Toothless therefore it's a 10/10 shiny.
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
diamond/pearl cynthia was just badly designed
platinum rightfully nerfed her considerably, a level 66 garchomp isn't even an interesting challenge it's just overleveled
i compare it to frlg champion because generally i find that going into the gen 4 elite 4, rival champion is level 63 capped and lance as the 4th e4 member is level 56 to 60
dp is lucian 59 to 64 and cynthia 61 to 66 (chomp)
plat nerfs it to lucian 53 to 59 and cynthia 58 to 62
platinum rightfully nerfed her considerably, a level 66 garchomp isn't even an interesting challenge it's just overleveled
i compare it to frlg champion because generally i find that going into the gen 4 elite 4, rival champion is level 63 capped and lance as the 4th e4 member is level 56 to 60
dp is lucian 59 to 64 and cynthia 61 to 66 (chomp)
plat nerfs it to lucian 53 to 59 and cynthia 58 to 62
Attachments
i agree. in exchange for just a jump in levels, cynthia’s real challenge comes from platinum’s actually competent AI and better coverage on her mons, especially garchomp. i remember stonewalling it with my torterra in d/p. flamethrower just throws that strat down the drain.
I hate all the Time Travel/Alternate Dimension nonsense that we've been exposed to in these past 10 years
why haven't we seen more of the literal alien civilizations that exist in the games?
Zossie was cool (in concept), why can't we explore more of the actually interesting interdimensional civilizations in the setting instead of literal rehashes of the same world?
I wanna be a blue skinned alien training pokemon in an alien planet :<
why haven't we seen more of the literal alien civilizations that exist in the games?
Zossie was cool (in concept), why can't we explore more of the actually interesting interdimensional civilizations in the setting instead of literal rehashes of the same world?
I wanna be a blue skinned alien training pokemon in an alien planet :<
The answer: Dev time and broad appeal.
Ultra Beasts are well-liked (I think?) by the generally engaged Pokemon fanbase, but most outsiders seem them and just say "Wow that looks stupid," the concept was really started to be pushed in a game where it had a small dev team that was just trying to add on top of the game with 1 year dev time.
Then there's just the logistics of such an idea. Making something like that work and feel good has conceptual problems. For instance, the fact that humans exist in the Ultra Wormholes worlds we've seen as is is imo kinda boring, and I have a feeling (and I think the Game Freak artistic side thinks too) that actually expanding the concept would be a big struggle to make work. How much material can there be when they already had to kinda say "well these worlds are basically still just Pokemon but a bit whacky," when that whackiness already alienated some casual conceptually players as is.
And it kinda has to be a big part of the game since it's gonna be a lot of assets, especially as we go into full 3D environments.
Ultra Beasts are well-liked (I think?) by the generally engaged Pokemon fanbase, but most outsiders seem them and just say "Wow that looks stupid," the concept was really started to be pushed in a game where it had a small dev team that was just trying to add on top of the game with 1 year dev time.
Then there's just the logistics of such an idea. Making something like that work and feel good has conceptual problems. For instance, the fact that humans exist in the Ultra Wormholes worlds we've seen as is is imo kinda boring, and I have a feeling (and I think the Game Freak artistic side thinks too) that actually expanding the concept would be a big struggle to make work. How much material can there be when they already had to kinda say "well these worlds are basically still just Pokemon but a bit whacky," when that whackiness already alienated some casual conceptually players as is.
And it kinda has to be a big part of the game since it's gonna be a lot of assets, especially as we go into full 3D environments.
I have some takes…
PLA’s sprite style looks better than SV’s. I like the classic Pokemon stylization + cell shading much better. Kinda sells the “BotW of Pokemon” effect.
I think Hisuian Samurott is the best Hisuian starter evolution (designwise).
I think all 3D mainline games are terrible compared to the spinoffs (cmon, Mystery Dungeons and Legends?? way better than freaking SwSh) PLA is not a spinoff…
PMD games are better than mainline Pokemon games, excluding the Legends series.
SM is better than SV
PLA’s sprite style looks better than SV’s. I like the classic Pokemon stylization + cell shading much better. Kinda sells the “BotW of Pokemon” effect.
I think Hisuian Samurott is the best Hisuian starter evolution (designwise).
PMD games are better than mainline Pokemon games, excluding the Legends series.
SM is better than SV
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legends arceus is a mainline game
sun and moon are better than all of the games you listed
mystery dungeon is a bit overrated as a furry that played all of the games when I was 14
gti is bad, brt is ok, rtdx is my least favorite game of all-time, PSMD and EOS are the good ones and even then have flaws
SwSh's story is better than most of SV's routes, especially the gym one.
Nemona hard-carries Victory Road, Team Star is straight up wack, and Arven's... Honestly, it's a sob story designed to pull at people's hearts, but it goes straight into the uncanny valley for me. I can't really fault it on a technical scale, but it certainly did not hit the mark with me. I found it distasteful.
The DLC kind of relies on a lot of people being too stupid. Par for the course, but it is what it is.
Now SwSh? As ridiculous as Rose's deal was, the premise was just right. Making the Gyms have the pomp and circumstance they deserve was easily the best thing that game could've done.
It's rough to come back to the classic "back of some random building" style after that, especially since Paldea takes a dump on every single gym by essentially making them side-hustles.
Nemona hard-carries Victory Road, Team Star is straight up wack, and Arven's... Honestly, it's a sob story designed to pull at people's hearts, but it goes straight into the uncanny valley for me. I can't really fault it on a technical scale, but it certainly did not hit the mark with me. I found it distasteful.
The DLC kind of relies on a lot of people being too stupid. Par for the course, but it is what it is.
Now SwSh? As ridiculous as Rose's deal was, the premise was just right. Making the Gyms have the pomp and circumstance they deserve was easily the best thing that game could've done.
It's rough to come back to the classic "back of some random building" style after that, especially since Paldea takes a dump on every single gym by essentially making them side-hustles.
Oops, you’re right. Lemme fix that-
The 3D models if that’s more specific
idk the story did its job, it had some good moments that captivated me when I played it, and is very good fanfic material
Super has a deeper story but only really when you play it a second time because it really comes to life if you do
EoS story isn't that deep but it is rarely flawed, after so many years of being a PMD fan I've only really come up with two criticisms for the story
(1. The partner's arc is weird, feels like the partner did not learn much except to be dependent on the isekai'd protag and 2. How Darkrai got to Temporal Tower is never explained [plot hole])
I think my main issue with it was that I didn't care about the characters, which harms how much the story can shine. i think some of it is just my preferences, but I feel like the partner and most of the guild is pretty forgettable or annoying. I enjoyed the dusknoir twist, but i think the whole "there's no way dusknoir would lie about that!" setup is a bit shallow. you don't interact with dusknoir that much, theres not a lot of time to build trust with him and the fact hes already renowned and 100% a trustworthy authority figure without much buildup is a bit lame. plus the player already gets hints to suspect him pretty fast which all leads to how the partner and guild reacts less believable. If we spent more time with dusknoir i think it'd make sense.
I also think we should have spent more time with grovyle, and learn more about dusknoir, celebi and his trios dynamic and the lore of this world in the main story itself. I know the special episodes exist, but i think that placing this part of the story there was a mistake. It makes sense for side characters backgrounds like bidoofs wish, but the omission of the future trio content in the main game hurts the overall story.
also the post game stories are kinda ass
SV use the same models as Legends for every Pokémon that's in both.
The humans dude, it's the humans that are ugly
Oh, why did you post it in this thread then? I'm pretty sure everyone agrees on that.
Not my post there, that's vindingmachine's post
(not that I disagree with them)
(not that I disagree with them)
The texturing is different bro
I sat down and made these two tier lists to confirm something I've suspected for a while to myself: A large part of the reason why I'm looking forward to Z-A is because the Sinnoh dex is highkey mid and I can't wait to experience Legends gameplay with a way better pool of native Pokemon before new additions and extensions of old lines (hence why cross-gen evos and megas aren't counted). This would've still applied if they went with Unova or even Johto probably
It's weird you left out the cross gen evos for Sinnoh, but included Sylveon for Kalos.
With the benefit of hindsight maybe cobbling these together at 3 AM wasn't exactly the smartest move. I still stand by my point but ye
I didn't like the stories to Black & White very much, and even less so B2W2.
When I was younger, I liked it a little more than ordinary Pokemon narratives, which is not a high bar to overcome, but it's still something. It seemed less childish than other games.
Now I think much less of it. Okay, N was somewhat of a grayscale character, and that's a good thing for a good-vs-evil story. The great error, though is trying to justify the ancient Pokemon question of Why is it okay to take what are basically wild animals from their homes and force them to inflict horrible violence upon one another, and why do those animals grow fonder of their captors for forcing them to do that? The answer is plainly that it is not right to torture living creatures in this elaborate system of cruelty and therefore that acknowledging this problem and trying to justify it in a story (and doing a very bad job of justifying it) is only going to accentuate how bad that behavior is.
As simple as Pokemon stories had been up to that point, it still would have been better to adopt that model of simple storytelling than to try to solve a moral issue that is always going to exist as long as Pokemon is Pokemon. Until the gameplay uses only emotionless robots for fighting, it is a ridiculous idea that the moral problem of Pokemon could be solved. Let sleeping dogs lie.
Also, there are little bits with NPCs that irk me. I remember when your male rival hands you some item with no context to the story and no acknowledgement of what's happened recently. I'm sure people will say that's necessary with the way Pokemon works, but I disagree. And then there are characters like, I think, the 5th gym leader? who speaks with a ridiculous Texan accent that is meant to amuse children but is just a depthless caricature to adults.
And Ghetsis! Okay, a lot of the time his dialogue is basically on point with his mission. But every once in a while he says a non sequitur or otherwise out-of-context comment that really reminds you that you're playing a video game, not engaging with a story.
I write this while donning my flame-resistant shield. I know this is a thread about unpopular opinions but like any such thread anywhere, people are going to be reading it and think, "Wow, that is the worst opinion ever, and I must let them know it."
When I was younger, I liked it a little more than ordinary Pokemon narratives, which is not a high bar to overcome, but it's still something. It seemed less childish than other games.
Now I think much less of it. Okay, N was somewhat of a grayscale character, and that's a good thing for a good-vs-evil story. The great error, though is trying to justify the ancient Pokemon question of Why is it okay to take what are basically wild animals from their homes and force them to inflict horrible violence upon one another, and why do those animals grow fonder of their captors for forcing them to do that? The answer is plainly that it is not right to torture living creatures in this elaborate system of cruelty and therefore that acknowledging this problem and trying to justify it in a story (and doing a very bad job of justifying it) is only going to accentuate how bad that behavior is.
As simple as Pokemon stories had been up to that point, it still would have been better to adopt that model of simple storytelling than to try to solve a moral issue that is always going to exist as long as Pokemon is Pokemon. Until the gameplay uses only emotionless robots for fighting, it is a ridiculous idea that the moral problem of Pokemon could be solved. Let sleeping dogs lie.
Also, there are little bits with NPCs that irk me. I remember when your male rival hands you some item with no context to the story and no acknowledgement of what's happened recently. I'm sure people will say that's necessary with the way Pokemon works, but I disagree. And then there are characters like, I think, the 5th gym leader? who speaks with a ridiculous Texan accent that is meant to amuse children but is just a depthless caricature to adults.
And Ghetsis! Okay, a lot of the time his dialogue is basically on point with his mission. But every once in a while he says a non sequitur or otherwise out-of-context comment that really reminds you that you're playing a video game, not engaging with a story.
I write this while donning my flame-resistant shield. I know this is a thread about unpopular opinions but like any such thread anywhere, people are going to be reading it and think, "Wow, that is the worst opinion ever, and I must let them know it."
Okay so I know responding to a disagreed opinion in this of all threads usually looks silly, but there are some points I have to bring up here.
This is something that always irks me because it was something even Pokemon The First Movie made a point out of and yet several people were too media illiterate to distinguish it (not accusing you of such but it's an old topic that got under my skin there and seems to repeat here): Proper Pokemon battling is not remotely the same as cockfighting or an animal cruelty issue. The entire point is that people who use Pokemon for their own ends with no regard for the creature's existence or well-being are deplorable, but Pokemon battling in and of itself is not 1-to-1 with this attitude. On the Movie 1 example, the major point of that scene isn't "Pokemon battling is wrong," it's "Pokemon battling until the drop dead is wrong," particularly since it's to resolve a personal feud between Mew and Mewtwo.
The entire point of Team Plasma is that presenting Humans and Pokemon as only being able to interact in this incredibly cruel manner or not-at-all is a "Black and White" binary that excludes the nuance of "some people treat their Pokemon well and others don't" that makes a sweeping answer kind of impossible. People often made real life comparisons to PETA, which I find especially applicable because PETA has often expressed a very similar binary opinion on people and animals (i.e. humans should not domesticate or keep them AT ALL) with a reputation for euthanizing almost any non-wild animal they come into custody of. The reason N exists as the aforementioned Grey character is because he actually THINKS about this point despite his groomed upbringing by Ghetsis: reality causes him to question that incredibly simplistic worldview and realize it's not that simple.
The underlying point of the BW story is that there IS no "moral issue" intrinsic to Pokemon's identity. There are going to be absolutely terrible people but that doesn't justify throwing the entire system out over a few abusive individuals. Ghetsis as a "true final villain" is divisive, but I think he kind of proves why this mindset doesn't work: people who do bad in this way will simply continue to do so, because their methods were already unacceptable and thus being illegal won't deter them from anything.
Most of the other elements I don't have a protest for. Clay's "caricature" behavior didn't irritate me as an American native myself since an accent/dialect doesn't pop much and the Cowboy look just feels the same as other exaggerated or stylistic character designs throughout the series like Military man Lt. Surge, Wrestling man Crasher Wake, the Striaton Triplets as Restaurateurs; that said I can understand not caring for characters that don't have much depth in a narrative like this as the supporting cast. Stuff like that or Ghetsis's talk breaking one's immersion vary from person to person, as story reception does. The aspects I umbrage with are when those positions are predicated on or justified by information that is lacking context, poorly substantiated, or even been addressed prior but ignored in the present.
I think my issue with bw is just that its a bit too afraid of creating a narrative. Most of it hinges on N, but N himself isnt actually that interesting until the end of the game imo.
Plasma and ghetsis also feel too much like obvious bad guys. i know pokemon is for kids and i dont think simpler narratives are bad or shitty, but i think even kids would understand the point if ghetsis didnt look like an evil wizard and plasma grunts didnt spill everything immediately. so the whole moral question is kinda thrown out and the answer is obvious: these guys are dumb as fuck and you gotta beat them up, which is also the answer to every other evil team leader. So the only thing left is Ns journey, but other than subtext and the cutscene/N's room, his involvement with plasma is pretty scarce beyond the final battle, and its less like youre interacting with him, trying to help him out or anything and more like youre watching snapshots of his own life and him slowly deprograming himself from ghetsis cult, which would be cool in concept but its just too scarce/simple for me to feel anything about.
as much as su/mo cutscenes are made fun of, the game is extremely good at setting up lilie and gladion, what lusamine did, how she behaves in public vs when threatned vs with lillie, and lillie standing up fot herself against her mother. it was more successful in setting an evil team with goals that seem good but in reality are morally bankrupt and selfish and a manipulative leader that doesnt actually care about the good things and just uses them as set dressing to get what she really wants, no matter the cost or who gets hurt
Plasma and ghetsis also feel too much like obvious bad guys. i know pokemon is for kids and i dont think simpler narratives are bad or shitty, but i think even kids would understand the point if ghetsis didnt look like an evil wizard and plasma grunts didnt spill everything immediately. so the whole moral question is kinda thrown out and the answer is obvious: these guys are dumb as fuck and you gotta beat them up, which is also the answer to every other evil team leader. So the only thing left is Ns journey, but other than subtext and the cutscene/N's room, his involvement with plasma is pretty scarce beyond the final battle, and its less like youre interacting with him, trying to help him out or anything and more like youre watching snapshots of his own life and him slowly deprograming himself from ghetsis cult, which would be cool in concept but its just too scarce/simple for me to feel anything about.
as much as su/mo cutscenes are made fun of, the game is extremely good at setting up lilie and gladion, what lusamine did, how she behaves in public vs when threatned vs with lillie, and lillie standing up fot herself against her mother. it was more successful in setting an evil team with goals that seem good but in reality are morally bankrupt and selfish and a manipulative leader that doesnt actually care about the good things and just uses them as set dressing to get what she really wants, no matter the cost or who gets hurt