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SPOILERS! Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon
- Thread starter stage7_4
- Start date
At some point in SV's development, you could swim underwater. Not like gen 3 dive, but just a little bit to get items on the riverbed or something. I have 2 pieces of evidence for this:
1. The music gets muffled when you go underwater. I don't think that they would implement something like this just for the <1 second splashdown we have in the games now.
2. Some aquatic Pokemon stay well below the surface. While they can be auto-battled by swimming Pokemon or targeted, they're annoying. I think these Pokemon would be encountered normally by diving down to them.
It was removed because it's redundant.
Now if we're underwater for too long the game assumes that we're stuck on geometry and voids out.
1. The music gets muffled when you go underwater. I don't think that they would implement something like this just for the <1 second splashdown we have in the games now.
2. Some aquatic Pokemon stay well below the surface. While they can be auto-battled by swimming Pokemon or targeted, they're annoying. I think these Pokemon would be encountered normally by diving down to them.
It was removed because it's redundant.
It's a pain in the ass to make a new form of movement that wouldn't actually take you anywhere new. It would require a new camera mode and a seamless transition from surface to diving. It would require design for where to place items underwater and texturing for lakebeds and sea floors, most of which would be empty and pointless anyways. It would be frustrating for players to have to switch between swimming modes, especially if they do so accidentally. They would have to debug every waterway and pond in the game for collision issues for something that would only be useful for a couple of set pieces. Most players view water as an obstacle to be crossed rather than an environment to explore, so they would ignore the feature unless they absolutely had to use it. There's not much that can be done underwater that can't be done on the surface.
Now if we're underwater for too long the game assumes that we're stuck on geometry and voids out.
alright guys, I've come to a realization. Magearnas signature ability is Soul-Heart Now, what kind of name is soul heart. that seems kinda arbitrary and redundant. But consider:
This probably means nothing, and it likely wasn't the same words in Japanese. however, what if it was. Im not fluent enough in any language really to see if it is the same in other languages, but if both the games and the ability have the same name in even half of the languages, I'd say that's some decent evidence for... something.
This probably means nothing, and it likely wasn't the same words in Japanese. however, what if it was. Im not fluent enough in any language really to see if it is the same in other languages, but if both the games and the ability have the same name in even half of the languages, I'd say that's some decent evidence for... something.
while soul heart is the name in all languages, i feel like its referencing the much broader concept of... heart and soul, and not the hgss titles (which im pretty sure were picked for that word play and just sounding nice)
Yeah it's just various similar concepts
But also in Magearna's case it is extremely literal. It's that thing in the middle of its chest that powers the rest of the body and is the actual consciousness. Thus it's a heart that contains its soul, itself powered explicitly by the life energy of other beings.
So I just discovered that the Japanese uploads of Pokemon Evolutions have been taken down. I tried every Japanese search term you can think of with online translator and Bulbapedia help and yeah, no, they're gone. None of the other animated short series they've posted over the years have been hit, literally just Evolutions.
When did this happen and why?
When did this happen and why?
For whatever reason, the Japanese Evolutions episodes are region-locked to Japan. ie:
The uploader has not made this video available in your country"
Checking through bulbapedia's history it's been like this since the episodes premiered the first time.
The Eevee that Bill gives to Gold in GSC is implied to have been accidentally brought to the future while Bill was working on the Time Capsule, so Gold decided to send it back to the past, in the process giving Red the Eevee that would later become his Espeon. In HGSS, the Time Capsule doesn't exist (the Eevee is now implied to have been accidentally sent over Nintendo Wi-Fi), so Red still has the Lapras that he traded to Gold in GSC.
Possibly, but I always assumed this to just be a random Eevee that somehow got into the machinery and got transported, with the Espeon on Red's team being the one from Celadon. Being a Pokemon master, he's probably got multiple Pokemon in rotation and in HGSS's timeline he just brought his Lapras to Mt Silver instead. Gold/Kris/Lyra don't have a canon team like he does, but I always thought it'd make for a nice bit of symmetry if they kept their Eevee and evolved it into Umbreon.
Y'know, considering how much Dragon is the go-to legendary type, I realised something earlier: there hasn't yet been a Dragon-type mythical Pokemon. That's funny.
Feels like after the first three generations -where Psychic was the go-to typing- they decided to back off and just do more variety in typing.
Like the only pyschics after that have been Victini, Meloetta, Hoopa, and otherwise there's been: water, water, dark, grass (/flying), normal (....also everything, I Guess, but no one treats ARceus like dragon so), water/fighting, bug/steel, rock/fairy, water/fire, steel/fairy, fighting/ghost, electric, steel (& steel, again), grass/dark, poison/ghost
a pretty varied mix compared to the 3 pure psychics and a psychic/steel of the first 3 gens. & even Meloetta is only sometimes psychic to make the form gimmick it has function. I think the lack of dragon mythics might also be an attempt to deviate from all the dragon legends, too, which would have kicked off in earnest around the same time as moving away from all the psychics.
Yeah I wondered maybe if Dragon would be seen as more "desirable" (everyone always wants the new dragon) which is why it's left to the bog-standard legendaries instead. With mythicals there's a bit more freedom to experiment conceptually: the first few gens it's cute cute cute, but a few gens in we're branching out a bit more. Whereas dragon legendaries/mascots are pretty much all big flashy powerful titans.
Psychic used to be that desirable typing but sadly it has long since lost that status. Feels as though Steel & Dark still have that instant-cool quality (like if I were discussing leaks for a new game and said "the new legendary is part Steel-type" that'd be enough) but idk if that's just my own perspective.
Ice or Ground haven't been used for mythicals either - would be interested to see either/both of those used. The former seems like it'd be a relatively easy type to design around, the latter less so.
Psychic used to be that desirable typing but sadly it has long since lost that status. Feels as though Steel & Dark still have that instant-cool quality (like if I were discussing leaks for a new game and said "the new legendary is part Steel-type" that'd be enough) but idk if that's just my own perspective.
Ice or Ground haven't been used for mythicals either - would be interested to see either/both of those used. The former seems like it'd be a relatively easy type to design around, the latter less so.
The TCG periodically likes to release cards based on Shiny Pokemon and they're pretty good about only depicting ones that have been officially released. To the point that when the treasures of ruin & the raidons were in the Paldean Fates Shiny reprint set, they instead made them have Gold rares with unique texturing.
But in 2017 they did a batch of Shining Pokemon and it included a bunch of Pokemon that had their shinies released (even if not recently, like Mew) and...
Volcanion?
The closest that I can recall is the time the TCG revealed a Shiny Tapu Koko promo card ahead of time...that wound up coming out the same day that the new distribution for the shiny Tapu Koko started, the announcement was just a bit offset. So something like this is pretty odd and makes me wonder if there was a planned Shiny Volcanion release meant for that year that got scrapped for some reason.
But in 2017 they did a batch of Shining Pokemon and it included a bunch of Pokemon that had their shinies released (even if not recently, like Mew) and...
Volcanion?
The closest that I can recall is the time the TCG revealed a Shiny Tapu Koko promo card ahead of time...that wound up coming out the same day that the new distribution for the shiny Tapu Koko started, the announcement was just a bit offset. So something like this is pretty odd and makes me wonder if there was a planned Shiny Volcanion release meant for that year that got scrapped for some reason.
I wonder if a part of this is on them wanting the big cool Dragons to be more marketable as being freely-available lends itself to, or if maybe they were half-hearted for other reasons like the Eon Duo (where not event exclusive but the opposite one could be obtained via limited time events similar to Mythicals).
Maybe because they kept doing so many dragons for a while they didn't want a lot of type overlap (since Gen 3 the Mythicals tend to not share their types with Main Legends unless there's specific lore like Keldeo). Kalos is a bit anomalous for no Dragons and the main duo overlapping 1 each (if we count Hoopa-U for Yveltal), and then in Gen 7 Mythical Pokemon REALLY didn't feel like such, with Zeraora and Melmetal just being on teams like "mundane" Pokemon, Magearna coming one gen after its debut movie shared with a Gen 6 Mythical, and Marshadow is weirdly made into a sort of emissary to Ho-oh, a mon with pre-existing lore AND subordinates in an AU film.
The point being I don't know what the design ethos is for Mythicals in the last decade, and with their decreasing numbers, I wonder if TPC does either.
I think the design ethos is just "hey wouldn't this be neat" and "hey let's make a mythic for our movie"
YMMV on how neat the concepts are for the former and how integrated they are for the latter (Zeraora is SUCH an afterthought for something explicitly made for Power of Us whereas Zarude is the centerpiece of the movie's conceit)
But on the whole they do feel like they have more room to be "whatever floats your boat" when it comes to mythics. Where as with legends they mostly try to stay within certain parameters, mythics get to break free a bit. There's tie-ins but it's like... Here's a weird forest sprite that wasn't even made with the illex forest in mind. Here's a tanabata Pokemon. Here's a space virus. Gen 4 had 2 Pokemon tie in SUPER heavily to existing lore but then also a pair of sea angels and a hedgehog. and so on and so forth. Gen 7's got a LOT going on but the contrast between the rigidity of the Tapu, the unnatural bridge of Type Null/Silvally and the strangeness of the UBs(& Friends) seems very purposeful; meanwhile its mythics were a robot maid, a tiny shadow boxer and a beast.
YMMV on how neat the concepts are for the former and how integrated they are for the latter (Zeraora is SUCH an afterthought for something explicitly made for Power of Us whereas Zarude is the centerpiece of the movie's conceit)
But on the whole they do feel like they have more room to be "whatever floats your boat" when it comes to mythics. Where as with legends they mostly try to stay within certain parameters, mythics get to break free a bit. There's tie-ins but it's like... Here's a weird forest sprite that wasn't even made with the illex forest in mind. Here's a tanabata Pokemon. Here's a space virus. Gen 4 had 2 Pokemon tie in SUPER heavily to existing lore but then also a pair of sea angels and a hedgehog. and so on and so forth. Gen 7's got a LOT going on but the contrast between the rigidity of the Tapu, the unnatural bridge of Type Null/Silvally and the strangeness of the UBs(& Friends) seems very purposeful; meanwhile its mythics were a robot maid, a tiny shadow boxer and a beast.
I remember being really confused in an Emerald playthrough years ago by the trainer AI of Ninja Boy Lao on Route 113, because my understanding was that every trainer had a baseline level of AI that stopped them using ineffective moves when they had an alternative, yet he'd happily have his Koffing Selfdestruct on my Ghost mons. This video explained it though: turns out some Emerald trainers randomly just don't have any coded AI! I didn't notice the rest because they can each be fought in double battles (which I'll always go for if given the choice) and they receive the AI of their more competent partner if fought that way.
Considering the RNG for Emerald is also coded improperly (uses the same seed every startup due to a single missing value or something), I wonder if some corners were cut during development. Would explain some of the weirdness.
Another amusing oddity in Emerald relating to double battles is that when two trainers in the Frontier team up (either in the Pyramid or the Battle Tower) they'll only use the pool of one of the trainers, effectively making it more like a double battle instead of a proper mix of two trainers' flavours.
Later generations do it properly so when you fight two trainers in a tag battle you'll actually get mixed pools, like a Tailwind user alongside a Trick Room team or two different weather users.
Why does Rock resist Fire? No seriously- I bring this up because is Gen 1, Brock’s gym was designed as a tutorial boss since the whole point is to teach players type effectiveness and that STAB is good. Onix’s typing allows Squirtle and Bulbasaur to OHKO it. But not for Charmander. Now granted, in Gen 1 Charmander had Ember which was going to do good damage Onix thanks to atrocious Special and and HP + no Rock Attacks; making it unlikely for the player to lose to Onix so it wouldn’t matter in the long run. But in Gen 3, Onix has Rock Tomb defeating the point of that tutorial boss fight for the player. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to make Rock neutral to Fire in that case? Looking back at it, that probably explains why for the first three gens succeeding Gen 1 Fire/Fighting was given to Torchic and Chimchar lines: To make the tutorial Rock gym easier. Chimchar even evolves the earliest probably to give players an edge over Roark should they be willing to grind.
Something has to early game. Fire itself is usually uncommon, Water is rarer before Surf to make up for being everywhere after, and Dragon is consistently lategame-only. Rock's the only resist left.
Because rocks don't burn, or at least most rocks don't. Those that do are often considered "special" like coal. It's not even that hard to get, and just changing the type balance because of a few amount of gym match ups isn't a good idea. By that logic first gyms should basically be just normal because all the other common types you would run into would do super effective damage to one of the types. I mean Falkner and Viola also have an attacking advantage against a starter type. What makes them any different?
Also Charmander players in Gen 1 do get their type effectiveness lesson and that STAB (elemental) moves are good, but technically get it earlier than Bulbasaur and Squirtle players. For Charmander players, that comes not with Brock, but with Viridian Forest, the first dungeon of the game. That dungeon is filled with Caterpie and Weedle, and their evolved forms Kakuna and Metapod, as near constant wild encounters and in the few Trainer battles. Charmander's Ember will sear those bugs and OHKO while Normal moves take a few hits to KO, preventing Caterpie and Weedle from using String Shot or Weedle poisoning with Poison Sting. At that point one shotting Kakuna and Metapod also stands out because they are resilient to Pidgey and Rattata's weak Normal attacks, and spam Harden which will ensure it takes longer to KO them. So Charmander's Ember taking them down in one shot highlights the dichotomy.
It's part of why Bug also makes a strong introductory type, and it would go on to be used for the second Gym Leader in Johto (Bugsy), while Viola and Katy are the first Gym Leaders in XY and SV.
It's part of why Bug also makes a strong introductory type, and it would go on to be used for the second Gym Leader in Johto (Bugsy), while Viola and Katy are the first Gym Leaders in XY and SV.
Honestly, all of the first gyms are weird. In order:
And the thing is, there's so many types that would be better IMO.
Now, a lot of those are lategame gym types, which I don't think is a bad thing. One, it's good for making the designers shake things up a bit. Two, think how funny it would be if the player is starting somewhere where new trainers rarely start and accidentally walks into the lategame dragon gym first.
Rock: Unbalanced type interactions with all 3 starters in different ways, discourages catching coverage mons.
Rock: (yellow version) You MUST catch something to deal with this.
Flying/Normal: Chikorita gets bodied. Mud Slap in Gen II means so does Cyndaquil. Totodile fans stay winning.
Rock: Unbalanced type interactions with all 3 starters in different ways
Rock: Unbalanced type interactions with all 3 starters in different ways (bored yet?)
FWG: (BW) Hope you trained the mandatory gift mon that we forced on you, there are literally no other counters available. (I would actually respect this if there was a variety of mons available early. You could even give one gym leader all 3 types, just to drive home that the player needs more than just to level one specific mon).
Normal: (B2W2) A perfectly reasonable choice for a 1st gym, FINALLY.
Bug: Weak to Fire and SE vs Grass, except look out, we've inverted that for this gym! Perfect for new players to the game, right?
Normal: (Ilma's trial in SM) Again, perfectly reasonable.
Grass: I actually like this, since GWF are the first 3 gyms. Yes, it's technically an advantage for the fire-starter, but it balances out quickly and makes type interactions the forefront in case you have induced amnesia after your fight with Hop.
Bug: Unbalanced choice, and the fake-out with grass is weird. Worth noting that this is an open world game, and the other early fights available are Grass and Rock, which are similarly odd choices.
Rock: (yellow version) You MUST catch something to deal with this.
Flying/Normal: Chikorita gets bodied. Mud Slap in Gen II means so does Cyndaquil. Totodile fans stay winning.
Rock: Unbalanced type interactions with all 3 starters in different ways
Rock: Unbalanced type interactions with all 3 starters in different ways (bored yet?)
FWG: (BW) Hope you trained the mandatory gift mon that we forced on you, there are literally no other counters available. (I would actually respect this if there was a variety of mons available early. You could even give one gym leader all 3 types, just to drive home that the player needs more than just to level one specific mon).
Normal: (B2W2) A perfectly reasonable choice for a 1st gym, FINALLY.
Bug: Weak to Fire and SE vs Grass, except look out, we've inverted that for this gym! Perfect for new players to the game, right?
Normal: (Ilma's trial in SM) Again, perfectly reasonable.
Grass: I actually like this, since GWF are the first 3 gyms. Yes, it's technically an advantage for the fire-starter, but it balances out quickly and makes type interactions the forefront in case you have induced amnesia after your fight with Hop.
Bug: Unbalanced choice, and the fake-out with grass is weird. Worth noting that this is an open world game, and the other early fights available are Grass and Rock, which are similarly odd choices.
Normal, Fighting, Dark, Psychic are all neutral throughout, which is fair, if boring.
Dragon and Ghost force the player to interact with type matchups immediately without being an advantage for any one type.
I'd be a fan of any of the above. Other options:
Fairy is basically neutral throughout, only being NVE against fire, which is a nothing problem compared to what we've seen so far.
A type that's SE against part of FWG but doesn't resist(Electric, though others could work) could be an interesting matchup if you don't give the gym leader STAB. If their TM is Headbutt or similar, especially if 1x use TMs are a thing, and you've got a fair challenge for all starters and an interesting choice right off the bat.
Steel would be fun if the Grass starter gets Leech Seed early. Fire is SE, Fire and Water resist it, but Grass has passive damage/healing vs the likely high defenses.
Poison similarly would be an interesting way to introduce the player to Stall tactics early on. Neutral to 2 of the types, and forces the third into using your own stall tactics.
The remainder(Flying, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ice, Fire, Water, Grass) are probably difficult to keep balanced vs all 3 starters in most games.
Dragon and Ghost force the player to interact with type matchups immediately without being an advantage for any one type.
I'd be a fan of any of the above. Other options:
Fairy is basically neutral throughout, only being NVE against fire, which is a nothing problem compared to what we've seen so far.
A type that's SE against part of FWG but doesn't resist(Electric, though others could work) could be an interesting matchup if you don't give the gym leader STAB. If their TM is Headbutt or similar, especially if 1x use TMs are a thing, and you've got a fair challenge for all starters and an interesting choice right off the bat.
Steel would be fun if the Grass starter gets Leech Seed early. Fire is SE, Fire and Water resist it, but Grass has passive damage/healing vs the likely high defenses.
Poison similarly would be an interesting way to introduce the player to Stall tactics early on. Neutral to 2 of the types, and forces the third into using your own stall tactics.
The remainder(Flying, Ground, Rock, Bug, Ice, Fire, Water, Grass) are probably difficult to keep balanced vs all 3 starters in most games.
You walk through the massive double doors and are greeted by a cavernous space. A maze stretches before you, clearly impassable. Suddenly there's a gong, and walls begin to sink into the ground, revealing a torch-lit path straight to the center of the maze. A dozen trainers in full dragon regalia step out of the sides of the path, staves in hand, and cross them over your head as you advance to the altar in the center. Atop it stands a 7' woman in riding gear, in front of a tapestry of herself riding a Salamence. She reaches below the altar and draws out a sash with 2 ultra-balls on it and 4 open slots. She gives an inspiring speech about any accomplishment as a trainer being worthy of respect, just getting this far getting started is impressive, and there is no shame in losing, merely let it inspire you to train harder.
And then she sends out a level 12 Dratini and a level 14 Bagon.
And then she sends out a level 12 Dratini and a level 14 Bagon.