(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[pika pal]

Dragon/Poison would have been such an interesting flex given the addition of the Fairy type in Gen VI. Maybe that's why they palmed the typing off on Dragalge instead, a Pokemon who as much as I like it was never going to be a gamebreaker.

Goodra's stat spread is so strange. You could tell they were intentionally going for something different with it being a defensively-focused psuedo, but there are ways to do that and not make it completely suck and they took none of them. Agree entirely on H-Goodra being a solid upgrade.

The stat spread doubles up on my point. Both of those typings are REALLY good defensively but have lacked a lot of experimentation in the case of Water/Dragon (Kingdra is a "balanced" spread and Palkia is offensive in both forms) while Dragon/Poison was new but in both cases feels like they couldn't commit to a defensive approach (Dragalge having offensive abilities and both seemingly lacking Recovery) and continued into more offensive design with Eternatus (as far as Stat distribution, it does have some defensive application in practice). Goodra having a recovery move and a Dragon/Poison typing would have been perfect that Gen as the anti-Fairy Dragon and defensively cushioning against some heavily Physical types like Fighting or utility moves like U-Turn.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I'd say Goodra is quite good in-game. A wide movepool filled with great coverage, great special bulk and resisting all four basic elemental types as per being a Dragon-type, and good offensive stats on both sides combined with solid Speed make for a really good and splashable in-game Pokemon. In XY it's a great option for a team and is one of the most splashable and usable in-game pseudo-legendaries for an in-game playthrough in its debut game after Gible in DPP. It's not bad in subsequent games either and is a solid choice for a Dragon-type for in-game purposes. Its low competitive viability largely stems from the nature of competitive demanding that the best Pokemon there have to be exceptional or unique in some way, while Goodra suffers from jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none syndrome. But in-game it's an incredibly fun and splashable Pokemon.

That said, yeah, I do think it should've been part Water-type as its flavor just screams "Water-type", considering it learns Bubble/Water Gun, Rain Dance, Muddy Water, and Aqua Tail naturally and learns moves like Surf, Hydro Pump, and Scald (in SV) naturally. Or part Poison, which is reinforced by later gens giving the line Acid Spray and in SV, being one of the few non Poison-types that learns Toxic.

As for its stat spread, I feel Goodra was designed as something of an anti-weather mon, considering weather was a powerful force in Gen 5 VGC and is still prominent in later gens VGC/Doubles metas, and everything about how it's designed feels like a way to ensure there was no return of Gen 5 weather. It has Hydration to cure status in rain, not to mention it can sponge rain boosted Water moves and Thunders very comfortably (while Hydration can remove any Thunder paralysis), Sap Sipper which allows it to absorb Solar Beam against sun abusers (and Fire resistance+high Special bulk means it very comfortably sponges sun boosted Fire attacks), and Gooey allows it to slow sweepers down. And then it has a wide offensive movepool to be able to combat weather abusers of all kinds: Thunder to strike down rain sweepers, Fire Blast to take down Chlorophyll Grass sweepers, Earthquake to hit Fire mons and so on and so forth. It's perfectly capable of doing its job, it's just...not a job that's really needed nowadays, which is reflected in its low tier placements.

In XY VGC from what I've heard it had pretty good use at the time, especially since it also learns Feint which can break Protect. I don't think it's seen much use since but it did have its place in its debut era for its ability to blanket check Greninja, Ludicolo (rain), Mega Charizard Y, and a lot more. I think it saw use in SM VGC for much the same reasons.

Hisuian Goodra is definitely better overall, since Steel/Dragon is such an amazing typing. That said, I appreciate that SV has given base Goodra some tools to stand out like Toxic and Scald, things Hisuian Goodra doesn't have, on a paper level, even if that doesn't help it that much in the competitive scene. I do think both Goodras would greatly benefit from having some form of recovery, however.

Petition for base Goodra to get a Mega in Legends: Z-A lgi

 

[Basedwell]

Speaking of vision, I see USUMs. You’re supposed to skip trainer battles and use Pokemon appearing 1% in SOS battles right?

the only thing that stopped me from getting the fella in your avi in SM is a little thing I like to call "patience"

 

[pika pal]

Something else that I realized and am mildly annoyed by: Goodra is the first Pseudo Legendary with no Type-Based immunities, despite being statted as a defensive Tank (its SpD I believe is the highest "numerical" Base Stat among them, followed by Bax's ATK and Dragapult's Speed)

 

[DrPumpkinz]

 

[R_N]

Don't even remotely see it, honestly.

 

[CPU]

Weavile really has those western cartoon proportions, huh

 

[Faux Focalors Furina]

Something else that I realized and am mildly annoyed by: Goodra is the first Pseudo Legendary with no Type-Based immunities, despite being statted as a defensive Tank (its SpD I believe is the highest "numerical" Base Stat among them, followed by Bax's ATK and Dragapult's Speed)

*puts on nerd glasses*
It technically does with the grass type due to sap sipper but it's ability exclusive so I kind of agree and disagree.

 

[pika pal]

*puts on nerd glasses*
It technically does with the grass type due to sap sipper but it's ability exclusive so I kind of agree and disagree.

I did say "type based," your "ackshually" has no power here!

But yeah Goodra's design continues to bother me because the more I look at it, the more incomplete it feels. Dragon/Water would have massively increased Sap Sipper's utility as a neutral -> Immunity and with how many Grass moves, attack or status, there are to block like Spore, Leech Seed, Strength Sap, or attackers like Rillaboom and Ogerpon more effectively

 

[pokemon4eva]

Roar of Time is probably the worst legendary signature move of all time, it's literally just Dragon type Hyper Beam, with the huge drawback that makes it unviable to use competitively. Nowadays there's Eternabeam, which is "even stronger Dragon type Hyper Beam" which makes this move look even worse than before.

But most importantly, this move has nothing to do with the concept of time, it's just an oonga boonga high powered move (it's also single target, which makes no sense considering how explosive the move looks). Although it benefitted with the 3d games and the time freezing animations it got. Still, this is just disappointing, doesn't help it has Roar on its name and nothing to do with scrambling team members.

 

[Ironmage]

Roar of Time is probably the worst legendary signature move of all time, it's literally just Dragon type Hyper Beam, with the huge drawback that makes it unviable to use competitively. Nowadays there's Eternabeam, which is "even stronger Dragon type Hyper Beam" which makes this move look even worse than before.

But most importantly, this move has nothing to do with the concept of time, it's just an oonga boonga high powered move (it's also single target, which makes no sense considering how explosive the move looks). Although it benefitted with the 3d games and the time freezing animations it got. Still, this is just disappointing, doesn't help it has Roar on its name and nothing to do with scrambling team members.

Shuffling the team around would be a spatial trick, no?

I can see something that alters the action economy as being time-related, the issue is that the alteration in question isn't helpful for Dialga. I could see it working fine with a guaranteed flinch (forcing the enemy to also be paused, letting end-of-turn effects tick an extra time).

 

[CPU]

In my head, Roar of Time would be significantly better (maybe too good?) if it had increased priority. Fits in with the time motif, too. As another option, maybe make it reduce the priority of the target for the next turn? Not useful for singles (unless you run Eject Button Dialga against a slower opponent lol), but could be nifty in Doubles.

 

[R_N]

Roar of Time didn't even have any extra time effects in Legends Arceus, the one game where you could probably adequately implement time-based effects thanks to the turn order system, beyond what's already in place (ie: how agile, strong moves work; how some moves have a penalty just for using them, etc), so it kind of seems like they just want the move to be akin to "dialga messes with time so much you EXPLODE (from a beam)!!" instead of anything thematically interesting.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

The first thought I had for reworking Roar of Time is that it should be a negative priority move with no other drawback that also makes Dialga's next move have increased priority (just a +1 to its priority bracket so you can't do anything crazy).

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

In my head, Roar of Time would be significantly better (maybe too good?) if it had increased priority. Fits in with the time motif, too. As another option, maybe make it reduce the priority of the target for the next turn? Not useful for singles (unless you run Eject Button Dialga against a slower opponent lol), but could be nifty in Doubles.

Or, as crazy as it sounds, keep it the same but with increased priority.

That would keep both sides of "time" tied to the move, but most importantly, it'd make it *very* unique and an interesting risk-reward scenario.

 

[Faux Focalors Furina]

I did say "type based," your "ackshually" has no power here!

But yeah Goodra's design continues to bother me because the more I look at it, the more incomplete it feels. Dragon/Water would have massively increased Sap Sipper's utility as a neutral -> Immunity and with how many Grass moves, attack or status, there are to block like Spore, Leech Seed, Strength Sap, or attackers like Rillaboom and Ogerpon more effectively

I guess that's why it got a hisuian form? To give it a secondary typing to some people like you & me wanted, but Imo I think steel is more of a hinderance to it ngl.

 

[Basedwell]

I guess that's why it got a hisuian form? To give it a secondary typing to some people like you & me wanted, but Imo I think steel is more of a hinderance to it ngl.

steel's such a weird typing where you'd think it would always be beneficial but half the types it's good against idrc about, and the weaknesses it adds are really annoying. I have only used Hisuian form in Arceus a little bit, where having a lot of resistances is good when you're trying to go all over the map to fight just about any typing that can punch a hole in you if it's within 25 levels in either direction.

I'm not opposed to making regional forms better: there's already powercreep or design choices that made the original suck, instead of giving it a super-obvious-that-its-intentional boost, why not make a cool twist on the original design with a power up?

The only real losers are the people who make videos on the going-ons of Showdown so they can't act like geniuses for telling you Butterfree's OU after getting Quiver Dance and wonder guard (I couldn't think of a reasonable but still busted ability that would make it viable for a joke sorry)

Or, as crazy as it sounds, keep it the same but with increased priority.

That would keep both sides of "time" tied to the move, but most importantly, it'd make it *very* unique and an interesting risk-reward scenario.

when i see Roar I'm conditioned to give it lower priority lol

 

[CPU]

Or, as crazy as it sounds, keep it the same but with increased priority.

That would keep both sides of "time" tied to the move, but most importantly, it'd make it *very* unique and an interesting risk-reward scenario.

That's what i meant, keep it as a Hyper Beam move but with increased priority.

 

[Basedwell]

why is ditto, a pokemon in earlier generations you may actually want multiple of because it's important for breeding, such a fucking doozy to catch? Even in B/W2 where I can pretty much get everything in 1-3 balls, including the Metagross line, it's a pain the ass to catch.

But then give us those 5 star tera raids when breeding is irrelevant, although it was such a fun way to grind out resources when you bring a level 1 breedject that it'll transform into.

 

[Worldie]

I'd point breeding isn't completely irrelevant as there's pokemon you still need to breed for to get shinys, as well as breeding for egg moves being slightly more practical than passing egg moves via camp as the bred ones can be relearned, whereas passed ones cannot be relearned if forgotten.
Some pokemon also cannot be found in the wild and require to be bred for shinys as well.
It's also the faster way to grind 0 IVs, and the "cheapest" way to get 5-6x31IVs if you haven't stacked bottle caps.

(Still nowhere as necessary as it used to be at least, which tbfh is a major positive in general, and I wouldn't mind breeding to be gone altoghether. "Grind to win" has stopped being interesting approximately 25 years ago)

 

[QuentinQuonce]

why is ditto, a pokemon in earlier generations you may actually want multiple of because it's important for breeding, such a fucking doozy to catch? Even in B/W2 where I can pretty much get everything in 1-3 balls, including the Metagross line, it's a pain the ass to catch.

But then give us those 5 star tera raids when breeding is irrelevant, although it was such a fun way to grind out resources when you bring a level 1 breedject that it'll transform into.

"want multiple of them" is probably the exact reason, I would have thought

 

[AztecCroc]

"want multiple of them" is probably the exact reason, I would have thought

Not really, Ditto's catch rate hasn't changed since Gen 1 when there was no reason to get more than one.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Not really, Ditto's catch rate hasn't changed since Gen 1 when there was no reason to get more than one.

Right, but Ditto was a fairly rare encounter in Gen I and so fittingly has a low capture rate - slightly lower than comparably uncommon species like Kangaskhan and Scyther. Not to mention that it's a mysterious and vaguely unnatural-seeming species so not really one you'd expect to be easy to catch (in its own form at least)

 

[Basedwell]

"want multiple of them" is probably the exact reason, I would have thought

breeding's already a task that requires effort, there's no need to make every preliminary step annoying too.

I'd point breeding isn't completely irrelevant as there's pokemon you still need to breed for to get shinys, as well as breeding for egg moves being slightly more practical than passing egg moves via camp as the bred ones can be relearned, whereas passed ones cannot be relearned if forgotten.
Some pokemon also cannot be found in the wild and require to be bred for shinys as well.
It's also the faster way to grind 0 IVs, and the "cheapest" way to get 5-6x31IVs if you haven't stacked bottle caps.

(Still nowhere as necessary as it used to be at least, which tbfh is a major positive in general, and I wouldn't mind breeding to be gone altoghether. "Grind to win" has stopped being interesting approximately 25 years ago)

I'm not that into shiny and assumed sandwiches are easier (on that note, another annoyance: GameFreak is obsessed with food related gimmicks and I've never seen the appeal, I intentionally refuse to learn how most of them function), is it for Pokemon where the first part of the line can't be found in the wild?

I thought about the 0 IV thing and decided 99% of the time it wasn't worth it as the game slows down for me when hatching eggs, when it otherwise worked fine. And not super relevant for the 5IV international ditto thing since you're less likely to get the 0 IV I assumed. Better just to catch in the wild or reset as needed.

I'm not running trick room on cart because I'm too lazy to catch 0 IV. too lazy to play on Cart still honestly.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

I'm not that into shiny and assumed sandwiches are easier (on that note, another annoyance: GameFreak is obsessed with food related gimmicks and I've never seen the appeal, I intentionally refuse to learn how most of them function), is it for Pokemon where the first part of the line can't be found in the wild?

Sandwiches became exponentially more amusing to me when I realized all I needed was to spray Herba Mystica on a slice of bread and intentionally throw the top bread away.

It looks as ridiculous as it sounds.