now you're just inventing problems to complain about, there is no confirmation that we'll be able to "create" pokemon nor is there anything pointing to that being the case
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
If it helps, or is just copium, the buildings specifically designed to be different look fine. It's really the common/copypasted buildings that really are just boxes painted with windows on them. If they improve them enough, that will take care of most of my issues plus the fact a lot of NPCs are just standing around.
Mega Audino is one of my favorite designs in the entire series tbh
I think it's less "plot stuff" and more them teasing this game's equivalent of gym badges, like how PLA had Nobles
i wonder if that'll be related to either wild zones or something around the prism tower (or both). do we have to meet goals to unlock wild zones or expand them perhaps?
I'm not even complaining lmao. This is something I thought Pokemon would do since I was 12.
Man I'm really conflicted on whether I want Kalosian Emboar or Mega Emboar. Latter could be insanely raw but the former would allow me to run it and Chesnaught, my other underrated beefy warrior GOAT without type overlap
My money's on Mega Emboar being more likely. Like you said, Kalosian Emboar likely wouldn't be Fighting, and it be kinda awkward for Tepig to change type twice. Also...
They're *going* to be Grass/Fairy, Fire/Fighting, and Water/Dark
I like how the website says AZ "claims to be" 3000 years old, implying that even all this time later many people still don't believe his story
Honestly casting him as the weird mystical hermit/mentor figure that nobody can get a read on is kind of brilliant
Honestly casting him as the weird mystical hermit/mentor figure that nobody can get a read on is kind of brilliant
I think it's important to remember that while the loudest or most radical opinions might be the ones that get the most attention, they are not the majority.
Most people will have overall positive or negative inclinations towards any new game; a mix things they look forward to or are optimistic about, along with things they are critical or less optimistic about, and will come to a conclusion one way or the other. They will probably post some of their thoughts online and then leave it be.
The majority will post nothing at all, either simply reading the discourse or checking out entirely.
Some will summarise their thoughts into a few words. "This looks amazing!" "This looks okay." "This sucks." "Worst game ever. Pokémon is dead." Not particularly informative as to why they think those things, but at least it gives you some insight into the general reaction and attitudes towards a game.
The critical, negative or even abusive voices do not represent the majority.
It is also worth considering the other side of the coin. While posting positively might invoke the vitriol of those with more negative perceptions of a game, being critical of it, however polite and reasonable your criticisms may be, can invoke the wrath of a game's ardent defenders. And often they can indulge in even worse behaviour than the critics, because they have the moral justification of "positivity". They are the good guys, fighting "hate". And so the ends justify any means.
I have been very critical of the series in recent years, particularly the past decade or so of games. But I have always tried to explain and justify my critiques, and would not fault anyone for liking any of the games. They all have their redeeming qualities and things I like about them in spite of my criticism. You like what you like at the end of the day. I criticise because I care about the series and I want the games to improve, not because I am a mindless hater who wants to ruin everyone's fun.
But for some, this all falls on deaf ears, and I am derided as a toxic, abusive hater.
None of this diminishes what you say. There are people who will hate you for liking the game and abuse you for having anything positive to say about it. I am not denying that.
All I am saying is that it is worth having some perspective. Despite what we may see most or getting the most attention online, the majority of people are quite polite and reasonable. They may disagree or have their criticisms, but they are not bad, hateful people.
Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of assuming that the entire community, or just the half with bad things to say about the game, is hateful, or that those with positive things to say about the game are the only ones receiving abuse.
Okay, imma put the bit on pause.
I don't have a huge issue with Mega Audino's design. It's not my favorite, but it doesn't make the list of designs I outright dislike. My main issues are that Game Freak decided to to give it a crappy ability that's not even good in Doubles such that it's basically the worst Mega we got, and it's the only Unova Mega on top of that. It feels like a cruel joke that the sole Gen 5 Mega was handed to a Pokémon that wasn't particularly popular and didn't turn out to be good enough to justify its existence.
This is interesting, mainly because as a sequel they would have to deal with the XY protagonist capturing them, something that they have not really done outside of...well, the other sequels (original Johto and BW2, trough HGSS had the exxuse that Red didn't necessary have to catch any legendary, while Xerneas/Yveltal were mandatory) with Unova being able to easily handwave it and even incorporate the legendaries captured in the previous game in the narrative. But as you say, with this being a single version instead of paired ones, I don't think there is much to do in that aspect other than being very vague and them just being in the wild again for the player to battle. Hopefully they do have some plot relevance tho, because they felt so incredibly forced on their own debut games.
To add into this, as I have seen lately with the Monster Hunter leaks community, it can be just as toxic to not allow any kind of criticism and get upset about them than being a spiteful hater.
I know it's easier said than done but really, if your main takeaway from a fandom is "this is too toxic because they are too negative/positive/whatever and they don't let me enjoy this very same thing we are fans of" you need to stay out of it for a while. Really, in my experience most Internet spaces are bubbles, echo chambers of sorts (even here is no different) and you just have to learn in which ones you are comfortable expressing your opinion without being verbally assaulted for not agreeing with most people. As someone with mental illnesses, I would even argue most of the Internet is toxic in nature, but really you just have to learn to adapt to it or just plain try to ignore it.
A reaction to any game, no matter if is positive or negative, will never be toxic on principle because at the end of the day are just first impressions or opinions. Random comments/tweets/whatever on a general ZA discussion may not be very insightful (the already mentioned "I hate this" and such) but as long as they are not actively attacking those that disagree with them they are not bad. I know it's usually said it's hard to get the intention when just reading, but I think context can make it pretty obvious when someone is approaching something as a healthy discussion or just as a dismiss of other people's thoughts.
tldr: if they are not toxic about it, let people enjoy things, but let them complain about them too
The commercial explicitly says in the disclaimer that Pokémon obtained in champions cannot be transferred to home.
Honestly I'm not sure if it's too early for that. The idea was just introduced on our literslly last main series content, a DLC done by a different team. I think it's way more likely to see it on Gen 10 than on ZA which presumably was being worked on since Daybreak released.
This is a very fair point, but you are not considering the funny possibility of Emboar being Ghost somehow.
It's just fitting. It was the turning point for the fandom with Fire/Fighting, when three starters in a row with the same typing became too much.
And our last two fire starters have been Fire/Ghost. Emboar can repeat its move. And gather even more hate.
Yeah.
Can't exactly have the standard Gym Leader challenge structure in a single city, but Lumiose is modern enough to have battling be a big deal, especially with Megas on deck.
That'd be a fairly elegant way to encourage trainer battles and have even other leaders/E4 drop by. After all, the Ashnime had him run the fade with Bea while she was out and about.
So re: Showdown, I think it's a bit more up in the air than we might think. On one hand, it is a sign for not getting DMCA'd that Showdown hasn't gotten it around this time. It's definitely the most likely time to do so. And I mean, Showdown is just free VGC testing and that's really useful. Most VGC players do use it.
But at the same time, perhaps it is worth noting that being on smogon, there's a bit of a bubble about the community here. Most of my Pokemon circles are not on Smogon or Reddit, so I can definitely say that the reputation the site has is significantly worse than i think is being realized here. From what I've seen (SEEN, PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS, NOT OBJECTIVE FACT etc.):
- Pokemon's fanbase already has a pretty bad reputation for being toxic
- Then you account for that a lot of that is seen as concentrated in competitive circles
- Then you account for a lot of people who complain about it dislike Showdown more than VGC for the toxicity
- Based off of what I'm seeing in LZA, it looks like Game Freak does wish to address some fan concerns. LZA is a lot like what fans were hoping for mostly, and the Fall 2025 part is really time in the oven. In the circles I've been in, toxicity of competitive and the desire to play mostly for in-game fun and lore is real. I've flat out seen people compare PS and Smogon to League in levels of toxicity. So there absolutely is a level of liability for GF here.
(note that this is not meant as personal opinion or a dig against y'all, more an analysis of where we stand rn)
Again, we don't know a lot about Champions right now so there's a good bit of this that would depend on speculation that I am not gonna do here. But do understand that it is pretty strongly within game freak's interests to have control of the main battle simulator ATP.
Does this mean the end of Smogon? Not necessarily. Does it mean the end of OU and the current tiering system as we know it? Probably, it's a pretty big blow. At the end of the day though it does not seem like Game Freak wants to focus much on balancing specifically for 6v6 singles. And to be frank I think that this is the point of Champions, to separate competitive from in-game in a way that GF can manage.
But at the same time, perhaps it is worth noting that being on smogon, there's a bit of a bubble about the community here. Most of my Pokemon circles are not on Smogon or Reddit, so I can definitely say that the reputation the site has is significantly worse than i think is being realized here. From what I've seen (SEEN, PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS, NOT OBJECTIVE FACT etc.):
- Pokemon's fanbase already has a pretty bad reputation for being toxic
- Then you account for that a lot of that is seen as concentrated in competitive circles
- Then you account for a lot of people who complain about it dislike Showdown more than VGC for the toxicity
- Based off of what I'm seeing in LZA, it looks like Game Freak does wish to address some fan concerns. LZA is a lot like what fans were hoping for mostly, and the Fall 2025 part is really time in the oven. In the circles I've been in, toxicity of competitive and the desire to play mostly for in-game fun and lore is real. I've flat out seen people compare PS and Smogon to League in levels of toxicity. So there absolutely is a level of liability for GF here.
(note that this is not meant as personal opinion or a dig against y'all, more an analysis of where we stand rn)
Again, we don't know a lot about Champions right now so there's a good bit of this that would depend on speculation that I am not gonna do here. But do understand that it is pretty strongly within game freak's interests to have control of the main battle simulator ATP.
Does this mean the end of Smogon? Not necessarily. Does it mean the end of OU and the current tiering system as we know it? Probably, it's a pretty big blow. At the end of the day though it does not seem like Game Freak wants to focus much on balancing specifically for 6v6 singles. And to be frank I think that this is the point of Champions, to separate competitive from in-game in a way that GF can manage.
inb4 "They allied with the former champion in that crisis, and then they went their separate ways"
I'll be surprised if Calem/Serena even show up, let alone pull something like interfering with a Legendary's availability like that.
Emboar is going to form a stable with Incineroar as the biggest starter heels in the franchise. Talk about massive heat!
i will start sobbing uncontrollably if this version of emboar is a fire/dark or fire/ghost, PLEASE just let it have its own identity i beg
Do we expect them to stick to the "Megas don't increase HP" rule or will they break it? I feel like they played around with it through Zygarde and Terapagos.
On that note, if Zygarde were to get a Mega, how do think that would work? Because a Mega adds +100 stats, but would it be to his Complete form or regular? Or they may thinks it is too complicated and not do a mega lol
On that note, if Zygarde were to get a Mega, how do think that would work? Because a Mega adds +100 stats, but would it be to his Complete form or regular? Or they may thinks it is too complicated and not do a mega lol
I think probably no mega for Zygarde. It's never really had a proper chance to show off the forms it already has.
I think you touched on another issue there. I somewhat agree, but I am not convinced that the context can be as obvious to everyone as you might hope.
Most of the communication we experience online is text based, or in the case of videos, impersonal and one-sided. It can be easy to misinterpret someone's intent due to the lack of social cues one could usually leverage in face-to-face communication to discern someone's true intent.
Jokes and sarcasm are particularly susceptible to this. What might otherwise be easily recognised as an amusing quip in person due to facial expression or vocal tone, can appear very rude, cruel or aggressive when read as a YouTube comment or forum post, isolated from any other context. Emojis help a little, but can only go so far.
And as is often raised in discussions regarding internet toxicity, the internet is very impersonal and largely anonymous. It is very easy to unload waves of vitriol on a person when they are just an avatar, a name and text on a screen. You see people at their most extreme online, even expressing ideas they do not actually hold to provoke a reaction, where they might otherwise be more measured and considerate if you were to hold the same discussion in person.
What I want:
Grass/Fire Meganium (Sunflower)
Fire/Water Emboar (Pig in cauldron)
Water/Grass Feraligatr (Swamps)
What likely will happen
Grass/Fairy Meganium
Feraligatr getting either Dark or Fighting
Emboar getting Ghost or Psychic
I actually do really hope Meganium's regional form is Grass/Fire though. Really Really do. And having Flower Gift as an Hidden Ability. Sun + Flower Gift + Fire STAB would be an absolutely brutal combo and GameFreak OWES Meganium that.
Grass/Fire Meganium (Sunflower)
Fire/Water Emboar (Pig in cauldron)
Water/Grass Feraligatr (Swamps)
What likely will happen
Grass/Fairy Meganium
Feraligatr getting either Dark or Fighting
Emboar getting Ghost or Psychic
I actually do really hope Meganium's regional form is Grass/Fire though. Really Really do. And having Flower Gift as an Hidden Ability. Sun + Flower Gift + Fire STAB would be an absolutely brutal combo and GameFreak OWES Meganium that.
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The Teraleak had files on the anime which revealed a future episode has a planned fight between Mega Zygarde and Mega Zeraora