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Unpopular opinions

Hugin said:
Why haven't we been to South America yet*? Just in Peru, you have rainforest, mountains, oceans, ancient ruins from a variety of cultures...actually Peru is kind of legit. The shape is even long enough to let them do Open World while still having an expected path. Gen 10 location confirmed?

*We know why
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Perú as a Pokemon region is like dream come true for the me from ages ago. It's not happening whatsoever and I'm not looking forward to it anymore, but it was good to toy with the idea from time to time. Here's some fun facts:

1. The Amazon rainforest harbors some of the biggest biodiversity in the planet, like a solid % of all animals.

2. Tumbes has the rare biome, mangrove. You can find regional Feraligatrs there.

3. We already have a Victory Road. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Trail_to_Machu_Picchu

also wow we're at page 666 spoopy
 
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This is gonna be strange given how critical I am of GF's graphical prowess, but given it's unpopular...

I feel most Switch 1st/2nd party titles honestly are behind graphically despite GPU, same for Switch 2 so far. Note I don't mean compared to PS4, as it's silly, but I feel it genuinely was underwhelming. I preferred *Wii U's* at times.

Part of this issue is that Switch 1/2's CPU bottleneck and bandwidth from being handheld and decked does drastically impact certain things. Transparency sorting is suddenly a bigger issue than 6-7th Gen for the drawcalls. Bayonetta 3 suffers from horrid ways of trying to bypass this with aggressive yet ugly dithering, same with Mario Odyssey, though the latter doesn't have much transparent elements to begin with. Alternatively, Nintendo can just use alpha cut textures instead of alpha blended for opacity, but I find it bad, especially for how plastic it looks when it has specular

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They do this in DK Bananza, and his fur is super flat as a result, standing out to other kongs as well who...just don't do it. I prefer how his fur is in Mario Party Superstars, even if that isn't using fur cards at all (which ironically means it'll never suffer from transparency issues). And this ignores how wax DK's skin looks overall, something his art notably doesn't do, ignoring that it's raytraced prerendered

This also was the period that devs...started to not really focus on lighting. Mario Kart 8/DX has a nice light probe system taking advantage of mixed baked lighting, along with the then newfound PBR model for shading, and dynamic directional shadows for chars. Mario Odyssey is more simplified, with char textures overly red tinted for skin. Which is weird cuz MK8 had to deal with a bigger workload (60fps Online multiplayer), while Odyssey is just a singleplayer offline game for the most part

Smash Ultimate has disgusting muted shading with heavy rimlighting. The bland char textures returning from Smash Wii U are more exposed, and art clash for particle styles is present. Chars rarely look like they fit the stage compared to previous entries. Mario and Sonic 2016 unironically looks better than M&S 2020 cuz of how over saturated and unlit shading is in the latter. Pikmin 3 I find better looking than 4

Or whatever the fuck Bandai Namco is doing lately with BLOOM oversaturated spam for lower end stuff. The grass and some chars are nuclear, the buildings weirdly dim, and no shadows besides a basic drop one

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"But Sonikku" you might ask "How does this relate to Pokemon?"

Well the issue is a lot of fans when they want games to improve graphically don't really *know* how to outside better textures. People were gasing up LZA for the rimlight on chars, which I find shit with how much it takes over the model depending on shots. They're perfectly fine with flat toony particles clashing a middle tier detailed environment and char design. Or they want a "cel shaded anime" styled game which 90% of the time has limited lighting and texture diversity

Like I hate to say it, but even if GF suddenly became on level with most of everyone else now, it still won't be ok for me. Cuz the Switch is weirdly handicapping itself, and weird design trends popped up lately. It'll pacify fans at least

This doesn't mean Switch 1/2 doesn't have good looking games fitting for the GPU it uses. Kirby Star Allies (though laggy) and Air Riders are good, same for Mario Party Superstars. Luigi's Mansion 3 was also praised for interior lighting, and Pokemon New Snap is decent mostly (though Prof Mirror has heavy :| for facial expressions). BotW while I nitpick a lot is pretty dynamic for cel shading (though it's also on Wii U...), and Xenoblade's typically good. As much as I dislike Link's Awakening HD's aesthetic, it's graphically done well as well

Hopefully Gen 10 solidifies the graphics workflow, LZA is definitely better than before at least.
 
Krockodile said:
No, it’s because all of them are mechanically repetitive: most of them are physical attackers, with just a Dragon Dance + Sweep (or in Garchomp’s case, Scale Shot + Sweep). Sure, there might be exceptions, like Dragonite being bulky with Roost + Multiscale, Garchomp having Spikes + Stealth Rock as entry hazards, Salamence has Intimidate, and Baxcalibur having unique bulkness with Thermal Body + Ice Body & Aurora Veil. But when you look at it, all of them are the same. Some of them could run mixed coverage like Flamethrower, but that’s not their main bread and butter, and even when they do, it’s just to catch Steel-types like Skarmory or Ferrothorn off guard.
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I do actually want to make a retraction for Salamence, because I realise it's not really accurate. At its initial generation, its stats are a mixed attacker with a 135 attack and 110 special attack. This isn't too far from most 3 mons as they are also mixed attackers like Blaziken, Sceptile, Cacturne, Camerupt, Jirachi, and Metagross. And because all Dragon attacks were special at the time, it could reliably run a mixed set. It's just that after Gen 4 introduced the physical/special split and given that Salamence gained Outrage and Moxie, its best set happens to be an all-physical set, which Salamence favors. Helps that it has a higher attack stat too.

Dragonite would also count, since it started as a cheesy wrapper, and then in Gen 2 and Gen 3, it ran mixed, as Dragonite's dragon moves were special, which happened to work well with its coverage moves like Thunderbolt and Fire Blast. Like Salamence, it also moved to a mainly physical set, but at least it can have a defensive utility mon with Multiscale + Heal Bell.
I guess the overuse of Physical Dragon can be blamed on Garchomp and Baxcalibur, which isn't much. I still think it's annoying that pseudo-legendaries do overuse the dragon type, even if some of them have different flavor in terms of design and move kit, like Dragapult or Hydregion. It doesn't help that the strongest and most popular trainers also tend to use dragons.
 
Ironmage said:
I think that continuing to base regions heavily on real-life locations prevents them from making a more open game worth exploring for its own sake since I've only enjoyed doing that in high fantasy games like Xenoblade. Regardless, if it is necessary, I'd probably pick Iceland. There's something to be said for having clear access to both glaciers and volcanoes.
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Ehhh I'd gently disagree with this. Like, it's not as if Paldea lines up 1-1 with Iberia, there's literally a crater the size of a megacity in the centre of the region. They made a game set in New York in which a good chunk of Manhattan was an ancient desert and in SwSh Edinburgh is portrayed as a frozen forest with like one or two wooden cabins in it. Geography has never really been an issue for them except insofar as the basic shape of the landmass tends to be more or less the same and most of the major cities/towns are placed roughly equivalent to where their counterparts are IRL.

What I'm saying is I don't think they're held back by designing regions after real-world areas. Pretty much all the Pokemon regions to date have a bunch of varied geographical features - deserts, forests, swamps, glaciers, volcanoes - incorporated somewhere on the map no matter how little basis in reality this has. If they want to mix it up, they will.
 
Not the most unpopular opinion, but I'm fine with Luxray gaining Dark an additional type. Whilst it might not make sense thematically and logically, I just think they're just having fun with their favourite mon and I say just let them. Luxray might have been a top-tier mon in-game, but unfortuatenyl it's never been really good competeively because on how slow it is and its only STAB is Wild Charge, which is 90 base power with heavy recoil. It might feel unfair to them that it's not going to be as great like other popular Gen 4 mons like Infernape, Lucario, Garchomp, Gallade, Drapion or even Electivire. I also don't like that people make fun of them making fun of fans wishing Luxray to be part Dark type, they're just having fun and they're not bothering anyone.
 
Krockodile said:
Not the most unpopular opinion, but I'm fine with Luxray gaining Dark an additional type. Whilst it might not make sense thematically and logically, I just think they're just having fun with their favourite mon and I say just let them. Luxray might have been a top-tier mon in-game, but unfortuatenyl it's never been really good competeively because on how slow it is and its only STAB is Wild Charge, which is 90 base power with heavy recoil. It might feel unfair to them that it's not going to be as great like other popular Gen 4 mons like Infernape, Lucario, Garchomp, Gallade, Drapion or even Electivire. I also don't like that people make fun of them making fun of fans wishing Luxray to be part Dark type, they're just having fun and they're not bothering anyone.
I think that continuing to base regions heavily on real-life locations prevents them from making a more open game worth exploring for its own sake since I've only enjoyed doing that in high fantasy games like Xenoblade. Regardless, if it is necessary, I'd probably pick Iceland. There's something to be said for having clear access to both glaciers and volcanoes. By the way, when I’m not gaming I sometimes check out sites like bassbet1 — it’s a different kind of thrill, but also about exploration in a way.
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Agree, people should let fans enjoy their favorite mons, even if it doesn’t make perfect sense thematical
 
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AztecCroc said:
It has Supercell Slam now.
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To be honest some people consider it actually a downgrade to Wild Charge lol..

Yes higher BP, but you're trading 10 BP for the fact that if you thud in a ground type (which you likely will) or just fail that 5% miss chance you take 50% dmg back.

If it was 130 like HJK it would probably be a worthwile trade, but for 10 BPs?... People unironically ran Thunder Punch and Wild Charge on Iron Hand over SuperCell Slam for a reason...
 
I wonder what the thought process was behind Wild Charge being 90 with 1/4 recoil rather than 120 with 1/3 recoil like Flare Blitz. It's been several generations and I've never really understood it.

I think the main problems with Luxray isn't that it needs to be another type but that it has a rather limited movepool and they decided to make it slow but not really that bulky.
 
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CynicalGiant said:
I wonder what the thought process was behind Wild Charge being 90 with 1/4 recoil rather than 120 with 1/3 recoil like Flare Blitz. It's been several generations and I've never really understood it.

I think the main problems with Luxray isn't that it needs to be another type but that it has a rather limited movepool and they decided to make it slow but not really that bulky.
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I suspect they just don't want Electrics to have good physical moves.

It's by design, some types are meant to "not have good/reliable non-signature moves of a certain type".
Rock is infamous for their low accuracy physical moves. Flying for not having any accurate high powered Special move. Dark/Ghost lack high BP non signature moves (Knock Off aside) to make up for how much things they hit neutrally. Etc.
Electric unfortunately "by design" is meant to have a limited physical movepool. Why? No clue, they just decide that's the case and stuck with it.

Helps at least differentiate the types instead of just having 16 offensive types that are all the same except with different names and affinities. (And makes the few pokemon of a given type/alignment that DOES have a strong move of that combo stand out more)
 
Worldie said:
I suspect they just don't want Electrics to have good physical moves.
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it wouldn't be a problem if they didn't keep making physical electric types lmao

Worldie said:
Rock is infamous for their low accuracy physical moves
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yeah this also applies to physical ice moves for some reason
they hate my favorite type and want us to suffer
one of the best offensive types in the game, most rock types are incredibly slow
thank you game freak

one day they'll bless us with a fast rock/ground physical attacker prayge
 
CynicalGiant said:
yeah this also applies to physical ice moves for some reason
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At least they gave us Triple Axel i suppose :wo:

And well, Icicle Spear with Loaded Dice if you want to count it
CynicalGiant said:
one day they'll bless us with a fast rock/ground physical attacker prayge
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Does Lycanroc count? :blobthinking:
I know it's never been THAT impactful competitively but Lycanroc Dusk was always very fun to use in game (plus having priority rock signature move is kinda neat)
 
CynicalGiant said:
I wonder what the thought process was behind Wild Charge being 90 with 1/4 recoil rather than 120 with 1/3 recoil like Flare Blitz. It's been several generations and I've never really understood it.

I think the main problems with Luxray isn't that it needs to be another type but that it has a rather limited movepool and they decided to make it slow but not really that bulky.
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Because Volt Tackle. Volt Tackle takes the role of Electric Double Edge clone, and it already existed in Gen 3. Why they didn't just buff it to 150 BP and make it a Head Smash clone while leaving Wild Charge free is anyone's guess though.
 
A hot take: Dark Types should be immune to Taunt and Parting Shot.
As Dark types, one of their traits is that they focus on tricking their opponent through underhanded means, such as Knock Off, Throat Chop, Snatch, Beat Up or Embargo.
Considering that it's their primary trait, it would also make sense why Dark Types are immune to status moves from mons that have the Prankster ability and Psychic attacks (who can be seen as trickery), especially since they shouldn't fall for someone at their own game.
 
Krockodile said:
A hot take: Dark Types should be immune to Taunt and Parting Shot.
As Dark types, one of their traits is that they focus on tricking their opponent through underhanded means, such as Knock Off, Throat Chop, Snatch, Beat Up or Embargo.
Considering that it's their primary trait, it would also make sense why Dark Types are immune to status moves from mons that have the Prankster ability and Psychic attacks (who can be seen as trickery), especially since they shouldn't fall for someone at their own game.
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Maybe, but at the same time it makes Dark types way too good at support. Even immunity to Prankster gives them good utility. Who knows what will happen if you just can't taunt them period?
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I have 0 idea how unpopular of an opinion this is but I've always found ORAS's versions of Brendan and May really goofy which is a shame because for the most part all the rest of the cast's redesigns look great. I like that Brendan's more tanned and in general their outfits look more suited to a hot, tropical region, but something about their builds just feels so off. At least Wally has a reason for being a scrawny little twig.
 
QuentinQuonce said:
I have 0 idea how unpopular of an opinion this is but I've always found ORAS's versions of Brendan and May really goofy which is a shame because for the most part all the rest of the cast's redesigns look great. I like that Brendan's more tanned and in general their outfits look more suited to a hot, tropical region, but something about their builds just feels so off. At least Wally has a reason for being a scrawny little twig.
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i have no feelings on brendan (he looks like a dumbass in both games) but i hate that they changed mays bandana to a bow. and her new shirt looks kinda silly
 
CynicalGiant said:
unpopular opinion I don't like gen 3's art style (which the remakes did not change my opinion on)
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I find a lot of the Hoenn gym leader and Elite Four artwork to be incredibly bland; the designs are... fine, generally, but most of them have a lot of empty space and look a bit washed out. ORAS improves on almost all of them without really altering their look that much (as opposed to, say, HGSS) because it adds more detail to their outfits, gives their faces and hair more character, and just generally makes them pop more with bolder colours and more interesting poses. Like Brawly for instance just looks vastly improved


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And even for characters like Steven, whose design barely changes, he just looks miles better here (he's also one of the few characters who suits the more spindly build ORAS gives everyone; he's a rich kid, after all)

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QuentinQuonce said:
I find a lot of the Hoenn gym leader and Elite Four artwork to be incredibly bland; the designs are... fine, generally, but most of them have a lot of empty space and look a bit washed out. ORAS improves on almost all of them without really altering their look that much (as opposed to, say, HGSS) because it adds more detail to their outfits, gives their faces and hair more character, and just generally makes them pop more with bolder colours and more interesting poses. Like Brawly for instance just looks vastly improved


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And even for characters like Steven, whose design barely changes, he just looks miles better here (he's also one of the few characters who suits the more spindly build ORAS gives everyone; he's a rich kid, after all)

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I agree that the OG art is often bland, but I don't really like the updates either. They're over-designed imo. In the originals they have anime hair and ranged from fairly plain clothes, to somewhat unusual. In the remakes, they keep the hair, up the saturation, and make their outfits even more over the top. It's like putting a hat on a hat. Steven's art update isn't too bad, but I don't like the new sprite:
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Old:
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In the old one he looks a bit older and his hair is almost a realistic color (and looks better with the purple), which I prefer.
 
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