(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[AztecCroc]

I hope they finally make multi-hit moves and moves like Shell Smash and Anger Shell more streamlined. Like we cannot do

Klawfs attack rose!
Klawfs special attack rose!
Klawfs speed rose!
Klawfs defense dropped!
Klawfs special defense dropped!

Each with their own text box and particle effect. Don’t even get me started on Multihit moves, they got it right in Stadium how have we regressed to having every hit be its own 5 seconds of animation

This isn’t even the only place they could streamline, like having the poison/burn/sandstorm animations not take an extra 5 seconds each, just have it show the health bar and the animation at once and not text box

Stadium 1 handled multi-hits like that because each hit did the exact same damage and crits and secondary effects were only calculated once rather than for each hit. They were closer to something like Magnitude or Present than how they've worked since Gen 2 (and Stadium 2 accordingly had them function exactly like they do now).

Stat changes are separate messages because they're handled separately for each stat due to abilities and such. Though Anger Shell in particular is odd in that it also plays the stat boost/loss animation for each stat rather than once for the boosts and once for the drops. Shell Smash doesn't do that.

 

[Omastar68]

Play Rough lower acc and effect to moonblast. even bp 5 less, what is reaosn if any?

 

[CPU]

The real question is why Moonblast got to keep the 95 BP when the other classic 95 BP special moves (Flamethrower, Surf, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt) all got nerfed to 90 in the same Gen. The 30% effect chance is also a little suspicious, though it's not a status effect.

(Sludge Wave is fine to keep at 95 BP; it differentiates it from Sludge Bomb, has a lower effect chance, is meant to hit multiple targets, and Poison is generally a poor offensive type).

 

[Omastar68]

The real question is why Moonblast got to keep the 95 BP when the other classic 95 BP special moves (Flamethrower, Surf, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt) all got nerfed to 90 in the same Gen. The 30% effect chance is also a little suspicious, though it's not a status effect.

(Sludge Wave is fine to keep at 95 BP; it differentiates it from Sludge Bomb, has a lower effect chance, is meant to hit multiple targets, and Poison is generally a poor offensive type).

Yes that too. I think, bar wave, they should ALL just be 90 bp. That's kinda high enough tbh.

I think some hype for fairy as a newer thing is why, but then we go back to play rough being janky in a comparison. Uh it IS still a great move. Obviously.

Edit: complained cause tend to run play rough mons more than moonblast

 

[pika pal]

The real question is why Moonblast got to keep the 95 BP when the other classic 95 BP special moves (Flamethrower, Surf, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt) all got nerfed to 90 in the same Gen. The 30% effect chance is also a little suspicious, though it's not a status effect.

(Sludge Wave is fine to keep at 95 BP; it differentiates it from Sludge Bomb, has a lower effect chance, is meant to hit multiple targets, and Poison is generally a poor offensive type).

My theory is something similar to Alakazam's Mega, which notably had only a 90 Base Stat increase because its base form received a +10 SpDef increase that made it equal to the Mega rather than the remaining +10 Stat points for the conventional 100 increase until Gen 7 gave the Mega a +10 from 95 -> 105.

Moonblast may have been added as a clone of the various other 95 BP special attacks, sort of filling out "staple" moves like the early game 40 BP, some weird utilities, and a standard "good" power move. Then because it was a separate post-it note from the existing attacks, it wasn't included on the list of "reduce these powers" during the same rebalance. It's entirely speculative and I can't decide if one "order" makes more sense (i.e. did 95 BP Moonblast come before or after the 90 BP power reductions), but it's at least a broad idea that would have two cases that would be more than a random coincidence.

 

[Karxrida]

The real question is why Moonblast got to keep the 95 BP when the other classic 95 BP special moves (Flamethrower, Surf, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt) all got nerfed to 90 in the same Gen. The 30% effect chance is also a little suspicious, though it's not a status effect.

(Sludge Wave is fine to keep at 95 BP; it differentiates it from Sludge Bomb, has a lower effect chance, is meant to hit multiple targets, and Poison is generally a poor offensive type).

I see one of two reasons:

1.) Game Freak wanted to shill Fairy since it was new when Ice Beam and co. were nerfed.
2.) It was supposed to be 90 BP, but stayed at 95 due to miscommunication during development.

For Play Rough, all I have is that Game Freak might have wanted to curb Huge Power Azumarill and Mega Mawile slightly.

 

[R_N]

I see one of two reasons:

1.) Game Freak wanted to shill Fairy since it was new when Ice Beam and co. were nerfed.
2.) It was supposed to be 90 BP, but stayed at 95 due to miscommunication during development.

For Play Rough, all I have is that Game Freak might have wanted to curb Huge Power Azumarill and Mega Mawile slightly.

I think if it was #2 they probably would have "fixed" it in later gens. I think they just wanted Fairy to have the 95 bp special move, for whatever reason.

Play Rough isn't thaaaaat weird. There's quite a few high power (& low power, for that matter) physical moves that have weird drawbacks like this. Classically it's all over the place with things like Fly being 2 turns but also 95% accurate or the Mega Punch/Kicks not being nearly strong enough to offset their low accuracies or Take Down being awful for something that used to only hit 85% of the time. But even newer things often have it like High Horsepower is 95 BP 95% accuracy or Foul Play being 100% accurate but runs off the opponent's attack. Aqua Tail is 90/90 with nothing extra going on.

I think it just sticks out more on Play Rough because it & Spirit Break are the only (standard) physical fairy moves. But they like strangely inaccurate physical moves as a flavor thing.

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

I see one of two reasons:

1.) Game Freak wanted to shill Fairy since it was new when Ice Beam and co. were nerfed.
2.) It was supposed to be 90 BP, but stayed at 95 due to miscommunication during development.

For Play Rough, all I have is that Game Freak might have wanted to curb Huge Power Azumarill and Mega Mawile slightly.

it's the second one. as someone who's actually worked in game design i can confidently state that 90% of inconsistencies like this are the result of two people not checking with each other when they should've

I think if it was #2 they probably would have "fixed" it in later gens. I think they just wanted Fairy to have the 95 bp special move, for whatever reason.

nah, a lot of the time when a dev team notices they goofed a little but it isn't anything majorly meaningful they just go "fuck it" and don't bother ever fixing it

 

[Karxrida]

Am I the only one who finds the town layouts in SV confusing and unmemorable? I can never find anything specific (i.e. stores) if the town is even remotely large and just get lost.

 

[Castersvarog]

Am I the only one who finds the town layouts in SV confusing and unmemorable? I can never find anything specific (i.e. stores) if the town is even remotely large and just get lost.

Yeah, i’ve had to turn on my map pretty constantly just to figure out where to go in towns like to buy any of the battle items

 

[R_N]

Am I the only one who finds the town layouts in SV confusing and unmemorable? I can never find anything specific (i.e. stores) if the town is even remotely large and just get lost.

I find them umemorable mostly because I'm barely hanging around them unless it's Medlai (for the restaurant near the center) or Levincia (for the chansey supply near the center)* but I do agree trying to find anything specific is a nightmare because sometimes stores are just copy/pastes of each other and other times they are distinctly not that but are the same store and also sometimes the signage just isn't immediately obvious.




*I do think that if you do just hang around them there are enough notable landmarks to make them stand out there's just no real reason to go into any of them when most of your time is warping between other points of interest to get to tera crystals or item spots. Also you have a climbing, jumping flying lizard so it's harder to commit pathways to memory...

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

Am I the only one who finds the town layouts in SV confusing and unmemorable? I can never find anything specific (i.e. stores) if the town is even remotely large and just get lost.

i'm really hoping that if they keep going in this particular direction with region design they also keep the legends za mechanic of being able to fast travel to basically any remotely important location

 

[R_N]

i'm really hoping that if they keep going in this particular direction with region design they also keep the legends za mechanic of being able to fast travel to basically any remotely important location

SV kind of already does that, though? It is likely not coincidental that Medali's most important building, Levincia's most releant chansey store and the Super Training guy are all right next to a Pokemon center, and most other locations are either a direct warp or near a (or literally are) a notable landmark.
I think as far as notable locations that you still have to do ab it of a hike towards the only one I can think of is the auction house and even that's not much different from having to warp to a nearby center to walk over to the ball or stone stores.

 

[tentaghost]

i'm really hoping that if they keep going in this particular direction with region design they also keep the legends za mechanic of being able to fast travel to basically any remotely important location

Isnt that just fly?

 

[DaddyBuzzwole]

Isnt that just fly?

i mean like not just one location per city. traditionally fast travel has been limited to just "you land outside the pokemon center" but legends za lets you instantly get to any cafe or any of the big "this is where main characters are" locations in the click of a button. i like that and would appreciate more of it

 

[tentaghost]

i mean like not just one location per city. traditionally fast travel has been limited to just "you land outside the pokemon center"

Usually but not always, like the players house or the pokemon league.

Granted i get what you mean but this isnt really a new mechanic on that front, heck legends arceus was techinically first game with non-fly fast travel so i think this will just be a regular thing moving forward...










...hopefully.

 

[R_N]

If SV had "Z-A Styled" flight, what would that mean exactly? Where else would you go, specifically? I guess they could move some of the flight zones to be right on top of something rather than a small jog away? Flying to the Team Star bases is probably the one big omission and even then there's usually a center right there anyway.

 

[AztecCroc]

If SV had "Z-A Styled" flight, what would that mean exactly? Where else would you go, specifically? I guess they could move some of the flight zones to be right on top of something rather than a small jog away? Flying to the Team Star bases is probably the one big omission and even then there's usually a center right there anyway.

What's wierd about the Star Bases is that they added selectable icons for the Star Bases in an update, but not the ability to fly to them.

 

[Lontra Assassina]

If we're talking about confusing town layouts, I think Paldea is nowhere near as bad as Sinnoh.

 

[Hugin]

SV's towns were definitely confusing, but it wasn't layout. The problem is that, fundamentally, you were visiting the town for:
Pokemon Center
Buyable items
Clothing store
Gym
Restaurants

The Gym and PokeCenter were easy. Large, distinctly designed buildings, that dominate the area. The problem was item shops, clothes shops, and restaurants. There were often multiple of each in a town, scattered throughout, with very basic, non-distinct designs, and no way to tell what each of them sold except by walking up and manually checking. People would memorize a few key spots that were reliable(one sandwich you use repeatedly, a good item shop), but other than that, if you want something specific, you used the wiki or you spent 10 minutes flying to each town and running around like an idiot until you got lucky.

LZA fixed this by making a few very distinct shops(Stone Emporium, Ball Shop), a generic pokemart in the pokecenter, and then the only thing you had to search for was clothing stores, which you won't visit more than a couple times. I still don't love it, but it's at least passable.

 

[Karxrida]

If we're talking about confusing town layouts, I think Paldea is nowhere near as bad as Sinnoh.

Outside of Sunnyshore being a little jank I don't see how Sinnoh is even remotely close to Paldea in this regard. You have maybe 3-4 non-Pokémon Center landmarks that matter per town: Gym, Mart, and sometimes an ancillary building or two like the Contest Hall. The Sinnoh games are also all in topdown, fixed camera angle 2D designs with compact towns that are inherently easier to navigate than full 3D spaces that are kind of to scale.

 

[Lontra Assassina]

Outside of Sunnyshore being a little jank I don't see how Sinnoh is even remotely close to Paldea in this regard. You have maybe 3-4 non-Pokémon Center landmarks that matter per town: Gym, Mart, and sometimes an ancillary building or two like the Contest Hall. The Sinnoh games are also all in topdown, fixed camera angle 2D designs with compact towns that are inherently easier to navigate than full 3D spaces that are kind of to scale.

I dunno, I never found the towns in Paldea particularly hard to navigate. The towns in Sinnoh annoyed me way more because Pokémon Centers and Marts were almost always placed in a nonsensical spot of the map.

 

[Karxrida]

I dunno, I never found the towns in Paldea particularly hard to navigate. The towns in Sinnoh annoyed me way more because Pokémon Centers and Marts were almost always placed in a nonsensical spot of the map.

?

The vast majority of Sinnoh towns have the Center on their main road and/or near where you first enter and also tend to put the Mart within spitting distance of the Center. Plus some towns might as well just be those two buildings with how small they are.

The only time the region is kind of cute with Center and Mart placement is Snowpoint with the mirrored corners, and that's still a relatively small town.

 

[Samtendo09]

A slideshow video about Flinch in VGC (and why Flinch is generally disliked)

This video reminds me a lot why Flinch (from any move other than Fake Out, more specifically) is one of the worst status in the game. Not only it allows degenerate strategies like this that can result a lockdown in singles and even Doubles in Para-Flinch, but it also “makes the rich richer” by rewarding high Speed even more than that stat already is, with the only consistent way is to run Pokémon with Inner Focus… of which not much are viable in VGC except Dragonite to begin with.

Look, I don’t care if “it’s funny when I use it”… Is it really a good idea to leave the Flinch as-is unless made exclusive to the likes of Fake Out and Upper Hand? Not to mention the potential of RNG creep if more viable flinching moves get in the game.

 

[LHF]

I'd like to take a second to complain about the in game for a minute.

I've said this in countless places but the thing I hate most about Pokemon is that they'll introduce a nice QoL change that is entirely optional then MANDATE you use it for no reason

Exhibit A: the EXP Share

In Gens 6-7(haha funny), they reworked the EXP share to be a perfect compromise for players that hated the sometimes slow grinding of the game and made it so your team could collect EXP all at once. This was a good thing, I would argue, bc not everyone has the individual time/effort/motivation/whatever to train up new pokemon. And you didn't HAVE to use it, either, so if you wanted the classic Pokemon experience, that was OK too.

Now? You don't have a choice, every pokemon in your party WILL get experience. So if you want to only train specific Pokemon up so you have balanced levels, you need to box the other ones for a time. And guess what? That doesn't even begin to cover the fact that you now cannot have a Pokemon in your party unless it's EV'd the way you want it to be, for fear of accidentally giving it EVs you don't want. This doesn't bother me much in the main game, but afterward I quite literally cannot have a mon in my party without it being EV'd to my personal preferences. I can't describe how much I hate that choice, even if it's made "easier" by having a box wherever you are on the map.

Exhibit B: Autosave

Genuinely there's no excuse for this one. I can't even begin to explain it. I turned autosave off in PLA for the first time after failing a shiny Pichu in a massive mass outbreak, so that for future hunts I could just manually save when I found the shiny of my choice and work from there. But now you see people exploiting the backup save as a means of bypassing the mandated autosave in PLZA, and you just have to ask yourself, why would you put people through all this hassle? If you leave an option in the game for people to use the backup, they're going to look up how to do it, so all this does is annoy and punish the people too lazy to do it. It also again just continues a theme of Pokemon offering you choices and then removing them for no actual reason.