Slowpoke and wooper are great, zubat is an oddball but from this point onwards it actually became good for ingame runs.
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
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Slowpoke and wooper are great, zubat is an oddball but from this point onwards it actually became good for ingame runs.
I was talking about getting good Johto Pokemon. Most that you find in Johto itself either suck, are Legendary, or come a bit too late to be useful.
Ingame on gsc, houndour comes at lv17 post-game.
Seriously umbreon was the only usable dark type in the generation that introduced them? Sweet Lord.
No I mean like, in HGSS' safari zone I'm pretty sure you can catch a Houndour on your first visit.
Nope. You got to use the blocks to get Houndour. And you don't unlock them until after you beat the Elite Four.
I personally harbor a very intense dislike (If not outright hate) for every Pokemon that is based on dogs, foxes and animals that are very similar to them.
But there are real-life reasons for that...
There's also something that is kind of an unpopular opinion of mine towards myself - I never really got to like the Squirtle line, despite the fact the vast majority of my favourite Pokemon are based on reptiles, and the fact I have pet tortoises... or is precisely that the reason? That they simply don't compare? Yet I do like the Turtwig line, so Audino.
But there are real-life reasons for that...
There's also something that is kind of an unpopular opinion of mine towards myself - I never really got to like the Squirtle line, despite the fact the vast majority of my favourite Pokemon are based on reptiles, and the fact I have pet tortoises... or is precisely that the reason? That they simply don't compare? Yet I do like the Turtwig line, so Audino.
Although they do give you a lot of gamebreakers to work with too, with Cyndaquil and Totodile both reducing the difficulty by a third. Gastly, Geodude, Lapras, Scyther, the Nidoran family, Heracross, Mareep, and Gyarados all take the edge off, amongst a few others. Even some 'mons like Magmar get a chance to shine that no other game really has given them.
...but putting my completely UNbiased ;) love of HG/SS aside, you are still correct in that there are teambuilding issues. Seems like every mon is broken in either the "rocks this game" way or "needs soooooo much TLC" with zero middle ground. Add in an exp curve that does not favor experimentation, I completely understand the hate it gets, even if I get a knee-jerk reaction when people toss in "worst roster ever." That title goes to you D/P and your Ponyta!
[I like Ponyta but seriously Gamefreak what was going on in D/P!?]
Flareon is nowhere near as bad as the flak people constantly give it.
In-game at least. Competitive it's still absolutely useless.
But seriously, hear me out - people always focus on "haha it's biggest stat is attack and it has no moves", but... that always kind of annoys me when it has a perfectly usable 95 base special attack stat. It's not amazing by any means; it's not fantastic, but it still allows it to be a very good user of flamethrower - and then it can still use it's base 130 attack for non-STAB coverage like Return/Strength and Dig (and Shadow Ball in Gen 3). Really it's biggest problem in-game is having a meh speed stat but at least it has some bulk to make up for that - meanwhile other fire-types like Ninetales are kind of crap in comparison. If you really want to use it then go ahead, it's a perfectly usable fire-type, it is absolutely not useless in the slightest. I've used it in Leafgreen and it was perfectly serviceable the entire game.
Hell, it's far from the worst in-game Eeveelution too; it's a far cry from the absolute horrific failures Umbreon, Leafeon and Glaceon manage to be.
In-game at least. Competitive it's still absolutely useless.
But seriously, hear me out - people always focus on "haha it's biggest stat is attack and it has no moves", but... that always kind of annoys me when it has a perfectly usable 95 base special attack stat. It's not amazing by any means; it's not fantastic, but it still allows it to be a very good user of flamethrower - and then it can still use it's base 130 attack for non-STAB coverage like Return/Strength and Dig (and Shadow Ball in Gen 3). Really it's biggest problem in-game is having a meh speed stat but at least it has some bulk to make up for that - meanwhile other fire-types like Ninetales are kind of crap in comparison. If you really want to use it then go ahead, it's a perfectly usable fire-type, it is absolutely not useless in the slightest. I've used it in Leafgreen and it was perfectly serviceable the entire game.
Hell, it's far from the worst in-game Eeveelution too; it's a far cry from the absolute horrific failures Umbreon, Leafeon and Glaceon manage to be.
Well let's be honest, flareon does suck, gen 1 had fire spin vulpix, arcanine feels like a better investment with how rare eevee is and then how rare fire stone becomes for 2 gens with the added hidden gem in extreme speed.
Honestly, jolteon or vaporeon offer more ingame with jolteon breaking the grass water fire thing quite early to boot.
Dont get me wrong I prefer flareon design over any eevee, except leafeon. But it has always been on an awkward position. Well leafeon had it worse...razor leaf add infinity.
Honestly, jolteon or vaporeon offer more ingame with jolteon breaking the grass water fire thing quite early to boot.
Dont get me wrong I prefer flareon design over any eevee, except leafeon. But it has always been on an awkward position. Well leafeon had it worse...razor leaf add infinity.
"how rare eevee is"
it's a gift pokemon in every generation???
fire spin kinda sucks outside of competitive gen 1 (lol), growlithe is exclusive to one version of the game and it's not like there's not a ton of options for electric types and water types over jolteon and vaporeon. All I'm saying is that Flareon is totally useable if you wanna use one and not useless like most people say.
Design-wise Flareon is my favorite Eeveelution as it has a right amount of simplicity and complexity to get across its a Fire-type, an evolution of Eevee, and looks like could be a real animal minus the bright red coloring. And though it is admittedly not a competitive viable Eeveelution in practice, taking it apart it still packs quite a punch with 130 Attack (especially now that it gets Flare Blitz, GF what took you so long...). It could also play a Mixed Attacker with the usable 95 Special Attack though not using that Attack stat at all would be a waste.
Though speaking of which, I do feel that's where Flareon fails a bit. 110 Special Attack seems nice but on a Fire-type is kind of useless. It'll mostly be worried about Rock- and Ground-type moves which are mostly Physcial and still fears Water-types for their super effectiveness and resistance to Fire-types. Though this leads me to a related Unpopular Opinion:
I feel the majority of Eeveelutions fail stat-wise. To me an Eeveelution is more of an elemental than any other Pokemon; thus its stats (and moveset and Abilities) should match the traits of its type. "So what, are you saying Flareon should have been a Special Attacker"? YES! It should have been a speedy Special Attacker with low defensive stats as that's what fire is: a massively destructive that spreads quickly but is "fragile" in its existence. And since fire is a form of energy that translates to Special Attack. I'm not going into specifics, but I do think they should take a real good look at each Eeveelution and re-distribute some of their stats (now realisticly this means their HP stat is stuck as is, but you can work around that. I did it).
And before anyone jump down my throat, yes they can take some liberal stat distribution choices. For example I think Umbreon is fine as is even though some may not see Dark-type as a defensive type, though I could just as easily defend the decision that Dark-types rely more on wearing down their opponent's that outright offense so having a big defense gives it time to set-up.
Though speaking of which, I do feel that's where Flareon fails a bit. 110 Special Attack seems nice but on a Fire-type is kind of useless. It'll mostly be worried about Rock- and Ground-type moves which are mostly Physcial and still fears Water-types for their super effectiveness and resistance to Fire-types. Though this leads me to a related Unpopular Opinion:
I feel the majority of Eeveelutions fail stat-wise. To me an Eeveelution is more of an elemental than any other Pokemon; thus its stats (and moveset and Abilities) should match the traits of its type. "So what, are you saying Flareon should have been a Special Attacker"? YES! It should have been a speedy Special Attacker with low defensive stats as that's what fire is: a massively destructive that spreads quickly but is "fragile" in its existence. And since fire is a form of energy that translates to Special Attack. I'm not going into specifics, but I do think they should take a real good look at each Eeveelution and re-distribute some of their stats (now realisticly this means their HP stat is stuck as is, but you can work around that. I did it).
And before anyone jump down my throat, yes they can take some liberal stat distribution choices. For example I think Umbreon is fine as is even though some may not see Dark-type as a defensive type, though I could just as easily defend the decision that Dark-types rely more on wearing down their opponent's that outright offense so having a big defense gives it time to set-up.
Pardon, eevee is rare and one of a kind in Gen 1 without bugs gen2 onwards allowed you to breed but.... The stones are very scarce on gen 2 and 3 wich either require post game, trading an underwater item, itemfinder or transfer from frlg. This made in game runs with a flareon a complete drag.
In Gen 4 it got partially better and this is where leafeon stole flareon thunder in the memetic incompetence status, umbreon WAS the only dark type available in gsc for main story runs despite it's type being introduced in that generation...but leafeon took it up to a notch, only one stab move for 60 levels, post game only and it was part of the geographical evolution quartet introduced in its generation.
If one mon needs a a pity party that's leafeon despite it being the cutest eevee giving the ribbon holding hand fairy a run for its money.
Most of the Eeveelutions are simply outclassed in their roles rather than flat out bad at them, which in game translates to usable if not an efficiency run's choice.
The only one that remains horrible in-game is Glaceon, just due to availability (the frost rock never shows up in time for you to do much with her). At least Platinum helped Leafeon out (a tiny bit).
Umbreon is more usable than given credit, but a bit unorthodox. It's even more tanky in-game due to the item bag means easy recovery, and toxic stall is fun on bosses. But it is a pain to level up (mine hugged that exp share to keep up with the party) and outside of bosses the "gradual grinder" is not a playstyle many people can get behind.
Flareon, as has been previously stated, is passable. 95 special attack is alright for in-game (but in-game alright is about 80ish base stats) and 130 Attack return's hurt. Flame charge eventually patched speed issues but speed is less crucial in-game due to the item bag and level advantage.
Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon, and Sylveon are the easiest to use by far though, depending on availability.
Geez, this forum is just poking each of my biases tonight. ;) Favorite game and favorite 'mon.
The only one that remains horrible in-game is Glaceon, just due to availability (the frost rock never shows up in time for you to do much with her). At least Platinum helped Leafeon out (a tiny bit).
Umbreon is more usable than given credit, but a bit unorthodox. It's even more tanky in-game due to the item bag means easy recovery, and toxic stall is fun on bosses. But it is a pain to level up (mine hugged that exp share to keep up with the party) and outside of bosses the "gradual grinder" is not a playstyle many people can get behind.
Flareon, as has been previously stated, is passable. 95 special attack is alright for in-game (but in-game alright is about 80ish base stats) and 130 Attack return's hurt. Flame charge eventually patched speed issues but speed is less crucial in-game due to the item bag and level advantage.
Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon, and Sylveon are the easiest to use by far though, depending on availability.
Geez, this forum is just poking each of my biases tonight. ;) Favorite game and favorite 'mon.
1) I would like to hear those reasons as I actually really like the canine Pokémon, which includes several favorites like Ninetales and Stoutland.
2) Really? You don't really like the Squirtle line? But, turtle with water cannons...
I've used Ninetales in almost every single playthrough of LeafGreen (with the exception of the first one where I used Charizard) and I never found it to be crap.
Still 1 per game (GS Celadon Game Corner excluded) until Black 2 and White 2 and doesn't appear at all in Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Black, or White.
Kinda beaten to the punch. And yes, Leafeon might be the cutest Eeveelution.
1) You don't need to look any further than a case of cynophobia.
2) And Blastoise is the only I actually dislike of them (Not so much with Mega Blastoise), because the cannons feel so out of place...
You know what Pokémon I like that not many people do? Dewgong.
I just think it is so freaking cute with a touch of elegance. And with Thick Fat, Ice does 1/8 damage, which is actually pretty cool.
In fact, when I'm done with my current playthrough of X, I plan on trying it out in a second run (which includes other PU Pokémon that I like: Persian, Jumpluff, Torkoal, Wigglytuff, and Golem).
It has kicked in with video games for me before, though. When I played through Twilight Princess, I would look down and just shake my Wiimote until the Skulltulas were dead. Though again, it wasn't as bad in Ocarina of Time (though I am not happy when they show up) and it wasn't a problem at all in Skyward Sword. Phobias are weird.
2) Again, I don't get it, but to each their own.
I just think it is so freaking cute with a touch of elegance. And with Thick Fat, Ice does 1/8 damage, which is actually pretty cool.
In fact, when I'm done with my current playthrough of X, I plan on trying it out in a second run (which includes other PU Pokémon that I like: Persian, Jumpluff, Torkoal, Wigglytuff, and Golem).
1) I actually find that interesting as my arachnophobia doesn't kick in with the Spinarak or Joltik lines. In fact, I find both Spinarak and Galvantula to be pretty cute. Different levels of phobia, I guess.
It has kicked in with video games for me before, though. When I played through Twilight Princess, I would look down and just shake my Wiimote until the Skulltulas were dead. Though again, it wasn't as bad in Ocarina of Time (though I am not happy when they show up) and it wasn't a problem at all in Skyward Sword. Phobias are weird.
2) Again, I don't get it, but to each their own.
I've heard a couple other people say this on other threads, but personally I think team rocket is the worst antagonist in the main series games. They are just the archetypical villain, which in my opinion makes them super boring. Also, unlike the other evil teams, you can play through their entire games without having any idea what they're doing. Ok, I really just mean gen 1, they fixed it for gen 2 and on, but when I actually completely played through gen 1 for the first time when it came out on 3DS I was shocked by the fact that team rocket had very little dialogue. I don't recall them mentioning their supposed aspirations once, it felt so wrong. Just to reiterate, I don't think team rocket is terrible per say, I think they were a decent way to introduce antagonists to Pokemon, but in comparison to team Aqua, magma, or galactic, they come off as very unremarkable and forgettable.
The biggest change I want to the main games' mechanics is for Evasion to be removed. Completely.
Moves having less than 100% accuracy is fine as it's a risk the player takes upon themselves, albeit some of it could do with a... bit of tweaking (see: the discussion on 95% accurate moves in little things that annoy you thread). But things like Double Team are nothing but irritating and no-one actually uses them.
Moves having less than 100% accuracy is fine as it's a risk the player takes upon themselves, albeit some of it could do with a... bit of tweaking (see: the discussion on 95% accurate moves in little things that annoy you thread). But things like Double Team are nothing but irritating and no-one actually uses them.
The problem with Evasion is that its such a simple concept you almost can't remove it (and there's Move and Abilities that use it). I thought about how can Evasion be made both less annoying yet also viable. My only idea is one I said before we met with mixed opinions. My idea is that Evasion only affects moves with less than 100% Accuracy (or moves which had their Accuracy decreased). Yeah, it sort of goes against the idea but here's my thinking:
A move who's Accuracy is 100% means it's suppose hit all the time.
"But increasing Evasion means the Pokemon makes itself harder to hit."
Yes, but that's mainly from surprise. Once the Pokemon gets used to it it'll just be like it's battling a slightly different Pokemon. So maybe when an Evasion move is used or an Ability activates for that turn it acts like a Protect/Detect, but only for that turn.
Anyway, while 100% and Perfect Accuracy moves will still always hit, moves with less than 100% Accuracy or had it decreased has Evasion come back in play. Now that the move can miss normally, the Pokemon's Evasion tactic just amplifies this.
"But what about Perfect Accuracy moves like Swift & Aerial Ace? They're gimmick is gone now."
Not neccisarily. True their gimmick will be nerfed, but since their Accuracy can't be decreased that means they're still the only moves which will never be affected by Evasion.
"Okay, so it's less annoying I guess, but how does it make it viable?"
Well to make it viable something else has to be done with it. In exchange for it no longer affecting 100% Accuracy Moves (unless their Accuracy has been lowered) I think they should increase how likely the Pokemon is to miss. In doing so I think it would have an interesting affect on the meta game between Power verses reliability. Most of the powerful moves have less than 100% Accuracy, meaning they'll be susceptible to Evasion from the start (unless their Accuracy has been increased to 100%). So it'll become a new factor to consider in battle, especially if the opponent is using a defensive Pokemon. Do you use the powerful but less accurate move and hope they don't have Evasion or the Evasion doesn't mess with you too badly, or use a reliable but less powerful move to make that a non-issue?
I just would be fine if they reformulate it so that way if you want to dodgetank you actually have to put in considerable EFFORT to set up something that is not immediately laughed like (like using both moveslots AND item slot to dodgetank and maybe even beyond that in order to get something beyond like a 50% max dodge). In that case while it still is probabilistic, it at least feels like something you'd work hard to do.
But why would anyone use Evasion then? If its difficult to set up you might as well just use that moveslot for another attack or strategy.