Unpopular opinions

[Kurona]

Ok lets find out where that crazy quote is from:

Heckler456
from
resetera, a tread posted last thuesday
found thanks to
Joe Merrick webmastater of Serebii.net

not the only guy saying that and in fact one of the more understated voices, and yes the forum sucks but honest to goodness game reporters post there along other "industry insiders" like Joe there

believe it or not, there are people, self-proclaimed gamers that do in fact "not consider any pokemon after the first 151, real"

Like I said: they exist, but not in any serious capacity. And like you said, that's one of the understated voices.
My point isn't even that they don't exist. It's that they haven't been a major voice on Smogon or any other major Pokémon community for a long, long time; so pointing out one or two examples that are still sticking around doesn't disprove my point, show anything about the Pokémon community as it is today, or say anything really. You can find examples of any opinion if you look hard enough; it doesn't mean it's something the whole community holds dear.

If you feel the forum is bad, by the by, I might recommend not trawling it for specific posts. It's not good for you.

 

[Rapti]

I'm just following Joe wherever he goes in case he gives some info on future games P:

anyway my original point is that I hope Gamefreak doesn't listen to people that want the franchise to regress because of nostalgia cause is bad for it as a whole, cause the whole Kanto nostalgia thing from the last two gens is getting horribly thick (also some comments by Joe about the next game that are not very encouraging in this front)

 

[Sondero]

take it from a comics fan: nostalgia kills franchises, it killed the comic industry (not superheroes, comics, and even superhero comics are dying due to the endless recycling of plotlines and refusal to have the characters develop in any way); you "grow" with your audience, you die with it

hopefully Gamefreak realizes that they have fans with no attachment to gen I before Pokémon becomes as relevant as Woody Woodpecker (alas poor Woody, I knew you well) you a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy, how abhorred all those reboots they put you in, at least you where treated better than Felix

I hate to say it, but Gen 1 nostalgia still seems extremely effective.

With the way GF pushes Gen 1 nostalgia, while still making the games appealing to 7-12 year-olds, even the new fans are gaining an attachment to Gen 1, not directly, but to the shallow rehashes of them. Charizard isn't just a Gen 1 starter any more, it's a starter in Gen 6 as well, where it has a version specific mega evolution when the new starter doesn't, as well as the fact that it's a starter and one of the first Pokemon you can catch in Pokemon Go, when it was at its most popular.

Speaking of which, remember how big of an impact Pokemon go had? It was bare-bones and only had Gen 1 Pokemon when it came out. Nostalgia alone, combined with a gimmick of the extremely shallow feeling of "Pokemon in real life!" made Pokemon go a worldwide phenomenon. They didn't even have to do a Pokemon MMO to become one of the world's most popular Phone games, they just put in tiny interactions with other players and a miniscule battle system.

Sure, eventually GF will have to think of a way to make the BotW equivalent for Pokemon, but if sales and good reviews keep being great, then they have no incentive to innovate.
Not to mention that making a BotW-equivalent would be an even greater challenge for Pokemon, since all Nintendo had to do for BotW was take what's already popular and done 1000x in the past for other franchises, that is making it an above average open world exploration game. But for Pokemon, there's no such obviously popular genre it could take on.

The biggest idea that's been flung around for Pokemon has been an all-regions game. That would be ambitious and if pulled off right a massive game that players could explore for months. But if Pokemon keeps being the most profitable franchise in the world while getting decent reviews, then they won't feel an incentive to do something like that.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Take it from a comics fan: nostalgia kills franchises, it killed the comic industry (not superheroes, comics, and even superhero comics are dying due to the endless recycling of plotlines and refusal to have the characters develop in any way); you "grow" with your audience, you die with it.

Erm, I generally agree except with that last part. The reason we have this problem is because franchises are trying not to die.

While you do grow with your audience, ideally at the same time you also introduce new things for younger audiences to connect themselves to. That way, as time moves on, when the older audience begins to wane you have the new content with its audience to focus and expand upon. Like if this was done in comic books, while Bruce Wayne would be the original Batman there would then probably be a legacy of Robins who became Batman (and eventually get a Robin or two of their own who may pick up the mantel).

As we're discussing, Pokemon has the perfect way to do this with the Gens. If we were following that logic, right now we'd probably be in the midst of a Gen IV nostalgia pandering. Now obviously this doesn't mean you should ignore the other gens, just that a certain older gen gets slightly more attention and have more of their Pokemon to appear. In addition the current gen Pokemon should always be at the forefront and getting the bulk or at least as much as half of the new mechanics applied to them. I'm still surprised that no Gen VI Pokemon aside from Diancie got a Mega Evolution (especially the Kalos starters, yet the Kanto Starters did and later the Hoenn Starters for ORAS). Now Z-Moves were a BIT more fair as several Gen VII Pokemon got signature ones, but a good chunk of that were released in USUM as SM had many which were Kanto Pokemon (notoriously two for Pikachu and one for Snorlax which was an Event Pokemon). Also I kind of don't like Signature Z-Moves, like the reason they abandoned Mega Evo is because they wanted a mechanic all Pokemon could use, and while the basic Z-Moves do that the signature Z-Moves do exactly what they complained Mega Evos did!

A question to those saying that Gen I pandering is effective: is that because all generation of fans have some connection to the Gen I Pokemon... or is it because Pokemon is a popular franchise and Gen I pandering is the ONLY nostalgia they use, so by default it looks effective.

Don't get me wrong, I started in Gen I and my favorite Pokemon is Charizard (though I would say my favorite games are Gen V). I want to see Gen I stuff... but I also want to see Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola stuff too. My line is really crossed when they lock a new mechanic like Z-Moves or especially Region Variants behind a certain generation of Pokemon.

 

[Rapti]

While you do grow with your audience, ideally at the same time you also introduce new things for younger audiences to connect themselves to. That way, as time moves on, when the older audience begins to wane you have the new content with its audience to focus and expand upon. Like if this was done in comic books, while Bruce Wayne would be the original Batman there would then probably be a legacy of Robins who became Batman (and eventually get a Robin or two of their own who may pick up the mantel).

Which would be a better story (and in fact is what happened, there's been 5 different Robins) as opposed to the stagnation the comics currently have
and before someone goes "hey I'm a big Batman fan" let me ask you, when is the last time you read a Batman comic? not a cartoon, not a movie, a comic

back in the day comics where all ages and when forced to go kids only Marvel found a way to keep them all ages anyway, they used to sell a ton, comics where a huge part of pop culture
then the 80s happened and comics where "mature" and by the mid nineties the industry was dying; comics and cartoons keep superheroes going but by and large comics are dead
and that's for two reasons:
1 endless appeal to nostalgia (marketing to kids as if it was still the 50s you killed you own franchises Harvey) and
2 "growing up with your audience"; Superman, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four among many others lost their supporting characters (which in cases like Superman even held their own series before), their story direction and of course their sales by ignoring children and trying to cater to adults

appealing to nostalgia kills franchises, you may think it "pays off" but that's only in the short term, the very short term, just look at Mega Man
sure Mega Man 9 sold a lot but lets look at the franchise before that
ever since 1987 we had at least 1 yearly release, whether it be the classic series, the X series, the Zero series, Battle Network, you could always count on a Mega Man game every year, every other year if times where lean
then Mega Man 9 happened and it was a nostalgia fest and the mainstream press picked it up and the Capcom released Mega Man 10 and
no
one
bought
it
I mean yes the fans bought it but after Mega Man 10 (another nostalgia fest for those who don't know) the whole franchise went abandoned for over 8 years
nostalgia kills

as for franchises that try to appeal to older audiences at the expense of kids just look at Bomberman Zero


The best thing you can do with a franchise is to appeal to all ages, but if you can't do that appeal to kids
never rely on nostalgia, never abandon the children demographic
children are the future
fuck the guy that says "I'm a 20 something year old now how does this franchise appeal to me"
that guy?
fuck him

 

[HONK]

1) I Really dislike Kanto... The games were buggy, the soundtrack wasn't anything special, Several designs were very uninteresting.
2) Unova is my favorite reigon! Go Gen 5!
3) Black and White 2 were awesome! I Love how instead of getting a extra game thats just an improved version, we get a continuation of the storyline, with some of our favorite rivals grown up, new gym leaders, etc.
4) Trubbish is so cute!
5) My least favorite type is dragon, majorty of them just like like regular dragons to come from a fairy tale... Nothing really special.
6) Fairy types are great, We got something to balance out the dragon types, and I Love the designs of several fairy types.
7) Was Whitney's miltank really that hard...?
8) I'm not a huge fan of eevee and it's evolutions. I Would rather have more new and fresh designs, rather than type evolutions for the same pokemon.
9) I Choose the grass starters
10) My favorite mega is mega manectric. (it's a lightning bolt with legs and that's awesome!)
11) I Prefer trial captains to gyms

 

[yourDeadGrandad]

I choose the grass starters too, but my favourite type is rock, so it lets me roflstomp the rival's starter.

 

[ACottontail]

Chikorita is the best Johto starter. It has two powerful attacking moves in Petal dance and body slam and it learns a healing move by leveling up. Though it's level up move pool lacks a little in type coverage who needs that when you can heal your self? The only type Chikorita's level up move pool can't hit neutrally is steel, but that is what the rest of your team is for.

 

[Worldie]

Chikorita is the best Johto starter. It has two powerful attacking moves in Petal dance and body slam and it learns a healing move by leveling up. Though it's level up move pool lacks a little in type coverage who needs that when you can heal your self? The only type Chikorita's level up move pool can't hit neutrally is steel, but that is what the rest of your team is for.

Except... Chikorita and its evo don't learn Petal Dance in gen 2. The move was only added in gen 4 (as well as Aromatheraphy)
The only stab it gets is Razor Leaf and.... Solar Beam before gen 4.

Its gen 2 movepool is a massive disaster :(

(that said, Grass master race ANYWAY, fite me if disagree)

 

[Mova]

If there's a thing I really like about Gen 1's designs, it's that I enjoy seeing the angery eyes slapped on dino-like monsters. But I also appreciate that designs from Gen 2 and onward look friendlier. I feel either indifferent or better about all of them, but I can accept that art styles change over time, even if they're not necessarily designed by the same person.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Chikorita is the best Johto starter. It has two powerful attacking moves in Petal dance and body slam and it learns a healing move by leveling up. Though it's level up move pool lacks a little in type coverage who needs that when you can heal your self? The only type Chikorita's level up move pool can't hit neutrally is steel, but that is what the rest of your team is for.

Will. Not. Die.

 

[Level 51]

Chikorita is the best Johto starter. It has two powerful attacking moves in Petal dance and body slam and it learns a healing move by leveling up. Though it's level up move pool lacks a little in type coverage who needs that when you can heal your self? The only type Chikorita's level up move pool can't hit neutrally is steel, but that is what the rest of your team is for.

so there's literally only 3 types normal can't hit for neutral and it can't even cover all 3

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

Chikorita is the best Johto starter. It has two powerful attacking moves in Petal dance and body slam and it learns a healing move by leveling up. Though it's level up move pool lacks a little in type coverage who needs that when you can heal your self? The only type Chikorita's level up move pool can't hit neutrally is steel, but that is what the rest of your team is for.

so there's literally only 3 types normal can't hit for neutral and it can't even cover all 3

It's actually more like it can only cover 1.25 of those 3 types, the Gengar line resists grass.

Edit: Sorry, wrong quote

 

[Magnus0]

I'm not sure how unpopular this thought is, bit I think the type matchup chart needs a massive rework. There are so many matchups that don't make sense at all from a logical point of view, and balance wise it's even worse.

Like, the introduction of the fairy type was a decent attempt at balancing the previously OP dragon type, but it also nerfed both fire and bug by resisting those types. Bug in particular was already resisted by like six types, making it even weaker offensively than it already was. Why?

The fighting type is a good example of a type that makes no sense in the type chart. It's super effective against ice, rock and steel, three extremely hard materials. Even if ice and some kinds of rock and steel can be kinda fragile, punching it has still got to hurt. Meanwhile, kicking a bug is not very effective. The logic here can't be that bugs have a hard exoskeleton that protects them, because fighting types in the pokemon world can punch their way through steel too, apparently.

I think with how ingrained the chart is in people's memory, it's too late to realistically have any major reworks at this point, which I think is a shame. I'm honestly tempted to redesign a whole type chart from the ground up, using as much logic as possible while still keeping balance in high regards. Could be a fun community project (even though I'm sure it has been done at some point somewhere), though I'm not sure if the Smogon forum is the right place for it.

 

[hypno28]

Like, the introduction of the fairy type was a decent attempt at balancing the previously OP dragon type, but it also nerfed both fire and bug by resisting those types.

It doesn't resist Fire; Fire resists it.

The fighting type is a good example of a type that makes no sense in the type chart. It's super effective against ice, rock and steel, three extremely hard materials. Even if ice and some kinds of rock and steel can be kinda fragile, punching it has still got to hurt. Meanwhile, kicking a bug is not very effective. The logic here can't be that bugs have a hard exoskeleton that protects them, because fighting types in the pokemon world can punch their way through steel too, apparently.

Isn't the logic that specific (fighting) techniques and types of strength are needed to break those materials? I mean, I always assumed it was inspired by the cliche of a guy karate-chopping through wood or whatever.

I always figured Bug resisted it because of the way bugs move -- like when you're trying to hit a fly and it keeps just evading you. I guess if the move is landing, that logic shouldn't apply (not that it would stop them using it as a justification)...maybe the moves are only half-connecting because the bugs are scurrying.

 

[Magnus0]

It doesn't resist Fire; Fire resists it.


Isn't the logic that specific (fighting) techniques and types of strength are needed to break those materials? I mean, I always assumed it was inspired by the cliche of a guy karate-chopping through wood or whatever.

I always figured Bug resisted it because of the way bugs move -- like when you're trying to hit a fly and it keeps just evading you. I guess if the move is landing, that logic shouldn't apply (not that it would stop them using it as a justification)...maybe the moves are only half-connecting because the bugs are scurrying.

Oh, my mistake about the fire vs fairy matchup. I guess the chart isn't so ingraned after all.

I think the logic you described for bugs resisting fighting is actually the logic used on flying types resisting fighting. This makes sense because fighting types are tied to the ground and don't have any pojectiles they can use, so they can't reach the flying pokemon. Other types that flying resists, like ground and grass, share the same kind of logic. Both types are bound to the ground as well and are therefore unable to reach flying pokemon, whether they are bugs or not. Non-flying bugs like catterpillers have no business tanking hits from a fighting type though.

 

[Worldie]

You can also see the bug/fighting issue in another way, a bit more metaphoric (like, half of the type chart does): have you ever tried to fight a swarm of insects? Your punches don't really do anything, even if you squash some, the whole swarm is still there ignoring your hits.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I've looked through the Type Chart to see if any changes could be made but for the most part what we have makes sense or is there for balancing reasons. The only changes I could make was:

1. Normal is neutral to Fighting. Yes, this would mean Normal would have no weaknesses, but isn't that sort of the point? It has no weaknesses but has nothing it's super effective against either.
2. Dark resist Normal. A tricky one. I feel Dark needs at least one more thing in its favor though the only thing I can think of is having it resist Normal-types with the idea they'd use trickery to weaken a hit.
3. Grass is no longer resisted by Bug. Yes, bugs eat plants, but only if the bug has evolved to resist a certain plant's defensive system would it not be effected by a plant, and only that species of plant. And with fungus also being shoved in with the Grass-types and how certain fungus can take control of a bug I think we can assume Grass to Bug would be neutral (though Bug would still be Super Effective against Grass).
4. Poison is no longer resisted by Bug. How did this make any sense to begin with? Bugs are no more immune to poison than any other life form. Plenty of bugs are poisonous either to kill other bugs or protect themselves from being eaten by other bugs.
4. Bug is no longer resisted by Poison. Not sure what the exact thoughts here, though since Bug has a lot that resist it I think letting Bug hit it for neutral would help add balance.
5. Bug is resistant to Psychic. Assuming Psychic attacks are meant to mess with the minds or bodily functions of the target, if Psychic-types are weak to Bug-type moves because they can't properly read their alien-like minds then shouldn't the same go for trying to mess with them?
6. Bug is no longer resisted by Fighting. Okay, I get Bug resisting Fighting due to a number of factors, but why also the other way around? How does knowing martial arts protect you from the various ways a bug can attack you?
7. Water is weak to Poison. Pollution. "But wait, depending on the size of the water wouldn't it dilute the poison?". There's an old adage that comes to mind: Put a spoonful of sewage into a barrel of wine and it becomes sewage, put a spoonful of wine into a barrel of sewage and it's still sewage. Plus we're not attacking water itself, we're attacking an organism with water-based powers. If anything the more liquid composition of the organism would allow the poison to spread faster through the body.

Now these are only minor adjustments that sorta help certain Types. However the problems many types still have remain such with Ice and Dark. These types either need a Type boon to make them further useful or new types which are weak to/resisted by them.

 

[Nelson Tangela]

4. Poison is no longer resisted by Bug. How did this make any sense to begin with? Bugs are no more immune to poison than any other life form. Plenty of bugs are poisonous either to kill other bugs or protect themselves from being eaten by other bugs.

This isn't a thing!? Sludge Bomb onto a Caterpie is a neutral hit right now for example.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

4. Poison is no longer resisted by Bug. How did this make any sense to begin with? Bugs are no more immune to poison than any other life form. Plenty of bugs are poisonous either to kill other bugs or protect themselves from being eaten by other bugs.

This isn't as thing!? Sludge Bomb onto a Caterpie is a neutral hit right now for example.

It is not a thing. Poison used to be SE against Bug in G1, but because that meant that both Grass and Bug were weak to Fire, Flying and Poison, they were made to draw straws, and Poison got the neutral one.

 

[Pikachu315111]

This isn't as thing!? Sludge Bomb onto a Caterpie is a neutral hit right now for example.

Whoops, made a mistake! I corrected my thoughts.

 

[Hyper Cutter]

However the problems many types still have remain such with Ice and Dark. These types either need a Type boon to make them further useful or new types which are weak to/resisted by them.

Ice is pretty easy to fix, type matchup-wise: give it a couple of extra resistances and lose one of the weaknesses. I suggest giving it resistances to Dragon and Water and removing the weakness to Rock (both because it doesn't make sense, given that ice cracks rocks irl, and because of my well-established dislike of Stealth Rock screwing over everything weak to Rock). Maybe even go the extra mile and make it resist Rock in place of the weakness.

I mean, you'd still have to get Gamefreak to stop making every Ice-type slow and bulky, but at least it wouldn't be the single worst defensive type in the game any more.

 

[Worldie]

Ice type is a delicate issue: the problem the type has is that it's an amazing offensive type, but there's no proper offensive Ice types if you exclude Weavile and Kyurem, and for whatever reason GF decided it was a good plan to keep making defensive or low damage Ice types and Ice moves instead, while also having their dedicated weather essentially providing no benefit at all.

Dark type has the problem of overlapping a lot with Ghost offensively, and defensively it doesn't really provide much now that Psychic type isn't as b0rked as it used to be.

 

[Hugin]

Making Ice resist Water also helps solve the problem of Water being one of the best types offensively. I also think Electric needs to be resisted by one more type, so that in-game Electrics aren’t so “Ground type or lose”.

Dark is a real problem, since I’d actually say it’s too good offensively following the Steel nerf. The problem isn’t really raw damage though, it’s that Dark moves often have good effects(Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Knock Off) while their coverage synergizes well with Fighting. Ghost would be a problem too, but Ghost moves tend to suck. I’m not sure how to fix any of that without basically redoing a third of the type chart, though.

 

[Rapti]

All ice needs is fast strong pokemon, it's like ground/fire the type itself is fine but its members are unsuited to show its strenghts