Also, Indeedees in Pokémon Centers react to whistling.
And some Wild Pokemon react to you doing Leon's Charizard Pose. It's the little things (too bad GF aren't good with the big things...). :)
Let's Go hurts double once you find out there are rematches for all the leaders and e4/champion and so many of them have to cap out on weird Pokemon like Seadra on Lance. The E4 do, at least, pick up Alolan Forms which is...something, I guess. Lance even gets a mega.
I actually sort of liked that. For rematches I think Type Specialists should have one or two Pokemon not of their specialty Type (but still try to match their theme) just to provide maybe a little more challenge.
Like in Let's Go, sure Bruno could have added a Primeape to his team, but instead he opted for an Alolan Golem which, along with his Onix, isn't weak to Flying-types but rather super effective with both of its STABs. Granted, probably would have been a better idea to give him something for Psychic, like maybe a Pinsir (who learns plenty of Fighting-type moves) which he could also Mega Evolve.
Infact I also like how Lance's team is now varied which could be a sort of allusion to his later Champion team being made more diversified (plus having a Seadra an allusion to his cousin's Clair ace, Kingdra). And oddly his Rematch team is more Dragon-based as he not only got Alolan Exeggutor but also Mega Evolves his Charizard to MCX.
You should see an entire camp of Rotoms.
I think it would be great if the modern games had something similar for their ways of obtaining Hidden Abilities. The one that did it the best was the DexNav in OR/AS as it allowed you to see a Pokémon's Ability before battling it, but the other games from Gen 6-8 have no such function or feature as far as I know.
Thinking about it they could have made all the Pokemon from Raid Battles have their Hidden Abilities, give us another reason to catch them if we already have a member of their species.
i think the stab (same type attack bonus) mechanic is one of the most under-appreciated aspects of mons.
but when designing the game from the ground up, this might not have been the most obvious decision. i'm glad gamefreak saw how much they could improve the game with this mechanic, and i'm glad they've kept it around while everything else changes.
I also like those little additional traits they give to Types which isn't connected to the Type Chart but just something that Type can naturally do:
Ghost can't be trapped.
Fire can't be burned.
Grass is immune to spore and powder moves.
Electric can't be paralyzed.
Ice can't be frozen.
Poison have 100% Accuracy when using Toxic.
Dark ignores the effect of Prankster.
Well, maybe those last two are more effected added to the Move/Ability that is affected but you get my point. I just wish they would really dive in with this idea and give more Types such traits (and maybe some more to Types already with one if they need it, like Grass-types which I think should heal a little bit of HP if its raining or sunny weather).
but honestly i have no idea how someone is supposed to get hit by the carkol unless you are actively backtracking. I didn't even know there was a carkol there until later, i just throught it was timed scenery of an actual coal kart that rockets off as you approach.
Yeah, that always confused me too. Like, shouldn't they program it to either spawn after you're like, behind you after you walked a few feet on the track or it's coming towards you? Have it spawn at a point where you have enough time to see & react and dodge out of the way or else you enter a battle with a probably over-leveled Pokemon. That would have made it a more memorable feature of the first mine, you'll have players asking each other whether they managed to dodge or get hit by the Carkoal the first time they went through the Galar Mine.
I am going to make the assumption that this concept was already in place in the Wild Area because for all the issues I have with the Wild Area I cannot imagine it without the roaming pokemon.
No way the Wild Area was made without roaming Pokemon. I think that quote from GF could maybe be in how they added roaming Pokemon onto the routes because, if I recall from early sceenshots and videos, they don't ever show roaming Pokemon on the routes because it was the major feature of the Wild Area. It would also explain why they were able to do it quickly, just pluck the roaming Pokemon data from the Wild Area and implant it onto routes, obviously tweaking which Pokemon appears on it.
Thrillingly this meant that the games Eevee was native to didn't allow for two of its evolutions and required that it be traded and leveled up in a different game locked behind a postgame sidequest. Dubious design decisions aren't exactly new to this series, at least.
And that's why your Starters in Colosseum was an Espeon and Umbreon plus in XD they made special evo stones for your Eevee to evolve into one. ;)
What I saw as being really noticeable downgrades are probably stuff that would be done late in development, like the Battle Facility or updating National Dex 'mons movesets and all of the VGC balancing (Yeah I know the first year of the gen doesn't include all of the mons but still), hence Dexit.
I don't think Dexit has anything to do with them implementing roaming Pokemon because they have so many Pokemon that don't roam.
It feels so connected to the region that other leagues, sans Alola (but those games have some issues with how it handled the Island Challenge), lacked, with some of them so disconnected that I personally felt like it even started to affect the story. (BW Unova is the biggest offender here, as all of the gyms have other purposes and are mostly random buildings, and N becoming Champion, even though it only happens for a short while, doesn't seem like it should have that big an affect on the people of Unova.)
I get what you mean though I also think Galar being one region where the Pokemon League is such a huge thing is a bit of a unique trait I don't think all the other games needed. If we were to compare the Pokemon League to Soccer/Associated Football, well S/AF is HUGE in countries like the UK where games sell out stadium. However in other countries, say like the US and Japan, S/AF isn't as huge so less focus is put upon it except for those who are dedicated to it. In Galar, the Pokemon League is THE sporting event (possibly in part from Gigantamax making it more of a spectacle) to where to even compete in the Champion Cup a trainer needs to get a sponsorship (which is only a background detail since we never actually see this. The player and Hop gets a free one from the Champion, Bede from Rose, and Marnie from Piers; all from personal connections). But in regions like Kanto, Unova, and Kalos where battles are relatively normal only those who are interested in battling would pay attention to the Pokemon League. It could also be why in Galar it feels like the Gym Leader's job is to be a Gym Leader while other regions it's more the Gym Leader is a side job (the Gym also being used to serve a secondary purpose, which is something I like seeing so I guess I have a bit of a bias). Heck in Alola the Island Challenge, while an important ceremony tradition and treated as such, isn't in the large scheme of things that important to those not involved and we're even told as such as the volunteers helping with the Island Challenge said they aren't getting paid (plus some other hints that the Island Challenge isn't that well funded); it's a wonder where Kakui got finding to even make a Pokemon League unless this is Alola's attempt to try and attract more attention (and thus more revenue).
Kind of makes me want next gen to actually have the Pokemon League be an underground thing, TBH. Like maybe have something else be the "major" thing of that region where a lot of people's focus are while the Pokemon League is a small organization who can't really afford to rent out building just dedicated to Pokemon battling but is a workplace first (maybe even have battles take place outside in an open field because there's no place to battle inside or don't want to cause property damage). Have the player character really start from the ground floor yet not only rise up through this underground activity but even show the region this is an activity they should be paying more attention to.
So, not so this is just a response post, with a new gen comes a new Honest Trailer!
... Well, now watching it really not that positive. Maybe something to discuss in the Unpopular Opinion/Things That Annoys Me thread. But don't worry, there's actually quite a few other things to really like, but I'll have to wait till next post for that. ;)