Unpopular opinions

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Why would draw distance (theoretically) matter in a Sinnoh remake when it would almost definitely be fixed camera at all points

Take a walk in Motostoke. Get back to me when you run face-first into an invisible Onix.

My problem with fixed cameras is that when you're going north, all is good, but when you need to go south, it'll often be a problem.

Take for example Reflection Cave in XY. There are other examples, but I wanted to pick one where you can just get ambushed by a trainer because the camera made a blind spot.

I noticed this was a huge problem when I was exploring Azure Bay though. Seriously, boot up XY and go take a thorough look at it. Any time you're going south in the 3D games, you'll get a weird feeling. That's the fixed camera getting in your way.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I think the problem with ORAS is that it seems to be " Ruby and Sapphire " remake, not an Emerald remake. What I mean by this is that you have the Battle Frontier as the most glaring example, but you have things like no gym leader rematches, characters like Juan, Frontier Brains, and Scott missing, as well as story events like Steven being champion instead of Wallace. I think the former one is the most baffling, since rematches of gym leaders were in XY. In contrast, HGSS managed to keep Eusine as well as the Suicune plot while also incorporating on elements of the regular GS so it feels like you get a taste of all 3.

Be honest with yourself: How much of this shit actually matters besides the Battle Frontier? Imma let you in on a secret: Nobody likes Champion Wallace. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but he's by far the less popular of the two compared to Steven. Besides, there's an entire segment of the Delta Episode where Wallace tests the player before they enter Sky Pillar where he literally uses his Emerald Champion team with updated movesets. Speaking of which, that stuff gave Rayquaza his time in the spotlight. Yeah it wasn't exactly like Emerald, but honestly? In my opinion, it did him far more justice than that game ever did. I fail to see how summoning the beast with what remains the most broken alternate form in the entire series to fly into space and fight a Mythical alien is cooler than his feud with the other weather dudes being resolved via a cutscene. I'll give you a point on the lack of gym leader rematches though, that is genuinely my only major disappointment with ORAS, there's some other things I would've liked (some gym leaders using their Emerald teams and adding a way to catch Beldum in the wild before the postgame come to mind) but they're minor really.

With Dexit, Sword and Shield will never have to rely on another pair of Pokemon games to complete the Pokedex. And this might be unpopular opinion, but I believe that was the primary reason why the remakes were made in development in the first place, as well as to make money off nostalgia and save time off on development by reusing maps and characters.

What? This is just stupid, why would they make an entire enhanced recreation of an older game instead of say, Pokemon Z with its own variation of Mirage Islands and Hoopa portals if the primary intent was to be a Pokedex completion tool? You're way overthinking this: The remakes are there to be nostalgic re-imaginings of classics that draws in both old and new fans, y'know, the purpose of every single videogame remake and remaster ever created. Letting more Pokemon be accessible without transferring from old games is just a subgoal of them and not the be-all end-all (see Let's Go).

Really all of this is irrelevant. My point is that despite what some people here would have you believe the numbers prove that ORAS were successful in their goal and got a lot of praise and acclaim. Remember 7.8/10 too much water? Yeah, I don't think that rage would've gotten anywhere near as insane as it did nor would it have lasted as long if 3 days after that review was posted the general public finally got their hands on the game and determined it sucked. And again, it didn't just match FRLG and HGSS' 12 million sales benchmark, it blew right past them with an extra 2 million on a system which by the end of its lifespan had less sales than the GBA and not even half of what the OG DS had managed (3ds is still my baby tho), giving it a leagues better attach rate. I really don't think a feat like that could be managed just off raw hype alone, there had to be a goodass game backing it up and boy was ORAS juicy.

Eh, whatever, XY's already rising in popularity so ORAS' time in the spotlight is inevitable. The Pokefandom general opinion cycle is immortal, never forget!

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

About Sinnoh remakes, I don't want them to happen either. I am not a huge fan of Pokémon remakes in general, but I was okay with a potential Sinnoh remake before dexit became a thing. Now I'm not really looking forward to them anymore, but I am also more and more doubtful that they will happen. I have seen some very good arguments as for why it would be hard to make them now. Several were listed on the previous page, another that has been posted before is that the design philosophy for the games is very different now compared to when D/P/P were made. The original Sinnoh games strived to include as many Pokémon as possible, I believe around 80-90% of all existing Pokémon could be obtained in D/P/P alone (it depends a little on how you count and which methods to include), which is pretty much the opposite of how S/S completely excludes half of all existing Pokémon before the DLC hits the world. If Sinnoh remakes happen, I'll probably not get them unless they include either all Pokémon or at the very least all Pokémon that aren't in S/S. Or maybe I'll just get them anyway as the sucker I am

I also don't believe that Gen 9 is going to be better than Gen 8. Personally I feel that the games have mostly been going downhill in quality ever since Gen 6 and I do not expect that to randomly change with Gen 9.

Next, the bingo that was posted. This seemed fun, but I decided to do a text version with a short explanation of how I feel on each topic insted of an image.

Bingo!

OR/AS and LGP/E are inferior to HG/SS and B2/W2: Partly agree, I think OR/AS and B2/W2 are the superior games here, LGP/E and HG/SS are inferior. And a nitpick, but I don't like to see B2/W2 as "remakes" since they are sequels.
Battle Frontier needs to come back: Not necessarily. It does not "need" to come back, though I wouldn't mind if it did. But I think Battle Frontiers are more a thing of the past since they only appeared for two generations and we haven't seen a new Frontier since Platinum. And since they nerfed the Tower (and thus, Battle Facilities in general) in S/S, I would not like to see a nerfed Frontier so if that is what is going to happen to it, I don't want it back.
MegaRay, Zacian-C and Dynamax are examples of Power creep: Perhaps they are. But I'm not a competitive player so I don't care.
D/P remakes won't be good: As explained above, I agree with this.
Gen 5 or 8 has the worst designs: No, I think these generations are both great in terms of Pokémon designs. I'd say Gen 1 has the worst designs by far. Perhaps that's unpopular?
Megas should be brought back: Yes, I love Megas and I want them back.
Prefer Zamazenta-Hero to Zacian-Hero: No, I like Zacian better no matter which form it has.
Pre-3Ds games had the best quality: Gen 5 and Platinum sure, but the rest... not so much. Maybe FR/LG and Emerald and maybe, maybe Crystal, but probably not. In general, I'd rather play X/Y, OR/AS and US/UM over any of the pre-3D games apart from Gen 5 and Platinum.
TCG art is better than box art: After seeing a discussion about this in a different thread recently, I agree.
Regional variants are cool and should be explored: Yes, I agree. I really like regional variants and I am so happy that they kept them for S/S AND that they are no longer Kanto-only! Let's hope they'll stick around for future generations as well.
The franchise is currently on shaky ground: In terms of quality, yes. In terms of sales and popularity though, I don't think so. So it depends on which point of view we are talking about.
X/Y rivals sucked: Yes, but only in the games. They were awesome in the X/Y chapter of Pokémon Adventures, for instance. I haven't seen the X/Y anime but I get the impression that they were better there too.

I think Smogon is a great forum, guess that's why I'm still here and why this is the only forum in general I'm currently active on (though there are other reasons for that but I won't get into them now). This was on the bingo so that's why I'm posting it lol

There should be a free way to transfer Pokémon: I'm not sure. I have mixed opinions here so I'll just leave it with that.
Post-2D games can suffer from corridor syndrome: Yeah, but they are not the only ones as there are many areas in the 2D games that feel like corridors as well.
Defog and stall suck: I'm not a competitive player so I don't care.
NatDex needs to be brought back: Yes.
Tedious mechanics encourage hacking: I think it does. I have never hacked myself, but I can partly understand those who choose to do it.
B/W was underappreciated: YES! As someone who has loved B/W ever since 2011, I really regret not being more vocal about my appreciation for them when they were new.
S/S QoL changes should have happened earlier: Yes.
Gamefreak is better at sprites than 3D models: Partly agree. Some 3D models are better than sprites, others not so much. I think the sprites of Gen 5 were really great, but I really like the 3D models as well. And I really think the 3D models became better on the Switch than on the 3DS.
Battle Tower pales in depth: I'm not sure if I understand this one. Is it about the S/S Tower? If so, then yes because it got nerfed so hard that any challenge you have to do there has to be self-imposed, it basically removed all the fun from previous facilities. If it is about the previous Tower from Gen 2/3/4 or the Subway/Tree/Maison, then no. Those have a lot of depth and offer good challenges, anyone who says otherwise have no idea what they are talking about and have probably never even tried them. So I either agree or disagree with this one depending on the meaning of it.
Some Gen 1 Pokés are used too much: Yes. This shouldn't need any explanation.
X/Y or S/S are the lowest in quality: No. Whoever wrote this bingo can't spell HG/SS correctly as they are the games with the lowest quality. In my opinion, at least. Unpopular opinion, yay! That said I can partly understand S/S even if I disagree, but I love X/Y and they are way closer to top quality than bottom for me.
Game Freak's trust has eroded in the past 1.5 years: No, it has eroded since 2014 for me. So mostly disagree.

Let's take a look at the results:
Agree: 9
Disagree: 5
Mixed/partly agree: 7
Unsure: 1 (depends on the meaning of the Battle Tower one)
Don't care: 2
(I just counted this quickly so sorry if I got the numbers wrong here)

Seems like I share several of the popular opinions here... but I also have some unpopular ones. But I guess that's just to be expected.

Sorry for another rushed post, I can make an image of my bingo and post it tomorrow if anyone wants to see it (I guess not).

 

[Hematite]

Most weak mons that got megas should have that as an evo instead
Make it a specific stone based evo that requires one to be level 50 minimum, given to specific mons
So no Garchomp, Blaziken, Gengar, or Salamence getting it. They'll be stuck holding an item for Megas

The interesting thing about this is that, if you adjust for the presence of a held item, a lot of Mega Evolutions do have perfectly normal-looking base stats - not necessarily all equivalent to their base forms, but at least within the realm of most regular crossgens (the 520-550 range).
For example, a lot of Mega Evolutions are setup sweepers that take advantage of being able to switch moves, and not all of them have pivoting options; in cases like these, I would assume that if they weren't holding a Mega Stone, they would be holding a Life Orb. I was experimenting a bit, and I found that if you take this into account (basing their raw stats on relatively standard EV spreads, lowering those stats by 1/1.3 and then converting back to base stats), you end up with things like this:

Mega Pinsir adjusted for Life Orb (Bug/Flying with Aerilate) - 65 HP / 107 Attack / 120 Defense / 45 Special Attack / 90 Special Defense / 105 Speed - total 532

Mega Heracross adjusted for Life Orb (Bug/Fighting with Skill Link) - 80 HP / 130 Attack / 115 Defense / 26 Special Attack / 105 Special Defense / 75 Speed - total 531

The Special Attack minmaxing is a consequence of adjusting for Life Orb, which boosts both offenses, but you get the point! If you want, you could also return that to the original value for the base form (55 for Pinsir, 40 for Heracross) - and that still puts them at base 542 and 545, which seem like fair enough stat ranges for a crossgen!
I think people who suggest this sometimes forget to adjust for an item - and let's be real: turning Mega Mawile into a regular evolution exactly as it is just because its BST looks low would break it, and it was already Uber once! - but then if you do correct for that appropriately, you can end up with some really normal-looking stat spreads for a few of them, and I would be pretty happy to see something like this happen!

One example I think is kinda fun: Mega Manectric, with its access to Intimidate, Volt Switch and high Speed, feels very much like a typical Scarfer to me. If you wanted to balance it as a regular Manectric evolution, you could tailor it to holding a Choice Scarf - which puts its final stat spread at something like -30 Speed, +30 Special Attack and then +20 Defense and Special Defense (BST 475 -> 515). That feels like a totally normal crossgen to me! I mean, maybe you'd want to manifest the bulk increase as an equivalent boost to HP for maximum in-game realism, but you get the point.
And the cool thing is that doing this has both pros and cons - on one hand, all of these Pokémon now have to deal with drawbacks like 10% Life Orb recoil or a Choice lock... but on the other hand, now they have the option to switch that boost for another item. Maybe Heracross would forego a boosting move sometimes and use a Choice Band instead! Or maybe this Scarf-adjusted Mega Manectric would occasionally switch to being a breaker rather than a pivot and run Choice Specs, relying on Intimidate and its new bulk to cover for its loss of Speed? Stuff like that could have some really interesting effects, I think!

 

[Sonikku A]

The interesting thing about this is that, if you adjust for the presence of a held item, a lot of Mega Evolutions do have perfectly normal-looking base stats - not necessarily all equivalent to their base forms, but at least within the realm of most regular crossgens (the 520-550 range).
For example, a lot of Mega Evolutions are setup sweepers that take advantage of being able to switch moves, and not all of them have pivoting options; in cases like these, I would assume that if they weren't holding a Mega Stone, they would be holding a Life Orb. I was experimenting a bit, and I found that if you take this into account (basing their raw stats on relatively standard EV spreads, lowering those stats by 1/1.3 and then converting back to base stats), you end up with things like this:

Mega Pinsir adjusted for Life Orb (Bug/Flying with Aerilate) - 65 HP / 107 Attack / 120 Defense / 45 Special Attack / 90 Special Defense / 105 Speed - total 532

Mega Heracross adjusted for Life Orb (Bug/Fighting with Skill Link) - 80 HP / 130 Attack / 115 Defense / 26 Special Attack / 105 Special Defense / 75 Speed - total 531

The Special Attack minmaxing is a consequence of adjusting for Life Orb, which boosts both offenses, but you get the point! If you want, you could also return that to the original value for the base form (55 for Pinsir, 40 for Heracross) - and that still puts them at base 542 and 545, which seem like fair enough stat ranges for a crossgen!
I think people who suggest this sometimes forget to adjust for an item - and let's be real: turning Mega Mawile into a regular evolution exactly as it is just because its BST looks low would break it, and it was already Uber once! - but then if you do correct for that appropriately, you can end up with some really normal-looking stat spreads for a few of them, and I would be pretty happy to see something like this happen!

One example I think is kinda fun: Mega Manectric, with its access to Intimidate, Volt Switch and high Speed, feels very much like a typical Scarfer to me. If you wanted to balance it as a regular Manectric evolution, you could tailor it to holding a Choice Scarf - which puts its final stat spread at something like -30 Speed, +30 Special Attack and then +20 Defense and Special Defense (BST 475 -> 515). That feels like a totally normal crossgen to me! I mean, maybe you'd want to manifest the bulk increase as an equivalent boost to HP for maximum in-game realism, but you get the point.
And the cool thing is that doing this has both pros and cons - on one hand, all of these Pokémon now have to deal with drawbacks like 10% Life Orb recoil or a Choice lock... but on the other hand, now they have the option to switch that boost for another item. Maybe Heracross would forego a boosting move sometimes and use a Choice Band instead! Or maybe this Scarf-adjusted Mega Manectric would occasionally switch to being a breaker rather than a pivot and run Choice Specs, relying on Intimidate and its new bulk to cover for its loss of Speed? Stuff like that could have some really interesting effects, I think!

Yeah, stat rebalances might need to happen
I find it funny that Mega Garchomp is worse than regular XP

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Be honest with yourself: How much of this shit actually matters besides the Battle Frontier?

The actual conflict between the player and *both* teams in-game, which is much more interesting and adds variety to the trainers you face, which helps some mons in-game.

The original's "one team ain't as bad as the other" is straight-up silly because both teams are obviously dumb as bricks.

Actually, there are a lot of events added in Emerald too, like the Multi Battle with Steven as your partner.

Wallace can kick rocks tho, Steven is way cooler.

 

[Siggu]

The more I think of ORAS not using Emerald's story, the more I believe it was done the way it was because Ruby and Sapphire are first paired versions with a noticeably different story compared to each other AS WELL as the third version, and since they sell remakes in pairs, selling two Emeralds could have felt like missing the point of Ruby and Sapphire to them. My guess is that this could happen as well with hypothetical Gen V remakes.

Well, apart from that... here's my take on this bingo thing.

The ones in orange are the ones I don't entirely agree with... and the one about XY rivals and friends is not colored because I've yet to play it.

So about the points in orange and red:

Reasoning

1) I don't get why B2W2 is in there, but besides that... yes, I think it's better than ORAS, and that Let's Go is the weakest of the four. But I think ORAS and HGSS are on a similar level.
2) I'm fine with just the Tower and a Rental facility.
3) I could agree with Dynamax, as it didn't go right, but Mega-Rayquaza and Ugly1-Crowned are not supposed to be balanced to begin with, so I don't consider them to be Power Creep.
4) Apart from the impossibilty to use the Pokétch, I think it's not on a bad position. Whether it improves or not... well, that's another story.
5) Gen V is my second favourite in terms of design (Gen III at first), whereas I'd place Gen VIII at third because it has so many reptiles I can't not like it.
7) I hate them both. In both forms.
8) My favourite game is in 2D, but there are 2D games that are worse than SM, USUM, Let's Go and SwSh.
9) They both have their charm to me. I think TCG artwork is a little better because of the possibilities and different artstyles (OMM-R IT'S SO CUTE!!!) but box art isn't bad.
11) It's on a rather questionable spot after the rather questionable decisions with Sword and Shield, yes, but the franchise is still strong in terms of merch, and I'm giving them another chance with what might be Gen IX before going into a hard doubt state.
13) Was I supposed to do something here?
14) What I think should be done is making a platform-free service, but make it single-pay. Maybe include it as part of the game's pricing.
15) I think it's only a problem in Sword and Shield. And even then, it's because of the Wild Area I've always been opposed to. Put that open-world disease apart from this game.
16) It's... frustrating. But it's not bad in itself.
17) I think it should be back in terms of the entries. In terms of knowing which Pokémon you have and which you don't, I think it should be game-independent. The idea of having it in Bank or HOME is good, but the execution should be better.
22) They are good at doing that. Pokémon Amie/Refresh/Camp show how lively their models can be. If only they were in battle as well...
23) It's fine as it is. It needs to be less RNG-dependant, though.
25) Again, I have yet to play XY. Either way, I think Yellow is the worst Pokémon game, between the lack of real extra content (apart from the starters) and the horrendous level curve.
26) See point 11.

 

[greentyphlosion]

Here's my own counteropinion: I actually only have the fullest confidence that DPmakes are gonna be outstanding.

Let me be clear: I really do think SWSH's lackluster route design is a fluke, just like XY's lifeless and barren human cast turned out to be a fluke. And as Hematite said, due to just having more experience with the hardware and console development as a whole now whatever GF puts out after SWSH is guaranteed to be better just based on past experience. We're already seeing signs of this with the DLCs, both of which are boasted to add areas bigger and more content-filled than the Wild Area (admittedly not the highest bar but an improvement nonetheless). There's also some personal bias here as I did really like SWSH even with some of those aforementioned caveats and a few others, on a tier list I'd put it in A rank right next to Platinum (heresy I know, how dare I be objectively incorrect like that??? /s).

Aside from that I friggin adore ORAS and have a lot of appreciation for Let's Go and what it brought to the table despite not having played it myself. Now, if we were to take the character revamps and fleshed out extra locations of the former and the QoL improvements/presentation of Let's Go and apply it to Sinnoh... Oh man that sounds juicy. The fact of the matter is all the mainline remakes put out by Game Freak are consistently the highlights of their generations, filled with new content bits, improved presentation and lots more to really revitalize the original regions they are based on with corresponding audience and critical acclaim (yes, contrary to what this site's echo chamber would have you believe ORAS and Let's Go were both well-loved, the former is the best-selling remake by a good 2 million copies and the latter is widely credited by many casual fans for getting them back into the series and just generally being super duper fun, and we all know how people can't get enough of HGSS). So yeah, with this star-studded track record and the inevitable uptick in quality spurred by just greater hardware experience in mind I see no reason to show any sort of concern.



Y'know, this is a good segue into what I guess is an unpopular opinion, but truthfully I'm not sure what to call it. You see when I played Platinum a couple of months ago and then Omega Ruby and Sun, I noticed something interesting: With the latter two games, I was far, FAR more compelled to explore any and all side content during my adventure. I would take regular detours to explore stuff like the Secret Base locations and Sea Mauville in OR, or take trips to the apparel shop (I became pretty pink boye uwu) and do some of the sidequests in Sun. At no point in Platinum, meanwhile, did any of that same explorative instinct kick into gear. All these juicy side areas, and I just couldn't be fucked. Now, the reason I'm hesitant to call this an unpopular opinion is because I'm really not 100% sure why this is. I think it might have to do with the assballs game speed that makes me want to "get it overwith" by not bothering to dive into the optional goodies whereas with the 3D games it isn't an issue since they don't run like complete shit.

That's some boundless optimism I wish I could share.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Bingo!

Analysis of Spots not Marked

BW2 isn't a remake, so...?

No particular feelings on how good DP remakes would be. Probably okay?

Box art is okay. TCG art is sometimes great, but inconsistent.

The franchise has been on better ground, but it's still basically fine.

I like Serena/Calem, and the other XY friends aren't so bad.

Stall is a reasonable part of the game, and its existence gives the game a bit more depth. I don't know why "Defog sucks" is a thing; hadn't heard it before.

DP and Let's Go are the worst main series games so far.

 

[DreamPrince]

What? This is just stupid, why would they make an entire enhanced recreation of an older game instead of say, Pokemon Z with its own variation of Mirage Islands and Hoopa portals if the primary intent was to be a Pokedex completion tool? You're way overthinking this: The remakes are there to be nostalgic re-imaginings of classics that draws in both old and new fans, y'know, the purpose of every single videogame remake and remaster ever created. Letting more Pokemon be accessible without transferring from old games is just a subgoal of them and not the be-all end-all (see Let's Go).

I'm not saying that completing the Pokedex is the sole primary goal, you are right, nostalgia and the potential to draw new fans is why a remake is done as well, but allowing missing Pokemon to be caught is also very important for two reasons: 1. National Pokedex: In Gen 6, this was still a thing, and to make it fair for those without any previous installments, all missing Pokemon from XY could be caught in ORAS. 2. VGC: You underestimate what a big side of the franchise this is. Back in Gen 5, you were allowed to use transfers, and that put players who did not have access to previous games at a huge disadvantage. Hitmontop with Sucker Punch was huge in Gen 5 VGC, and you did not have Gen 4 games, you couldn't get Hitmontop without trading. As a result, the pentagon rule was enforced, meaning Pokemon from that generation could be used in official ladders. Legendary Pokemon were especially notable, since you could not breed them. Hence why in ORAS, DexNav and Mirage Spots and XY allowed you to obtain the missing Pokemon so that a player, regardless of newbie or veteran, so that everyone could have an equal footing. The pentagon rule was also why all legendary Pokemon are in USM: for VGC, and lesser extent, Battle Spot Singles.

Interestingly enough though, only generations with remakes are the ones you can obtain every Pokemon without an additional console or a previous game: RS+E+FRLG=100%, DP + PT + HGSS=100%, XY + ORAS= 100%. Gens 2, 5, and 7 required previous games to catch them all.

Be honest with yourself: How much of this shit actually matters besides the Battle Frontier? Imma let you in on a secret: Nobody likes Champion Wallace. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but he's by far the less popular of the two compared to Steven. Besides, there's an entire segment of the Delta Episode where Wallace tests the player before they enter Sky Pillar where he literally uses his Emerald Champion team with updated movesets. Speaking of which, that stuff gave Rayquaza his time in the spotlight. Yeah it wasn't exactly like Emerald, but honestly? In my opinion, it did him far more justice than that game ever did. I fail to see how summoning the beast with what remains the most broken alternate form in the entire series to fly into space and fight a Mythical alien is cooler than his feud with the other weather dudes being resolved via a cutscene. I'll give you a point on the lack of gym leader rematches though, that is genuinely my only major disappointment with ORAS, there's some other things I would've liked (some gym leaders using their Emerald teams and adding a way to catch Beldum in the wild before the postgame come to mind) but they're minor really.

Not that I disagree with you, I think ORAS is better than the originals in most regards. Though I will add that I was disappointed that they used the Ruby and Sapphire teams for the gym leaders instead of Emerald.

Bingo Answers

1. BW2, HGSS, ORAS are definitely better than Let's Go, which is just more Kanto pandering and a cash grab after Generations of fan service.
2. Maybe not nesscarily Battle Frontier, but other formats like 1v1 and Inverse Battle. These are fun formats and allow creativity and allow certain Pokemon to shine like Sawk 1v1.
3. Definitely. The latter is an example of favoritism.
4. See my posts above.
5. Gen 5 definitely. It feels like wherever you look, there's a reference to a previous line, and it feels like these Pokemon were designed to fill niches left behind due to only new Pokemon policy. Would have preferred if they attempted brand new niches, designs, or stat distributions.
6. I say make the likes of Audino, Altaria, Houndoom, and Manectric regular evolutions and remove the likes of Salamence, Metagross and Gengar.
7. I prefer Zamazenta-C aesthetically, but Zacian-C is better competitively.
8. Based on this Poll in Bulbagarden, as well as Smogon, the DS games seem to be most favored. HGSS at #1, B2W2 at #2, Platinum at #3. I personally like BW2 the best, so I'm in the Pre-Gen 5 fanbase.
9. Yeah, the TCG artwork is a lot more dynamic and appealing than box covers.
10. Oh yes. They bring back the spotlight to forgotten Pokemon, and I like how cross generational evolutions returned in SwSh. My only complaint is that Gen 5 got regional variants before Gen 4 despite 4 being older.
11. Quality: Yes. Sales and Merchandise: No, absolutely not.
12. Yes. Though in the anime, I found Team Flare and the rivals significantly more threatening and enjoyable,
13. Absolutely. These forums are great for finding debating without the fear of salt pile from the likes of the GameFAQ forums.
14. Yes, the whole point of the game is forming bonds with your Pokemon. Of course we want to take them with us on more adventures! Not to mention it was free in 2,4, and 5.
15. No, both are viable moves and play styles.
16. All the Pokemon should be brought back, the national dex does not have to.
17. Of course, its shown by VGC players being caught hacking.
18. Yeah, and I regret disliking them only because of " new Pokemon only " syndrome.
19. Oh yes, VGC existed since Gen 4, I cannot believe it took them more than a decade to realize natures were critical for competitive battling.
20. Some like Copperajah and Dragapault are pretty stoic. But on the other hand, Goodra and Cinderace have pretty exciting animations.
21. SwSh Battle Tower yes, other facilities no.
22. Getting more than one super form is not a sign of overused, then I don't know what is.
23. SwSh, 100% yes. XY, in terms of Single player content yes, but for multiplayer, Suspicious Derivative has already given a huge list on why XY is great for multi player.
24. Well, they did lie about new models from scratch, so that are not being completely honest.

These have been answered horizontal BTW.

3D games it isn't an issue since they don't run like complete shit.

To be fair the 3D games also had their fair share of running problems. Triples and Rotation lagged really bad to the point they were removed in SM. The Battle Royale also suffered the same problems.

Has anyone ever tried playing SM and USM on an original 3DS? The game lagged so badly to the point that it was very clear they wanted you play on a New 3DS. I remember when I played SM prior to getting a new 3DS, the trainers would stand motionless for an actual 15 seconds more whenever I did a Double Battle.

 

[greentyphlosion]

oh my god I'm such a basic bitch

Ones left blank are ones I don't really have much of a stance on. While I agree Pikachu, Charizard, et al are overused, it doesn't bug me too much. They're the most popular (even if they aren't my personal favourites) so it's kind of a necessary evil I can stomach.

Battle Tower doesn't necessarily have to be inferior to the Frontier - DP's Tower was decent with wifi battling, tag multi, and an actual boss, and the Crystal Tower was pretty cool considering how early in the series it was implemented. And the Subway and Tree (which lets be honest are basically the Tower under another name) are both great in their own ways. The Maison and the RS Tower were utter crap though.

Defog... eh, it's just another playstyle. I have no gripe against people who like to play stall, much as I don't have any prejudice against people who like to use Baton Pass teams or whatever.

And I'm personally not dying for Megas to be brought back but they did give many older Pokemon a legitimate upgrade. More importantly, they do that in a way that regional forms don't. Kanto Farfetch'd isn't improved at all by Galarian Farfetch'd - it's functionally a whole other Pokemon. I've used a Farfetch'd on my LeafGreen team for years and I was pleased that I'd finally be able to evolve it (I've wanted an evolution for years). But I can't. So I wouldn't object to more Megas from a creative standpoint. They're certainly a more interesting and well-executed concept than Dynamax. But equally I wouldn't be crying myself to sleep if they never came back.

 

[Moulin Rouge!]

I'd much rather they did sequels instead of remakes tbh. That way I won't get as mad when they inevitably cut out Platinum's stuff and do crap like taking out the Battle Frontier or doing some sort of Delta Episode type tragedy.

I feel caught in the middle between wanting and not wanting Gen 4 remakes, longing for sequels aside. Platinum is my personal favorite game in the franchise and the second-best (after B2W2). Thinking back to Queen Tamashii's review of DP, I feel like GF has made some made great strides in story-telling and fleshing out characters which DPPt are in dire need of. I feel they would benefit from better graphics and a better color palette. Then there's stuff like faster speed + faster saving times + no more HMs, which absolutely plagued DPPt. Plus other various QoL changes.

But I have full faith they'll do stuff like dilute the difficulty of perhaps the most difficult main-series Pokemon games ever. I would be absolutely devasted if I could just breeze through Gardenia, Fantina, those trainers on the route leading up to Veilstone/Celestic Town, Crasher Wake, Cyrus, Cynthia esp, etc. I'd want Giratina to be integrated into the main plot, but knowing Ga*efreak they'll probably shoehorn it into some episode, which really isn't the tea. Then, as Codraroll stated, there's the problem of translating the map into 3D and I'm sure they'll cut some corners there. Wouldn't put it past them to withhold half the map and save it for a 30$ DLC. And obviously cutting out the BF would be a huge no no

 

[Pikachu315111]

Is it wrong of me to think that I want Sinnoh remakes but I just don't want Game Freak to be the ones to make it?

Yeah but if GF let someone else make the games the other developer may just show how bad developers GF are.

I REALLY hated LG Eevee's/Pika's artstyle. I shudder to see Gen 4 stuff warped to it

They wouldn't be, they would look like the Gen VIII artwork.

Though thinking about it, would the Sinnoh trainers really need redesigns? Gen IV was when the Pokemon concept art style switched to a more standard anime art style.

On a more unrelated note, here's a bingo sheet of well-agreed opinions within the Pokemon Community I created. If you disagree with a statement, mark it red, and if you agree with a statement, mark it green. Feel free to explain and so forth. IF you get 5 reds in a row/diagonal/column or at agree with no less than 22 spots, you "win".

Oh there's a lot of hot takes here...
After reading the first thing, I have a problem where a lot of the topics I would actually circle with yellow as I'm not fully in on direction or another:

25 Hot Takes Go Now!

HGSS/B2W2 > ORAS/LGPE: First off B2W2 aren't remakes. And just to make it fair, LGPE were such different games I'm removing it. So we now have HGSS > ORAS. And, yeah, sure. HGSS I felt added more things and didn't remove anything while ORAS took away as much as it added.

Battle Frontier: And if not a Battle Frontier at least add additional mechanics/gimmicks to the Battle Tower expy.

Powercreep Examples: Well M-Rayquaza & Crowned Wolves are banned to Ubers/Anything Goes (if that still exists) so don't think they're as big as a deal. Dynamax I don't think is powercreep at all. Megas maybe for the Pokemon which didn't need the power boost but also helped Pokemon which were struggling for relevance. Z-Moves also a maybe, were at least more flexible than Megas as any Pokemon could use them... of course that also meant the strong Pokemon.

Shaky On DP Remakes: Put me down for not looking optimistic. I can't say whether they're good or not unless I play them, at the very least seen gameplay. And for this Gen we've only had Sword & Shield which feel like have been rushed. If they do the same for DP Remakes then yeah I won't be looking forward to them, but if they decide to take their time (maybe even take criticisms) then maybe it could turn out good and a better representative of what Gen VIII can offer.

Gen 5/Gen 8 Worst Pokemon Designs: I don't judge by gen I judge individually; each gen has good and bad designs.

Megas: Yeah.

Zamazenta > Zacian: Whatever.

Pre-3D Was Better: Sprite-based and 3D have their own pros and cons.

TCG Art > Box Art: Box Art at this point is just an identifier, of course TCG art is better but using it is not really going to change people's opinion on the box art.

Regional Variants: Yeah.

Franchise On Shaky Ground: Franchise is fine, GF on the other hand...

XY Rivals: Tierno and Trevor, yeah. However I do feel there's some hidden depths to Shauna so can't fully agree.

FREE SPACE: So we're using a loose definition of "debate" and "common ground", right? I KID! I KID! I definitely feel Smogon is one of the best organized Pokemon communities if that's what you're looking for (which I did thus here I am). People are friendly, conversations are interesting, and though you can't post whatever you want still provides plenty of avenues to be creative. Though strong opinions are about so you may need a thick skin upon joining and finding where you fit in.

Free Transfers: I already gotta pay for Bank and now I gotta pay AGAIN just to use the only feature I want from HOME which is to transfer from my Moon/Ultra Moon games? F*** OFF, GF!

Post 2D Corridor Syndrome: No cause the 2D games also were corridor driven, maybe even moreso than the 3D games.

Defog & Stall Suck: People hate Defog now? I can understand Stall being boring but at the same time I can see being interesting as long as their is an alternate match ending method (or a speed-up function). Though honestly I don't really have a Ponyta in this race.

Natdex: Nah, that can stay a HOME thing now.

Tedious Hacking: I would more say it's the IV system that encourage hacking.

BW Was Underappreciated: DAMN RIGHT IT WAS!

SwSh QoL Changes Sooner: Well, yeah, don't think anyone would disagree with that. Who would disagree with that?

GF Make Lifeless 3D Models/Better At Sprites: Here's the thing: GF can make lively models... but only do it for the newer Pokemon. I have no idea why they're so resistant giving older models some more life. And we have an entire thread about wonky sprites GF has made, let's not kid ourselves here.

Battle Tower Lacks Depth: Yes and doesn't need to be.

Gen I Overuse: Sadly, yes. Charizard is still my fave.

XY or SwSh Least Quality: No that would be USUM.

GF Eroded Trust: Like you have to ask? Who still trusts them?

No bingo or 22 spaces, guess I ain't a true Pokemon fan.

-Colo and XD are hyper overrated. GS Moreso since HAL did all Gen 1-3 mon models and anims, while GS SUCKED for human anims for Colo
-Also why BR is overrated, as Gen 4 mons were worse animated, and the attempts to modernize Gen 1 models were mostly poor. also walking anims sucked, and the games content is worse than Stadium 1/2s
-Snap 2 was a missed opportunity for Wii U
-Rangers 3 as well

-Maybe a tad overrated but I think with good reason. The story I do find intriguing (for a Pokemon game) and changes up the usual Pokemon mechanics even just slightly. I would like to see them make a new Colosseum to see what they can do now with the Shadow Pokemon concept and all the new mechanics that have been introduced since XD.
-From what I remembered Battle Revolution wasn't very much liked, if anything it's underrated. I think the major issue with Battle Revolution that for what it offered it didn't quite match the price it was asking for (especially since it was essentially an add-on for the Gen IV games, at least Colloseum had a single player campaign). Yes, I know you can rent Pokemon, but the game was meant to be played with a copy of a Gen IV game.
-They've had so many opportunities for a Snap 2 but don't take it (even teasing us with a photo mode similar to it in USUM yet no Snap 2) I'm getting the uneasy feeling GF get enjoyment from it.
-Ranger 4, we've had 3 Ranger games: the original, Shadows of Almia, & Guardian Signs.

I'd much rather they did sequels instead of remakes tbh.

Agree, sequels are way more interesting and actually give us a reason to buy an "upgraded" version cause it at least contains a new story and advances the world.

 

[Sonikku A]

-Maybe a tad overrated but I think with good reason. The story I do find intriguing (for a Pokemon game) and changes up the usual Pokemon mechanics even just slightly. I would like to see them make a new Colosseum to see what they can do now with the Shadow Pokemon concept and all the new mechanics that have been introduced since XD.

Story was barely different. Wes was hyper wasted, only being unique for the intro, then became the equivalent to the main game's player, down to being called a kid several times. It's pretty sad how much they squandered the potential to make him a good antihero
And his partner is literally only there to be an alarm. Also is derped hard for the eyes
Shadow Pokemon would be interesting if they actually behaved differently in story. All they did was be a significantly inferior pokemon when you catch one exist for battles. Shadow Mechanics were pretty terrible too
And then XD Michael doesn't even have the "he's older and not a kid" gimmick going, so there's that. Though Shadow Lugia is a sick design
Content wise both games were worse than Gen 2 and 3 main games

 

[Moulin Rouge!]

Agree, sequels are way more interesting and actually give us a reason to buy an "upgraded" version cause it at least contains a new story and advances the world.

Yup, although I like the idea for DPPt original story to have a bit more meat on it's bones via remake treatment, I think the potential for a new, fresh story>>>>.


I actually brainstormed some concepts they could use for the story. Like the main villain being haunted by shadows of their past and wanting to use Diagla's power to go back in time and change it. I'd also make it so that main cast had their lives marked and changed by some bad event so that each character has a motive to enslave and use Dialga's power of time to also change said event, but throughout the course of the story they grow and know better than throw everything away for an illusion of the past. Could be an important message about how our paths are predicated by outside variables that happen beyond our control, and sometimes **** hits the fan and all we can do is return to life, regardless of how difficult that may be. It could also how much we crave for our dreams come true, even when we know they cannot be. Just spitballing here.

Of course, Palkia and Giratina fall by the wayside here so it wouldn't work.

 

[Moulin Rouge!]

oh my god I'm such a basic bitch

View attachment 248122


Ones left blank are ones I don't really have much of a stance on. While I agree Pikachu, Charizard, et al are overused, it doesn't bug me too much. They're the most popular (even if they aren't my personal favourites) so it's kind of a necessary evil I can stomach.

Battle Tower doesn't necessarily have to be inferior to the Frontier - DP's Tower was decent with wifi battling, tag multi, and an actual boss, and the Crystal Tower was pretty cool considering how early in the series it was implemented. And the Subway and Tree (which lets be honest are basically the Tower under another name) are both great in their own ways. The Maison and the RS Tower were utter crap though.

Defog... eh, it's just another playstyle. I have no gripe against people who like to play stall, much as I don't have any prejudice against people who like to use Baton Pass teams or whatever.

And I'm personally not dying for Megas to be brought back but they did give many older Pokemon a legitimate upgrade. More importantly, they do that in a way that regional forms don't. Kanto Farfetch'd isn't improved at all by Galarian Farfetch'd - it's functionally a whole other Pokemon. I've used a Farfetch'd on my LeafGreen team for years and I was pleased that I'd finally be able to evolve it (I've wanted an evolution for years). But I can't. So I wouldn't object to more Megas from a creative standpoint. They're certainly a more interesting and well-executed concept than Dynamax. But equally I wouldn't be crying myself to sleep if they never came back.

I think I agree with practically everything you said lol, except for Defog. Stuff is ANNOYING.

Megas were cool but then they went and gave it to pokes like GODchomp, Metalegend, Salamence, Tyranitar, Mewtwo., Latios/as, and the freakin Hoenn trio. If they ever bring it back, and I hope they do, Gam*freak needs to go ahead and leave those Megas on the cutting room floor.

 

[pokemon4eva]

Did someone already said that the water in Hoenn isn't a bad thing? Because I LOVE IT!

HM dependency aside I loved exploring the vast sea, the feeling of exploring this huge seemingly-endless field, finding secret routes and items beneath the sea (including the villain team hideout). I dunno, I am a sucker for oceanic environments (my fav Pixar film is Finding Nemo lol). Personally I think it's a good experience, although on repeated playthroughs it can get dull...

Also here's mine, didn't bingo once... (details soon)

 

[Sultan]

Mine. Yellows are ones where I only partially agree with. For instance, I agree with stall being horrible to face, it's basically people not playing the game and that's not even going into how uncompetitive stall vs. stall matches are, but I think that Defog is necessary to prevent hazards from being too overcentralizing. Although Gen V probably has the most designs I dislike, there are also lots of good designs and I'm not sure if I would say that it's the worst designed generation overall. And while I am sure that Sinnoh remakes if released today will certainly have issues, I still admittedly would be excited to play a remade Sinnoh simply because I started with Diamond. I don't think XY or Sword and Shield are the worst, I would instead have to go with SM because of the insane amount of cutscenes. It wasn't too noticeable the first time around, but they prevented me from having any fun in replaying the game. Haven't played USUM so I wouldn't know for sure if they're better or worse.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Story was barely different. Wes was hyper wasted, only being unique for the intro, then became the equivalent to the main game's player, down to being called a kid several times. It's pretty sad how much they squandered the potential to make him a good antihero
And his partner is literally only there to be an alarm. Also is derped hard for the eyes
Shadow Pokemon would be interesting if they actually behaved differently in story. All they did was be a significantly inferior pokemon when you catch one exist for battles. Shadow Mechanics were pretty terrible too
And then XD Michael doesn't even have the "he's older and not a kid" gimmick going, so there's that. Though Shadow Lugia is a sick design
Content wise both games were worse than Gen 2 and 3 main games

• Well the story more heavily focused on the "stopping evil team" plot while skipping over the "Pokemon Tourney" plot. While this probably did cut the game's playtime in half now that a batch of filler is gone, I do feel it does serve the story better as now the climatic battle against the big bad doesn't feel just like a stepping stone to a Champion.
  
  
• While sad Wes does become a mute after his initial introduction, his backstory does give him a slight difference that plays a story role. Unlike the playable character in the game who is 95% a blank slate, Wes is a former member of Snagem who betrayed them and at a few points of the game that is brought up usually when dealing with Snagem members (especially their leader, Gonzap). Also, since Wes took the Snag Machine, he can't exactly decide to up and leave as now Snagem and Cipher are after him and his new friend, Rui.
  
  
• While Rui's role on the surface is that of an alarm for Shadow Pokemon, she does also does something players have liked to see that has been portrayed in the anime many times: a companion. And while Wes doesn't talk, Rui does so sort of gives the player a mouthpiece.
  
  
• Sadly Shadow Pokemon only being different during battles is really the only way to show their difference as this is a battling game. And while the Shadow Pokemon mechanic was a bit lackluster in the original I feel XD helped flesh it out a bit more. Also, the Shadow Pokemon weren't inferior when you first catch them; you usually caught them around the same level as the other Pokemon you're battling at that point in the game & they always did super effective damage. That gives you a slight advantage as you work toward freeing their heart, hopefully doing so quick enough where the level discrepancy doesn't become too much. And then after freeing them all that experience they would have gained from battles they participated in is given to them thus making them a normal Pokemon again plus with a special move (so that you can send them to your main game).
  
  
• I wouldn't argue Michael was a step down as not only was he more like the typical player character from the main games but also didn't have a companion to act as a mouthpiece for. However Michael does have at least some connection to the story as his father was co-creator of the Purify Chamber so in a way he's helping finish his father's work. Another thing that may make XD feel more kiddish is that the Orre Region lost the "edge" it gave off in the original as we're now seeing it essentially going under an age of reconstruction after having Cipher's shadow lifted from it. Though in a way that does show how bad Cipher was and their return is now a much greater risk than it was before.
  
  
• Also let's remember the Colosseum games were also a game of their time. Colosseum wasn't meant to be compared with the main games but rather with the previous gen's Stadium games which were only just battles and a collection of mini-games. Having a 3D battle sim game WITH a story that presented to be darker than what they usually portrayed in the handheld core series games was a big jump. And the Pokemon were in 3D with animations when doing stuff, the battle animations was more then just gifs but special effects combined with the Pokemon's animations, the trainer characters were able to show some more personality through actual movement instead of dialogue alone. If you're going back to Colosseum now it's going to feel clunky and lacking meat on the bone; it was a game made on a compromise for what it was and you have to play it with that compromise in mind. I would say if you want a more better Pokemon experience to play SwSh, SM, XY, even BW & BW2 if you want some sprite stuff, but if you want to play Colosseum nowadays you do so just for the odd experience and twist on the typical Pokemon formula.

Yup, although I like the idea for DPPt original story to have a bit more meat on it's bones via remake treatment, I think the potential for a new, fresh story>>>>.

I actually brainstormed some concepts they could use for the story. Like the main villain being haunted by shadows of their past and wanting to use Diagla's power to go back in time and change it. I'd also make it so that main cast had their lives marked and changed by some bad event so that each character has a motive to enslave and use Dialga's power of time to also change said event, but throughout the course of the story they grow and know better than throw everything away for an illusion of the past. Could be an important message about how our paths are predicated by outside variables that happen beyond our control, and sometimes **** hits the fan and all we can do is return to life, regardless of how difficult that may be. It could also how much we crave for our dreams come true, even when we know they cannot be. Just spitballing here.

Of course, Palkia and Giratina fall by the wayside here so it wouldn't work.

So what Pryce tried to do with Celebi in the Adventure manga.

A thing to remember is that, though a sequel, the game would still have to have centered around Giratina. So the story probably wouldn't have anything to do with time travel though maybe more adventuring in the Distortion World.

Did someone already said that the water in Hoenn isn't a bad thing? Because I LOVE IT!

HM dependency aside I loved exploring the vast sea, the feeling of exploring this huge seemingly-endless field, finding secret routes and items beneath the sea (including the villain team hideout). I dunno, I am a sucker for oceanic environments (my fav Pixar film is Finding Nemo lol). Personally I think it's a good experience, although on repeated playthroughs it can get dull...

I wished they focused a bit more on making the diving parts more of a spectacle. Like, alright, there's nothing you can really do with the surface to make it more interesting to look at, but there's a lot of different kind of underwater biomes they could have placed about. Like we could have had a coral reef, kelp forest, underwater ship graveyard, underwater river, underwater caves, etc..

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I've come to the conclusion that I wish the series would return to sprites, but not for the reason you might think.

The impression I get from a lot of people who hold this opinion is that they think sprite battles are way better than 3D battles. While I've made several posts about the shortcomings of 3D battle animations and a few praising the battle sprites of older (non gen 5) games, I'm actually fine with 3D battles as a whole. While the animations can occasionally be a bit rough, they lend themselves to dynamic camera angles during down time and attacks, and I'm a firm believer that having Pokemon in more subdued idle poses is much better than trying to replicate the wild poses of 2D sprites in 3D (even if they're sometimes a bit too subdued, they're better than the hyperactive shit in gen 5).

No, the reason I want a return to sprites is because of character animation in the overworld. Overworld animation in the 3D games is painfully clunky. NPCs have only two movement options: walk/run forward, and rotate. It's tank controls but without the option to go backwards. If an NPC wants to turn a corner, or walk away after talking to the player, they stop dead in their tracks and turn before going off in their new direction. The reverse is also true. They also don't have any head tracking, so if they come in from off screen to talk, or are having a conversation with two other people, they turn their whole bodies. While the sprite animation of old is limited in a similar way by the grid system, it has a distinct advantage: there is no turn animation. If an NPC wants to charge direction, they can do so in an instant and it looks fine. No clunky waiting required.

The limitations of sprites lead to other advantages. A walk cycle only has two or three frames, so if a character wants to move backward (such as in shock or being pushed backwards or to the side), they can just do that and it looks fine. 3D walk cycles don't usually look good reversed, and the most common situations where they would want to move backwards usually aren't just walking backwards, so they require custom animation, which Game Freak can't be fucked with (they have a single step back in shock and that's it). Additionally, when an NPC gives an item in the 3D games, they and the recipient of the item go through some very strange-looking motions where the giver palms the air in front of them, and the receiver several feet away cups the air with one hand and then puts the air in the pocket. With sprites? Two characters face each other while one tile apart (maybe like three feet?) and that's it.

This isn't to say that 3D animation can't work, but it takes more effort to pull off well than simple 2D sprites. And if Game Freak doesn't want to put effort into the overworld animations (which they demonstrably don't), they should use a style that doesn't require them to do so.

 

[Random Passerby]

1) Sticky Web is one of the most unbalanced move ever in Pokemon. Considering how important Speed Control is in Singles and Doubles, the invention of this move is a terrible idea. The only reason not many people complain about it is because of its poor distribution.

2) Zeraora is an attempt by Game Freak to make their mythical Pokemon relevant so they proceed to minmax its stats. No matter how you try to slice it, 143 Spe with decent Attack is incredibly stupid. (that goes for Dragapult too as they try to improve on Goodra and Kommo-O which barely gets used).

 

[Worldie]

2) Zeraora is an attempt by Game Freak to make their mythical Pokemon relevant so they proceed to minmax its stats.

That's difficult to agree on considering it's a pokemon banned from all official competitions (bar the very occasional special event BSS)

 

[Worldie]

Want arguably broken Pokemon that fits your description better of outspeeding, has a lot of attack, and is clearly optimized in it's stats? Zacian-Crowned and Mega Rayquaza.

Both also happening to be legal for VGC usage, in which case it *does* make sense that they have optimized stats (in fact, a bit *too* optimized for Zacian, I do wonder how it'll fare once the GC cup section of gen 8 starts...)

 

[Hematite]

1) Sticky Web is one of the most unbalanced move ever in Pokemon. Considering how important Speed Control is in Singles and Doubles, the invention of this move is a terrible idea. The only reason not many people complain about it is because of its poor distribution.

I might be misunderstanding, but... if you're saying that it's kept in check by its poor distribution to the point that many players can't even fit it onto their teams, and it's rare enough to face that many players don't even think to complain about it, don't you think maybe it's not so broken? There's definitely nothing uncompetitive about it, and counterplay like Rapid Spin and Defog is something every team should already have because of more relevant moves - it's nothing like Dracovish where it's rare but so constraining and broken that it's a problem anyway, because the threat of Sticky Web doesn't really change the way you need to build a team.
A move looking strong out of context doesn't make it broken if nothing traditionally "good" can use it - that's an intentional balancing factor.
This sort of reminds me of my post on types, when people were talking about how types looked purely in terms of matchups and forgetting about the Pokémon that have those types and the moves they can use. There's a lot more that goes into it than just the effects and matchups of a type by itself or a move by itself - a type and a move never are by themselves.

Also, Zeraora was UU last Gen - which is to say that the thing that actually made it good has nothing to do with its stats being broken! I think the main buff it got this Gen was now having Play Rough, whereas it was easily checked last Gen by the common Dragon-types that resisted all of its other moves.
I feel like this is actually just a matter of Game Freak having absolutely no restraint with move distribution this Gen... see Close Combat Conkeldurr, Dragon Dance/Icicle Spear/Freeze-Dry Kyurem, the blatant Cinderace favoritism and the existence of Pyro Ball...
I mean, they also reverse-speed crept it with Dragapult to give its stats a niche retroactively, so there's that, but... I don't think its stats are broken out of context, and it definitely wasn't broken when it was first made.

 

[greentyphlosion]

I might be misunderstanding, but... if you're saying that it's kept in check by its poor distribution to the point that many players can't even fit it onto their teams, and it's rare enough to face that many players don't even think to complain about it, don't you think maybe it's not so broken?

Was going to say the exact same thing myself. As long as it remains a move with poor distribution, it's mitigated vastly. Especially since the only Pokemon using it are the likes of Ariados, Slurpuff, Smeargle, and Shuckle which are hardly setting the competitive scene alight as it is.

(Of course Game Freak being Game Freak it'll probably end up a tutor move in a later game but for now my point stands. Side note: I remember when HGSS came out someone reported that there were a large number of new tutor moves in the game compared to Platinum and one poster said "what?! That sounds completely game-breaking" and then it emerged that most of the moves in question were things like String Shot and Bug Bite which are hardly game-changing for the majority of Pokemon that learn them.)

Regardless, Sticky Web is by no means broken. A large chunk of Pokemon are immune to the move, an even bigger chunk simply don't care about losing Speed, and its effects can be removed quite easily. Honestly I could think of a few things that are much more broken.