Unpopular opinions

The Aether Foundation had a very diverse amount of Pokémon, ranging from Porygon2, Vanillish, Gorebyss, Machoke, and Huntail to name a few. I do agree with the sentiment that villainous teams use far too much Poison, Dark, Normal, and Bug. It does feel very small and predictable.
It is predictable, but at same time, it's also relatable/recognizable.

It "makes sense" for a evil team to use dark/poison and some psychic/bug types (which also tend to have dark-ish vibes) cause evil.

Then again we also had our share of exceptions in last generations, both Lusamine and Rose's gangs use pokemon that you'd not normally associate with "bad guys" and Lusamine and Oleana specifically pull out the "cute but actually" trope with their bunch of feminine / fairylike pokemon.
(Which is also inherently a consequence of the series having taken a direction where the "Team X" is no longer the actual bad guys but rather the comic relief that distracts from the actually bad guys in last 2 gens)
 
Bug being evil is ironic considering the main reason it beats Dark is due to bug heroes in many Japan shows
Also I noticed something

Actual Gen one/twoers don't like Gen 3
This seems to be due to
-The reboot Gen. Unlike Gen 2 which was connected to 1, 3 was almost an entirely fresh slate. Connections to older characters is severed
-No way to port old mons. This affected event mons heavily
-Art change for less impressive poses and color/contrast. This even affects sprites in FRLG
-Anime's permanent change to Digital, and lower budget. Technically the end of Gen 2 started this, but that was after 3 was revealed. It also was the first Misty was replaced, and many are polarized about Max
-The internal shift to appeal to the new generation. Max might've been made as a result of that
-Despite GBA hype and sales, Pokemon no longer was at its peak. The fad/frenzy effectively expired
-Poke designs (and cries). Yes, they did complain

What I find weird, when they come back to Pokemon, they like later gens till 5 or 6, despite 3 being responsible for the updated battle formats, entering 16 bit, and overall expansion
And 4 honestly is handled even more kiddier in merch, and 2 had way more cutesy designs than either 1 or 3. So....
Why still be sore over 3?
 
What I find weird, when they come back to Pokemon, they like later gens till 5 or 6, despite 3 being responsible for the updated battle formats, entering 16 bit, and overall expansion
And 4 honestly is handled even more kiddier in merch, and 2 had way more cutesy designs than either 1 or 3. So....
Why still be sore over 3?

ErpCpv4.jpg
 
Not sure if this goes against the prevailing opinion, but ... I think I prefer the convention of "third versions" over the idea of DLC for main series Pokémon games. Or at least, over its implementation in Sword and Shield. Conceptually, a DLC can work, but it requires the base game to be better. Let me explain:

Of course, a main draw of the third version is the improved postgame, and SwSh's DLC appears to deliver pretty solidly on that front. However, the third versions have also historically improved on other aspects of the base games, such as aesthetics (compare Route 1 in SM to Route 1 in USUM), plot, characters, locations, and Pokémon availability. Remember the awful encounter tables of SM, the somewhat bland portrayal of the non-antagonist teams in RS, or the awfully generic and samey tilesets in DP? The fact that only native Pokémon were used all over BW? These were all flaws of original games that were fixed in the follow-up versions.

DLC doesn't "fix" things in this regard, instead it "adds to". It adds its own sidequest, but doesn't change the main quest. It adds new, beautiful areas that makes more Pokémon available, but old areas as still stuck with the same encounter tables and visuals. Core characters aren't given a different portrayal; instead, new characters are added alongside them. The entire original game still exists as-is, with all its shortcomings, with the DLC stuff mostly happening in an isolated bubble on the side.

On the other hand, this is not an issue you'll notice if you don't replay the entire game but instead choose to continue on the same save file you used when you first bought it. Seen as a postgame extension to the base game, DLC does its job fine. However, it means that the in-game journey will never get a touch-up for added replay value; you can only complement it with occasional visits to the DLC areas as you play through the game. The experience of the first games in a generation will stick.

In order for DLC to lift the quality of the overall game, the base game needs to be very good from the onset. If the DLC areas give a great jump in quality, or lack flaws that are clearly present in the base games, it will be very noticeable. In short, the base game needs to be as good as a "third version" right out of the gate, and I'm not sure if Pokémon's current release cycle is able to provide that level of polish.


There's also the argument that Pokémon games are all about their journey, and that the big appeal of the game is the part between picking a starter and becoming the Champion. A DLC won't be able to provide such an experience, you can only get it by starting over and playing a whole new adventure. This is why we keep buying new Pokémon games that are essentially identical between versions: the player's adventure with their Pokémon is so appealing we really want to do it over and over again. "Growth and progress" gameplay, as I like to call it, which you can't experience again after the end credits without starting anew. But starting anew is so punishing that, for many of us, it's not a realistic prospect. One can't just delete all that progress and all the Pokémon we've caught and befriended! Hence why we'll buy multiple versions to have another adventure, similar to the last but at the same time unique. And I daresay that a new and polished adventure is better than the same adventure but with a side adventure attached to it.

Of course, that bit about cost is a major argument too, and "third versions" aren't always perfect either. USUM was weaker than SM on the storytelling side. But I don't think I could have endured another playthrough of SM without the quality-of-life improvements of USUM.
 
Not sure if this goes against the prevailing opinion, but ... I think I prefer the convention of "third versions" over the idea of DLC for main series Pokémon games. Or at least, over its implementation in Sword and Shield. Conceptually, a DLC can work, but it requires the base game to be better.

hqdefault.jpg


DLC can be used to provide a yearly/twice a yearly thing to do to buy GF time to more fully develop the enhanced version no matter how many years that takes.

Though I think a key thing to note here is that, no matter what, the base games needs to be better than what we've been getting (which is why I bolded it in Codraroll's post). Notably for story and characters because, while a third enhanced version is nice, I would rather much prefer a sequel like we had with Gen V. Though that's personal preference and not really part of this discussion.

In addition they can have DLC previously released before the enhanced/sequel version be a part of the game but inaccessible unless you have the pass for them which can either be bought OR traded over to those game if you connect them to the vanilla versions (once again, think Gen V's Memory Link). That way when they they shut down the servers and you can't download the DLC anymore at least the enhanced/sequel versions will have that DLC built in. Unfortunately DLC released after the enhanced/sequel versions would be forever lost if they shut down the servers.
 
I don't think Game Freak has ever got lighting quite right. Look at the artwork for Gigantamax formes, for instance. Their lighting is all extremely wonky.

600px-003Venusaur-Gigantamax.png

I think Venusaur takes the cake. It appears to be lit from below, yet its petals are dark on the underside. That leaf over its left leg is also lit as if from the side, but then the leg should have cast a shadow on its belly. The bottom of the petals are lit, suggesting a light source on the side, but the gap between them is not reflected in their shadows. Somehow, the teeth are lit while the lips aren't. The vines are evidently lit from below while the petals right next to them are lit from the side. Venusaur's right foreleg is in the shade, but it's not clear what's shading it. Can't be the belly, because the curve of the shade is concave while the belly is convex, and it can't be the chin (which is convex like the shadow) because then its face would be lit. The petals to the right of its face are lit from below while the leaves underneath them aren't.

600px-133Eevee-Gigantamax.png


Or take Eevee: The idea seems to be a light source below Eeevee, or at least to its side, so how is the bottom half of the face illuminated? Shouldn't the mane throw a shadow that covered the bottom half of the face? The only thing that could create such a light would be a floodlight hidden in the mane itself. The three clouds swirling around its ear appear to be lit from different angles, yet the ear itself is completely shaded. Somehow, half of Eevee's legs are shaded, yet they don't cast a shadow on the tail.

Oh, and a light seems to be reflected in Eevee's eyes, yet the reflections are in the shaded halves of the eyes.

Yeah, Game Freak aren't really masters of illumination.

My unpopular opinion is that... Lighting in these 2D images is largely unnecessary and doesn't matter. I prefer a stylized image over one that has natural lighting. Especially in the case of Eevee. Its lighting is dramatic and makes it look like an evil mastermind. Venusaur's lighting puts a spotlight on the most important part of the design- it's body.

I appreciate you shining some light (heh) on the drawing's unnatural lighting, as it's not really something I would've noticed otherwise. But I prefer them to keep bending the rules of physics and lighting if it means that the drawings are cooler.
 
I appreciate you shining some light (heh) on the drawing's unnatural lighting, as it's not really something I would've noticed otherwise. But I prefer them to keep bending the rules of physics and lighting if it means that the drawings are cooler.
I'd agree, but a blatant curve isn't exactly that dynamic or unique, nor is worse color contrast after late Gen 3
It also makes Gen 4 back sprites seems flatter and LESS dynamic with how colors are used
 
I'd agree, but a blatant curve isn't exactly that dynamic or unique, nor is worse color contrast after late Gen 3
It also makes Gen 4 back sprites seems flatter and LESS dynamic with how colors are used
Oh ya I agree with you on the sprites. I'd like to see more examples of your fixes because it's pretty interesting.
 
no one is bothered that ground types still arent immune to spikes?
rock types to stealth rock?
Wonderguard should be immune to hail , toxic spikes and spikes bc shedinja takes 0 from both actually.
__________________________________

Recoil moves like Volt Tackle, Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, Wood hammer,

If the user inflicts no damage (such as if Disguise takes the damage), they do not take recoil damage.
Would change that when it comes to Disquise and Ice face actually... to make recoil users get hit...

some moves like Submission should atleast confuse the target taking how low damage 80 power it has and takes 1/4 recoil damage for nothing really... and only chance to hit 80%? would give efffect of flinching with higher rate here taking its a recoil move... you pay a price for something here...

outclassified by Body Press now... power 80 and 100% hiting always...

the same with Take Down and Rock Climb,,, if you take recoil it should be worth it or not?

Wild charge , only does damage and no extra effect here... maybe some should do less damage on their respective terrains or weathers?
or get increased priority +1 to make sense? or get extra effect like wild charge could confuse the foe too at least.

Power whip is strong, but power whip 15% of missing but lacks effect? its a whip? what about making it get 30% of beeing a increased priority move or a switching move?
wood hammer I get that 120, recoil for 100% chance to hit... but the power whip should make sense here.. maybe lower power and give effect?

generally we have a lot overpowered moves, would rather have more effects and higher activation rates then pure power play and strenght only
 
no one is bothered that ground types still arent immune to spikes?
rock types to stealth rock?
Wonderguard should be immune to hail , toxic spikes and spikes bc shedinja takes 0 from both actually.
__________________________________

Recoil moves like Volt Tackle, Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, Wood hammer,

If the user inflicts no damage (such as if Disguise takes the damage), they do not take recoil damage.
Would change that when it comes to Disquise and Ice face actually... to make recoil users get hit...

some moves like Submission should atleast confuse the target taking how low damage 80 power it has and takes 1/4 recoil damage for nothing really... and only chance to hit 80%? would give efffect of flinching with higher rate here taking its a recoil move... you pay a price for something here...

outclassified by Body Press now... power 80 and 100% hiting always...

the same with Take Down and Rock Climb,,, if you take recoil it should be worth it or not?

Wild charge , only does damage and no extra effect here... maybe some should do less damage on their respective terrains or weathers?
or get increased priority +1 to make sense? or get extra effect like wild charge could confuse the foe too at least.

Power whip is strong, but power whip 15% of missing but lacks effect? its a whip? what about making it get 30% of beeing a increased priority move or a switching move?
wood hammer I get that 120, recoil for 100% chance to hit... but the power whip should make sense here.. maybe lower power and give effect?

generally we have a lot overpowered moves, would rather have more effects and higher activation rates then pure power play and strenght only
This is the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, not "Make Suggestions For How Game Freak Can Buff Things As If They Or Anyone Else Cares" thread.
 
Not sure how unpopular an opinion this is or how appropriate it is for OI since it mainly pertains to competitive play, but I really dislike the concept of TRs. And it's not just because they're single-use; that much I can handle since they're all renewable through Max Raids. I'm talking about how, because the TR list is explicitly all of the best moves in the game, every Pokemon has too much movepool flexibility.

For example, in older generations, most non-Fighting Physical attackers who wanted Fighting coverage had to settle for something like Superpower, which had the undesirable trait of dropping your own Attack stat. In generation 8, on the other hand, since Close Combat is now a TR, pretty much every Pokemon who might have wanted a Fighting-type option (including many Fighting-types such as Conkeldurr and Mienshao) now have access to the best Fighting move in the game. Historically, many Pokemon were balanced by not having access to moves that they might have desired and thus having to make do with subpar options, but now they can optimize their movesets to an unprecedented degree, which I worry will eventually lead to a smaller pool of Pokemon being viable as "niche" options being used for a certain move wouldn't happen nearly as much. At least Garchomp still doesn't get Dragon Dance.

TRs that used to be Egg or Tutor moves also had their distributions wildly expanded. The fact that so many Pokemon have a ton of coverage makes the idea of a "counter", in the traditional sense, shaky at best. Venusaur, for example, can no longer be safely walled by Steel-types thanks to its new access to Earth Power. This goes hand-in-hand with Dynamaxing, where a Pokemon can double its bulk and fire off Max coverage moves to brute force their way through a would-be counter.

The final reason I dislike TRs is admittedly a personal and extremely biased one, but I've historically been very into Pokemon breeding, and many traditional Egg moves got moved over. There's still a viable Egg move here and there (such as Fake Out Gothitelle), but by and large the remaining ones are moves you wouldn't ever need or want.
 
Conceptually, a DLC can work, but it requires the base game to be better.
Yeah, this was my biggest gripe with the DLC, while I did enjoy it, it doesn't fix any of the problems like Platinum did for Diamond and Pearl. The areas when playing online lag and freeze, Marnie and Bede are robbed of a character arc, or even making dungeons more thrilling more complicated. I honestly think DLC model would have worked fine for SM, since these were games that did not need a strict 3rd version like Platinum to fix it flaws. Here's my thoughts on the DLC in LTTAYIP Thread. My other major criticism with DLC was that model was poorly handled. For starters, why can't the packs be separate? Someone might wanna try the Isle of Armor, but not like it. This is the first ever DLC for Pokemon, so I'd imagine that a lot of people would think twice before buying this. The second thing is why are there separate passes for the versions? Why can't we have one singular pass for the games? The only reason I can think of is because TPC wants to make as much money as possible, and gain money equivalent to a Switch game by charging separate passes for players who have both versions. Terrible business practice.

Anyway, enough about that, I wanted to talk about the GTS, and how Home has ruined it. Before I go into that, I am going to say that I liked the GTS: . Yes, I know it had its problems, but it still was very useful feature. When I was completing the Pokedex in Moon, the GTS was invaluable for obtaining Version-Exclusive Pokemon. Like when I put up a Vullaby for Rufflet, I got one very quickly. It saved me the hassle of looking for someone to trade with via the use of Forums.

In Home, the GTS is technically free with the Basic Version, but the basic version is severely limited. For starters, you don't have access to access to transferring Pokemon, so you are already at a disadvantage since you only have Pokemon from SwSh and Let's Go to work with, so you are missing roughly 200 to 300 Pokemon as of the Isle of Armor DLC. The 2nd is that you only have access to one box for the basic version, which is only 30 Pokemon. Assuming that you have one different Pokemon per space for the Basic Box, you only have roughly 3% of the entire national dex, to work with it. And that's not considering Dexit. So let's just say that you are looking for a Glameow on the GTS, and you find one and they want a Duraludon. But you don't have a Duraludon in the basic box. So you need to quit your phone, go to your Switch and Deposit a Duraludon into the Basic Box. Then you have to log on to Mobile Home and do the trade. And you have to consider the possibility that the trade may be completed by the time you get Duraludon, or you don't access to your Switch. Its just needlessly complicated. And to add insult to injury, the GTS is improved upon buying into the Premium Plan- you can store up to 3 Pokemon instead of one.

And lastly, I also really dislike they removed Friend Trades from the games and placed it in Home. They are free, but SwSh suffers because they replaced it with a Link Code system, which suffers due to the fact that if you don't insert a unique enough number, you can get mismatched very regularly. Yesterday, I was trading with Omastar68 and I got mismatched once and had to create 3 separate LCs in total before being matched properly. It took us 30 minutes in total. Never has trading been so tedious to do in the whole series. It really does feel like they removed it just to encourage the use of Home.

So the my opinion is that the removal of GTS is disappointing, and the managing of the Basic version is supposed to encourage the consumer to buy the GTS back to its former glory, which is honestly what Home is: Taking features from the past games and monetizing them. Between the noticeable increase in monetization, Dexit, and Kanto pandering I'm really considering quitting Pokemon. As for Dexit, Pokemon are the primary reason why I play the Pokemon games, as well as the Multiplayer, but without my favorite Pokemon, what am I playing Pokemon for? Multiplayer, yes I guess, that part is always fun. But I spend most of my time on PS building teams, and of all those teams I build, I only actually build two on cart. The tedium will always exist as long as IVs and natures are a thing, which will PS will always be faster. And as for Kanto Pandering, yes I know that Gen 1 Pokemon are the most recognizable, but Pokemon has such a successful brand name, they can afford to take a risk, and can make money. Its annoying to see Kanto Starters and Gengar get the more attention, even though when they are Pokemon like the Johto starters who also exist around Pokemania as well as being the 2nd Best selling games of all times, yet none of the Johto starters have gotten the Kanto Starter treatment.

So between Home, Dexit, the handling of the DLC, and the partnership with Tencent to create Pokemon Unite, gives the vibes that making money is the top priority and will currently right now take over creative process and innovation. I understand TPC needs to make money, but you don't need to create grimey business services like Home which is removing features from the games to monetize it at the cost of slowing advancements in the games themselves. The lack of innovation in the Pokemon formula has finally caught up to me. Pokemon SwSh feel like RB despite coming out 20 years later. I think its time to join my friends in the " grown out of Pokemon " circle.
 
In Home, the GTS is technically free with the Basic Version, but the basic version is severely limited. For starters, you don't have access to access to transferring Pokemon, so you are already at a disadvantage since you only have Pokemon from SwSh and Let's Go to work with, so you are missing roughly 200 to 300 Pokemon as of the Isle of Armor DLC. The 2nd is that you only have access to one box for the basic version, which is only 30 Pokemon. Assuming that you have one different Pokemon per space for the Basic Box, you only have roughly 3% of the entire national dex, to work with it. And that's not considering Dexit. So let's just say that you are looking for a Glameow on the GTS, and you find one and they want a Duraludon. But you don't have a Duraludon in the basic box. So you need to quit your phone, go to your Switch and Deposit a Duraludon into the Basic Box. Then you have to log on to Mobile Home and do the trade. And you have to consider the possibility that the trade may be completed by the time you get Duraludon, or you don't access to your Switch. Its just needlessly complicated. And to add insult to injury, the GTS is improved upon buying into the Premium Plan- you can store up to 3 Pokemon instead of one.

And lastly, I also really dislike they removed Friend Trades from the games and placed it in Home. They are free, but SwSh suffers because they replaced it with a Link Code system, which suffers due to the fact that if you don't insert a unique enough number, you can get mismatched very regularly. Yesterday, I was trading with Omastar68 and I got mismatched once and had to create 3 separate LCs in total before being matched properly. It took us 30 minutes in total. Never has trading been so tedious to do in the whole series. It really does feel like they removed it just to encourage the use of Home.

So the my opinion is that the removal of GTS is disappointing, and the managing of the Basic version is supposed to encourage the consumer to buy the GTS back to its former glory, which is honestly what Home is: Taking features from the past games and monetizing them. Between the noticeable increase in monetization, Dexit, and Kanto pandering I'm really considering quitting Pokemon. As for Dexit, Pokemon are the primary reason why I play the Pokemon games, as well as the Multiplayer, but without my favorite Pokemon, what am I playing Pokemon for? Multiplayer, yes I guess, that part is always fun. But I spend most of my time on PS building teams, and of all those teams I build, I only actually build two on cart. The tedium will always exist as long as IVs and natures are a thing, which will PS will always be faster. And as for Kanto Pandering, yes I know that Gen 1 Pokemon are the most recognizable, but Pokemon has such a successful brand name, they can afford to take a risk, and can make money. Its annoying to see Kanto Starters and Gengar get the more attention, even though when they are Pokemon like the Johto starters who also exist around Pokemania as well as being the 2nd Best selling games of all times, yet none of the Johto starters have gotten the Kanto Starter treatment.

So between Home, Dexit, the handling of the DLC, and the partnership with Tencent to create Pokemon Unite, gives the vibes that making money is the top priority and will currently right now take over creative process and innovation. I understand TPC needs to make money, but you don't need to create grimey business services like Home which is removing features from the games to monetize it at the cost of slowing advancements in the games themselves. The lack of innovation in the Pokemon formula has finally caught up to me. Pokemon SwSh feel like RB despite coming out 20 years later. I think its time to join my friends in the " grown out of Pokemon " circle.

Uhhh... Why did you put this here? This is "Unpopular opinions", not "Rants about the current state of the franchise and one's intentions to quit". Where exactly is the hot take? Because a lot of people aren't fond of Home in its current state already. Sorry if this comes off as rude, but I just don't think this belongs in this thread, or really any thread on this subforum.
 
Uhhh... Why did you put this here? This is "Unpopular opinions", not "Rants about the current state of the franchise and one's intentions to quit". Where exactly is the hot take? Because a lot of people aren't fond of Home in its current state already. Sorry if this comes off as rude, but I just don't think this belongs in this thread, or really any thread on this subforum.
I put it here as a response to Codraroll. I thought I'd save myself a post by writing it here.
 
As a casual user of the GTS, I actually think integrating it into Home was a good move.

Not going to defend the monetization though. Its becoming pretty apparent that Gamefreak is becoming more scummy with their brand and monetizing improvements that would have come with the main game in the past. The Basic Box being limited to only 30 Pokemon is also an issue (90 would have been much easier to work with).

Still, making the GTS its separate app does have a bunch of benefits. NOTE: I'm basing a lot of this on what I've learned from my CS classes, but I don't have much industry experience so I may not be correct.

1: More Scalable: For past few games, I believe Gamefreak had to set up different GTS servers for every new gen. With Home, only one server needs to be managed & periodically updated to add new Pokemon.

2: Easier to get Feedback & Make Improvements: Having multiple systems entangled together (GTS, single player game, wifi-battling) can make managing everything pretty difficult. In the 3DS games, Gamefreak did a decent job at attempting to address single-player and wifi-battling concerns, but neglected the GTS. Issues like people requesting mythicals / impossible Pokemon or offering rare Pokemon that were nicknamed bad words never got fixed. With Home, several of these issues were finally addressed. There still are several problems (like hacked Pokemon having nicknames to shady URLs & trade evolutions not evolving) but its not as bad as before.

3. Showing statistics: The GTS now shows stats of what the most & least traded Pokemon are. This is extremely cool to a data geek like myself & gives new players an idea of what the "Pokemon economy" is like. Right now, Kubfu & Urshifu are extremely valuable, so being able to get your hands on one gives you a lot of flexibility in what you can & can't get.
 
This is the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, not "Make Suggestions For How Game Freak Can Buff Things As If They Or Anyone Else Cares" thread.

So what you're saying is that they're making unpopular opinions?

no one is bothered that ground types still arent immune to spikes?
rock types to stealth rock?
Wonderguard should be immune to hail , toxic spikes and spikes bc shedinja takes 0 from both actually.
__________________________________

Recoil moves like Volt Tackle, Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, Wood hammer,

If the user inflicts no damage (such as if Disguise takes the damage), they do not take recoil damage.
Would change that when it comes to Disquise and Ice face actually... to make recoil users get hit...

some moves like Submission should atleast confuse the target taking how low damage 80 power it has and takes 1/4 recoil damage for nothing really... and only chance to hit 80%? would give efffect of flinching with higher rate here taking its a recoil move... you pay a price for something here...

outclassified by Body Press now... power 80 and 100% hiting always...

the same with Take Down and Rock Climb,,, if you take recoil it should be worth it or not?

Wild charge , only does damage and no extra effect here... maybe some should do less damage on their respective terrains or weathers?
or get increased priority +1 to make sense? or get extra effect like wild charge could confuse the foe too at least.

Power whip is strong, but power whip 15% of missing but lacks effect? its a whip? what about making it get 30% of beeing a increased priority move or a switching move?
wood hammer I get that 120, recoil for 100% chance to hit... but the power whip should make sense here.. maybe lower power and give effect?

generally we have a lot overpowered moves, would rather have more effects and higher activation rates then pure power play and strenght only

Ground-types & Spikes: Ground-types aren't immune or resistant to themselves, so even if they made Spikes go off the Type Chart like Stealth Rock they'd still receive "full" damage when being sent out. And unlike Toxic Spikes where it could be assumed Poison-types are re-absorbing the poison in the spikes making them harmless, normal Spikes are presumably just a hard & sharp material so nothing to really "absorb".
Rock-types & Stealth Rock: Similar issue with Stealth Rock, but honestly Stealth Rock needs some other nerf. I still say it should be locked to only doing no more than 2x damage even on a Pokemon quad weak to Rock. Also maybe wouldn't be a bad idea having it only last for a number of activations (maybe something to consider for all Entry Hazards, giving them a wearing down effect unless more layers are laid down thus also giving a purpose them having 20+ PP).
Wonder Guard Indirect Damage Immunity: Eh, I wouldn't do that as we need some ways for other Pokemon to work around Wonder Guard. However I wouldn't argue giving it a "first turn" immunity to Indirect Damage so it doesn't immediately get knocked out when sent out on Stealth Rock, is Burned/Poisoned, or there's a Weather active.
Recoil Against Disguise/Ice Face: Why? How I interpret recoil is the Pokemon hits the target and then pushes itself to do extra damage at the risk of also hurting itself (essentially overexerting itself). However with Disguise and Ice Face the attacker so easily breaks these decoy defenses they don't have to exert the extra energy thus no recoil.
Submission, Wild Charge, Take Down & Rock Climb: Honestly I would just make Submission, Take Down, & Wild Charge all be 100 Power & 100 Accuracy. You're right, there's really no reason for these Moves to be Low Power/Low Accuracy with them doing recoil. But Submission are probably one of those Moves GF rarely remember exist let alone what it does as there are better Fighting-type moves (yet oddly it wasn't cut...). And of course there are plenty of other Moves that could use some adjustments before I would bother touching Submission. BTW Rock Climb doesn't do recoil, but it is a subpar Normal-type move that could use a readjustment (this is actually true for a lot of Normal-type moves).
Power Whip & Powerful Moves: Power Whip is fine, could maybe use a secondary effect (or maybe higher Power) but its main purpose is to hit hard which comes at the cost of being inaccurate. Let's also remember that not every move is made to be competitive. Thinking about it, may be an interesting challenge idea for someone to do a playthrough where they strictly focus on inaccurate moves and see how far they get (probably wouldn't make it a nuzlocke).

Not sure how unpopular an opinion this is or how appropriate it is for OI since it mainly pertains to competitive play, but I really dislike the concept of TRs. And it's not just because they're single-use; that much I can handle since they're all renewable through Max Raids. I'm talking about how, because the TR list is explicitly all of the best moves in the game, every Pokemon has too much movepool flexibility.

(...)

TRs that used to be Egg or Tutor moves also had their distributions wildly expanded. The fact that so many Pokemon have a ton of coverage makes the idea of a "counter", in the traditional sense, shaky at best. Venusaur, for example, can no longer be safely walled by Steel-types thanks to its new access to Earth Power. This goes hand-in-hand with Dynamaxing, where a Pokemon can double its bulk and fire off Max coverage moves to brute force their way through a would-be counter.

The final reason I dislike TRs is admittedly a personal and extremely biased one, but I've historically been very into Pokemon breeding, and many traditional Egg moves got moved over. There's still a viable Egg move here and there (such as Fake Out Gothitelle), but by and large the remaining ones are moves you wouldn't ever need or want.

Addressing your last issue first, you may not like what I'm about to say. I think GF are wanting to pull away from having players required to breed a lot to get a good Pokemon. Hyper Training, Nature Mints, getting rid of Hidden Power, able to teach Pokemon moves from the same member of their species, slowly but surely they're getting rid of the reasons to Breed (to the point they may have to add some reasons to breed...). Really the only reason left to breed a lot is for Shiny Pokemon (as you only need to breed once or twice for an Egg Move which you can then Same Species Tutor).

And that leads us back to TRs pretty much teach a Pokemon a majority of the Egg Moves they would want (notably coverage). The thing about TRs is I think they may have made them TOO available. From Raid Dens and the Watt Traders you really aren't hard pressed to get a TR you want or use that TR if you have it. I would not be surprised if next gen they pull WAY back on the TR availability and you may have to jump through loopholes to get a certain TR (and when you do decide whether you want to use it cause may take some time to get another). And in doing that they'll bring back breeding for Egg Moves. Of course this is all hypothetical.

The second thing is why are there separate passes for the versions? Why can't we have one singular pass for the games? The only reason I can think of is because TPC wants to make as much money as possible, and gain money equivalent to a Switch game by charging separate passes for players who have both versions.

Well I think no matter what they would have required someone to pay again for the DLC for each version of the game they have. No, I think the reason they may have done two different passes is because GF are not good/lazy/rushed programmers.

Good programmers would be able to use "if-then" statements to make sure the version exclusive content (rival, wild Pokemon, Regina's trades) is only accessible by the version its planned to be in.

BUT GF have proven time and time again they're either not good/lazy/rushed programmers. For them it's just easier to make two passes and hard code the version differences (and this still holds true even if both DLC packs has the other's exclusive content, infact I wouldn't be surprised). Instead of doing "if-then" and then testing to make sure it works they "crl find+replace".

I wanted to talk about the GTS, and how Home has ruined it.

THIS on the otherhand was a cash grab and GF should be punished by Nintendo for pulling this stunt. Gutting it out of the main game to force people to use HOME and download it on their Switch and Mobile Phone (which I hope you have because if you don't then F@#$ YOU!) & then charging to transfer your Pokemon up from the past games (on top of also having to pay for Bank, which was said to be a service to ignore this very issue but I guess that was a blatant lie!).

Still, making the GTS its separate app does have a bunch of benefits.

Honestly I think people are fine having GTS being an app... BUT they also want a version of the GTS in the actual games themselves. The point of a GTS app is for ease of availability, not having to have the game in front of you if you wanted to do some trades with the Pokemon you have stored in HOME. However, if I am playing my game that I have a whole batch of different Pokemon on, why should I:

1. Save and close my game.
2. Open Switch's version of HOME.
3. Deposit Pokemon from my game into HOME.
4. Open Mobile's version of HOME.
5. Set up the trade you want with the GTS.
6. Open Switch's version of HOME.
7. Withdraw Pokemon from HOME into my game.
8. Open my game back up.

WHEN instead they could have just put a GTS in the game like they did in past generations!

This is literally cutting content out of the main game to make it more of a hassle & more restrictive to try and squeeze some extra money from people.

... MEANWHILE, if they wanted to sell their Premium Service, maybe they could have taken all that cut content from past games like Pokemon Contests, Pokemon Musicals, Pokeathlon, Battle Frontier, Dream World, Pokemon Refresh, Poke Pelago, etc. and added those to HOME. You know, stuff people actually want and many would pay for and would probably be worth buying into the Premium service especially if they supported it. But no, why give customers something they would gladly pay for when you can take away something they've grown accustomed to just so you could make squeeze out a few extra dollars. Just disgusting.
 
So what you're saying is that they're making unpopular opinions?



Ground-types & Spikes: Ground-types aren't immune or resistant to themselves, so even if they made Spikes go off the Type Chart like Stealth Rock they'd still receive "full" damage when being sent out. And unlike Toxic Spikes where it could be assumed Poison-types are re-absorbing the poison in the spikes making them harmless, normal Spikes are presumably just a hard & sharp material so nothing to really "absorb".
Rock-types & Stealth Rock: Similar issue with Stealth Rock, but honestly Stealth Rock needs some other nerf. I still say it should be locked to only doing no more than 2x damage even on a Pokemon quad weak to Rock. Also maybe wouldn't be a bad idea having it only last for a number of activations (maybe something to consider for all Entry Hazards, giving them a wearing down effect unless more layers are laid down thus also giving a purpose them having 20+ PP).
Wonder Guard Indirect Damage Immunity: Eh, I wouldn't do that as we need some ways for other Pokemon to work around Wonder Guard. However I wouldn't argue giving it a "first turn" immunity to Indirect Damage so it doesn't immediately get knocked out when sent out on Stealth Rock, is Burned/Poisoned, or there's a Weather active.
Recoil Against Disguise/Ice Face: Why? How I interpret recoil is the Pokemon hits the target and then pushes itself to do extra damage at the risk of also hurting itself (essentially overexerting itself). However with Disguise and Ice Face the attacker so easily breaks these decoy defenses they don't have to exert the extra energy thus no recoil.
Submission, Wild Charge, Take Down & Rock Climb: Honestly I would just make Submission, Take Down, & Wild Charge all be 100 Power & 100 Accuracy. You're right, there's really no reason for these Moves to be Low Power/Low Accuracy with them doing recoil. But Submission are probably one of those Moves GF rarely remember exist let alone what it does as there are better Fighting-type moves (yet oddly it wasn't cut...). And of course there are plenty of other Moves that could use some adjustments before I would bother touching Submission. BTW Rock Climb doesn't do recoil, but it is a subpar Normal-type move that could use a readjustment (this is actually true for a lot of Normal-type moves).
Power Whip & Powerful Moves: Power Whip is fine, could maybe use a secondary effect (or maybe higher Power) but its main purpose is to hit hard which comes at the cost of being inaccurate. Let's also remember that not every move is made to be competitive. Thinking about it, may be an interesting challenge idea for someone to do a playthrough where they strictly focus on inaccurate moves and see how far they get (probably wouldn't make it a nuzlocke).
Don't encourage them.
 
I've got a big one here.

Some of Uri Geller's claims about Kadabra actually warrant discussion on whether he was completely wrong about suing over its design. Of course, his lawsuit led to a solid Pokemon being ignored in the anime and TCG (Abra hasn't appeared since Diamond and Pearl!), and his claims about it being "evil and occult" aren't really... true? But the other claims he made are completely valid.

The man isn't perfect, and his litigations are often frivolous, but his problems with the design in tandem with his name being attached to it makes the whole thing very evident. Uri Geller is Israeli-British, and is also Jewish. If you look at the patterns on Kadabra's stomach, it's not that hard to see how putting that kind of symbol on a Pokemon named after someone of Jewish heritage was a GROSS lack of researching on GF's part. For those of you who don't know, that symbol heavily resembles the one used by the Nazi secret police, the SS. And if you don't understand the reasoning why that may be problematic, I highly suggest closing this RIGHT NOW and doing your research on the topic.
1596990321138.png

It's not a stretch to assume that these symbols, while not intentional, were a design choice that was ignorant at BEST and Game Freak should have changed the design or the name as soon as they understood the inherent problems in its design. If they hadn't named it after Geller, this wouldn't have been a problem. It's been in the design for decades at this point, and I doubt it's going to change, but too often we put him alongside the other "Pokemon is evil and demonic" bits and forget the legitimate reasonings behind some of the lawsuit.

Just to clear things up.

Things I AM NOT SAYING:
  • Uri Geller was completely in the right in every bit in his lawsuit.
  • His other lawsuits haven't been frivolous at other times
  • Kadabra is an antisemitic design
  • Game Freak needs to change the design THIS SECOND.

Things I AM SAYING:
  • It's not a stretch to see it as at the least, problematic
  • Geller's interpretation was very much reasonable for someone whose parents were of Austrian-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish descent born in the aftermath of WWII.
  • Similar to Jynx, it's an instance of Game Freak making design decisions without an international audience in mind.

Now, sorry about that rant, but I thought it deserved to be said.
 
BTW Rock Climb doesn't do recoil, but it is a subpar Normal-type move that could use a readjustment (this is actually true for a lot of Normal-type moves).

Remember Gen V and VI where Sheer Force Tauros was forced to run Rock Climb, which it could only get with that ability via Dream World?

Body Slam wasn't compatible with its hidden ability until Gen VII when they released the Virtual Console versions of the Gen I games.
 
I've got a big one here.

Some of Uri Geller's claims about Kadabra actually warrant discussion on whether he was completely wrong about suing over its design. Of course, his lawsuit led to a solid Pokemon being ignored in the anime and TCG (Abra hasn't appeared since Diamond and Pearl!), and his claims about it being "evil and occult" aren't really... true? But the other claims he made are completely valid.

The man isn't perfect, and his litigations are often frivolous, but his problems with the design in tandem with his name being attached to it makes the whole thing very evident. Uri Geller is Israeli-British, and is also Jewish. If you look at the patterns on Kadabra's stomach, it's not that hard to see how putting that kind of symbol on a Pokemon named after someone of Jewish heritage was a GROSS lack of researching on GF's part. For those of you who don't know, that symbol heavily resembles the one used by the Nazi secret police, the SS. And if you don't understand the reasoning why that may be problematic, I highly suggest closing this RIGHT NOW and doing your research on the topic.
View attachment 268071
It's not a stretch to assume that these symbols, while not intentional, were a design choice that was ignorant at BEST and Game Freak should have changed the design or the name as soon as they understood the inherent problems in its design. If they hadn't named it after Geller, this wouldn't have been a problem. It's been in the design for decades at this point, and I doubt it's going to change, but too often we put him alongside the other "Pokemon is evil and demonic" bits and forget the legitimate reasonings behind some of the lawsuit.

Just to clear things up.

Things I AM NOT SAYING:
  • Uri Geller was completely in the right in every bit in his lawsuit.
  • His other lawsuits haven't been frivolous at other times
  • Kadabra is an antisemitic design
  • Game Freak needs to change the design THIS SECOND.

Things I AM SAYING:
  • It's not a stretch to see it as at the least, problematic
  • Geller's interpretation was very much reasonable for someone whose parents were of Austrian-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish descent born in the aftermath of WWII.
  • Similar to Jynx, it's an instance of Game Freak making design decisions without an international audience in mind.

Now, sorry about that rant, but I thought it deserved to be said.
Hard disagree. I can see where you're coming from, but the zigzag as a symbol is usually used to denote balance between soul and matter, especially when next to parallel zigzags. Since they start and end in the same place but delineate in the middle, and do so in the same pattern as the parallel zigzags meaning they also don't touch, it represents harmony of the material and immaterial working together despite not directly effecting each other.

This is true in many native mythologies, in particular American and Austronesian. It is not true in Japan traditionally, but has started seeing some use in this context there more recently.

All this is to say that those symbols mean something completely different and fits the posterchild of the Psychic-Type well. Saying it represents the SS makes as much sense as saying the star on Kadabra's forehead represents the Star of David thanks to Uri Geller's Jewish heritage. It's a pretty big reach.

And that's beside the point anyway because if Pokémon had put a "fair use for parody" disclaimer in its game or manual somewhere then the lawsuit wouldn't have worked. Them being punished for not doing that is insanely dumb and exposes the badly designed copywrite law that we have more than anything else.

Also Jynx wasn't "designed without an international audience in mind". A) They have black people in Japan and B) It was dumb that Jynx's design got changed as it was based on a mythological creature where the black skin makes absolute sense. Perhaps it didn't read well to people in the west, but that's due to our ignorance of the source material rather than Game Freak.
 
Hard disagree. I can see where you're coming from, but the zigzag as a symbol is usually used to denote balance between soul and matter, especially when next to parallel zigzags. Since they start and end in the same place but delineate in the middle, and do so in the same pattern as the parallel zigzags meaning they also don't touch, it represents harmony of the material and immaterial working together despite not directly effecting each other.

This is true in many native mythologies, in particular American and Austronesian. It is not true in Japan traditionally, but has started seeing some use in this context there more recently.

All this is to say that those symbols mean something completely different and fits the posterchild of the Psychic-Type well. Saying it represents the SS makes as much sense as saying the star on Kadabra's forehead represents the Star of David thanks to Uri Geller's Jewish heritage. It's a pretty big reach.

And that's beside the point anyway because if Pokémon had put a "fair use for parody" disclaimer in its game or manual somewhere then the lawsuit wouldn't have worked. Them being punished for not doing that is insanely dumb and exposes the badly designed copywrite law that we have more than anything else.

Also Jynx wasn't "designed without an international audience in mind". A) They have black people in Japan and B) It was dumb that Jynx's design got changed as it was based on a mythological creature where the black skin makes absolute sense. Perhaps it didn't read well to people in the west, but that's due to our ignorance of the source material rather than Game Freak.
Really? What mythical creature is Jynx based off of? I’ve heard some people claim Jynx is based off a Norwegian Princess or the trend of Japanese Girls tanning to the extreme?
 
Pokemon being ignored in the anime and TCG (Abra hasn't appeared since Diamond and Pearl!)

Actually, the timeline is more like this:
-Kadabra hasn't been in the TCG since e-Skyridge, the very last Gen II set that was released in the west. All Abra cards since have the ability to auto-evolve into Alakazam
-Kadabra has not appeared in the anime since Advanced Generation. The exception is a crowdshot in the Kyurem movie that had all of the Gen I-V Pokemon(minus Genesect), including the sole appearances of Porygon 2 and Porygon Z
-Since Diamond and Pearl, Everstone is flagged to negate its effect on Kadabra(the recent DP beta leaks shows this was 100% intentional), so it will always evolve when traded within the main series.
 
Really? What mythical creature is Jynx based off of? I’ve heard some people claim Jynx is based off a Norwegian Princess or the trend of Japanese Girls tanning to the extreme?
The Yama-uba. This is where its Ice-Type comes from, as the Yama-uba lives high on mountains and has control over snow. This yokai is also the basis of ganguro fashion (bleaching hair and tanning to the extreme) -- in slang, people who are seen as taking ganguro too far are called "Yamanba". This is due to the Yama-uba being described as having dark skin and whitish-blonde hair. It also helps that it's usually depicted in a red kimono, like Jynx.
 
Some of Uri Geller's claims about Kadabra actually warrant discussion on whether he was completely wrong about suing over its design. Of course, his lawsuit led to a solid Pokemon being ignored in the anime and TCG (Abra hasn't appeared since Diamond and Pearl!), and his claims about it being "evil and occult" aren't really... true? But the other claims he made are completely valid.

... Hmm, at best I would say upon seeing the the three waves he could have confused them for the Nazi SS symbol and gotten offended a Pokemon named after him has them.

... BUT despite probably being explained that they're not that symbol but the 3 waves of the Zener Cards (something you'd think a proclaimed Psychic would know about...), he STILL tried to sue Pokemon for millions. This alone shows this has nothing to do with Kadabra's design. I wouldn't be surprised if GF offered to change the design to remove/change the symbol as they changed Jynx's skin tone (and maybe thye offered to also change the name). But no, Uri Geller heard a Pokemon was named after him that bent spoons (which Uri Geller made famouse) and saw an opportunity to sue for them using his name, plain and simple, do not give this man any benefit of the doubt. No offer that wasn't millions of dollars wasn't accepted thus why Kadabra's design and Japanese name wasn't changed (because why wouldn't they change it unless it wouldn't affect anything?).

The only fault I would give GF was using living people's names for Pokemon.

If you want to throw Geller a bone (which we shouldn't), the Abra family is occultish because, well, that's what psychic powers has been connected to. Abra family resemble goats, has strange symbols on them, and use Psychic powers (aka powers not given to them by God according to Christians); thus occult. But GF didn't do this out of spite toward Uri Geller, the entire Abra family was probably designed and then GF thought it would be cute to name them after a batch of psychics. A misunderstanding that if Uri Geller truly felt insulted by they likely would have changed the name/design cause this was still the early days.

Also I don't think an international consultant would have caught this, or at least would suggest not naming it after a living person. Remember one thing Uri Geller pointed out was a connection to him was the spoon bending so I'm curious even if they didn't name it after him he would still have tried suing.

Remember Gen V and VI where Sheer Force Tauros was forced to run Rock Climb, which it could only get with that ability via Dream World?

Body Slam wasn't compatible with its hidden ability until Gen VII when they released the Virtual Console versions of the Gen I games.

What does that have anything to do with Rock Climb being a subpar Normal move?

Looking at Tauros moves, while it may not have a Normal-type that took advantage of Sheer Force, it did have some other notable options: Zen Headbutt, Rock Slide, & Iron Head.
 
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