Eternatus probably wins the prize for "most min-maxed stats ever found on a Pokemon". Low ATK dump stat? Check. Monstrous HP and reasonable defences? Check. SpA and Speed off the charts? Check. Wow they were really determined to make that busted lol. Which makes me question once again why Zam doesn't get Body Press...
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Pokemon that disappointed you in-game despite looking good initially?
- Thread starter DrumstickGaming
- Start date
Dialga and Giratina in DPP when using them against the elite 4. They take to much time and resources to get the job done. To be fair, I didn't know how natures worked nor did I look at stats back then, but even at higher levels I couldn't even defeat Bronzong with a Fire Blast from Dialga.
Speaking of Bronzong, that thing doesn't die and is everywhere in the game. So I thought that it's a great Pokemon. But unfortunately, mirror matches are about to be had and it's a nightmare. No wonder everyone chooses Chimchar.
Torterra is one of the most disappointing starters I used. Everything is faster or doesn't take any significant damage from it's attack. No matter how much grinding I did, it got outspeed or it didn't manage to beat a certain Pokemon. Sure, other Grass Starters needed time to get going or struggled because terrible coverage, but Torterra has a good offensive movepool and still did less from my experience. Bronzongs are everywhere, Golbats are everywhere. Do you want to risk a Stone Edge or try stalling out with Leech Seed? Prepare to hit yourself in confusion a lot or sleep status.
I also had a similar experience with Piplup but it wasn't nearly as painful. It could at least take hits because good typing and Surf does more damage against these common Pokemon.
Let's get going why Chimchar was still the definitive Gen 4 starter (at least in DP). The other only fire type option you had was: Ponita.
Ponita evolves at level 40, doesn't get any phyiscal Fire Type before evolving (pre-Platinum obviously). You are stuck with Stomp and Ember for most of your run and at 28 you can have Take Down.
Moltres in RBY: I remember well the feeling when I discovered Articuno the first time and the satisfaction of using it. Prior to Gen 5 I enjoyed using Legendaries during my first run on the game because I wasn't bothered by stats etc. They had a good starting movepool or could at least learn good tm moves to start with until they learned something interesting after leveling up.
Moltres was the first time I felt underwhelmed. It didn't have a unique typing at the time (sharing the typing with Charizard) and it's starting movepool was terrible. Peck I quickly replaced with Fly and then you have Fire Spin which is just a bad Wrap. The next move it learned per level up is... Leer?
They couldn't give it Fire Blast because TMs from Gyms suppose to be unique secret moves Pokemon couldn't learn naturally I assume. But Moltres, a bird out of fire, can't learn any other fire move besides the TM for Fire Blast. The last 2 moves are Agility and Sky Attack.
Honestly, even Ember at the start would have been more satisfying. You could trade your Moltres to Crystal to teach it Flamethrower tho.
Beedrill was portrayed pretty threatening in the anime. It was one of them most disappointing in-game Pokemon I used. Butterfree had a decent showing in the early game. Yes, one had to invest quiet a while in it but to beat Brock when you had Charmander was worth it for beginners.
Onix: After looking at it's stats I finally understand why it got an evolution. Less HP than Caterpie and less attack than Geodude. It's a giant Rock Snake. Brock's signature Pokemon.
Ariados I had a similar experience. The only reason I used it was because it could learn Psychic per level up. After moving from Gen 1 to 2, I was actually excited to have it as coverage for this bug type. As you can expect, it was a pain getting there and there was no pay off like when you would get to use a Dragonite or Tyrannitar.
Plusle in Colosseum: You get that thing right before you can purify your Shadow Pokemon. In other words, you get an Ampharos shortly after. This could have been the chance for it being somewhat worth using but wasn't meant to be. The game has 3 Electric Types to begin with.
Edit: After rereading the thread, I haven't thought of Helping Hand combination with other Pokemon. Since I play the game with trying to get all the shadow Pokemon, I didn't really consider using Helping Hand. That and I used Espeon for that role. The other mon with Helping Hand upon catching it was likely Furret.
Speaking of Bronzong, that thing doesn't die and is everywhere in the game. So I thought that it's a great Pokemon. But unfortunately, mirror matches are about to be had and it's a nightmare. No wonder everyone chooses Chimchar.
Torterra is one of the most disappointing starters I used. Everything is faster or doesn't take any significant damage from it's attack. No matter how much grinding I did, it got outspeed or it didn't manage to beat a certain Pokemon. Sure, other Grass Starters needed time to get going or struggled because terrible coverage, but Torterra has a good offensive movepool and still did less from my experience. Bronzongs are everywhere, Golbats are everywhere. Do you want to risk a Stone Edge or try stalling out with Leech Seed? Prepare to hit yourself in confusion a lot or sleep status.
I also had a similar experience with Piplup but it wasn't nearly as painful. It could at least take hits because good typing and Surf does more damage against these common Pokemon.
Let's get going why Chimchar was still the definitive Gen 4 starter (at least in DP). The other only fire type option you had was: Ponita.
Ponita evolves at level 40, doesn't get any phyiscal Fire Type before evolving (pre-Platinum obviously). You are stuck with Stomp and Ember for most of your run and at 28 you can have Take Down.
Moltres in RBY: I remember well the feeling when I discovered Articuno the first time and the satisfaction of using it. Prior to Gen 5 I enjoyed using Legendaries during my first run on the game because I wasn't bothered by stats etc. They had a good starting movepool or could at least learn good tm moves to start with until they learned something interesting after leveling up.
Moltres was the first time I felt underwhelmed. It didn't have a unique typing at the time (sharing the typing with Charizard) and it's starting movepool was terrible. Peck I quickly replaced with Fly and then you have Fire Spin which is just a bad Wrap. The next move it learned per level up is... Leer?
They couldn't give it Fire Blast because TMs from Gyms suppose to be unique secret moves Pokemon couldn't learn naturally I assume. But Moltres, a bird out of fire, can't learn any other fire move besides the TM for Fire Blast. The last 2 moves are Agility and Sky Attack.
Honestly, even Ember at the start would have been more satisfying. You could trade your Moltres to Crystal to teach it Flamethrower tho.
Beedrill was portrayed pretty threatening in the anime. It was one of them most disappointing in-game Pokemon I used. Butterfree had a decent showing in the early game. Yes, one had to invest quiet a while in it but to beat Brock when you had Charmander was worth it for beginners.
Onix: After looking at it's stats I finally understand why it got an evolution. Less HP than Caterpie and less attack than Geodude. It's a giant Rock Snake. Brock's signature Pokemon.
Ariados I had a similar experience. The only reason I used it was because it could learn Psychic per level up. After moving from Gen 1 to 2, I was actually excited to have it as coverage for this bug type. As you can expect, it was a pain getting there and there was no pay off like when you would get to use a Dragonite or Tyrannitar.
Plusle in Colosseum: You get that thing right before you can purify your Shadow Pokemon. In other words, you get an Ampharos shortly after. This could have been the chance for it being somewhat worth using but wasn't meant to be. The game has 3 Electric Types to begin with.
Edit: After rereading the thread, I haven't thought of Helping Hand combination with other Pokemon. Since I play the game with trying to get all the shadow Pokemon, I didn't really consider using Helping Hand. That and I used Espeon for that role. The other mon with Helping Hand upon catching it was likely Furret.
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No that would be Mega Beedrill.
"How do we make Beedrill good with only a +100 BST increase?"
"Drain it's Special Attack (45 to 15), split up the +130 between Attack and Speed (90 to 150, 75 to 145), give it Adaptability, let it loose and pray it works"
I have a theory they nerfed Onix HARD before the release of Gen I:
Mega Beedrill doesn't have min-maxed bulk though. Many Pokemon have min-maxing with respect to Atk/Spa, but Eternatus's entire spread is minmaxed.
I think that's just called maxed.
Well to me "min-maxed" just means it has (a) VERY high stat(s) and (a) VERY low stat(s). All stats don't have to be either high or low, some can be average.
Like the Ultra Beasts are another good example of min-max.
To me it's just that optimised 140/95/95 bulk that just seems to say "I wonder how bulky we can make this without making it obvious."
My description of "just Maxed" would be Adamant Zacian-C, who is exactly 1 point of speed faster than the common Uber benchmark of base 130 (where Eternatus and Mewtwo sit, among others) while having easily one of the highest Attack stats ever seen on a non-Primal/non-Mega Ray.
My description of "just Maxed" would be Adamant Zacian-C, who is exactly 1 point of speed faster than the common Uber benchmark of base 130 (where Eternatus and Mewtwo sit, among others) while having easily one of the highest Attack stats ever seen on a non-Primal/non-Mega Ray.
Or Zacian-C in general. Good bulk, very high Speed and a seriously high Attack complemented further by Intrepid Sword. If anyone hates dealing with Mega Mawile, then that anyone would despise fighting Zacian-C. You would thought it would be slower with the heavy armor/blade and not going somehow faster?
Too keep it relevant to the thread's premise, here's a few Pokémon that disappointed me in-game when I used them.
Sableye (RSE): Back when I was a youngster, I am intrigued by Sableye's design and give it a try in a Battle Frontier thing (don't remembered exactly where). The result ain't pretty, and for a good reason. As I grow up, I became stunned in anger with Sableye's weak stats, and cannot evolve despite being available early. While it gained Prankster in Gen 5, it wasn't until ORAS that Sableye become in a more favorable position... and only in games where Mega Evolution is possible.
Castform (RSE): I don't exactly remembered when I used it, but I know that I somehow tried it before, with bitter results. Again, when I discovered it's low stats and not being boosted when in any weather, I was disappointed en masse.
To save everyone from disappointment in advance, don't use the following in RSE: Plusle, Minun, Sableye, Mawile, Volbeat (unless you want to mess with Tail Glow), Illumise, Castform, Kecleon, Spinda, Seviper (included it does to poor bulk yet slow speed) and especially Luvdisc aren't something you really want to use in long term because of poor stats and insufficiently good Abilities. Some like Mawile and Sableye got much needed improvement in ORAS, but others aren't so lucky.
EDIT: Come to think of it, Seviper and Castform are actually decent if you know how to use them, but still not super good. Still fun to use if you play your cards right.
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I have used Seviper and Castform and, especially the former, they weren't too bad. The former has a very handy STAB Sludge Bomb and its movepool coverage allows it to perform well against some of the major bosses. Castform, iirc, did well against every Gym Leader and also performed well against Sidney, if my memory is correct. I am not saying they are super good, but I don't think they are, like, outright bad, either.
Aggron in Ruby and Sapphire
I used Aggron a lot when I was a kid because it looked so cool. When looking at it however, its level up movepool mostly consists of status moves and some Steel-type STABs. Despite its Rock-typing, its strongest Rock STAB here is Rock Tomb at 50 BP (also a highly contested TM). For Steel STAB, you pick between Metal Claw (underpowered) or Iron Tail (inaccurate). It could use Earthquake as a coverage move, but that's another contested TM. Mud Slap early game is cool for Wattson though. By the time it evolves into Aggron, it's surrounded by poor matchups due to the Hoenn's "water routes".
Also Zubat in RSE and FRLG for not learning the Fly HM before the Crobat stage lol.
I used Aggron a lot when I was a kid because it looked so cool. When looking at it however, its level up movepool mostly consists of status moves and some Steel-type STABs. Despite its Rock-typing, its strongest Rock STAB here is Rock Tomb at 50 BP (also a highly contested TM). For Steel STAB, you pick between Metal Claw (underpowered) or Iron Tail (inaccurate). It could use Earthquake as a coverage move, but that's another contested TM. Mud Slap early game is cool for Wattson though. By the time it evolves into Aggron, it's surrounded by poor matchups due to the Hoenn's "water routes".
Also Zubat in RSE and FRLG for not learning the Fly HM before the Crobat stage lol.
Hypno in RBY (and every generation afterwards)
Psychic was such an overwhelmingly good type that they had to add a new type in Gen II that was immune to it just to balance out the game. Even then, the Hypno line, in its best showing, is surprisingly weak (and gets worse as we add new gens). Drowzee is only available on Route 11, which is after Abra and Diglett Cave, where you can trade said Abra, if you aren't inclined to train it, for a Mr. Mime. This is the line's main problem: wherever it is available, there's surely another Psychic type on or near the same route that's better. While Drowzee evolves at an early level, 26, Hypno maxes out at a 115 Special (later split into a disappointing 73 SpA/115 SpD)...which is 5 points less than Kadabra's Special, who evolves at level 16. Drowzee only learns Confusion at lvl 17, and then its next notable move is Psychic at lvl 32 (37 as a Hypno). It didn't even get Dream Eater, a move its been identified with in game text since the beginning, as a level-up move till Let's Go! It's TM movepool is barren, only improving in later gens with the elemental punches and some coverage in Fighting, Grass, and Fairy moves. It lacks recovery outside of RestTalk, lacks the bulk to try and set-up for a meaningful sweep, and lacks any good ability that would mitigate any of these problems.
Psychic was such an overwhelmingly good type that they had to add a new type in Gen II that was immune to it just to balance out the game. Even then, the Hypno line, in its best showing, is surprisingly weak (and gets worse as we add new gens). Drowzee is only available on Route 11, which is after Abra and Diglett Cave, where you can trade said Abra, if you aren't inclined to train it, for a Mr. Mime. This is the line's main problem: wherever it is available, there's surely another Psychic type on or near the same route that's better. While Drowzee evolves at an early level, 26, Hypno maxes out at a 115 Special (later split into a disappointing 73 SpA/115 SpD)...which is 5 points less than Kadabra's Special, who evolves at level 16. Drowzee only learns Confusion at lvl 17, and then its next notable move is Psychic at lvl 32 (37 as a Hypno). It didn't even get Dream Eater, a move its been identified with in game text since the beginning, as a level-up move till Let's Go! It's TM movepool is barren, only improving in later gens with the elemental punches and some coverage in Fighting, Grass, and Fairy moves. It lacks recovery outside of RestTalk, lacks the bulk to try and set-up for a meaningful sweep, and lacks any good ability that would mitigate any of these problems.
I was actually thinking about this the other day. Not sure if its the most min-maxed Pokemon ever since its Attack could afford to be lower. However, as far as cover legends go, it definitely does have one of the most optimized stat distrubution. Most cover legendaries typically have a huge portion of their BST spent on both Attack and Special Attack despite primarily using their higher attacking stat (i.e. Zekrom, Dialga), so they end up having shaky speed. Eternatus dumps its attack to get extremely high speed, and has ridiculous bulk thanks to its high HP. Comparing it to Mewtwo for example (another legendary that is considered to be min-maxed), Eternatus has around the same special attack and speed, but is around 25% bulkier.
Anywho, to avoid derailing the thread...
Keckleon (USUM): I spent 3 hours trying to get this mon with its hidden ability via SOS chaining. I had to use my in-game team so it was pretty difficult. Eventually got it with Protean, a Hardy nature, and 5 Perfect IVs. Its performance actually hasn't been too bad. Fire Punch and Brick Break hit for pretty solid damage and type switching is a really fun mechanic. However its low speed makes it a pain to use for practical purposes. It actually has put up a lot of work against the major boss fights I've used in (Lurantis, Olivia), but against the normal scrubs, It'll get hit first every fight and that damage adds up fast, especially since it isn't the bulkiest. I don't use healing items normally, so its annoying having to heal it up after every fight. Not a bad mon, but wasn't worth wasting 3 hours to get one.
I like coming here to make funny rant posts so this is my home now.
Oh, god, RSE Kecleon.
The Mystery Dungeon series makes Kecleon look like some Lovecraftian Outer God in terms of power level...
But then, you play the mainline games.
What were the developers thinking when this botched resurrection got shat into the first few reveals for Ruby and Sapphire? They had every opportunity to realize "wait this thing sucks ass" and remake its stats, but instead, it kept sucking and the devs have made an obscene effort to fix it ever since. Have you seen those stats? It looks like it came from the stoned balancing team that ran Gen 2 balancing.
RS Kecleon has one of the most abysmal level-up learnsets I've ever seen. It comes at L25 and has the nerve to ask you to level it up to L31 with a below-average level up rate before it has decent Normal STAB in Slash. But that's not all! Then you realize "wait it's slower than my thought process" after finding it getting hit before it can use it, so its damage output lowers as the type changes. Then you Google its stats, and to your horror, you see Kecleon is essentially fighting with 90 Base Attack and no STAB because it has 40 Base Speed. Colour Change is this thing's own worst enemy. Don't go thinking that SpA is worth a damn either, it's worse, and you're fighting with Faint Attack in your initial learnset. Why does it get both Astonish and Lick at L1 by the way??
Credit where it may possibly be due(?), Kecleon's TM, EM and Tutor learnsets are actually quite good. It gets Shadow Ball, which at the time was a physical move, so it made up for its kneecaps being broken at birth. It also gets Brick Break and Focus Punch, though the latter contradicts what it wants to do: eat hits, change types, and make you cry "Where'd the STAB go?" as your opponent takes basically nothing. There's also Rock Slide for some reason, which I can only think of as the developers trying to torment you with a flinch chance that'll never apply. Well, outside of funny Thunder Wave paraflinch sets, which they graciously provided you with via Move Tutor. It also gets Trick via breeding, which is hilarious if you make something spam Band Shadow Ball while you're Normal-type or something. But none of this will really apply in-game, as getting any of these moves is absurdly inefficient.
Someone, please take this thing to a hospital. I don't know what it is, but this thing needs some kind of help, holy shit.
Keckleon
Oh, god, RSE Kecleon.
The Mystery Dungeon series makes Kecleon look like some Lovecraftian Outer God in terms of power level...
But then, you play the mainline games.
What were the developers thinking when this botched resurrection got shat into the first few reveals for Ruby and Sapphire? They had every opportunity to realize "wait this thing sucks ass" and remake its stats, but instead, it kept sucking and the devs have made an obscene effort to fix it ever since. Have you seen those stats? It looks like it came from the stoned balancing team that ran Gen 2 balancing.
RS Kecleon has one of the most abysmal level-up learnsets I've ever seen. It comes at L25 and has the nerve to ask you to level it up to L31 with a below-average level up rate before it has decent Normal STAB in Slash. But that's not all! Then you realize "wait it's slower than my thought process" after finding it getting hit before it can use it, so its damage output lowers as the type changes. Then you Google its stats, and to your horror, you see Kecleon is essentially fighting with 90 Base Attack and no STAB because it has 40 Base Speed. Colour Change is this thing's own worst enemy. Don't go thinking that SpA is worth a damn either, it's worse, and you're fighting with Faint Attack in your initial learnset. Why does it get both Astonish and Lick at L1 by the way??
Credit where it may possibly be due(?), Kecleon's TM, EM and Tutor learnsets are actually quite good. It gets Shadow Ball, which at the time was a physical move, so it made up for its kneecaps being broken at birth. It also gets Brick Break and Focus Punch, though the latter contradicts what it wants to do: eat hits, change types, and make you cry "Where'd the STAB go?" as your opponent takes basically nothing. There's also Rock Slide for some reason, which I can only think of as the developers trying to torment you with a flinch chance that'll never apply. Well, outside of funny Thunder Wave paraflinch sets, which they graciously provided you with via Move Tutor. It also gets Trick via breeding, which is hilarious if you make something spam Band Shadow Ball while you're Normal-type or something. But none of this will really apply in-game, as getting any of these moves is absurdly inefficient.
Someone, please take this thing to a hospital. I don't know what it is, but this thing needs some kind of help, holy shit.
I had a decent experience with Hypno back then. Catching Abra is a pain and I recall not being confident enough to invest time to get it. You either throw a Pokeball and hope it stays in, or you hope you hit your sleeping move and hope it connects. Both were a pain for me back in the day since you had to grind for Sleep Powder. I had Pokemon Red and didn't pick Bulbasaur on my first runs. So my other option would be Butterfree or Oddish. If you go with Oddish, you realize you don't want to grind Oddish. It has Absorb until level 15. It learns Sleep Powder at level 19.
Now I know I can just softreset by saving before an encounter.
Regardless, I was reminded that Oddish exist. People don't call it the poor mans Bulbasaur for nothing. But some may have realized that Pokemon Blue got Bellsprout instead which has Wrap and Vine Whip while learning Sleep Powder earlier... Oddish is just disappointing. If it has just a slidly more powerful start up movepool, I think it would be a decent early game Pokemon. It managed to tank some attacks from Misty and Surge. Eventually you can wear down your opponents with Cut, Poison Powder and Absorb.
Back when I had no idea what certain words meant in the game and what leveling means, I switched my starter from the first slot with Oddish and ended up grinding Oddish by accident to Gloom. The reason I didn't know how to fix it was because I was playing the German version where switching Pokemon and trading Pokemon where the same word "Tausch". I used to think it meant, when I click that, I would trade my Pokemon.
Regardless, I don't think I ever used Oddish in any other game since (at least for in-game performances).
While we are at it, I recall mentioning Butterfree being a good Pokemon for early game compared to Beedrill.
Similary I expected Wurmpel's evolutions to recreate that experience. It didn't go too well because Dustox, who gets Confusion as well, is extremely weak and Beautifly starts with Absorb... Good thing the first gym is Rock Type, but I already caught Shroomish. I was doing Beautifly's job much better and can evolve to something actually useful.
Would it be wishlisting if we made a list of Pokemon who we all agreed could use a stat redo?
My lord, is that legal?
Legal as in can GF do it? Well yeah, of course GF could do it if they wanted, heck Gen II they split the Special stat and in recent gens have been buffing a few Pokemon by increments of 10 BST. However, even though GF's design philosophy has changed over the years thus some older Pokemon's stat spreads don't mesh with current design standards, they just refuse to change them cause I guess their afraid changing stats around would "ruin" the way some people raised that Pokemon. Cause I'm sure dozens would cry if they make Flareon a Special Attacker or gave Ledian stats on par with Ribombee (well, maybe tears of joy for those who like those Pokemon...).
Legal as in can post about it? I don't know, that's why I asked. It would at the very least be on the edge of wishlisting which is prohibited on the threads (thus if you want to talk about it probably something for the Discord). Though with this thread already bashing on several Pokemon because their stat spread sucks, part of me thinks it wouldn't be such a step outside the box to at very least list these Pokemon, what we think where they went wrong with the stats, and what changes would probably make them better (in not specific terms, but things like "higher BST", "more Attack", "less Speed", "lower Attack and add it to HP", etc.). Maybe someone can make a Flying Press article on it or could even be a project idea for Smogon to try out akin to the Create-A-Pokemon: Restat-A-Pokemon.
I feel some of the problems with the way we experience the Pokemon is the environment in-game at that point, personal expectation and other factors like in my case not knowing about Natures.
Let's take Pidgey for example. Outclassed by Spearow in RBY, but people still choose it and I don't see many people complaining about how useless Pidgeot is. I used Pidgeot in my run in any game it was allowed in and it always did live up to my expectation.
I had bad experience with Dialga and Giratina but I wouldn't consider now that these Pokemon need a stat buff.
Pokemon FRLG made Charmamder more worthwhile by giving it Metal Claw and an earlier Flamethrower. 120 Base Power Mega Kick per move tutor was also a neat option to deal with Misty, but a wiser decision would be to keep her for later after the 2 upcoming rival fights before Surge.
Beautifly could get a stat buff to 100 base SpA like in Gen 7, but Game Freak could have given her Mega Drain as a start up move as alternative option. Maybe then I would have reconsidered using Shroomish over it.
Quilava in HGSS had the advantage of learning Fire Blast before fighting Whitney because TMs.
This is what I find interesting between in-game runs and competitve battling. Something like Suicune is terrifying to deal with and perhaps considered the best one of the three beasts, but when you use it in GSC you would likely rather use Entei or Raikou. Maybe it's unfair for me to say that because my freshest memories of the beasts if from what I have seen from Speedrunners.
But I don't recall having a pleasant experience using Suicune either. By the time you got it, you already had a good Water Type (in Crystal) or it doesn't have good moves besides Surf (in GS it can't get Aurora Beam).
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It was a Star Wars prequel meme I referenced....
I have arrived once again.
Seaking is such a cool Pokemon, and I genuinely think the design is actually kinda cool. It's the simple concept of a goldfish, but the horn and more vibrant patterns differentiate it just enough to be identified as "different". While the simplification of the design (namely the horn) in recent years has hurt it a bit, it's still got that familiarity factor that gives RBY Pokemon their charm. Its cry is a thing of beauty, its name is cool, and the physical bias is super unique even for a Water-type.
So why did this thing have to shit on my crops and call me a cunt?
Seaking, especially in RBY, is super disappointing. I think that the beta preevolution was removed at the last second and their unpaid teenage intern was the only guy available to rework the stats, because holy SHIT what other wackjob could have done it that bad? Who thought giving it 68 Speed was a remotely good idea? Hell, its Special isn't exactly impressive either.
While it's designed to encourage using its Attack stat, its physical movepool is ass. If it got Drill Peck like it does later, then we'd be talking, but it doesn't in RBY, so I'm going to complain about it. It also doesn't get Body Slam, which is pretty much the first time you realize "oh this sucks doesn't it" in those games. So what does it get? Double-Edge aaaaand that's pretty much it. What, you want Peck for that super scary Parasect?!
And has anyone actually evolved a Goldeen into this rather than just catching it, actually? Goldeen is ass and demands you evolve it at L33! 33! That's so awful! All that for only a slight improvement...
Did I mention this thing got Swords Dance in Pokemon Crystal via the PCNY events and never got it back until Sword and Shield? What psychopath decided on that? That's so mean.
I will say the massively enhanced movepool in later gens has made Seaking much more respectable though. It went from the fish with no movepool to the fish with every move in the goddamn game. I really hope they bump up its Speed or something in a later gen.
Seaking is such a cool Pokemon, and I genuinely think the design is actually kinda cool. It's the simple concept of a goldfish, but the horn and more vibrant patterns differentiate it just enough to be identified as "different". While the simplification of the design (namely the horn) in recent years has hurt it a bit, it's still got that familiarity factor that gives RBY Pokemon their charm. Its cry is a thing of beauty, its name is cool, and the physical bias is super unique even for a Water-type.
So why did this thing have to shit on my crops and call me a cunt?
Seaking, especially in RBY, is super disappointing. I think that the beta preevolution was removed at the last second and their unpaid teenage intern was the only guy available to rework the stats, because holy SHIT what other wackjob could have done it that bad? Who thought giving it 68 Speed was a remotely good idea? Hell, its Special isn't exactly impressive either.
While it's designed to encourage using its Attack stat, its physical movepool is ass. If it got Drill Peck like it does later, then we'd be talking, but it doesn't in RBY, so I'm going to complain about it. It also doesn't get Body Slam, which is pretty much the first time you realize "oh this sucks doesn't it" in those games. So what does it get? Double-Edge aaaaand that's pretty much it. What, you want Peck for that super scary Parasect?!
And has anyone actually evolved a Goldeen into this rather than just catching it, actually? Goldeen is ass and demands you evolve it at L33! 33! That's so awful! All that for only a slight improvement...
Did I mention this thing got Swords Dance in Pokemon Crystal via the PCNY events and never got it back until Sword and Shield? What psychopath decided on that? That's so mean.
I will say the massively enhanced movepool in later gens has made Seaking much more respectable though. It went from the fish with no movepool to the fish with every move in the goddamn game. I really hope they bump up its Speed or something in a later gen.
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From USUM, since this is the game I’ve racked up the most play throughs in recent memory. I’ve built teams around all three starters and for the most part, the available Pokemon are outstanding - Muk-A, Magnezone, Mudsdale, Hawlucha to name but a few.
Oricorio-G: Access usually only comes on Poni Island, but I wanted to try it out as the viability rankings suggested it pulls its weight. Despite early access to Flyinium-Z and Ghost type Revelation Dance, is gets absolutely mauled because every trainer and their brother packs pursuit as a coverage move. This is true for most Ghosts (and Psychics) in Alola, they just don’t have a good time.
Vikavolt: I really tried to like it, but that Speed stat is just woeful. Plus it spent most of its time as a Charjabug, which is less than ideal. Evolves super late if I recall correctly. Little to no reason to run it over Magnezone, which, not only has a better typing but also a useable middle stage evo.
Ribombee: Just meh in every sense of the word. Even with Hidden Power Fire coverage just felt far too frail, and not quite strong enough when I really needed it to be.
Oricorio-G: Access usually only comes on Poni Island, but I wanted to try it out as the viability rankings suggested it pulls its weight. Despite early access to Flyinium-Z and Ghost type Revelation Dance, is gets absolutely mauled because every trainer and their brother packs pursuit as a coverage move. This is true for most Ghosts (and Psychics) in Alola, they just don’t have a good time.
Vikavolt: I really tried to like it, but that Speed stat is just woeful. Plus it spent most of its time as a Charjabug, which is less than ideal. Evolves super late if I recall correctly. Little to no reason to run it over Magnezone, which, not only has a better typing but also a useable middle stage evo.
Ribombee: Just meh in every sense of the word. Even with Hidden Power Fire coverage just felt far too frail, and not quite strong enough when I really needed it to be.
Really most of gen 7, many of the Pokémon had usable stats in one/a few area(s), only to be absolutely crippled by the complementary stat they needed, more often than not speed or HP.
Also Frosmoth smh 65 base speed why??? It has a cool ability and ice Volc hype was real but that low low speed totally killed it.
Also Frosmoth smh 65 base speed why??? It has a cool ability and ice Volc hype was real but that low low speed totally killed it.