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They really should add more Double Battles into the game if they're going to keep them around. Aside from being the official VGC battle format, there's a lot of mechanics in-game that are designed specifically for doubles and because doubles are so few and far between, many players won't get an opportunity to really utilize mechanics intrinsic to double battles. There are also a lot of Pokemon who have gimmicks or unique strategies designed with Doubles in mind, such as Klinklang, Comfey, Florges, Oranguru, etc. and they won't get many opportunities to utilize their unique gimmicks because Double Battles in-game are so few and far between. Moreover, there are also doubles moves such as Helping Hand, Fake Out, After You/Quash, etc. as well as abilities such as Plus/Minus that are meant for doubles play, and those also get screwed over since most in-game battles are single battles, which means for in-game purposes many Pokemon designed with Doubles gimmicks in mind don't get much of an opportunity to shine.
I personally really enjoy playing Doubles and I find it a very interesting format in its own right compared to Singles, but it really sucks that Game Freak tends to...give it a lot less representation compared to Singles, when really they should give more Doubles spotlight honestly. I'm not sure how the best way to do it would be, however.
They probably think it's gimmicky because in the story mode, double battles only appear at most five times. Your team is never prepared for them because why would you be prepared for double battles when 95% of the game is single battles?
I truly believe that the mainline games should adopt the Colosseum/XD model of having every trainer battle be a double battle, even if there's no special reason for it to be a double battle. We complain about players ignoring the utility of status moves, but when like half of them are only useful in double battles, it's no wonder they get overlooked.
i honestly think rotation battles were a really cool concept that added a different layer of strategy to singles - "switching" (rotating) and attacking simultaneously & "switching" whilst keeping your stat boosts (iirc) could've led to a completely new dynamic. it's a shame it never really caught on competitively, or even really ingame outside of a few gimmick trainers.
i honestly think rotation battles were a really cool concept that added a different layer of strategy to singles - "switching" (rotating) and attacking simultaneously & "switching" whilst keeping your stat boosts (iirc) could've led to a completely new dynamic. it's a shame it never really caught on competitively, or even really ingame outside of a few gimmick trainers.
don't know how unpopular this is but in my opinion there's a certain charm to archaic item/move names held back by the character limitation. stuff like ancientpower, blackglasses, nevermeltice, extremespeed, solarbeam, and others. "correcting" these by making them 2 words (black glasses instead of blackglasses) definitely makes more sense than not, but i still kinda miss the old versions sometimes
Speaking of charming quirks from the older games that have been improved since: I miss actually judging a Pokemon's IVs. Flawless (or even close) IVs really weren't realistic before RNG abuse unless you wanted to spend a ludicrous amout of time breeding (or use a totally-legitimate 6IV Ditto...lol), so naturally some concessions had to be made. While the slowness of even this compromised breeding sucked truly incredible amounts of ass, I really enjoyed going to check the hatchling's IVs, since I put a lot of thought into whether they were truly good enough to run with. These realistic flaws also gave bred Pokemon a touch of individuality, almost as though that's what the "I" in IVs stands for! Now to be perfectly clear, I don't actually miss the way breeding worked back then overall, but this one aspect was pretty cool even if it's inextricable from the aspects that absolutely weren't.
don't know how unpopular this is but in my opinion there's a certain charm to archaic item/move names held back by the character limitation. stuff like ancientpower, blackglasses, nevermeltice, extremespeed, solarbeam, and others. "correcting" these by making them 2 words (black glasses instead of blackglasses) definitely makes more sense than not, but i still kinda miss the old versions sometimes
Regarding the anime, the Orange Islands arc is kinda contentious. Replacing Brock with Tracy was a bad choice but Tracy had his charm, with him being an artist and a fanboy of many things (prototype of Cilan, maybe?), and it's not like this change was permanent. I like the Orange League challenges, they got very creative here:
- A Water Gun test and a Surf race.
- Race against the leader through a whole mountain!
- Same-type battles
- The very first official Double Battle in the franchise
The other episodes in between are pretty interesting, traveling through unique places and plots: an island full of pink regional Pokemon, a cave inhabited by a one of a kind Crystal Onix, a sunken ship that used to belong to an old pirate champion, a village that worships Meowth, etc.
Great episodes like Charizard finally respecting Ash again, mind controlled Pokémon revolting against their trainers (including Pikachu...which would be a situation re used again and again in the future), Lapras debut and departure and of course the battle against Drake. And in the end, Gary develops from a comedic jerk to a challenging rival to overcome.
It's a fantastic season and I don't agree with dismissing it as 'filler' or 'it doesn't count'. The concept of traveling to an archipielago from Kanto might have been the inspiration for the Sevii Islands in FRLG!
Funny you mention it. I had a few 6v6 competitive Wonder Launcher battles on the cartridge and the thing every one of them had in common is that each battle took HOURS (or at least it felt like it). Between Ethers and Max Revives it was very easy to get locked in infinite battles even with the craziness of items that give +3 attack (you can counter with +3 def).
It was neat but I think after doing it twice I can safely say I never want to do it again.
It's a fantastic season and I don't agree with dismissing it as 'filler' or 'it doesn't count'. The concept of traveling to an archipielago from Kanto might have been the inspiration for the Sevii Islands in FRLG!
Actually the Sevii Islands were originally planned to be in Gen I but were cut, don't remember whether it was due to space or lack of time (or maybe both).
I had a few 6v6 competitive Wonder Launcher battles on the cartridge and the one thing each one of them had in common is that each battle took HOURS. Between Ethers and Max Revives it was very easy to get locked in infinite battles even with the craziness of items that give +3 attack (you can counter with +3 def).
Yikes. Goes without saying sounds like the mechanic needs some tweaking, like maybe once you use an item you can't purchase that same item again or limit how many of what kind of items you can buy.
These are some thoughts that have crossed my mind.
Now I might be a bit biased because Palkia is my favorite legendary and Fairy was a big nerf to it, but I think the Fairy type was a completely unnecessary type. What? Why? Well, here are my reasons. Dragon is a terrible offensive type, Its only hits Dragon super effectively, and is outclassed by Ice as a coverage move. The problem was that it was too good of a STAB type, since Steel was the only type that resisted it, so once Steel was out of the picture you could spam Dragon type moves to your heart's content. All they needed was needed was nerf the BP of Draco Meteor and Outrage, and Dragon would be a lot easier to manage.
To support my point, I brought up the question on Discord why Ghost is not considered overpowered despite having only one resistance and one immunity, making it tied with Dragon for the least resisted type in the game; and the answer I got was that Ghost has a lot weaker moves than Dragon for the primary STAB, with Shadow Ball and Shadow Claw being the primary for Special and Physical Attackers. Higher BP moves like Moongeist Beam, Poltergeist, and Phantom Force either have availability issues or have major drawbacks. On the contrary, Draco Meteor is learned by every Dragon type guaranteed, while Outrage is in a similar boat. If they had limited the move pool of who got Draco Meteor and Outrage by not letting the likes of Latios and Hydreigon learn it, it would have been fine. In Poltergeist's case, Dragapult and Mimikyu did not gain access to it, forcing them to rely on weaker options.
The ironic part is prior to Diamond and Pearl, Dragon was very limited: In Gen 1, no Dragon type moves existed, since Dragon Rage was the only one and it did 40 Damage. In Gen 2, more Dragon type moves were introduced, but even there were only two fully evolved Dragon types. These Dragon Breath and Twister were very weak, Outrage was only 90 Base Power, and was the signature move of Dratini line. In Gen 3, more Dragon types were introduced, like Salamence, Flygon, Rayquaza, and the Eon Duo, but only the Eon Duo actually ran Dragon STAB regularly. In fact, Salamence, Flygon, Dragonite, and Kingdra didn't have any STAB on their sets for their OU sets. Now Gen 4 is where things start to look bad. Physical Special split occurs, so suddenly Dragon STAB is everywhere. Draco Meteor is introduced, so special attacking Dragon types are everywhere. In Platinum, every Dragon type gets access to Outrage, suddenly both Dragon types have extremely spammable attacks on both spectrums. This is where Dragon types start their reign of terror.
The point is prior to Gen 4, Dragon types were very underwhelming to the point that the majority did not use STAB until Gen 4, where they finally got good moves. In other words, Dragon types were enable by moves, not their typing being OP, which goes back to the main point: Nerfing Draco Meteor and Outrage was better than introducing a new type.
Going to another topic, I think Gen 4 and 6 are very similar. Both have a lot of fun features: Underground and Contests for Gen 4, PR Videos and Customization for Gen 6. They also introduced mechanics that would affect competitive battling Physical Special split for DP, Mega Evolution and Fairy for XY. They also featured a huge graphical overhaul, with DP having a semi-3D world, while XY transitioned completely 3D. They both have a huge amount of Pokemon, but they have problems with the newest Pokemon. DP did not feature all of them in the regional dex, while XY introduced the smallest amount of Pokemon to date, and the type distrubution of fully evolved Pokemon is terrible. Both regions are excellent to explore, full of complex dungeons. However they have some very glaring flaws that make they heavily disliked: DP was generally slow, and XY was noticeably easy. Both games had pretty bad pacing, as well as a villainous team who are very goofy but have bosses who have extremely nihilistic point of view and goals. Their bosses share two of the same Pokemon. The big difference is that DP had a 3rd version while XY did not have a 3rd version to fix it flaws. That kind of sucks, but with a few tweaks, XY could have been really good, not to mention I liked Kalos as a region, so leaving it prematurely sucked.
Speaking of Team Flare, I want try to explain Lysandre's goals. For those that don't know, Lysandre's goal varies depending on the version: In X, he wants to make the world eternal and unchanging, but in Y he wants to end the world in order to preserve beauty. The goal in Y is where people start to raise eyebrows. How is killing everyone going to make the world beautiful? Well, you have to look at Yveltal "preserves" In the anime, when it uses Oblivion Wing, anything that is living turns to stone, keeping them in their original state, untouched by the flow of time. In other words, they are eternally stuck in that state.
See how this girl is stuck in this stage for eternity? This is what Lysandre wanted to do with Yveltal to preserve beauty. The episode is called the Legend of X, Y, and Z if you want to watch it. It explains the relationship between Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde, and what their roles are.
Does that make his goal understandable? HELL NO. Its a very twisted sense of beauty to say the least. But I hope this makes people understand Lysandre's definition of "beauty" is in Y. Its kind of annoying that you had to watch the anime to learn about Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde in much more depth, especially since the previous Legendaries had their roles explained via video games. Finally, I'd like to give credit to the episode " Beauty Eternal " for fleshing Lysandre much better. In this episode we get to see who Lysandre was in public: A charismatic entrepreneur who strives to bring people together. We see him presenting the Holo caster, and donating money to a Pokemon Center preaching that happiness of Pokemon is important for the happiness of people as well. Instead in XY, all we hear him ramble about how beauty is fading away, never learning of his donations or how successful an entrepreneur he is. In the games, this position gets lip service at most, and the game basically screaming at you that Lysandre is the main antagonist.
These are some thoughts that have crossed my mind.
Now I might be a bit biased because Palkia is my favorite legendary and Fairy was a big nerf to it, but I think the Fairy type was a completely unnecessary type. What? Why? Well, here are my reasons. Dragon is a terrible offensive type, Its only hits Dragon super effectively, and is outclassed by Ice as a coverage move. The problem was that it was too good of a STAB type, since Steel was the only type that resisted it, so once Steel was out of the picture you could spam Dragon type moves to your heart's content. All they needed was needed was nerf the BP of Draco Meteor and Outrage, and Dragon would be a lot easier to manage.
To support my point, I brought up the question why Ghost is not considered overpowered despite having only one resistance and one immunity, making it tied with Dragon for the least resisted type in the game; and the answer I got was that Ghost has a lot weaker moves than Dragon for the primary STAB, with Shadow Ball and Shadow Claw being the primary for Special and Physical Attackers. Higher BP moves like Moongeist Beam, Poltergeist, and Phantom Force either have availability issues or have major drawbacks. On the contrary, Draco Meteor is learned by every Dragon type guaranteed, while Outrage is in a similar boat. If they had limited the move pool of who got Draco Meteor and Outrage by not letting the likes of Latios and Hydreigon learn it, it would have been fine. In Poltergeist's case, Dragapult and Mimikyu did not gain access to it, forcing them to rely on weaker options.
The ironic part is prior to Diamond and Pearl, Dragon was very limited: In Gen 1, no Dragon type moves existed, since Dragon Rage was the only one and it did 40 Damage. In Gen 2, more Dragon type moves were introduced, but even there were only two fully evolved Dragon types. These Dragon Breath and Twister were very weak, Outrage was only 90 Base Power, and was the signature move of Dratini line. In Gen 3, more Dragon types were introduced, like Salamence, Flygon, Rayquaza, and the Eon Duo, but only the Eon Duo actually ran Dragon STAB regularly. In fact, Salamence, Flygon, Dragonite, and Kingdra didn't have any STAB on their sets for their OU sets. Now Gen 4 is where things start to look bad. Physical Special split occurs, so suddenly Dragon STAB is everywhere. Draco Meteor is introduced, so special attacking Dragon types are everywhere. In Platinum, every Dragon type gets access to Outrage, suddenly both Dragon types have extremely spammable attacks on both spectrums. This is where Dragon types start their reign of terror.
The point is prior to Gen 4, Dragon types were very underwhelming to the point that the majority did not use STAB until Gen 4, where they finally got good moves. In other words, Dragon types were enable by moves, not their typing being OP, which goes back to the main point: Nerfing Draco Meteor and Outrage was better than introducing a new type.
Going to another topic, I think Gen 4 and 6 are very similar. Both have a lot of fun features: Underground and Contests for Gen 4, PR Videos and Customization for Gen 6. They also introduced mechanics that would affect competitive battling Physical Special split for DP, Mega Evolution and Fairy for XY. They also featured a huge graphical overhaul, with DP having a semi-3D world, while XY transitioned completely 3D. They both have a huge amount of Pokemon, but they have problems with the newest Pokemon. DP did not feature all of them in the regional dex, while XY introduced the smallest amount of Pokemon to date, and the type distrubution of fully evolved Pokemon is terrible. Both regions are excellent to explore, full of complex dungeons. However they have some very glaring flaws that make they heavily disliked: DP was generally slow, and XY was noticeably easy. Both games had pretty bad pacing, as well as a villainous team who are very goofy but have bosses who have extremely nihilistic point of view and goals. Their bosses share two of the same Pokemon. The big difference is that DP had a 3rd version while XY did not have a 3rd version to fix it flaws. That kind of sucks, but with a few tweaks, XY could have been really good, not to mention I liked Kalos as a region, so leaving it prematurely sucked.
Speaking of Team Flare, I want try to explain Lysandre's goals. For those that don't know, Lysandre's goal varies depending on the version: In X, he wants to make the world eternal and unchanging, but in Y he wants to end the world in order to preserve beauty. The goal in Y is where people start to raise eyebrows. How is killing everyone going to make the world beautiful? Well, you have to look at Yveltal "preserves" In the anime, when it uses Oblivion Wing, anything that is living turns to stone, keeping them in their original state, untouched by the flow of time. In other words, they are eternally stuck in that state.
View attachment 278004
See how this girl is stuck in this stage for eternity? This is what Lysandre wanted to do with Yveltal to preserve beauty. The episode is called the Legend of X, Y, and Z if you want to watch it. It explains the relationship between Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde, and what their roles are.
Does that make his goal understandable? HELL NO. Its a very twisted sense of beauty to say the least. But I hope this makes people understand Lysandre's definition of "beauty" is in Y. Its kind of annoying that you had to watch the anime to learn about Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde in much more depth, especially since the previous Legendaries had their roles explained via video games. Finally, I'd like to give credit to the episode " Beauty Eternal " for fleshing Lysandre much better. In this episode we get to see who Lysandre was in public: A charismatic entrepreneur who strives to bring people together. We see him presenting the Holo caster, and donating money to a Pokemon Center preaching that happiness of Pokemon is important for the happiness of people as well. Instead in XY, all we hear him ramble about how beauty is fading away, never learning of his donations or how successful an entrepreneur he is. In the games, this position gets lip service at most, and the game basically screaming at you that Lysandre is the main antagonist.
The biggest unnecessary thing about the Fairy-type is its resistance to Bug. Also I wish Dragon Rage did good damage though, that name is awesome.
To add to your point on why Ghost-types are not as overpowering as Gen 4-5 Dragon-types, another factor is because their stats aren't as high as those Dragon-types. Dragon typing was typically reserved for legendaries and pseudo-legendaries which is why their power greatly compensates for the lack of super-effective STAB coverage.
Speaking of Team Flare, I want try to explain Lysandre's goals. For those that don't know, Lysandre's goal varies depending on the version: In X, he wants to make the world eternal and unchanging, but in Y he wants to end the world in order to preserve beauty. The goal in Y is where people start to raise eyebrows. How is killing everyone going to make the world beautiful? Well, you have to look at Yveltal "preserves" In the anime, when it uses Oblivion Wing, anything that is living turns to stone, keeping them in their original state, untouched by the flow of time. In other words, they are eternally stuck in that state.
1. The weird thing about Lysandre's goal is that they're kind of different & half explained in X and Y. Yes, you're told his plan is only having Team Flare the only people alive, but that's when the version difference problem happens. In X he only explains that using the Ultimate Weapon he'll make Team Flare immortal... but doesn't explain how he'll get rid of everyone else. In Y he only explains how he'll use the Ultimate Weapon to kill everyone, not even mentioning granting Team Flare immortality so sounds like he's dooming human and Pokemon life to extinction.
2. Also, he's not really using Xerneas and/Yveltal's power of life/death destruction. Xerneas and Yveltal are just batteries for the Ultimate Weapon which, thanks to AZ's backstory, we learn can grant life, immortality, and commit genocide all on its own. The Legendary Pokemon's relation to those themes are honestly just symbolism of Lysandre's extreme views. Combine the games together and the plan sounds more "complete": using the Ultimate Weapon to kill everyone but Team Flare who would then be granted immortality.
3. Anime Lysandre wasn't following the plans of his game counterpart. Anime Lysandre's plans were more simple: use Zygarde's power of order to take over Kalos and the rest of the world. It's why both Yveltal and Xerneas just randomly appeared in the first Kalos movie, were pretty much never mentioned again, and only at the very end when Ash has left do we get an anime episode focusing on the two.
To add to your point on why Ghost-types are not as overpowering as Gen 4-5 Dragon-types, another factor is because their stats aren't as high as those Dragon-types. Dragon typing was typically reserved for legendaries and pseudo-legendaries which is why their power greatly compensates for the lack of super-effective STAB coverage.
1. The weird thing about Lysandre's goal is that they're kind of different & half explained in X and Y. Yes, you're told his plan is only having Team Flare the only people alive, but that's when the version difference problem happens. In X he only explains that using the Ultimate Weapon he'll make Team Flare immortal... but doesn't explain how he'll get rid of everyone else. In Y he only explains how he'll use the Ultimate Weapon to kill everyone, not even mentioning granting Team Flare immortality so sounds like he's dooming human and Pokemon life to extinction.
2. Also, he's not really using Xerneas and/Yveltal's power of life/death destruction. Xerneas and Yveltal are just batteries for the Ultimate Weapon which, thanks to AZ's backstory, we learn can grant life, immortality, and commit genocide all on its own. The Legendary Pokemon's relation to those themes are honestly just symbolism of Lysandre's extreme views. Combine the games together and the plan sounds more "complete": using the Ultimate Weapon to kill everyone but Team Flare who would then be granted immortality.
3. Anime Lysandre wasn't following the plans of his game counterpart. Anime Lysandre's plans were more simple: use Zygarde's power of order to take over Kalos and the rest of the world. It's why both Yveltal and Xerneas just randomly appeared in the first Kalos movie, were pretty much never mentioned again, and only at the very end when Ash has left do we get an anime episode focusing on the two.
I was confused as well upon reading that in X, he still plans to use the Ultimate Weapon to end all life despite Xerneas being the giver of life. They should have adjusted the dialogue a bit more.
I always assumed that Xerneas/Yveltal were used the Ultimate Weapon's its properties, which is why Lysandre needed them for the machine, but now that you mentioned it, it was not mentioned in AZ's story that the legendary Pokemon were used, he just "magically" made a machine that could restore life/kill everyone.
Perhaps, but they do have similarities, like once having a generous nature only to turn into a misanthrope. Another difference was that in the games, Lysandre was Professor Sycamore's pupil, but in the anime he wasn't.
I was confused as well upon reading that in X, he still plans to use the Ultimate Weapon to end all life despite Xerneas being the giver of life. They should have adjusted the dialogue a bit more.
Yeah, it's all the Ultimate Weapon's (which I'm shortening to UW) doing. Xerneas & Yveltal are glorified batteries, and thus GF wrote themselves into the corner where they had to write around they made the differences between their mascots pointless by just using their "element" as a symbolism of what Lysandre wants, though that still wrote them into a corner of making Lysandre's plans incomplete.
If I was in that same situation I would have just explained, depending on the version, that part of the UW was broken thus needed the version specific Legendary to make it complete. In X version, upon AZ converting the UW into a genocide cannon, completely wrecked the life giving/immortality function of the UW; they had the genocide cannon, but needed Xerneas power to give them immortality. In Y version, upon AZ firing the UW's cannon, the power was so great it could only fire once before breaking that function of it; the immortality function still worked but they needed Yveltal's power in order to fire the cannon again. Still relegates the Legendaries to a battery, but at least now not only is there a reason Lysandre went after the specific Legendary but also tells the player the other side of Lyasandre's plans.
I always assumed that Xerneas/Yveltal were used the Ultimate Weapon's its properties, which is why Lysandre needed them for the machine, but now that you mentioned it, it was not mentioned in AZ's story that the legendary Pokemon were used, he just "magically" made a machine that could restore life/kill everyone.
Perhaps, but they do have similarities, like once having a generous nature only to turn into a misanthrope. Another difference was that in the games, Lysandre was Professor Sycamore's pupil, but in the anime he wasn't.
Oh, of course they're similar, they're the same character but different versions of him. And one of the differences was their plans to bring in world order.
Gen 6 in general talked a bunch about the idea that a Pokemon's "life force" could be tapped into and used as an energy source. Xerneas has seemingly unlimited life energy, and Yveltal I guess has quite a lot too, so Lysandre was able to do with just one of them what AZ needed to kill a lot of regular Pokemon to do. That's the connection between their particular powers and Lysandre's plan.
As for "preserving beauty," it isn't explained very well in the games, but Lysandre sees overpopulation and resource exploitation as problems that destroy the world's natural beauty, and his solution is that there should be fewer people/Pokemon.
We are told about Lysandre's entrepreneurship in the games. Characters make a big deal of him having invented the Holo Caster, which is a device seemingly everyone uses. He also owns a cafe, and Team Flare's Lumiose HQ doubles as his business' lab. What doesn't come across as well in the games (I think he only has, like, one throwaway line about it), but is at least fleshed out a little in other media, is that Lysandre tried to use his resources to help people without doing genocide, but burned out as he only saw people demanding more and more.
Eh, it's not that Yveltal generates life force but rather it absorbs it. Both seem to have a certain amount of their own life energy to use to come to life every so often.
For Xerneas, once it reaches the end of its "life", it enters into a tree form where it begins to build up its own life energy again on its own via from all the life it had granted around it, thus creating a sort of perpetual cycle.
Yveltal on the other hand, once it reaches the end of its life, it enters into a rocky cocoon form where it then proceeds to suck out the life energy of the surrounding area to keep it alive until it builds up enough of its own life energy to awaken again (where it then proceeds to fine any nearby civilizations and starts destroying them). Yeah, surprise surprise, the Pokemon that's the embodiment of death & destruction has no positives about it... WHO WANTS A POKE PUFF & FACE RUBBIES!
I can only assume that normally one or the other are supposed to awaken when they sense balance is off. Xerneas wakes up if the life force reaches a low while Yveltal wakes up is there's too much. Zygarde then monitors their progress and, if it sense their overstaying their purpose, will take action to defeat them and force them back into their inanimate forms (it's Aura Break Ability probably protecting itself from their powers).
his solution is that there should be fewer people/Pokemon
Actually just few people (aka all of Team Flare), he actually plans on killing all Pokemon because he also believes as long as they're around people may still try to exploit their power and undo everything Lysandre did.
What doesn't come across as well in the games (I think he only has, like, one throwaway line about it), but is at least fleshed out a little in other media, is that Lysandre tried to use his resources to help people without doing genocide, but burned out as he only saw people demanding more and more.
"Wah ha ha! Your convictions, and those of your Pokémon, please me! You are here to stop me. But I ask you to wait. I tried to save people--and the world--with the profit from this lab. But my efforts had no effect... The world was just too vast...and too full of fools that I couldn't save through my hard work alone... That's why I decided the only way to save the world was to take it all for myself. I don't expect that I will ever make you understand how I think and feel... Try to stop the ultimate weapon if you must, but to do so, you will have to explore our lab and have Pokémon battles with all you meet."
IMO Fairy is a little overtuned ATM but it's not as obvious because there aren't a lot of super strong Fairy types. But I do think it was a good addition from a flavor standpoint.
Now, the Ghost/Dragon comparisons.
Prior to Gen 6, Ghost had two resistances and one immunity, whereas Dragon only had one resistance. The high BP of Dragon moves is definitely part of the reason why it was more dominant offensively than Ghost, but not the only one. Excluding box legends (so Kyurem doesn't count for Dragon, even though it was allowed in OU), Dragon had 7 Pokémon with an Attack stat of 100 or higher, and 5 with a Special Attack stat of 100 or higher. Ghost, on the other hand, had three of each (well, 4 for Special Attack if you include Haunter lol). You're correct in that BST isn't the end-all for making a Pokémon strong, but a good chunk of Dragon's dominance was by having Pokémon that have very strong attacking stats while also having good bulk.
IMO Fairy is a little overtuned ATM but it's not as obvious because there aren't a lot of super strong Fairy types. But I do think it was a good addition from a flavor standpoint.
Now, the Ghost/Dragon comparisons.
Prior to Gen 6, Ghost had two resistances and one immunity, whereas Dragon only had one resistance. The high BP of Dragon moves is definitely part of the reason why it was more dominant offensively than Ghost, but not the only one. Excluding box legends (so Kyurem doesn't count for Dragon, even though it was allowed in OU), Dragon had 7 Pokémon with an Attack stat of 100 or higher, and 5 with a Special Attack stat of 100 or higher. Ghost, on the other hand, had three of each (well, 4 for Special Attack if you include Haunter lol). You're correct in that BST isn't the end-all for making a Pokémon strong, but a good chunk of Dragon's dominance was by having Pokémon that have very strong attacking stats while also having good bulk.
Is this not attributed more to the fact that Ghost is a lot rarer than Dragon, so there are less options to choose from? In fact, according to Bulbapedia, Ghost is the second rarest type, only beating Ice actually as of Gen 8.
Is this not attributed more to the fact that Ghost is a lot rarer than Dragon, so there are less options to choose from? In fact, according to Bulbapedia, Ghost is the second rarest type, only beating Ice actually as of Gen 8.
I think the problem is that the places where Ghost-type (and Ice-type while we are at it) tend to be either late-game or very limited. Not helping by the fact that many new Ghost-type Pokémon that is not a Legendary or Mythical tend to be frustratingly hard to find, or in Runerigus' case, having a very specific and difficult evolution method for a Galarian Yamask to execute.
However, there is one Type that causes the opposite problem; Steel-type. It had average offensive type effectiveness, but defensively this is something I personally thinks this is way overtuned even as a Type that is supposed to be a "blanket Defensive Type". It doesn't help that Steel-type Pokémon have better availability in general than Ice, itself a bad defensive typing and yet tend to be late game way too often. Part of why Corviknight would be such a powerful asset that is easily found early route in Gen 8 is because of it's Steel-typing, though thankfully their pre-evos does not have it, preventing the whole line from being too powerful early game.
Steel can make almost any type combination instantly good, except Steel/Ice and Steel/Rock (and the potential Steel/Normal), and that's only if those two are used defensively. Steel/Fairy, Steel/Flying, Steel/Ghost, Steel/Fire, Steel/Grass, Steel/Bug, Steel/Water, Steel/Dragon and prior to Gen 6, Steel/Psychic, are among the best defensive Type combinations that the other type lacking Steel wouldn't even compare so easily. Sure, some of it have a double weakness, but the payoff can very often worth it, as it resists Fairy, Dragon, Ice, Rock, Flying, and is immune to Poison, all of which are potent offensive Types are one point or another.
Don't get me wrong; the Steel type alone doesn't automatically make a Pokémon good in OU or even UU, but having Steel-type doesn't prevent the Pokémon from having very good offensive prowess, as as is the case of Scizor (+ Mega), Excadrill, Bisharp, Magnezone (that one is a Steel-type that traps Steel-types!), Metagross (+ Mega), Mega Mawile, Jirachi thanks to Serene Grace, and Aegislash. And let's not get started with Melmetal or Zacian-Crowned, the latter exemplifies the awful power creep even between the Pokémon of their own generation.
Talk about a double-standard when people complains about Ice-type, generally among the least popular Types other than coverage, tend to go late-game but are okay with Steel-type, easily the best Defensive type and moderate offensive type effectiveness, being available early. I understand Steel, alongside Dark, is made to keep Psychic in check, but it also cause a further harm to Bug, Grass and to a lesser extent Ice. Mostly the offensive case of Bug and Grass, as the two can combine well with Steel defensively as I already said it.
In short, for me, Steel-type is easily the most overtuned type, and whoever said that Steel-type should never be nerfed as a defensive typing (especially after Gen 6 did that) should think again and consider what I had just said.
Steel-type being defensively overpowered (which it is, mind you) is pretty crucial for many balanced teams to exist. By covering such a wide range of possible offensive type combinations, a steel type really eases the pressure on a team’s defensive backbone and reduces the degree of matchup one will typically find when playing. Additionally, steel-types being so good at defensive compression allows balanced teams to fit defensively-shaky offensive Pokémon more easily, too.
It’s an unfortunate necessity, any time I’ve ever played with altered and/or “balanced” type charts, it becomes a lot less fun when you simply cannot defensively cover the type chart sufficiently without resorting to hard-stall, “fuck resistances I have hella bulk” type teams. There will always be a type you just haven’t prepared enough for.
Steel-type being defensively overpowered (which it is, mind you) is pretty crucial for many balanced teams to exist. By covering such a wide range of possible offensive type combinations, a steel type really eases the pressure on a team’s defensive backbone and reduces the degree of matchup one will typically find when playing. Additionally, steel-types being so good at defensive compression allows balanced teams to fit defensively-shaky offensive Pokémon more easily, too.
It’s an unfortunate necessity, any time I’ve ever played with altered and/or “balanced” type charts, it becomes a lot less fun when you simply cannot defensively cover the type chart sufficiently without resorting to hard-stall, “fuck resistances I have hella bulk” type teams. There will always be a type you just haven’t prepared enough for.
True and I know that, but it does not excuse the early and common availability to allows player to have a super safe option in-game, contrast to Ice-type where too many are available too late to be useful. Having a blanket defensive type is ultimately more good than harm in competitive, we can agree on that, but such an overpowered defensive type had to be carefully implemented for an early route Pokémon when it comes to in-game availability and viability, lest it will cheese up to a few first Gyms that aren't SE against Steel. The early route who only gets Steel-type via evolution are fine.
Won't stop some people from hating Steel-type regardless of their merits. But if Grass and Bug need an offensive buff - and Ice a defensive buff - we no need to directly nerf Steel, and a few less NVE for Grass + Bug's offense and a few more resistances for Ice would do the trick. Whatever those would be really vary between fans' perception, unfortunately.
On the topic of when types should be appearing, I think it's about time Dragon became the first gym.
Rock has historically been common in early gyms, and it does make sense why. If you assume most mons early rely on Normal moves, having the gym resist Normal serves as a way to show how important type matchups can be. But we're not really still reliant on Tackle, are we? Starters nowadays begin with STAB, and the first battle often is something weak to said STAB. Fire/Water/Grass is now the default attack type. If we then extend the logic behind originally choosing Rock, we would want the early gyms to include a type that resists those three. Steel could also see some more use early, it's not as good against the starter STABS, but also covers the other common early types of Normal, Bug, and Flying.
