Little things you like about Pokémon

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Bishieram is just glorious.
 
Bishieram is just glorious.
Not only is it glorious, but also fabulous! There is a reason I have it as my avatar right now. Though, the reason is actually not the fabulousity but rather the fact that I just really like Reshiram and wanted a really cool picture of it as my avatar. It ended up becoming this one. However, it seems like the one Xaviere posted is of better quality than the one I use (which I found on Bulbapedia), so maybe I should “upgrade” it.

While we’re at it, I want to say this: I really like Reshiram. I have always been a big fan of it. Everything about it is just so awesome, from its design to its typing as well as everything else with it. Reshiram was one of the big reasons as for why I got Black before White. It is definitely my favorite Unova legendary.

Now, to something else. I wanted to say something positive about a feature I am not overly fond of. Gigantamax. I have some issues with this feature, and I have decided to not get too attached to it either since I expect both it and regular Dynamax to be removed in the next generation, if not earlier. Either way, I looked a little closer at the Gigantamax Pokémon and thought about them a bit. While doing so, I realized that there are several GMax forms I actually like, at least in terms of design. Here’s a quick summary of the ones I like the best with some short comments on them as well.

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The Galar starter GMaxes are among the best ones IMO. One big reason for this is that they are a bit unique. Their bodies mainly stay the same while other details get bigger instead. In comparison, all other GMax forms as well as regular Dynamax basically just make the Pokémon itself bigger. But that's not the case with the Galar starters. Rillaboom gets massive drums, Cinderace stands on a huge fireball and Inteleon makes its tail grow into a giant tower with a lookout platform on the top. They are just so cool. I really like their G-Max moves as well. 160 Base Power regardless of the base move (which increases to 240 with STAB) and ignoring the opponents Ability… that’s just amazing. I want to give a special mention to GMax Cinderace as it is one of the three GMax Pokémon I have actually used. I used it for the Battle Tower in Sword (plus a little for Restricted Sparring) and it served me very well there.

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There are several other great GMax Pokémon from Galar though. Alcremie becomes a giant cake, Duraludon grows into a tower, Sandaconda turns into a desert tornado (while still being a snake) while Flapple and Appletun become giant apple monsters. I think those are all really great. My only complaint is that Flapple and Appletun have the same GMax form in terms of design, but that’s still okay.

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Those are also pretty good. Corviknight is very similar to its base form, but I think it is really great despite that. The same goes for Copperajah, though I might be biased towards it since it is my favorite Galar Pokémon.

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I think Urshifu is good too, is looks very brutal but in a good way. And I really like how its two GMax forms are very different from each other, especially compared to the base forms which are a lot more similar to each other.

Apart from these, I think most of the other Galar GMaxes are cool as well, but the ones above are the ones I like the very best.

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From the two that are neither from Galar or Kanto, I like Garbodor the best. It becomes a bigger trash pile than usual and that’s really cool. I love the details of the trash that can be found on its body, like the boat and the Clefairy doll. Melmetal is fine too, but I like Garbodor’s GMax form better.

While I feel that the Kanto GMaxes aren’t as great as the ones from Galar, I still think there are some good ones from Kanto as well.

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These are my three favorites from the Kanto GMaxes. Lapras feels like a direct upgrade of its original design and I think Blastoise is really cool too. I like Snorlax as well because it feels like it slept for so long that a tree started to grow on its body! Love it.

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Kingler is pretty cool too. Adding a beard to a Pokémon is a great way to make it awesome if you ask me (I like Alolan Golem and Galarian Meowth too, their beards are among the reasons for that). Kingler isn’t perfect but I still like it a lot.

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I think those two are okay. I don’t think they are good, but not bad either. Just okay. Gengar is always cool, and Venusaur is my favorite Kanto starter so I will always like it. Their GMax forms are not the best, but I like them better than the other Kanto GMaxes apart from the four mentioned above.

Those are the GMax Pokémon I like the best. On the whole, I have some issues with GMax, but I still think it is okay in the end, especially after the DLC which improved upon it and even fixed some of my issues with it. I will probably not miss GMax/DMax that much once they get removed, especially not compared to how I miss Megas and Z-moves which I like better. I really wish they hadn't been removed. With all of that said, I still enjoyed DMax and GMax for what they were.
 
Lmao I like how the entire Sobble line is imitating Blaziken’s pose in the background and Zangoose for w/e reason is just snoozing (hard to make out cuz there’s text over it)
Zangoose’s presence in the card despite not being a transferrable Pokémon to SwSh also proves further that the TCG doesn’t have to follow 100% of the games’ availability and rules.
 
Zangoose’s presence in the card despite not being a transferrable Pokémon to SwSh also proves further that the TCG doesn’t have to follow 100% of the games’ availability and rules.
I haven't gone over it with a fine tooth comb or anything but I'm pretty sure we've known that for a while; generally the TCG has no qualms grabbing stuff for even regional-tehmed sets. iirc even during BW2 it was using pokemon not in the expanded dex

in general it seems that nothing is off limits for anything outside of the game.
 
All ya'll decry Game Freak for getting rid of big features like Mega Evolution when one of the best ones was gone since Gen V.

That's right, I'm talking about frames (no this isn't about Pokken). Those different ways of displaying text boxes: even Generation 2 had these! They were kinda like a precursor of sorts to the random PC box wallpapers.

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It's a very minor thing, but I have no idea why Gen V omitted these. I like changing the frames!
 
I agree that the ability to customize the box frames was cool, but I honestly don't miss it that much in Gen 5 and on.

There's a similar thing that existed only in X/Y which seems to be forgotten (probably because of how minor it is and maybe because many players don't even know that it exists). I don't think I have ever seen it being mentioned on any forum before. X/Y had the option to customize the background of the touch screen in battles. I think this was a fun idea and many of the backgrounds were really cool as well. Here's a page where all of them can be seen at once. This was exclusive to X/Y for some reason, none of the other 3DS games had this feature. Neither did any of the DS games, for that matter.

This also reminded me of another customization feature. I like how in Gen 7, you can choose your battle style. This affects how you throw a Poké Ball at the start of a battle and how you pose before a battle against another trainer during a link/online battle. While this is pretty minor, I still think it was really cool as it added a bit more individuality to every player character.
 
I agree that the ability to customize the box frames was cool, but I honestly don't miss it that much in Gen 5 and on.

There's a similar thing that existed only in X/Y which seems to be forgotten (probably because of how minor it is and maybe because many players don't even know that it exists). I don't think I have ever seen it being mentioned on any forum before. X/Y had the option to customize the background of the touch screen in battles. I think this was a fun idea and many of the backgrounds were really cool as well. Here's a page where all of them can be seen at once. This was exclusive to X/Y for some reason, none of the other 3DS games had this feature. Neither did any of the DS games, for that matter.

This also reminded me of another customization feature. I like how in Gen 7, you can choose your battle style. This affects how you throw a Poké Ball at the start of a battle and how you pose before a battle against another trainer during a link/online battle. While this is pretty minor, I still think it was really cool as it added a bit more individuality to every player character.
Yeah I remember the background thing in XY! I was too lazy to mention it but it was cool.

the more I look at these games the more the startling lack of consistency is apparent.
 
I love the stupid "not very effective" sound effect when Steven backs away from Maxie and Tabitha at the Mosdeep Space Center in Emerald. It's the precursor to the RANDOM GLADION SUPER-EFFECTIVE SOUND!

I always thought that was Maxie blasting him backward, like he had his Crobat use Hyper Beam or something. Or perhaps he just physically shoved him.
 
:ss/dreepy:
A long while back in one of these threads, people were complaining about Dreepy and how its intentionally shit movepool and stats combined with its extremely late evolution level make it basically unusable by Game Freak in any future game. Well, I actually realized something that Dreepy is very well suited for, and that's being hard to take down at the very beginning of the game. Seriously, pretty much all of its traits seem tailor-made for dicking on Route 1 mons. It resists all three starter types as well as Bug and Poison, it's outright immune to Normal, and its Clear Body ability means that a player interested in status moves will have no luck trying to Growl or Leer it.
 
Emerald was my first Pokemon game. You know, over the years, I thought I had just...lost my love for Hoenn, particularly RSE as it feels kinda bland (not a whole lot of the Pokemon are all that powerful to use, just mostly average).

But replaying Emerald over the last few days reminded me of the great sense of adventure this game has, which is kinda subjective but I wanna talk about it anyway. This is something Sinnoh tries and honestly kind of fails to do thanks to NPC roadblocks and needing HMs everywhere.

Now, Hoenn certainly has HMs, but you can just catch a Zigzagoon at the start of the game and forget. No need to upgrade to Bibarel or anything. Later you can quickly evolve a Wingull and bam, travel worries are covered. It gets kinda bad at Victory Road, but it's never really intrusive until then unlike Sinnoh where Bibarel will be on your team at all times.

But Hoenn makes up for this in that in the original versions, Brawly and Winona are skippable. You aren't forced to beat them first, which is something I think ORAS lost in the transition because "nah, kids are too stupid unless they are following a preset path." Wanna go to Slateport before taking on the tough Brawly? You can! Wanna go do some Trick House crap before more progress? You can! Wanna go shopping or take on the Safari Zone before Winona? You can. The water routes are samey but a lot of them are optional.

Hoenn also has beautiful scenic variety, that vast ocean notwithstanding. This Game Boy Advance game still looks great today. Compared to previous generations which were generic route #457, Hoenn is the first time you feel the developers could do more with the new hardware. Standard grassy routes, caves, a random graveyard not in a designated spooky town (very refreshing), a trail covered in ash, a desert, a torn-down ship, a tall grass route covered in rain, a town on the edge of the ocean, a giant undersea cavern, some ruins scattered all over the place - this game has it all, and that's what I really love going back to it today. Couple this with some really good route music (and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Route 209 in Sinnoh, sorry) and it is so fun.

It's unfortunate that this level of scenic variety wasn't really realized in any other game. XY and SWSH had some interesting routes but at the expense of pretty much everything else sadly.
 
But Hoenn makes up for this in that in the original versions, Brawly and Winona are skippable. You aren't forced to beat them first, which is something I think ORAS lost in the transition because "nah, kids are too stupid unless they are following a preset path." Wanna go to Slateport before taking on the tough Brawly? You can! Wanna go do some Trick House crap before more progress? You can! Wanna go shopping or take on the Safari Zone before Winona? You can. The water routes are samey but a lot of them are optional.
Johto does this too, it just does it way worse and breaks the level curve in the process. I think you could probably solve the level curve problem in the Johto games by preventing the player from exploring towards Pryce until after beating Chuck/Jasmine, and then scaling up the levels accordingly. Makes you wonder why HG/SS didn't take notes from R/S/E, which figured out how to give the player more options without crippling the game.
 
I didn't really want to make a thread about this and I don't think there's a proper place, so I'll rather use this one and mix my oppinion to make it related to the topic. What I love about Pokémon is exactly what they aren't doing, and have not been doing doing for the past years. This has some of that "Game Freak is lazy" criticism, but it is here where I want to share it, because I do think we all have been Pokémon fans for a long, long time (22 years in my case).

I like the simple but effective (jRPG related) exploration Pokémon offers, alongside it's niche secrets and locations, and I very much like the core essence of the franchise, which is being able to explore a new world catching a lot of Pokémon, or adquiring them by other means, and using those Pokémon to fight or trade with other trainers. The fact that they cut half the Dex in order to 'achieve better animations', something that proved itself to by a lie (a criminal one may I say, because we all know how horrid Sword and Shield are in the technical department), hurt me. I'd preffer if they were sincere about the matter and told us: "We've had some problems during development and in order to not rush the games we're delaying the release". But we all know about TPI pressure when it comes to their trademark. This is just not acceptable. It surpasses the 'meme' and becomes a real problem. While I do like Pokémon so much that I've enjoyed Sword and Shield, I believe Pokémon has enough potential to be more, much more, if only they put a bit of soul -and budget- in their latest releases.

Now I look at Diamond and Pearl Remakes and for the first time in my entire life, I see laziness all around. Not only are they the first remakes done by a third party developer, but they look so bad for a Nintendo Switch game. I don't really get why a Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remake can't be like some of those fanprojects. This is Pokémon we are talking about, not some random low budget RPG made by a guy in his freetime.

I enjoy Pokémon because I love the formula, and the formula itself hasn't changed a bit in all this years (altho, keep in mind they are clearly doing Legends of Arceus to test the waters and see if it is succesfull, because Game Freak's late interest is to move all the Pokémon Go fans into the main franchise and for that to happen they need to -as a lot of RPGs have done- move the franchise into the aRPG territory, essentialy changing what Pokémon is and signifying -to me- the death of the franchise as I know and love it), but I think they need to keep that ambition they had until BWBW2 (I'd say even XY), and pursue higher goals.
 
Now I look at Diamond and Pearl Remakes and for the first time in my entire life, I see laziness all around. Not only are they the first remakes done by a third party developer,

You kinda lost me here (you actually lost me once you said gamefreak is lazy because any argument that relies on calling developers and artists who are trying to make ends meet as lazy is weak and deattached from real life, but alas). How can gamefreak be lazy for a game they're not even in charge of?

Is it because they aren't the ones making it? But wasn't one of the main issues of the whole pokémon pipeline that game released are glued together and leave little time for polish?

Also a lot of people shared that video and like. Idk what's so impressive about when we've had a bunch of actual game projects that surpass pokemon games already,. dk why people are hyperfixating on a video with very little new stuff going on
 
I will personally never understand the mindset of people who feel like they are forced to engage with a series when, according to them, it has fallen off so dramatically to where they hate what it is now.

There's nothing wrong with not liking the direction a series is heading into, but you have to realize that you can, alternatively, take that as a chance to develop other interests, which is a far healthier thing to do?

Like yeah, I know many probably are caught up in nostalgia for their childhoods and such, but at some point, you have to realize something isn't for you anymore, let go, and move on.

Speaking for myself, I've more or less moved on as far as I can when it comes to Pokémon. I've spent the past few years branching off into other interests, such as SMT, Persona, Fate, Fire Emblem, Zero Escape, and whatnot and I have plenty of other interests I can dig myself into now. I've reached a point where it's less easy for me to be frustrated with newer games because nowadays I just enjoy what I can with each Pokémon game I play, and if I know beforehand that a game isn't for me, I just don't buy it and find something else to do with my time. I skipped out on Let's Go because I understood that game wasn't for me, and instead of sitting here and whining about it, I went and moved on to other things that I enjoy from other series and media. If BDSP or Legends turns out to not be for me, I'll do the same.

And if other people do enjoy the newer Pokémon games? No problem! It's not my place to police whether other people like and enjoy media that I don't, and if they do like it, then good for them! Let them. I just come to terms that the media in question wasn't for me and I find something else to do with my time.

Moreover, if I do want to re-experience the nostalgic experiences I had for Pokémon back then, the older games will always be there. I still have my copies of Black and White and I still revisit them every once in a while. I can just continue to love the old times while not forcing myself to stick with the new ones. At the end of the day, there's plenty of fish in the sea, and I can just take my time to experiment with new interests that entice me, which I have done several times and will do so again if necessary.

All in all, it's okay to shift away from things, grow, and move on. I've done that with plenty of franchises and things I've loved in the past, and I implore others to do the same if they reach that point.
 
You kinda lost me here (you actually lost me once you said gamefreak is lazy because any argument that relies on calling developers and artists who are trying to make ends meet as lazy is weak and deattached from real life, but alas). How can gamefreak be lazy for a game they're not even in charge of?

Is it because they aren't the ones making it? But wasn't one of the main issues of the whole pokémon pipeline that game released are glued together and leave little time for polish?

Also a lot of people shared that video and like. Idk what's so impressive about when we've had a bunch of actual game projects that surpass pokemon games already,. dk why people are hyperfixating on a video with very little new stuff going on

I've tried to write an honest oppinion, since I wasn't expecting this kind of manipulation so commonly used in forums, but since you are the one starting with it, at least I've to try.

No. There are good works and bad works. Being a professional, or doing your work, doesn't mean you are doing it correctly. In real life, that's how things works, and I'm not doing the appropiate thing by just standing there in my job. Game Freak has denoted an infame, incomprehensible lazyness when it comes to Pokémon, specially during the past years and all on their own products (from Pokémon Sun and Moon to Sword and Shield). The fact that you think of Sword and Shield as not remarkable when it comes to lazyness, a game made for one of the best selling consoles of all times, by the hands of one of the most rich companies in the videogame industry not counting on japanese giants like Ubisoft, etcetera, is enough proof of that. That video is just a perfect summary of what makes, in the technical department, ShSw a joke, and it doesn't even touch the content of the game. But I can't by surprised, at the end, you are the same guy who just a few posts ago confesed that a mechanic that is (literally) a bigger Pokémon, with double their HP and movements substituted by predetermined type moves on their moveset, is -from a desing standpoint- a greater mechanic that one that not only changed the Pokémon appearance (like Gigas do, reason why most fangames just take the Gigas design and make them Mevos), but also give them a completely turn around in concept whenever possible, gave then a new stat distribution with deep impact in-game, and even new abilities and typing. "Because of their impact in VGC". Surely what almost every Pokémon consumer is thinking off, VGC and Smogon 6v6 Singles format. You know, the usual Pokémon player that makes the big numbers in selling.

Also a lot of people shared that video and like. Idk what's so impressive about when we've had a bunch of actual game projects that surpass pokemon games already,. dk why people are hyperfixating on a video with very little new stuff going on

Imagine not being able to expect something more for a company that uses your money, just because there are better games in the same genre. What's your oppinion on Dark Souls? And Demon's? What about Dragon's Dogma? And Ni-Oh? I suposse you don't really care what you are paying for, or if you receive a well rounded product or a rushed one, since all of them exists only because of the evolution of cRPGs in consoles, impulsed by TLoZ (1986) and later Ocarina of Time, which is btw often considered the best videogame of all time and the paradigm of 3D third person combat translation into modern era, and the latest of them (Ni-Oh) is just a reimagination of the greatest Hack'n Slash in existence: Diablo.

Good philosophy. In fact, I'm ver interested in Elden Ring. I'm hoping to see a finished Elden Ring with the same quantity of bugs as Cyberpunk 2077 or launch Assassins Creed, it doesn't really matter, because Elden Ring will be a aRPG/Dungeon Crawler, and there're dozens of mythic aRPGs in videogame industry that did well. I've to congratulate you for the effort. Nice try.

I will personally never understand the mindset of people who feel like they are forced to engage with a series when, according to them, it has fallen off so dramatically to where they hate what it is now.

I, personally, have never been able to understand the mindset of peopl who feel like they are forced to disregard or exagerate the opinion of others when said others express that a franchise could be done better, even if they make it explicit that the franchise still interests them.

For example, what is your entire post all about? Imagine that a guy that has all the Pokémon games bought (as myself) and enjoys then, just say what I said. Ok. It isn't the end of the world, right? Then, what is this?

Speaking for myself, I've more or less moved on as far as I can when it comes to Pokémon. I've spent the past few years branching off into other interests, such as SMT, Persona, Fate, Fire Emblem, Zero Escape, and whatnot and I have plenty of other interests I can dig myself into now. I've reached a point where it's less easy for me to be frustrated with newer games because nowadays I just enjoy what I can with each Pokémon game I play, and if I know beforehand that a game isn't for me, I just don't buy it and find something else to do with my time. I skipped out on Let's Go because I understood that game wasn't for me, and instead of sitting here and whining about it, I went and moved on to other things that I enjoy from other series and media. If BDSP or Legends turns out to not be for me, I'll do the same.

And if other people do enjoy the newer Pokémon games? No problem! It's not my place to police whether other people like and enjoy media that I don't, and if they do like it, then good for them! Let them. I just come to terms that the media in question wasn't for me and I find something else to do with my time.

Who said nothing about Pokémon being our only source of interest? Who said even the singlest of things about what others should or should not enjoy? Nobody said anything like that. The problem, don't be mistaken, is with yours. I am able to read a message of someone saying that they love Pokémon because of their combat mechanic and later read that same person say that they don't like a certain aspect about Pokémon nowadays, and it seems normal to me, I won't go on a mantra introducing terms that nobody has discussed like whatever the rest of the world likes to play, or if that person plays Persona, Halo, Ace Attorney, La Mulana or Abu Simbel Profanation.

Accept the oppinions on a certain matter as they are, oppinions or a certain matter. That's been your problem all this time, the urge of defending a product whenever you feel that product is being attacked (for no reason). If I say Game Freak has been lazy, Game Freak has been lazy, end of the discussion. There's no "is time to let Pokémon go", and there's no "playing others things will [insert fake, shonen-like life lesson here]".
 
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But I can't by surprised, at the end, you are the same guy who just a few posts ago confesed that a mechanic that is (literally) a bigger Pokémon, with double their HP and movements substituted by predetermined type moves on their moveset, is -from a desing standpoint- a greater mechanic that one that not only changed the Pokémon appearance (like Gigas do, reason why most fangames just take the Gigas design and make them Mevos), but also give them a completely turn around in concept whenever possible, gave then a new stat distribution with deep impact in-game, and even new abilities and typing. "Because of their impact in VGC". Surely what almost every Pokémon consumer is thinking off, VGC and Smogon 6v6 Singles format. You know, the usual Pokémon player that makes the big numbers in selling.

Honest to god why are you so mad i think dmax is the lesser shit of the circus of clowns that is gimmicks lol. Dmax doesnt affect my patience for competitive like megas do, it aint that deep.
 
Honest to god why are you so mad i think dmax is the lesser shit of the circus of clowns that is gimmicks lol. Dmax doesnt affect my patience for competitive like megas do, it aint that deep.
Agreed. While Dynamax as a mechanic concept is too powerful on paper and proved it on practice in at least Singles, Megas did just as bad on practice despite nowhere as impactful in theory.

It’s more to do with giving Megas for too many Pokémon that are both strong / viable and popular to the point it did worsen power creep on its own, through it’s also having to do with being way too rigid at the same time (100 BST, no exception except Mega Alakazam’s erronous 90 BST back in Gen 6) meaning Megas given for weak Pokémon have to min-max base stats get a broke-powerful Ability to justify usage.

Both are cases of style over substance, one thing for certain.
 
It’s more to do with giving Megas for too many Pokémon that are both strong / viable and popular
Can this myth please die?

Megas given for weak Pokémon have to min-max base stats get a broke-powerful Ability to justify usage.
Only Beedrill (and to a very minor extent Heracross) minmaxes. You're partly right about the ability thing, but abilities play a big part in making any Pokemon viable, not just megas.
 
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