Pompous and very forced to put the Aqua and Magma in their names.
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
Pompous and very forced to put the Aqua and Magma in their names.
I hadn't noticed that until now. Great point!
Nothing beats Scooby Doo and Shaggy running past the same background 20 times in a chase scene!
Oh I know. They milked that formula like it is Game Freak and Charizard. Teenagers + funny animal = success.
Bulbasaur is so perfect there's only been one failed attempt to replicate its success, all other generations have not dared to challenge its mastery.
More seriously, I think that there should be more status-focused starters. A lot of the more recent sets of starters only really distinguish themselves with different physical/special bias and sometimes different speed, without much that actually changes up the playstyle (discounting the HAs since they're not accessible during the main game). While probably not the only reason I don't usually consider my starter to be my main partner for a playthrough, a lack of choice in an important area does certainly contribute to that.
More seriously, I think that there should be more status-focused starters. A lot of the more recent sets of starters only really distinguish themselves with different physical/special bias and sometimes different speed, without much that actually changes up the playstyle (discounting the HAs since they're not accessible during the main game). While probably not the only reason I don't usually consider my starter to be my main partner for a playthrough, a lack of choice in an important area does certainly contribute to that.
Adults in Pokemon games shouldn't do THAT much interfering in the main plot and such.
Because SWSH with Leon is what happens when adults are competent. He just plays the game for you and solves all the issues in the region. Bar against Eternatus (weirdly only came in at the end end, no build-up just sitting there) he does the Dynamax outbreaks, the power plant outbreaks, all the stuff for you. Just tells you to rush along to your gym challenge!
I for one, am willing to sacrifice the realism of adults actually being competent, for fun gameplay.
Because SWSH with Leon is what happens when adults are competent. He just plays the game for you and solves all the issues in the region. Bar against Eternatus (weirdly only came in at the end end, no build-up just sitting there) he does the Dynamax outbreaks, the power plant outbreaks, all the stuff for you. Just tells you to rush along to your gym challenge!
I for one, am willing to sacrifice the realism of adults actually being competent, for fun gameplay.
Honestly I wouldn't mind it as much if they at least gave you somehting to do while Leon was off taking care of the bigger threats. Like say the Dynamax Outbreaks caused neaby Pokémon of regular size to stampede in fear and that whole movement is endangering a city or something like that; or if during the power plant part of the plot some Macro Cosmos employees do something shady and you have to go after them or whatever (would at least set up that Macro Cosmos even is a thing). Or the best alternative, to let the player gradually take more presence in these events as the game goes on. Like, have a dynamax outbreak at the start of the game where Leon doesn't let you deal with it because you're a new trainer, and then later on in the game have another outbreak where Leon asks the player to help him, to kind of signify the player's growth in the journey and whatnot.
I do mostly agree with you though, if there's competent adults in Pokémon I feel the games should at least plan on what would be left for the player to do then
Isn't that basically what they did with Perrserker and Eternatus? Or at least tried to do. I don't remember when the Perrserker attack happens, but it was probably too late for the "you should't handle this, you're an inexperienced kid" thing to work.
I know it has no bearing since it's cut content but
We have definitive proof from the leaked SWSH beta that the one bridge sequence was supposed to have a full Gigantamax boss fight or at the very least a cutscene, so Game Freak did think of all this at some point. Unfortunately the game's probably pretty painful and terrible dev cycle most likely got in the way.
We have definitive proof from the leaked SWSH beta that the one bridge sequence was supposed to have a full Gigantamax boss fight or at the very least a cutscene, so Game Freak did think of all this at some point. Unfortunately the game's probably pretty painful and terrible dev cycle most likely got in the way.
I mentioned before but it's worth mentioning again: I hate Pokemon Go. For a myriad of reasons.
How do you like BDSP now that they're out?
Eh they were OK. Great soundtrack, good to see some dexit’d mons return and it was nice to revisit Sinnoh.Nothing that blew me away though and the remake also reminded me that the original DP were very uneven games.
The issue I have is that in a lot of cases, being a kid dealing with those incidents in place of, in spite of, or alongside the Adults was usually a major proving ground for the character in the story. In Gen 1, I chalked Rocket up to being a Mafia/Yakuza stand-in, so they had some leverage over the Police that limited their interference, vs a couple of no-name kids (thus no dirt on them or major history to dig up) walking in and wrecking all their peons (Blue being the Champion at RBY end game also suggests there isn't an acting Champion like future games to account for). For subsequent games, the Champion tends to have a presence for at least bigger incidents where a lot of the team is gathered, as compared to small operations with 1 or a few grunts (Slowpoke Well, the Devon Corp. mugging), with the suggestion the Player is handling things because they were on the scene sooner or the matter does require more than one person, however competent, to handle.
- Lake of Rage is storming an entire base to find a password and shutdown a massive machine. Even if Lance can solo every trainer, having the Player along for another set of eyes/ears would make the search faster (and they do end up being the one to find it), which is imperative given the Radio signal is interfering with the Ecosystem and several living creatures (the Magikarp)
- Aqua/Magma acquire their Orb for the Weather Titan in a sting operation at Mt. Pyre, with the player being on their tail constantly alongside Steven in Emerald (or the opposing team in RS versions). At the Cave of Origins, several people are clearly gathered, but the player being the one entrusted with the other Orb designates them as the best able to capture/quell the Legendary Pokemon. In Emerald meanwhile, Wallace is already there investigating and then transitions into the Sky Pillar excursion, where your role mostly amounts to "see Rayquaza wake up and fly off" and at most your presence being what stirs it rather than having to do something as dangerous as battling or capturing it there.
- Cynthia appears at Spear Pillar in Platinum, while Rowen does in DP after you beat the Admins and defeat or are about to challenge Cyrus. The DP capture implies it's a challenge from the Legendary to the Player after helping free them, while in Platinum Giratina is a similar challenge while Cyrus is settling a grudge while Cynthia is insurance. Most other incidents like Valley Windworks or the Eterna building were over extremely quickly, spread out like the Lake Trio abductions, or covered with existing fixtures like the already-standing Galactic building in Veilstone.
- BW is simple enough, Alder has been out of practice and the conflict with Plasma brings him into the fold, albeit rusty, and his (and the rest of the Elite Four) losing is the catalyst for the last battle between N and the player with the Dragons, which in turn outs Ghetsis. Gen 5 is probably the game that best handles the "Adults doing something but the Player is the pivotal character" issue.
- B2W2 Plasma freezes over a city that has most eyes on that location as opposed to what they're doing in Giant Chasm. Several Gym Leaders in both games clearly indicate an awareness and reaction to Plasma's operations, be it at a local or regional level.
- SM is a bit more local level between Team Skull just being local thugs, and Lusamine more being a family level conflict between her and Lillie. For Aether as a whole, they're arguably the adults who would be handling things instead of kids (no champion established for Alola as a big wig authority), and as discussed they're all under the Crazy Mom's direction save for Wicke. I don't know what USUM's story is, only that it's not a popular change, so not much comment on how that changes things.
USUM story is basically the same except for Ultra Recon Squad, but you're chosen to help them because you're from the realm of light and have the power to fight Necrozma. Then Lusamine is still just going crazy and she should be helping you but isn't. Mostly the same, all things considered
Region-locked Pokemon species in Pokemon Go are a great concept, that's it, that's the post
I like Z-Moves
However, I feel like Z-Moves weren't very fun in my first, second and third playthrough. Once you beat the game it's great because you can use a Z-Move of any type, and having to find some of them is pretty fun. And even though they can be pretty broken, just like Mega Evolution, they aren't ever too broken, since they can only be used once a battle. However, it sucks that certain Z-Crystals are locked on certain Islands. I get that they are progression, but come on! Remember in the anime when Ash got to choose a Crystal from Hapu when he beat her? That would be amazing! The fact that you can't even use Dragon Z-Moves or Fairy Z-Moves until the final Island is not cool. And even before then it's a problem, since Normal moves aren't very good at the beginning of the game no one can truly make use of the Normalium. And there are hardly any Pokemon on Melemele that can use Fightinium immediately after obtaining it. It's a tiny problem, but to me it's important.
Also, on the topic of Mega Evolution in the SMUSUM games, I actually have no problem with it. I hated how broken it made the Gen 6 games feel, but in Alola they are only used for postgame, which is perfect for me. It also makes the long drudgery that is Rainbow Rocket bearable, and more epic as far as saving the world goes. The only sad thing was that you can only buy them. It would have been pretty fun to go track down some of the Stones to make them available for purchase in the BP shop! The ORAS way of doing this was actually really fun! Not so for XY though, I didn't have the resolve to even try in those games.
Thanks for reading my rant! Have a great day friends!
However, I feel like Z-Moves weren't very fun in my first, second and third playthrough. Once you beat the game it's great because you can use a Z-Move of any type, and having to find some of them is pretty fun. And even though they can be pretty broken, just like Mega Evolution, they aren't ever too broken, since they can only be used once a battle. However, it sucks that certain Z-Crystals are locked on certain Islands. I get that they are progression, but come on! Remember in the anime when Ash got to choose a Crystal from Hapu when he beat her? That would be amazing! The fact that you can't even use Dragon Z-Moves or Fairy Z-Moves until the final Island is not cool. And even before then it's a problem, since Normal moves aren't very good at the beginning of the game no one can truly make use of the Normalium. And there are hardly any Pokemon on Melemele that can use Fightinium immediately after obtaining it. It's a tiny problem, but to me it's important.
Also, on the topic of Mega Evolution in the SMUSUM games, I actually have no problem with it. I hated how broken it made the Gen 6 games feel, but in Alola they are only used for postgame, which is perfect for me. It also makes the long drudgery that is Rainbow Rocket bearable, and more epic as far as saving the world goes. The only sad thing was that you can only buy them. It would have been pretty fun to go track down some of the Stones to make them available for purchase in the BP shop! The ORAS way of doing this was actually really fun! Not so for XY though, I didn't have the resolve to even try in those games.
Thanks for reading my rant! Have a great day friends!
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This kinda touches on my biggest complaint with SM's story. The plot is improved if you take away the "main character". The few dramatic cutscenes are ruined by cutting to a close-up of the "protagonist", who is just standing there with their best derp face on, not reacting in the slightest to anything that is happening, and it makes what should be a really tense climax into a joke at best. And then you're basically just asked to solve other people's problems.
Like, this is kinda an issue with past Pokemon games, but the PC does always feel like the protagonist in past games. And the lower-res graphics makes your lack of expression much less noticeable of an issue (like many things, it's left open to your imagination). As for XY, well all the characters are so flat that you don't notice it anyway lol. It's only when you get other characters clearly showing a range of emotions and reactions that the PC feels like just a passive observer (or maybe he's just dead to the whole world and is waiting for the end to come. That would explain their willingness to repeatedly throw themselves into danger...)
So here's my searing, fresh, hot take of the day: If Lille was the PC of SM (interchange Gladion and Lille's roles for a male PC) it would have the best story ever of all Pokemon games. But since Lille isn't the PC, it ends up sucking.
Edit: tagging Yung Dramps as the official SM stan, and also I just realised this ties into what he was saying two pages back about the Pokemon being the centrepieces of the plot not the characters.
Edit 2:
EXACTLY THIS.
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On GF's defense, it took them 8 generations, but at last in Arceus the PC is finally expressive to a point it actually works.
Better late than never right... right?
The more and more I hear about this game, the more tempted I am to buy it, and the more optimistic I am for Gen 9.
Is it an unpopular opinion to hate Looker with a fiery passion? Idk I just can’t stand the guy! He just waffles on in some strange way and I just find it really annoying. Bloody hell if he’s considered to be handsome in the Pokémon world I’d hate to see what’s considered ugly. At least D/P and their heartless glitch-fest remakes don’t have this imbecile in them (they still suck though!)
theotherguytm I wasn't sold on Legends at first, but after seeing how enthusiastic people were about it and being disappointed by BDSP, I bought it and loved it.
The simple fact you get told within the first 15 minutes that
- You will die
- You're 15 so "old enough to work"
- Also everyone hates you and you will die
should sell you on buying it
(I meme a lot about it, but honestly the more mature tone of the game is really a nice change of pace from "don't worry the power of friendship and love saves us all :) " of other games)
Consider the following half unpopular-opinion, half chiming in on PLA.
I frequently find the Pokemon main games to be incredibly boring because it's almost entirely Single-Battle OHKO focused, which is something that affects the entries I like as much as the ones I don't. I get being able to clear out Wild Encounters or obvious Fodder trainers in very short order, but even a lot of the bosses tend to play out as "one-shot their Pokemon and move along". A lot of RPGs I play can have this issue in places, but Pokemon is where I notice it most frequently and, in my opinion, to its detriment. It leads to Pokemon without stand out offenses being a borderline impossible sell for the in-game runs, and also means most of the battles are lopsided difficulty wise if you understand the most basic game mechanics of type match ups and aren't specifically handicapped (like using all Special moves on a Phys-only Pokemon like Ursaring).
The thing that has me most interested in PLA so far is the talk about how building teams with a balance of offensive and defensive backbone seems to be very important to handling a lot of the harder battles. I also very much enjoyed the Orre games because there was more cause to consider Pokemon with supportive effects or defensive utility (be it natural or Shadow vs. Shadow in XD's case) to not only deal with Pokemon who were often stronger than your team, but employed legitimately disruptive strategies like Miror B's bulky Rain Dance/Dish Ludicolos, or Ein's Rain and Water/Thunder spam team. Given the number of trainers was a bit sparser relative to the number of bosses, considering who to level and how your team worked together was a lot more important since there were more Participants per battle to manage and you wouldn't (easily) outlevel and simply overpower opponents the same way.
I notice that the way most other RPG's go, they either incentivize learning a bit more about the Battle System (if only on the level of balancing offense and support/defense to a party for the long haul) or compensate the simplistic battle experience with other elements such as variety of content, story, etc. Pokemon sometimes dealt in the latter with extras such as Gen 4's Underground or Pokeathlon, Gen 5's PWT and greater investment in the story elements, Gen 7's Mantine Surf, but it's not necessarily consistent enough that it manages to compensate on a level that lets me gloss over it like in Final Fantasy for example.
tl;dr I'd like Pokemon to step outside the Single-Battle One-shot fest, whether with existing systems like Orre's Double Battles or innovating on it like PLA did with the Style System/Encounters/Move Overhauls
I frequently find the Pokemon main games to be incredibly boring because it's almost entirely Single-Battle OHKO focused, which is something that affects the entries I like as much as the ones I don't. I get being able to clear out Wild Encounters or obvious Fodder trainers in very short order, but even a lot of the bosses tend to play out as "one-shot their Pokemon and move along". A lot of RPGs I play can have this issue in places, but Pokemon is where I notice it most frequently and, in my opinion, to its detriment. It leads to Pokemon without stand out offenses being a borderline impossible sell for the in-game runs, and also means most of the battles are lopsided difficulty wise if you understand the most basic game mechanics of type match ups and aren't specifically handicapped (like using all Special moves on a Phys-only Pokemon like Ursaring).
The thing that has me most interested in PLA so far is the talk about how building teams with a balance of offensive and defensive backbone seems to be very important to handling a lot of the harder battles. I also very much enjoyed the Orre games because there was more cause to consider Pokemon with supportive effects or defensive utility (be it natural or Shadow vs. Shadow in XD's case) to not only deal with Pokemon who were often stronger than your team, but employed legitimately disruptive strategies like Miror B's bulky Rain Dance/Dish Ludicolos, or Ein's Rain and Water/Thunder spam team. Given the number of trainers was a bit sparser relative to the number of bosses, considering who to level and how your team worked together was a lot more important since there were more Participants per battle to manage and you wouldn't (easily) outlevel and simply overpower opponents the same way.
I notice that the way most other RPG's go, they either incentivize learning a bit more about the Battle System (if only on the level of balancing offense and support/defense to a party for the long haul) or compensate the simplistic battle experience with other elements such as variety of content, story, etc. Pokemon sometimes dealt in the latter with extras such as Gen 4's Underground or Pokeathlon, Gen 5's PWT and greater investment in the story elements, Gen 7's Mantine Surf, but it's not necessarily consistent enough that it manages to compensate on a level that lets me gloss over it like in Final Fantasy for example.
tl;dr I'd like Pokemon to step outside the Single-Battle One-shot fest, whether with existing systems like Orre's Double Battles or innovating on it like PLA did with the Style System/Encounters/Move Overhauls
That's not what I've been hearing about the Legends battle system. I've heard lots about how priority/agile spam can make slower mons unable to do anything and how the damage is so high you need to trade KOs and revenge kill everything you don't already have a speed advantage on, but I haven't heard anything about defensive play actually being useful (besides that you might as well take higher defensive stats because the calculation basically doesn't care about the attack stats)
TLDR defensive play becomes relevant if you're trying to catch Alphas and do the postgame X vs 1 battles, because due to the way damage is calculated, a Weedle has same damage potential of an Alakazam at high enough level, meanwhile bulk reduces the damage a ton more than it would normally, and with AI actually not being dumb in this game, you want your pokemon to actually be able to not die in 1 hit.
This is why the Ingo fight with Alphas is hell, his Pokemon are both stupid bulky and stupid fast. I had to be around 8 levels higher, drowzy his Basculegion and use a Strong Style Bitter Malice (basically better Hex) to barely one shot it.
Also, since now we are talking about Legends Arceus, I wanna talk about how important that it was a main entry sold as one single game, and not two or three separate versions. I've been thinking about it since I completed L:A by myself and when I rewatched the Victini movie, which bafflingly was released in 2 versions like the main games...
As a single version, the Pokemon experience hasn't changed so much, and that selling separate versions is an outdated practice that just serves as a monetary hassle. It was cool when it incentivized socializing to catch them all, but in this more technological/digital era which keeping in touch is easier than ever, it's really not that relevant anymore and it should have stopped a long time ago. So you can imagine my disappointment when Gen 9 was announced with 2 separate versions...