(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[DrPumpkinz]

If it's not a big deal, then why are you defending a predatory practice? I'm just asking to keep Mythicals free and distributed to as wide an audience as possible.

Because expanding the playspace is my absolute favorite thing for a game to do, and getting the Azure Flute in one game allowing you to get the Azure Flute in another game that takes place in the future of the first game is an example of that.

Also because I think framing the situation as "I have to pay $60 for a Pokemon" instead of "I have to pay $60 for a whole fucking game with a duplicate Pokemon as a bonus" is unbelievably stupid, and that it kept getting repeated was frustrating. Yes, duplicate. If you only have BDSP, you wouldn't be able to catch Arceus yourself, just like you wouldn't be able to catch any other trade- or transfer-exclusive Pokemon. If you have BDSP and Legends, if you catch Arceus in Legends, you can get another one in BDSP. Imagine if there was a similar event in ORAS, where if you caught a Gogoat in XY, some NPC would give you a Gogoat in ORAS. Would you call that paying [however much new 3DS games cost] for a Gogoat? No, that would be dumb.

And fuck off with that hockey video. You keep using it as a cheap cop-out, and it applies to you even more than me. Is only game character. Why you heff be mad?

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

but I digress

If you ever decide you want to adopt a catchphrase this is definitely it

As for the whole "how does White act near other Basculin and vice versa", I'll admit that it is something interesting to think about but also kind of makes not having Red/Blue in Legends kind of worse imo lol. Not only would it have been interesting to have a species with different overworld behaviour depending on its form, but also if we are to assume White is a neutral party, they'd have a perfect excuse to respectively make Adaman/Irida/Kamado use Blue/Red/White Basculins as paralels to how their clans interact

As much as I like any idea that expands on lore in a non-essential way that feels like a genuine player discovery, my immediate reaction to the idea of more complex Basculin behaviour is please god no because they already have the unholy trinity of PLA catch mechanics (difficult to spot, quick to flee, and found in water where you can't effectively sneak and their already-small hitboxes are mostly blocked)

 

[AquaticPanic]

As much as I like any idea that expands on lore in a non-essential way that feels like a genuine player discovery, my immediate reaction to the idea of more complex Basculin behaviour is please god no because they already have the unholy trinity of PLA catch mechanics (difficult to spot, quick to flee, and found in water where you can't effectively sneak and their already-small hitboxes are mostly blocked)

do agree that PLA catching in the wzater sucks (I prob should make a post about that here someday lol, its been specially annoying for Remoraid), but for clearance my suggestion for basculin wouldn't really make how the while one works more complicated. I was thinking something like just having Red and Blu in the game as aggresive species while White is chill (Maybe do something like having Red Schools in Icelands, White Schools in Highlands, Blue Schools in Mirelands; and then in Fieldlands and Coastlands you have schools that are mostly Red or Blue but have a few white individuals or someth like that)

I feel I'm deviating a but from the thread's topic so I won't expand on this much further, just wanted to explain that by more complex overworld mechanics I didn't really mean making white any harder to get (In fact if Red/Blue were in the game, were aggressive and could still evolve into Legion, getting them would be easier than how Basculin is in legends rn because Red and Blue would chase you instead of running away)

 

[Celever]

Extra Extra: Local man discovers cool move was axed from video game 2 and a half years after release

You'd think that I would've noticed by now, but I only just learned that Punishment was a victim of Movexit. Is it just me, or did this really not receive much buzz at the time? Now, Punishment was never used super widely. The only Pokémon to get the attack in random battles are Ho-oh and Primeape... in Gen IV. However, it did see occasional teambuilt competitive use too, occasionally on Vullaby in LC, and on Scarf Weavile or Primeape sets too. After its introduction in Gen IV, it kept being distributed to a wide number of really interesting Pokémon who could have made great use of it in Gen VIII, such as Infernape, Weavile, Mandibuzz, Tsareena, Miltank, both Kantonian and Alolan Persian, and maybe even Slaking or a support Wigglytuff in doubles.

For those unfamiliar, Punishment is the uno reverse card version of Power Trip or Stored Power -- its base power uses the same formula as those attacks do, where it's based on the number of stat boosts a Pokémon has. However, where Power Trip becomes more powerful the more stat boosts the user has, Punishment becomes more powerful the more stat boosts the target has. Not only that, but it has a pretty cool base power of 60 by default compared with Power Trip's 20, so targeting something that has used, for example, Shell Smash once, this attack is 180 base power. It does cap at 200 base power though, one stat boost more than a Shell Smash.

It's not hard to imagine why this move would be an amazing presence in Gen VIII, and that is as a counter to Dynamax. Especially in doubles, while one opposing Pokémon is stupidly bulky thanks to being dynamaxed, you could launch a Punishment at the second Pokémon on the opponent's field that just received a Max Knuckle boost, dealing a significant chunk of damage. Dynamax would have increased the viability of Punishment dramatically, and I can't help but think that this move was cut for that reason. They went out of their way to make dynamax immune to as many potential checks and counters as possible; Dynamax Pokémon can't be encored, taunted, or tormented, for example. But I think Punishment would have been an incredibly organic, unbroken counterplay to Dynamax that wouldn't even be featured on every team.

Does it make some sense? I guess, like clearly the whole purpose of Dynamax is to be this incredibly broken supercharged thing that's "hype" or something. But you know what's even hyper than a random Hawlucha spamming Max Airstream and Max Knuckle? That's right, Gigantamax. No Gmax moves boost stats, instead having signature, unique effects, a lot of which have quite a lot of potential. Lapras is the most famous, setting up an Aurora Veil outside of Hail, meanwhile my personal favourite is Copperajah-Gmax's signature hazard. Punishment being counterplay to spamming stat boosts with Dmax would have raised the stock of these Gmax moves quite a lot, and diversified the VGC metagame. It also would still be a nice thing to have in Singles, in particular I could see Punishment being in the movepool of most Pokémon who can learn it in SwSh Random Battles, where Dynamax is still legal.

So the little thing that annoys me is that they wanted Dynamax to be so broken that they literally removed an attack that would have been reasonable, not broken counterplay to it, which also happens to have fairly low distribution, primarily on Pokémon who don't see competitive use in the first place. This decision makes no sense to me, and for me is the greatest loss of Movexit in the context of Gen VIII play.

 

[Worldie]

But I think Punishment would have been an incredibly organic, unbroken counterplay to Dynamax that wouldn't even be featured on every team.

It's worth mentioning that Punishment did get a replacement, with in fact a pretty decent distribution too.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Burning_Jealousy_(move)

It works better than Punishment in some cases (as a burn is way more punishing than just taking Dark Type damage, expecially as Dark isnt really a great offensive typing other than for Knock Off shenenigans), expecially if the Dynamaxer pokemon only accrued like 1-2 boosts at best.
It's also a pretty funny anti-Zacian tech... I mean... except the part people won't use it anyway cause you have more interesting ways to deal with Dynamax than just "hit them slightly harder", generally via parting shot and similar.

In fact I would actually disagree with your thought: even if Punishment was a thing, it probably wouldn't be run, because the best way to deal with Dynamax is in fact make your opponent waste it. Eerie Impulse, Parting Shot, Intimidate Cycling, are actually way more punishing and easier to use than Punishment due to not having any reliance on opponent typing, your stats or the presence of buffs.
Plus, ofc, good old Trick Switcheroo and similar mechanics.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Zacian and Zamazenta's typings annoy me because they're extremely unintuitive.

So firstly, despite being a duo, they have different types. Well, alright, surely they don't need to share a type just because they're a duo? Mmm, except pretty much every other duo does just that. Ho-oh and Lugia share the Flying type, Mew and Mewtwo share the Psychic type, Phione and Manaphy share the Water-type, Latias and Latias are both Dragon and Psychic. Cresselia and Darkrai don't, but they buck the trends in other ways too. Sure, Zacian and Zamazenta don't need to be the same type, but when they're explicitly identified as being connected (siblings) you'd just expect them to.

But the actual types they've been assigned are strange. Why is Zacian Fairy while Zamazenta is Fighting? They both strike me as Fairy and Fighting-types; I actually went through ages thinking both were Fairy/Fighting (we haven't had one of those yet, it'd be nice). Fairy feels like something connected to them being magical, legendary beings - so why isn't Zamazenta Fairy too? If both were Fairy/Fighting it'd make them actually feel like counterparts. Again, they don't have to share a type but if they're identified as being related then it makes sense to link them.

Secondly, both wolves gain Steel because they... uh, gain weapons in their Hero forms. Fine. Zacian becomes Fairy/Steel while Zamazenta becomes Fighting/Steel. Both good typings already utilised. I guess they didn't want the basic forms to overshadow the hero forms so made them single-typed. But again, if the idea was to make them distinct in terms of their battling abilities (which they already are) why not make Zacian Fairy/Fighting and Zamazenta Fighting/Steel?

Just... idk. I don't much like either Pokemon but I feel like it'd be a little warmer toward them if they didn't feel quite as much like wasted potential as they do.

 

[CPU]

Zacian and Zamazenta's typings annoy me because they're extremely unintuitive.

So firstly, despite being a duo, they have different types. Well, alright, surely they don't need to share a type just because they're a duo? Mmm, except pretty much every other duo does just that. Ho-oh and Lugia share the Flying type, Mew and Mewtwo share the Psychic type, Phione and Manaphy share the Water-type, Latias and Latias are both Dragon and Psychic. Cresselia and Darkrai don't, but they buck the trends in other ways too. Sure, Zacian and Zamazenta don't need to be the same type, but when they're explicitly identified as being connected (siblings) you'd just expect them to.

But the actual types they've been assigned are strange. Why is Zacian Fairy while Zamazenta is Fighting? They both strike me as Fairy and Fighting-types; I actually went through ages thinking both were Fairy/Fighting (we haven't had one of those yet, it'd be nice). Fairy feels like something connected to them being magical, legendary beings - so why isn't Zamazenta Fairy too? If both were Fairy/Fighting it'd make them actually feel like counterparts. Again, they don't have to share a type but if they're identified as being related then it makes sense to link them.

Secondly, both wolves gain Steel because they... uh, gain weapons in their Hero forms. Fine. Zacian becomes Fairy/Steel while Zamazenta becomes Fighting/Steel. Both good typings already utilised. I guess they didn't want the basic forms to overshadow the hero forms so made them single-typed. But again, if the idea was to make them distinct in terms of their battling abilities (which they already are) why not make Zacian Fairy/Fighting and Zamazenta Fighting/Steel?

Just... idk. I don't much like either Pokemon but I feel like it'd be a little warmer toward them if they didn't feel quite as much like wasted potential as they do.

Fun fact, in the last story battle you have with Hop, if he has Zamazenta, it has Play Rough. If he has Zacian, it has Close Combat. Zacian's CC is just stronger than Zamazenta's would be, too, thanks to the Intrepid Sword Attack boost and its naturally massive Attack.

 

[Scorpio]

I feel they made Zamazenta Fighting-type primarily for Body Press, but then for w/e reason they decided not to give it to Zenta, despite, yanno, it being entirely outclassed without it.

As for Zacian, maybe they figured it was more elegant than Zenta, so Fairy it is. Plustheywantedittobecompletelybroken

 

[Worldie]

Plustheywantedittobecompletelybroken

tbfh assuming it kept the same stats, moveset and ability, I think Zacian would have managed to be a competitively viable pokemon even if it was idk, Bug/Steel.
The typing *helps* but what carries it the most is just the ludicrous combo of attack, speed and ability on top of Sword Dance.
You saw yourself how in Ubers even after they banned Zacian-C people were like... welp unlucky, we just use Zacian, and losing the Steel type didn't do anything and regular Zacian managed to join Z-C in AG shortly after.

Funnily I think Zacian is another case of bad representative of "fairy type is broken", because the Pokemon itself is insanely strong, just happens to be fairy type, but it'd be insanely strong even without it.
In fact I think if it was Ghost type it'd have actually been actually stronger vgc-wise due to immunity to Fake Out and Shadow Tag*

 

[CPU]

Zacian's attack stats should have been evenly split like Zamazenta's defense stats were. 150 Attack with a free +1 might be a little better balanced. Sure, it would get a mostly (if not entirely) useless +20 to its Special Attack, but it's just gross the way it is now.

 

[DreamPrince]

Extra Extra: Local man discovers cool move was axed from video game 2 and a half years after release

You'd think that I would've noticed by now, but I only just learned that Punishment was a victim of Movexit. Is it just me, or did this really not receive much buzz at the time? Now, Punishment was never used super widely. The only Pokémon to get the attack in random battles are Ho-oh and Primeape... in Gen IV. However, it did see occasional teambuilt competitive use too, occasionally on Vullaby in LC, and on Scarf Weavile or Primeape sets too. After its introduction in Gen IV, it kept being distributed to a wide number of really interesting Pokémon who could have made great use of it in Gen VIII, such as Infernape, Weavile, Mandibuzz, Tsareena, Miltank, both Kantonian and Alolan Persian, and maybe even Slaking or a support Wigglytuff in doubles.

For those unfamiliar, Punishment is the uno reverse card version of Power Trip or Stored Power -- its base power uses the same formula as those attacks do, where it's based on the number of stat boosts a Pokémon has. However, where Power Trip becomes more powerful the more stat boosts the user has, Punishment becomes more powerful the more stat boosts the target has. Not only that, but it has a pretty cool base power of 60 by default compared with Power Trip's 20, so targeting something that has used, for example, Shell Smash once, this attack is 180 base power. It does cap at 200 base power though, one stat boost more than a Shell Smash.

It's not hard to imagine why this move would be an amazing presence in Gen VIII, and that is as a counter to Dynamax. Especially in doubles, while one opposing Pokémon is stupidly bulky thanks to being dynamaxed, you could launch a Punishment at the second Pokémon on the opponent's field that just received a Max Knuckle boost, dealing a significant chunk of damage. Dynamax would have increased the viability of Punishment dramatically, and I can't help but think that this move was cut for that reason. They went out of their way to make dynamax immune to as many potential checks and counters as possible; Dynamax Pokémon can't be encored, taunted, or tormented, for example. But I think Punishment would have been an incredibly organic, unbroken counterplay to Dynamax that wouldn't even be featured on every team.

Does it make some sense? I guess, like clearly the whole purpose of Dynamax is to be this incredibly broken supercharged thing that's "hype" or something. But you know what's even hyper than a random Hawlucha spamming Max Airstream and Max Knuckle? That's right, Gigantamax. No Gmax moves boost stats, instead having signature, unique effects, a lot of which have quite a lot of potential. Lapras is the most famous, setting up an Aurora Veil outside of Hail, meanwhile my personal favourite is Copperajah-Gmax's signature hazard. Punishment being counterplay to spamming stat boosts with Dmax would have raised the stock of these Gmax moves quite a lot, and diversified the VGC metagame. It also would still be a nice thing to have in Singles, in particular I could see Punishment being in the movepool of most Pokémon who can learn it in SwSh Random Battles, where Dynamax is still legal.

So the little thing that annoys me is that they wanted Dynamax to be so broken that they literally removed an attack that would have been reasonable, not broken counterplay to it, which also happens to have fairly low distribution, primarily on Pokémon who don't see competitive use in the first place. This decision makes no sense to me, and for me is the greatest loss of Movexit in the context of Gen VIII play.

In general, I really don't like the majority of moves that were dexited. You brought up Punishment, but some other moves got dexited that I think is truly a shame, specifically Signal Beam, Heart Swap, and Tail Glow. Signal Beam may not have been widely used competitvely, but it was a very good moves for Electric types in Single Player since it offers coverage against Grass types without HP. That alone made Ampharos a very good choice for an Electric type in HGSS and BW2 thanks to Signal Beam and Fire Punch, which gave it better coverage than other Electric types like Jolteon or Magnetmite without investment. Heart Swap and Tail Glow are also extremely strange choices, but it seems those were an oversights because they were elusive moves only on two to three Pokémon and all of which were dexited when SwSh launched. But even when Pokemon ( Magearna and Xurkitree ) were added via DLC, they didn't still add them to their movepools. Just because a move is not used does not it mean that it is useless- Heart Swap was a great move to punish stat boosting, and can be extremely punishing against Baton Pass. Tail Glow was an extremely devastating set up move if Pokemon are given the chance. It just shows how lacking the developers understand the values of moves, and low usage not does mean bad.

Zacian and Zamazenta's typings annoy me because they're extremely unintuitive.

So firstly, despite being a duo, they have different types. Well, alright, surely they don't need to share a type just because they're a duo? Mmm, except pretty much every other duo does just that. Ho-oh and Lugia share the Flying type, Mew and Mewtwo share the Psychic type, Phione and Manaphy share the Water-type, Latias and Latias are both Dragon and Psychic. Cresselia and Darkrai don't, but they buck the trends in other ways too. Sure, Zacian and Zamazenta don't need to be the same type, but when they're explicitly identified as being connected (siblings) you'd just expect them to.

But the actual types they've been assigned are strange. Why is Zacian Fairy while Zamazenta is Fighting? They both strike me as Fairy and Fighting-types; I actually went through ages thinking both were Fairy/Fighting (we haven't had one of those yet, it'd be nice). Fairy feels like something connected to them being magical, legendary beings - so why isn't Zamazenta Fairy too? If both were Fairy/Fighting it'd make them actually feel like counterparts. Again, they don't have to share a type but if they're identified as being related then it makes sense to link them.

Zacian's typing is probably the reference to Morgan le Fey, the enchantress who gave King Arthur his sword, and name translates to Morgan the Fairy, which explains the Fairy typing, Zacian's gender, and Sword Motif. Zamazenta is based on the Shield of King Arthur, hence the shield motiff.

 

[R_N]

Zacian is fairy so you know its the girl wolf.

 

[Nokocchi]

I'm disappointed that many of the Pokemon that would thrive under the stat system of Legends: Arceus are not in the game. Due to how damage is calculated, attack stats barely matter, which means Pokemon like Serperior with high speed and defenses but meh or outright bad offenses are absurdly powerful under the Legends forumla.

While there is stuff like that like Uxie, Pachirisu, and Lopunny there are far more glass cannon Pokemon in the game, and having good offenses barely effects how much damage you do and bad defenses just means you get one-shot since stuff will very often survive no matter how high your attack is.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Slightly off topic but how are you even supposed to pronounce Zacian anyways? I've heard Zay-shee-an, Zah-see-an, and even Zack-ee-an (pretty sure that one is wrong).

 

[AquaticPanic]

I feel like the one connection Zacian has to Fairy is that Pokémon ties Fairy type to the moon, and with Zacian being a wolf and whatnot, the moon has some thematic relevance. But like, for that same logic Zamazenta should also have been Fairy lol

If anything I think Fairy/Steel Zamazenta and Fighting/Steel Zacian wpuld make more sense as both Sacred and Secret sword are Fighting moves and Fairy/Steel is a much better defensive type. As it stands it really just feels like Zacian is Fairy because its clearly the devs favourite and because "its the girl one"

 

[R_N]

Slightly off topic but how are you even supposed to pronounce Zacian anyways? I've heard Zay-shee-an, Zah-see-an, and even Zack-ee-an (pretty sure that one is wrong).

I think it's meant to be Zah-cyan.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Slightly off topic but how are you even supposed to pronounce Zacian anyways? I've heard Zay-shee-an, Zah-see-an, and even Zack-ee-an (pretty sure that one is wrong).

I think it's meant to be Zah-cyan.

Official material such as the anime and one of the Sword and Shield trailers suggests it's pronounced Zah-shee-an. I can't link any of the anime eps but I can certainly link the old June 2019 Direct trailer where the pronunciation is audible at the end.

 

[Hugin]

One of the issues is that the Devs clearly think that a Defense boost and an Attack boost are equal in value. But they're not, and that warps things. First, you have to boost both defenses but generally only one attack stat, because +6 def can just get smacked by Focus Blast or whatever. But also because offense matters more than defense. So they make Zacien and Zamazenta and one is AG twice while the other is B-/D in Ubers. Swords Dance and Nasty Plot are great, Iron Defense is useless. It's one of those things that's been blatantly obvious for a while, and they've never fixed it. The only dual-boosting move is Cosmic Power, which has no distribution, and making it a TR didn't help. Just, why? This is basic.

 

[Ironmage]

One of the issues is that the Devs clearly think that a Defense boost and an Attack boost are equal in value. But they're not, and that warps things. First, you have to boost both defenses but generally only one attack stat, because +6 def can just get smacked by Focus Blast or whatever. But also because offense matters more than defense. So they make Zacien and Zamazenta and one is AG twice while the other is B-/D in Ubers. Swords Dance and Nasty Plot are great, Iron Defense is useless. It's one of those things that's been blatantly obvious for a while, and they've never fixed it. The only dual-boosting move is Cosmic Power, which has no distribution, and making it a TR didn't help. Just, why? This is basic.

Iron Defense has seen some use... on Body Press sets where it's also effectively an attack boost.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Iron Defense has seen some use... on Body Press sets where it's also effectively an attack boost.

It as well as Acid Armor also see good use in combination with Calm Mind and usually Stored Power. Reuniclus in particular used to run that set with Recover, becoming so bulky that if it had Toxic Spike support, it could 1v1 Dark-types despite not having a move capable of hitting them.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Zacian/Zamazenta are probably one of the joint biggest failures of balancing Pokemon has ever seen. I honestly believe that considering the visible troubled development scars of SWSH elsewhere that it's a sincere possibility that the dog pair just straight up were not playtested. Zacian-C is so disgustingly hyperoptimized in every conceivable aspect, and as for Zamazenta I REFUSE to believe that it not having Body Press isn't an oversight that Game Freak stubbornly didn't fix during SWSH's lifespan due to being resistant to mid-gen balance changes of that breed.

 

[Siggu]

All in all, Zacian and Zamazenta are complete disasters of cover legendaries in terms of gameplay and especially looks.

 

[Samtendo09]

Zacian/Zamazenta are probably one of the joint biggest failures of balancing Pokemon has ever seen. I honestly believe that considering the visible troubled development scars of SWSH elsewhere that it's a sincere possibility that the dog pair just straight up were not playtested. Zacian-C is so disgustingly hyperoptimized in every conceivable aspect, and as for Zamazenta I REFUSE to believe that it not having Body Press isn't an oversight that Game Freak stubbornly didn't fix during SWSH's lifespan due to being resistant to mid-gen balance changes of that breed.

I believe that Pokémon themselves are never playtested at all considering the vicious cycle of intentional power creep. If playtesting on the Pokémon happened after say Gen 2 or 3, the power creep wouldn’t be so bad so quickly.

Right now it’s like GF can’t really decide whether or not they should really care about balance - not making all Pokémon equally viable but keeping the weakest from being complete garbage and the strongest from being disgustingly annoying to deal with - or if they, in the end, are all about style over substance.

 

[Worldie]

I believe that Pokémon themselves are never playtested at all considering the vicious cycle of intentional power creep. If playtesting on the Pokémon happened after say Gen 2 or 3, the power creep wouldn’t be so bad so quickly.

To be fair at this point one big question would be, how exactly do you "playtest" a pokemon?

Like sure, you could try to stage some PvP matches between the devs or some testers, but that's the same problem that big MOBAs/MMOs have where you only get a limited samplie size who also has confirmation bias to deal with.
One option is to do what for example League did occasionally, to invite over pros to actually check their designs for some champions and gather their feedback, but even then, *eventually* people find out ways to break stuff that would look balanced. Remember when everyone had a laugh at how terrible Spectrier was going to be and then it released and it got itself nuked from OU for being able to single handedly terrorize the tier with a single attack type? And how the reverse happened for Regieleki, when everyone was like "zomg this thing is fast and strong must be broken" and then now it barely holds OU usage and it's only a support pick in VGC.

And playtesting "for ingame" is almost pointless as due to the nature of pokemon games, pretty much any Pokemon can be used no matter if you're a complete newcomer or a pro, due to the games inherently being very easy.

Right now it’s like GF can’t really decide whether or not they should really care about balance - not making all Pokémon equally viable but keeping the weakest from being complete garbage and the strongest from being disgustingly annoying to deal with - or if they, in the end, are all about style over substance.

Honestly I think until before SwSh they werent particularly bothered by "game balance". Yes there's been a few cases of generational nerfs but they seem to not mind the power creep at all, in fact support it by releasing progressively stronger legendaryes every new game.
They are more interested in creating designs that sell and are well appreciated by the intended playerbase (aka kids and young adults), pleasing the competitive fanbase is just an extra. They have thrown a few bones to competitive players with SwSh, mainly with QoL stuff and ways to help

Which also really isnt exactly a huge deal, to be fair, you know what I think, that even if they were to limit powercreep, due to the nature of competitive, it'll always have a handful of particularly strong pokemon with > 70% usage, and then everything else being niche or worse.
You can change who the pokemon with 70% usage are, but won't change the results.
(I don't even need to search for a proof, you can look at any given Smogon metagame, and you'll have a handful meta defining pokemon, 10-20 "strong but not quite S tier" pokes, and rest being fringe or niche or unviable).
It's just the nature of competitive, if you're playing to win, you'll usually use the very best and not purposely nerf yourself. Even the famous Pachirisu usage wasn't out of "hey it's cute I'll use it" but was a calculated pick because Pachirisu just happened to have all the qualities to dick on the competitive meta of that year.

Overally, I think Pokemon is in that weird spot where unless they actually start to actually do balance patches, it's kinda pointless to bother with balancing it, cause realistically it doesnt matter at all, and due to it not having microtransactions that would want you to "keep people playing", all that really ends up mattering is initial sales and eventual future sales (which are usually supported by cross-game compatibility, pokemon home transfers, and game save rewards).

Incidentally, lack of balance patches is also one of the aspects that's severely gating Pokemon from becoming a real E-sport, but honestly, I really doubt GameFreaks or TPCI would be able to handle a real pro-scene for it anyway.

 

[Samtendo09]

Honestly I think until before SwSh they werent particularly bothered by "game balance". Yes there's been a few cases of generational nerfs but they seem to not mind the power creep at all, in fact support it by releasing progressively stronger legendaryes every new game.
They are more interested in creating designs that sell and are well appreciated by the intended playerbase (aka kids and young adults), pleasing the competitive fanbase is just an extra. They have thrown a few bones to competitive players with SwSh, mainly with QoL stuff and ways to help

Which also really isnt exactly a huge deal, to be fair, you know what I think, that even if they were to limit powercreep, due to the nature of competitive, it'll always have a handful of particularly strong pokemon with > 70% usage, and then everything else being niche or worse.

Not prioritizing competitive is understandable, but keeping power creep up and up just because it happens is just bollocks, since that means Pokémon that were either average or even straight-up awful only feels worse and worse over time. Plus we might reach a scenario where the next set of Legendary Pokémon being or becoming so powerful that they become essentailly an auto-win.

The 70% Pokémon used all the times is because of the competitive playerbase’s mindeset, nothing else, so calling every other single Pokémon niche or worse is just insulting for competitive players who wanted to experiment. That issue is not my concern and neither should anyone in the end, but it should be pointed out.

Again, it bears in mind what I said before; if you can’t make the games hard, then make them fun. There are reasons why certain Pokémon are hated for being too weak or too strong; some proved not fun at all to use due to how difficult or excessively weak they are, and some are disliked for turning the metagame into a sweep-fest / severely limited one where you have to use the same overpowered Pokémon in hope to win at all.