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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
That's fair, but Tyranitar and Deo-A are the only remotely common Pursuit users in Ubers (Mega Gengar's SM article also mentions Marshadow but I don't think I've ever seen it carry Pursuit and it isn't listed on its analysis even as an other option), and in the case of Deo-A (and Marshadow) Pursuit only forces a 50/50. I would be dubious that Pursuit is enough of a balancing factor to justify Shadow Tag being healthy in XY/SM but as I said I'm not really an Ubers player, and this probably isn't the thread for that discussion anyways.
What I don't understand why Gengar's Shadow Tag is banned meanwhile Dugtrio's Arena Trap is allowed, and both do exactly the same thing.
Arena Trap affects less Pokémon, and also it's banned in every OM.
Yeah no, take it from someone that's not from the anglosphere; dubs never count
no, not even then, especially in Pokemon
I love Berries too. They are not forgotten, but I feel like they are pushed out of the spotlight. The Berry descriptions from RSE were an incredibly fun read, I loved the idea some of the rarest Berries are flat-out legendary.
*old man voice* Back in my day, Liechi Berries were only found on Mirage Island.RSE said:
A counterpart of Liechi? Ganlon is Groudon, Liechi is Kyogre? I sea...RSE said:
Told you they are Legendary! Salac is clearly Rayquaza in edible form!RSE said:
Apparently Petaya is Mew. Mew!RSE said:
This confirms the player character is an über genius for finding out how the Apicot Berry should be used.RSE said:
My favorite, however, has to be the Starf Berry.
"So strong"? How could a Berry be "strong"? Is it a weapon of mass destruction or something?RSE said:
I love this entry because it implies a goddamn Berry is equal to a weapon of mass destruction. It's so absurd, I love it!
Same, which makes it extremely underwhelming to just find them lying on the ground in later games.
Also I could buy the idea that Scott was somehow able to obtain a Starf Berry (if the owner of the Battle Frontier isn't well-connected enough, who is?) but then X and Y just have some random little girl give them to you. Lame.
Maybe she's some sort of child prodigy...
Obviously, Kalos is at the world's edge.
Weell, not Kalos, but Paldea might have an equivalent to this:Obviously, Kalos is at the world's edge.
Finisterre.
Mostly quoting this just to have something topical to reply to, but my "fix" to slow start is to make it gradually wear off across the 5 turns it takes. If it's at 50% power/speed turn 1, it would be at 60% during turn 2, 70% turn 3, and so on until the 5th turn ends and it's finally at full power.
Still limiting but at least it gets some teeth the longer it gets to stay in.
Reminds me of Rhoulder in Temtem. One of its traits is Tardy Rush, which is similar to Slow Start but also kind of the opposite; after three turns, its speed is doubled and its attack is increased by 1.1x. It helps that its stats are already pretty good, though the wikia page isn't loading right now.
I'm guessing this web page has... Slow Start.
I've never understood why the most common ideas for buffing Slow Start are always trying to apply extra effects on the ability.
I'd just make it so that the effect does not refresh when switching out. Make it wear out after it stays on the field after 5 complete turns, but not necessarily 5 consecutive turns.
I'd just make it so that the effect does not refresh when switching out. Make it wear out after it stays on the field after 5 complete turns, but not necessarily 5 consecutive turns.
I don't like the Ultra Beasts.
Well no, I do but hear me out.
The concept behind them? Absolutely fantastic. Alien Pokemon from a whole other dimension, so different in their biology that regular Pokeballs don't even recognise them as Pokemon? The whole lore around Ultra Wormholes and Fallers and each of their specific home dimensions in USUM? Flippin' brilliant. I love all of that.
I mean the actual creatures themselves.
There's a quote I can't find right now in which Junichi Masuda (I think) says something to the effect of "the design philosophy of the series is 'every Pokemon can be your friend, no matter how ferocious'". And I think this is one thing that has been adhered to scrupulously throughout the series as a whole. Even some of the most ferocious and outlandish designs that spring to mind for me, like Hydreigon, Crawdaunt, and Mega Tyranitar, manage to retain that aesthetic appeal that makes me like them.
But I don't get that from any of the UBs. They're all, as a whole, just so faceless and unrelatable and unsettling. Possible exceptions are Nihilego, which is one of my favourite Gen VII mons purely for its creepiness and Naganadel, which I've been using to great effect in the Battle Tree and Battle Royal of late. Guzzlord of course is great, though I wouldn't call it a favourite.
And, to be clear, I know that this feeling of distaste is very much part of the intention. It makes sense that alien Pokemon wouldn't have that same instant sense of connection regular ones do; they are designed to be unsettling and disturbing and a little bit creepy. What gets me is just how effectively I'm creeped out by them.
So, good job Game Freak at completely succeeding with the Ultra Beasts.
Well no, I do but hear me out.
The concept behind them? Absolutely fantastic. Alien Pokemon from a whole other dimension, so different in their biology that regular Pokeballs don't even recognise them as Pokemon? The whole lore around Ultra Wormholes and Fallers and each of their specific home dimensions in USUM? Flippin' brilliant. I love all of that.
I mean the actual creatures themselves.
There's a quote I can't find right now in which Junichi Masuda (I think) says something to the effect of "the design philosophy of the series is 'every Pokemon can be your friend, no matter how ferocious'". And I think this is one thing that has been adhered to scrupulously throughout the series as a whole. Even some of the most ferocious and outlandish designs that spring to mind for me, like Hydreigon, Crawdaunt, and Mega Tyranitar, manage to retain that aesthetic appeal that makes me like them.
But I don't get that from any of the UBs. They're all, as a whole, just so faceless and unrelatable and unsettling. Possible exceptions are Nihilego, which is one of my favourite Gen VII mons purely for its creepiness and Naganadel, which I've been using to great effect in the Battle Tree and Battle Royal of late. Guzzlord of course is great, though I wouldn't call it a favourite.
And, to be clear, I know that this feeling of distaste is very much part of the intention. It makes sense that alien Pokemon wouldn't have that same instant sense of connection regular ones do; they are designed to be unsettling and disturbing and a little bit creepy. What gets me is just how effectively I'm creeped out by them.
So, good job Game Freak at completely succeeding with the Ultra Beasts.
It would be hard for me to think more differently about this. I consider the UBs to be more appealing than most of the rest of gen 7, with the less biological ones (Xurkitree, Celesteela, Kartana, and Stakataka) being pretty high up in my general opinion as well.
But it did also take me a while to not be creeped out by Sylveon, so I'm probably just messed up.
No, I find Sylveon quite creepy too. Probably would do a lot less if the Pokedex would just shut up about its ribbon-like feelers that it wraps around people it loves
I think that's gameplay bleeding into the adjustment ideas because Regigigas isn't so powerful to where it needs a hindering ability to begin with, much less one that hits it this hard. The extra effects feel like an attempt to reconcile the flavor of the idea (which I still say is overblown in importance since literally no other Legendary Pokemon displays this kind of "rust" after being summoned/awakened) while making the Pokemon appropriately powerful (weak on one front but strengthened by a different effect to even it out).
The thing about the Ultra Beasts for me (and I can't decide if this is a good thing or not) is how they barely even feel cohesive with each other. To an extent that might be deliberate since USUM confirms they all have different home dimensions outside of the blanket of just "Ultra Space", but artistically, I probably would have to be told some of these Pokemon are supposed to be distinctly Alien compared to normal ones.
Like, Kartana, Guzzlord, Nihilego all stray decently far from the usual conventions, two of them lacking faces entirely, biology with tenuous at best real-world bases, and other quirks like Kartana's tiny design being thin and angular instead of a chunky child like a lot of rounded First-Stage/Early Gamers (Starters, Rats, Nidos, Pikachu, etc.)
On the other hand, some like Pheromosa just feel too anthropomorphized such that she's not any more out of place than semi-Humanoid Pokemon like Gardevoir, Lucario, or to a lesser extent something like Leavanny. Celesteela similarly doesn't seem that much more alien than other "object/fixture" Pokemon like Golurk, Aegislash, or even the Rotom-Appliance designs.
I think if I had to pin it to one factor, it's the face or lack thereof incorporated into the look. Pheromosa emotes about the same as most Pokemon, Celesteela's mouth and facial structure is very "human" despite the rest of the body, Poipole still feels like it has the "cute animal" design (though Naganadel irons that out for me). Most of the others you can't really discern a spot meant to act as a face, so you're either reading from incomplete features like Stackatacka's "eye", or their behavior/body language (which due to their body shapes may not mean anything or just be normal/reflexive to them anyway). Guzzlord mostly averts this because he barely closes his mouth to change expression and the rest of his design emphasizes incomprehensible biology like a lite-Lovecraftian creature (the Blackhole mouth, arms sticking out of that and his head, the color scheme, bizarre mix of rounding and spikes)
Outside of Espeon, I find the rest of the Eevee line (Eevee included) a lot creepier than Sylveon.
The UBs are fun in that they are pretty creepy at a glance, but then you start interacting with them on refresh/camp and you realize that despite looking so weird and offputting, they're still someone who you can befriend. They don't become more normal, they're little freaks in all of their animations and lore, but you start learning that these animations are happy, excited animations, that they enjoy being petted, eating beans and curry with you.
They're just your weirdo friends, and I really enjoy that, as a weirdo pokémon enjoyer
They're just your weirdo friends, and I really enjoy that, as a weirdo pokémon enjoyer
I actually like the idea of every Pokemon being a potential friend. Since Pokemon have become animal stand-ins, rather than being dangerous creatures separate from animals since Gen 2 or 3, I wondered what it'd be like if everything in the environment was technically a Pokemon like in Monster Hunter, in which the environments are literally made of monsters to an extent.
Isn't there non-monster (but still fictional) wildlife in Monster Hunter, though? I'm also reminded of Monster Sanctuary, where it's repeatedly and explicitly said in the in-game encyclopedia that normal animals exist in this world; "monster" is a catch-all term for supernatural creatures/plants/fungi/ovens/alien goo. It seems to be inspired by early Pokémon lore.
This is normally true in Monster Sanctuary and even Monster Crown, the latter of which treats monsters more like hellspawns than regular animals.
