Why shouldn't they have done that? A useless move is a waste of data and making very good moves for Pokémon that are otherwise not very good is a valid way to give them specific niches and strengths. Your suggestion would just result in more trashmons that have no niches or purpose to speak of.
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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Why shouldn't they have done that? A useless move is a waste of data and making very good moves for Pokémon that are otherwise not very good is a valid way to give them specific niches and strengths. Your suggestion would just result in more trashmons that have no niches or purpose to speak of.
From what I've heard about the schmuck in question, the strongest thing it does is unrelated to its signature move.
It's Speed Boost + Stored Power, two things that have existed for a while and have interesting synergy but were never paired together until now.
I'll admit I exaggerated the lack of identity outside of a signature move as a response to it being called a "random schmuck", but what I am arguing is simply that making new signature moves for new Pokémon has no actual gameplay flaws to it. The fact that the new signature move being discussed is statistically superior in every way to an old legendary's signature move isn't a bad thing in a vacuum or in practice. There is no reason it shouldn't be done.
I did agreed earlier that a signature move that is strictly superior than a legendary move isn’t a bad thing.
Thing is, there are more ways than making a signature move or ability to make a Pokémon stand out among the crowd, since unless it’s a form changing ability, they tend to be ultimately inconsequential for the most part.
We still don’t have many special attacking Rock-type or Fighting-type, we don’t have many bulky Electric-type Pokémon less so wall or support-oriented Electric-type since Pachirisu, and we don’t have many Steel-type whose Special Defense is higher than Defense, Hisuian Sliggoo and Hisuian Goodra being an example of higher SpD than Def.
And some ideas never done before, like a physical Drought user who would want to use Solar Blade, a physically bulky Psychic-type with access to Body Press, any outside-the-box ideas to help a Pokémon to stand out among their peers.
Pokémon design is also an important aspect, of course, and you do want to make sure the mechanics fits their design well.
I agree on all of those points, but I feel that it's encroaching onto another subject entirely at this point, as while there are a myriad of potential interesting ideas for both designs and gameplay, that's a different conversation from evaluating the ones that do exist.
For what it's worth I don't even personally like all the myriad signature moves and abilities.
For what it's worth I don't even personally like all the myriad signature moves and abilities.
I wish we still had contests…
Using Chilly Reception on the audience and see their reaction, I bet it would've been priceless…
Oh well.
Using Chilly Reception on the audience and see their reaction, I bet it would've been priceless…
Oh well.
So the YMMV page for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on TV Tropes says that people still think Fuecoco fits the Zodiac theme because crocodilians are "close enough" to snakes (they're not; they're more closely related to birds), and because the crocodile is in the Persian Zodiac. Now I want Game Freak to give the Gen 10 Fire starter obvious Greek Zodiac motifs just to mess with people.
I'm really annoyed by how GF decides what is/isn't a baby Pokémon. This new gen introduced some mons that could clearly be tagged as babies, but they are not. I'm looking at Smoliv (which is basically a Budew clone with similar BST) and
Other Pokémon from past generations that I would re-classify as baby: Rufflet, Vullaby, and Bounsweet. The first two seem to be baby versions of their evolutions (Vullaby even wears an egg diaper) and undergo a similar transformation to that of Toxel-Toxtricity. Bounsweet is just a blob, it gives me Budew/Igglybuff/Cleffa vibes.
Flittle (an egg Pokémon, similar concept to Togepi, hatches into an ostrich)
Cetoddle (a baby version of Cetitan)
Cetoddle (a baby version of Cetitan)
Other Pokémon from past generations that I would re-classify as baby: Rufflet, Vullaby, and Bounsweet. The first two seem to be baby versions of their evolutions (Vullaby even wears an egg diaper) and undergo a similar transformation to that of Toxel-Toxtricity. Bounsweet is just a blob, it gives me Budew/Igglybuff/Cleffa vibes.
I agree with this but I'm wondering what criteria would work.
The obvious one would be BST but that rapidly falls apart when you realise that the four mons with the lowest totals (Sunkern, Blipbug, Snom, and Wishiwashi-Solo) are not babies; Azurill comes in at fifth but then there's a bunch of bugs before the next baby appears.
To add to your list, I'd say Cosmog definitely feels like it should qualify - a legendary baby feels like a contradiction in terms, but Cosmog literally needs babying perhaps moreso than any other mon since it can't attack by itself.
Toxtricity as a whole also has very similar vibes to Lucario, who is basically Gen 4's designated shillmon, and Toxtricity was definitely designed as a mon who was meant to be marketable and one of Gen 8's "shillmons" who is popular and sells. Toxel is a "baby Pokemon", one is given to you as a gift in game, Toxtricity has two distinct forms and a striking design, and it has a G-Max form that was treated as special amongst most G-Maxes.
In general it seems baby Pokemon who are officially classified as such are pre evos of mons who they want to be popular/marketable and sell from a popularity and merchandise standpoint, and/or are added pre evolutions post Gen 2 to a mon who was previously an unevolved Pokemon as a coding loophole to work around "retconning" that completely.
Gen 2 had a lot of them because that was Gen 2's "gimmick" so to speak, and what gave Gen 2 its identity. Even then it mostly targeted popular Pokemon such as Pikachu, Clefairy, and Jigglypuff. The one totally new baby Pokemon was Togepi, who was sort of a poster child for Gen 2 given it was marketed heavily and was owned by Misty in the anime for a long time. Riolu and Toxel fit the bill of marketable as well, considering Lucario and Toxtricity have that "mon who is designed to be popular and merchandise worthy" vibe.
The other cases are cross generational pre evolutions. Wynaut, Budew, Bonsly, Mime Jr., and Munchlax were all introduced after their evolutions and tied to incenses so that breeding wise they still had a loophole addressing them.
In general these seem to be the two trends with some overlap between them.
In general it seems baby Pokemon who are officially classified as such are pre evos of mons who they want to be popular/marketable and sell from a popularity and merchandise standpoint, and/or are added pre evolutions post Gen 2 to a mon who was previously an unevolved Pokemon as a coding loophole to work around "retconning" that completely.
Gen 2 had a lot of them because that was Gen 2's "gimmick" so to speak, and what gave Gen 2 its identity. Even then it mostly targeted popular Pokemon such as Pikachu, Clefairy, and Jigglypuff. The one totally new baby Pokemon was Togepi, who was sort of a poster child for Gen 2 given it was marketed heavily and was owned by Misty in the anime for a long time. Riolu and Toxel fit the bill of marketable as well, considering Lucario and Toxtricity have that "mon who is designed to be popular and merchandise worthy" vibe.
The other cases are cross generational pre evolutions. Wynaut, Budew, Bonsly, Mime Jr., and Munchlax were all introduced after their evolutions and tied to incenses so that breeding wise they still had a loophole addressing them.
In general these seem to be the two trends with some overlap between them.
That... I can't agree at all.
I mean, it should have been a shillmon (and unlike the likes of Lucario or Zoroark, it actually looks good...) but the amount of exposure it got through all different official media is a far cry from what one would call a shillmon. Not to mention it went completely unrevealed before release.
Heck, Mimikyu in Gen 7 got more attention...
What idiot designed Baxcalibur's stats?
I thought Kalosian Goodra was the pseudo with the worst stat spread but this takes the cake. I guess I should just be happy they didn't follow the usual convention for Ice-types (high physical Defence, high Special Attack, and literally nothing else).
It's way overbalanced and isn't defensively sound (not least because Dragon-Ice is a horrible defensive typing) but looking at it I expected a stat spread more akin to Tyranitar. Knocking 30 points off that Speed and maybe 5 off the Special Attack to invest in the defences would make this fantastic; as it is, this is just a miserable jack-of-all-trades spread that means it doesn't excel at anything beyond attacking. It doesn't even have an ability that could save it.
A Dragon-Ice pseudo-legendary could have been phenomenal, I cannot believe they fucked it up this badly.
I thought Kalosian Goodra was the pseudo with the worst stat spread but this takes the cake. I guess I should just be happy they didn't follow the usual convention for Ice-types (high physical Defence, high Special Attack, and literally nothing else).
It's way overbalanced and isn't defensively sound (not least because Dragon-Ice is a horrible defensive typing) but looking at it I expected a stat spread more akin to Tyranitar. Knocking 30 points off that Speed and maybe 5 off the Special Attack to invest in the defences would make this fantastic; as it is, this is just a miserable jack-of-all-trades spread that means it doesn't excel at anything beyond attacking. It doesn't even have an ability that could save it.
A Dragon-Ice pseudo-legendary could have been phenomenal, I cannot believe they fucked it up this badly.
Yeah I absolutely hate the fact you are forced to walk and then SUDDENLY you can run. No Running Shoes, no nothing, just bam you can run now. I don’t get it at all. Default running shoes have been a thing since freaking X and Y. Please don’t make me walk at the pace of a braindead robot and then not manually tell me “HEY YOU CAN RUN NOW.” It’s confusing as heck especially considering that before I’d say, SWSH, this series was known for explaining absolutely EVERYTHING (which can be good sometimes as some can be slow on the uptake - I don’t judge them).
Heck, the little text boxes in this game that are only a few screens long are generally great at keeping the pace moving while serving their intended purpose. All you needed was one of those.
I think you may be severely underestimating both the signature move and its signature ability.
Immunity to burn on a phisical attacker is a very rare sight, this thing gets DDance and a very strong signature move with a drawback that's actually somewhat irrelevant if you score the killing blow there or are just hitting a defensive mon. And despite the typing not exactly being great defensively, it's still a dragon type not weak to ice and not walled by fairies, which on its own is also a pretty rare trait.
While it's definitely overshadowed by the insanely powerful paradoxes currently, don't sleep on Baxcalibur. The thing is good.
While it's definitely overshadowed by the insanely powerful paradoxes currently, don't sleep on Baxcalibur. The thing is good.
I actually hadn't seen that it got DD, so that does help. But with such crappy stats it's basically forced to run that to be effective. Garchomp and Tyranitar are threats without DD (yes I know the latter can learn it) because they have good stats. I don't see the same for this thing.
Not being weak to ice is great but opposing Dragons and Fairies (and Steels and Rocks and Fighters) can still obliterate this before it moves. Also Glaive Rush is far weaker than I'd expect for such a heavy penalty.
I'm sure under the right conditions it has the potential to be a wrecker, but right now I'm thoroughly whelmed.
Not being weak to ice is great but opposing Dragons and Fairies (and Steels and Rocks and Fighters) can still obliterate this before it moves. Also Glaive Rush is far weaker than I'd expect for such a heavy penalty.
I'm sure under the right conditions it has the potential to be a wrecker, but right now I'm thoroughly whelmed.
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One dragon dance or choice scarf turns it into monster.
Agreed! I'd also note that, at least in terms of attacking stats, Bax is actually the most minmaxed pseudo we've ever had by a substantial margin. They could've gone for a Tyranitar 2.0 by making an extremely defensive Snow Warning mon with high defences to make use of the new weather mechanics, but thank god they didn't because Ice/Dragon does not have the defensive profile to make that work.
I'm not really a fan of minmaxing as a concept in general so this probably explains my antipathy. I guess it's fine they're trying something different but I feel like pseudos should be all-rounders, and this isn't.
Maybe I'll come round on it. I do really like the design though it's another line where (as with Kommo-o) I prefer the middle evolution over the final.
Also, not to sound rude, but when do we get to stop using spoilers about Sc/Vi - after a week, after a month? Genuine question.
Maybe I'll come round on it. I do really like the design though it's another line where (as with Kommo-o) I prefer the middle evolution over the final.
Also, not to sound rude, but when do we get to stop using spoilers about Sc/Vi - after a week, after a month? Genuine question.
Anyway! Onto the new thing annoying me today.
Pokemon Colosseum being the only game in the series to have no way of obtaining extra Pokemon. I'm importing some Pokemon atm both to use in the Battle Mode and also as a method of safe storage (the GCN games are fortresses compared to ever-aging GBA carts) and the fact that you're limited to the 48 snagged mons and the four non-Shadow species is a complete headache. The only way to fill the remaining 38 box spaces (and 6 party slots) is to import dozens of Nincada, evolve them, and trade the resulting Ninjask and Shedinja back, which is time-consuming and extremely laborious.
The name entry screen in Battle Revolution is formatted like an flip-phone number pad.
Smash Bros Brawl did that too, and I swear a few other games of its era did as well.
I think it's a thing where it's actually extremely useful for Japanese characters and absolutely miserable basically everywhere else, but was probably too much of a pain to adequately alter into a full keyboard
Plenty of other Wii games had normal QWERTY-or-similar keyboards, though, including the Mii Channel. At least Smash Bros has the excuse that their keyboards need to fit a limited space.
I like Scovillain (and it works surprisingly well on sun teams) but you are objectively correct that Sunflora should have gotten a Grass/Fire Chlorophyll evo
I like Scarlet & Violet, but this bugs me:
The Paradox Pokémon all have the same Ability (one Ability per version, granted, but still) and next to nothing in the Pokédex.
The former annoys me because I don’t get how all these Pokémon that don’t really look like they’d all live in the same biome/area have only one Ability between all of them, and this bugs me with the Ultra Beasts too, but I could write it off for the Paradoxes as being due to time travel or something.
The latter, though… Wasn’t there a professor with at least one other person researching these guys? Did they not write anything down before biting the dust? Why is the best info in either Pokédex pure speculation?
Not dealbreaking or anything, and maybe this is just a stupid thing to be annoyed by, but it just bugs me.
The former annoys me because I don’t get how all these Pokémon that don’t really look like they’d all live in the same biome/area have only one Ability between all of them, and this bugs me with the Ultra Beasts too, but I could write it off for the Paradoxes as being due to time travel or something.
The latter, though… Wasn’t there a professor with at least one other person researching these guys? Did they not write anything down before biting the dust? Why is the best info in either Pokédex pure speculation?
Not dealbreaking or anything, and maybe this is just a stupid thing to be annoyed by, but it just bugs me.
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For what it's worth, the Paradoxes kind of have a "proper" entry through way of the Tabloids you can read in the library & the light house lab.
A bit senstaionalized but it talks about them some more.
You are right that you'd think you'd find some research notes lying around or something though.
A bit senstaionalized but it talks about them some more.
You are right that you'd think you'd find some research notes lying around or something though.