I used to think that way but after playing for awhile on Showdown i'm grateful for the ban lists. And by definition Broken is bad for the metagame, where counterplay is limited or nonexistent
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
tbh I feel the exact opposite. Even if something isn't necessarily overpowered, sometimes it's better to just ban things to make the game funner.
My counter argument is that broken stuff stops being fun when every team I play or use is one of 5 or so templates that functions with or against the OP element the game is based around. Getting rid of overcentralizingly broken elements and pure luck-sac elements IS cautioning on the side of fun, because a stricter and smaller meta gets stale WAY faster
My counter point here: Just because it's the precedent doesn't change that the remake we were given was made under a short-sighted and stupid design philosophy that resulted in a lesser product. Toothpaste used to be made from powdered chalk and brick and you know what we did when they found something that worked better? Stopped using the old crap that we knew full well was worse instead of just excusing it as what we always used and saying to just deal with it.
As a Gen 4 fan, Diamond and Pearl are flat out AWFUL games to play through without Platinum's updates, and more than simply not doing Platinum's improvements, BDSP didn't do enough of ANY improvements on those problems (if not introducing more with the botched EXP Share curve for example)
I feel the same tbh. I think to me this is the appeal of ubers formats (although I do just hate some of the way overtuned win-in-one-turn legendaries, primarily xerneas), pure hackmons (bad PH formats inclusive) & miscellaneous oldgen formats like gen2ou and BW doubles (pre nerf thundy my beautiful beautiful boy). it's an interesting friction, trying to navigate obviously broken tools that still have defined counterplay
whenever i accidentally stumble across a competitive pokemon subreddit, they're saying something snarky about the "Karen Quote." The one where she says "Good trainers can win with weak pokemon" or whatever. And I'm not sure what they expect, like is she supposed to describe what a metagame is and talk about how you should evaluate Pokemon based on how well they fit a specific role?
and honestly she's not that wrong. like 70 percent of competitive Pokemon entertainment content is centered around winning with bad pokemon, and if you actually take the time to learn how to use the teams, you can make them work better than the YouTubers. I was maintaining my ELO on Gen 3 ladder with Muk, for example. Now, in serious matches, you have to be more careful because weak Pokemon have more weaknesses, and you lose the element of surprise if your opponent prepares for them, but even then there are plenty of instances where a team with a "shitmon" wins.
In those important matches, even being at a disadvantage by an extra 1-2% can be a difference maker. In VGC, where you are stuck with using the same team for a tournament, those 1-2% can add up and you're less likely to see something crazy there. But I'd contend that most people are poor teambuilders (there isn't the same infrastructure for learning and understanding the game compared to chess) so they're going to stick with what they know. The full potential of teambuilding is not yet reached.
And I'll also say: if you make a game with 1,000 monsters in it and only 20-30 can actually be used in your competitive format, well that seems like power creep has become out of hand, no? Or maybe some sort of tiering system is in order.
Or maybe the real annoying thing about complaining about Karen, is that your rival sees Pokemon as tools, constantly bringing up the idea of weak and strong Pokemon, and saying only strong Pokemon matter. And there's something charming about a Dark pokemon trainer reminding you that there is beauty everywhere you choose to see it.
also the Johto Elite 4 quotes read like AI now. A ton of dashes and "it's not x it's y"
and honestly she's not that wrong. like 70 percent of competitive Pokemon entertainment content is centered around winning with bad pokemon, and if you actually take the time to learn how to use the teams, you can make them work better than the YouTubers. I was maintaining my ELO on Gen 3 ladder with Muk, for example. Now, in serious matches, you have to be more careful because weak Pokemon have more weaknesses, and you lose the element of surprise if your opponent prepares for them, but even then there are plenty of instances where a team with a "shitmon" wins.
In those important matches, even being at a disadvantage by an extra 1-2% can be a difference maker. In VGC, where you are stuck with using the same team for a tournament, those 1-2% can add up and you're less likely to see something crazy there. But I'd contend that most people are poor teambuilders (there isn't the same infrastructure for learning and understanding the game compared to chess) so they're going to stick with what they know. The full potential of teambuilding is not yet reached.
And I'll also say: if you make a game with 1,000 monsters in it and only 20-30 can actually be used in your competitive format, well that seems like power creep has become out of hand, no? Or maybe some sort of tiering system is in order.
Or maybe the real annoying thing about complaining about Karen, is that your rival sees Pokemon as tools, constantly bringing up the idea of weak and strong Pokemon, and saying only strong Pokemon matter. And there's something charming about a Dark pokemon trainer reminding you that there is beauty everywhere you choose to see it.
also the Johto Elite 4 quotes read like AI now. A ton of dashes and "it's not x it's y"
It's just funny when this clashes in a playthrough where the player character is steamrolling with tryhard high-BST / legends. It's one of those cases that's prime for narrative dissonance, like when Oak scolds Blue for not caring about his Pokemon at the end of RBY despite nothing in the game discouraging the player from treating his/her own team even worse. Just some cases where the games don't do a great job of "showing their work," per se.
Though in Karen's case, IIRC she's pretty clearly just calling out Silver for blaming his own shortcomings on his Pokemon, which is pretty well demonstrated.
given the static nature of npc quotes, there are many similar instances throughout the series. ie when you're Fighting the Elite 4 in the remakes and they say some quote when they're down to their last pokemon, even when your pokemon is +6 and one shotted the previous 4 pokemon, and are clearly about to one shot the fifth.
Technically no, she never met Silver (he never even got to the E4), but it does run counter to his general theme of "I MUST GET THE STRONGEST" before his maturing
The Oak shitting on Gary thing is more bullshit cuz Gary literally did the dex hunting for you Prof!
Hell he encourages the player to fill the Dex too frequently, cuz again, that's what Prof. Oak asked
Even the idea of him being an asshole is misreading his general friendly rivalry ("smell ya later" is just teasing). He straight up says he needs his rivals (meaning, YOU) to be strong to improve his own skills. The anime meanwhile makes him a legit jackass thriving on nepotism for the Indigo League, completely missing the point
Prof. Oak's the real jackass, and only got away with it cuz people take his league quote out of context even though nothing indicated that Gary didn't take care of his mons
I think he did need to get humbled. The whole game you're chasing him, and beating him as champion is the moment when you finally surpass him. But yeah you aren't supposed to take Gary's snide remarks too seriously: that's why I don't mind they continued on the Sevii Islands, he likes to trash talk.
It really shouldn't go understated that the Pokemon profs are just sending 10 year olds out into the wilderness to do a bunch of dangerous unpaid field research for them. Quite the racket.
They have nobody but themselves to blame that so many of the Pokedex entries have wildly fantastical "facts" about so many species. That's what you get when you hand over the reigns to children.
This is libel. They are actually sending 11-15ish-year-olds smh.
It'd be interesting if Pokemon leaned MORE into the utopia side of things. The world is peaceful enough that kids generally leave home at 10-15, spend a wandering from city to city on foot or via public transit, earning cash by having training matches with adults, figuring out how to survive on their own. This is a fundamental aspect of their culture, the early stages of job training/job selection among youth, and a way for people to leave their hometown and experience life in other areas.
Just, what's that like, mechanically? Presumably there's hostels where trainers on the gym challenge tend to stay. Are there restaurants with a discount on meals for trainers as a way of giving them cheap food? What does it look like when you have ten 12 year olds under one roof, all with pre-existing drama, all preparing for a sports match the next day? I can see all sorts of interesting stories/a day in the life sort of setups that we really haven't seen because they're afraid to look at the details too closely.
Also I just realized that this whole deal sounds like when 18 year olds take a gap year before college and backpack across Europe or follow a band on tour.
Just, what's that like, mechanically? Presumably there's hostels where trainers on the gym challenge tend to stay. Are there restaurants with a discount on meals for trainers as a way of giving them cheap food? What does it look like when you have ten 12 year olds under one roof, all with pre-existing drama, all preparing for a sports match the next day? I can see all sorts of interesting stories/a day in the life sort of setups that we really haven't seen because they're afraid to look at the details too closely.
Also I just realized that this whole deal sounds like when 18 year olds take a gap year before college and backpack across Europe or follow a band on tour.
According to the anime that is just another function of Pokémon Centers.
To be fair I doubt you had a Thunder shooting lizard while his was unconscious which probably incentivizes honoring the wager.
Ghetsis: My calculations! My perfect plan! Nooooo, it's falling apart!!! *hands you cash*
Lysandre: It's over, there's no hope left for this world... *hands you cash*
Guzma: GUZMAAAA! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUUUUU??? *hands you cash*
Lusamine: How can you be so awful?! *hands you cash* (surprisignly Motherbeast Lusamine doesn't give you cash, they aren't that farfecthed)
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do you think the grunts have a union to negotiate how much they pay up for losing? becasue they all pay the same amount
humans are very resourceful, in a world with over 1,000 types of magical creatures they would find countless ways for Pokemon to influence and improve our quality of life. And with Pokemon fighting culturally prominent for thousands of years, the strategies developed would be insane. Pokemon would be very much pay to play and most of the best trainers would likely have autowin strats. Information would be vital, so training would take place in secret. prominent trainers would be stalked in order for opponents to gain insights to their team and movesets.
i do think that the more "real" you try to make the world, the more the utopia part feels unrealistic. You could tell a similar type story to Hunter x Hunter where it takes place in a very real world while still being told from a naive child's perspective, but A. HxH is trying to contrast itself with Shounen, where the suspension of belief is similar to Pokemon, but less justifiable. and B. Pokemon at its core is for kids and it wouldn't fit. If they were to do something more mature, that would be the best route, but they aren't which is okay.
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im late but as much as i love alola it runs pretty concise with "gamefreak is dogshit at showcasing indigenous people in good light". you could try to explain that the fact youre from the yamato japanese region educating the ainu on their incorrect religious beliefs is just a side effect of the isekai stuff but why the fuck is the alolan protag from kanto. literally 0 narrative importance and its not like pokemon ever gave a shit about making a realistic "newcomer" to a region considering the only other time youre ever from another region is in hoenn
I'm not sure about that. Japanese immigrant to Hawaii is pretty realistic. Japanese-Hawaiians actually outnumber natives.
im not saying its not /realistic/ per se, but its not a necessary plot point that needed to happen and it coupled with the fact that alola is portrayed with quite a few tourist trap stereotypes + youre not even implied to have any connections to hawaii, youre straight up some random ass kanto kid whos family just decided to pack up and move to hawaii doesnt help at all. japan treats hawaii pretty similarly to the us so im not really favorable to it as an explanation tbh
wokemon is pokemon if it was good
no??
Gens 1 & 2: Pokeshops established by government in light of Pokemon's sudden appearance. Eventually they will be privatized for "efficiency" and sold off to the highest bidder, then costs will skyrocket
Gen 3: You get free membership because your dad is a gym leader
Gen 4: Same thing but with your mom
Gen 5: Temporary measure to appease Team Plasma
Gen 7: Effort to increase Pokemon usage because of the newly established Elite 4
Gen 9: Included in the tuition of your school
There are Pokemarts in every town like they're vape stores. Most trainers don't use items in battle. How else would they get enough traffic?
edit: You pay 0 taxes on your earnings too.
Let's also not forget that, as early as gen 1, the correct response to someone saying "this should be run like a business" is to force them at clawpoint to rethink their life.
the fact that the signature character of the hawaiian region Alola and her family which the plot revolves around them are all white
ok but srs, the plot of Lillie (and the protagonist by extension) getting to travel and know about this welcoming region works well within the story, she is not just an outsider culturally but also emotionally since she has been sheltered for a good portion of her life
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