Unpopular opinions

[LeftyGreenMario]

Oh no, I think trade evolutions are a good concept. It encourages interacting with friends as how record mixing from Gen III does or with the Underground shenanigans from Gen IV. But how they're handled is kind of rubbish because they tend to be exclusive to trades.

Event Pokemon should probably be available in general, but they can probably carry some perks that make attending events worth it but doesn't give those that can attend those events an unfair advantage like carrying the master ball or carrying a rare berry, fill me in there.

As for bikes, Gen 3's result turned out to be pretty unwieldy when they should've just merged the bikes. But yeah, they could've expanded on it. Bike customization would be really neat, and maybe you can customize like the horn or something. I don't know, this isn't the thread for suggestions though.

As for the "explaining" part, I can't imagine why any sort of players demand an explanation for new Pokemon. We can be here all day why IVs were changed, why TMs can't break any more, why no one is using PokeNav any more, why people aren't forced into tiles any more, and so on.

 

[adman2]

I always felt there was a bit of untapped potential with the bikes. As of right now they're just a faster way to travel when I feel they could have some extra stuff with them. They have done things here and there, like Bike Path time trials and making certain paths you need to use the bike to navigate (be it a thin platform or collapsing floor) , but feel they could further expand on it. Maybe have bike races or stunt competition, including tricks you can do on your bike. Also maybe even let us customize the bike a bit, think Mario Kart.

Hoenn was more experimental than many players thought. I probably referred to the Erratic and Fluctuating experience groups in this topic before. Hoenn also had the Acro Bike designed to hop over gaps and climb rugged terrain, as opposed to the faster Mach Bike that could go up slippery slopes. Switching between the two was a bit annoying in my recent solo Breloom playthrough, but GameFreak could just as easily combine the functions of the two bikes into one vehicle in a later game. (I've never played the 3DS remakes, so I have no clue how GameFreak updated the Acro and Mach Bikes there.)


I'm currently replaying Pearl with a solo Roselia Roserade Budew that refuses to evolve, and I find that the Poketch has a kind of charm missing in later generations' bottom screen features.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I thought they combined the two bikes in Diamond and Pearl that let you switch gears, but I don't think we got the acrobatic stuff the Acro Bike had.

 

[Zowayix]

The fast bike gear in DPP accelerates so much faster than the Mach Bike, that it causes the slow bike gear to be almost totally useless, except for a single puzzle in Wayward Cave and (of course) the tweaking glitch.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Hoenn was more experimental than many players thought. I probably referred to the Erratic and Fluctuating experience groups in this topic before. Hoenn also had the Acro Bike designed to hop over gaps and climb rugged terrain, as opposed to the faster Mach Bike that could go up slippery slopes. Switching between the two was a bit annoying in my recent solo Breloom playthrough, but GameFreak could just as easily combine the functions of the two bikes into one vehicle in a later game. (I've never played the 3DS remakes, so I have no clue how GameFreak updated the Acro and Mach Bikes there.)


I'm currently replaying Pearl with a solo Roselia Roserade Budew that refuses to evolve, and I find that the Poketch has a kind of charm missing in later generations' bottom screen features.

They didn't really update them, but there's a side quest that will allow the player to have both bikes.

 

[Magnus0]

I quite like stone evolutions. Pokemon that evolve via a stone can be easily balanced for future games, unlike many pokemon that evolve by reaching a certain level. The point in the game at which you get a stone is much more variable than the point at which you are likely to reach a certain level. This means that pokemon that evolve via a stone can be balanced in such a way that they will always evolve at an apropriate point in the game, wherever that may be. Meanwhile, pokemon like Golett or Meinfoo are doomed to be a late game pokemon in every future generation because they evolve so late.

As a result of this, we almost always get the same old returning pokemon at the same point of the game. Look how many games have pokemon that evolve quite early, like Spearow, Zubat, Caterpie and Magikarp, available in the early game. This makes sense of course, but it isn't fun to use the same pokemon for over ten years. It doesn't help that many of the totally new pokemon are often complete garbage, further encouraging you to use the old pokemon. This is especially bad in Sun and Moon, where almost all of the new early pokemon are beyond bad. Pokemon like Yungoos, Grubbin and Crabawler are straight up unusable due to some horrible design choices. Pikipek and Oricorio are only decent, but they are not very unique compared to any of the other early birds. Cutiefly and Rockruff are the only somewhat early S/M pokemon that I consider to be well designed for what they are.

We rarely get more interesting returning pokemon in the early game that weren't early game in their debut generation, simply because those 'more interesting' pokemon are not balanced that way. Stone evolutions don't really care about this though. The only thing the devs have to do to make an early stone evolution work is to give the stone at a reasonable point in the game. Growlithe in S/M is a great example of an early game pokemon done right.

The trailer of Sword and Shield gives me high hopes for an interesting early game selection of pokemon. Some of the pokemon they showed include Minccino and Grubbin. Both are good examples of pokemon that can work wonderfully as early game pokemon. Minccino wasn't an early game in black and white, but because it evolves by stone it can balanced to evolve at a point where you are at around level 25, while most mid game pokemon like it evolve at around 30-35. Grubbin has potential if Gamefreak doesn't put the magnetic field at the literal end of the game. The trailer also showed Wishiwashi, which has potential of being a 'more intersting Magikarp', in that it is shit until level 20, but then after getting schooling it becomes monstrous.

 

[Ryota Mitarai]

I quite like stone evolutions. Pokemon that evolve via a stone can be easily balanced for future games, unlike many pokemon that evolve by reaching a certain level. The point in the game at which you get a stone is much more variable than the point at which you are likely to reach a certain level. This means that pokemon that evolve via a stone can be balanced in such a way that they will always evolve at an apropriate point in the game, wherever that may be. Meanwhile, pokemon like Golett or Meinfoo are doomed to be a late game pokemon in every future generation because they evolve so late.

As a result of this, we almost always get the same old returning pokemon at the same point of the game. Look how many games have pokemon that evolve quite early, like Spearow, Zubat, Caterpie and Magikarp, available in the early game. This makes sense of course, but it isn't fun to use the same pokemon for over ten years. It doesn't help that many of the totally new pokemon are often complete garbage, further encouraging you to use the old pokemon. This is especially bad in Sun and Moon, where almost all of the new early pokemon are beyond bad. Pokemon like Yungoos, Grubbin and Crabawler are straight up unusable due to some horrible design choices. Pikipek and Oricorio are only decent, but they are not very unique compared to any of the other early birds. Cutiefly and Rockruff are the only somewhat early S/M pokemon that I consider to be well designed for what they are.

We rarely get more interesting returning pokemon in the early game that weren't early game in their debut generation, simply because those 'more interesting' pokemon are not balanced that way. Stone evolutions don't really care about this though. The only thing the devs have to do to make an early stone evolution work is to give the stone at a reasonable point in the game. Growlithe in S/M is a great example of an early game pokemon done right.

The trailer of Sword and Shield gives me high hopes for an interesting early game selection of pokemon. Some of the pokemon they showed include Minccino and Grubbin. Both are good examples of pokemon that can work wonderfully as early game pokemon. Minccino wasn't an early game in black and white, but because it evolves by stone it can balanced to evolve at a point where you are at around level 25, while most mid game pokemon like it evolve at around 30-35. Grubbin has potential if Gamefreak doesn't put the magnetic field at the literal end of the game. The trailer also showed Wishiwashi, which has potential of being a 'more intersting Magikarp', in that it is shit until level 20, but then after getting schooling it becomes monstrous.

Just hope they actually put stones on correct places. Look at HGSS, you can get a Nidoking before Morty and bust the hell out of every trainer's mons with it.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

My beef with stone evolutions is that some Pokemon learn nearly absolutely nothing after they evolve so for some moves, you have to level them up until a certain point before they access to some useful moves. I know I evolved Clefairy early back in LeafGreen and I missed out on a lot of the moves, but Clefable was still useful for my team. I'm iffy on that design choice because while there's a tradeoff between evolving early or holding off for moves, I feel finding the stone in the first place is already a reward, and if you're going guideless, you're not going to be aware that some Pokemon will learn no more moves. Nevertheless, it's not a problem with stone evolutions in of themselves, more of a problem with the level-up that comes with them.

 

[adman2]

As a result of this, we almost always get the same old returning pokemon at the same point of the game. Look how many games have pokemon that evolve quite early, like Spearow, Zubat, Caterpie and Magikarp, available in the early game.

This is why I think Pokemon X is underrated. Whatever flaws it may have, it doesn't suffer from a lack of early game species variety.

 

[Magnus0]

Just hope they actually put stones on correct places. Look at HGSS, you can get a Nidoking before Morty and bust the hell out of every trainer's mons with it.

Gen 5 seems to do this well enough. Most stones are available quite early on. However, the fact that the evolved pokemon don´t learn any moves anymore keeps stone evolutions from being OP. Sun and Moon had good stone placement as well iirc, except for the dusk stone for Misdreavus. It seems like Gamefreak does capatalise on the benifits of stone evolutions in the newer generations.

My beef with stone evolutions is that some Pokemon learn nearly absolutely nothing after they evolve so for some moves, you have to level them up until a certain point before they access to some useful moves. I know I evolved Clefairy early back in LeafGreen and I missed out on a lot of the moves, but Clefable was still useful for my team. I'm iffy on that design choice because while there's a tradeoff between evolving early or holding off for moves, I feel finding the stone in the first place is already a reward, and if you're going guideless, you're not going to be aware that some Pokemon will learn no more moves. Nevertheless, it's not a problem with stone evolutions in of themselves, more of a problem with the level-up that comes with them.

I think the movepool restriction is a reasonable compromise to a possibly early evolution. I do hope that the evolutions at least get a half decent STAB or a coverage move that makes sense in their level-up movepool, even if it is only available at level 1. For example, Cinccino gets rock blast and bullet seed at level 1. So as long as the move relearner also comes at a reasonable point in the game, Cinccinio won't have movepool problems. A bad example is Musharna, who doesn't even get psyhic or psyshock in its level-up movepool. This means that it is entirely relient on TM's. In such cases, I would agree that the movepool restriction is a problem.

This is why I think Pokemon X is underrated. Whatever flaws it may have, it doesn't suffer from a lack of early game species variety.

I agree. The large dex might be a bit overwhelming for the first playthrough, but it is fantastic for repeat playthroughs because there is almost always something you haven't used before

 

[Pikachu315111]

I do agree that Eevee has more unique evolution methods than is really necessary. And maybe they could tie the Leaf and Ice Stones to Leafeon and Glaceon respectively so there's less need to cram those rocks in some Arceus-forsaken route.

No no, un-strike that last sentence because you're right. Looking at all the Eeveelution methods, Leafeon and Glaceon are honestly two they can chop because only they evolve needing the Ice Rock and Moss Rock. If they just made them Stone Evolutions that would be one less thing the programmers would need to remember to include (infact, if Eevee is in the Galar dex, while it's still may be possible for other Ice-types to appear early in the region, no doubt if you want a Glaceon you'd have to wait till the end as the icy region is the only place I can see the Ice Rock being placed). As for any new Eeveelutions, well honestly it all depends on the type they do. Without going into wishlisting, would like them to focus on recycling older evolution methods, like maybe re-using some of those evolution-inducing items that only effect one Pokemon at the moment...

I'm currently replaying Pearl with a solo Roselia Roserade Budew that refuses to evolve, and I find that the Poketch has a kind of charm missing in later generations' bottom screen features.

Poketch was a fun Poke Tool with all the apps you can get for it. I think the PokeNav Plus beats it just for the DexNav (and the PlayNav having the PSS, Pokemon-Amie, & Super Training). Of course would like to see them maybe make a Poke Tool that combines all the good ideas of the older Poke Tools but if we did that then GF can't hype up it's "return" in the remakes...

Just hope they actually put stones on correct places.

All they gotta do is:

1. Put the Stone Shop (and have it have every stone available) at the point in the game where your Starter is just about to evolve into its final stage.
2. But before that location hide one of each evolution stone that can be used by a Pokemon at that point somewhere as a reward for exploration.

My beef with stone evolutions is that some Pokemon learn nearly absolutely nothing after they evolve so for some moves, you have to level them up until a certain point before they access to some useful moves. I know I evolved Clefairy early back in LeafGreen and I missed out on a lot of the moves, but Clefable was still useful for my team. I'm iffy on that design choice because while there's a tradeoff between evolving early or holding off for moves, I feel finding the stone in the first place is already a reward, and if you're going guideless, you're not going to be aware that some Pokemon will learn no more moves. Nevertheless, it's not a problem with stone evolutions in of themselves, more of a problem with the level-up that comes with them.

Well that's suppose to be a trade off to be able to evolve the Pokemon early: early power but not a lot of moves. Of course as the generations have gone on GF sort of forgot that but kept on making their movepools shallow. And it's not really needed, like sure maybe make their lower level movepool shallow but when they get to the higher levels it should return back to normal as all the other Pokemon would start catching up to them. Or at the very least have the Move Reminder able to teach moves that it's pre-evolution could learn.

 

[Detective Barricade]

No no, un-strike that last sentence because you're right. Looking at all the Eeveelution methods, Leafeon and Glaceon are honestly two they can chop because only they evolve needing the Ice Rock and Moss Rock. If they just made them Stone Evolutions that would be one less thing the programmers would need to remember to include (infact, if Eevee is in the Galar dex, while it's still may be possible for other Ice-types to appear early in the region, no doubt if you want a Glaceon you'd have to wait till the end as the icy region is the only place I can see the Ice Rock being placed). As for any new Eeveelutions, well honestly it all depends on the type they do. Without going into wishlisting, would like them to focus on recycling older evolution methods, like maybe re-using some of those evolution-inducing items that only effect one Pokemon at the moment...



Poketch was a fun Poke Tool with all the apps you can get for it. I think the PokeNav Plus beats it just for the DexNav (and the PlayNav having the PSS, Pokemon-Amie, & Super Training). Of course would like to see them maybe make a Poke Tool that combines all the good ideas of the older Poke Tools but if we did that then GF can't hype up it's "return" in the remakes...



All they gotta do is:

1. Put the Stone Shop (and have it have every stone available) at the point in the game where your Starter is just about to evolve into its final stage.
2. But before that location hide one of each evolution stone that can be used by a Pokemon at that point somewhere as a reward for exploration.



Well that's suppose to be a trade off to be able to evolve the Pokemon early: early power but not a lot of moves. Of course as the generations have gone on GF sort of forgot that but kept on making their movepools shallow. And it's not really needed, like sure maybe make their lower level movepool shallow but when they get to the higher levels it should return back to normal as all the other Pokemon would start catching up to them. Or at the very least have the Move Reminder able to teach moves that it's pre-evolution could learn.

I'm sure this isn't unpopular, but it wouldn't hurt if the Move Reminder was found earlier than at the League's doorstep. I wouldn't want to see being able to learn later moves now go away, and recognize that option being earlier would be VERY unbalanced, so... why not have two Move Reminders? A young one about midway, and their grandma at the League who's more knowledgeable and thus can teach the moves a Pokemon has yet to learn. (and potentially the pre-evolution moves they could have learned had they not evolved)

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I think the movepool restriction is a reasonable compromise to a possibly early evolution. I do hope that the evolutions at least get a half decent STAB or a coverage move that makes sense in their level-up movepool, even if it is only available at level 1. For example, Cinccino gets rock blast and bullet seed at level 1. So as long as the move relearner also comes at a reasonable point in the game, Cinccinio won't have movepool problems. A bad example is Musharna, who doesn't even get psyhic or psyshock in its level-up movepool. This means that it is entirely relient on TM's. In such cases, I would agree that the movepool restriction is a problem.

Well that's suppose to be a trade off to be able to evolve the Pokemon early: early power but not a lot of moves. Of course as the generations have gone on GF sort of forgot that but kept on making their movepools shallow. And it's not really needed, like sure maybe make their lower level movepool shallow but when they get to the higher levels it should return back to normal as all the other Pokemon would start catching up to them. Or at the very least have the Move Reminder able to teach moves that it's pre-evolution could learn.

As long as the movepool restriction is fine, but again, you have to be aware of the movepool restriction in the first place, which isn't friendly for beginner players, who view the stones as more of a reward than trade-off. I'm not sure if the games go through the lengths of informing you why you'd want to hold back evolutions (some exclusive moves and moves being learned earlier), and so they should say that stone evolutions mean you miss out on some useful level up moves. If they're going to keep the system, I think they should let new players know either way or just not as severely restrict it as Pikachu315111 said.

 

[Magnus0]

As long as the movepool restriction is fine, but again, you have to be aware of the movepool restriction in the first place, which isn't friendly for beginner players, who view the stones as more of a reward than trade-off. I'm not sure if the games go through the lengths of informing you why you'd want to hold back evolutions (some exclusive moves and moves being learned earlier), and so they should say that stone evolutions mean you miss out on some useful level up moves. If they're going to keep the system, I think they should let new players know either way or just not as severely restrict it as Pikachu315111 said.

I´m fairly sure some NPC´s will tell you that stone evolutions will not get new moves after evolving. The man who gives you any of the three elemental stones in Castelia does at least, though I´m not sure about the other games.

Some stone evolutions do actually still get some moves after evolving too. For example, Victreebell gets leaf tornado on evolution, leaf storm at level 32 and leaf blade at level 44. Bellossom gets four moves on level-up, but at very late levels. This is exactly what Pikachu315111 described. The system would be fine if the devs handled all stone evolutions this way. Giving all of the stone evo's a move on evolution is an especially good way of making the trade-off mechanic interesting and balanced at the same time.

 

[ItalianBaptist]

I do think there’s like one or two npc’s who say something about lower stage Pokémon learning certain moves in the early games...

But anybody who’s anybody has obviously already seen the anime episode where Ash goes up against Lt. Surge and learned about it through that, amirite?

 

[wdcjernigan]

This doesn't add much to the conversation about movepools and evolution but just recently in my Ultra Moon run I didn't evolve Growlithe until 45 on Poni Island so it could learn Flare Blitz, Pikachu until 42 for Thunderbolt, and Sandshrew-A until 38 for Swords Dance. Pikachu and Growlithe were getting OHKO'd or nearly OHKO'd until then.

But perhaps that's the point of the mechanic. The movepool restrictions give informed players a choice of "Do I make Growlithe weak during the Aether Foundation sequence (wait for Outrage and Flare Blitz), or do I forgo its best STAB so that I have a fun time until the end?" Choosing between these trade-offs is possibly good for the game and makes playing through it ever so slightly less mindless. It might encourage you to run Arcanine for most of the game and then dump it for Necrozma, for instance. And hasn't GF been quoted as wanting you to try different Pokémon throughout the game?

 

[Zowayix]

This doesn't add much to the conversation about movepools and evolution but just recently in my Ultra Moon run I didn't evolve Growlithe until 45 on Poni Island so it could learn Flare Blitz, Pikachu until 42 for Thunderbolt, and Sandshrew-A until 38 for Swords Dance. Pikachu and Growlithe were getting OHKO'd or nearly OHKO'd until then.

But perhaps that's the point of the mechanic. The movepool restrictions give informed players a choice of "Do I make Growlithe weak during the Aether Foundation sequence (wait for Outrage and Flare Blitz), or do I forgo its best STAB so that I have a fun time until the end?" Choosing between these trade-offs is possibly good for the game and makes playing through it ever so slightly less mindless. It might encourage you to run Arcanine for most of the game and then dump it for Necrozma, for instance. And hasn't GF been quoted as wanting you to try different Pokémon throughout the game?

The trouble with that though is that new players won't have access to any of this information, and they won't be able to find out in-game.

 

[Codraroll]

The trouble with that though is that new players won't have access to any of this information, and they won't be able to find out in-game.

This. Some Pokémon learn moves if you hold back evolution, but it's applied very inconsistently and there are zero hints at all in the game about what to expect and when you can expect it, and figuring it out through trial and error is a futile task that only leads to madness. Shroomish learning Spore, one of its best moves, 17 levels after it's supposed to evolve has to be the worst offender. It's one of those things you pretty much have to read a guide to find out, because nobody holds off evolution of such a weak Pokémon for so long just for the sake of it.

I guess the concept of unique moves if you hold off evolution makes for a nice enough Easter egg, but its implementation could use some work. Holding off evolution is generally not something you do, since it is usually a major trade-off and you're very rarely rewarded for it. And often as not, there may be moves you miss if you hold off evolution too late, such as Nidoqueen learning Earth Power at level 43 (in an ironic twist, Nidorina learns Super Fang at 47 - better decide early which move you prefer to use in your playthrough). As such, a player is unlikely to discover those bonus moves unless they look them up.

I guess the idea was to hide some information so they'd have some sales arguments for strategy guides (such as the classic "how you can evolve Onix into that awesome Pokémon used by the sixth Gym Leader"), but in the age of Internet resource sites (in other words, since 1999 or so) locking information like that away has no real value. Either players will never discover it, or they will have it spoiled before they even catch the Pokémon. The information becomes too obscure, or its obscurity becomes pointless. The games really need an in-game knowledge databank which at least hints when there is something like that to discover, so players can search for Easter eggs without trying in vain while still retaining some element of surprise. If only the Pokémon franchise had an element like that, a knowledge bank trainers carry on their person, it would be really useful in-game... a "Pokémon Index" or something like that...

 

[Siggu]

I guess the idea was to hide some information so they'd have some sales arguments for strategy guides (such as the classic "how you can evolve Onix into that awesome Pokémon used by the sixth Gym Leader"), but in the age of Internet resource sites (in other words, since 1999 or so) locking information like that away has no real value. Either players will never discover it, or they will have it spoiled before they even catch the Pokémon. The information becomes too obscure, or its obscurity becomes pointless. The games really need an in-game knowledge databank which at least hints when there is something like that to discover, so players can search for Easter eggs without trying in vain while still retaining some element of surprise. If only the Pokémon franchise had an element like that, a knowledge bank trainers carry on their person, it would be really useful in-game... a "Pokémon Index" or something like that...

Like the Wormopedia several Worms games feature (the one I linked is a web version of the first one, from Worms World Party). It explains how every weapon works - not at a very deep detail, but in far more detail than what the Pokémon games do.

It's something I've been wanting for a long time. For a series that is supposed to cater to children and is not difficult to beat, the Pokémon games feel very beginner-unfriendly to me. There's a lot of information that is completely missing unless you check on a website - which in turn eventually leads to the fact Battle Facilities are underused... how are most players expected to take on it when you have to Google to learn most mechanics? (Looking at you, breeding)

And if they feel it makes the game too easy, make it so that you get it in the post-game.

 

[Detective Barricade]

This. Some Pokémon learn moves if you hold back evolution, but it's applied very inconsistently and there are zero hints at all in the game about what to expect and when you can expect it, and figuring it out through trial and error is a futile task that only leads to madness. Shroomish learning Spore, one of its best moves, 17 levels after it's supposed to evolve has to be the worst offender. It's one of those things you pretty much have to read a guide to find out, because nobody holds off evolution of such a weak Pokémon for so long just for the sake of it.

I guess the concept of unique moves if you hold off evolution makes for a nice enough Easter egg, but its implementation could use some work. Holding off evolution is generally not something you do, since it is usually a major trade-off and you're very rarely rewarded for it. And often as not, there may be moves you miss if you hold off evolution too late, such as Nidoqueen learning Earth Power at level 43 (in an ironic twist, Nidorina learns Super Fang at 47 - better decide early which move you prefer to use in your playthrough). As such, a player is unlikely to discover those bonus moves unless they look them up.

I guess the idea was to hide some information so they'd have some sales arguments for strategy guides (such as the classic "how you can evolve Onix into that awesome Pokémon used by the sixth Gym Leader"), but in the age of Internet resource sites (in other words, since 1999 or so) locking information like that away has no real value. Either players will never discover it, or they will have it spoiled before they even catch the Pokémon. The information becomes too obscure, or its obscurity becomes pointless. The games really need an in-game knowledge databank which at least hints when there is something like that to discover, so players can search for Easter eggs without trying in vain while still retaining some element of surprise. If only the Pokémon franchise had an element like that, a knowledge bank trainers carry on their person, it would be really useful in-game... a "Pokémon Index" or something like that...

And the Nidorina/Nidoqueen example is comparatively generous. Want Shroomish to learn Spore before evolving? Hope you like missing out on all STAB Fighting moves. (and let's not forget it didn't learn Spore until level 54 in its debut generation) Want that Flare Blitz and Outrage on Growlithe? Well, you're giving up Extreme Speed, one of the best priority attacks in the game, to do it. (though to be fair Arcanine's Special Attack is still good, so Flamethrower is perfectly viable and just in time to evolve and learn Extreme Speed)

I admit, I leveled up Rocky, the Onix received in the Violet City trade in Crystal, to stupidly high levels trying to get it to evolve into Steelix. I had no idea at the time I was supposed to give it Metal Coat and trade, and that Hiker on Route 45 suddenly having a Steelix replace his Onix didn't help. And there's a School Kid who may phone the player to give some useful tips in the National Park, such as Nidorin@ evolve via the Moon Stone and Thunder being a sure shot in rain!

It's like Game Freak has interesting ideas to make the game more immersive, but is utterly terrified of offering an easy to follow explanation within the game of how it works. It doesn't have to be direct, just frame it as Oak or the regional professor having made a note of something interesting happening if the player uses a Shiny Stone on Roselia or trading Slowpoke while it's holding a King's Rock. But like Codraroll, I'm utterly stumped as to where such an in-game encyclopedia could be placed. I mean it's not like the regional professor hands players anything resembling a Pokemon index or something with the goal of filling it out, which may or may not be upgraded as the player progresses...

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I think the problem of balancing the learning curve is a prevalent issue in Pokemon games. Beginners really don't have to worry about stuff like natures, EVs, IVs, and so on in order to beat the game, but why keep this information hidden for those who aren't experienced but interested in getting better? Why keep this information hidden when you're going for Battle Frontier, where you can't overlevel to beat trainers? Why can't players get rewarded with information after getting a grip with the mechanics and beating the game (which demonstrates a pretty good grip on moves, matchups, stats)? I get that they try kinda showing what natures do in some later generations like slightly tinting them, but why only slightly, why not make it explicit? "Serious nature: has no preference for stats". Or "modest", "raises sp. attack more quickly but raises attack more slowly". Or just have some clearer indicators, like a plus and minus sign. EVs should be shown, and why don't they actually cap rather than allow wasted spillover?

Even some basic things in Pokemon should have more explanation. Raising stats, for instance, should tell players the degree. I didn't appreciate boosting stats because I perceived buffs and debuffs as slight. One stage should mean "by 50%", not be all vague.

Players should know how to take care of berries. They don't need to know fancy formulas, just that they need to be told that they should water the plant once per each growth stage of the berries, and any more times is unnecessary. I remember wasting time watering berries so much because I was unaware. Growth times don't have to be told, though, players should be able to figure that out.

A lot of this information can be overwhelming, but it's up to the game to ease players to those mechanics. They don't do a good job at it by keeping IVs hidden and leaving IV and natures up to RNG, and it's not friendly to those who want to be competitive, as they now realize that they probably have to start from scratch.

 

[Zowayix]

I think the problem of balancing the learning curve is a prevalent issue in Pokemon games. Beginners really don't have to worry about stuff like natures, EVs, IVs, and so on in order to beat the game, but why keep this information hidden for those who aren't experienced but interested in getting better? Why keep this information hidden when you're going for Battle Frontier, where you can't overlevel to beat trainers? Why can't players get rewarded with information after getting a grip with the mechanics and beating the game (which demonstrates a pretty good grip on moves, matchups, stats)? I get that they try kinda showing what natures do in some later generations like slightly tinting them, but why only slightly, why not make it explicit? "Serious nature: has no preference for stats". Or "modest", "raises sp. attack more quickly but raises attack more slowly". Or just have some clearer indicators, like a plus and minus sign. EVs should be shown, and why don't they actually cap rather than allow wasted spillover?

Even some basic things in Pokemon should have more explanation. Raising stats, for instance, should tell players the degree. I didn't appreciate boosting stats because I perceived buffs and debuffs as slight. One stage should mean "by 50%", not be all vague.

Players should know how to take care of berries. They don't need to know fancy formulas, just that they need to be told that they should water the plant once per each growth stage of the berries, and any more times is unnecessary. I remember wasting time watering berries so much because I was unaware. Growth times don't have to be told, though, players should be able to figure that out.

A lot of this information can be overwhelming, but it's up to the game to ease players to those mechanics. They don't do a good job at it by keeping IVs hidden and leaving IV and natures up to RNG, and it's not friendly to those who want to be competitive, as they now realize that they probably have to start from scratch.

EVs properly cap at 252 instead of 255 starting in X/Y. Agreed on everything else though. One egregious thing I remember off the top of my head is how moves like Absorb say they heal by "half" the damage dealt, while moves like Draining Kiss say they heal by "more than half" the damage dealt. They seriously couldn't just say "3/4"?

 

[Detective Barricade]

I think the problem of balancing the learning curve is a prevalent issue in Pokemon games. Beginners really don't have to worry about stuff like natures, EVs, IVs, and so on in order to beat the game, but why keep this information hidden for those who aren't experienced but interested in getting better? Why keep this information hidden when you're going for Battle Frontier, where you can't overlevel to beat trainers? Why can't players get rewarded with information after getting a grip with the mechanics and beating the game (which demonstrates a pretty good grip on moves, matchups, stats)? I get that they try kinda showing what natures do in some later generations like slightly tinting them, but why only slightly, why not make it explicit? "Serious nature: has no preference for stats". Or "modest", "raises sp. attack more quickly but raises attack more slowly". Or just have some clearer indicators, like a plus and minus sign. EVs should be shown, and why don't they actually cap rather than allow wasted spillover?

Even some basic things in Pokemon should have more explanation. Raising stats, for instance, should tell players the degree. I didn't appreciate boosting stats because I perceived buffs and debuffs as slight. One stage should mean "by 50%", not be all vague.

Players should know how to take care of berries. They don't need to know fancy formulas, just that they need to be told that they should water the plant once per each growth stage of the berries, and any more times is unnecessary. I remember wasting time watering berries so much because I was unaware. Growth times don't have to be told, though, players should be able to figure that out.

A lot of this information can be overwhelming, but it's up to the game to ease players to those mechanics. They don't do a good job at it by keeping IVs hidden and leaving IV and natures up to RNG, and it's not friendly to those who want to be competitive, as they now realize that they probably have to start from scratch.

Granted, in older games watering the berries more would garner more berries in return, and some of the rarer berries needed a lot of watering just to get much out of them. However, I do appreciate the Poke Pelago's ability to just plant the berries and forget 'em, though you can leave Poke beans in the basket to speed things along. (and being able to return to them wherever is also a plus, as then you might not forget about them)

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I'm not sure if the rarer berries needed more or less watering, just need to water at the right times, iirc. At least in Gen 3.

I might come off as elitist, but Pokemon in-game should have battle options to "set" to default or just leave it as set. Shift is the default. If you're not familiar, shift is when a message tells you that a trainer is bringing in a Pokemon and you can switch out your Pokemon or keep it in. Set automatically makes the trainer bring the next Pokemon without warning. Anyway, "shift" teaches very bad habits by not punishing the lack of coverage moves and players don't get to appreciate matchups (which would also facilitate coverage moves). Battle Frontier doesn't use "shift" either. And unless you take the time to look at the options, you probably won't realize that "set" is just how regular pvp battles are and you might come in as a shock. Better people learn it early than get accustomed to a bad system, so ideally, just remove "shift" or just put it as part of "easy" mode.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

I might come off as elitist, but Pokemon in-game should have battle options to "set" to default or just leave it as set. Shift is the default. If you're not familiar, shift is when a message tells you that a trainer is bringing in a Pokemon and you can switch out your Pokemon or keep it in. Set automatically makes the trainer bring the next Pokemon without warning. Anyway, "shift" teaches very bad habits by not punishing the lack of coverage moves and players don't get to appreciate matchups (which would also facilitate coverage moves). Battle Frontier doesn't use "shift" either. And unless you take the time to look at the options, you probably won't realize that "set" is just how regular pvp battles are and you might come in as a shock. Better people learn it early than get accustomed to a bad system, so ideally, just remove "shift" or just put it as part of "easy" mode.

Yeah ever since I learnt what the difference was as a kid, it’s been impossible for me to play in Shift mode without it making battles feel incredibly cheap. It’s super frustrating when I hear someone complain about the Pokémon games being too easy, only to find out that they’ve been playing on Shift the whole time.

Obviously there’s nothing wrong with playing on Shift, but I think it’d be a good idea to make it a conscious choice, e.g. by explaining the two modes the first time you battle a trainer with multiple Pokémon and then asking you to choose between them.