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Game Freak hit with another hack, info leaking
- Thread starter Yung Dramps
- Start date
After 11 years we got the HD original art for AZ's story!
the hell is a magnemite doing in war
After 11 years we got the HD original art for AZ's story!
Never noticed the different armor styles in there before. Like how it looks like the guy on the left is wielding a Honedge himself.
Nor did I notice the Magneton in the dust cloud.
A small, mobile eye in the sky that doubles as an aerial electrocution drone to strike down highly armor plated humans? seems like an easy choice to have en masse
Not to mention the possibility of yoinking a foe’s weapon right out of their hands.
Something interesting about the Ruby/Sapphire data is that Chimecho existed in the November 2001 data despite clearly being a late addition to the final game. Maybe someone really liked it enough to convince the rest of the team to include it at the last minute? Who knows?
Incidentally Nosepass was also in the November 2001 data despite probably being the second-to-last Pokémon added, replacing a Torkoal preevo sometime after the July 2002 Pokémon list. Maybe it was added so Roxanne could have a new Pokémon as her signature, since they felt that none of the other new Rock-types fit that role. Evolotto also seems to have been cut relatively late; never forget the weird evolution gimmick that was taken from us.
After Gen III it seems like Pokémon are mostly finalized before being programmed in, with some exceptions (like how DP always had a third legendary in "Kimairan", but it seems they didn't have the finalized concept for Giratina until fairly late since it's not in any of the creation myths).
Incidentally Nosepass was also in the November 2001 data despite probably being the second-to-last Pokémon added, replacing a Torkoal preevo sometime after the July 2002 Pokémon list. Maybe it was added so Roxanne could have a new Pokémon as her signature, since they felt that none of the other new Rock-types fit that role. Evolotto also seems to have been cut relatively late; never forget the weird evolution gimmick that was taken from us.
After Gen III it seems like Pokémon are mostly finalized before being programmed in, with some exceptions (like how DP always had a third legendary in "Kimairan", but it seems they didn't have the finalized concept for Giratina until fairly late since it's not in any of the creation myths).
Interestingly, the guys on the left are wearing Roman helmets, while the ones on the right are wearing Germanic ones, which totally checks out
After 11 years we got the HD original art for AZ's story!
HOWEVER!
the Gallic wars were 2000 years ago, not 3000 years ago like in the Pokemon world, leaving 1000 years of unwritten history until the "current day"
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1000 years we’ll have irl Pokemon. Bet on it.
his best
Hm, it seems like a lot of early tweets showing leaked stuff is getting deleted.
Salamence may not have started as a Pseudo during Gen III's development, but unless I'm missing a date given to the Circle of Creation saying otherwise, wouldn't this be made after Ruby & Sapphire's release? I can imagine a future gen's very early concepting happening while the next gen is finishing production, but the Circle feels like it would be during the stage where Gen IV was in full production.
I wouldn't think the Circle had anything on the initial Gen 5 reboot decision, if that's how they felt I don't think we would have seen it in Legends: Arceus. Being the Circle only goes up to Gen IV, aka all the Japanese based regions, and since Gen V we've only gotten Legendaries which aren't creation deity levels (dragons representing human ideology, incarnations of mortality, interdimensional travelers, heroic wolves who slayed an alien dragon threat, and now powerful past & future versions of a region's iconic Pokemon), I think GF more felt they laid a solid foundation of the Pokemon World's creation, let's do some other fun ideas.
Beta Galactic Commanders are interesting. People are "obsessing" that "OMG they're less covered up" but, thinking about it, I'm more seeing the opposite: the Galactic Commanders we got are notably covered up.
Team Galactic as we know them go for a "future space people" theme, like clothes you'd see in a cheesy sci-fi show (you could also maybe say their Star Trek uniform-esque). However, even then there always felt there was another theme to the uniform, something which explained their color scheme and certain design pattern choices.
And I think these original designs explain that theme. Original Team Galactic are dressed like, how best to describe it, new age alt-religion apostles. "So, a cult"? "Cult" I don't feel really describes it, though how we see Team Galactic act (notably the grunts) there is a cult aspect to the team. What I feel GF was trying to get across with these designs is that Team Galactic were maybe had more religious vibes to them at some point, being they were trying to use the power of deities to amass power (unbeknownst to everyone Cyrus trying to reset the universe in his vision, essentially become a god himself). Maybe they felt this approach was a bit too silly, having these guys dressed like they were coming off a history stage play, so went more sci-fi and started leaning into more a science angle. So thus their religious cloaks made into "space uniform".
Eh, looking through the Paradox Pokemon we got, I feel they're all "take this Pokemon and make it feral/robot" than any of them being redesigned beta designs. MAYBE Salamence/Roaring Moon (I'd stretch to maybe Amoonguss/Brute Bonnet), but I have a feelign not likely.
BUT Ultra Beasts on the otherhand. GF mentioned one of the the design philosophy for Ultra Beasts was breaking their own design rules. Like the one they gave was how Nihilego both looks like its made of glass but its flexible. I can see plenty of beta designs falling into "rule breaking" territory and either getting "scrapped" (aka put into the design vault) or reworked. While I'm sure plenty, if not all the Ultra Beasts are original, their could be traces of some old beta design mistakes with them.
Don't want to talk about the beta Pokemon just yet, though the scrapped Water Rabbit kind of reminds me of Buizel in aesthetic, a mammal with built-in floatation device. I wonder if Buizel was maybe inspired by it, maybe possibly what the design eventually turned into?
Hm, seeing this, it actually makes me glad we didn't get it. It feels like it would just wound up as a Mega people mostly ignored. Plus, with it having a BST of 555, considering Electivire and Magmortar have a BST of 540, I still think Jynx getting a normal evolution would be better. Could even use these stats, though I would remove 20 from Special Attack, 20 from Special Defense, and add 15 to Defense and 10 to HP. 75/50/70/125/115/105 doesn't look so bad. And then that way if Electabuzz line and Magmar line get a Mega Evo the Jynx line won't feel like it's falling behind yet again.
I'm sorry, but all I can see from beta Klefki's face is:
Bears are a very popular animals in mythology, especially in both Native American and the Ainu.
FUN FACT: So the Typhlosion story everyone is worked up about? Actually based on a Canadian First Nation tale called the "The Bear Mother". Surprised they didn't use Ursaring here, maybe this was written later and they felt they were using Ursaring a bit too much.
Oh, Mega Sableye is definitely a reference to tis beta art with how it magnifies one of its eyes through the crystal. It's more apparent in Mega Sableye's Dream World art, though most of its other drawings and some 3d renders also show it though not as obvious.
Sounds more like a Digimon concept.
Hm, maybe this was an idea how to get around of the generation lockout without having to find a place for all Gen I & II Pokemon in the Gen III games (until ultimately it was scrapped and they later just did the remakes)?
I personally like the low HP theme but can also understand it getting tedious, especially if you were enjoying the other music track it was not covering up.
If they ever do bring it back, I think it should only play during normal Wild & Trainer Battles; maybe have a special variation when against Gym Leaders, Elite Four, & normal Rival battles. Does not play against the Champion, "important" Rival battles, villain team, vs Legendary Pokemon, or any battle where they're trying to set up a feeling.
Huh, so in the end the unknown symbols were just numbers & symbol meaning god. That's kind of disappointing.
Gale Wing M-Charizard-Y: Interesting, sounds like maybe they were thinking Y would represent Charizard's flight prowess (would explain why it oddly didn't get a Speed increase) while X would be it finally tapping into its draconic power. Sadly with Stealth Rock I think Drought was probably the better choice, not only increasing Fire power but also one-turn Solar Beam which covers most of its weaknesses.
Magician M-Alakazam: Hm, going to say placeholder(?). Either that or (1) upon Mega Evolving the Mega Pokemon loses their Mega Stone which frees them up to being given an Item or (2) Magician had a different effect. Eitherway Trace sort of does a similar concept, except instead of getting the target's Item its copying its Ability. Though even then I think M-Alazakam could have a better Ability.
Strong Jaw M-Gyarados: Nice idea, would only benefit Crunch and Ice Fang but then again that's more then some Pokemon have to work with their Ability (I could see Gyarados also getting Fire Fang, probably not Thunder Fang). In the end Mold Breaker was probably the better Ability, when your a rage machine the last thing you want to have to worry about is a sneaky Ability stopping you in your tracks.
Moxie M-Blaziken: Now wouldn't this have been a combo! Spend a few turns as Speed Boost Blaziken, then Mega Evolve and start sweeping with an ever growing Attack. Maybe GF realized that and thought "yeah, only one stat boosting Ability for you".
680 BST Zygarde: As Yung Dramps pointed out, placeholder stats. Though in retrospect still surprised they made 50% as low as they did and still tried to push the "balancer between Xerneas and Yveltal". Like, Kyurem's BST was 660 so surprised they didn't do that. It's not like 10% is 120 and 100% is 1200, the scaling is what they want it to be so 10% could still be mono-stage com mon level and 660 to 720 is still a significant jump.
Delphox & Greninja missing secondary Type: Placeholder, can't imagine they weren't planned to have them from the start.
Synchronize Sylveon: Considering it's dex entries Synchronize actually makes more sense than Cute Charm. Though I guess as the poster mon for Fairy-types, and to maybe coincide with how you evolve Eevee into it, they switched to Cute Charm to get a better understanding what the Fairy-type have in store.
==========
On page 11 now and this is when I start getting into the leaks (and getting responses to some of my thoughts). So I'll stop here for now.
Salamence may not have started as a Pseudo during Gen III's development, but unless I'm missing a date given to the Circle of Creation saying otherwise, wouldn't this be made after Ruby & Sapphire's release? I can imagine a future gen's very early concepting happening while the next gen is finishing production, but the Circle feels like it would be during the stage where Gen IV was in full production.
I wouldn't think the Circle had anything on the initial Gen 5 reboot decision, if that's how they felt I don't think we would have seen it in Legends: Arceus. Being the Circle only goes up to Gen IV, aka all the Japanese based regions, and since Gen V we've only gotten Legendaries which aren't creation deity levels (dragons representing human ideology, incarnations of mortality, interdimensional travelers, heroic wolves who slayed an alien dragon threat, and now powerful past & future versions of a region's iconic Pokemon), I think GF more felt they laid a solid foundation of the Pokemon World's creation, let's do some other fun ideas.
Beta Galactic Commanders are interesting. People are "obsessing" that "OMG they're less covered up" but, thinking about it, I'm more seeing the opposite: the Galactic Commanders we got are notably covered up.
Team Galactic as we know them go for a "future space people" theme, like clothes you'd see in a cheesy sci-fi show (you could also maybe say their Star Trek uniform-esque). However, even then there always felt there was another theme to the uniform, something which explained their color scheme and certain design pattern choices.
And I think these original designs explain that theme. Original Team Galactic are dressed like, how best to describe it, new age alt-religion apostles. "So, a cult"? "Cult" I don't feel really describes it, though how we see Team Galactic act (notably the grunts) there is a cult aspect to the team. What I feel GF was trying to get across with these designs is that Team Galactic were maybe had more religious vibes to them at some point, being they were trying to use the power of deities to amass power (unbeknownst to everyone Cyrus trying to reset the universe in his vision, essentially become a god himself). Maybe they felt this approach was a bit too silly, having these guys dressed like they were coming off a history stage play, so went more sci-fi and started leaning into more a science angle. So thus their religious cloaks made into "space uniform".
Eh, looking through the Paradox Pokemon we got, I feel they're all "take this Pokemon and make it feral/robot" than any of them being redesigned beta designs. MAYBE Salamence/Roaring Moon (I'd stretch to maybe Amoonguss/Brute Bonnet), but I have a feelign not likely.
BUT Ultra Beasts on the otherhand. GF mentioned one of the the design philosophy for Ultra Beasts was breaking their own design rules. Like the one they gave was how Nihilego both looks like its made of glass but its flexible. I can see plenty of beta designs falling into "rule breaking" territory and either getting "scrapped" (aka put into the design vault) or reworked. While I'm sure plenty, if not all the Ultra Beasts are original, their could be traces of some old beta design mistakes with them.
Don't want to talk about the beta Pokemon just yet, though the scrapped Water Rabbit kind of reminds me of Buizel in aesthetic, a mammal with built-in floatation device. I wonder if Buizel was maybe inspired by it, maybe possibly what the design eventually turned into?
Hm, seeing this, it actually makes me glad we didn't get it. It feels like it would just wound up as a Mega people mostly ignored. Plus, with it having a BST of 555, considering Electivire and Magmortar have a BST of 540, I still think Jynx getting a normal evolution would be better. Could even use these stats, though I would remove 20 from Special Attack, 20 from Special Defense, and add 15 to Defense and 10 to HP. 75/50/70/125/115/105 doesn't look so bad. And then that way if Electabuzz line and Magmar line get a Mega Evo the Jynx line won't feel like it's falling behind yet again.
I'm sorry, but all I can see from beta Klefki's face is:
Also why does Ursaring keep popping up in these storiesThat mon didn't get shit in Gen 4.
Bears are a very popular animals in mythology, especially in both Native American and the Ainu.
FUN FACT: So the Typhlosion story everyone is worked up about? Actually based on a Canadian First Nation tale called the "The Bear Mother". Surprised they didn't use Ursaring here, maybe this was written later and they felt they were using Ursaring a bit too much.
idk why i didnt get that this was sableye lol, mega sableye is a bit like this isn't it
Oh, Mega Sableye is definitely a reference to tis beta art with how it magnifies one of its eyes through the crystal. It's more apparent in Mega Sableye's Dream World art, though most of its other drawings and some 3d renders also show it though not as obvious.
Sounds more like a Digimon concept.
Hm, maybe this was an idea how to get around of the generation lockout without having to find a place for all Gen I & II Pokemon in the Gen III games (until ultimately it was scrapped and they later just did the remakes)?
I personally like the low HP theme but can also understand it getting tedious, especially if you were enjoying the other music track it was not covering up.
If they ever do bring it back, I think it should only play during normal Wild & Trainer Battles; maybe have a special variation when against Gym Leaders, Elite Four, & normal Rival battles. Does not play against the Champion, "important" Rival battles, villain team, vs Legendary Pokemon, or any battle where they're trying to set up a feeling.
Huh, so in the end the unknown symbols were just numbers & symbol meaning god. That's kind of disappointing.
Gale Wing M-Charizard-Y: Interesting, sounds like maybe they were thinking Y would represent Charizard's flight prowess (would explain why it oddly didn't get a Speed increase) while X would be it finally tapping into its draconic power. Sadly with Stealth Rock I think Drought was probably the better choice, not only increasing Fire power but also one-turn Solar Beam which covers most of its weaknesses.
Magician M-Alakazam: Hm, going to say placeholder(?). Either that or (1) upon Mega Evolving the Mega Pokemon loses their Mega Stone which frees them up to being given an Item or (2) Magician had a different effect. Eitherway Trace sort of does a similar concept, except instead of getting the target's Item its copying its Ability. Though even then I think M-Alazakam could have a better Ability.
Strong Jaw M-Gyarados: Nice idea, would only benefit Crunch and Ice Fang but then again that's more then some Pokemon have to work with their Ability (I could see Gyarados also getting Fire Fang, probably not Thunder Fang). In the end Mold Breaker was probably the better Ability, when your a rage machine the last thing you want to have to worry about is a sneaky Ability stopping you in your tracks.
Moxie M-Blaziken: Now wouldn't this have been a combo! Spend a few turns as Speed Boost Blaziken, then Mega Evolve and start sweeping with an ever growing Attack. Maybe GF realized that and thought "yeah, only one stat boosting Ability for you".
680 BST Zygarde: As Yung Dramps pointed out, placeholder stats. Though in retrospect still surprised they made 50% as low as they did and still tried to push the "balancer between Xerneas and Yveltal". Like, Kyurem's BST was 660 so surprised they didn't do that. It's not like 10% is 120 and 100% is 1200, the scaling is what they want it to be so 10% could still be mono-stage com mon level and 660 to 720 is still a significant jump.
Delphox & Greninja missing secondary Type: Placeholder, can't imagine they weren't planned to have them from the start.
Synchronize Sylveon: Considering it's dex entries Synchronize actually makes more sense than Cute Charm. Though I guess as the poster mon for Fairy-types, and to maybe coincide with how you evolve Eevee into it, they switched to Cute Charm to get a better understanding what the Fairy-type have in store.
==========
On page 11 now and this is when I start getting into the leaks (and getting responses to some of my thoughts). So I'll stop here for now.
I can definitely get behind this, my problem with it was definitely it getting in the way of other tracks + I think it, while a good song to listen to on its own, can definitely fuck up The Vibe
Synchronize is kinda an ass ability so I'm glad Sylveon wasn't the ~third Eeveelution to get it in a row. I also wonder if they were worried it'd also put Sylveon more as a "competitor" design wise to Umbreon.
They're both Eeveelutions that have Moon themes (Sylveon is Fairy, Moonblast,
And it is probably the Fairy-Type that is most commonly given a moon theming? I'm not entirely sure, it's 8am.
Giving it Synchronize would, in game language, put it in the same trio as Umbreon/Espeon, and considering the Moon parts it'd actually push Espeon out of the duology to fans, perhaps. Some people already like Umbreon and Sylveon as opposites more than Umbreon and Espeon as is.
I also see a lot of artwork of these two together instead of Espeon and Umbreon as well, (this gif isn't supposed to be that ofc lol), trust me
I wonder if Delphox was originally going to be Fairy type and Greninja part Poison Type. A lot of magical mons in Gen 6+ are Fairy Type, and it'd be thematic with the game introducing them. Greninja is a frog and poisonous swamp creature is one of the most common themes in JRPGs for frogs, maybe it'd fit into the ninja theming with Water Shuriken being Poisonous, even? It's clear that they were going for the Grass -> Fire -> Water + Fighting -> Psychic -> Dark, but I wonder if this was another consideration.
I think this was a placeholder tbh, it doesn't make any real sense otherwise. Mega Stones being lost would make the mechanic a lot worse overall, and Alakazam already had a much better Ability (Magic Guard). If anything I'm surprised Mega Alakazam didn't retain Magic Guard, especially after Mega Jynx was cut, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for balancing and Trace can be pretty helpful on a mon with a bajillion speed, copying things like Swift Swim or other things.
I came across this early Ability document (特殊能力011122.xls), and while a lot of them are same as final, there are some interesting details.
Speed Boost is listed as "Kasokusouti", instead of its final "Kasoku".
Carefree is Cloud Nine, written with different kana (のうてんき vs. ノーてんき). It is a double entendre, since the names are homophonous. It seems like they initially went with the "Carefree" meaning rather than the "No weather" meaning in final.
Tottā is the cut black rock pokémon.
Speed Boost is listed as "Kasokusouti", instead of its final "Kasoku".
Carefree is Cloud Nine, written with different kana (のうてんき vs. ノーてんき). It is a double entendre, since the names are homophonous. It seems like they initially went with the "Carefree" meaning rather than the "No weather" meaning in final.
Tottā is the cut black rock pokémon.
Flash Fire Charizard and Water Absorb Blastoise would have been fun.
Huh, Insomnia Baltoy... that's certainly a choice.
Umbreons Dark Aura made the strength of stuff like knock off go brrrrrrr
Wait a minute. Wait a minute! Hold the phone everyone! Who cares about D-tier rejects like Drizzle Vaporeon and Speed Boost Hitmontop when we got a real winner here. Immunity Shuckle! Finally, it could have been rid of its one weakness. No more toxics ruining its stalling. Clearly this was attempt by Game Freak to silence the greatest wall of all time.
GIVE SHUCLE IMMUNITY BACK SQUAD
Yeah, I don't think this is going to do anything to GF using these Pokemon in any future merch. At most they may make a note to TCG artists that, for the time being, don't draw members of the Cyndaquil or Slakoth family with a female character.
Porygon got banned because its episode caused over 600 Japanese kids to have seizures that sent them to the hospital (and many reported to have mild cases). Pokemon was pulled from the air and there was question whether it'll ever come back (not to mention at this time they were negotiating having the show aired in the US), Nintendo's stock fell a bit and they had to make a statement, and though Pokemon came back Japan broadcast stations made new guidelines when it came to quick lighting and movement effects plus warning kids to watch TV in well-lit rooms and several feet away from the screen. While it was agreed it was an accident, no doubt Pokemon Company didn't want to bring up the specter of this event so Porygon's episode was banned along with Porygon and anything relating to it.
Kadabra was banned from the TCG (and maybe got excluded from some other merch stuff) due to Uri Geller suing for basing its Japanese name on him. But it wasn't just that, Geller (who's Jewish) made claims that Kadabra was antisemitic (misinterpreting the Zener card symbols to Nazi imagery); he also pointed out its occult traits which was meant to be a further negative as he was not a part of that. So at that time Kadabra just had a lot of negative things attached to it, best to just not to use it as being a middle evo it was easy enough to skip over (which is sad as I think Kadabra is one of the best middle evos).
The above two had serious real world consequences that got global/national attention. Not only were these folktales never canonized, it's only getting the attention of online culture and even then just as a fluff piece.
I think it was mentioned really early on in the thread, but I keep thinking of how this beta Hydreigon looks like it could be Lizargun, the scrapped Charmeleon split evo from early DP. Its body plan looks so similar to Charizard.
Well it could just be they used Charizard's sprite as a basis for a "generic dragon" body while they figure out what they want to do with the new non-tank direction with it.
Say, could one of them be Rhyperior? With them having Gyarados and Snorlax as options, I looked through the Gen 4 mons to see if any of them would feel like Groudon's "maintainers of the earth". I scrolled down until spotting Rhyperior and on an inkling checked the Rhyhorn family out more.
Particular, their Japanese names. Rhyhorn is "Saihorn" ("Sai", Japanese for Rhinoceros, & "Horn") and Rhydon is "Saidon" ("Sai" & the prefix "-don" meaning "boss"). Now while you'd think Rhyperior's Japanese name would start with "Sai", instead its "Dosaidon" (which is "Saidon" with the Japanese character "Do" in front of it which could mean dirt, soil, as well as anger). My point is Dosaidon kept the "don" part of its name... and one of the codenames is "Gordon" (though I know a lot of people are thinking this is Garchomp).
Also, I could see them wanting to have, if not Rhydon, than Rhydon's evolution be a part of the Pokemon Creation myth being Rhydon is one of the first Pokemon ever created, early versions of it existing in Capsule Monster sketches and being index number 001.
?
I personally would bet Mega Jynx is the only cut who got up to a basic concept. I imagine there's a list of candidates initially formed and as some moved on others got struck off even before they could get to suggested changes (or suggested changes were the reason it was decided to be cut before any form of implementation).
So here's another point of intrigue: Seems like at one point they were considering including Max from the Advanced Generation anime. Wonder what he would've done. Any animeheads here got clues?
Could have done what Bonnie did in XY and been an NPC in the Petalburg Gym. Like maybe he "follows" the player (aka there's one of him at the end of each room) and he's the one that goes into details about the next rooms you have to go through.
If they wanted to do a little more with him, maybe have him interacting with Wally and some points being sent to give something to the Rival & player.
Eitherway would have just been there as a callback to the anime thus in the end I can see why they didn't go ahead.
BDSP Unplanned: Not surprising, though also explains a lot. I always thought BDSP's not being on par with previous remakes was because GF didn't want to do it, which may still be a factor, and so gave it to ILCA but made sure had a lot of restrictions so there was no way it would overshadow Legends: Arceus. Now, it sounds like that was never going to be a concern as GF gave it to ILCA to just push it out, the restrictions given just to speed things along. No (or at least little) malice, just a lack of foresight.
LA Buried Items: Hm, sounds similar to the Lost Satchels. Wonder if this become the Lost Satchel mechanic, or this was meant to be an additional online mechanic. If the latter I wonder what made them decide to scrap it, afraid late game players would give early game players OP items? Though with how generally easy it is to stock up on basic items, maybe thought it was unneeded.
So the major differences are:
Fairy weak to & resisted by Ice: I guess at the time they were really going in with Fairy being "nature spirits". I can see their initial thinking, Winter time is when many plants either die (or parts of them do) & become dormant and some animals migrate or hibernate. But, and they must have also realized this, that's just a normal part of the natural cycle and if Fairy are "nature spirits" they would be completely neutral to it.
Fairy weak to Fire: A fire is devastating to any ecosystem, why wouldn't nature spirits then be weak to it if Grass & Bug are? But, Fairy was designed to be a Dragon Killer, and many Dragon-types are able to learn Fire-type Moves, so it being weak to Fire would give Dragons an easy out to deal with them (just like Ice). This could be wear Fairy started not being just "nature spirits" and ventured more into "magical being" territory. Contained and dazzled by flames, but not vulnerable to it.
Fairy strong against Bug: The Bug-type did not need another Type strong against them, bad enough Fairy resist it. In folklore Fey may control and tame bugs, but that doesn't make them any more harmful against to them.
Yeah, I feel AZ's story makes more sense & sympathetic being a immortal wanderer seeking redemption.
The only way I could imagine him being the villain is if his villain turn was a recent thing. After ending the war & Floette leaving him, he stopped caring about anyone else and began searching for Floette. For 3k years he wandered the world, occasionally visiting Kalos just incase Floette was still there; not really paying attention to the people and civilizations around him. But upon recently returning to Kalos after a long absence, some happened. An incident occurs, maybe personal, maybe something he hears about that for some reason grabbed his attention, and after seeing the nearby people's reaction he's disgusted. Seeing if there was anyone sympathetic to what has happened, he explored the region and the more he saw the more angrier he became with those who were uncaring or cruel; society grew and became more technologically advanced but people have not changed at all since the ancient war. How could he have Floette return to such an apathetic world? He would have to clean the slate... and he knew how. But he would need help. On his journey around Kalos he did meet like-minded people, those who felt cold to how the world had become. To assure his travels went smoothly, over the years he garnered a fortune, and now was the time to put it to some "good" use...
Maybe during Gen III, but by Gen IV when they made this Circle of Creation he was a pseudo.
Benjamin Franklin: Oh come on, not again.
You know, until they decide to change their minds again. Maybe they skipped over a Unova Revisit and went to do a Kalos Legends game is because they want to do a Unova Remake, BUT they want to wait until they're in the mood. Meanwhile someone came up with a great idea for a Kalos Legends game so let's do that in the meanwhile.
Lysandre I have no problem with, its the rest of Team Flare. What we know of many of the high ranking Team Flare feels like they clash with Lysandre's beliefs.
"Selfish people are ruining an ever-growing world by being greedy, and they're using Pokemon to do it. So I'm gonna wipe out all Pokemon and every person not part of Team Flare... and to do so I'm gonna have those same selfish people pay to be saved and become high ranking members who'll rule parts of the new world!"
After 11 years we got the HD original art for AZ's story!
Not enough Giratina.
Well they did change Moonlight to being a Fairy-type Move. Though Psychic isn't far behind thanks to Cresselia.
- If Vaporeon got Drizzle than Flareon better have gotten Drought.
- Speed Boost for Hitmontop makes sense and would have been a nice boon.
- Water Absorb Blastoise would have made for a fun switch-in.
- I don't think a single Ability would have been able to handle having both Slowpoke and Psyduck, that's just too much nothing going on upstairs.
...We need a Slowpoke smiley. - Immunity for Shuckle? Might as well give it Magic Guard so it can avoid burn damage too.
- Charmander family may missed out on Flash Fire but at least the Cyndaquil family got it (which is good as Typhlosion is going to need it for all the torches coming for it...).
Any supposed internal consistency of real-world fascim falls apart upon closer examination, so maybe this was intentional?
To be fair isn't this basically every other anime villain? "The world is injust and treated me poorly, I will make the world better by killing/enslaving everyone i dont like :)"
Pokemon games have never had the issue of "bad programmers". People often point out minor programming hiccups as proof that they have bad programmers but like, no lol.