-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Having to memorise a lot of things isn’t much of an issue anymore either due to the status screen you’ve been able to bring up since SM. Just add ‘traits’ to that and easy peasy.
It’s no less unintuitive than not knowing Venomoth, Magnemite and Volcarona are not immune to ground. As long as a ‘trait’ mechanic is reigned in it would be fine.
It’s no less unintuitive than not knowing Venomoth, Magnemite and Volcarona are not immune to ground. As long as a ‘trait’ mechanic is reigned in it would be fine.
Despite this Paralysis has always been associated with electricity. Almost every electric move will paralyze. The paralysis animation is represented by shock lines. The icon is yellow in the same way poison, burn & freeze are poison's purple, fire's red and ice's blue respectively.
Pichu actually isn't outright "too much energy is a bad thing" like this. What Pichu's problem is that it's too young. It has trouble controlling electricity, so it's susceptable to sudden discharges that surprise it. It's like how baby snakes & spiders are (depending on the species) more dangerous than adults. An adult snake will probably just use a little venom, a warning shot; but a baby snake has far less control and will put out far more venom.
The anime (especially early on) did like using "electricity overload" as a sickness to trot out mostly for Pikachu purposes, but it's never been super consistent (sometimes it gives a fever, sometimes it means pikachu cant use electricity at al, sometimes it just goes off...) and I don't think many Pokemon in the game are noted similarly.
This one might not be "little," but the favoritism the designers show with the hidden abilities of the starters is some BS.
Going through the gens quickly:
Gen 1. Probably the most care they take to make sure the starters are remotely even, with a hidden (heh) theme of highlighting weather. Rain Dish (Blastoise) might be a bit worse than Chlorophyll (Venusaur) or Solar Power (Charizard), but they all fit and they're all not bad. Drought is probably the best ability out of the Megas, but Thick Fat, Tough Claws and Mega Launcher are certainly no slouches.
Gen 2: Meganium gets the brunt of the badness here with Leaf Guard being weaker than Sheer Freakin Force or Flash Fire.
Gen 3: Poor Swampert with Damp when compared to the almighty Speed Boost and the good Unburden. Then it gets turned around with the Megas and Sceptile's mediocre at best Lightningrod.
Gen 4: Man, these all kind of stink, huh? Defiant on someone who's clearly Special focused, Iron Fist is eh and Shell Armor is even more so.
Gen 5: I think here's where the issues really start. Contrary on Serperior clearly outclasses the others, Reckless is at least useful, but another Shell Armor? Really? Poor Samurott gets it bad here.
Gen 6: Protean is amazing, Bulletproof is at least useful, but Magician is worthless for a Special Attacker.
Gen 7: Both Long Reach and Liquid Voice are clearly worse than the VGC mainstay Intimidate.
Gen 8: Worst offender by far. Sniper is way worse than both Grassy Surge and Protean, But Soccer.
Obviously, not all abilities can be winners, but you'd think that they'd take care to make sure the starters, who normally receive the brunt of characterization in the anime and are usually people's first impression of the games, all have pretty viable and useful abilities.
Going through the gens quickly:
Gen 1. Probably the most care they take to make sure the starters are remotely even, with a hidden (heh) theme of highlighting weather. Rain Dish (Blastoise) might be a bit worse than Chlorophyll (Venusaur) or Solar Power (Charizard), but they all fit and they're all not bad. Drought is probably the best ability out of the Megas, but Thick Fat, Tough Claws and Mega Launcher are certainly no slouches.
Gen 2: Meganium gets the brunt of the badness here with Leaf Guard being weaker than Sheer Freakin Force or Flash Fire.
Gen 3: Poor Swampert with Damp when compared to the almighty Speed Boost and the good Unburden. Then it gets turned around with the Megas and Sceptile's mediocre at best Lightningrod.
Gen 4: Man, these all kind of stink, huh? Defiant on someone who's clearly Special focused, Iron Fist is eh and Shell Armor is even more so.
Gen 5: I think here's where the issues really start. Contrary on Serperior clearly outclasses the others, Reckless is at least useful, but another Shell Armor? Really? Poor Samurott gets it bad here.
Gen 6: Protean is amazing, Bulletproof is at least useful, but Magician is worthless for a Special Attacker.
Gen 7: Both Long Reach and Liquid Voice are clearly worse than the VGC mainstay Intimidate.
Gen 8: Worst offender by far. Sniper is way worse than both Grassy Surge and Protean, But Soccer.
Obviously, not all abilities can be winners, but you'd think that they'd take care to make sure the starters, who normally receive the brunt of characterization in the anime and are usually people's first impression of the games, all have pretty viable and useful abilities.
Magician can trigger with any attack, not just physical or contact moves. Doesn't really make it much better considering you need to not be holding an item for it to do anything.
The funniest part about this is that Long Reach and Liquid Voice were both created specifically for Decidueye and Primarina. I guarantee there is someone out there who thinks Incineroar got the short end of the stick. "The other starters got special new abilities, while Incineroar is stuck with boring old Intimidate."
I mean the other starters weren't another potential Fire Fighter that's randomly biped as well
it's definitely been brought up before itt, but the increasing level of anthropomorphism in pokemon (especially starters) unsettles me greatly.
This is wild bc I was literally coming on to post this and it’s the first post I see!
It’s so weird to me because, like... they have to KNOW, surely, how obviously disparate this is. They surely can tell what a raw deal they’re giving Delphox and Intelleon and whatever else. It’s so strange they don’t get abilities that aren’t at least a little more interesting with more effort put in.
Last edited:
It was, and I believe that Gamefreaks had actually addressed this and said that they want the starters to be more "relatable" for children in order for them to get attached to them, and making them antrophomorph is one of the best way to accomplish it.
(It does indeed works, starters tend to be super popular, today way more than in the past)
Honestly, I think GameFreaks looks at flavour rather than "balance" for those.
Expecially in the last gens.
Consider that firstly, HAs only came in gen 5, so all the pre gen-5 abilities had to be decided on the fly with starters not even being designed around having one.
Hence why some are a bit weird. Someone prolly thought "mmm what can a special Samurott have? Hey it has a armor so Shell Armor?"
You can see it in how the latest gen starters have very flavour-fitting abilities. Which sadly results in some of them having complete trash.
I usually make Decidueye and Intelleon as example, but Delphox fits too: their abilities are perfect flavour wise (Magician on a literal mage, Long Reach on an archer, Sniper on a... actual sniper secret agent) but in applied combat... not so much.
Which obviously is a shame but hey, can't only have good Pokemon I suppose.
Last edited:
Absolutely, but like... the flavour reasons fall apart from me when most HA starters have been given entirely new abilities to fit their flavour. Protean, Bulletproof, Long Reach, Libero... none of these existed before. And while that's not always a success (they really couldn't have made Primarina's ability better...?), it shows that they easily had more options for Intelleon than giving it Sniper. Maybe, say, something called "Expert's Aim" which causes it to never miss or something. It's not too difficult to come up with something new that's relevant to the Pokémon, especially when this gen's gone all out on new abilities and moves.
I agree but also don't.
In fact I am surprised they gave Cinderace a Protean clone with different name at all.
My issue is that Ability-Bloat is a thing (like item and moveset bloat), and they should really stop making abilities that do exactly the same thing with different name, before they run into same issue as moves did and have to perform another "Movexit".
(Also I'll be annoying and remind that Protean did exist before, don't bully ma boi Kecleon :P)
Fraid I'll have to be annoying right back and remind you that Kecleon didn't have a HA in Gen 5; and got Protean alongside the Froakie family in Gen 6 :P
(oh, and having just finished an Emerald run with Kecleon where it was the worst thing, I will bully the heck out of Kecleon)
But I will ask: what's the issue with Ability Bloat? Doesn't fill up bag space; there's no animations to make for them; they're inherently passive so there being a lot of them doesn't matter.
Rude proving me wrong just after I pretended to be clever
My developer OCD hates flooding ID tables with identical entries... but then again, it is GameFreaks we're talking about and they are still keeping the entries for items unused for 10 years in their data so...
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
I dunno if I'm on to something or if this is purely a me problem, but anyone else find Ghetsis to be weirdly inconsistently drawn across various mediums making him look younger/older depending on the artstyle?
Let's start with the games. I dunno about y'all but from his mannerisms and sprites I always imagined him being pretty old and skeevy kinda like Darth Sidious with a similar voice to boot.
These sprites are the best representations of this idea for me. Both make him look kinda wrinkly and like he's cackling maniacally.
Then there's the anime. Now it seems like Best Wishes got him down decently well, but Generations on the other hand...
Eww. Not only does he look too young, but he sounds completely wrong to me too, at least in the English dub. The first time I watched this episode when it released I was expecting something raspy and scary, not a booming young man's voice.
But if you thought that's a bit off, wait until you see his Adventures depiction!
Question: Why did they make the creepy cult leader chiseled? His default facial expression also makes him look like he's constantly under the influence but that's besides the point, if the way he was drawn in Generations is off to you this is far beyond even that.
Let's start with the games. I dunno about y'all but from his mannerisms and sprites I always imagined him being pretty old and skeevy kinda like Darth Sidious with a similar voice to boot.
These sprites are the best representations of this idea for me. Both make him look kinda wrinkly and like he's cackling maniacally.
Then there's the anime. Now it seems like Best Wishes got him down decently well, but Generations on the other hand...
Eww. Not only does he look too young, but he sounds completely wrong to me too, at least in the English dub. The first time I watched this episode when it released I was expecting something raspy and scary, not a booming young man's voice.
But if you thought that's a bit off, wait until you see his Adventures depiction!
Question: Why did they make the creepy cult leader chiseled? His default facial expression also makes him look like he's constantly under the influence but that's besides the point, if the way he was drawn in Generations is off to you this is far beyond even that.
Eh, Generations doesn't seem that off to me. He doesn't look all that much younger, and with how much authority the guy naturally demands (dude started a cult and almost took over a region with words alone) a booming voice is fitting.
Adventures though... He looks like Kronk when it's all coming together.
Funny thing is his English VA (Patrick Seitz) can do raspy and scary (See Dio from JJBA and Nekozawa from Ouran) but uses his more noble voice (see Hector and Zeke from Fire Emblem) for Ghetsis. My guess is that he was going for a kingly voice since Ghetsis is pretty self-righteous compared to the humbled N.
You know, this is something I'm noticing across media
making a character "relatable", with it ending up making them generic, unmemorable, or horribly safe. Case in point: A lot of CG movies these days for the main lead. In GF's (and honestly Nintendo's overall) case, incredibly safe
I can understand the opposite being bad too. Like having a notorious sociopath or random ditz for a team member
But then when you try to make a villain cliche "relatable", it ends up lacking actual villainous presence. I legit can't take Gen 7 or 8 villains as villains. They both are too grounded (Guzma) or too randomly thrown in (Yell)
There needs to be a balance between being real, and being unique
More Anthro Pokemon also bring another problem: These creatures are sentient. It makes the feeling of uncanny enslavement a little worse. This Reddit post even notes how iffy it is:
Overall it's eehhh
Last edited:
You know I think I've heard this a few times. Does anyone have the actual interview for this?
Or maybe Mr. Mime (and all other Pokemon) think people eating at a table is weird.
Pikachu: Is everything alright, Mr. Mime?
Mr. Mime: Just watching our trainers and their friends eating at the table.
Pikachu: Want to sit with them?
Mr. Mime: Nah, I just don't get it why they do it. What's wrong with sitting on the floor and eating out of the bowl? Humans make a big show just to eat.
Helioptile: What do you mean?
Mr. Mime: Well first, at some point a human had to cut down a tree just to make a tall platform they only put things on and a batch of shorter platforms around it which they just use to sit at the tall platform. Then after they make the food and put it in on a plate or bowl they then "set the table" by placing all the food and other tools they use neatly on the table. Then they sit down, but instead of then eating, they use a metal stick that's either indented, sharp, or have points to scoop up, break apart, and/or stab into the food. THEN finally after all that they lift the food they stuck on the metal tool to their mouth to finally eat it. And that's not mentioning all the other things they sometimes do.
Pikachu: Huh, I see what you mean.
Helioptile: So strange; why don't they just put the food in the bowl, sit down on the floor with us, and eat right away?
Mr. Mime: I don't know. The floor is clean, I personally made sure of that.
Hmm, nothing seems to come up on Google. Infact I also question whether they said this. They certainly try to make the Starters the most appealing Pokemon but I don't think it was ever said they made the final starters relatable by making them anthro.
Well, what he meant to say that the easiest way to make them relatable (which they stated) is to make them anthro, not that they ever stated anything about that.
Sonikku A I would at least argue that Guzma, and Team Skull by extension, end up being memorable because of how realistic and pathetic they are. Pretty much all of them are societal rejects, and it's telling that even Alola's general populace doesn't even respect them. It's a gang made to garner attention, not really cause any major troubles. Po Town is one of the most poignant locales in any Pokémon game, IMO, because of all of this.
I don't think Team Yell was really ever intended to be a full-blown villainous team, despite their marketing, as they're shown to basically be Marnie's cheerleaders from their first scene, and Marnie very obviously isn't evil. Then again, I guess they are an "evil" team if you remember that they're just Spikemuth's gym trainers, Spikemuth being the Dark, or "Evil" type gym.
I don't think Team Yell was really ever intended to be a full-blown villainous team, despite their marketing, as they're shown to basically be Marnie's cheerleaders from their first scene, and Marnie very obviously isn't evil. Then again, I guess they are an "evil" team if you remember that they're just Spikemuth's gym trainers, Spikemuth being the Dark, or "Evil" type gym.
Them being memorable for being pathetic wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact it made the region a lot less adventurous. Even bumbling idiots need 1 legit villain presence to scorn you
Probably why SM tried to have another villain team, but that failed hard. Also probably why they scrabbled for Eternatus Gen 8 at the last minute...
Probably why SM tried to have another villain team, but that failed hard. Also probably why they scrabbled for Eternatus Gen 8 at the last minute...
The same thought occurred to me as I was writing my earlier post. I'm not sure how the various villainous teams are described in Japan, but if they use the term "evil" it's quite possible.
I disagree with this, to an extent; both Team Skull and Team Yell lack any intention of capturing/using a legendary Pokémon for their own gain, which makes their plotlines something of a secondary focus. Sun/Moon had your island trials/Lillie's growth as their main focus, and Sword/Shield is almost exclusively focused on the Gym Challenge (yeah, okay, there's the weird association with the dogs but it's kinda just shoved in the beginning so you feel like you can actually reach out to them when their help is needed vs Eternatus). Team Yell is, I admit, a presence in the Gym Challenge because they support Marnie, but the point is that they're still not associated with the games' legendaries in any way. I get that they wanted to give the games a cool climax, but it was kinda nice just having the story literally be about "being the best" for once and not dealing with some godlike entity.