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(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

When looking for raid battles online in SwSh the game often gives you raid card options that are out of date or no longer existent. Sometimes you have to disconnect and reconnect from the internet 2 or 3 times just to be able to join a game. Oh, but that's not the worst part.

Why the hell do I get random cards for raids WITH A PASSWORD. Like, why would I know the password to this random kid's raid 2,000 miles away. If I knew the password I would have searched for the raid in the first place!

Everything about Gamefreak's design for SwSh online services is pathetically bad, arguably THE worst thing about the game. I had better luck finding matches on Starcraft in 1998 via free Battlenet than I do on this garbage Switch online service that I have to PAY FOR.

All I want to do is fight this 5 star Toxtricity with teammates that don't bring a Magikarp + Hawlucha, is that so much to ask for?
 
R_N said:
to be fair, so far as ground types go, a badger kinda makes sense to go with. Since its known for making burows. Obviously not everything that digs gets to be a ground type, but as a mega, it would also be in prime position to get a type change/addition since it'd be exaggerating features and whatever. Like how Sceptile got to be a dragon (because Lizard) or how Gyarados got to be dark (because Atrocious) or how Altaria got to be fairy (because just look at it). Probably lean into being a volcano, too, so you got that connection.
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Pikachu315111 said:
I'd imagine that probably has to do with it having a perceived (this being the key word here) connection with volcanoes. Quilava & Tyhplosion are the "Volcano Pokemon", their names has to do with volcanic material, and notably learns Lava Plume and Eruption (though oddly not Earth Power, though it gets a few Ground-type moves all Pokemon get).
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That would make sense, but his reasoning was literally just "it's a honey badger". And he was convinced to do this by the people who voted in the poll, which means that multiple people thought it was a good idea.


In any case, I didn't mean for this to become what it has, so I think it best to drop the subject.
 
Pikachu315111 said:
Okay, sure, roughly 37 Pokemon are going to follow the above pattern, but as I mentioned that doesn't mean they're wasted dex spots.
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Not "wasted" per se, but they are still following design conventions that have been done a lot of times already. And with generations being as small as they are nowadays, insisting on including the archetypes is going to displace a lot of stuff that could have been more original. 37 is kind of a big number when you have to subtract it from 80, and split what's left across 18 types. It means there isn't room to do much more for each typing than token representation by one or two evolution families.

I like using three-stage evolution families as examples, so forgive me if I do it again. When was the last time you saw a third-stage Flying-type that wasn't the regional bird or bug? Surprisingly, it's Togekiss. Last third-stage Bug-type that wasn't the regional bug? Scolipede, who's also the last third-stage Poison-type period (and, to be fair, the only non-regional three-stage bug there is, and that's even kind of debatable). Last third-stage Ground-type? Krookodile. Dragon, barring pseudo-legendaries? Haxorus. Ice? Vanilluxe. Water, barring starters? Seismitoad.

Because they're sticking to the archetypes, and the archetypes tend to involve the same types every time, a lot of other typings get pushed by the wayside, as it were. Outside the archetypes, only 2-3 three-stage lines are created every generation nowadays, meaning it'd take more than three generations to represent every type if all of those are dual-type and no typings are repeated. And even then, dual-types may be very much designed around their primary type and not so much the other. The types aren't given proper representation in the most coveted group of them all, because there's only room to properly represent 2-3 types once all the archetypes have been taken care of, and even then some archetypal typings are screwed because all of their representations are fundamentally the same every time (again, look to Flying or Water).

So it's not so much about waste as it is about displacement. The need to make designs following the same principles every generation leaves too little room for the different.
 
Codraroll said:
Not "wasted" per se, but they are still following design conventions that have been done a lot of times already. And with generations being as small as they are nowadays, insisting on including the archetypes is going to displace a lot of stuff that could have been more original. 37 is kind of a big number when you have to subtract it from 80, and split what's left across 18 types. It means there isn't room to do much more for each typing than token representation by one or two evolution families.

I like using three-stage evolution families as examples, so forgive me if I do it again. When was the last time you saw a third-stage Flying-type that wasn't the regional bird or bug? Surprisingly, it's Togekiss. Last third-stage Bug-type that wasn't the regional bug? Scolipede, who's also the last third-stage Poison-type period (and, to be fair, the only non-regional three-stage bug there is, and that's even kind of debatable). Last third-stage Ground-type? Krookodile. Dragon, barring pseudo-legendaries? Haxorus. Ice? Vanilluxe. Water, barring starters? Seismitoad.

Because they're sticking to the archetypes, and the archetypes tend to involve the same types every time, a lot of other typings get pushed by the wayside, as it were. Outside the archetypes, only 2-3 three-stage lines are created every generation nowadays, meaning it'd take more than three generations to represent every type if all of those are dual-type and no typings are repeated. And even then, dual-types may be very much designed around their primary type and not so much the other. The types aren't given proper representation in the most coveted group of them all, because there's only room to properly represent 2-3 types once all the archetypes have been taken care of, and even then some archetypal typings are screwed because all of their representations are fundamentally the same every time (again, look to Flying or Water).

So it's not so much about waste as it is about displacement. The need to make designs following the same principles every generation leaves too little room for the different.
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I always considered Scolipede to be a regional bug. The Beedrill to Leavanny’s Butterfree. Fits with the Unova dex mirroring Kanto so closely, too. So I guess we have to go back further for that 3-stage Bug, lol
 
Part of it seems to be that Bug-types don't mix evolution "styles." We have Bug-types that evolve following metamorphosis, and Bug-types that evolve with the standard pokemon design of "larger and fiercer," but we don't have any bug-types that do both (We do have an insectoid line in Flygon, though). If you're following the metamorphosis route, the intuitive process for a three stage line is larva/pupa/adult, which runs into the issue of pupae not being known for doing very much. It then gets pushed into the "regional bug" mold since fast evolution means the inactive stage doesn't stay that long. Ironically, many insects spend a very long time in their first stage compared to their final stage, which means that it would fit the inspiration well to have a larva/larva+/adult progression (would make a nice Pseudo-legend, too).
 
Ironmage said:
It then gets pushed into the "regional bug" mold since fast evolution means the inactive stage doesn't stay that long.
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Interestingly, with the exception of Scatterbug, this hasn't really been a thing since Gen 4, or arguably even Gen 3. Gen 4 had Kricketot evolve at level 10, but that's only a two-stage evolution. Sewaddle and Venipede reach their second stages at respectable levels (20 and 22) and then Swadloon evolves through friendship (can take a while) while Whirlipede evolves at level 30. Grubbin also evolves level 20, and Charjabug doesn't evolve until much later at a magnetic field. Blipbug evolves early at level 10, but Dottler evolves at level 30.
 
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DrPumpkinz said:
Interestingly, with the exception of Scatterbug, this hasn't really been a thing since Gen 4, or arguably even Gen 3. Gen 4 had Kricketot evolve at level 18, but that's only a two-stage evolution. Sewaddle and Venipede reach their second stages at respectable levels (20 and 22) and then Swadloon evolves through friendship (can take a while) while Whirlipede evolves at level 33. Grubbin also evolves level 20, and Charjabug doesn't evolve until much later at a magnetic field. Blipbug evolves early at level 10, but Dottler evolves at level 30.
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The Burny line was also a regional bug.
 
24 hours is enough time to excuse a double post, right?

So in Gen 6 when they added the Fairy type, there needed to be an item to boost the power of Fairy moves (I mean I guess there didn't neeeed to be given Hidden Power, but whatever) so Game Freak just made the Pixie Plate and called it a day. No non-plate item like Pixie Dust or Pink Bow or whatever like every other type has. Then come Gen 8 when they're removing the plates, instead of taking the opportunity to fix the mistake they made in Gen 6, Game Freak decided to just not remove the Pixie Plate and leave it as the only obtainable plate in the game. This takes the old Normal Gem weirdness and takes the stupidity up a notch. At least the gems had balance reasons to be cut, and with Normal being the default type that it is, giving it the distinction of the only gem isn't too bad. But the Pixie Plate? There's no excuse. "Oh but they didn't want to waste dev time on a new item" except they were willing to waste time making Blunder Policy, Room Service, and Utility Umbrella, three stupid items that no-one ever uses (except Gallade for some reason).
 
DrPumpkinz said:
"Oh but they didn't want to waste dev time on a new item" except they were willing to waste time making Blunder Policy, Room Service, and Utility Umbrella, three stupid items that no-one ever uses (except Gallade for some reason).
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To be fair, while Utility Umbrella looks pretty pointless and Blunder Policy looks situational at best, I don't think Room Service was a bad design.

I think the item has a lot of potential and can catch people off-guard if you run semi-TR compositions, just usually you don't do that, and most of the time you prefer having a power boosting item instead of a situational one.
Gallade running it is probably because it's used as surprise-TR setter and it allows it to function in TR despite its high speed... just, Gallade is a pretty mediocre Pokemon in VGC to begin with since it doesn't offer anything over other stronger Psychic or Fighting types.

As for Pixie Plate, I was actually wondering the same earlier: the only reason for it to be in gen 8 is basically because Fairy doesn't have a "20% boost to fairy move" item, funny enough.
 
Worldie said:
To be fair, while Utility Umbrella looks pretty pointless and Blunder Policy looks situational at best, I don't think Room Service was a bad design.
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I feel a lot of problems with Held Items is that you Pokemon is only allowed to carry one. I think it's maybe time to allow a Pokemon to carry at least one more extra item, I'd imagine how it would work is that only one item can be "active" and you can choose which one that is each turn. Honestly there's a fair bit I think can be done to make Held Items feel a bit more dynamic.
 
Pikachu315111 said:
I feel a lot of problems with Held Items is that you Pokemon is only allowed to carry one. I think it's maybe time to allow a Pokemon to carry at least one more extra item, I'd imagine how it would work is that only one item can be "active" and you can choose which one that is each turn. Honestly there's a fair bit I think can be done to make Held Items feel a bit more dynamic.
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Eh, I think the issue with "multiple held items" is that it starts making team building and damage calculations reach ridicolous levels of prediction or guessing required.
Right now, lot of damage calc and in-battle decision making come down to the held item: you know what the damage of a meta pokemon without a power boosting item is, as well as what it's expected to do with each power boosting item available and generally used.
However, when you start to combine power boosting, or power boosting and defensive, or static + consumable, calcs start to get stupidly complex and you get to a point where you legitimately cannot estimate what your turns during a battle will be and that is very problematic in a game of numbers like Pokemon is (expecially VGC).

Sadly items are victims of "power creep" in same way as moves and pokemon themselves are. Life Orb / AV / Focus sash and the choice items (as well as lefties/blacksludge/boots in singles) are so good compared to the other items that it's rare to justify using another one outside of surprise factor.
Even the nerf to pinch berryes in this gen hasn't helped a whole lot, you still see them as "I don't know what to put on this poke so i'll put this".
 
Pikachu315111 said:
I feel a lot of problems with Held Items is that you Pokemon is only allowed to carry one. I think it's maybe time to allow a Pokemon to carry at least one more extra item, I'd imagine how it would work is that only one item can be "active" and you can choose which one that is each turn. Honestly there's a fair bit I think can be done to make Held Items feel a bit more dynamic.
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I would like this, but without a lot of changes to the way Pokemon currently works it would be ungodly broken.
 
Pikachu315111 said:
I feel a lot of problems with Held Items is that you Pokemon is only allowed to carry one. I think it's maybe time to allow a Pokemon to carry at least one more extra item, I'd imagine how it would work is that only one item can be "active" and you can choose which one that is each turn. Honestly there's a fair bit I think can be done to make Held Items feel a bit more dynamic.
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possibly a chance that it might happen.......
I suppose to say can pokemon have 0 items by any chance? anyone?
 
Worldie said:
Eh, I think the issue with "multiple held items" is that it starts making team building and damage calculations reach ridicolous levels of prediction or guessing required.
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Honestly I wouldn't necessarily call that a bad thing.

Worldie said:
Sadly items are victims of "power creep" in same way as moves and pokemon themselves are. Life Orb / AV / Focus sash and the choice items (as well as lefties/blacksludge/boots in singles) are so good compared to the other items that it's rare to justify using another one outside of surprise factor.
Even the nerf to pinch berryes in this gen hasn't helped a whole lot, you still see them as "I don't know what to put on this poke so i'll put this".
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However that is a good point.

Well one counter is that the "one of these item per team" would still be in effect so would you really want all the "good" items being on one Pokemon even though, using my idea, only one of these items effect would be active on a turn?

Another solution is maybe tier items and you can't have a Pokemon holding an item of the same tier. So Life Orb, AV, Focus Sash, Leftovers, Black Sludge, Heady-Duty Boots, the pinch Berries, etc. would be Tier 1; Utility Umbrella, Blunder Policy, Big Root, Grip Claw, Type power-up items, etc. would be Tier 2; Weather Summoning Stones, Terrain Extender, Terrain Seeds, etc. would be Tier 3; and so on and so forth.

Kurona said:
I would like this, but without a lot of changes to the way Pokemon currently works it would be ungodly broken.
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But all this is of course hypothetical because, as Kurona pointed out, they would need to actually make more changes. Though aside from what I thought, what changes do you think would need to be made to not make Pokemon carrying multiple items not be OP?
 
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