(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Wukong]

I think HG/SS are harder, especially without grinding, but that's mostly due to exceptionally poor game design. For hardest well-designed Pokémon game, I go back and forth between Platinum and B2/W2. Keep in mind I haven't played Emerald, which I've also heard can be pretty rough.

That's why I said "from start to finish". I think HGSS has the hardest battle in the main series with Lance 1, but Platinum is a harder game overall.

B2W2's EXP scaling is quite generous and the way they scale the Elite Four levels makes it so that your levels are more less on par with Iris's, as opposed to being quite under levelled against Cynthia and Lance for example.

Emerald is not that hard. The early and mid game might rival Platinum's in terms of difficulty, but the late game is nowhere near as hard. The villain team leaders aren't difficult compared to Cyrus and the Sinnoh League is much harder than Hoenn's.

I do think Emerald's Battle Frontier is the hardest post game battle facility in the series though.

 

[Siggu]

The most properly-designed difficult game is USUM to me. It's the only one where the majority of bosses make you think the approach instead of just bruteforcing your way through.

 

[Fusion Flare]

a little something i like about box legends is the consistent color scheme. each pair either has a legendary that distinctly leans towards a red or blue aspect, which is cool because red and blue is..well, it's pretty obvious, no?

if you're wondering why i put in reshiram and zekrom, they have orange flames and blue electricity in overdrive mode.
oh, and as for the third legendaries....there isn't really a consistent color scheme among them, but most of them do happen to share a relation to the dragon type (ultra necrozma!!!) and are often secret bosses for the original 1-2 combo base games which often become the main focus in the enhanced versions (see emerald, platinum, b2w2, rip zyg, usum) eternatus kinda breaks the streak since there's no sign of an enhanced version, but it was a pretty large focus for the majority of swsh, which is uncommon for third legendaries in the base games.

 

[Pikachu315111]

a little something i like about box legends is the consistent color scheme. each pair either has a legendary that distinctly leans towards a red or blue aspect, which is cool because red and blue is..well, it's pretty obvious, no? View attachment 373393

Shouldn't Ho-Oh have a heart next to it and Lugia have that wispy symbol they used to represent the soul for SoulSilver?

Also Rayquaza would be wavy wind lines, Giratina being a crescent, Kyurem being a snowflake, Zygarde being a balancing scale, Necrozma a 8 pointed star, and finally Eternatus being the three swirling clouds.

oh, and as for the third legendaries....there isn't really a consistent color scheme among them

While not a color relating them to each other, their color scheme is meant to form a color triangle with the pair they're grouped with.

• Weather Trio are the primary colors for additive colors (Red, Blue, Green); this is also known as light color mixing which matched with their weather theme.
• Spacetime Trio are the subtractive colors (Magenta, Cyan, Yellow; the same as the Lake Guardians); there's also some analogue colors going on: Dialga is blue & cyan, Palkia is magenta & violet, and Giratina stretches this a bit with red & yellow.
• Tao Trio are mostly the achromatic colors (White, Black, Gray). They also have bits of the RYB subtractive colors with their eyes (Blue, Red, Yellow).
• Aura Trio are once again the additive colors with any additional theme being beyond colors (such as they're supposed to look like different parts of the body (Yveltal being veins, Xerneas horns look like chromosomes, and Zygarde is more obvious with being cells).
• Light Trio is a bit harder to nail down, though this is likely due to Necrozma's relation to Solgaleo and Lunala. Infact, Solgaleo and Lunala are more a duo with Necrozma only being attached due to it being a literal parasite to them. Hence Necrozma looks completely different, at most you can say is that it's black to be complementary to the whites of the duo.
• And the above is the same for the wolves. Like people joked about their being a Zazellow to match the other subtractive colors. But instead we got a red & purple dragon, which could be taken as the "darker" versions of magenta and cyan. Then there's the question do we include Urshifu (yellow, black & white; then red and blue for this respective Gigantamax) and Calyrex (notable color being green... but then we have the black and white Wild Horses it can fuse with, AND Calyrex has a special gimmick where its Dynamax is blue-colored where every other Pokemon is red).

Altogether I would say that it's the initial mascots colors which matter more when it comes to color theming between generations, but the additional member are specialized for each gen.

 

[Worldie]

Then there's the question do we include Urshifu (yellow, black & white; then red and blue for this respective Gigantamax) and Calyrex (notable color being green... but then we have the black and white Wild Horses it can fuse with, AND Calyrex has a special gimmick where its Dynamax is blue-colored where every other Pokemon is red).

I could consider the two urshifu formes and spectrier / glacier / calyrex as "their own game" rather than "extra to SwSh".
The SwSh trio is simply Dog Dog Eternatus, the others are basically their own thing.

 

[mertyville]

For some this may be a good thing, but I find it very disturbing that Ghetsis uses a Hydreigon with physical moves in BW2. The developers likely wanted to keep the Special Set for Iris but I prefer consistency over diversity instead.

 

[Chadlad50]

For some this may be a good thing, but I find it very disturbing that Ghetsis uses a Hydreigon with physical moves in BW2. The developers likely wanted to keep the Special Set for Iris but I prefer consistency over diversity instead.

I think they just wanted to show off Frustration. Although you could probably just do that with a mixed set

 

[Wukong]

For some this may be a good thing, but I find it very disturbing that Ghetsis uses a Hydreigon with physical moves in BW2. The developers likely wanted to keep the Special Set for Iris but I prefer consistency over diversity instead.

I didn't like the way they handled Ghetsis in B2W2 at all. From a plot perspective he felt shoehorned in after having beaten him already in BW. I would have much preferred Colress as the main antagonist. He was the perfect "grey" character for the sequels and I didn't like him being relegated to a pseudo leader of Team Plasma as opposed to Ghetsis still remaining the true leader.

And difficulty wise Ghetsis was horribly nerfed. Physical Hydreigon is just silly. And while BW Ghetsis was pretty hard, it's not like he was impossibly hard to the point that they needed to nerf him to that degree.

 

[King Feraligatr]

The fact that the ingame Trainers rarely hold items outside the battle facilities... such an underused feature that can make your opponents harder. Hell, I don't even know if any Trainers have their Pokemon hold items in Gen 2... you know, the Gen that introduced the feature? The Gen 2 games have the capability... I've used it myself. Not the best introduction to a new mechanic, I'd say. Gens 4 and 5 are a bit better and having your opponents hold items, but it's right back to being almost entirely unutilized in Gen 6 onwards (excluding Mega Stones and Z-Crystals... which barely count here to me.).

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

For some this may be a good thing, but I find it very disturbing that Ghetsis uses a Hydreigon with physical moves in BW2. The developers likely wanted to keep the Special Set for Iris but I prefer consistency over diversity instead.

And difficulty wise Ghetsis was horribly nerfed. Physical Hydreigon is just silly. And while BW Ghetsis was pretty hard, it's not like he was impossibly hard to the point that they needed to nerf him to that degree.

I think Ghetsis being "nerfed" in terms of difficulty and using a physical Hydreigon is likely intentional in that it's meant to showcase that Ghetsis at this point is just batshit insane. The guy is so utterly messed up in the head at this point that he literally is almost completely incapable of rational thought and is just commanding his mons wildly with the wackiest movesets, and his Hydreigon being physical, holding a Life Orb (doing more damage and hurting itself in doing so), and running Frustration is showing how Ghetsis at this point straight up has lost all sense of reasoning and at the point that he battles you, he's completely snapped now that he failed to freeze you alive and you defeated his Kyurem abomination. His Hydreigon straight up either detests him or is terrified and Ghetsis is commanding it relentlessly without any sense of rationale. He's acting completely on pure, uncontrolled rage. His Hydreigon's moveset and running Life Orb is reflective of the sheer rage Ghetsis has flown into at this point.

His BW2 battle theme, combined with his sprite animating him slamming down his cane while panting heavily, is very very reflective of how utterly deranged and psychotic Ghetsis is at this point. The whole battle isn't really supposed to be difficult for an in universe reason: you're basically battling a guy who is completely batshit insane and has flown into an uncontrollable rage because his plan is on the verge of being foiled by another "random kid" yet again after Hilbert or Hilda already stopped him two years ago, and now he's totally lost it and has gone off the deep end.

In BW1 he's harder because while he's evil to the core, he's also still acting on rational thought and his Pokemon are carefully used and planned out, and he's still acting relatively calmly. After all, his plan to conquer the world was based on elaborate lying and manipulation of the masses through propaganda. But in BW2 his sanity has almost completely degraded and his battle is reflective of that. It's evident afterwards in that Ghetsis snaps so hard after losing to you that the Shadow Triad is forced to put him down permanently, to the point where they mention in the post game that he can't do anything anymore (whatever this is supposed to mean, this is entirely up to interpretation).

I can understand the perspective that he wasn't really needed in the story to begin with, just really wanted to point out an important aspect of BW2 Ghetsis which I feel his battle is supposed to represent: his utter insanity and how he's trying to win a second time but has basically reached the point where he is totally deranged and psychotic, unlike in BW1 where he was simply evil but still "sane" in a sense. BW2 represents Ghetsis's sanity almost completely degrading and his desperation to conquer the world and succeed, but no longer relying on manipulation and lying like in BW1 (where is is both sane and in fact quite intelligent), but rather sheer brute force to get what he wants no matter what it takes, no matter who he has to destroy, to do it, and by the time you battle him and foil his plans to use Kyurem he's just completely lost it and just lashes out uncontrollably. He's "nerfed" in that his BW1 battle was hard because he's rational and acting intelligently in his battle against you, but in BW2 he's not acting rationally at all.

 

[Wukong]

I think Ghetsis being "nerfed" in terms of difficulty and using a physical Hydreigon is likely intentional in that it's meant to showcase that Ghetsis at this point is just batshit insane. The guy is so utterly messed up in the head at this point that he literally is almost completely incapable of rational thought and is just commanding his mons wildly with the wackiest movesets, and his Hydreigon being physical, holding a Life Orb (doing more damage and hurting itself in doing so), and running Frustration is showing how Ghetsis at this point straight up has lost all sense of reasoning and at the point that he battles you, he's completely snapped now that he failed to freeze you alive and you defeated his Kyurem abomination. His Hydreigon straight up either detests him or is terrified and Ghetsis is commanding it relentlessly without any sense of rationale. He's acting completely on pure, uncontrolled rage. His Hydreigon's moveset and running Life Orb is reflective of the sheer rage Ghetsis has flown into at this point.

His BW2 battle theme, combined with his sprite animating him slamming down his cane while panting heavily, is very very reflective of how utterly deranged and psychotic Ghetsis is at this point. The whole battle isn't really supposed to be difficult for an in universe reason: you're basically battling a guy who is completely batshit insane and has flown into an uncontrollable rage because his plan is on the verge of being foiled by another "random kid" yet again after Hilbert or Hilda already stopped him two years ago, and now he's totally lost it and has gone off the deep end.

In BW1 he's harder because while he's evil to the core, he's also still acting on rational thought and his Pokemon are carefully used and planned out, and he's still acting relatively calmly. After all, his plan to conquer the world was based on elaborate lying and manipulation of the masses through propaganda. But in BW2 his sanity has almost completely degraded and his battle is reflective of that. It's evident afterwards in that Ghetsis snaps so hard after losing to you that the Shadow Triad is forced to put him down permanently, to the point where they mention in the post game that he can't do anything anymore (whatever this is supposed to mean, this is entirely up to interpretation).

I can understand the perspective that he wasn't really needed in the story to begin with, just really wanted to point out an important aspect of BW2 Ghetsis which I feel his battle is supposed to represent: his utter insanity and how he's trying to win a second time but has basically reached the point where he is totally deranged and psychotic, unlike in BW1 where he was simply evil but still "sane" in a sense. BW2 represents Ghetsis's sanity almost completely degrading and his desperation to conquer the world and succeed, but no longer relying on manipulation and lying like in BW1 (where is is both sane and in fact quite intelligent), but rather sheer brute force to get what he wants no matter what it takes, no matter who he has to destroy, to do it, and by the time you battle him and foil his plans to use Kyurem he's just completely lost it and just lashes out uncontrollably. He's "nerfed" in that his BW1 battle was hard because he's rational and acting intelligently in his battle against you, but in BW2 he's not acting rationally at all.

Yeah that makes sense. I guess Ghetsis's plot insertion and nerfed difficulty in B2W2 are sort of linked.

Still, that doesn't make either "good" in my opinion. I would've much preferred B2W2's plot revolve around the calm, collected True Neutral Colress, rather than send off Team Plasma with a fight against the rotting corpse of what's left of Ghetsis. It's not quite as bad as Team Rocket's Archer in the Johto games but it's in a similar vein. An unceremonious end to an otherwise impressive villainous organization.

 

[Bakugames]

Ghetsis would have been more interesting as a bw2 post game boss I think. Multiple ways to go about it, but you could keep his deep end spiral and grasping for a team that no longer exists

 

[R_N]

I liked BW2 Ghetsis a lot. He's done being subtle ("Subtle") and is just being overwrought evil and I love it. Him calling up a college buddy with no real morals to head his science division is also really funny to me, though I don't think Colress himself would be that interested as an out & out villain

 

[Siggu]

And besides, after spending, what, 20 years in his plan only for it to collapse at the last moment, it's only to be expected that he'd decide to stop pretending to be a good guy.

 

[Samtendo09]

You know, I do agree that Colress would be a better antagonist than Ghetsis again for B2W2’s main story. Not as an outright evil person, obviously, but stuck too far with his True Neutral “for science” approach that he is oblivous of the consequences he could potentially make. Again, not malicious, but most likely not the most considerate person you’ll ever find, either.

We agree that Team Rocket in GS / HGSS sucked more, especially with the ”variety” of Pokémon they used. I get they are in shambles, but wouldn’t them using better variety alongside stronger Pokémon will help them make a great last stand if they are in such a bad condition?

 

[R_N]

I feel like "True Neutral" (TM) works a lot better when you're only incidentally helping the incredibly evil plot and not actively doing it, ultimately.

 

[Wukong]

We agree that Team Rocket in GS / HGSS sucked more, especially with the ”variety” of Pokémon they used. I get they are in shambles, but wouldn’t them using better variety alongside stronger Pokémon will help them make a great last stand if they are in such a bad condition?

Team Rocket Admin Proton's idea of a "last stand" was a Golbat and Weezing. Which is as pathetic as it sounds.

I think Team Galactic generally nailed their boss fights. All three main Admins were memorable to me either through looks, personality or difficulty level and Cyrus's final fight in Distortion World was a tremendous way to send off Galactic. Even the grunts, while acting and looking stupid, served their plot purpose well as pawns in Cyrus's scheme.

My only gripe was the wholly forgettable Charon. Which is why in my head, I almost choose to ignore Galactic's involvement in Stark Mountain since it's so poorly executed. That's one of the few flaws of Platinum that I hope BDSP addresses.

 

[Siggu]

We agree that Team Rocket in GS / HGSS sucked more, especially with the ”variety” of Pokémon they used. I get they are in shambles, but wouldn’t them using better variety alongside stronger Pokémon will help them make a great last stand if they are in such a bad condition?

I think that's exactly the point - that, without Giovanni, they are little more than a gang. A gang that pulls a heist on a radio tower with ONE guard, after all.

 

[R_N]

I think that's exactly the point - that, without Giovanni, they are little more than a gang. A gang that pulls a heist on a radio tower with ONE guard, after all.

Little more than a gang that's able to take over a town, set up an underground secret base and hijack radio waves that turn magikarp into gyarados

 

[Ironmage]

Little more than a gang that's able to take over a town, set up an underground secret base and hijack radio waves that turn magikarp into gyarados

I figured that base and associated plan were concieved when Giovanni was still in charge. Construction of the base and research into the evolution waves seems like it would have taken more than the three years between RGB and GSC.

 

[Imperial Magala]

Little more than a gang that's able to take over a town, set up an underground secret base and hijack radio waves that turn magikarp into gyarados

Still bothered that Team Rocket's plan wasn't to extort money and power from anyone by forcibly evolving and enraging Johto's Pokemon through the Goldenrod Radio Tower, like at the Lake of Rage, and only used it to try to communicate with Giovanni.

 

[Wukong]

Still bothered that Team Rocket's plan wasn't to extort money and power from anyone by forcibly evolving and enraging Johto's Pokemon through the Goldenrod Radio Tower, like at the Lake of Rage, and only used it to try to communicate with Giovanni.

That would've been a proper last stand. Instead Johto Team Rocket's plan was a glorified "notice me senpai" act.

 

[The Mind Electric]

I think that's exactly the point - that, without Giovanni, they are little more than a gang. A gang that pulls a heist on a radio tower with ONE guard, after all.

I get this, but think it's pretty lame regardless. Would it have killed them to at least make the Admins fairly strong? The generic grunts in these games tend to not be very menacing even when the team itself is, but the Johto Rocket Admins are so wimpy that I could see them being generic grunts in other Pokémon games. The scariest one is probably Petrel with his six bombs, and even that's pretty much just a joke.

 

[Hugin]

I'm annoyed by the evil team grunts in general. In a pokemon game, which mons someone uses are the only characterization we really get for anyone other than a main char. And yet the grunts for basically all teams are common dark types, poison types, and a random selection of junk. I'm not asking for competitive teams, that defeats the purpose of a grunt, but use the mon selection to tell a story. Do grunts mostly use stuff from the cave they're in, or are they given something specific by central HQ? Is there a type theme or are they expected to have variety? Branch out and have variety with it, don't just slap a zubat and a rodent on their team and call it a day.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I'm annoyed by the evil team grunts in general. In a pokemon game, which mons someone uses are the only characterization we really get for anyone other than a main char. And yet the grunts for basically all teams are common dark types, poison types, and a random selection of junk. I'm not asking for competitive teams, that defeats the purpose of a grunt, but use the mon selection to tell a story. Do grunts mostly use stuff from the cave they're in, or are they given something specific by central HQ? Is there a type theme or are they expected to have variety? Branch out and have variety with it, don't just slap a zubat and a rodent on their team and call it a day.

The side games (by which I mean Colosseum and XD) are interesting with this. Since there aren't (m)any wild Pokemon, Snagem and Cypher grunts just have a random grab bag of mons, occasionally as rare as Larvitar or Bagon. And it's often curious which Pokemon on their team is the Shadow, if any are; often it's not the strongest Pokemon on their team, which seems weirdly counterproductive from a story point of view (but understandable from a gameplay one).