(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

There is also the fact that in practice gmax forms were a massive flop. Outside of the starters, no Gmax was ran due to the gimmicks being much worse than the regular forms or just being on bad mons.

Seeing they had 0 showing at their major events and were mostly poorly received as a gimmick they likely opted to just dont design more.
That’s untrue to a certain degree. The Kanto starters and Urshifu were used, though the former a lot more.
 
This was following up on a claim on Bulbapedia, but what's the actual annoyance here? Is it that Light of Ruin has never been usable?
Presumably that Light of Ruin has a non-Mythical/Event locked reference despite never being made legally available. Probably an annoyance at lack of foresight/planning when they passed over/cut plans for it.
 
Been a while so excuse my double post

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This thing. I hate this thing so goddamn much, in that it is one of the only Pokemon I can definitively say has brought NOTHING positive and multiple negatives to my time with the franchise. A lot of them are personal gripes but I legitimately cannot think of a positive for this thing.
  • It has probably one of my least favorite Pikaclone designs, competing with Dedenne who at least has less muted color contrast and details like its Whiskers on its Silhouette. This thing looks like the colors would just peel off of a solid blob in both forms.
  • More gimmick bloat with Hunger Switch and Aura Wheel. No, this isn't going to make players care about it, and it's not going to affect its merchandise sales. I also dock points because the gimmick is just a stupid thing that affects one move without player control anyway, rather than showing off something interesting or being fun to actually mess with.
  • The anime made it such an annoying and unlikeable tumor on Team Rocket, whom I already was not enjoying in their Galar tenure in particular compared to Alola
  • In-game there are so many things I'd rather use for Electric Types by the time this thing's reasonably accessible, whether from design preference or playstyle.
  • Garbage shinies that further play into my critique that its color splashes look like peeling despite the pocket design
  • Screw this thing in Pokemon Go. It epitomizes everything I hate about that game's handling of new mon releases and it's one of the most poorly balanced things I have ever seen in its PvP. Aura Wheel is just Wild Charge but with a benefit instead of a debuff (the thing that balances that move in the first place) on one of the fastest charging Pokemon in the mode, to the point that if you get misaligned with this thing, you're liable to just lose the game because it'll buff twice behind Shield usage to the point of OHKO-ing through resists (imagine something on the level of Clefable or Gliscor being OHKO'd by Close Combat in OU) and eat two of your members. It's not "broken" outright because if you DO get an advantaged position like a Mud Slap user, it faints completely unceremoniously, but that's what annoys me: it essentially does nothing or everything with little in-between, like Volcarona's "Match-up Moth" reputation.
I will be content to never see this thing any more than I have to, and pray that someone at Niantic rubs 2 brain cells together and nerfs Aura Wheel (whether reasonably or knee breaker level, I accept both) so that I can stop flipping coins on every match it's in.
 
Been a while so excuse my double post

1024px-0877Morpeko-Full.png


This thing. I hate this thing so goddamn much, in that it is one of the only Pokemon I can definitively say has brought NOTHING positive and multiple negatives to my time with the franchise. A lot of them are personal gripes but I legitimately cannot think of a positive for this thing.
  • It has probably one of my least favorite Pikaclone designs, competing with Dedenne who at least has less muted color contrast and details like its Whiskers on its Silhouette. This thing looks like the colors would just peel off of a solid blob in both forms.
  • More gimmick bloat with Hunger Switch and Aura Wheel. No, this isn't going to make players care about it, and it's not going to affect its merchandise sales. I also dock points because the gimmick is just a stupid thing that affects one move without player control anyway, rather than showing off something interesting or being fun to actually mess with.
  • The anime made it such an annoying and unlikeable tumor on Team Rocket, whom I already was not enjoying in their Galar tenure in particular compared to Alola
  • In-game there are so many things I'd rather use for Electric Types by the time this thing's reasonably accessible, whether from design preference or playstyle.
  • Garbage shinies that further play into my critique that its color splashes look like peeling despite the pocket design
  • Screw this thing in Pokemon Go. It epitomizes everything I hate about that game's handling of new mon releases and it's one of the most poorly balanced things I have ever seen in its PvP. Aura Wheel is just Wild Charge but with a benefit instead of a debuff (the thing that balances that move in the first place) on one of the fastest charging Pokemon in the mode, to the point that if you get misaligned with this thing, you're liable to just lose the game because it'll buff twice behind Shield usage to the point of OHKO-ing through resists (imagine something on the level of Clefable or Gliscor being OHKO'd by Close Combat in OU) and eat two of your members. It's not "broken" outright because if you DO get an advantaged position like a Mud Slap user, it faints completely unceremoniously, but that's what annoys me: it essentially does nothing or everything with little in-between, like Volcarona's "Match-up Moth" reputation.
I will be content to never see this thing any more than I have to, and pray that someone at Niantic rubs 2 brain cells together and nerfs Aura Wheel (whether reasonably or knee breaker level, I accept both) so that I can stop flipping coins on every match it's in.
Even with the struggling behind-the-scenes in mind, the negatives about Morpeko are inexcusable, especially the anime one. I feel like people who disliked Pika-Clones would hate this species, while those who do like Pika-Clones might have a hard time preferring Morpeko over other Pika-Clones other than “so relatable points” because of how gimmicky it comes off. The latter can be a mildly good reason but not an excuse to the lategame availability despite not having a significant advantage over any other Electric-type.

It has some advantages in SWSH, like a Dynamaxed being able to OHKO G-Max Charizard, but the inconsistency and annoyance it’s Ability can cause even casual players to end up preferring the “boring” but straightforward and consistent Electric-types.
 
Even with the struggling behind-the-scenes in mind, the negatives about Morpeko are inexcusable, especially the anime one. I feel like people who disliked Pika-Clones would hate this species, while those who do like Pika-Clones might have a hard time preferring Morpeko over other Pika-Clones other than “so relatable points” because of how gimmicky it comes off. The latter can be a mildly good reason but not an excuse to the lategame availability despite not having a significant advantage over any other Electric-type.

It has some advantages in SWSH, like a Dynamaxed being able to OHKO G-Max Charizard, but the inconsistency and annoyance it’s Ability can cause even casual players to end up preferring the “boring” but straightforward and consistent Electric-types.
I'm personally a fan of Morpeko, I'd rank the Pika Clones like this

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Morpeko also gets associated with Marnie and people like her so there's some boost to its popularity on that front, even if gameplay wise its pretty awkward.

Incidentally, for Galar pokemon specifically, it was 19th on the 2020 google poll (& 15th on the japanese-only 2021 follow up even). Pretty impressive for the minion. Looking at votes relative to the other pikaclones, it was below Dedenne (the most popular one! I agree, it's very cute) & Pichu, and above everyone else (Plusle & Minun had no showing).
 
I actually like Morpeko from a gameplay perspective (even if Electric and Dark maybe weren't the best choices for such a gimmick since they don't have much interesting overlap) but the flavor they gave its gimmick does not fit the mechanics at all. You'd think a Pokemon whose gimmick is themed around getting hangry would do something mechanically with berries, but it doesn't.
 
I actually like Morpeko from a gameplay perspective (even if Electric and Dark maybe weren't the best choices for such a gimmick since they don't have much interesting overlap) but the flavor they gave its gimmick does not fit the mechanics at all. You'd think a Pokemon whose gimmick is themed around getting hangry would do something mechanically with berries, but it doesn't.
I would have liked if the gimmick involved a move or item changing it (Aura Wheel or maybe holding a Berry) and then having normal abilities based on its form.

EX: If you feed it a berry, it plays as Full Belly, while after an amount of time/battles, it reverts to Hangry (think a reverse of Shaymin-S), and then FB could have Thick Fat or something while Hangry got, I don't know, Strong Jaw. Barring that, how is THIS the one you didn't do Cheek Pouch for?

Morpeko's mechanics in general don't reflect almost anything about its gimmick. Like why does Aura Wheel relate to its form instead of a type shift in general; why does it shift if the flavor text says it constantly eats its seeds and then gets "Hangry" when it runs out; why does it not interact with any food item?

The whole thing feels like they recolored Morpeko to slap a gimmick onto what would have otherwise been a standard Pikaclone.
 
I dont think it's not balanced. His defenses are near to 0 .... He's so easy to get killed. But yeah having a Dark/Electric/Psychic coverage is quite good in the metagame
I did make the Volcarona comparison because it has a very RPS feel to it. Either you get it a half-decent match-up and it takes out 1.5 Pokemon and both players lose their shields, or it gets aligned with a Fast Move user like Wigglytuff and accomplishes nothing. There's no skill or nuance to this mon's gameplan besides not leaving it against something that curbstomps it on the level of a Sprinkler System on an Onix.
 
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I would argue that recoloring the sprite rather than using the existing one is probably more effort.

Anyway I actually saw a longer more indepth look at that question a few months ago (the greater context was it was a series of videos where they revisit each game as it came out and think about how it adjusted the play) and iirc the gist was "pleased recognition that was there was an improvement, but frustration that it was mostly backloaded and that the non-frontier changes could have been more for the length of time between the games". In particular, I believe, wishing that the Pokemon encounter tables were more different (& that hte changes they did make were less stupid).

Guessing that video comes to a similar conclusion just in a shorter time with more truncated points.


Clickbait-y video titles even from good creators are just how the youtube game is played so unless it's especially egregious I just try to let it slide these days.
I'd like to watch those, got a link?

As for my annoyance of the day... Regional forms that are just... better?

Seriously, Skittles Puke Alolan Muk is everything Kantonian Muk wishes it could've been. It's not even a case like Alolan Ninetales where it wound up massively better because it was precisely tuned to be great, it's a very different mon than Kantonian Ninetales in many ways.

Alolan Muk though? Literally nothing but buffs. It invalidates Kantonian Muk to the extent that it might as well replace it outright. (Yeah, Sticky Hold is a thing, I don't care, you know what I mean.)
 
Trying to dig through my watch history, I think it's this one

My summary gets to the heart of the video but it's also as much a "here is my abbreviated run of the game alongside my thoughts on it relative to RS", which I assume the rest of this videos also look at in that lens with.
I thought it was okay. ymmv
The thumbnail got me dead already, this finna be a good one :totodiLUL:

Thanks!
 
Finally forcing myself to play Legends: Arceus. It does have things I like about it, unlike a lot of the 3DS and beyond games it runs smoothly and quickly, and the art looks nice compared to other Pokemon switch games. I just beat Kleavor tho and had to constantly remind myself that this isn't a mainline game and I can't be mad that the game forces me to use my horrible eye-hand coordination stat. I suck at that part sooo bad.

I also don't love the fighting mechanic, although I can't fully blame that on the game when I refuse to read any description they say in there about how it works. By the same convention, I can't fully critique the story, esp when I don't remember anything before I started, but I mean, they literally use the same naming conventions as if in a history movie about the US, they called themselves Republican and Democrat factions in the colonial days lol. Or like making Star Wars sequels where they called the post-Emperor government the Rebel Alliance still...

that said, I may come around to those things because I think the game is enjoyable, but all those people complaining about how the games suck and L:A is a breath of fresh air - I'm not gonna defend all the recent games, but it's like, I don't think the battle mechanics are superior, and I don't think the problem is the formula, and if you're tired of that you can play something else. I don't think any of the new boss fight mechanics have been worth keeping for more than one generation. I would love more twists like this, but they don't all have to follow this specific pattern - A battle related one would be really cool.

The real problem is how the formula meshes with increased story emphasis. If you're gonna take away grinding and lots of trainer battles, you have to replace it with something. And if you want it to be a story, you can't write characters with the same level of details as before, they have to be more dynamic: it's one thing if your rival has one bit, like hating you the whole story, when you read their dialogue for all about three minutes. It's another thing when they have countless cutscenes reminding you of their bit.

Like with Nemona, we get it, she's nice and welcoming and loves battling (despite putting up an average fight at best). With Lillie, I don't need to be reminded she's pathetic and weak and can't keep track of her Pokemon that she loves about with cutscenes, it was already established in the first one. I saw a comment online about how it's cool the professor in Gen 7 doesn't just hand you your Pokemon and leave: but he has less personality than Gen 4's professor still!! He just has a "Superman puts on glasses" joke.

Like with Arven, he pushes you away at first, before gradually warming up to you through your support of his ambitions. But it doesn't really work because the writing isn't there.

What's important about fantasy stories is that you make the choice to be a hero. When you're told that you are a hero, and don't have any choice in the matter, the conflict has to come from other sources. So you're always gonna be some godlike entity who comes in and saves everyone else's problem by being unbeatable in a fight.
 
Its not big deal but i dislike critical hits changes from gen 2 to 3. I dont like how crits ignore stat boosts , do a billion dmg to the enemy
Had to look this up on Bulbapedia for specifics and I think their article could use another example, but Gen 2 crits would still ignore a target's raised Defense IF the attacker's Attack wasn't raised to the same level as the raised Defense.
 
Had to look this up on Bulbapedia for specifics and I think their article could use another example, but Gen 2 crits would still ignore a target's raised Defense IF the attacker's Attack wasn't raised to the same level as the raised Defense.
Yeah gsc crits are a bit weird but idk i think the way gen 2 crit works is the best way possible . Bc doesnt just make who crits okhos the other mon like during curse wars having more pp is always more crucial
 
This is extremely minor, but when you first reach Oreburgh City in DPPt, you can go north to Route 207 to catch Pokemon and grab the items. Doing so brings the berry trees to the north into view, but they're inaccessible until you have the Bike. Still, just seeing the trees starts the timer for the berries to fall and regrow again, so unless you do everything up to Jupiter in one sitting you'll likely loop around to these trees to find that they're not in fruit.
 

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Definitely finish Pokemon Legends Arceus for the Nintendo Switch! It’s a must-playthrough for fans that have been playing since Red/Blue. The battle formula is using Strong and Agile styles of your Pokémon’s moves. I still have the game’s official website pulled up if you want more!
i logged on tonight to make a post about how it's converting me. The game is bringing me sm joy right now. I beat the Lilligant fight in less tries than Kleavor, and I feel like I'm getting the hang of the controls, which is so rewarding.

I'll save you the trouble and look it up on my own time, but I enjoy figuring out mechanics through trial and error, especially when I intend to invest plenty of time playing it.

it's funny, Scarlet was my second game and I always felt attached, so hearing every1 on the internet say it sucked and that L:A was good put me off, and it took me some time to get into it, but with all my additional Pokemon experience over the last two years makes the game's innovations more exciting.

This is extremely minor, but when you first reach Oreburgh City in DPPt, you can go north to Route 207 to catch Pokemon and grab the items. Doing so brings the berry trees to the north into view, but they're inaccessible until you have the Bike. Still, just seeing the trees starts the timer for the berries to fall and regrow again, so unless you do everything up to Jupiter in one sitting you'll likely loop around to these trees to find that they're not in fruit.

Growing berries, a little like breeding, sounds cool in theory but I'd rather get what I want through a simpler method as an adult
 
This sentence outside of the context of Pokemon is so unbelievably threatening.
not everyone sees my vision, but much as two tall people's child becoming a star basketball player, i will do whatever it takes to produce an offspring bred to dominate an assortment of past gen OU tiers. I intend to live vicariously through DPPt high ladder placements and ADV tournament wins, and my wife will be chosen with that in mind. And should that fail, all other medical alternatives to improve my gene pool are on the tables.
 
I'm not a big fan of most of EX Pokemon in TCGP. Not just because a lot of them are centralizingly strong, but also because most of them are boring. We've got...

Base card but bigger:

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Base card but bigger and with a cheaper attack:

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Gengar's kinda interesting in making its effect passive but it's still pretty much just base card but bigger.

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You could swap out any of the above cards for their base forms and vice versa, and the deck's gameplan would be exactly the same, just with more or less effectiveness.

Marowak's pretty different but it's also just... dumb.

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That leaves the legendary birds, Pikachu, and Wigglytuff as the only not-stupid EX cards that play appreciably differently from their regular counterparts. And even then, base Zapdos and Moltres are kinda bad, base Wigglytuff is just like a generic tanky Colorless card, and base Pikachu isn't really comparable. So the only card that actually stands out from its EX form is Articuno (and Raichu if want to measure it against Pikachu-EX, I guess).

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Oh, and as I was writing this, Lapras-EX got released.

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Its image isn't on Showdown yet, but it's pretty much Vaporeon with more health and damage but less healing. Lapras can hang with Articuno in the "well-designed EX and regular differences" club, it's cool.
Follow up to this. The team behind TCGP seems to have realized that "base form but bigger" is a really boring way to make ex Pokemon, since none of the exs that have come out since launch have followed that (unless you want to count Mythical Island Pikachu being a mini Pikachu ex). Lapras, Mew, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Pidgeot, Darkrai, and Cresselia all have normal and ex cards with meaningful differences between them (maybe a bit less so for Gyarados and Cresselia). Unfortunately, a different but still annoying practice has emerged: "if the base forms are just the ex forms but strictly worse, then why bother making a base form in the first place?"

Celebi, Yanmega, Infernape, Palkia, Pachirisu, Mismagius, Gallade, Weavile, Dialga, and Lickilicky all only exist as ex cards.
 
Celebi, Yanmega, Infernape, Palkia, Pachirisu, Mismagius, Gallade, Weavile, Dialga, and Lickilicky all only exist as ex cards.
its sad because some of the base forms actually had some niches. babytwo was used before the release of mew ex as an one point attacker, base eggy can be used with celebi etc. its not the best showing but its still proof that these cards can find some use
 
It makes sense to me that the base set would approach with the "weaker/stronger" version of the same card. Gets the power of the EX across with a direct comparison to another card and, especially for a set that everyone is starting with at 0, it provides a passive "upgrade path" type effect as you start putting together decks.
As such, of course moving forward they would sort of put that aside and start doing EX versions that do more different things or EX "exclusives" just like the regular card game does.

The flip side to the """"problem"""" will resolve itself as more sets are released, potentially soon-ish if we continue to get a sinnoh focused set in A2a or A3. Some will probably be bulk, some will probably get a niche to them because that's just how card games work but like you know they're gonna double dip on all those Pokemon at some point. No reason for every single EX to either be paired with a regular one or be exclusively based on one that came out prior.
 
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