-
Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!
-
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.
(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon
- Thread starter BriarRose
- Start date
Only one I can think of is Digimon virtual pets. However, there might be others. Evolution of characters in games is not that alien of a concept.
Digimon didn't come before Pokemon.
And let's all not forget that before all these games, nature did evolution first. :P
Evolution mechanic wise is based on the concept of unit improvement, nowadays the term can be applied in CCG in wich cards often go to Evo stage then second evolution even referred as extreme evolution in certain Korean games.
You could cherry pick it and say it's not evolution just an art change, but mechanic wise a sprite and bst change is the same thing that happens in Pokémon as a core, if you want utility or resistance changes as well as attributes acquired refer to mage/cleric lines into mage Knight red mage bishop/priest or specialist mage/arcanist thematic.
Evolution in Pokémon might seem unique, but it's a rename of a mechanic in other rpg with a nice gimmick of it being organical in its lore. If we are talking about gameplay basis, nope Pokémon didn't do evolution first no matter how one tries to sugar coat it.
Going to repeat what I said at some point over in the Unpopular Opiniouns thread.
I think Digimon and Pokemon, while slightly a rip-off of one another, each have their own pros and cons. Digimon had a great anime with a nice story and great characters, while meanwhile we all know about how Ash is still 10. Pokemon has the better games (I read the Digimon games did poorly, but I could be wrong.) but the worse anime, Digimon has the better anime and the worse games. The only things similar between the two are the word Mon and evolution. And the evolution isn't even the same as Pokemon until we got to Gen 6. Agumon became Greymon, went back to Agumon, and then would go back to being Greymon later and going even further, but always went back to being a rookie Digimon. Pokemon have permanent forms excluding Megas.
And that's my view on Digimon/Pokemon. I like Digimon for the anime, Pokemon for the games. They're probably both ripping off each other a little, but at least they still have their better points.
I actually looked into things, evidently Yo-Kai Watch is following the franchise release structure closer to Pokemon than people think. The original game's release in Japan, July 2013, preceded the first anime episode by a good 6 months (January 2014), so it wasn't a matter exactly of having them all primed to launch on the market at the same time. Pokemon had about a year between the debut of its first game (Original R&G in Feb 1996) and the first anime episode (April 1997). And in the case of both series, they debuted their anime about a month before the games' in North America, probably expecting that the primarily child-aged audience they wanted to win over would be swayed to buy the game from watching the show.
The close proximity of Pokemon's releases in NA shows they were hoping to have everything in a position to take off at once about as much as YW did, and if you want to get more specific, Yo-Kai Watch has the collectable Medals and App in the same vein of Pokemon's TCG.
I just don't get why any series encroaching on Pokemon's territory seems like such a Taboo thing lately. While still a hit, I think it safe to say Pokemon isn't the huge household titan of a franchise it was 15 or even 10 years ago. Back then it was easier to count the kids who didn't play or at least know something about Pokemon. Nowadays, while successful, finding someone who plays Pokemon isn't a given outside of internet forums like this. It's not quite on the same pedestal anymore so it needs to be prepared for people to step up and credibly challenge it. Heck, Nintendo's started to dabble in Mobile games already because in Japan, Puzzle and Dragons led Gungho to outgross their entire company in some quarters. If they pay attention to other territotries they also should know Gen 6 had some detractors and the brand power alone doesn't have the same pull it did in Gen 1 and 2.
Yo-Kai Watch is even being published by Nintendo Globally (as opposed to Level-5 self-publishing in Japan), so they must be confident people will play it even with Pokemon, whether because they want more Mon collecting or as an alternative to those who think Pokemon isn't up to snuff right now or otherwise. It's not quite like with other series like Digimon where they were outside parties stepping onto other platforms as challengers: At this point, Nintendo has vested interest in the success of either/both franchises, so I doubt the marketing is supposed to siphon off fans or set them at each other's throats.
The close proximity of Pokemon's releases in NA shows they were hoping to have everything in a position to take off at once about as much as YW did, and if you want to get more specific, Yo-Kai Watch has the collectable Medals and App in the same vein of Pokemon's TCG.
I just don't get why any series encroaching on Pokemon's territory seems like such a Taboo thing lately. While still a hit, I think it safe to say Pokemon isn't the huge household titan of a franchise it was 15 or even 10 years ago. Back then it was easier to count the kids who didn't play or at least know something about Pokemon. Nowadays, while successful, finding someone who plays Pokemon isn't a given outside of internet forums like this. It's not quite on the same pedestal anymore so it needs to be prepared for people to step up and credibly challenge it. Heck, Nintendo's started to dabble in Mobile games already because in Japan, Puzzle and Dragons led Gungho to outgross their entire company in some quarters. If they pay attention to other territotries they also should know Gen 6 had some detractors and the brand power alone doesn't have the same pull it did in Gen 1 and 2.
Yo-Kai Watch is even being published by Nintendo Globally (as opposed to Level-5 self-publishing in Japan), so they must be confident people will play it even with Pokemon, whether because they want more Mon collecting or as an alternative to those who think Pokemon isn't up to snuff right now or otherwise. It's not quite like with other series like Digimon where they were outside parties stepping onto other platforms as challengers: At this point, Nintendo has vested interest in the success of either/both franchises, so I doubt the marketing is supposed to siphon off fans or set them at each other's throats.
I agree. Let me kick off the on-top conversations again! The reason why i haven't played my Omega Ruby game is because it is too hard to pick a starter now that all 3 of them have a mega and I had a blaziken on my pokemon X game. This means I am annoyed by the fact that I cannot choose a starter in ORAS.
I gotta be honest, I'm annoyed a bit by how soon XY and even to an extent ORAS at times gave you the means to use Mega Evolutions, as I do think those were a factor in complaints of difficulty being absent.
Everyone jokes about "welfare Lucario" in XY, but honestly, by the point you receive it it's not that bad relative to what the rest of your team should be by then. It's the Mega Stone they give it, considering even without competitive min-maxing, Lucario is an offensive bulldozer. And that's assuming you weren't using the Mega Stone for your Kanto starter (which also annoys me since it kind of overshadows your Kalos Starter Pokemon for the Mega Form). Not only that, but if your starter is Mega capable, it's likely to reinforce the "use one power-loaded mon for everything" philosophy since the Mega form only makes them even stronger.
I know you have the option not to use them, but being handed them tells me the game expects you to, and its difficulty really didn't account for that.
And a small, different matter is I don't like the ease of most of the Rival Battles, even since Gen 5. The point of the rival battles to me always felt like sort of a "beef gate", where if you can't beat them, even if just barely, you're not ready for the stuff that comes between then and the next battle.
Everyone jokes about "welfare Lucario" in XY, but honestly, by the point you receive it it's not that bad relative to what the rest of your team should be by then. It's the Mega Stone they give it, considering even without competitive min-maxing, Lucario is an offensive bulldozer. And that's assuming you weren't using the Mega Stone for your Kanto starter (which also annoys me since it kind of overshadows your Kalos Starter Pokemon for the Mega Form). Not only that, but if your starter is Mega capable, it's likely to reinforce the "use one power-loaded mon for everything" philosophy since the Mega form only makes them even stronger.
I know you have the option not to use them, but being handed them tells me the game expects you to, and its difficulty really didn't account for that.
And a small, different matter is I don't like the ease of most of the Rival Battles, even since Gen 5. The point of the rival battles to me always felt like sort of a "beef gate", where if you can't beat them, even if just barely, you're not ready for the stuff that comes between then and the next battle.
I, on principle, refused to use Mega Evolution unless facing a Mega Evolution (so just the one time you have to, plus Lysandre and Diantha). Still finished the game overleveled and under-challenged. You don't really even need the stones.
Well you could set things up with someone so that they'd trade you the two other Starters. And while you can't get them until you defeat/capture Groudon/Kyogre, when you do on Route 114 you can buy the two starter's Mega Stone you didn't choose for 1,500 each (so 3,000 together). BTW don't buy the other 3 stones from the guy, they're just Hard Stones which you can easily get one for free by completing the Trick Master's 2nd Puzzle or just smashing rocks with Rock Smash.
But if you want to do things the intended way, here's how I would go about thinking:
1. Since you got the Event Torchic and used Mega Blaziken in X then you'd probably want to use another Starter, so that removes Torchic (it was the same deal for me, ORAS is the first game I didn't choose the Fire Starter since I used Mega Blaziken in my Y and wanted to try out one of the other Mega).
2. Since you have Omega Ruby you're going up against Team Magma who uses Numel and Camerupt. So if you want to make things easier on yourself you can choose Mudkip and sweep through their teams no problem (as a bonus it also learns Rock- and Fighting-type moves to easily deal with their Zubat and Poochyena families). Also Mudkip has an advantage against 3 of the Gym Leaders (Roxanne, Wattson since by then it would be a Marshtomp and likely know a Ground-type move, & Flannery) & Steven and pretty much neutral against the rest (though having ways to deal with Norman, Winona, Sidney, and Glacia via those Rock- and Fighting-type moves it can learn).
If you want a bit of a challenge and encouragement to use a variety of Pokemon you can pick Treecko (and while Treecko can also learn a few Rock- and Fighting-type moves its more of a Special Attacker plus its weak to the types Zubat and Koffing families are. Also if you choose Treecko DO NOT EVOLVE IT UNTIL YOU REACH LEVEL 21, that's when it learns Giga Drain and it's higher evolutions do not learn it so this is you're only time to get it). Not only that, but Treecko may also have an advantage against 3 of the Gym Leaders (Roxanne, Wattson, & Wallace) it has a disadvantage against to 2 Gym Leaders (Flannery & Winona), 2 Elite Four (Glacia & Drake; though if it Mega Evolves it'll be on par), and Steven (and on top of that isn't really versatile in ways to handle others super effectively).
Yeah, just getting the Kanto staters in general felt like the Kalos starters were being overshadowed. I'm hoping in XY2/Z they at least give the Kalos Starters a Mega Evolution (and maybe not give a second starter). But you're right that the game doesn't really account people using the Mega Stones, I can sort of understand why for those who don't but at the same time for those who do they're probably looking for a challenge.
I'm okay with the Gen 5 Rival battles since they happened often enough it felt that, though they weren't too difficult, they were keeping pace with the game's gradual difficulty increase. However not so much with Gen VI, despite having 4 Rivals there's a lack of Rival battles and when they did happen they didn't feel any more challenging than what you dealt with already.
Also, while answering the first question I came up with a new annoyance: Aqua's & Magma's choice in Pokemon. Aqua you would imagine use Water-types and Magma would use Ground & Fire-types. So here are the Pokemon of those types in the Hoenn Dex:
Aqua: Lotad family, Goldeen family, Magikarp family, Marill family, Tentacool family, Carvanha family, Wailmer family, Corphish family, Feebas family, Staryu family, Psyduck family, Spheal family, Clamperl family, Relicanth, Corsola Chinchou family, Luvdisc, & Horsea family
Magma: Geodude family, Numel family, Slugma family, Sandshrew family, Trapinch family, Baltoy family, Vulpix family, Phanpy family, & Rhyhorn family
(While Magma looks small its just compared to Aqua, in addition they can increase it by throwing in other Pokemon like Rock- and Grass-types)
But Aqua only sticks with the Carvanha family and Magma the Numel family! Now Emerald did give Aqua the Wailmer family and Magma the the Baltoy family... but than in ORAS instead Aqua was given the Grimer family and Magma the Koffing family (and yes they do match the team's theme, Grimer being living liquid sludge and Koffing having flammable methane gas). But they're Poison-types, not the team's "special" type(s) (though if they wanted to add more type variety on their team they could have gone even further with paired Pokemon. Would make sense for Aqua to get Lunatone & Lileep family while Magma got Solrock & Anorith family)! We could have also had Archie and Maxie using a full team of 6 instead of 4. *sigh*
Abra. That is freaking all.
This is a game mechanic that annoys me a lot. Why can't you catch a fainted Pokemon but you can catch a 1HP frozen or asleep Pokemon? It's not like after you defeated them, the monsters turn to gold coins and fade away.
I'm guessing that something about a fainted Pokémon prevents it from being connected to the Poké Ball.
Considering the few in-game battles that mentions the wild Pokemon goes somewhere if you defeat it (like Snorlax going back to the mountains) I'm going to guess its now that you knocked the wild Pokemon unconscious but it only temporarily got knocked out before instincts take over and it runs away, probably to look for another trainer who hopefully will catch it or it can defeat their Pokemon to become stronger (in-universe).
Replaying Heart Gold. Suddenly remembers the slow, repetitive and annoying messages like "the rain continues to fall", "Gyarados's Intimidate cuts X's attack!", "Absol is exerting it's Pressure". I recall it was way worse in DP. Thankfully, Gen 5 makes the message goes much faster and shows the weather icon instead of keep looping to the same "rain continues to fall" message.
And the funny thing is the battles got even faster compared to Gen III. I remember having to go through from Gen 3 to 6 and each and every single one of them, even Gen V, felt ridiculously slow compared to the next generation.
Probably because each generation IS faster compared to each one, or at least that's how it feels(except D/P). Better tech means faster tech. Sort of like how wifi-related stuff worked in gen 4, then got faster in gen 5, and now is pretty darn fast in gen 6.
Fast is a bit of an understatement. The other month, my internet was being absurdly slow. Some sites I couldn't even use due to the speed. I had to watch YouTube in the lowest possible setting.
During this time, I tried to have a match on the PSS. While the connecting through Team Preview was slow, once the match started, it actually worked really well. I couldn't see a difference between the speed of then, or the speed when my internet is working.
EDIT:
Why is V-create still an event move for Victini? That's something I've never once understood. It's clearly meant to be it's signature move, yet it can't learn it without an event? That's really dumb. It's one thing for Rayquaza to have it as an event, but not Victini.
Last edited:
Okay, I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before but...the ice type. Oh (Ice) Arceus (Haha get it because Arceus can be Ice type thanks to Multitype and I'll shut up now).
Things may have changed since I last checked in on things, but my understanding is that the ice type is currently awful. Well, as a defensive type assigned to Pokemon.
The moves are apparently great, as they can hit all sorts of things, but the Pokemon with the typing of ice are crippled from the start, just due to how many Pokemon carry a move they're weak to.
Now, one would think that this would provide a balance, making ice types glass cannons: they hit hard, but they get hit hard in return. Now it would work...if it weren't for the fact that all sorts of Pokemon get ice moves as well. The worst offender of this are the water types, one of the better defensive typings in the game, which get a lot of these ice moves too! As a result, most of the ice-typed Pokemon are rendered nigh-unusable, as they die fast, and don't even provide something another type can't other than S.T.A.B.. That's an entire typing. How do you even do that!?
---
Another thing that bothers me not nearly as much but still somewhat would be gaps where there should exist a move but doesn't. Flareon is a fire type with high physical attack, and as such makes great use of physically-based fire attacks. The problem is...there aren't very many of these at all. There's a pretty good 90 bp fire attack called Flamethrower, but it's a special attack. What you want is a physical equivalent for that which...doesn't exist. Oh sure, you can use flare blitz, and that's a powerful attack and all, but it also deals recoil damage that you might not be able to deal with. So if you want a move that doesn't hurt you back (say, you're trying to play it safe), your best bet is Fire Punch, which is a whole 15 bp weaker than Flamethrower. It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it adds up.
Of course, due to the fact that Flareon cannot walk on two legs and punch things, the next best move would be Fire Fang, at 65 bp. That's a full 25 bp weaker than Flamethrower. At this point Flamethrower is starting to look more viable, and it's not even a physical attack!
Let's check. Flareon has a base attack of 130, and Fire Fang has a bp of 65. 135 * 65 = 8450.
Flareon has a base special attack of 95, and Flamethrower has a bp of 90. 95*90 = 9900.
Yeah, if you don't want to injure yourself with Flare Blitz, your best bet is to use an inferior attacking stat. Unless you want to sacrifice ten MORE BP for Flame Charge to increase your speed. Which is sitting at 65, so that's going to be helpful. Brilliant. Simply Brilliant. Flareon is PU for a reason.
Granted, Flareon would still be awful even with more physical fire moves available, but my point still stands. Maybe. Hopefully.
---
Another thing that annoys me: Flareon, for reasons stated above. It's lucky it's cute or I'd be questioning why it even exists.
---
Just wondering, how big can our posts be? I have one more after this, and I don't double post just on principle, but this post is getting bloated.
Things may have changed since I last checked in on things, but my understanding is that the ice type is currently awful. Well, as a defensive type assigned to Pokemon.
The moves are apparently great, as they can hit all sorts of things, but the Pokemon with the typing of ice are crippled from the start, just due to how many Pokemon carry a move they're weak to.
Now, one would think that this would provide a balance, making ice types glass cannons: they hit hard, but they get hit hard in return. Now it would work...if it weren't for the fact that all sorts of Pokemon get ice moves as well. The worst offender of this are the water types, one of the better defensive typings in the game, which get a lot of these ice moves too! As a result, most of the ice-typed Pokemon are rendered nigh-unusable, as they die fast, and don't even provide something another type can't other than S.T.A.B.. That's an entire typing. How do you even do that!?
---
Another thing that bothers me not nearly as much but still somewhat would be gaps where there should exist a move but doesn't. Flareon is a fire type with high physical attack, and as such makes great use of physically-based fire attacks. The problem is...there aren't very many of these at all. There's a pretty good 90 bp fire attack called Flamethrower, but it's a special attack. What you want is a physical equivalent for that which...doesn't exist. Oh sure, you can use flare blitz, and that's a powerful attack and all, but it also deals recoil damage that you might not be able to deal with. So if you want a move that doesn't hurt you back (say, you're trying to play it safe), your best bet is Fire Punch, which is a whole 15 bp weaker than Flamethrower. It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it adds up.
Of course, due to the fact that Flareon cannot walk on two legs and punch things, the next best move would be Fire Fang, at 65 bp. That's a full 25 bp weaker than Flamethrower. At this point Flamethrower is starting to look more viable, and it's not even a physical attack!
Let's check. Flareon has a base attack of 130, and Fire Fang has a bp of 65. 135 * 65 = 8450.
Flareon has a base special attack of 95, and Flamethrower has a bp of 90. 95*90 = 9900.
Yeah, if you don't want to injure yourself with Flare Blitz, your best bet is to use an inferior attacking stat. Unless you want to sacrifice ten MORE BP for Flame Charge to increase your speed. Which is sitting at 65, so that's going to be helpful. Brilliant. Simply Brilliant. Flareon is PU for a reason.
---
Another thing that annoys me: Flareon, for reasons stated above. It's lucky it's cute or I'd be questioning why it even exists.
---
Just wondering, how big can our posts be? I have one more after this, and I don't double post just on principle, but this post is getting bloated.
It gets worse for Ice types, as Game Freak tends to like trying to make them into walls that move about as quickly as a glacier... and sometimes a movepool that's about as barren as a tundra.
Wow, that is worse.
Something else that bothers me that I hope we didn't cover is the jump from sprites to models. Well, I don't have an inherent issue with models. It's just that, since they're bigger than the sprites, you can't show as much on the screen at once, resulting in screen crunch. This makes the various cave systems, which were already frustrating for me to navigate in previous gens, even more unpleasant. Not to mention that Gen VII will be expected to use models, which will lead to all 720+ current Pokemon having to be remodeled for that gen along with who knows how many more. And it's just gonna get even more tedious for Gens VIII, IX, X, etc. Can GameFreak handle this? Does it have the time and resources to rehash ever-increasing numbers of Pokemon for the next generation? I guess it's not just the models either. Each Generation requires rechecking and editing movepools, and now, with the advent of Gen VI, stat distributions. This is not sustainable. Even if GF can deal with it now, there will come a generation where they can't. And that scares me.