(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[lucariomaster2]

So yeah, Alola just feels so tiny. What you see is all there is. It certainly makes your adventure feel that much less grand in scale.

This is the main reason, I think, why I don't like Alola. Because the region is so tiny, and also because there are NPCs guiding you through basically your entire adventure, when I beat the Elite Four I couldn't shake the feeling that the battles didn't feel "real" because everyone basically sees the player as the Champion already. Heck, Kukui basically says, "I've setup an Elite Four in Alola specifically so that you can beat them".

Because of this, while becoming the Champion of other regions felt like I had accomplished something big, becoming the Alolan Champion felt more like I had become the champion of the school playground, at best.

 

[bdt2002]

Little things that annoy me in Pokemon, eh? I have a few, but not many.

1. People that spam the same move over and over and over again just to be annoying (especially status moves, which I like to call the "Status Spam" strategy I've grown to hate)

2. The occasional Pokémon in a playthrough that just does not want to be defeated for any reason no matter what I do

3. Out of all 808 Pokémon in existence, counting Meltan, there's only one that I have grown to hate every single time I see it, because of how much it has scarred me for life growing up. Since 2010 in SoulSilver, this thing has actually proceeded to consistently annoy me in any game I meet it in.

It's Kingdra. I hate that Pokémon with a passion. For a while, I even had a case of what I called "Kingdraphobia" just from the flashbacks to HGSS and the PWT in Black 2, among other things. I've never faced Juan's since I don't have Emerald (have in the PWT tho) and I hear it's pretty nasty. I've seen that thing on YouTube...

 

[Detective Barricade]

Little things that annoy me in Pokemon, eh? I have a few, but not many.

1. People that spam the same move over and over and over again just to be annoying (especially status moves, which I like to call the "Status Spam" strategy I've grown to hate)

2. The occasional Pokémon in a playthrough that just does not want to be defeated for any reason no matter what I do

3. Out of all 808 Pokémon in existence, counting Meltan, there's only one that I have grown to hate every single time I see it, because of how much it has scarred me for life growing up. Since 2010 in SoulSilver, this thing has actually proceeded to consistently annoy me in any game I meet it in.

It's Kingdra. I hate that Pokémon with a passion. For a while, I even had a case of what I called "Kingdraphobia" just from the flashbacks to HGSS and the PWT in Black 2, among other things. I've never faced Juan's since I don't have Emerald (have in the PWT tho) and I hear it's pretty nasty. I've seen that thing on YouTube...

Ah yes, Clair's Sniper Kingdra is a pain in the ass. You're almost required to bring along Lapras with Perish Song to take the thing out, lest its critical hits destroy Pokemon that could otherwise hold their own.

I guess you must have loved opponents that spammed Protect/Detect at every opportunity... (especially when they can successfully pull it off) and by love I mean try not to throw your DS at the nearest wall out of rage.

 

[DreamPrince]

The main caveat I have with Alola is that the region seems to happy. Too happy. I feel so bored here. There doesn't seem to be any problems. Pokemon and people live in harmony, with no apparent friction going on between them, always working together. The Kahunas, trial captains, and professor seems like to be holding your hands like lucariomaster2 mentioned. I think its primarily because the villainous team aren't very threatening, Team Skull is nothing but misguided people, while Aether isn't really evil, it just as a crazy leader. Even if Lusamine did release the UBs in SM, they were threatening, but apparently not threatening enough until the post game where you can finally catch them and the threat is finally over. And in USM, they change Lusamine's goals so much to the point that Gladion and Lillie look like brats to the point that I could see it from Lusamine's view. And then there's Necrozma. They tried to make it the anatgonist, but it doesn't work because they always make it, " We have to help them. " for Pokemon. At least teams like Aqua, Flare, Galactic had threatening goals to the point you can't ignore them or the world is gonna end.

The second caveat is that a lot of concepts in Alola are just overdone. The concept of the Ultra Beasts and Pokemon from an Alternate universe and dimensions would have been interesting if Diamond and Pearl hadn't explored that concept with Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Let's not forget the Reverse World, which was our first exploration of an alternate reality, which Ultra Space pales in comparison. Not to mention several Pokemon have stated to come from other worlds, Deoxys, Kyurem, and Clefairy to name a few.

Then the whole nature and flowing with life, as well as a very watery region, was already explored with Hoenn, with already featured People living with nature ( Pacifidlog and Fortree ), Pokemon with relationships ( Seviper and Zangoose, Relicanth and Wailord ) while also restoring nature on its course ( Kyogre and Groudon. )

On an unrelated note, has it ever bothered you that Pokemon gives you 2 options for an answer ( Like when Ghetsis requests you surrender ) but regardless which choice you choose, it doesn't matter? If it doesn't impact the story what's the point of it being there?

 

[bdt2002]

Ah yes, Clair's Sniper Kingdra is a pain in the ass. You're almost required to bring along Lapras with Perish Song to take the thing out, lest its critical hits destroy Pokemon that could otherwise hold their own.

I guess you must have loved opponents that spammed Protect/Detect at every opportunity... (especially when they can successfully pull it off) and by love I mean try not to throw your DS at the nearest wall out of rage.

Ah yes, Clair's Sniper Kingdra is a pain in the ass. You're almost required to bring along Lapras with Perish Song to take the thing out, lest its critical hits destroy Pokemon that could otherwise hold their own.

I guess you must have loved opponents that spammed Protect/Detect at every opportunity... (especially when they can successfully pull it off) and by love I mean try not to throw your DS at the nearest wall out of rage.

DING DING DING. You got that right...I've never once thrown a game system or a controller for any reason, since I knew I'd regret it. But I've came close. There's even been a few times when I've caught Kingdra itself trying the Status Spam...

 

[lucariomaster2]

Ah yes, Clair's Sniper Kingdra is a pain in the ass. You're almost required to bring along Lapras with Perish Song to take the thing out, lest its critical hits destroy Pokemon that could otherwise hold their own.

I guess you must have loved opponents that spammed Protect/Detect at every opportunity... (especially when they can successfully pull it off) and by love I mean try not to throw your DS at the nearest wall out of rage.

I think Juan's is worse, since it has Double Team and Rest. Have fun trying to take that thing down...

Actually, come to think of it, I don't think there's ever been a Kingdra used by an NPC that hasn't been a massive pain.

 

[Altaria55ps]

Ah yes, Clair's Sniper Kingdra is a pain in the ass. You're almost required to bring along Lapras with Perish Song to take the thing out, lest its critical hits destroy Pokemon that could otherwise hold their own.

I guess you must have loved opponents that spammed Protect/Detect at every opportunity... (especially when they can successfully pull it off) and by love I mean try not to throw your DS at the nearest wall out of rage.

shell armor intensifies

 

[stage7_4]

Most of the fear of Kingdra comes from it's typing, as it's only weak to Dragon and Fairy. And in all it's appearances as a boss pokemon the fairy type didn't exist yet and dragon was a very hard type to find. So your only option was to out muscle it, which is never a good sign in a pokemon game centered around tactics and exploiting weaknesses.

But without the blessing of it's typing, it's stats are just okay. Personally I used the cheap tactic of spamming X-Attack/X-Speed on the first pokemon, healing, then steamrolling (since as the signature pokemon of Clair and Juan, it almost always comes out last and the first pokemon of a gym leader is usually the weakest. I pulled the same stunt on Whitney's Clefairy). Not exactly sporting of me.

With the fairy type I wonder how hard Juan and Clair would be now. Azumaril is available in both Hoenn and Johto, and it's a hard counter to Kingdra. They'd have to do something weird like Hidden Power or Egg Move-Clear Smog just to get an unresisted attack, which I've never seen a Gym Leader do.

 

[Sondero]

Personally, I think Kingdra being the ace of the 8th Gym leader in a game where counters to it are hard to come by is a pretty good idea. It works as a pretty good test to see if you can do more strategy than just clicking super effective moves. I mean, it's kind of annoying that she has Smokescreen, but you can just switch out to remove accuracy debuffs.

No wonder Gamefreak is handholding us through entire games nowadays. Since when they did have challenging bosses like Clair and Whitney, they'd be infamously difficult.

 

[Siggu]

I don't remember having issues with Clair's Kingdra in HGSS. I do remember having troubles in GSC because... well, good luck guessing its only weakness is Dragon. Also those damned Smoke Screens and Thunder Waves haxing you to death.

No wonder Gamefreak is handholding us through entire games nowadays. Since when they did have challenging bosses like Clair and Whitney, they'd be infamously difficult.

Clair might be intentional, but I find Whitney to be a mistake. Like they didn't consider that Miltank could be that annoying. Same with Morty's Gengar.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

I don't remember having issues with Clair's Kingdra in HGSS. I do remember having troubles in GSC because... well, good luck guessing its only weakness is Dragon. Also those damned Smoke Screens and Thunder Waves haxing you to death.

I remember marching against her with three Ice Punch Sudowoodo clones, which was probably the worst massacre of Sudowoodos in History. Can't remember how I beat her, probably Lugia clones.

Clair might be intentional, but I find Whitney to be a mistake. Like they didn't consider that Miltank could be that annoying. Same with Morty's Gengar.

They were against a corner with Morty. Remember, there were only three Ghost-type pokemon introduced at that point. GF simply hadn't introduced a pure Ghost-type that generation that could have taken Gengar's spot while being more or less as powerful as Haunter, be a reasonable threat to Ghost-resistant mons thanks to its signature move Psywave, and taught the mechanics of Pain Split. If only there had been such a pokemon available.

 

[bdt2002]

I...guess I'm not the only one who hates battling it. I do wish the newer games had more Pokémon like this, indeed. That doesn't change how annoying it is when you DO find one, however. Isn't that the point of this forum anyway?

 

[earl]

*somewhere in the distance, ultra necrozma screams*

 

[Sondero]

*somewhere in the distance, ultra necrozma screams*

Ultra Necrozma is quite a different beast than challenging gym leaders. Sure, you can argue that it's more difficult to beat than a challenging trainer like Clair, but that doesn't make it a fun challenge.
Kingdra is mostly just challenging to bring down because it can be difficult to find a mon that can KO it before getting KO'd back. But the opposite is also true: Kingdra can't easily OHKO your mons (unless they're weak to its attacks). You're given a fair chance with Kingdra, without building your team specifically to deal with it. Everything has a chance against it, from fast sweepers for making dents in it, to walls that'll slowly take its HP away.

Ultra Necrozma on the other hand, is more of a puzzle than a climactic fight. Since its coverage of moves coupled with the ability is so varied and its speed is such a high number, you're given very few chances to attack it with most of your Pokemon. I think it's pretty obvious that GF wants you to have a fight where all your mons barely live an attack but get off a hit before falling, so 3-6 of your Pokemon pitch in to KO it. However this is quite unlikely to happen, as Necrozma is more likely to just OHKO maybe the entire team, even if it's built with a huge variety of types, or get easily KO'd by a trick with Zoroark or just toxic stalling it or such.

If you get wiped by Clair, it's probably because you're too reliant on super effective hits. If you get wiped by Ultra Necrozma, it's most likely because you didn't have a Pokemon specifically made to counter to it .

 

[bdt2002]

Ultra Necrozma is quite a different beast than challenging gym leaders. Sure, you can argue that it's more difficult to beat than a challenging trainer like Clair, but that doesn't make it a fun challenge.
Kingdra is mostly just challenging to bring down because it can be difficult to find a mon that can KO it before getting KO'd back. But the opposite is also true: Kingdra can't easily OHKO your mons (unless they're weak to its attacks). You're given a fair chance with Kingdra, without building your team specifically to deal with it. Everything has a chance against it, from fast sweepers for making dents in it, to walls that'll slowly take its HP away.

Ultra Necrozma on the other hand, is more of a puzzle than a climactic fight. Since its coverage of moves coupled with the ability is so varied and its speed is such a high number, you're given very few chances to attack it with most of your Pokemon. I think it's pretty obvious that GF wants you to have a fight where all your mons barely live an attack but get off a hit before falling, so 3-6 of your Pokemon pitch in to KO it. However this is quite unlikely to happen, as Necrozma is more likely to just OHKO maybe the entire team, even if it's built with a huge variety of types, or get easily KO'd by a trick with Zoroark or just toxic stalling it or such.

If you get wiped by Clair, it's probably because you're too reliant on superveffective hits. If you get wiped by Ultra Necrozma, it's most likely because you didn't have a Pokemon specifically made to counter to it .

I both agree and disagree with that statement. I had a Magnezone to beat No-crozma with, since man, that defensive. With Kingdra, both back then and the extremely rare case nowadays (as of past 2 years, so to speak), Kingdra is just consistently a pain in the Mudbray.

Tbh, my only problem with No-crozma are those absurd stats compared to your team, both because of the base stat yield and the +2 omniboost. It could be worse, guys, they could have made U-Necro a status spammer

Also, my joke...no? It's a donkey...

 

[jordanthejq12]

Also, my joke...no? It's a donkey...

Kudos for both the pun and the use of Magnezone. One of my favorite mons to use in-game despite its awful movepool, and the first mon I thought of to handle Ultra Necro.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

It could be worse, guys, they could have made U-Necro a status spammer

Please. If they wanted to make Ultra Necrozma worse, they would have given it Earth Power or Heat Wave over Smart Strike or Power Gem.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Personally, I think Kingdra being the ace of the 8th Gym leader in a game where counters to it are hard to come by is a pretty good idea. It works as a pretty good test to see if you can do more strategy than just clicking super effective moves. I mean, it's kind of annoying that she has Smokescreen, but you can just switch out to remove accuracy debuffs.

No wonder Gamefreak is handholding us through entire games nowadays. Since when they did have challenging bosses like Clair and Whitney, they'd be infamously difficult.

Eh, Whitney is not that hard. Onix and Geodude can wall her Miltank for days, while making use of Screech and/or Rock Smash to bring its Defense down. And both are incredibly helpful against Falkner and Bugsy. (plus there's the female Machop in the department store to lend a hand)

 

[Gligarman]

I've never been a fan of Natures. It's like, certain Pokemon inherently have boosted stats so why would I want a Nature that reduces it? Especially since there are so many other ways to boost stats. I know there are ways to manipulate them but I'd be fine if they just did away with them all together.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

I've never been a fan of Natures. It's like, certain Pokemon inherently have boosted stats so why would I want a Nature that reduces it? Especially since there are so many other ways to boost stats. I know there are ways to manipulate them but I'd be fine if they just did away with them all together.

Attack-reducing natures help special attackers with Confusion and Foul Play, while Speed-reducing natures help with Trick Room

 

[Sondero]

I've never been a fan of Natures. It's like, certain Pokemon inherently have boosted stats so why would I want a Nature that reduces it? Especially since there are so many other ways to boost stats. I know there are ways to manipulate them but I'd be fine if they just did away with them all together.

Attack-reducing natures help special attackers with Confusion and Foul Play, while Speed-reducing natures help with Trick Room

There's also some niche strategies that involve Endeavor and Counter/Mirror Coat, which the low Defense/Special Defense of Hasty/Naive nature would help with.

 

[hypno28]

More importantly, the gameplay effects are beside the point.

 

[bdt2002]

*imagines a universe with a Mega Kingdra with Serene Grace and even better stats*

Oh, Whitney? She's easy for me. Her Miltank is overrated imo. It's slow and doesn't have the best base stat yield in the world, while also only having two admittedly weak attacking moves, one of which doesn't have STAB and has a 10% chance to miss every time Miltank attacks with it. Even if you chose Cyndaquil, Miltank has much lower Special Defense than physical, so 2 or 3 Fire moves should finish it quickly. Especially Fire Blast

 

[Detective Barricade]

*imagines a universe with a Mega Kingdra with Serene Grace and even better stats*

Oh, Whitney? She's easy for me. Her Miltank is overrated imo. It's slow and doesn't have the best base stat yield in the world, while also only having two admittedly weak attacking moves, one of which doesn't have STAB and has a 10% chance to miss every time Miltank attacks with it. Even if you chose Cyndaquil, Miltank has much lower Special Defense than physical, so 2 or 3 Fire moves should finish it quickly. Especially Fire Blast

Miltank is actually surprisingly fast. And is likely to use Attract on any male Pokemon to make it a coin toss whether they even get to attack. Rollout doesn't start out strong, but it gets stronger each turn for five turns unless it misses. Milk Drink is Recover, restoring up to half of its health.

Is Miltank itself that good? No, not really. But at the point in the game the player faces Whitney, their team probably isn't that impressive either, so it balances out. (unless they're using a stupidly early Alakazam)

I'm still a little annoyed that several of the Legendary events this year for Canada were done through the Trainer Club magazine. The least they could have done was run the serial code events again a few months later over Nintendo Network like they did with the Mythicals a couple years ago.

 

[Hugin]

Also, Whitney leads with Metronome spam, so that even if you do have a female Geodude or Machop, they might get one-shot by the RNG.

Edit: While we’re talking about Gyms, I have to bring up Wattson. If you didn’t pick Mudkip, how exactly are you supposed to beat this guy? The only ground before him otherwise is Geodude, there’s minimal useful grasses, and his mons have the most BS move sets in existence. He’s a damn wall even though it feels like Flannery and Norman were supposed to be scarier.