(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

So, before they can do any changes to Infatuation, they first need to change it's name. My suggestion: Admiration. Admiration is a more neutral term, and while it can certainly mean one loving another, it could also mean having deep respect or being awe struck by another's charisma. Also, while I think the moves Attract and Captivate can remain as they are, they may need to change the name of the Ability Cute Charm ("Mad Love Body" in Japanese); maybe they can change it to Charisma Charm (in English, I have no idea what they could do with the Japanese name as there could be some significance to the name in Japanese I don't realize).
The Japanese メロメロボディ (melo-melo body) comes from the fact that Cute Charm only has a chance to activate when a Pokemon of the opposite gender makes contact with the Pokemon with this ability. It makes sense for it to remain so since it's the body of the opposing Pokemon that your Pokemon becomes infatuated with, and thus "Charisma Charm" wouldn't actually make sense unless they change the mechanic of this ability (or rather, remove it if that's the case.) I would actually point out that "mad love" is a bit of an overstatement for メロメロ, which can range from "have a good feeling towards" to "be in love with". It's actually a bit of a translation inaccuracy from the English team (color me surprised) if we're being strict.
 
I like the earlier suggestion, where Attract prevents offensive moves to whatever degree on any target, but has no effect on self target moves or ones that affect the battlefield. That fits more with the flavor and also encourages healing/setup moves in-game, always a good thing.

On-topic, poison types with Levitate(Wheezing). Who thought it was a good idea to make a bulky mon with only 1 weakness and then give it a bunch of status moves? Let me tell you, if NPCs didn’t suicide so often, my latest playthrough would have been miserable.
 
On-topic, poison types with Levitate(Wheezing). Who thought it was a good idea to make a bulky mon with only 1 weakness and then give it a bunch of status moves? Let me tell you, if NPCs didn’t suicide so often, my latest playthrough would have been miserable.
To be honest, until gen 6, Poison typing was... pretty mediocre at best.
Mediocre defensively, even with Levitate it was weak to the most powerful offensive type in the game for several gens, slow, with average special bulk and in case of Weezing, average offensive stats.
And offensively, Poison was only supereffective against... grass, which also sported lot of grass/poison types who would have been neutral to it anyway.
Yes it was bulky but Weezing was never a good Pokemon even with its "only one weakness" status, not in game nor in competitive. I'd disagree with Weezing being a troublesome mon in in-game runs in any scenario, unless you're me and run Let's Go with 3 fairies and no Psychic types at all in your party.

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I just finished a mono-grass run of Omega Ruby, so I might be biased by the lack of Psychic moves available to me.
 
I just finished a mono-grass run of Omega Ruby, so I might be biased by the lack of Psychic moves available to me.
You might also be biased by the fact you played a type that's both weak against it, resisted on offense, and generally lack options to hit Poison types as Grass types have a history of having bad coverage :P (as much as the bad coverage being one of the biggest issues of offensive grass types)
 
Weezing also has only 65 HP and 70 Special Defense, so most unresisted special attacks will take him out in a few hits. You do have to worry about explosions though.

I always found Muk more annoying even if it's abilities are worse, with it's 105 HP, 75 Def, and 100 Sp. Def it's really bulky all-over unlike Weezing being really really good on Defense only. That and AI trainers just love to spam minimize.

Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu was overall really easy but I too was surprised by Archer and his maximum annoyance grunt partner with Toxic + Protect + Minimize Muk. That and Archer seemed to build his team around taking out that Muk's counters (with Flying and Fire attacks for Grass/Poison and Steel types), and a Sucker Punch Raticate if you used a Psychic. It's like the main development team took a lunch break and someone from Atlas snuck in to make a boss fight.

I did just cheese it the second time by putting Glitzy Glow on Eevee, but still.


Matador from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne would be the better example, as it uses the same strategy as Muk (maximize evasion to make you lose your turns), but I couldn't find any videos of people losing to him. Just a bunch of guides on the finnicky way to beat him.
 
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Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu was overall really easy but I too was surprised by Archer and his maximum annoyance grunt partner with Toxic + Protect + Minimize Muk.
That's actually a recurring theme on several rockets AND big part of Koga's gym.
I really really REALLY regretted not having anything to deal with poison types there. (on note, I purposely avoided both candies and the starter to at least make the game somewhat challenging)
At least A-raticate murdered the ghosts pretty fast.
 
I feel a lot of Gen 7's new Pokemon were created specifically for the purpose of testing out some new gimmick someone at GF thought up of, or inversely, a lot of new abilities or moves introduced in that Gen feel they were created specifically to be tacked on to a certain Pokemon. While this isn't always a bad thing (Mimikyu is just one example), it's... rather irksome when it's especially noticeable.
 
I feel a lot of Gen 7's new Pokemon were created specifically for the purpose of testing out some new gimmick someone at GF thought up of, or inversely, a lot of new abilities or moves introduced in that Gen feel they were created specifically to be tacked on to a certain Pokemon. While this isn't always a bad thing (Mimikyu is just one example), it's... rather irksome when it's especially noticeable.
That's because they were. And I'm sure Pikachu315111 will list them all in due time.
 
On the topic of Alolan Pokemon with signature abilities, I want to bring up Merciless and Corrosion. Both are super good abilities that go wasted.

Merciless would be amazing on an offensive Pokemon with T-Spike support or even just spamming moves with a high chance to poison like Sludge Bomb or Poison Jab. It's wasted on an super-defensive Pokemon with next to no offensive presence and access to one of the best defensive abilities in the game.

Corrosion would be amazing on a defensive Pokemon, allowing it to stall out and wear down anything. It's wasted on a frail offensive Pokemon that needs no help in beating Steel types thanks to its Fire typing.
 

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I feel a lot of Gen 7's new Pokemon were created specifically for the purpose of testing out some new gimmick someone at GF thought up of, or inversely, a lot of new abilities or moves introduced in that Gen feel they were created specifically to be tacked on to a certain Pokemon. While this isn't always a bad thing (Mimikyu is just one example), it's... rather irksome when it's especially noticeable.
This so much. Also, so many of the Pokémon were made single-stage with stats that are just high enough to not warrant any evolutions. Apparently, they must have decided to introduce only a certain number of Pokémon this generation, and by having lots of single-stage Pokémon they could test out more gimmicks without going over that limit. Of course, that's a little sad for those of us who are big fans of three-stage evolution lines.


Also, I keep finding new things that irk me about Gen VII. This time, it's the topology of the Alola region. No, not its topography (the study of the shape and features of land surfaces), but topology (the study of shapes, basically). Or perhaps this is graph theory, I'm not too familiar with those branches of mathematics.

Essentially, the problem is that the routes of the Alola region have next to no interconnectivity. There are almost no branching paths that meet each other again after they split. This means that if you're travelling somewhere on foot, there is only one way to go there, and the path doesn't take you to any other place either. There is no "hub area" where you can go from city to city reasonably fast, and so you end up warping (flying) everywhere instead of exploring the region on foot.

Take Melemele island, for example. Its path structure resembles the letter Q, or perhaps the rarely used ¤ symbol. Is is one big ring, with some paths sticking out, that all lead to dead ends: Iki Town (and onward to Ruins of Conflict), Ten Carat Hill and Kala'e Bay. I'm not counting "dungeons" whose entrance lie directly on the main ring, such as Hau'Oli Cemetery or Verdant Cavern. All locations on the island lie directly on the ring, or on one of the branching paths. But there are no loops, no shortcuts, no alternative routes. At best, you can say that MeleMele Sea connects to Hau'oli Beachfront by surfing around Ten Carat Hill, but that's exactly the same place the direct road would take you anyway, and taking that route neither saves time nor takes you past any new locations.

And crucially, you can't go from any island to any other island except by warping (ferry, Mantine Surf or flying). Each island might as well exist in a vacuum. That means that no matter where you go on Melemele, you go to another place on Melemele, and there only routes off the island don't go anywhere in particular, they take you directly to given points on other islands without interacting with spaces between. Fly, surfing minigame or ferry, you're not traveling in a way that gives you indications about your whereabouts on the map. You disappear from one island, and reappear on another, with only a cutscene or the non-descript "tunnel" of the Mantine Surf minigame in between. Without looking at the map, there is no way to find out where the islands of Alola lie in relation to one another. In other words, you can't draw such a map yourself.

Onto Akala, this is the only island that lets you choose routes, and for that it is my favourite island to traverse by foot. From Heahea city to Royal Avenue you can either walk northeast to Paniola Town, then south, or you can go east towards Hano Grand Resort and then north. From Royal Avenue you can even walk around the island and come back to Paniola Town again, although that route can only be traveled one way. However, the island also has a large number of dead ends: Brooklet Hill, Wela Volcano, Konikoni City, Hano Grand Resort and to some degree also Lush Jungle all lie at the end of a path, with only one way in or out. To get to the entrance of these places, you have to walk down roads that go nowhere else, and to go back you have to retrace the exact same path (except Lush Jungle, where you can go south on the way out, but you can't approach the place from that direction).

Ula'ula Island is a step back. It can be reduced down to a sort of E shape. One long road goes from the entrance point of Malie City, to Po Town in the other end, with branches leading off to Mount Hokulani, Mount Lanakila and Blush Mountain. Some places like Haina Desert, Lake of the Sunne/Moone or Thrifty Megamart can be accessed directly from this one road. There are no loops at all. Even though Po Town lies as close to the recycling center as the width of Malie Garden. Again: No matter where you go, there is one way to access it, and the same way goes back.

Poni Island is like Ula'ula: One long road from Seafolk Village to the Battle Tree. Paths branch off to Altar of the Sunne/Moone, Ruins of Hope and Resolution Cave. No loops, no shortcuts, except internally in Vast Poni Canyon. And no paths to any of the other islands either, of course.

All this makes Alola feel cramped. There are so many dead ends, so few routes to take, so few places to go. Contrast Kanto, which had exactly two dead ends: Cerulean Cape and the road to the Indigo Plateau. Otherwise, there was always a road to proceed forward, a way to loop around. Or Johto, which admittedly had a dead end in Cianwood City and Mt. Silver, but which otherwise consisted of two big loops that met south of Ecruteak. Or Hoenn, whose only dead ends were Lavaridge town and Littleroot Town (and maybe the route that led to Shoal Cave). Sinnoh was for the most part interconnected, even Kalos used Lumiose City as a hub to great effect. Only Unova compares with Alola in terms of "big rings", dead ends and lack of shortcuts, but at least in Unova there was a path to follow ahead all the time, and you could orient yourself in the region. It had a topology you could relate to. Most of the interesting stuff happened in the immediate area around Castelia-Nimbasa anyway, and those places were pretty bike-friendly. Alola consists of four mini-regions that all resemble the worst of Unova, with no topological relation to each other.

I've given Sinnoh and Unova lots of criticism for making players resort to Fly instead of allowing them to travel the land. But Alola might take the cake for me, it's not a region that rewards exploration at all.
 
On the topic of Alolan Pokemon with signature abilities, I want to bring up Merciless and Corrosion. Both are super good abilities that go wasted.

Merciless would be amazing on an offensive Pokemon with T-Spike support or even just spamming moves with a high chance to poison like Sludge Bomb or Poison Jab. It's wasted on an super-defensive Pokemon with next to no offensive presence and access to one of the best defensive abilities in the game.

Corrosion would be amazing on a defensive Pokemon, allowing it to stall out and wear down anything. It's wasted on a frail offensive Pokemon that needs no help in beating Steel types thanks to its Fire typing.
While you aren't wrong, I am quite confident both things were intentional.

Giving a strong defensive pokemon (like Toxapex itself) the ability to Toxic pokemon otherwise immune to poison would have made it essentially gamebreaking.
In same fashion, giving a fast glass cannon the ability to automatically crit poisoned Pokemon would have significantly boosted its power considering it's basically like giving it free +1 and a offensive Unaware ability as long as it's matched with a Toxic Spike user or simply something using Toxic itself.

As extra personal thought, I wonder if Corrosion on Salazzle (which due to fire typing, as you said would have no issue beating steel types) was given to experiment with a sort of a specific anti-Heatran niche.
 

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Giving a strong defensive pokemon (like Toxapex itself) the ability to Toxic pokemon otherwise immune to poison would have made it essentially gamebreaking.
not really honestly, toxapex is very reliant on regenerator to consistently wall stuff out as it is. corrosion would be a nice boost, but it wouldn't just be flat out broken.
As extra personal thought, I wonder if Corrosion on Salazzle (which due to fire typing, as you said would have no issue beating steel types) was given to experiment with a sort of a specific anti-Heatran niche.
this doesn't quite make sense to me either. i mean yeah, heatran is one of the premier pokemon in ou, but they don't really focus on that shown by how they don't really nerf mons that are broken/super good in singles, like lando t and mega lucario. that being said, corrosion makes absolutely no sense even in a doubles environment (fast mon with cool typing and fake out, let's give it the ability to poison heatran "ok")

even then, it's still a really bad heatran check. most heatran run earth power which ohkos, and rock weakness is bad news for it too. getting toxic vs pex is pretty cool though not gonna lie
 

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I like the earlier suggestion, where Attract prevents offensive moves to whatever degree on any target, but has no effect on self target moves or ones that affect the battlefield. That fits more with the flavor and also encourages healing/setup moves in-game, always a good thing.
I feel Infatuation would also trap the target. Infatuation right now is just a lesser Paralysis and Confusion which have an additional side effect (Paralysis cuts Speed and Confusion may cause the opponent to hit themselves). But Infatuation is just a 50% of doing nothing. I think making it so the infatuated Pokemon is trapped as long as the Pokemon that infatuated it is on the field would give the ailment some more utility.

It's been 23 years how is Game Freak this dumb
Because it's Game Freak.

I feel a lot of Gen 7's new Pokemon were created specifically for the purpose of testing out some new gimmick someone at GF thought up of, or inversely, a lot of new abilities or moves introduced in that Gen feel they were created specifically to be tacked on to a certain Pokemon. While this isn't always a bad thing (Mimikyu is just one example), it's... rather irksome when it's especially noticeable.
That's because they were. And I'm sure Pikachu315111 will list them all in due time.
... Well now you just want me to find a way to do it without listing all of them. Well to cut some corners here's Bulbapedia's page for Signature Moves and Abilities.

Anyway, I actually kind of like when a Pokemon has a Signature Move or Ability. It actually makes it feel unique (albeit sometimes it doesn't work and a lot of times its better to just use the Pokemon normally, especially notable for Signature Moves).

However I do have problems when they make a Signature Move or Ability that honestly has no reason for other Pokemon having it. These I'll list with some example of Pokemon who could have them:

Moves:
Ice Hammer:
Beartic, Avalugg, Abomasnow, and Kyurem
Solar Blade: I feel like a lot of Pokemon that learn Leaf Blade should be able to get it like Sceptile, Shiftry, Leafeon, Serperior, Leavanny, and Virizion.
Floral Healing: I feel some other flower-related Pokemon can get it like Meganium, Bellossom, Cherrim, and Flabebe family.
First Impression: Plenty of Physical Bug-types, but no let's give it to Farfetch'd of all Pokemon through breeding...
Purify: Suicune, Tapu Fini, Shaymin, and Alolan Grimer family are all Pokemon who can purify pollution.

Abilities:
Power of Alchemy:
An already odd Ability, though I think can be given to other Pokemon who store chemicals (its Japanese name is Power of Chemistry) like Weezing and Garbordor.
Dancer: Plenty of dancing Pokemon like Bellossom and Lilligant.
Merciless & Corrosion: SO many Poison-types could make use of these. Now Corrosion as a semi-reason to be Signature as you could take it that Salandit's Fire-type is what allowing its poison to affect Steel-types, but I feel there's other ways to justify a Pokemon having it (like Poison/Water-types, or just Pokemon who are more acidic then poison).
Stamina: I get Mudbray family have it because its based on the concept of a work horse, though I think it can be spread a bit further.
Queenly Majesty: Such an oddly named Ability, though I don't see why Nidoqueen and Vespiquen can't get it.
Triage: Chansey family, Audino, and Alomomola immediately come to mind.
Dazzling: So many ways you can take the meaning of this Ability and apply it to Pokemon. Oddly a lot of them are other Water-types like Milotic, Lanturn, and Gorbyss.
Berserk: Drampa ain't the only Pokemon that is said to go crazy. Can't think many right now since it increases Special Attack and the ones I think off the top of my head are physical attackers.
Electric/Psychic/Grassy/Misty Surge: While they have plenty of good reason to be Signature Abilities, much like the weather summoning Abilities I wouldn't be surprised if these are given to other Pokemon in the future.

And these are just for the Gen VII Pokemon.

This so much. Also, so many of the Pokémon were made single-stage with stats that are just high enough to not warrant any evolutions. Apparently, they must have decided to introduce only a certain number of Pokémon this generation, and by having lots of single-stage Pokémon they could test out more gimmicks without going over that limit. Of course, that's a little sad for those of us who are big fans of three-stage evolution lines.
Unless I counted wrong, there's 86 Gen VII Pokemon (plus 18 Alolan variants). Within those 86 there's 54 families (10 families within Alolan variants). There's 31 single stage, 15 two stage (9 for Alolan variants), and 8 three stage (1 for Alolan variants).

Even if we're to take out the single stage Legendaries and Ultra Beasts that's still 14 single stage Pokemon out of 63, that's about 20% of the Gen VII Pokemon. Let's compare that to Gen V that introduced the most amount of Pokemon, and not counting the Legendaries it too had 14 single stage Pokemon but that makes up less then 10% of the Gen V Pokemon.

So, yeah, much of the Gen VII Pokemon were single stage... and every single one had a Signature Move or Ability (or were Legendaries/Ultra Beasts). And many of them are the Pokemon who I listed having Moves or Abilities that other Pokemon could easily have. It does feel like they sacrificed having Pokemon with multiple stages in order to have many one shots to just test out a move/Ability gimmick. No wonder why it felt like there was a ton of choices yet not that many new Pokemon introduced...

Also, I keep finding new things that irk me about Gen VII. This time, it's the topology of the Alola region. No, not its topography (the study of the shape and features of land surfaces), but topology (the study of shapes, basically). Or perhaps this is graph theory, I'm not too familiar with those branches of mathematics.

(And the rest)
And let's not forget this: rarely is there an optional path. You pretty much explore most of the areas of Alola your first trip around the island. They feel cramped, small, and there's no reason to go back to a previous island once you're done. That's even true in the post game, once you do a quick "victory lap" doing whatever post game content opened up, you end up back on Poni Island where you explore the rest of it and end at the Battle Tree.

And you know what, that's alright for Sun & Moon. Comparing SM's Alola to BW's Unova would be apt as both regions are pretty straight forward. However, then we come to the second paired games. B2W2 expanded Unova's map immensely adding in a ton of new locations, some which interconnect with other locations in Unova in ways you wouldn't expect but most being optional paths. USUM barely changes Alola's map, despite the TON OF POTENTIAL for new areas we gets hints of in SM or just the fact these are islands so we could surf around them (or maybe even add in some new smaller islands off in the distance). But wait, we can explore more of Ultra Space now!... except even that idea was squandered as the Ultra Space locations were just one or two rooms and the "main attraction", Ultra Megalopolis, wasn't even explorable; just a hallway/elevator/spiral staircase.
 

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And let's not forget this: rarely is there an optional path. You pretty much explore most of the areas of Alola your first trip around the island. They feel cramped, small, and there's no reason to go back to a previous island once you're done. That's even true in the post game, once you do a quick "victory lap" doing whatever post game content opened up, you end up back on Poni Island where you explore the rest of it and end at the Battle Tree.
I threw together a couple of diagrams the other night. Please excuse the crappy graphic design work. Only got as far as Kanto and Alola, but I think they're sufficient to make the point:


Kanto is very interconnected. There are only two paths with dead ends: that which leads to the Pokémon League, and that which leads to Route 25. Every single town or city lies on a path that forms a closed loop. You can go from any one city to any other via any third, without ever turning around and going back the way you came. If you start at Route 25 and end up at the Indigo Plateau, you can visit every non-dungeon node on the map without doing a 180 degree turn (there are some paths you'll take several times, however).


In Alola, I count 24 paths with dead ends. Counting Hau'oli Outskirts as part of Hau'oli City, Alola has 11 inhabited settlements. Of these, only 4 lie on paths that form a closed loop. The total number of closed loops is 4, two of which are formed by creating a shortcut across another. By the way, I see now that the Mount Lanakila node should be purple, as there is a location on both sides of it.
 
Looking at Pokémon Go and Let’s Go, there’s one thing that bothers me in particular: The lack of Pokeballs. We only have the standard 3 + a Masterball, even though we have so many more options. Repeat and Quickballs are two prime examples, since in Go you capture multiple of the same species, and you usually throw a Pokeball first turn. I think these balls should be put in Go because the whole point of the game is CATCHING, not battling.

Another thing is that I don’t like in Go is the low catch rates of legendary Pokémon. Sure, I know they are supposed to have low catch rates. I know there supposed to be hard to catch because there legendaries, but that’s fine in the core RPGs because you can prepare and reset whenever it goes wrong.

But in Go, you can’t reset and your Stuck with Premier balls which are just the same as Pokeballs. What’s worse you only have one shot, and since raid passes are limited one per day, unless your willing to spend money You have to wait till the next day, even if you can find a raid battle and have friends. Of course, there’s Field Research but Legendaries obtain from field research are a lot weaker. The only Legendary I caught in Go via raids is Ho-Oh.

What I’m trying to say is that I want Legendaries to have a higher catch in rate kn Go simply because the stakes are higher and it’s more punishing.
 
Another thing is that I don’t like in Go is the low catch rates of legendary Pokémon. Sure, I know they are supposed to have low catch rates. I know there supposed to be hard to catch because there legendaries, but that’s fine in the core RPGs because you can prepare and reset whenever it goes wrong.

But in Go, you can’t reset and your Stuck with Premier balls which are just the same as Pokeballs. What’s worse you only have one shot, and since raid passes are limited one per day, unless your willing to spend money You have to wait till the next day, even if you can find a raid battle and have friends. Of course, there’s Field Research but Legendaries obtain from field research are a lot weaker. The only Legendary I caught in Go via raids is Ho-Oh.

What I’m trying to say is that I want Legendaries to have a higher catch in rate kn Go simply because the stakes are higher and it’s more punishing.
Low catch rates are a mistake to begin with. Unless you are very short on Poké Balls or the wild Pokémon is low on PP, all low catch rates do is drag the battle a little longer with no real increase in difficulty.

And this holds especially true for one-time Pokémon like the legendaries. Might be exaggerating a little, but I'd vastly prefer legendary battles with the difficulty of USUM Ultra Necrozma if that meant a guaranteed capture right afterwards (which is practically the case given regular Necrozma's 255 catch rate in those games), over the current random system.
 
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One problem with Pokemon games is that they are extremely easy and often devolve into simply mashing A during battles. I really wish GF would be willing to implement more strategic elements into the main games. Imo, typing-based leaders should be removed and replaced with leaders that specialize in a certain strategy or tactic. For example, you could have a Trick Room leader, a Hazard Stack + phazing leader, a Sash Spam leader, a Toxic spam + Embargo leader, etc. I feel like the only time I even have think about strategy is during post game battle facilities, and there's no reason for that when Pokemon as a game has so much potential for deep and interesting strategies.
 
One problem with Pokemon games is that they are extremely easy and often devolve into simply mashing A during battles. I really wish GF would be willing to implement more strategic elements into the main games. Imo, typing-based leaders should be removed and replaced with leaders that specialize in a certain strategy or tactic. For example, you could have a Trick Room leader, a Hazard Stack + phazing leader, a Sash Spam leader, a Toxic spam + Embargo leader, etc. I feel like the only time I even have think about strategy is during post game battle facilities, and there's no reason for that when Pokemon as a game has so much potential for deep and interesting strategies.
They could keep the type specialist leaders, just make the leaders more competent in their strategies. But, you know, the games are meant for younger audiences, so there's practically no way they're going to give so much as an inkling of challenge. Because clearly they can't be trusted to figure things out on their own. /sarcasm
 

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Low catch rates are a mistake to begin with. Unless you are very short on Poké Balls or the wild Pokémon is low on PP, all low catch rates do is drag the battle a little longer with no real increase in difficulty.

And this holds especially true for one-time Pokémon like the legendaries. Might be exaggerating a little, but I'd vastly prefer legendary battles with the difficulty of USUM Ultra Necrozma if that meant a guaranteed capture right afterwards (which is practically the case given regular Necrozma's 255 catch rate in those games), over the current random system.
Hmm, while I would like an "easier" time catching a Legendary in terms of Poke Ball use, I don't want them to just make a guaranteed capture as that kind of brings the excitement out of catching a Pokemon. I'd certainly support a new system which makes the Legendary battles more dynamic with some additional factors to consider that'll effect catching them. Though it's a fine line to walk there.

One problem with Pokemon games is that they are extremely easy and often devolve into simply mashing A during battles. I really wish GF would be willing to implement more strategic elements into the main games. Imo, typing-based leaders should be removed and replaced with leaders that specialize in a certain strategy or tactic. For example, you could have a Trick Room leader, a Hazard Stack + phazing leader, a Sash Spam leader, a Toxic spam + Embargo leader, etc. I feel like the only time I even have think about strategy is during post game battle facilities, and there's no reason for that when Pokemon as a game has so much potential for deep and interesting strategies.
As Detective Barricade said, Gym Leaders being Type based is fine, they're bosses for the main story which is meant for kids to beat. Give the Gym Leaders so more complex strategies like weather, rooms, hazards, etc. (also give them held Items, coverage Moves, take into account their Ability). Also, they could do things like their Pokemon having Totem boosts or they when the battle begins there's a field effect already active.
 
Hmm, while I would like an "easier" time catching a Legendary in terms of Poke Ball use, I don't want them to just make a guaranteed capture as that kind of brings the excitement out of catching a Pokemon.
If you've defeated a very powerful and unique Pokémon, you've earned the capture at this point. So the excitement stays, except the capture stops being the challenge (it being the battle instead) and becomes the reward.

Anything to make it an actual challenge, not a dice roll.
 
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While having to defeat the Legendary in a tough battle sounds good for the right to capture it, I wouldn't change the low catch rates. Yeah, it's annoying and not fun, but when Legendaries have higher catch rates, it usually turns out to be anticlimatic and too easy. "Defeating Legendary = getting it" is too easy in my eyes, no matter how tough it might be. And besides, Pokemon needs to be harder (in most circumstances. Stuff like IVs, no.), not easier.
 

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If you've defeated a very powerful and unique Pokémon, you've earned the capture at this point. So the excitement stays, except the capture stops being the challenge (it being the battle instead) and becomes the reward.

Anything to make it an actual challenge, not a dice roll.
Here's my idea: pretty much the Pokemon has two bars: an HP bar and a Barrier Bar. When the Barrier Bar is up anything you do only damages the barrier bar and the Legendary doesn't do recoil damage to itself. Once the Barrier Bar is depleted you can lower the HP Bar (which affects the Catch Rate), but in addition the chance to catch it is doubled and the Legendary's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed is halved. But after a while (or the Legendary uses a healing move), the Barrier Bar will refill (but only to a max halfway). But a good think about the Barrier Bar being up is that the Legendary can't be accidentally knocked out.

This gives it both an interesting challenge while also offering multiple ways of approaching the battle. Do you keep on depleting the barrier to give yourself the best chance to capture it even though it puts itself at risk of fainting, or do you keep the barrier up and keep chucking balls at it without worry.
 
While having to defeat the Legendary in a tough battle sounds good for the right to capture it, I wouldn't change the low catch rates. Yeah, it's annoying and not fun, but when Legendaries have higher catch rates, it usually turns out to be anticlimatic and too easy. "Defeating Legendary = getting it" is too easy in my eyes, no matter how tough it might be. And besides, Pokemon needs to be harder (in most circumstances. Stuff like IVs, no.), not easier.
It's not at all harder to be having to toss dozens of balls, including ones that should have an advantage in the given circumstance, in the hope the RNG will let one of them successfully catch it. I see nothing wrong with making the capture rate 30 at the lowest. (Dialga and Palkia prior to OR/AS) I get excited about getting to catch the legendary, but when it's asleep with 1 HP remaining and it's still breaking out of my Ultra Balls like it's nothing, it very quickly stops being thrilling and I start cursing like a sailor at a pattern of colorful pixels to stay in a much smaller pattern of colored pixels.

I don't think we're suggesting the mightiest of Lord Helix Arceus' creations have the capture rate of Caterpie or Magikarp, (255) just not so dismally low that catching as many as Game Freak has thrown at us lately isn't a joyless slog. If you enjoy that kind of thing, more power to you, but it's not for everyone.
 

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