(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Codraroll]

Wait, what? I recall the steps being different:

• Get the Pokedex: Can only trade Kanto-native Pokemon with FRLG
• Get the National Dex: Can trade any Pokemon with FRLG
• Put the Ruby and Sapphire into the machine: Can trade any Pokemon with RS/any Gen 3 game

Celio even says at the end that he's finally managed to "establish connections with the Hoenn region" or something along those lines. There shouldn't be a scenario where an FRLG game can trade with RS but only trade Kanto-native Pokemon.

Aha, maybe I remember wrong, then. I have distinct memories of establishing a connection in trade and seeing Pokémon on the opposite side without being able to trade them over. Could have been trying to trade Hoenn-native Pokémon from a friend's FRLG cart or something.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Which wasn't nearly as big a problem with DP since you could get all but the starters, legends and for some reason tangela/tangrowth & tropius. Still a pain, but less so: online trading alleviated the need to own the gen 3 games for pal-park purposes and chances are most of the people who cared about completing the dex had them anyway

I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that you could get almost everything besides Tangela and Tropius in DP, considering several Pokemon are exclusive to dual slot mode and thus require just as much extra hardware as Pal Park.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Aha, maybe I remember wrong, then. I have distinct memories of establishing a connection in trade and seeing Pokémon on the opposite side without being able to trade them over. Could have been trying to trade Hoenn-native Pokémon from a friend's FRLG cart or something.

Bizarrely, Emerald forbids trading of eggs pre-E4 (even eggs which contain Hoenn-native Pokemon) but allows trading with Colosseum, which means you can obtain non-native Pokemon before beating the game. The same is not true of XD, which will recognise that the copy of Emerald it is attempting to trade with hasn't yet obtained the NatDex.

The Hoenn games were weird with what they allowed and didn't allow, FRLG were much more rigid.

 

[R_N]

I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that you could get almost everything besides Tangela and Tropius in DP, considering several Pokemon are exclusive to dual slot mode and thus require just as much extra hardware as Pal Park.

Yeah that's fair. I always kind of forget dual slot mode when it comes to these things

Still, online trading does help alleviate things.

Bizarrely, Emerald forbids trading of eggs pre-E4 (even eggs which contain Hoenn-native Pokemon) but allows trading with Colosseum, which means you can obtain non-native Pokemon before beating the game. The same is not true of XD, which will recognise that the copy of Emerald it is attempting to trade with hasn't yet obtained the NatDex.

The Hoenn games were weird with what they allowed and didn't allow, FRLG were much more rigid.

I saw that footnote while double checking emerald but I didn't realize it was to this extent and that's really wild.

 

[Nokocchi]

Somewhat related to the above, one thing notable about Colosseum is that the only Kanto Pokemon that appear in the game are ones that are found in the Hoenn dex. Johto evolutions of unobtainable Kanto Pokemon, however, are fair game.

They also REALLY didn't want you to get any non-Hoenndex Kanto Pokemon before FRLG came out. Ditto cannot be found in Ruby or Sapphire, so the solution was making the starter Espeon and Umbreon always Male, so you couldn't get Eevee/Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon before FRLG was released. It was the same with the Japan-only e-card Shadow Scizor, being set as always male so you couldn't breed for Scyther.

 

[R_N]

Somewhat related to the above, one thing notable about Colosseum is that the only Kanto Pokemon that appear in the game are ones that are found in the Hoenn dex. Johto evolutions of unobtainable Kanto Pokemon, however, are fair game.

They also REALLY didn't want you to get any non-Hoenndex Kanto Pokemon before FRLG came out. Ditto cannot be found in Ruby or Sapphire, so the solution was making the starter Espeon and Umbreon always Male, so you couldn't get Eevee/Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon before FRLG was released. It was the same with the Japan-only e-card Shadow Scizor, being set as always male so you couldn't breed for Scyther.

It still annoys me that Slowking & Porygon2 weren't catchable, even as events. Porygon2 can't breed without ditto so theere's no worry there and Slowking could've just been male-locked like the eevees & scizor

It wouldn't have bugged me nearly as much if they weren't in trainer rosters, honestly. Like Politoed, that's also not catchable but they also made sure not to give Politeod to anyone.iirc.

There was also a Blissey but since she's female-locked I understand passing on making that catchable.

 

[Eevee19]

-Gym Challenges. Its an unpopular opinion but I've always thought they were pointless, especially when they don't exist in the anime.

-Blissey.

-Pretty much every gym leader in XY. Not bc they were hard (they were really easy), but bc they were just... annoying. Personality wise.

-Leveling up before Gen 6. Well, it used to annoy me....

There's more but that's it for the moment.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

It still annoys me that Slowking & Porygon2 weren't catchable, even as events. Porygon2 can't breed without ditto so theere's no worry there and Slowking could've just been male-locked like the eevees & scizor

Yeah, they absolutely could have done that. Thinking it over, that's quite a glaring omission, isn't it? I just checked and between RS and Colosseum the only Johto mons unavailable are:

-Cleffa
-Politoed
-Slowking
-Unown
-Steelix
-Porygon2
-Tyrogue because you can't breed Hitmontop
-Smoochum
-Elekid
-Magby
-Blissey
-Lugia

Most of those are obvious because they have a link to a Kanto line (though how hilarious would a Shadow Unown have been) but there's literally no reason they couldn't have gender-locked Politoed, Slowking, and Steelix - why couldn't those have been e-card species instead of the redundant Mareep and Togepi? I suppose if Miltank could produce Tauros eggs in the same way Volbeat/Illumise can, there's no way they'd have allowed you to catch that.

Another fun fact about Colosseum because why not: it not only gender-locked certain species, but was also the first main series game to implement a shiny lock (all the non-Shadow mons in Colosseum are prevented from being shiny).

 

[Nokocchi]

Yeah, they absolutely could have done that. Thinking it over, that's quite a glaring omission, isn't it? I just checked and between RS and Colosseum the only Johto mons unavailable are:

-Cleffa
-Politoed
-Slowking
-Unown
-Steelix
-Porygon2
-Tyrogue because you can't breed Hitmontop
-Smoochum
-Elekid
-Magby
-Blissey
-Lugia

Most of those are obvious because they have a link to a Kanto line (though how hilarious would a Shadow Unown have been) but there's literally no reason they couldn't have gender-locked Politoed, Slowking, and Steelix - why couldn't those have been e-card species instead of the redundant Mareep and Togepi? I suppose if Miltank could produce Tauros eggs in the same way Volbeat/Illumise can, there's no way they'd have allowed you to catch that.

Another fun fact about Colosseum because why not: it not only gender-locked certain species, but was also the first main series game to implement a shiny lock (all the non-Shadow mons in Colosseum are prevented from being shiny).

While it varies from save file to save file rather than being a 100% certain thing, any evolved Johto Pokemon you get via Colosseum cannot breed in Ruby and Sapphire if they are Male. Which means that, if you don't soft-reset to get Female individuals of all of the Johto Pokemon any of the following may be unobtainable: Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Hoothoot, Hoppip, Wooper, Sentret, Ledyba, Swinub, Spinerak, Pineco, Snubbull, Sunkern, Houndour, Larvitar, Pupitar, and Teddiursa.

In non-Japanese versions, Mareep and Togepi are included in this due to e-card functionality being removed.

 

[Coronis]

-Leveling up before Gen 6. Well, it used to annoy me....

Now theres one I havent seen before.

 

[The Mind Electric]

Now theres one I havent seen before.

I get that one. I have no patience for grinding, so getting levels for a gym leader in older Pokémon games annoys me. I know people complain that the EXP Share made X/Y too easy (among other things) but honestly I'll take too easy over tedious.

 

[R_N]

EXP Share & the lucky egg make grinding much easier, yeah.

Though I'd say the grind really started being easier in gen 5. The level scaling helped keep you roughly on the level of the other trainers and then you had the Audinos and Lucky egg on top of it.

Lord knows grinding in gens 1-4 can be a real crap shoot depending on the specific game and the specific point in the game you're at.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I get that one. I have no patience for grinding, so getting levels for a gym leader in older Pokémon games annoys me. I know people complain that the EXP Share made X/Y too easy (among other things) but honestly I'll take too easy over tedious.

One of the underrated and frankly cool things about the EXP Share that not many people really utilize to its full advantage is that it allows you to rotate and rearrange your team at any time without the need for tedious old school grinding to get new catches to catch up. In my latest playthroughs of Y and Alpha Sapphire I had a massive number of Pokémon that I used and caught throughout the whole game, especially in the latter where I rotated between at least 30 Pokémon in my entire playthrough and changed things up: it also let me use early game crutches like Beautifly/Dustox and Linoone and there was less expense to using them early on even though I knew I would inevitably drop them as the game went on. Same with my latest XY playthrough where I used stuff like Diggersby, Simipour, and Vivillon as early game crutches even though I eventually ditched them for something better later on, and since the EXP they gain from battle also goes to my other mons, I lose less by using and training them early on.

Especially with cases like XY and SwSh where there's a massive variety of Pokémon you can use on an in-game playthrough (450ish for XY and 400 for base SwSh, nearly 600 with DLC), you don't need to commit to a fixed team of six anymore: you can use as many Pokémon as you want and this I find to be frankly the best way to enjoy some of the newer Pokémon games, because it allows me to experience and enjoy so many Pokémon on just a single playthrough and even in the late game I don't have a fixed group of 6: I have some constant mons I use regularly and several reserves that I alternate depending on the battle or the situation I'm heading into. Like if I'm heading to a Fairy or Psychic gym, I let my Fighting and Dragon Pokémon sit out for a bit and bring more advantageous mons to focus on raising for that gym. Or if I'm on a surfing trip, then there's no advantage to bringing a Fire-type with me on said trip, so it sits out for that. It's incredibly fun and when I do it, I rarely find myself overleveled and it helps break even with the level curve even with the EXP Share on, and furthermore it is in many ways, quite challenging and fun, albeit quite hectic. Sword and Shield makes such an approach even easier with the Box Link so you can access your PC at any time.

In a way, you could say this is how the games were meant to be played, considering one of the big things to do in Pokémon games and the goals of them is to fill the Pokédex and catch all the Pokémon in the Dex, so catching as many Pokémon as possible and playing from a pool of mons that you reorganize and rotate on a consistent basis is a very good way to play, and quite fun, and even if you do drop some mons after a while, it wasn't a waste because every mon you catch and use/evolve is one step closer to filling the Pokédex.

 

[R_N]

It has long been my opinion that the exp share both allowing for easier grinding at your leisure and letting people rotate their teams as suits their fancy were good things. It's such a simple but kind of elegand thing that allows for all kinds of extra styles!

The dumbest thing in the world was SWSH taking that away as an option and basically forcing it upon you. Making it an option (more or less) ultimately pleases everyone, forcing it on you just sucks if the rotation play style doesnt suit you for one reason or another.

 

[lucariomaster2]

It still annoys me that Slowking & Porygon2 weren't catchable, even as events. Porygon2 can't breed without ditto so theere's no worry there and Slowking could've just been male-locked like the eevees & scizor

It wouldn't have bugged me nearly as much if they weren't in trainer rosters, honestly. Like Politoed, that's also not catchable but they also made sure not to give Politeod to anyone.iirc.

There was also a Blissey but since she's female-locked I understand passing on making that catchable.

I have an actual subject I want to talk about in this post. But first, shout out to Slowking in particular for being unobtainable, since it means that the only Gen III game you can catch the Slowpoke line in is LeafGreen. If this weren't the case, it would be possible to complete the Gen III Nat Dex with Emerald, Colosseum, XD, and either FR or LG, but because of Slowpoke, you specifically need LG.

Anyway, moving on.

Kyurem, right? It's pretty cool. The most remote Legendary Pokemon in BW, and (sadly) one of the final ones to be found in a completely optional, but fully fleshed out, postgame dungeon. But it exudes power and mystery - clearly on par with (and related to) Reshiram and Zekrom. The point is driven home even more with BW2, where Ghetsis uses it to freeze Opelucid City solid, and then later literally commands it to USE GLACIATE ON YOU, THE TRAINER. I had already played Black before playing Black 2, so I knew how ruthless Ghetsis was, but even I didn't expect any of that.

Anyway, Glaciate. Let's talk about that move, shall we? The signature move of an empty shell of the original dragon, whose burning passion and spark for life have been replaced with nothing but freezing misery, so cold that its body is frozen. You'd expect that with a move like Glaciate (Japanese name: Frozen World) would be some sort of incredibly powerful Ice-type move that leaves everything around Kyurem as little more than ice cubes.

And then you catch it and look at the move's description... and it's literally just Icy Wind with 10 more base power. Far cry from Kyurem's performance under Ghetsis in BW2 - heck, the off-the-shelf Blizzard, learned by practically every Ice-type (yes, including Kyurem itself, even at an earlier level than Glaciate in SwSh) is nearly twice as strong. It doesn't even have a neat special effect like, say, giving opponents -2 to Speed instead of -1, or having an increased Freeze chance just to see how much chaos that would cause in competitive formats. I don't care if their logic is that because Kyurem is an empty shell, it gets a lame signature move - Glaciate is lame, and it deserves to be way cooler. And yes, pun very much intended.

 

[Scorpio]

Glaciate is lame, and it deserves to be way cooler. And yes, pun very much intended.

You did touch upon the reasoning in your post, but yeah, the reason Glaciate is garbitch is due to Kyurem being void of whatever would have made it stronger - this even extends to its base stats, as its BST of 660 happens to be the lowest of all the “major” legendaries. On the plus side, when it does gets some of its potential by fusing with Reshiram/Zekrom, Glaciate will get replaced by the much stronger Ice Burn/Freeze Shock... which are two-turn moves. At least Kyu-B was able to use Freeze Shock as a Z-move in S/M.

Now we just gotta wait until Legends: Kyurem is released and Kyurem-Complete gets Super Glaciate, a 130 BP move with no charge turn (...or something along those lines, that’sjust my guessing).

 

[Codraroll]

In a way, you could say this is how the games were meant to be played, considering one of the big things to do in Pokémon games and the goals of them is to fill the Pokédex and catch all the Pokémon in the Dex, so catching as many Pokémon as possible and playing from a pool of mons that you reorganize and rotate on a consistent basis is a very good way to play, and quite fun, and even if you do drop some mons after a while, it wasn't a waste because every mon you catch and use/evolve is one step closer to filling the Pokédex.

I also suspect that the games are intended to be played with a constantly rotating team, but think the Pokémon games really haven't succeeded in enticing players to actually do so. The way that feels the most "natural" is to keep using the Pokémon you catch and stick to them throughout the game. Your starter is presented as a friend to follow you through the whole game, and it's easy to think of your other team members the same way. Gameplay-wise, this is also a very valid strategy, as the power of your team members quickly snowballs to a point where they can comfortably beat every enemy the game throws at you. No need to adapt your team to overcome a difficult battle, if you outlevel the opponent by 7 levels and have super-effective moves that handily KO their Pokémon without issue.

It seems like the designers have tried to nudge players towards team rotation by offering easier methods of receiving XP, so it is easier to bring new team members up to speed. The issue is that those same methods can also be used to make your old team members incredibly powerful too, negating the need for new team members in the first place (while also making the game a cakewalk). I guess the always-available Move Relearner is another feature that was intended to help you tweak the movepools of newly caught Pokémon (say, one that forgets a useful STAB move at level 26 but is caught at level 28), but which has the side effect of unlocking those powerful Level 1 moves on your existing team members instead. Same goes for infinite-use TMs. Most players use them to improve the Pokémon they already have.

There doesn't seem to be a good incentive to rotate your team during the story. The game even tells you that trained Pokémon are stronger than wild Pokémon, making players think of freshly caught Pokémon as inferior to ones you've trained for a while. New catches also come with moves the player may be unfamiliar with, compared to the moves on their existing Pokémon. Not to mention the level disadvantage. Rotating your team makes the game harder, not easier. As a result, players tend to try out new Pokémon in the postgame instead, but at that point there's nothing left to use their new Pokémon for. Postgame activities require fully trained Pokémon, making the "growth and progress" phase completely un-engaging. Post-Elite Four, your new level 10 Growlithe won't have any opponents to face and overcome on his own, no period of struggling until he learns a new move, and no milestone battles where he pulls his weight and saves the day. You evolve him immediately and level him to 70 in a few minutes, then you can go to the Battle Tower or whatever. Or just discard him and quickly train up another piece of dex fodder you will never use for anything interesting. You can't have the same adventure with your postgame buddies as you could during the story.

The games now have many mechanics that make it easier and more convenient to rotate your team during the story, but the reason to do so is still missing. You form a bond with the Pokémon you use during the story, and it feels wrong to just discard them and move on to something else you will also discard. The lore also conflicts with the mechanics, as it's repeatedly shown that other trainers in the games have stuck with the same Pokémon forever. You're on an adventure with your Pokémon buddies, and that means sticking together through thick and thin.

It's like the designers want players to rotate their teams, but haven't yet found a good way to do so. And when players get to the point where rotation is easy and feasible, there's no point to it anymore. It seems like the designers are aware of the problem, but I don't think they have succeeded at solving it yet.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

The lore also conflicts with the mechanics, as it's repeatedly shown that other trainers in the games have stuck with the same Pokémon forever.

Notable exceptions include N, whose entire gimmick is that he doesn't actually own Pokemon, and Hop, who shuffles through a few teams while repeatedly getting his ass kicked before returning to the tried and true.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

While it varies from save file to save file rather than being a 100% certain thing, any evolved Johto Pokemon you get via Colosseum cannot breed in Ruby and Sapphire if they are Male. Which means that, if you don't soft-reset to get Female individuals of all of the Johto Pokemon any of the following may be unobtainable: Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Hoothoot, Hoppip, Wooper, Sentret, Ledyba, Swinub, Spinerak, Pineco, Snubbull, Sunkern, Houndour, Larvitar, Pupitar, and Teddiursa.

In non-Japanese versions, Mareep and Togepi are included in this due to e-card functionality being removed.

That's... not the same thing as gender-locking Pokemon expressly so you can't breed them. In Colosseum, the Scizor you can catch and the starter Espeon and Umbreon are always male, 100% of the time. Everything else is unfixed.

You might not personally be able to breed a Cyndaquil if you end up catching a male Typhlosion, but you can reset the game and the fact that it is ultimately possible to get a female one means that Cyndaquil is available in the wider "marketplace".

That's like saying that shiny Pikachu isn't available in your game because someone else caught one and you didn't.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

A good amount of Gen V's Gym TMs annoy me. I love these games but man. Let's talk about them.

No complaints about Work Up in either game. One of the best first Gym TMs out there (I never cared about Stealth Rock in its heyday because I never played competitively until Gen 6). Fantastic move and I'm glad it's stuck around three gens later, albeit as a TR in Gen 8.

Retaliate (BW1 gym exclusive, you get it on the Plasma Frigate much later in BW2) I think was a good move in concept. 70 BP for earlygame (speaking BW1, in BW2 you'd never use this over Return by that point lategame) sounds like it'd be okay filler until Return until you realize that even to this day, the move is 5 PP, making it unreliable for routes. The damage doubling effect can be neat but I've never really tried it, and I doubt many people did when you have Return access at Nimbasa a couple towns later in BW1 and after 1 badge in BW1. Have fun teaching it when your life is so dull you consider using Patrat in BW1 (as unlike Llliipup it does not get Take Down at level 15).

Venoshock from Roxie in BW2 is okay, heck better than Retaliate. Only problem is again some of the newer Poison types (Venipede, Garbodor)
were physical, though I can definitely see Koffing and Roselia getting good use out of it. Pretty good move, though the bonus damage can be hard to trigger reliably outside of Roselia's Toxic Spikes (using Poison Gas / Toxic to trigger this for one foe is inefficient compared to just...using Venoshock twice).

Next up is...Struggle Bug.

In its debut generation, you'd never seriously teach this to a Bug type. 30 power, Special-based (when the new bugs back then were Leavanny, Scolipede, Crustle, Escavalier, Durant...most of them sans Volcarona and Accelgor were physical). Even then, Larvesta is infamous for being the textbook example of "use this postgame by simply catching Volcarona in BW1", unlike how you can catch one at level 35 in Black 2 maingame, and even then, you have free Red Shards to tutor Signal Beam, so Struggle Bug still sucks lol) and Shelmet is both suoer late in BW1, has a stupid trading method, and even IF you had the means to evolve it...you're better off with Karrablast (I used Escavalier in BW1 when testing for the list, it is mega slow but honestly really underrated in-game, trust me, tho early moves are rough).

BW2 fixed this by putting Shelmet and Karrablast on Route 6 near Driftveil but when was the last time you heard someone use Accelgor in-game outside of "lemme see what oddball mons I can use this time" kinda runs?

Gen VI fixed this by making it 50 BP and making Vivillon wreck with it but back in Gen V's heyday...yeah the Japanese name should have been "Player Opposition" (instead of "Insect Opposition.")

Volt Switch is great. Too bad the Gen V Electrics are nothing to really get excited over viability wise, with the possible exception of Joltik. Also awkward in-game despite good power because...it forces you to switch. Despite that though, solid movie and a cornerstone of competitive.

Bulldoze is a good move. No complaints here, learned by a good amount of non-Grounds too to my memory.

Acrobatics is a great move. Too bad this was the gen that made Lucky Egg a freebie, meaning that in reality despite having a good damage-doubling effect, you probably won't use it unless you have Archeops. Also UNFEZANT DOES NOT LEARN THIS WHY????

Frost Breath: Uh. Vanillite line has Ice Beam by this point (level 35, same as evolution), as does Crygonal (level 33). That leaves lol Beartic with lower-than-Probopass Special Attack. Gen VI again buffs this to 60 BP but...idk why you'd ever use this over Ice Beam.

Dragon Tail: yes it has good use in competitive. Too bad in-game it makes Drayden / Iris significantly less threatening (HOW IN THE HECK DO YOU GIVE SOMEONE A DRAGON DANCE HAXORUS AS AN ACE AND NOT MAKE IT INTIMIDATING???). I don't see why you'd ever use this over Dragon Claw in-game ever.

Scald is a terrible move. I have no idea why they moved its location in USUM, it was underpowered as heck.

Looking back on these moves, I realize a lot of them get more mileage in competitive and about half of them ARE pretty usable which is great. I just think the bad ones (Struggle Bug and Frost Breath, with a dishonorable mention to Dragon Tail in-game) are some of the worst in the series.

Similar issues: Gen V Incinerate, Water Pulse being a TM post-Surf (Wallace/Juan and GSC / HGSS Misty say hi, thankfully ORAS replaced Water Pulse with Waterfall).

Also, for all the problems Gen VI had, Gym TM prizes were top notch consistently.

 

[Aduro]

EXP Share & the lucky egg make grinding much easier, yeah.

Though I'd say the grind really started being easier in gen 5. The level scaling helped keep you roughly on the level of the other trainers and then you had the Audinos and Lucky egg on top of it.

Lord knows grinding in gens 1-4 can be a real crap shoot depending on the specific game and the specific point in the game you're at.

Agreed that the Exp. Share being non-optional was really annoying too. I wanted to not overlevel to keep nuzlockes interesting...

Level grinding isn't quite a problem for me in SwSh, its the Dynamax Candies. Its a real drag. You need ten for every fully pokemon that you breed or transfer for competitive play.

By the time you've got that many candies, you've probably got everything that doesn't need hyper training to level 50 anyway. Given how much you get from Exp. Candies, and the new Star Tournament.

But literally the only way to get Dynamax Candies is max raids and trading dynite ore from max adventures.
Max Raids are the worst thing about SwSh. The only places you can get wild hidden ability or 31 IV pokemon and valuables. So you ignore the entire rest of the region, which actually looks pretty nice. But the Wild Areas get boring quickly, and the actual battles are usually just spamming a super-effective attack.


As for a little thing. The one idiot NPCs brings an Eevee to max raids
It dies really easily, and frequently clicks helping hand in front of five shields that it should be breaking.

I remember before they added in more NPCs, how irritating that Eevee was when there was that max raid event for Toxtricity that kept using spread moves...

 

[Nokocchi]

That's... not the same thing as gender-locking Pokemon expressly so you can't breed them. In Colosseum, the Scizor you can catch and the starter Espeon and Umbreon are always male, 100% of the time. Everything else is unfixed.

...that is pretty much what I said in the post you quoted, though. I was the one that made the post about Espeon/Umbreon and Scizor being 100% male and everything. I was just simply stating that if you didn't soft-reset for Females constantly when the game first came out, you would have lost the ability to obtain some Johto Pokemon until Firered and Leafgreen came out.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

...that is pretty much what I said in the post you quoted, though. I was the one that made the post about Espeon/Umbreon and Scizor being 100% male and everything. I was just simply stating that if you didn't soft-reset for Females constantly when the game first came out, you would have lost the ability to obtain some Johto Pokemon until Firered and Leafgreen came out.

Yes, but that's not the same thing as the lower forms of those Pokemon being outright unavailable.

Pokemon such as Eevee, Scyther, and Tauros were totally unavailable pre-FRLG. Cyndaquil, Phanpy etc weren't. Even if you couldn't personally get them, you could trade with a friend who had them. Whereas no-one had Eevee.

My intention wasn't to come off as rude, I just found it to be somewhat of a non-statement.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

Gen 2's level curve honestly stinks.

Edit: I take it back.

 

[Pikachu315111]

-Gym Challenges. Its an unpopular opinion but I've always thought they were pointless, especially when they don't exist in the anime.

-Pretty much every gym leader in XY. Not bc they were hard (they were really easy), but bc they were just... annoying. Personality wise.

Gym Challenges: I'm guessing you mean the puzzles you need to solve in the Gym before facing the Gym Leader (and battling the Gym Trainers along the way). I don't mind them, when they're well-designed or creative they're a memorable part of the game, though when they aren't they are rather a sore thumb. I find the best ones tend to sort of have an explanation being there aside "we need a dungeon before the player challenges the boss". That said, using the "doesn't exist in the anime" isn't that good of an excuse because the anime is based on the games, the puzzles existed already and it was just the anime writers who decided to either exclude them, change it, or recycled their concept for something else. I wouldn't want to see the Gym Puzzles vanish, but would like for more thought to go into them to sort of make their inclusion feel maybe more natural, even a purpose.

XY Gym Leader: Exactly what was wrong with their personalities? They felt no different than other gen Gym Leaders in terms of personality variety and expressiveness/exaggeration.

And then you catch it and look at the move's description... and it's literally just Icy Wind with 10 more base power. Far cry from Kyurem's performance under Ghetsis in BW2 - heck, the off-the-shelf Blizzard, learned by practically every Ice-type (yes, including Kyurem itself, even at an earlier level than Glaciate in SwSh) is nearly twice as strong. It doesn't even have a neat special effect like, say, giving opponents -2 to Speed instead of -1, or having an increased Freeze chance just to see how much chaos that would cause in competitive formats. I don't care if their logic is that because Kyurem is an empty shell, it gets a lame signature move - Glaciate is lame, and it deserves to be way cooler. And yes, pun very much intended.

Tend to find this an issue with a few Signature Moves, they're either just slightly powerful version of other moves or you'd prefer the normal STAB move most of the time to it (Mist Ball and Luster Purge come to mind, both are 70 Power so you'd rather use the 90 Power Psychic even if it doesn't have a 50% of decreasing a Special stat).

Scald is a terrible move. I have no idea why they moved its location in USUM, it was underpowered as heck.

That's an interesting opinion as I've only ever heard how OP it is. Sure, it's 10 Power lower than Surf, but that 30% Burn is what puts it above Surf for many people. You get that one-third chance to burn, it lowers their Attack and even if they're a Special Attacker they're now losing HP each turn. Meanwhile Surf is hitting only a little harder with no additional effect (unless its one of the rare Double Battles).