(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Death Phenomeno]

So… Forest's Curse, a move from Gen. 6.

This move adds the Grass Type to the target Pokémon. If the target already has 2 Types, it will have 3 types at once. So far so good, right? It's an interesting move/effect and its consequences could lead to a lot of nice and fun stuff.

WHY THE ^~¬` ARE THESE 2 NOT TRIPLE-TYPED!?

The precedent is there; it's been there for the past couple of generations, even.

Thematically it makes perfect sense. In fact, it's the whole point of As One!

Lorewise, the "King of Bountiful Harvests" is no longer a Grass Type… wow.

And don't get me started on the whole "why does it keep the Psychic Type and not the Grass Type?"…

Apologies. Rant over.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

So… Forest's Curse, a move from Gen. 6.

This move adds the Grass Type to the target Pokémon. If the target already has 2 Types, it will have 3 types at once. So far so good, right? It's an interesting move/effect and its consequences could lead to a lot of nice and fun stuff.

WHY THE ^~¬` ARE THESE 2 NOT TRIPLE-TYPED!?

The precedent is there; it's been there for the past couple of generations, even.

Thematically it makes perfect sense. In fact, it's the whole point of As One!

Lorewise, the "King of Bountiful Harvests" is no longer a Grass Type… wow.

And don't get me started on the whole "why does it keep the Psychic Type and not the Grass Type?"…

Apologies. Rant over.

While I don't think Pokemon should introduce naturally triple-typed Pokemon as a regular thing, considering Rider Calyrex's ability and movepool are just its own and its steed's smashed together, I do agree that it would have been appropriate to make a triple type Pokemon just this once. It's the one area where the gimmick of "it's literally just two Pokemon stacked on top of each other" falls apart.

 

[Pikachu315111]

WHY THE ^~¬` ARE THESE 2 NOT TRIPLE-TYPED!?

The precedent is there; it's been there for the past couple of generations, even.

Thematically it makes perfect sense. In fact, it's the whole point of As One!

Lorewise, the "King of Bountiful Harvests" is no longer a Grass Type… wow.

And don't get me started on the whole "why does it keep the Psychic Type and not the Grass Type?"…

Maybe Calyrex is Psychic naturally while its second Type comes from the "power" source it has linked itself to. When by itself its linked to nature to become part Grass-type. When riding on one of the steeds its link to them thus secondary Type changes to match (while riding them it does not need its Grass-type power; it more needs to be focused on controlling the wild horse).

 

[Worldie]

While I don't think Pokemon should introduce naturally triple-typed Pokemon as a regular thing, considering Rider Calyrex's ability and movepool are just its own and its steed's smashed together, I do agree that it would have been appropriate to make a triple type Pokemon just this once. It's the one area where the gimmick of "it's literally just two Pokemon stacked on top of each other" falls apart.

TLDR the amount of fuckery they would have had to do with the UI for a single case of triple type wouldnt have been worth the hassle.

"double ability" is fine cause it's actually still a single ability with 2 effects so not really different from other abilities other than having the special case of showing a separate popup. It's in reality just a powercrept Unnerve.

in before someone digs in the code and makes a fool of me

 

[AquaticPanic]

I don't necessarily agree that Calyrex should have been triple typed, but if it means more people hate calyrex for not having three types, I'm chilling. The more calyrex hate the merrier.

 

[R_N]

It probably would have been "easy" (so far as these things go) to just make As One have a "Treated as Grass Type" modifier, internally applying the Forest Curse effect if nothing else. Or at least have the Steelworker-type effect and give it Grass STAB.

Ultimately I'm guessing they just didn't want to over complicate the Pokemon

 

[pika pal]

It makes enough sense to me when I think about the Crown Tundra scenario and Calyrex's details. Being blunt, Calyrex sucks by itself, having one of the worst typings in the game whether offensive or defensive, and stats in the neighborhood of Phione, a mass-breedable Pokemon meant as a Bootleg Mythical.

Despite Calyrex being ostensibly the rider/"brain" of the two Pokemon duo for its upgraded forms, the stat increase is more logically read as a +20 to everything on the Steed, vs some wild and unpatterned jumps for Calyrex itself (85 and 70 up in some stats while others go down in some cases). On top of the scenario being that Calyrex needs help to tame its much stronger and long forgotten steed, these factors really want to emphasize that Calyrex gives the duo direction, but the power is coming from the ride. By extension, the entity to which you are inflicting damage and receiving attacks from draws more from the Steed, with Calyrex being protected by it because it is the more vulnerable of the two halves.

Since Calyrex is the brain while the Steed is the Brawn, the more mentally natured Psychic typing is retained while the Steed's type makes up the other half of the duo; Calyrex is not engaging under its own power to the same extent, so the Grass-STAB is lost since you're not fighting a nature spirit, you're fighting a big angry Horse with some deer on its back.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

The English naming convention for these four is body-head but the order of their types is head-body. Dracovish is a Water/Dragon Pokemon. In every other language that doesn't just copy the English names the name parts are ordered correctly.

 

[Pikachu315111]

The English naming convention for these four is body-head but the order of their types is head-body. Dracovish is a Water/Dragon Pokemon. In every other language that doesn't just copy the English names the name parts are ordered correctly.

Going to guess this was done in order to keep in theme with the Japanese names. The Japanese name is essentially Fish-Dragon, Fish-Chill-Don, Electric-Dragon, & Electric-Chill-Don. They either could have done names like Fishagon, Fishildon, Voltagon, and Voltildon to match, though they maybe felt those names were a bit too samey to one another. So they decided to flip them: Dragofish, Arctifish, Dragovolt, Arctivolt. These names sounded more dynamic, even more so after fancying them up (replacing the g in drago- with c, the f in -fish with v, the v in -volt with z, & the i in arti- with o). From there each language decided which was the best order for them.

Thematically it still fits, while head-body makes more sense, well, the point of these Pokemon is that they're mixed up abominations, so having names that also were mixed up doesn't feel out of place.

 

[Sonikku A]

TLDR the amount of fuckery they would have had to do with the UI for a single case of triple type wouldnt have been worth the hassle.

"double ability" is fine cause it's actually still a single ability with 2 effects so not really different from other abilities other than having the special case of showing a separate popup. It's in reality just a powercrept Unnerve.

in before someone digs in the code and makes a fool of me

Legit though, type balance is already bad, why want more things to go wrong?

And yes, I spent hours on this, even making the flashes frame by frame accurate

 

[Siggu]

In some way or form, though, we already have a triple typing of sorts with Dhelmise, even if the "third typing" is just a STAB-like boost.

 

[Sonikku A]

In some way or form, though, we already have a triple typing of sorts with Dhelmise, even if the "third typing" is just a STAB-like boost.

That should honestly be the most done, good

 

[Antihaxxer]

Dhelmise would be so happy to have also the Steel resistances from Steelworker ability

 

[Yung Dramps]

I'm deeply sorry if this is considered wishlisting but I need to get this out there

>composed on mario & luigi
>composing on mario + rabbids sparks of hope
>pokemon has collabed with other vidya musicians like toby fox

Can't stop thinking about how AGONIZINGLY close we are to the Yoko Shimomura Pokemon OST

 

[R_N]

I'm deeply sorry if this is considered wishlisting but I need to get this out there

>composed on mario & luigi
>composing on mario + rabbids sparks of hope
>pokemon has collabed with other vidya musicians like toby fox

Can't stop thinking about how AGONIZINGLY close we are to the Yoko Shimomura Pokemon OST

Of all the things to focus on, the mario games

instead of smash bros, the series already featuring Pokemon where yoko shimomura has composed a remix of BW1 Route 10

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Have I already mentioned that it's always bugged me that the Pokémon representation in Smash is so limited in scope?

 

[R_N]

Have I already mentioned that it's always bugged me that the Pokémon representation in Smash is so limited in scope?

as far as series go, Smash's Pokemon representation is in one of the better spots for that. There's definite blind spots to it, and a trend towards gen 1 in its characters but what else is new on that front, but between music (both rips and remixes), stages, pokeballs and character it casts quite the large net

Lord knows the Kirby representation could take some notes...

 

[Yung Dramps]

Of all the things to focus on, the mario games

instead of smash bros, the series already featuring Pokemon where yoko shimomura has composed a remix of BW1 Route 10

OH MY GOD HOW DID I FORGET SMASH BROS ROUTE 10 GRAAAAAAAH IT MAKES THIS ALL EVEN MORE UNBEARABLE

 

[khlaylav]

Not combining Withdraw and Deposit in the PC annoys me every single time.

 

[Magcargo]

So I am playing Pokemon Inclement Emerald right now and one cool change that game made is making it so that abilities like Blaze, Overgrow, etc. increase 1.2 normally and 1.5 when you are below 33%.. Now this change is pretty great, but it sort of made me realize that abilities like Swarm, Blaze, etc. are actually kind of bad in their current state. There definitely is a strategy with using these abilities as they currently are programmed, but in most 6v6 games, these abilities may as well be a dead slot since maintaining that razors edge between 33% and death is difficult with so many variables around influencing your HP like Leftovers, sandstorm damage, Life Orb, Grassy Terrain, Hail,, entry hazards, etc. Some of these things are in your control, but many of them are not, so strategizing around this ability becomes quite inconsistent. It does not help that the HP threshold for this ability is a bit too low, so even if the Pokemon is in that sweetspot range, they are still on the cusp of being knocked out with priority or the smallest bit of chip damage, These are the main reasons I think these abilities suck in their current state.

Having an innate 1.2x multiplier like in inclement emerald is a pretty smart change for a few reasons:
- these abilities become significantly more reliable and more legitimate choices for the Pokemon using them.
- it teaches newer players the importance of STAB attacks better since their starter will be doing nearly double with their STAB attacks compared to other pokemon
- it preserves the old strategies of deliberately lowering your Pokemon's HP with substitute and other means to get under 33%, but makes them stronger since the abilities are still fantastic outside of that sweetspot range.
- Bug Pokemon would have more of a reason to use their Bug-STAB instead of ditching it for their secondary STAB.

Now Gamefreak doesn't necessarily need to do the same thing inclement Emerald did, but I do hope do something to buff these abilities because I'm not a fan of how they work currently. They did actually coincidencally make a few other changes that inclement emerald in PLA made, like giving Togekiss Moonblast, Infernape Drain Punch, and Empoleon Roost, so its def not out of the question.

 

[R_N]

I was watching a lot of Pokemon Challenge's nuzlockes and every time he uses one of those "in a pinch" abilities he brings up a good point: it's really weird that there's never a message for them. Unlike a different passive damage boost, like Gorilla Tactics or Steelworker or Sheer Force or whatever, this is an "activation" ability. So it'd make a lot of sense to have a little message to tell you about it!
I bet there's been plenty of instances where I use these pokemon in game and just forget about or never know that they're in the active range because of it.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

So I am playing Pokemon Inclement Emerald right now and one cool change that game made is making it so that abilities like Blaze, Overgrow, etc. increase 1.2 normally and 1.5 when you are below 33%.. Now this change is pretty great, but it sort of made me realize that abilities like Swarm, Blaze, etc. are actually kind of bad in their current state. There definitely is a strategy with using these abilities as they currently are programmed, but in most 6v6 games, these abilities may as well be a dead slot since maintaining that razors edge between 33% and death is difficult with so many variables around influencing your HP like Leftovers, sandstorm damage, Life Orb, Grassy Terrain, Hail,, entry hazards, etc. Some of these things are in your control, but many of them are not, so strategizing around this ability becomes quite inconsistent. It does not help that the HP threshold for this ability is a bit too low, so even if the Pokemon is in that sweetspot range, they are still on the cusp of being knocked out with priority or the smallest bit of chip damage, These are the main reasons I think these abilities suck in their current state.

Having an innate 1.2x multiplier like in inclement emerald is a pretty smart change for a few reasons:
- these abilities become significantly more reliable and more legitimate choices for the Pokemon using them.
- it teaches newer players the importance of STAB attacks better since their starter will be doing nearly double with their STAB attacks compared to other pokemon
- it preserves the old strategies of deliberately lowering your Pokemon's HP with substitute and other means to get under 33%, but makes them stronger since the abilities are still fantastic outside of that sweetspot range.
- Bug Pokemon would have more of a reason to use their Bug-STAB instead of ditching it for their secondary STAB.

Now Gamefreak doesn't necessarily need to do the same thing inclement Emerald did, but I do hope do something to buff these abilities because I'm not a fan of how they work currently. They did actually coincidencally make a few other changes that inclement emerald in PLA made, like giving Togekiss Moonblast, Infernape Drain Punch, and Empoleon Roost, so its def not out of the question.

Ngl I actually forgot Swarm was an ability at all

But yes, a consistent boost would be better - though I think it would make your starter even more broken in the early-game than it already is. By and large, your starter is the most powerful Pokemon you'll be obtaining for quite some time, so I'm inclined to think a boost to its STAB right off the bat would discourage players from catching and using other Pokemon.

Not to mention that the "below 33%" factor sucks if, like me, you struggle with numbers. Whenever I've used a Pokemon with an ability like Blaze, I always find myself screwing up my face and going "wait, is that under 33%?" when my Pokemon's HP is low. It's frustrating. And that's only when the game even displays the actual HP numbers - they're not displayed in double battles at all.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Personally, I think the pinch abilities are fine the way they are. They have the potential to be very powerful, but they take some skill to get that power. It strikes a really nice blend of situational and consistent that I really like. That said, them activating at 1/3 health is... weird. To my knowledge, the only other health-related things that don't work in a power of 1/2 are the confusion berries in Gen 8 and Rocky Helmet, and of the three groups, the pinch abilities are the only ones that trigger at a weird HP fraction as opposed to altering HP by a weird HP fraction.

 

[Celever]

Personally, I think the pinch abilities are fine the way they are. They have the potential to be very powerful, but they take some skill to get that power. It strikes a really nice blend of situational and consistent that I really like. That said, them activating at 1/3 health is... weird. To my knowledge, the only other health-related things that don't work in a power of 1/2 are the confusion berries in Gen 8 and Rocky Helmet, and of the three groups, the pinch abilities are the only ones that trigger at a weird HP fraction as opposed to altering HP by a weird HP fraction.

This is just a relic of older game design tbh. The pinch abils were all brought in in Gen III, no new ones have even been given to other types since then (e.g. Normal-Type pinch ability would be great IMO) and at the time were the only abilities that triggered at a health percentage. The only other abilities to even involve HP percentages were Rain Dish, Water / Volt Absorb, and Rough Skin.

Echoing that I like the design of the pinch abilities a lot. Their inconsistency is IMO a strength because it's hype when you actually get a KO you otherwise wouldn't thanks to being in range for the ability, it's more of a last stand design philosophy than anything else. It can also absolutely be exploited consistently, I remember this being a big thing in formats I've played over the years, as a lot of them have had Simipour as a strong competitive threat, and Simipour in Torrent range is a force against nature. Sometimes it runs Substitute + Salac specifically to make use of Torrent as a cleaner, instead of running Nasty Plot as a wallbreaker, thanks to Torrent boosting its attack power anyway.

 

[Bakugames]

IMO not all abilities need competitive use, sometimes something is a bit more inconsistent but that more hype in a casual game is more fun than giving everything an immediately valuable comp ability. If anything, I kind of wish the design of pokemon focused on making normal abilities more fun and a bit wacky, focused on gameplay, and hidden abilities be the competitive ones. HAs are super easy to get in post game anyways.

Main issue of pinch abis is that they actually rely on math to know when they're active. Sure, in most hp-reliant abilities you can use math to calculate in advance how much damage you can take/need to take, but pinch abilities need you to actually calculate if it's active or not, instead of giving a prompt. Super weird they didn't fix it.