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Little things you like about Pokémon
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
I was going to post this in the unpopular opinions thread but I don't really think it's that unpopular. The BW animated sprites are the best of the entire series. The crappy resolution doesn't bother me; in fact I didn't even know that the resolution was worse than that of the DP sprites until much later since I don't really have an eye for it. They are certainly a lot more lively than many of the Gen 6 and 7 models. Here are some comparisons:
BW Kyurem looks like an absolute terror, moving around erratically and slamming its fists into the ground. The flashing tail part adds so much drama to it. Modern Kyurem kinda just sits there breathing heavily.
BW Swellow is randomly twitching with its beak, wings, and tail separately, with a little puff of the chest. Modern Swellow is a neat sprite but dumb in context of the battle. It clearly looks like it's meant to be in flight, but the battle is stationary so it's kinda just floating. It takes all the spunk away.
BW Weavile is hopping around but still flashing its claws like a menace. It's showing off its moves while telling the enemy that it can rip it to shreds. Modern Weavile is so devoid of life and awkwardly hunched over, and doesn't look anything like the killer it should be portrayed as.
Sorry, I'm not an art critic and it is late so this is mostly just sleepy me typing, but the difference is obvious.
BW Kyurem looks like an absolute terror, moving around erratically and slamming its fists into the ground. The flashing tail part adds so much drama to it. Modern Kyurem kinda just sits there breathing heavily.
BW Swellow is randomly twitching with its beak, wings, and tail separately, with a little puff of the chest. Modern Swellow is a neat sprite but dumb in context of the battle. It clearly looks like it's meant to be in flight, but the battle is stationary so it's kinda just floating. It takes all the spunk away.
BW Weavile is hopping around but still flashing its claws like a menace. It's showing off its moves while telling the enemy that it can rip it to shreds. Modern Weavile is so devoid of life and awkwardly hunched over, and doesn't look anything like the killer it should be portrayed as.
Sorry, I'm not an art critic and it is late so this is mostly just sleepy me typing, but the difference is obvious.
I'll give you Swellow being dumb, but the idle poses weren't meant to look like that all the time. Only when a Pokemon isn't attacking.I was going to post this in the unpopular opinions thread but I don't really think it's that unpopular. The BW animated sprites are the best of the entire series. The crappy resolution doesn't bother me; in fact I didn't even know that the resolution was worse than that of the DP sprites until much later since I don't really have an eye for it. They are certainly a lot more lively than many of the Gen 6 and 7 models. Here are some comparisons:
BW Kyurem looks like an absolute terror, moving around erratically and slamming its fists into the ground. The flashing tail part adds so much drama to it. Modern Kyurem kinda just sits there breathing heavily.
BW Swellow is randomly twitching with its beak, wings, and tail separately, with a little puff of the chest. Modern Swellow is a neat sprite but dumb in context of the battle. It clearly looks like it's meant to be in flight, but the battle is stationary so it's kinda just floating. It takes all the spunk away.
BW Weavile is hopping around but still flashing its claws like a menace. It's showing off its moves while telling the enemy that it can rip it to shreds. Modern Weavile is so devoid of life and awkwardly hunched over, and doesn't look anything like the killer it should be portrayed as.
Sorry, I'm not an art critic and it is late so this is mostly just sleepy me typing, but the difference is obvious.
To be fair, the BW animations are idle too. Even if nothing interesting happens, the Pokémon still move with a bit more vigor than the 3D models do. The vast majority of the 3D models move in a way that can best be described as "calm bobbing", with nowhere near the same level of emotion as the sprites before them had.
I really like how the NPCs describe their life in the town they're residing in. Really adds to the immersion when you hear about what their day to day life in the town or city they're living in is like. They aren't the most important NPCs in the game but I do appreciate their addition
But that's also because it's the only animation they have in BW.
If anyone wants to complain about Pokémon animations in XY onwards, a wiser choise for a comparison would be Battle Revolution.
I wouldn't necessarily mind that lol. Granted it would be kind of weird to see Weavile dancing around that much in 3D, but there could easily be a middle ground between that and looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
A think the biggest disappointment comes with winged Pokemon. I almost showed Skarmory over Swellow, but the latter is one of my favorite Pokemon ever so it's more disappointing. Latios and Latias suffer the same fate (also they have the most anticlimactic cries of any Pokemon, but that's a topic for another time).
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Yes, for XY it was understandable why they went for more "default" poses because they had 600+ Pokemon to make into models.
But, here's the thing: we're now 4 game iterations past that going into the fifth iteration yet the models STILL are in default poses during battle! I would perfectly understood if it was a slow transition: in XY first make all Pokemon models (and future proof them) and then with each iteration after give batches of Pokemon more complex idle animations (ORAS would do so for Pokemon in the Hoenn Dex + the new Kalos 'mons + the 'mons they'll know will be in the next games. Then in SM they could focus on whoever they didn't for for the Alola Dex. Finally USUM should have been the games where they finally caught up. By the time of Let's Go at the very least all the Kanto Pokemon should have more lively idle animations).
There's no excuse that going into Sword & Shield the Pokemon are still just standing still (or hovering in mid air somehow) waiting to attack/be attacked. They should always look like they're in a battle pose, both ready to leap into an attack while also expecting an incoming attack.
They don't need to have Weavile hopping around (if anything that would be an attacking animation of it leaping forward). Instead I see more Weavile doing a sort of boxer dodging and weaving movement, but instead of clenched fists it would have it's claws spread out and wiggling/twitching them (thus putting your attention towards them).
All winged Pokemon should at least be doing a "hovering flap". Some do (like I know Charizard does) though all of them should as it's the only way it makes sense they're still in the air (even if it's impossible for birds to do that, and before you say anything the Hummingbird's hover ability is a complex case where it's actually rapidly flapping in a figure 8). But this is Pokemon so if we see a winged Pokemon do a downward wing flap it's enough to justify it. And in doing that they can maybe then find ways to make their idly posses more interesting like do a complex aerial maneuver or scratch the air with their talons and/or beak.
BTW, a lot of Pokemon can easily "share" a more dynamic idle pose. Like most quadruped Pokemon would probably be in a pouncing pose and maybe have an additional animation catered toward that Pokemon's unique body traits. Most Fighting-types will probably be in classic martial arts poses. Also I could see many Psychic-type Pokemon remaining in their default poses because, well, they're using their mind to attack so probably will be in a focusing pose. There are simple ways to give a bit more dynamic poses, GF just doesn't want to do them because it's boring.
"NO! They're probably crunched on time or have allocated their resources elsewhere"
Hire more employees, contract work out; infact if their animators are busy the entire work day they can't schedule some time to do a handful of idle poses I would be worried they're being overworked. Oh, and they could also not be splitting their workforce in two by working two games at once, that's another idea.
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I kind of agree that the "idle" poses for the 3D models in gen 6 onwards are rather boring, and I agree that they could definitely be a good deal more lively than they are now. So in other words, I agree with all of the above post in particular. That being said, on the plus side, I think what the 3D models do get pretty well is the attacking animations: when they execute moves, I like the emotive actions they take with how to execute certain moves in their non-idle poses, and there's definitely some nice detail placed into many Pokemon's fainting animations. Like with Goodra:
This is just one example, and one of my favorites (especially because I LOVE Goodra), but while the idle poses of many Pokemon are a bit lame, there's definitely some nice detail put into the attack sprites: like here with Goodra, it just looks hella expressive with its movements and gestures, and I LOVE how drippy it is: it's a dragon covered in slime and it drips bits of slime as it moves, which I think is a nice detail.
Another favorite of mine is Azumarill, where I love how its tail glows with a cyan light in one of its animations, which I think is a REALLY nice detail:
Other Pokemon in particular have plenty of expressiveness in their attacking animations, some fine examples
And another favorite of mine in particular:
I don't mean to continue rambling on, but yeah, even though I do agree that the 3D models are far from perfect, there are some really good things they managed to get done with the 3D models. Like in these cases I just mentioned above, the attack animations are very vibrant and showcase plenty of expression when they are executing attacks. The 3D models at times can be plenty vibrant, and many Pokemon have some nice detail in their fainting animations as well. The animations in Pokemon Amie/Refresh/Camp are also really cute and endearing and the Pokemon become very emotive in those cases, whether they are happy, sleeping, weak, or angry/unhappy, there's some pretty good detail placed in those animations.
I do agree, however, that they are FAR from perfect, especially since a lot of flying/bird Pokemon have rather lackluster idle poses and some of their attack poses are also a bit lacking compared to other Pokemon. However, while there is room for improvement, the 3D models are in many cases plenty vibrant, sometimes not as much as the BW/BW2 idle poses, but the attack animations for many Pokemon are very lively and expressive, and I really like the active/emotion animations both in-battle and in Amie/Refresh. I think a lot of people focus too much on the negative aspects of them (especially since places like Pokemon Showdown! just stick with the idle poses), but there are some things that they do right with them, which I appreciate quite a bit.
This is just one example, and one of my favorites (especially because I LOVE Goodra), but while the idle poses of many Pokemon are a bit lame, there's definitely some nice detail put into the attack sprites: like here with Goodra, it just looks hella expressive with its movements and gestures, and I LOVE how drippy it is: it's a dragon covered in slime and it drips bits of slime as it moves, which I think is a nice detail.
Another favorite of mine is Azumarill, where I love how its tail glows with a cyan light in one of its animations, which I think is a REALLY nice detail:
Other Pokemon in particular have plenty of expressiveness in their attacking animations, some fine examples
And another favorite of mine in particular:
I don't mean to continue rambling on, but yeah, even though I do agree that the 3D models are far from perfect, there are some really good things they managed to get done with the 3D models. Like in these cases I just mentioned above, the attack animations are very vibrant and showcase plenty of expression when they are executing attacks. The 3D models at times can be plenty vibrant, and many Pokemon have some nice detail in their fainting animations as well. The animations in Pokemon Amie/Refresh/Camp are also really cute and endearing and the Pokemon become very emotive in those cases, whether they are happy, sleeping, weak, or angry/unhappy, there's some pretty good detail placed in those animations.
I do agree, however, that they are FAR from perfect, especially since a lot of flying/bird Pokemon have rather lackluster idle poses and some of their attack poses are also a bit lacking compared to other Pokemon. However, while there is room for improvement, the 3D models are in many cases plenty vibrant, sometimes not as much as the BW/BW2 idle poses, but the attack animations for many Pokemon are very lively and expressive, and I really like the active/emotion animations both in-battle and in Amie/Refresh. I think a lot of people focus too much on the negative aspects of them (especially since places like Pokemon Showdown! just stick with the idle poses), but there are some things that they do right with them, which I appreciate quite a bit.
Debated to put this here or on the "Mystery" thread, however I felt it more fit here.
So, over on the Sword & Shield thread we're talking about the Live Camera Stream and about a certain Pokemon that appeared on it. Won't reveal what it was, for those trying to avoid spoilers (though GF is doing a pretty good job keeping tight-lipped this time around, good on them), but I will at least say it was a Galarian Form. Why is that important? Well we're arguing about what Type it would be and someone pointed out that the species of that Pokemon mentions a Type so the Galarian Form would also have to be that Type to match the species name.
Now, I was originally going to respond pointing out that, despite becoming Ice-types, SANDshrew and SANDslash keep the sand part of their name even though would make more sense to be called Snowshrew and Snowslash now (and no, their Japanese names aren't much different, infact they're more direct as it's literally Sand and Sandpan). I then was going to mention they oddly did give Vulpix an unofficial Alolan name even though there's nothing wrong with its name in Japanese or English that would require it: Keokeo (from the Hawaiian word for "white"). Curious, I looked up the Hawaiian word for "snow" as if they gave the Sandshrew an Alolan name it would probably be based off that and discovered it was "hau"!
"Wait, but according to Bulbapedia Hau's name is the Hawaiian word for "sea hibiscus""
And you're right, apparently the Hawaiian word "hau" has multiple meanings and which one you mean all depends on how you use it.
But wait, didn't Hau have an Ice-type Pokemon ("hau" also being used to mean "ice")? Yes, he did: Crabominable! His grandfather Hala's ace Pokemon.
Which means, even though Hala is a Fighting-type specialist, his signature Pokemon is part Ice-type because in Hawaiian ice translates to "hau" so in a way Hala has a reminder of his grandson with him!
So, over on the Sword & Shield thread we're talking about the Live Camera Stream and about a certain Pokemon that appeared on it. Won't reveal what it was, for those trying to avoid spoilers (though GF is doing a pretty good job keeping tight-lipped this time around, good on them), but I will at least say it was a Galarian Form. Why is that important? Well we're arguing about what Type it would be and someone pointed out that the species of that Pokemon mentions a Type so the Galarian Form would also have to be that Type to match the species name.
Now, I was originally going to respond pointing out that, despite becoming Ice-types, SANDshrew and SANDslash keep the sand part of their name even though would make more sense to be called Snowshrew and Snowslash now (and no, their Japanese names aren't much different, infact they're more direct as it's literally Sand and Sandpan). I then was going to mention they oddly did give Vulpix an unofficial Alolan name even though there's nothing wrong with its name in Japanese or English that would require it: Keokeo (from the Hawaiian word for "white"). Curious, I looked up the Hawaiian word for "snow" as if they gave the Sandshrew an Alolan name it would probably be based off that and discovered it was "hau"!
"Wait, but according to Bulbapedia Hau's name is the Hawaiian word for "sea hibiscus""
And you're right, apparently the Hawaiian word "hau" has multiple meanings and which one you mean all depends on how you use it.
But wait, didn't Hau have an Ice-type Pokemon ("hau" also being used to mean "ice")? Yes, he did: Crabominable! His grandfather Hala's ace Pokemon.
Which means, even though Hala is a Fighting-type specialist, his signature Pokemon is part Ice-type because in Hawaiian ice translates to "hau" so in a way Hala has a reminder of his grandson with him!
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Someone posted this about the UBs having prime number base stats before, but Necrozma has a rather unique design detail to it and I don't quite know why it ended up this way:
All of Necrozma's stats are prime to begin with, but when it consumes Solgaleo/Lunala the Speed stats become blum integers while the rest become other prime numbers. This seems to just be a random detail put in there for a reason I can't find, but I am sure there is some neat rationale in there.
It is a little annoying to know that we could have had an all prime base 131 Speed Ultra Necrozma though.
Form: HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe
Necrozma: 97/107/101/127/89/79
Dusk Mane Necrozma: 97/157/127/113/109/77
Dawn Wings Necrozma: 97/113/109/157/127/77
Ultra Necrozma: 97/167/97/167/97/129
Necrozma: 97/107/101/127/89/79
Dusk Mane Necrozma: 97/157/127/113/109/77
Dawn Wings Necrozma: 97/113/109/157/127/77
Ultra Necrozma: 97/167/97/167/97/129
All of Necrozma's stats are prime to begin with, but when it consumes Solgaleo/Lunala the Speed stats become blum integers while the rest become other prime numbers. This seems to just be a random detail put in there for a reason I can't find, but I am sure there is some neat rationale in there.
It is a little annoying to know that we could have had an all prime base 131 Speed Ultra Necrozma though.
Naganadel also has that problem of not having a prime Speed (the closest numbers to its actual Speed stat being 113 and 127).
Due to this also happening to Naganadel, I wouldn't say it's a Blum Integer but rather it's just a plain ol' Semiprime as 77 is both but 121 is only a semiprime.
Being how hard they worked to make sure all other Ultra Beasts had prime numbers, I doubt it was an accident as they'd probably have an entire sheet of prime numbers right in front of them to make sure a number they use was a prime.
So there must be different about Necrozma Forms and Naganadel, which there is: Necrozma forms are, well, different and need it to be fused with Solgaleo or Lunala. Meanwhile Naganadel is an evolution though possibly not a natural one as to get Poipole to evolve it must be taught Dragon Pulse via Move Reminder. So in a way they've become "plus" Ultra Beasts. Something was done to them to make them more and to show that all but one of their stats are prime with the other being a semiprime (which is a sum of two primes added together, a "plus" prime). From there it could then just be simple playing around with the stats until they got the BST they wanted.
Why the Speed stat was chosen for both either was because it was a convenient "dump" stat or they're trying to link it to light which one thing you think about it is its speed. Necrozma's connection to light is obvious though with Naganadel you need to stretch: it's homeworld is Ultra Megapolis which is a world which light was taken from it by Necrozma. Explains why both Ultra Necrozma and Naganadel are pretty fast. "But Necrozma's other forms aren't". Necrozma's Dusk Mane and Danw Wings form being slow could just be a result of it being an incomplete fusion, Necrozma's crystal body refracting, hampering, & slowing down the light of Solgaleo & Lunala.
That would actually make sense, as 129 is also a semiprime number.
I went ahead and made all those mentioned Speed stats prime (Necrozma's fused forms have 79 base Speed again. UN has 131. Naganadel has 127) in my Ultra Moon hack. Also made sure every move we gave a UB, Cosmog line member, or Nercrozma was at a prime number and any all other stat reworks with them where done keeping the prime number theme. I kind of went "more in" with said theme in the hack.
It's always nice whenever a Gym looks to have a secondary function aside where you go to have a boss battle. Gen V notably did that with a lot of their Gyms and ORAS tried converting the Hoenn Gyms to also be like this. Looking through them:
Kanto:
Cerulean Gym was a public swimming pool (and if the anime is anything to go by also a water performance show).
Celadon Gym was a garden.
Johto:
Azalea Gym I guess could count as an insectarium. Though curious if this (and any Grass-type Gyms being gardens) should count as in that case a few more Gyms could be considered a reserve for their specific Type. But moving on.
Cianwood Gym is a martial arts dojo.
Hoenn:
Rustboro Gym is a geology museum.
Dewford Gym is a fitness center/club.
Lavaridge Gym is a hot spring sauna.
Petalburg Gym is a dojo.
Sinnoh:
Eterna Gym is a garden.
Veilstone Gym is a fitness center/club.
Unova:
Striaton Gym is a restaurant.
Nacrene Gym is a library.
Aspertia Gym is at a Trainer School.
Virbank Gym is a music club.
Castelia Gym in B2W2 is seemingly Burghs art studio & art project.
Nimbasa Gym is BW was an amusement ride while B2W2 was moved to a fashion runway.
Driftveil Gym is a mining operation.
Humilau Gym could be counted as a "water garden".
Kalos:
Cyllage Gym was a rock climbing wall/mountain.
Shalour Gym is a roller rink.
Laverre Gym I probably wouldn't originally have counted having a functional purpose but I guess staging shows could be a possibility. Note that, for all we know, all Gyms or most have a functional purpose but these are just the most obvious to me.
Alola:
All Trial Sites were natural/abandoned manmade locations so their functional purpose was being a protected reserve for the Pokemon who made their home their. You were even allowed to go back after the Trail to catch any of the Pokemon that lived there.
Galar:
Galar may be the first region where all its Gyms, which are big Stadiums, just serve as a place to battle. Of course this is because Gym Battles are treated as a sport, having ton of sponsors and televised (and probably sells (overpriced) merchandise. Wonder if we'd see the audience side of things, would be neat).
Mimikyu: Am I... a joke to you? I dressed as you to try and get some of the love you have lots of... and now you're dressing AS ME to take that AWAY FROM ME...
I'm pretty sure Pikachu is a metaphor for the Disney company at this point, inspiring a wave of copycats but will ultimately integrate the successful ones into itself until there's just Pikachu.
Mimikyu: Am I... a joke to you? I dressed as you to try and get some of the love you have lots of... and now you're dressing AS ME to take that AWAY FROM ME...
Just Pikachu.
Just Pikachu.
These two are pretty charming too:
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Sun and Moon may get a lot of criticisms for Z-moves being imbalanced and whatever, but it did provide some very useful buffs for the Ice type.
- Aurora Veil provides a much needed defensive buff to Ice Types providing a much needed in both spectrum.
- While it can only be used under hail, Alolan Ninetales is a fast Ice Type, and its access to Snow Warning makes it very useful as an Auroura Veil setter.
- Alolan Sandslash is a much needed buff for Ice types. Its Steel typing, while giving it to quad weaknesses, give it a huge amount of resistences ( One of 3 Resistences than weaknesses ) and access to Slush Rush to make up for its bad speed. Slush Rush is a much welcome addition, since it allows Ice to take advantage of its powerful offensive typing. With Swords Dance its a very fearsome sweeper. The speed should be a bit higher, since it falls to choice Scarf of 107 and higher. I manage to 1700s on BSS using a Slush Rush core, the BSS Viabillity rankings didn't want a nomination.
- Not really SM related, I like Articuno and I don't think its the worst Legendary. I've been using on Battlespot with a SubRoost set that tries to fish out OHKOES and it does really well against common staples like Tapus, Salamence, and Greninja.
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I wouldn't really call Aurora Veil a buff to Ice types, in the same way I wouldn't consider Reflect and Light Screen to be buffs to Psychic types. It's a buff to Hail though, as is Slush Rush, though in Slush Rush's case, it lacks a really powerful user that can effectively be paired with Alolan Ninetales in higher tiers the same way Tyranitar and Excadrill pair so well together.
I don't think anyone was arguing that it's the worst legendary. Not when Regigigas, Cosmog, Cosmoem, and Phione exist.
The problem with Ice-types (okay, one of the many, many problems) is that Game Freak seems to want them to be slow and defensive. But because of Ice's horrible type chart interactions, they are as functional in this role as shields made of paper. Meanwhile, their offensive presence is almost negligible. To me, Aurora Veil really seemed like a stubborn attempt to make the Ice-type work in their badly assigned role. A move that halves the damage taken on both sides of the spectrum would be completely busted for any other type, but it's the tool Ice is given because it takes that much to make Ice-types work defensively.
All this while Ice would be excellent on the offensive side. It is resisted by rather few types and hits quite a handful super-effectively. STAB Ice moves would make a real dent in opponents, provided that the user had a high enough offensive stat and that the move had high enough base power. Unfortunately, that combination is very, very rare. Ice Beam and Blizzard are powerful moves, but there are no good Ice-type special attackers. There exist Ice-types with high Attack, but no (non-signature) high-power physical Ice-type moves. Exceptions do exist, of course, but they tend to be badly hemmed by a lack of Speed and/or coverage moves. So instead, Ice finds the most use as a coverage move type in the form of Ice Beam, used by Pokémon of other types.