Pokémon Let's Go! - Pikachu and Eevee

[PikachuVincent]

Pikachu from Yellow is most definitely not stronger than Let’s Go Pikachu. Objectively.

It's just an opinion

I would just mention that the only reason Pikachu is nowhere near Eevee in "competitive" usage is because they are version exclusives so it's illegal to have both.
In fact, Pikachu from Yellow was a flat regular Pikachu that couldn't evolve, that was pretty much terrible even in its own game.

Pikachu on its own is very strong, problem is Eevee's utility is much more required since it's the only way to heal status in the game aside from Rest, and you can't really pass that up.

I appreciate your effort in making a constructive post with lot of interesting and well detailed new criticism.

I only like regular eevee not Eevee starter. Eevee's ultilty is one of the worst in my opinion

Ok, heres my opinion of this game.
The only thing good for this game is the graphics. Thats it. Now let's talk about the BAD things!

Bad things

- The thing that made more People dislike Pikachu more. Since Eevee is at the top at the competive SINGLES and DOUBLES format and Pikachu is NO WHERE NEAR Eevee.
- Pkmn Go. I have it but will never touch it.
- In game models and the friendly neighborhood rival.
- Red being there but not being as good as he once was. I liked him when he was in HGSS, the gold and sliver games are so ok but the thing about what put me off is the battle location. Thankfully this got fixed in HeartGold(I hate Soulsilver but most people seem to love lugia while I hate it, a lot.)
- Motion controls. Wished they never put it there just like Splatoon 2. because Motion controls feel bad.
- trigger encounters. Just... No..... Fuck that shit.
- The removal of EV and IVs
- only kanto and some gen 2
-Letting Pikachu be on your shoulder. Should be only kept with Ash. Only do this with Ash from the anime
- Blue is in there but he should be more powerful since he is the best rival. That friendly rival shouldn't even come to EXIST!
I hate more things about it but I can't keep them all contained in this one post.
I love Yellow MUCH MORE than this Pile of Garbage. Pokemon Yellow was the BEST In my opinion since they let you follow Pikachu around behind you, not some just unworthy not strong Pokemon! Pikachu from Yellow was stronger than this!

Oh yeah I forgot I meant not like Strong in competive usage for the last thing I mean wsrtong enough to walk on it's own

 

[Codraroll]

It's just an opinion

I only like regular eevee not Eevee starter. Eevee's ultilty is one of the worst in my opinion

Oh yeah I forgot I meant not like Strong in competive usage for the last thing I mean wsrtong enough to walk on it's own

If no reply has been posted since your last one, please use the Edit button instead of double posting. Please use the Edit button twice instead of triple posting. Thanks.

 

[Worldie]

I only like regular eevee not Eevee starter. Eevee's ultilty is one of the worst in my opinion

I take that you really don't know much about how strong Eevee's signature moves are utility wise.
Status Heal in a game where you can't remove Paralysis or Toxic in any way other than using Rest means that unless you want to really go for a hyperoffensive all-in team composition you have to include it, as well as having the option to set Reflect/Light Screen/Leech Seed while dealing chip damage. Aside than that, Eevee has very little offensive presence though, due to having no stabs and relatively mediocre offenses compared to Pikachu.
In-game wise, starter Pikachu is *much* stronger than Eevee. It's faster, has two actually strong stab (one of which has priority) and pretty much perfect coverage. It also sits on 120 base speed which is insane even for gen 7 standards, moreso in gen 1 standards where only 4 Pokemon in the entire game outspeed it (two of which being Mega evolutions and one not allowed at all) and being able to hit from both phisical and special side with comparable power is a huge boon that very few Pokemon can roll with, expecially as Electric is a very strong offensive type in gen 1 due to the utter lack of good Grass and Ground types.

If they weren't exclusive, people'd be happy to include both in their teams, because Pikachu's offensive presence is second to almost noone in Let's Go roster (maybe just to Mega Alakazam's).

 

[PikachuVincent]

I take that you really don't know much about how strong Eevee's signature moves are utility wise.
Status Heal in a game where you can't remove Paralysis or Toxic in any way other than using Rest means that unless you want to really go for a hyperoffensive all-in team composition you have to include it, as well as having the option to set Reflect/Light Screen/Leech Seed while dealing chip damage. Aside than that, Eevee has very little offensive presence though, due to having no stabs and relatively mediocre offenses compared to Pikachu.
In-game wise, starter Pikachu is *much* stronger than Eevee. It's faster, has two actually strong stab (one of which has priority) and pretty much perfect coverage. It also sits on 120 base speed which is insane even for gen 7 standards, moreso in gen 1 standards where only 4 Pokemon in the entire game outspeed it (two of which being Mega evolutions and one not allowed at all) and being able to hit from both phisical and special side with comparable power is a huge boon that very few Pokemon can roll with, expecially as Electric is a very strong offensive type in gen 1 due to the utter lack of good Grass and Ground types.

If they weren't exclusive, people'd be happy to include both in their teams, because Pikachu's offensive presence is second to almost noone in Let's Go roster (maybe just to Mega Alakazam's).

I honeslty dont care about Eevee's ultaly since I'm more of a VGC hyper offensive guy but yeah I get what you mean but nah

 

[Altissimo]

Punctuation please

 

[Worldie]

I honeslty dont care about Eevee's ultaly since I'm more of a VGC hyper offensive guy but yeah I get what you mean but nah

Then you probably should not care because this Eevee and Pikachu will be never usable in VGC anyway, and neither normal Eevee nor normal Pikachu have any viability in that scenario :P

 

[PikachuVincent]

Then you probably should not care because this Eevee and Pikachu will be never usable in VGC anyway, and neither normal Eevee nor normal Pikachu have any viability in that scenario :P

Yeah I get it since only in lets go but lets just call VGC doubles for now

 

[Worldie]

Yeah I get it since only in lets go but lets just call VGC doubles for now

VGC 2019 is on USUM and has nothing to do with Let's Go. VGC 2020 will be on the Gen 8 games that will come out in late 2019.
Let's Go is never going to have a dedicated VGC format, as it doesn't even have a battle spot and was not designed with a competitive aspect in mind.

 

[Kanburi]

Bad things
- Pkmn Go. I have it but will never touch it.

This honestly is enough. That, and motion controls and capturing being the only reliable way to grind. But I disagree with the trigger encounters. Helps that you can avoid encounters without having to use Repels, but even then, I've had encounters just pop up right in front of me way too often.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Bad things

1. The thing that made more People dislike Pikachu more. Since Eevee is at the top at the competive SINGLES and DOUBLES format and Pikachu is NO WHERE NEAR Eevee.

2. Pkmn Go. I have it but will never touch it.

3. In game models and the friendly neighborhood rival.

4. trigger encounters. Just... No..... Fuck that shit.

5. The removal of EV and IVs

6. only kanto and some gen 2

7. Letting Pikachu be on your shoulder. Should be only kept with Ash. Only do this with Ash from the anime

8. I love Yellow MUCH MORE than this Pile of Garbage. Pokemon Yellow was the BEST In my opinion since they let you follow Pikachu around behind you, not some just unworthy not strong Pokemon! Pikachu from Yellow was stronger than this!

1. Pikachu certainly did get the short end of the stick with Eevee getting a move for each of its Eeveelutions. That said, if you look at their stats I'd argue Pikachu got a slightly better deal there. Partner Pikachu's stats: 45/80/50/75/60/120; Partner Eevee's stats: 65/75/70/65/85/75. Eevee was kept very balanced, arguably even more defense focused, while Pikachu was made into more of a glass cannon. In addition, while Pikachu only gets 4 special moves, one is a Water-type that covers its Ground-type weakness and another is Flying-type which hits Grass-types that would resist Pikachu's STAB (and it's second Electric-type move is essentially a Extreme Speed expy that ignores stat changes). Eevee certainly has utility with its wide coverage (not to mention all its moves having 100% of doing a secondary effect while Pikachu's two coverage moves are just a 30% chance), but I wouldn't say its why people dislike Pikachu. I'd say people dislike Pikachu because its the series mascot so its EVERYWHERE while Eevee (& in extension the Eeveelutions) always had this unique charm to it (& them).

2. In what way is Pokemon GO bad for the game? Do you mean them shoving in the Pokemon GO mechanics into the game? I would agree with that, especially when it comes to the catching mechanic. But I would say it is neat that, in some way, there's finally connectivity between GO and the main series, or at least one step away from the main series (though I can't imagine Let's Go not having connectivity with Gen VIII). Also a lot of the GO mechanic shoving decisions isn't necessarily Let's Go fault (the mechanics work there and GO have been improving with every update), rather it's the fault of the odd decisions of Masuda.

3. What models? The trainers? I can see the reasoning as I also prefer the Gen VII models. That said there's nothing wrong with these models, especially since they're used on both the overworld and in-battle so there's no art dissonance like in Gen VI. Reason I like the Gen VII models is because they feel less child-ish, the more correct proportions I feel gives a bit more "realism" to scenes. Now it should be noted the Let's Go games are going for a more cutesy style thus this won't be affecting the main games, so really this is only a problem if you like the Let's Go games but don't like the art style.
But if you're talking about the Pokemon they're the same models from XY I think, maybe given a bit more polish and animation.
But, yeah, I can't get behind Trace. As many playthroughs I watched joked, he is "Not Blue". Worst is knowing the reasoning for even replacing Blue (and thus Red as the playable character) in the first place. Friendly rivals aren't a bad thing, it's just that we've played so many Pokemon games where your rivals were buddy-buddy. And that's not asking to have a jerk rival either, just for a rival who isn't instantly your friend and maybe doesn't even become your best friend at the end of the game or has goals where you being better then them doesn't get in the way.

4. By Trigger Encounters I guess you mean the Legendary and Snorlax battles? Let me guess, your issue is with the timer, right? I agree, Timer wasn't needed. Like already the throwing the Poke Ball mechanic can be finicky with you either completely missing, the Pokemon blocks it, or the Pokemon just breaks out of the Poke Ball. Adding a Timer where, no matter what you do, if it runs out the Pokemon flees feels like them adding on difficulty just for the sake of it as it doesn't really add anything to the experience aside from extra frustration.

5. And then replacing them with the OP "Candy" system, especially when it comes to making the Pokemon bulkier. It doesn't add strategy it just makes battles last longer, at least EVs you only had a choice amount. IVs I just think they need to do a few adjustments that'll make them okay: when a Pokemon levels up they increase in one IV (so that way in the main game it does feel like your Pokemon is getting stronger) and for Hyper Training lessen the restrictions (lower the Level requirement to 50, make getting Bottle Caps easier, let us choose to make a stat have 0 IVs, etc.).

6. I hope this game finally got GF's Kanto obsession over with.
Also there's no Gen 2 Pokemon, only additional Pokemon are Alolan forms and the new Meltan/Melmetal.

7. Why? If anything that's what the games are trying to emulate, letting you have your partner Pokemon ride around on your shoulder like Ash does. Makes me wonder if they should consider doing this in the main game with small Pokemon (as well as keep the casual riding Pokemon mechanic; though eitherway would like to see walking Pokemon return).

8. Seeing as you already explained what you meant by "stronger", maybe a more accurate term was "better", "appealing", or even "cooler" or "independent".

 

[Worldie]

This honestly is enough. That, and motion controls and capturing being the only reliable way to grind. But I disagree with the trigger encounters.

Random fact , in handheld mode you can completely skip the motion control and use left analog to move the camera.
Idk why they didnt include this option in docked, I guess they REALLY wanted the player to throw the damn Pokeball :P

 

[Codraroll]

Random fact , in handheld mode you can completely skip the motion control and use left analog to move the camera.
Idk why they didnt include this option in docked, I guess they REALLY wanted the player to throw the damn Pokeball :P

It just strengthens my suspicion that somebody high up in Game Freak (or Nintendo) really believes motion controls are the future, and that the only reason why players don't like them is because they aren't required to use them enough. USUM had that ridiculous use of motion controls in Ultra Space Ride, where the settings for changing the control scheme were tucked away in a random building on the other side of the map. And now PLG requires the use of motion controls for essential mechanics.

Or perhaps it is implemented to discourage emulators?

 

[Worldie]

Or perhaps it is implemented to discourage emulators?

Well that wouldn't really work for Let's Go considering handheld mode doesn't use motion control (or well, uses it but it's optional).

I think your former idea is correct... they REALLY think players like Motion controls and just don't use them cause there's not enough in the game.
Kinda like, you know, they apparently were convinced players liked hatching eggs.

 

[Siggu]

Random fact , in handheld mode you can completely skip the motion control and use left analog to move the camera.

Which is why I only play Let's Go in handheld mode. I can't get motion controls to work well for me.

(Although there are some motion controls in handheld as well - tilting the console also moves the camera. Useful for more precise aiming)

 

[PikachuVincent]

1. Pikachu certainly did get the short end of the stick with Eevee getting a move for each of its Eeveelutions. That said, if you look at their stats I'd argue Pikachu got a slightly better deal there. Partner Pikachu's stats: 45/80/50/75/60/120; Partner Eevee's stats: 65/75/70/65/85/75. Eevee was kept very balanced, arguably even more defense focused, while Pikachu was made into more of a glass cannon. In addition, while Pikachu only gets 4 special moves, one is a Water-type that covers its Ground-type weakness and another is Flying-type which hits Grass-types that would resist Pikachu's STAB (and it's second Electric-type move is essentially a Extreme Speed expy that ignores stat changes). Eevee certainly has utility with its wide coverage (not to mention all its moves having 100% of doing a secondary effect while Pikachu's two coverage moves are just a 30% chance), but I wouldn't say its why people dislike Pikachu. I'd say people dislike Pikachu because its the series mascot so its EVERYWHERE while Eevee (& in extension the Eeveelutions) always had this unique charm to it (& them).

2. In what way is Pokemon GO bad for the game? Do you mean them shoving in the Pokemon GO mechanics into the game? I would agree with that, especially when it comes to the catching mechanic. But I would say it is neat that, in some way, there's finally connectivity between GO and the main series, or at least one step away from the main series (though I can't imagine Let's Go not having connectivity with Gen VIII). Also a lot of the GO mechanic shoving decisions isn't necessarily Let's Go fault (the mechanics work there and GO have been improving with every update), rather it's the fault of the odd decisions of Masuda.

3. What models? The trainers? I can see the reasoning as I also prefer the Gen VII models. That said there's nothing wrong with these models, especially since they're used on both the overworld and in-battle so there's no art dissonance like in Gen VI. Reason I like the Gen VII models is because they feel less child-ish, the more correct proportions I feel gives a bit more "realism" to scenes. Now it should be noted the Let's Go games are going for a more cutesy style thus this won't be affecting the main games, so really this is only a problem if you like the Let's Go games but don't like the art style.
But if you're talking about the Pokemon they're the same models from XY I think, maybe given a bit more polish and animation.
But, yeah, I can't get behind Trace. As many playthroughs I watched joked, he is "Not Blue". Worst is knowing the reasoning for even replacing Blue (and thus Red as the playable character) in the first place. Friendly rivals aren't a bad thing, it's just that we've played so many Pokemon games where your rivals were buddy-buddy. And that's not asking to have a jerk rival either, just for a rival who isn't instantly your friend and maybe doesn't even become your best friend at the end of the game or has goals where you being better then them doesn't get in the way.

4. By Trigger Encounters I guess you mean the Legendary and Snorlax battles? Let me guess, your issue is with the timer, right? I agree, Timer wasn't needed. Like already the throwing the Poke Ball mechanic can be finicky with you either completely missing, the Pokemon blocks it, or the Pokemon just breaks out of the Poke Ball. Adding a Timer where, no matter what you do, if it runs out the Pokemon flees feels like them adding on difficulty just for the sake of it as it doesn't really add anything to the experience aside from extra frustration.

5. And then replacing them with the OP "Candy" system, especially when it comes to making the Pokemon bulkier. It doesn't add strategy it just makes battles last longer, at least EVs you only had a choice amount. IVs I just think they need to do a few adjustments that'll make them okay: when a Pokemon levels up they increase in one IV (so that way in the main game it does feel like your Pokemon is getting stronger) and for Hyper Training lessen the restrictions (lower the Level requirement to 50, make getting Bottle Caps easier, let us choose to make a stat have 0 IVs, etc.).

6. I hope this game finally got GF's Kanto obsession over with.
Also there's no Gen 2 Pokemon, only additional Pokemon are Alolan forms and the new Meltan/Melmetal.

7. Why? If anything that's what the games are trying to emulate, letting you have your partner Pokemon ride around on your shoulder like Ash does. Makes me wonder if they should consider doing this in the main game with small Pokemon (as well as keep the casual riding Pokemon mechanic; though eitherway would like to see walking Pokemon return).

8. Seeing as you already explained what you meant by "stronger", maybe a more accurate term was "better", "appealing", or even "cooler" or "independent".

No I mean Trigger battles. FOR ALL OF THEM! I dislike the seeing Pokemon outside of their wild grass. They should be like the USUM games where It's actually better. Timer is bad as well. XY models were good just the LG models seems to be very clunky.

 

[Worldie]

No I mean Trigger battles. FOR ALL OF THEM! I dislike the seeing Pokemon outside of their wild grass. They should be like the USUM games where It's actually better.

I am quite sure this must be the first ever time I've heard of someone enjoying the RNG spawn mechanic of standard pokemon games.

Well to each its own I guess.

 

[Siggu]

XY models were good just the LG models seems to be very clunky.

They are literally the exact same models.

The only difference is the shading.

 

[PikachuVincent]

They are literally the exact same models.

The only difference is the shading.

The XY models feel better to me, Lets go models feel clunky most of the time and the models are way to childish. Not in XY, XY had more fluid animations. I know people will hate me for using the word childish but, I'm serious. there is a fine and straight line.

 

[Worldie]

The XY models feel better to me, Lets go models feel clunky most of the time and the models are way to childish. Not in XY, XY had more fluid animations. I know people will hate me for using the word childish but, I'm serious. there is a fine and straight line.

I am unsure of what weird Switch you played on, but Let's Go models are extremely more fluid and detailed than XY ones.
You can argue that Chibi models for NPCs can be defined "childish", though that's more of a stylistic choice and more of a love/hate issue, but there's no denying the Pokemon quality and animations are of a superior quality and realism in Let's Go, expecially due to much better camera and real size scale.
Onix and similar huge Pokemon towering over small mons is a very neat feeling, expecially in the overworld with pokemon following or used as actual mounts.

 

[Pikachu315111]

No I mean Trigger battles. FOR ALL OF THEM! I dislike the seeing Pokemon outside of their wild grass. They should be like the USUM games where It's actually better.

I see. There is certainly arguments that can be made for and against both systems. LGPE's "Trigger Battles" does make the Pokemon world look more alive and active though I've also seen plenty of screenshots where the screen gets got of clunky with Pokemon (and it feels like the smaller the Pokemon is the more they can spawn of it). In addition, while now you can dodge around Pokemon thus no longer needing Repels, you now have to make a conscious effort to avoid battles and may still get into a battle due to hit box shenanigans or a Pokemon spawns right as you running into/over it (whereas in previous games you just used a Repel and ran through the grass to your next destination undeterred). However Trigger Battles also help with chaining which leads to Shiny Pokemon so a lot of player would be willing to put up with it for that alone.

Maybe a mixture of both mechanics would be ideal. Start with how it is now with Random Battles, but every so often a Pokemon may appear and start walking around. You can use the new Lure items to make more Trigger battles appear (and then use a Repel so that random battles won't interrupt you). Finally I say bring back the Dex Nax from ORAS so we can have the function to specifically look for a Pokemon, making one spawn as a Trigger Battle.

The XY models feel better to me, Lets go models feel clunky most of the time and the models are way to childish. Not in XY, XY had more fluid animations. I know people will hate me for using the word childish but, I'm serious. there is a fine and straight line.

Could maybe the Trainers looking more chibi be making you think the Pokemon in comparison also look more "child-ish"? In the core series, when next to the more realistically proportioned trainers the differently designed Pokemon "stand out" in a way that these are obviously different creatures from us thus are more accepting of their bright colors and sometimes odd movements/details. But in LGPE the trainers are just as cartoon-y looking as the Pokemon so the Pokemon blend in, thus just becoming another cartoon creature in this cartoon world (and if you don't like that then, yes, the Pokemon designs will not look right since you're suppose to take it at face value these creatures are natural).

 

[PikachuVincent]

I am unsure of what weird Switch you played on, but Let's Go models are extremely more fluid and detailed than XY ones.
You can argue that Chibi models for NPCs can be defined "childish", though that's more of a stylistic choice and more of a love/hate issue, but there's no denying the Pokemon quality and animations are of a superior quality and realism in Let's Go, expecially due to much better camera and real size scale.
Onix and similar huge Pokemon towering over small mons is a very neat feeling, expecially in the overworld with pokemon following or used as actual mounts.

I think it's just me. Not the switch.

I see. There is certainly arguments that can be made for and against both systems. LGPE's "Trigger Battles" does make the Pokemon world look more alive and active though I've also seen plenty of screenshots where the screen gets got of clunky with Pokemon (and it feels like the smaller the Pokemon is the more they can spawn of it). In addition, while now you can dodge around Pokemon thus no longer needing Repels, you now have to make a conscious effort to avoid battles and may still get into a battle due to hit box shenanigans or a Pokemon spawns right as you running into/over it (whereas in previous games you just used a Repel and ran through the grass to your next destination undeterred). However Trigger Battles also help with chaining which leads to Shiny Pokemon so a lot of player would be willing to put up with it for that alone.

Maybe a mixture of both mechanics would be ideal. Start with how it is now with Random Battles, but every so often a Pokemon may appear and start walking around. You can use the new Lure items to make more Trigger battles appear (and then use a Repel so that random battles won't interrupt you). Finally I say bring back the Dex Nax from ORAS so we can have the function to specifically look for a Pokemon, making one spawn as a Trigger Battle..

Uhh, I prefer not shiny hunting where I can see them. I mean. I prefer it because I like RNG. A mixture would be ok for some people. but NEVER for me. especally those Satan-awful TRIGGER Battles. At least in ORAS they let you see the bodies. That bothered me. I think the ones that been tracked by dexnav should be shaken. Like in BW/BW2.

 

[Fluke]

Need some help here. I'm almost on a 150+ Chansey chain. I did this to train most of my Pokemon to level 100. My problem is that now all of my Pokemon are level 100 and I need to capture new ones. How do I not break the Chansey chain? Or is it inevitable?

also

Sometimes I get 80.000+ EXP for a single Chansey capture. Other captures are just ~20.000 EXP, while there is literally no difference between the ways the Chansey were captured. Both first throw, both excellent, both synchronised, so forth. What's causing this difference?

 

[Siggu]

Need some help here. I'm almost on a 150+ Chansey chain. I did this to train most of my Pokemon to level 100. My problem is that now all of my Pokemon are level 100 and I need to capture new ones. How do I not break the Chansey chain? Or is it inevitable?

also

Sometimes I get 80.000+ EXP for a single Chansey capture. Other captures are just ~20.000 EXP, while there is literally no difference between the ways the Chansey were captured. Both first throw, both excellent, both synchronised, so forth. What's causing this difference?

Size. XS and XL pokémon give a much larger multiplier.

 

[Worldie]

Need some help here. I'm almost on a 150+ Chansey chain. I did this to train most of my Pokemon to level 100. My problem is that now all of my Pokemon are level 100 and I need to capture new ones. How do I not break the Chansey chain? Or is it inevitable?

You could try have someone else catch the pokes and trade them to you, I think that should not break the Chain.

Can't promise though.

 

[PageofSwords]

3. But, yeah, I can't get behind Trace. As many playthroughs I watched joked, he is "Not Blue". Worst is knowing the reasoning for even replacing Blue (and thus Red as the playable character) in the first place. Friendly rivals aren't a bad thing, it's just that we've played so many Pokemon games where your rivals were buddy-buddy. And that's not asking to have a jerk rival either, just for a rival who isn't instantly your friend and maybe doesn't even become your best friend at the end of the game or has goals where you being better then them doesn't get in the way.

While I'm also hoping for a more consistently competitive rival in gen 8, I'm not sure if this is actually such a bad thing in this particular case. After all, we've already had a non-buddy rival for the Kanto games on multiple occasions. Yes, Trace isn't Blue, but you can always experience this particular journey with Blue as rival by going back to RBY or FRLG. Of course the same is true in reverse - if they ever did a Let's Go of the Hoenn games for instance, it'd be a nice change of pace to have a rival who gets in your way more often.

What I don't really understand is why replacing Red as player character is a big deal. It's not like he has loads of personality in these games, he's just a kid with a hat. In fact, it has the upside of including Red, Blue and even Green as NPCs, which they didn't have to do. It's true that those three don't have lots and lots of screentime, but having them in those roles was a neat addition.

To return to Trace, though, I felt the way they handled him in the end was more interesting that what they did for previous friendly rivals. Oak's final words to him, that his kindness actually cost him the win contrasts the message he had for Blue in the original games. I felt it worked better than Cheren simply admiring you or Calem/Serena/Hau essentially just saying they'll train harder. Unfortunately they didn't follow through with it properly in the rematch, but I liked the direction at least.

4. By Trigger Encounters I guess you mean the Legendary and Snorlax battles? Let me guess, your issue is with the timer, right? I agree, Timer wasn't needed. Like already the throwing the Poke Ball mechanic can be finicky with you either completely missing, the Pokemon blocks it, or the Pokemon just breaks out of the Poke Ball. Adding a Timer where, no matter what you do, if it runs out the Pokemon flees feels like them adding on difficulty just for the sake of it as it doesn't really add anything to the experience aside from extra frustration.

I'm not sure if I misunderstood you, but I feel like you're framing the mechanic at least somewhat inaccurately. After all, the timer and the catching mechanic are independent of each other, as in, one is only in phase 1 of the fight and the other only in phase 2. I think this matters because while yes, adding a timer to something you don't have a lot of control over can be frustrating, that's not what happens here (not explicitly at least). Instead, they added a timer to the phase you have complete control over (or well, as much control as you can have in a Pokemon game), so it's just a matter of whether your team is strong enough to keep up in these boss fights.

While I want them to go back to the regular catching mechanics in gen 8, I think for these supposedly difficult fights, it's not a bad concept. At the very least it means you actually have to do some fighting instead of being able to brute force the capture. The timer adds a sense of urgency to this, so I guess ideally I'd like some hybrid solution.

Finally, a few separate thoughts while I'm at it:

• Catching rewards: The original games rewarded you for catching a certain amount of Pokemon and I think it's great that they not only left this in, but even expanded on it a bit. Using it as a gym requirement was questionable (like the requirements in general, really), but using it for some of the gift Pokemon was a good move in my eyes. Later games don't give you much of an incentive to catch Pokemon outside the ones you want to use in your party since the diploma for completing the Pokedex is becoming more and more of a herculean task, so I welcome these kinds of milestones.
• Battle coaches: Good continuation of the route kahunas. Not only are there more of them, they also give you more worthwhile rewards for beating them. I'm a bit split on whether it's better than you can just challenge them or only after you clear out the rest of the route. The latter could have better synergy with the way they changed the exp formula since it gives you a reason to battle trainers even if they don't give you as much experience anymore.