Unpopular opinions

Let's address a myth.

SwSh is not an open world game. Even the DLC is very linear outside of Crown Tundra allowing players to take on the legendary missions at their leisure, and that's more of a side-quest than the main one.

SwSh is about as open as Ocarina of Time. Do you know how open OoT was?

Not at all.

You have a wide open area, but you still have to do all the temples and dungeons in order, with the exception of the Shadow and Spirit Temple quests, which actually make OoT more open than SwSh because the Gyms are on a very set order. GSC is more open world than SwSh.

Oh, do not worry, I never even bothered to imply that Sword and Shield were really open world games. What I said is that Pokémon most definetly shouldn't go the open-world route if it wants to improve.
 
Oh, do not worry, I never even bothered to imply that Sword and Shield were really open world games. What I said is that Pokémon most definetly shouldn't go the open-world route if it wants to improve.

I think they'd most certainly botch the level curve if they tried, and maybe they know that, because after GSC, the games are very linear.

I really want field moves (not necessarily as HMs) to come back though. Having NPCs be the only way to block paths is a huge problem in the later games.
 
Clearly the reputation of current Pokemon games and the direction it should take is divisive. Which leads to this question-

There are some rumors about a Pokemon Collection containing the first 3 generations. Again, these are rumors which I don't really believe much (then again, we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the franchise...), but how much people would like playing ports of "the golden age" on Switch if it were true? It doesn't make sense to me, considering that we can play RBY, GSC and ORAS in the recent 3DS, so this sounds like nostalgia bait. If it had DPPt or BW/BW2 it would sound better, 5/6 games in one is a better deal. The issue would also lie in how it's handled, would they charge full price for roms that play exactly the same as in your pc/phone emulators? Would it be a limited time release? Mario and Fire Emblem are already under fire for that one...

Now then, a port for the Pokemon spinoff console titles sounds much better, although I have many doubts how transferring mons would work there.
 
but how much people would like playing ports on Switch if it were true?
emulating pokemon is so easy for non 3ds games, I dont see the worth on it unless you want to transfer those pokemon to home or shiny hunt on them. maybe a 3ds game collection would be cool though, xy + oras + sumo/usum would be a decent deal imo

also: those rumors were faked iirc
 
A recurring issue I see with DistantKingdom haters is that they rarely address the actual flaws in his arguments (there are some, especially in his latest vids). Instead, they complain about how abrasive and arrogant he is. And to be blunt, that's a non-factor.
A little off-topic, here, mods, I apologize in advance.

I disagree that it's a non-issue because it makes me not want to watch his videos/general content, despite agreeing with the general, I don't know, sentiments of them? I think stuff like his Blastoise video (the last one I watched before seeing his general demeanor regarding his points and deciding I didn't want to support him) is funny and points out a general issue with move animations and Pokémon-specific attack animations. Same could be said for his Wailord video and inconsistent model sizes (though I am aware this one is likely done to keep battle scenes within a reasonable size). I think he generally has reasonable opinions about where the recent mainline Pokémon games (obviously focused on Sword and Shield because they're the most recent games, and decisions like Dexit and their poorly-explained reasoning behind it put a lot of scrutiny on the titles) fall short, and where they could be improved. I'm not a fan of using mods to "fix" games, but assuming they do work as well and are as quick as he (and others) have said, it's a little disheartening to know that GF could have improved the graphics/etc. quality without much time investment. But, regardless of how good his points are, his overall attitude of presentation is not something I want to support.

I've been told, and MOSTLY believe, that if someone comes to him with an actual argument or a general counterpoint against his critiques, that he's willing to discuss with them in a civil manner. It's how he talks to people who disagree with him, just because they like SwSh as a game, that bothers me. Now, many of these SwSh fans are just a guilty of not wanting to see the other side of the argument as I feel he is; Pokémon is popular (possible understatement), and people have strong opinions and charged emotions about it, I get that. But, as much as he might want to argue to the contrary, most of his points are opinions, and only that. Could/should the tree models look better? Yeah, probably, especially given the hardware. Is the implementation of following Pokémon not very well thought out? Yes, and no, IMO; there are pros and cons to a set follow rate AND to Pokémon being restricted to a realistic speed value (though the Pokémon snapping to you is pretty shoddy).

I'm sorry that he feels betrayed by pretty much everything in SwSh and feels the need to rant about it online, attacking and insulting everyone who disagrees with him. I, too, am a long-time fan and am certainly disappointed with many of the decisions made in the games. There are plenty of areas where I would have done things differently. But I also never had super high hopes for Game Freak to actually have acceptable graphics for the games, and feel that something like Dexit could be a good thing for the series, if it was actually planned in advance and not thrown in as a stopgap for not having enough time to refine animations. Yeah, quite honestly, the 3D battle games from gens 1-4 often did the "3D battle" thing better than Game Freak has, in various ways. It's sad. But if people want to (and they do!) enjoy Pokémon Camp, the overworld Pokémon animations, and generally just playing the same games that Pokémon have always delivered, just slightly upscaled, then that's cool too.

If you enjoy his style of content and how he presents himself to people who disagree with him, that's fine. I get the appeal of it, and I'm not sure exactly what he does that bothers me so much (since I've watched/followed heavily sarcastic people plenty of times in the past). I just personally don't like his brand and demeanor he displays, and don't want to support content with that sort of back end.

And, while this one really is irrelevant to his arguments, modding his character to look like Lillie/Marnie and having them be barefoot is just... really skeevy IMO. :psynervous:
 
I disagree that it's a non-issue because it makes me not want to watch his videos/general content, despite agreeing with the general, I don't know, sentiments of them?

But here's the thing. Him being a prick does not weaken his arguments by itself, which is why I said it's a non-factor.

And, while this one really is irrelevant to his arguments, modding his character to look like Lillie/Marnie and having them be barefoot is just... really skeevy IMO. :psynervous:
F A C T S.

Seriously, these degenerates are out of control and the Lolice gotta put all of them in jail.
 
But here's the thing. Him being a prick does not weaken his arguments by itself, which is why I said it's a non-factor.
Well, going back to my initial "I don't want to watch his videos because he's an asshole" assertion, I don't even know what most of his arguments are (and don't care to go out of my way to find them) because his attitude is so off-putting. The arguments I know of are either just from before I knew of his reputation, or stumbling onto his stuff on Twitter.

The ones I'm aware of (and opinions):
  • Overly generic attack animations (uses Blastoise and Hydro Pump as the example; probably just a casualty of it not being a new starter anymore)
  • Inaccurate size scaling (as stated earlier, likely done to keep screen sizes reasonable, though this is a symptom of GF's poor battle camera)
  • Ugly trees (okay, he's right, but why are you focusing on something you don't interact with)
  • Pokémon not following you at a set speed, forcing many to warp to catch up with your space when you move too fast, ad nauseum (this IS annoying, especially since LGPE didn't have this problem. I assume it's a byproduct of how they implemented following Pokémon. As a counterpoint I think it's cute to watch slow Pokémon do their best to keep up with you.)
To put it another way, imagine that you had a class where they taught you the areas where GF messed up in various games and how their mistakes could be fixed. You could have DK as a teacher, and have him be perpetually unsympathetic to any opinions you have that don't match with what he teaches, and get marked down because you don't agree with him. Or, you could have someone else as a teacher (don't have a particular person in mind here, sorry), who, while presenting the same points as DK, is more willing to listen to people who don't always agree, and wants to understand why people feel differently. So, sure, his arguments aren't weakened (assuming they can be construed as objective), but he's restricting his potential audience by being a pompous asshat.

I know there's some intent to build up the points he tears down, but it just feels to me like he tears down for the sake of it.
 
Oh boy, that's gonna be a loooong post.

Eh, I made longer.

On topic: pokemon smile is actually a really good idea and its very cute and got me to finally have a good brushing routine, one of the things that i really couldnt get because of my mental illnesses constantly ruining things like some sort of scooby doo villain. It also has no monetization which is pog

I would have given up all faith in GF if of all things they monetized that. Okay, yes, I did criticize that they only had Gen I Pokemon, but that's because it makes no sense for a game made for young kids they would still stick to the Gen I Pokemon instead of including mons from Gen 7 & 8 (and Pokemon from other gens that were in those games).

BTW sorry to hear about your illness and hope you're handling it well.

To put it another way, imagine that you had a class where they taught you the areas where GF messed up in various games and how their mistakes could be fixed. You could have DK as a teacher, and have him be perpetually unsympathetic to any opinions you have that don't match with what he teaches, and get marked down because you don't agree with him. Or, you could have someone else as a teacher (don't have a particular person in mind here, sorry), who, while presenting the same points as DK, is more willing to listen to people who don't always agree, and wants to understand why people feel differently.

RadicalSoda seems like a nice guy, I like his Pokemon Sword & Shield playthrough/review and he gives good jokes & criticisms (plus he focuses his perving on the legal adult female characters).
 
BTW sorry to hear about your illness and hope you're handling it well.
I've been doing better recently, thank you :)!

An unpopular opinion, maybe? But I don't mind having slow pokemon walk slow in the walking animations. I feel like having all pokémon walk the same pace only worked in the grid structure of the 2d games. Having something like a metapod or a slakoth caught up to me would be kinda weird lol.
I think for the starters, we should have a lets go system for the first evo in that they rest on our shoulders, since I think theyre important pokemon and deserve to appear, instead of losing you because you walk faster.

I do think that there should be a cap on how fast a pokemon walks so that some fast pokemon arent just pausing every other step you take because their walk speed is 1000 km/h and you are just a little kid

Also the idea of a national dex after gen 3 was not good imo. Having to collect 300+ (and having more added each gen) just to complete it was kinda insane, but the fact it only stopped at gen 7 was even weirder
 
An unpopular opinion, maybe? But I don't mind having slow pokemon walk slow in the walking animations. I feel like having all pokémon walk the same pace only worked in the grid structure of the 2d games. Having something like a metapod or a slakoth caught up to me would be kinda weird lol.

I don't mind it either... as long as it makes sense. I've been using it in front of my party ever since the Isle of Armor dropped, but I still find baffling how slow Marshadow is, even when taking its size into account. 125 Base Speed where?
 
I don't mind it either... as long as it makes sense. I've been using it in front of my party ever since the Isle of Armor dropped, but it's baffling how slow Marshadow is, even when taking its size into account. 125 Base Speed where?
Honestly I just interpret speed as reaction time to commands + the quickness to execute them, because if you think of it as just go fast, you end up with a lot of those "this pokemon can run 1000 gazillion km/h" on a base 2 speed pokemon
 
To put it another way, imagine that you had a class where they taught you the areas where GF messed up in various games and how their mistakes could be fixed. You could have DK as a teacher, and have him be perpetually unsympathetic to any opinions you have that don't match with what he teaches, and get marked down because you don't agree with him.

I had to deal with some teachers like that so I really get that feeling (even when I checked my notes and I was actually right lol). So this kind of attitude frustrates me. Not saying I don't like caustic critics, since I am subbed to plenty of them, just saying there's a difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. DK tries and claims to do the former, but it comes off as the latter (seriously, just look at the title of the vid), despite of his points that plenty of people can share and agree, and is quite unfortunate because destructive criticism paints criticism as a whole in a bad light imo: it's not going to help improve the product nor create a space for proper discussion, it just creates another echo chamber.
 
Idk how unpopular of an opinion this is but the only games with really well-designed legendaries since 2010 have been X and Y. Reshiram looked decent in BW but the transition to 3D makes it look insubstantial and awkward (the way its arms just permanently stay raised at head height) and Kyurem's stubby little arms are horrible. The Muskedeer trio all look bizarre and clunky, and I feel like Genesect should look way more threatening than it does.

I'm neutral on most of Alola's legends: Tapu Lele is my personal favourite, but Tapu Koko looks incredibly ugly. Solgaleo, Magearna, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini are... fine, but nothing special. As discussed earlier, I'm not big on Necrozma's design and Lunala just doesn't do it for me: it looks bulky and too heavy to fly. I go back and forth on Zeraora: the in-game models in Gen VII make it look rubbish, but every so often I see some artwork where there's a certain appeal. The shiny definitely looks better than the normal version. The Ultra Beasts I can give a pass because they're meant to be unsettling and weird.

SwSh's bunch are the worst offenders: Zacian looks ridiculous while Zamazenta almost works in its official art but looks bizarre in-game. Regieleki and Regidrago look awful (terrible names, too), while Spectrier and Glastrier just look unfinished and under-designed; none of them look as powerful or impressive as they're built up to be. Calyrex's design doesn't work for me (though I can see why some people like it). The only legendary I like from SwSh is Eternatus, and even that I'm somewhat iffy on.

I'm all for quirky designs, but most of them just haven't hit properly for me.
 
I don't mind it either... as long as it makes sense. I've been using it in front of my party ever since the Isle of Armor dropped, but I still find baffling how slow Marshadow is, even when taking its size into account. 125 Base Speed where?

Have you played with Marshadow in camp? Its little feets make a sticky/plungery sound when it walks around, it's clearly getting stuck to the ground all the time, slowing the poor thing down. The stadium floors are all coated in teflon so Marshadow doesn't get stuck and can achieve its full speedy potential. :P
 
Its hard for me to care about legendaries because I see most as a dexfiller nightmare, especially the gen 4 ones. Too many legendaries either look really boring, really ugly or a bit of both. I think the only legendaries I actually care for are the tapus, ubs and the regis (no regigigas tho i hate that dude).

Honestly im just legendary fatigued. At this point either make pokemon a forces of nature story with the legendaries as the main forces, removing evil teams or dont include legendaries at all
 
Its hard for me to care about legendaries because I see most as a dexfiller nightmare, especially the gen 4 ones. Too many legendaries either look really boring, really ugly or a bit of both. I think the only legendaries I actually care for are the tapus, ubs and the regis (no regigigas tho i hate that dude).

Honestly im just legendary fatigued. At this point either make pokemon a forces of nature story with the legendaries as the main forces, removing evil teams or dont include legendaries at all
Now I'm curious to see ratios for each generation. Lumping mythical and legendary together for this purpose, excluding forms. Also including Phione.

Gen 1: 5/151, 3.31%
Gen 2: 6/100, 6% (overall 4.38%)
Gen 3: 10/135, 7.41% (overall 5.44%)
Gen 4: 14/107, 13.08% (overall 7.1%)
Gen 5: 13/156, 8.33% (overall 7.4%)
Gen 6: 6/72, 8.33% (overall 7.49%)
Gen 7: 14/89, 15.73% (overall 8.41%)

Okay, quick note, that number is including Cosmog, Cosmoem, Necrozma, Meltan, and Melmetal, but excluding the UBs. If you include them (including Poipole), you get:

Gen 7: 25/89, 28.09% (overall 9.77%)
Gen 8: 11/79, 13.92% (overall 10.02%) [overall 8.8% without UBs]

I love the UBs but they are really bad for the legendary bloat. If you include them we actually have reached the point of 1/10 of all Pokémon being legendary/mythical, that's pretty insane. It's getting sillier and sillier to try and cram all of them in one game without making a separate minigame for them, and even then, I don't know how long that will last.
 
I love the UBs but they are really bad for the legendary bloat. If you include them we actually have reached the point of 1/10 of all Pokémon being legendary/mythical, that's pretty insane. It's getting sillier and sillier to try and cram all of them in one game without making a separate minigame for them, and even then, I don't know how long that will last.

Tbh need a real dexit that cuts the legendaries. Theyre probably the most useless category of pokemon since theyre used in one or two games for the plot and then thrown into some minigame to rot. When has ho-oh and lugia ever been relevant after hgss? How long until xerneas and yveltal, necrozma and the cosmog become relevant again?

If legendaries are only going to matter in the region theyre introduced, and then just made some mode to be catchable with no lore or care of why theyre there, might as well just turn them from pokemon to characters, uncatchable but important to the games plot. Like calyrex, whos catch battle was probably the worst part of the plot because it felt forced on "well we have to let the trainer catch it!"
 
Tbh need a real dexit that cuts the legendaries.

Legendary bloat is not only a real problem, but also very troublesome when you realize they're a huge part of Pokémon's power creep problem.

And honestly, cramming them in random minigames is just ridiculous. GF wants to bring them back? Fine. Shove them in transfer-only.

Am I really supposed that all these legendary and plot-relevant mons (many of them being rivals btw) are just chilling in a dank cave roiding up on Galar Particles?

Correction, not all of them. Mew, Celebi, Victini, Genesect and a couple others are in-fact, transfer-only.
 
Legendary bloat is not only a real problem, but also very troublesome when you realize they're a huge part of Pokémon's power creep problem.
Honestly removing them from catchable pool would kill two birds with one stone. Makes legendaries feel more powerful and removes the dex bloat while also removing quite a bit of power creep. No more zygardes and pheromosas in ou, no more suicunes and keldeos in uu, and no more landorus and power herb geomancy xerneas in vgc
 
Honestly removing them from catchable pool would kill two birds with one stone. Makes legendaries feel more powerful and removes the dex bloat while also removing quite a bit of power creep. No more zygardes and pheromosas in ou, no more suicunes and keldeos in uu, and no more landorus and power herb geomancy xerneas in vgc
Legendary bloat is not only a real problem, but also very troublesome when you realize they're a huge part of Pokémon's power creep problem.

And honestly, cramming them in random minigames is just ridiculous. GF wants to bring them back? Fine. Shove them in transfer-only.

Am I really supposed that all these legendary and plot-relevant mons (many of them being rivals btw) are just chilling in a dank cave roiding up on Galar Particles?

Correction, not all of them. Mew, Celebi, Victini, Genesect and a couple others are in-fact, transfer-only.
But you wanna know part of why they play a huge part in the Power Creep problem? We never stop getting some Legendary Pokémon that are obscenely overpowered even as "Legendary", like was the case of Xerneas (largely thanks to Geomancy), Yveltal (although likely in the case of a Dynamax metagame), Mega Rayquaza, Crowned Zacian, and (from the look of it) Shadow Rider Calyrex, with Arceus (as expected though), the more powerful forms of Kyurem, and to an extent Primal Groudon. Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon rely on Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion respectively, which means not all Generation starting with Gen 8 would see their appearance, but still.

It doesn't help that the stat distribution of the Crowned Zacian and Shadow Rider Calyrex is outright uninspiring. I mean Crowned Zacian is another Physical Fairy-type with far lower Special Attack, but still uninspiring overall.
 
Correction, not all of them. Mew, Celebi, Victini, Genesect and a couple others are in-fact, transfer-only.

None of those are legendaries though, they are mythicals. While the localization didn't regularly differentiate between the two groups until partway through Gen IV, in the original Japanese they have always been a separate category from legendary Pokemon, even back when Mew was the only one.
 
If legendaries are only going to matter in the region theyre introduced, and then just made some mode to be catchable with no lore or care of why theyre there, might as well just turn them from pokemon to characters, uncatchable but important to the games plot. Like calyrex, whos catch battle was probably the worst part of the plot because it felt forced on "well we have to let the trainer catch it!"

The problem with doing that is people want to use their favorite Legendary.

However I do agree we've reached a point where so many Legendaries are beginning to feel like a problem. This has only been enhanced by the "Legendary Hunts" in past gens (which I'm including Dynamax Adventures as one) where they haphazardly come up with a reason to have all Legendaries catchable... and they get worst each time they do it. ORAS Hoopa's Ring made enough sense (well, not why they were appearing all over Hoenn, but its explained it was taking the Legendaries from their place in time & space). USUM's Ultra Space Ride made sense on paper but in execution, since they used the same generic locations, it felt odd these Legendaries were just existing in Ultra Space. But they make no attempt to explain why SwSh's Dynamax Adventure has Legendaries not only in it but we also don't really get much lore about the Regi Ruins in Galar, the Galarian Birds, or the Swords of Justice including the random appearance of Keldeo (ORAS created a whole post game episode to explain why Deoxys was available in the game).

Honestly they could skip the Legendary Hunt every two generations, putting in a few handful of Legendaries (and maybe Mythicals) they feel they want to have a story for. That way when they do the Legendary Hunt next generation they wouldn't need to include those Pokemon. As for the Legendary Hunt themselves, well I can list a whole page worth of ideas for all the good that'll do. Also, while Dynamax Adventure makes no sense why Legendaries are there, at the same time I do like the idea of using Legendaries are these bosses for this multiplayer mode. I wish they could just combine adding in lore with this using them as bosses in a new side mode.
 
The problem with doing that is people want to use their favorite Legendary.

of course, removing any pokemon from the catching pool would upset people. every pokemon is someones favorites.
but i think like a lot of people who like legendaries dont really like them because of using them in game, but because of their legendary status, lore, battle and battling music etc etc. I like solgaleo and lunaala, but i never really used them in battle, and catching them didnt really give me anything special, but their lore and origins is what makes me really enjoy them.

By not focusing on them being catchable, but increasing their lore, flavor and character, you could get a lot more content for people who like that legendary. Imagine if moltres fans got more than just a random battle in the victory road/sevii islands, a roamer/minigame legendary status and one regional form, but moltres had lore and myths about it, maybe it had a character and stuff. That sort of thing yknow.
We even have proof it works. Calyrex was given a little bit more personality and lore, and a lot of people went from hating it to coming around to enjoy it, even if the design didnt change. Imagine if we had that on a larger scale
 
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