Unpopular opinions

[SapphSabre777]

Well, I might as well pitch in on opinions.

I think a ton of Pokemon are cute and can be affectionate bundles of love, despite their size, power, and given traits. Groudon, Lugia, Kyurem, Salamence, Chesnaught...perhaps I am a big softie with these things.

I do not like having a lot of trainers at very low levels plaguing roots, it can be very tedious. Could we have some stronger trainers to grind with instead of generic youngsters 1, 2, 3 that take more time?

To be frank, I think the Gen. I Pokemon's designs were the worst. Bland? Outdated? Perhaps a combination of the two? I don't know...but I just don't like them compared to the other generations. And I was born during that '90's craze, even!

I think Greninja is the next uprising of a "Charizard-esque" Pokemon in terms of fan response. I just don't find the appeal of Smog Frog.

That's all I have, now to get back to studying!

 

[Pikachu315111]

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iamfanboy :

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Gen V Overload: Yeah, I often question Gen V's decision to introduce over 150 new Pokemon. While having ONLY new Pokemon was a novel idea, I do think just the usual new 100 Pokemon would have provided enough had they planned carefully. And taking into account some were made into "early filler, replaced later" one wonders if it wouldn't be easier to just allow past generation Pokemon like that. If they used previous generation early birds/rodents/bugs that would give them more room to experiment with different ideas.
Gen VI Balance: I do like that Gen VI introduced about 70 Pokemon showing they don't need to introduce 100 each time and used previously existing Pokemon to fill in missing gaps. However I still think they could have done a better job with balancing the types of Pokemon introduced as well as putting them in the forefront. Also I kind of liked at least a 2nd trio of Legendaries, Kalos lore feels a bit shallow with most if not all the focus put into the Kalos War.
Mega Problem: That's a problem I'm noticing with Mega Evolutions, since we can only use one ALL Mega Pokemon are competing for that spot which means the lackluster Mega Evolutions don't really have a chance.

Kurona :

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Baby Needs: I think they need to sort of overhaul the Baby Pokemon idea. I think Baby Pokemon should be able to learn special moves their evolutions can't normally learn. I'd also argue maybe even giving you a chance to get their Hidden Abilities without needing one of the parents to have it. Also maybe having them all evolve via Happiness (and maybe a small level limit) so you can access their evolution early would also be a nice bonus.
All That Shiny: I never understood the point of Shiny Pokemon which looked almost the same as their normal version. If you're going to change its color palette go all out! Like with the Pikachu family, at least color Pichu and Pikachu like Raichu and vice versa. As for for Shiny Hunting, I don't see the point either. Maybe for a few of your favorites you're going to use then go right ahead, but if you're Shiny Hunting for Pokemon you're never going to use then that's the point? Honestly I think Shiny Pokemon also need something additional, like a special move or Ability only they can use/have.

noobcubed :

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No MMO: While I would be curious if it was possible, seeing how the game industry right now with having to pay out the @$$ to do anything/be competitive I rather not see Pokemon go down that road. As WideTomato said, the point of the game is to become Champion, how would they do that in a MMO without having multiple Champions or the Champion constantly changing every few minutes? And anything else you can do with Pokemon are often covered in side games, so what's left for a MMO to do? The final nail in the coffin is that the Pokemon main series game HAVE a postgame including player vs. player battle (and every few months there are official Pokemon Tournaments).

Ranger Helmut :

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What Is Unpopular: Yeah, as this thread goes on many unpopular opinions are seemingly turning into popular opinions. Either being allowed to admit such things is having everyone come out of the woodwork or it was just a small vocal minority made the idea popular.
Annoying Swarms: While I like to joke about being swarmed by Zubats, honestly this is what Repels are for. Tentacools I never had a problem with but I do admit I sometimes trained to the point my Pokemon would be considered over-leveled.
Pseudo Power: Honestly I think the Pseudo Legendaries are more meant for the bosses to use rather then the player.

syndrome445 :

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Great Outdoors: I wouldn't mind another game which put more focus on the outdoors. Hoenn I felt was meant to be the "nature" game, emphasized by the villain teams being ecoterrorists. Having another such game would be nice, maybe even have it part of the game's theme; like the story could be about how much should people interfere with the natural environments.

dwarfstar :

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Walk With The Pokemon: One of the features people hope they bring back, though I imagine it'll now be much more harder now that we're using models. Even the Pokemon use different in-battle and overworld models, so we can't just use the Pokemon in-battle models (at least I don't think). Maybe if they do a few select Pokemon, but then people would complain if their favorite wasn't chosen. Sadly I think HGSS might be the last time we see something like that.
Hoenn Flood: Yeah, I never found the water routes to be that big of a deal, especially for how long you spend on land. Infact since there isn't much to do on the water routes you really shouldn't be spending that much time on them, even if you go exploring with Dive. And yeah, they do need more variety of Pokemon (which is why I liked they included the surfing Ace Trainers, neat idea to punch up the trainers you battle on the water routes). Best method I think is by including little islands and shores where you can find certain land bound Pokemon not found anywhere else.
Frontier Battle: I noticed the Gen III Battle Frontier was sort of "adventure" based while the Gen IV Battle Frontier more focused on switching up the battle mechanics. Being Emerald had 7 Facilities I think they were able to balance things out a bit better.

AND caught up... sorta. Now for the posts I didn't comment to after I posted mine:

11pikabro :

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Anime Expectation: I don't mind filler, they got to do something between Gym Battles and plot episodes, but they often cover the same morals and sometimes even miss expanding/focusing on something that's in the game. Also I do have a problem with how latest regions have treated Ash's development, in many cases he seems to have gone backwards despite being an experiences trainer. He keeps making rookie mistakes and relearning things he should already know. It's gotten so bad he's even starting to re-scan Pokemon he already scanned with his Pokedex!
Also I feel the XY anime sort of blew its load. Most episodes are suppose to introduce a new Pokemon of that generation, but despite Gen VI having only 70 Pokemon they've decided to sometimes feature 2 new Pokemon instead of one (most of the time family members). They have now had a few episodes with no new Pokemon and even focusing on old Pokemon!
Battle Announcer: I heard people didn't like the announcer for Revolutions and I don't know why. They're great and really adds a bit of punch to the battle, especially when a big attack is done.

MattaPod :

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Legendary Dull: While I don't hate Legendaries, I do think they need to do something more with them. Like maybe have a story unlock which needs you to use them in a series of battle, or have a location where needing to use a Legendary is needed to win.

Silver Owns :

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Physical Special: Yeah, and considering some of the move's names its even stranger. The Elemental Punches an Fangs were all Special? Shadow Ball was Physical yet decreased Special Defense while Crunch was Special yet decreased Defense? It sounded even the game designers forgot Moves used type for category instead of the move itself!
My Game Is Better: I think everyone can say they have an idea for a better game than what GameFreak does. However we don't have budgets, time frames, play testing, trying to keep things fresh but accessible, other opinions, approvals from higher up, designing the Pokemon, characters, and locations (plus any puzzles within them) down to the slightest detail, and criticisms to get in the way of our boast. ;)

 

[Kurona]

I never understood the point of Shiny Pokemon which looked almost the same as their normal version. If you're going to change its color palette go all out! Like with the Pikachu family, at least color Pichu and Pikachu like Raichu and vice versa.

It's more to do with the fact that aside from a couple of exceptions starting in Gen 3, all shinies until XY were decided by changing the colour to the colour adjacent to it on the colour pallete. For instance, Kyogre's blue was right next to the pink it gets as a shiny. It's more a programming thing; very few if any shinies were actually decided on.
They can't do this in Gen 6 however since they aren't using sprites anymore, so a lot more there are more creative or cool, such as Greninja, Mega Gengar or the Primals.

 

[Pikachu315111]

It's more to do with the fact that aside from a couple of exceptions starting in Gen 3, all shinies until XY were decided by changing the colour to the colour adjacent to it on the colour pallete. For instance, Kyogre's blue was right next to the pink it gets as a shiny. It's more a programming thing; very few if any shinies were actually decided on.
They can't do this in Gen 6 however since they aren't using sprites anymore, so a lot more there are more creative or cool, such as Greninja, Mega Gengar or the Primals.

So is that why. Would it be too late for them to change some Shiny Pokemon now? As you said, since they moved on from sprites they're no longer tied to that quirk.

 

[Kurona]

So is that why. Would it be too late for them to change some Shiny Pokemon now? As you said, since they moved on from sprites they're no longer tied to that quirk.

That's true, but Game Freak does have a reluctance to change just about anything and decides to add certain things on instead. That's why you don't see anything removed between games that you might deem as worthless or filler such as Igglybuff and Bidoof; just in case there is a fan that likes it, and why you don't see major overhauls of a Pokémon -- at least in their base form. Megas and alternate forms they can do this; but they are very reluctant to change anything about the base and what is already set in precedent.
tl;dr - technically possible, but I don't see game freak doing it because they're reluctant to change

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

Ooh I just remembered another one

I don't think Karen's dialogue about strong/weak pokemon is as mindblowing or deep as soooo many others do, because there is literally no such thing as a non-superficial reason for a specific pokemon to be your favourite, because you cannot interact with them in a unique meaningful way.

Whether your favourites are determined by viability, appearance or nostalgia, you are being shallow, because it's impossible not to be.

 

[Kurona]

Yeah, I mean, like... her quote is as much against the ideals of the Pokémon franchise as competitive battling might be. Listen to her again; she's saying to 'use your favourites'. Not your first Pokémon. Not the Pokémon you've met and have bonded with. Not the Pokémon you've grown attached to through battles even though they might not have been your favourites to start with. Nope, just the ones that are 'your favourite'. Typhlosion's not your favourite? Get that shit starter of yours out of here and use Magmar, your real favourite instead!
It always annoys me when people against competitive use both this quote and say "competitive is against what the games say about friendship" or whatever. It's heartless either way; as Cobalt Empoleon says.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Running into Zubat in caves constantly is not annoying. I'd rather take the time and effort to make Crobat my Fly user than resort to using generic Route 1 bird evolutions like everyone else. Using Staraptor in DPP is for scrubs; I don't care if it gets Close Combat.

RBY has the best music of all the games. Nothing can ever compete with those 8-bit basslines, no matter how many flashy or "modern" sound effects they use. FRLG music was a horrible remake of RBY's as a whole. The champion theme was especially bad and they tried way too hard to make an acceptable remix using RSE's soundfonts.

The hottest girl in Pokemon was May until Lisia came out with ORAS. Whitney was a close second. I don't get why people like Dawn or Elesa or Skyla. Flannery and Winona are okay.

Picking Cyndaquil in GSC or HGSS is for lazy thinkers. Real niggas beat Sprout Tower with one of the other starters.

Making TMs reusable really watered down the games a lot. Sure, it's convenient, but having to choose which Pokemon got Earthquake or whatever like in the older games was part of the decision-making process that made me appreciate Pokemon in the first place. A lot of the fun and challenge and elements that prevented the game from becoming more mindless were taken out.

 

[Norne]

Ooh I just remembered another one

I don't think Karen's dialogue about strong/weak pokemon is as mindblowing or deep as soooo many others do, because there is literally no such thing as a non-superficial reason for a specific pokemon to be your favourite, because you cannot interact with them in a unique meaningful way.

Whether your favourites are determined by viability, appearance or nostalgia, you are being shallow, because it's impossible not to be.

That blasted speech is used as an anthem of suck for the franchise, thanks God the ORAS guy saying players must use the strongest most viable option to achieve wins to redeem the franchise.

People use it as an anthem for the Dunsparce of America, yet forget someone favorite might be mister box legend and complain why someone walls their favorite box legend with a chansey XD. Thus Karen speech ensues.

 

[Kurona]

Probably extremely off topic; but I like to think of Karen's quote being a religion or ideology, and the ORAS Battle Resort guy's quote being another religion or ideology completely in opposition to Karen's, sort of like Capitalism vs Communism or Christianity vs Atheism or something lol

Talking of the Battle Resort I do like Looker's appearance there as it implies so much, especially with him having an Audinite... but no Audino or Mega Ring. Makes you think.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Kanto Reremake: I would also agree they wouldn't need to remake Kanto again... but the thing is that leaves a "gap" because they just HAD to do that stupid idea of splitting the timelines. We're now in the "Mega Timeline" where the only canon games are XY and ORAS. And while the stories in the other games occurred, they would have occurred differently now due to the presence of Mega Pokemon so their games are technically considered out of canon. *sigh*

This is a good point. I have heard a lot about the split timelines and alternate universes, so it does to an extent make sense that we need remakes of the Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Unova games since they are no longer canon in the current timeline.
The one thing I can see going against this just in the case of Kanto re-remakes is Pokemon Origins. Haven't watched it myself, but from what I have heard it is a retelling of the Kanto games (R/B rather than FR/LG, I suppose) but it also includes Mega Evolution. I have heard others consider Pokemon Origins to be the canon Kanto in the Mega Timeline, and if this was Game Freak's intention (which I hope), then there won't be any Kanto re-remakes in the near future. But if the fandom wants them badly enough, I can see it happen, sadly.
Independently of all this stuff, I do on a personal level not want to see any Kanto re-remakes at least, which was the point in my first post. I'm glad you managed to make more of a discussion out of it though.

On a different subject (which might be a bit off-topic), shiny hunting has been mentioned in this thread earlier. I do to a large degree agree with what others have said about it, but not completely. I do personally not hunt for shinies because to me, it seems to be a large waste of time with mediocre rewards in the end, I do not feel like spending hundreds to thousands of hours only to get a Pokemon with a palette swap. If I want a shiny, I'd rather use RNG or the SV method to get one.
However, I do respect those who hunt for shinies. If people want to hunt for shinies, that is fine with me. As long as people play the games the way they want and have fun while doing so, I have no problems with it. That is one of the things I like with the series on a whole, there are so many different things you can do and everybody can find something they like, be it shiny hunting, battling or something else.

 

[Millky95]

I'd enjoy a Kanto Re-remake. Expand the Sevi Islands. All those beautiful areas in 3D. Would be good fun.

Seems a bit wishlisty though, what else is unpopular:
I enjoy HMs and having to use Pokemon to progress through the region, not just in special areas.
I preferred having Centers and Marts separate

 

[Darth Manaphy]

I'll have to say that even as an adult in Gen VI I got back to shiny hunting (mostly now Masuda Method), but I think I always have a story with mine no matter how stupid it was. My first one was a Pumpkaboo because I just loved the color palette (ok that was a bad one). Then, my second was a Honedge because that very week I was trying to get the Shiny Pumpkaboo, I got that one AND a Shiny Scyther that I wasn't even trying for. I decided to see how lucky I could be so I set myself a two day limit and got it that very day. My third was a Gible. While the colors for that were, eh, especially as a Garchomp, I wanted to do it because I had a Shiny Garchomp on my main battle team in Gen IV and V that was just the best Pokemon ever on them and that everyone used to call my signature Pokemon. So I wanted to update it as well as make it legal for Gen VI tournament play if I were to compete in it. Finally, my last one was a Shiny Pidgey. That one I did because of an inside joke when I was a noobish fanfic writer who wrote myself capturing one in a self-insert trainer fic (that now I cringe at reading). I showed it to my best friend and she IMMEDIATELY brought up the Shiny Pidgey. So, hearing that Pidgeot was getting a Mega Evolution, I decided to Masuda myself a usable Shiny Pidgey.



Now, to get to some of my Unpopular Opinions now that story time is over.

- My favorite generation was Gen IV. I liked how big the worlds felt in both games compared to the first three and it looked like there was real VARIETY for the first time in the map layout for those games. I wonder if I'm one of the few that LOVED the marshlands and the snow routes. I also loved Mt. Coronet. I loved the pseudo-3D look since it made it feel bigger and less cramped than the previous games. I loved the Pokemon. I loved Team Galactic. It was just the perfect generation for me. I loved HGSS for improving what used to be my favorite games (Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal).

- I kind of got my own headcanon for Team Flare that really improved it in my mind. Team Flare is a downright cult. While the non-Rocket teams were also cult-like, Team Flare REALLY had the makings of being a cult since they loved to keep their members out of the loop of the real plan when you listen to the grunts. The grunts just thought they were going to make a more beautiful world. On the outside it doesn't sound bad especially with the way us humans were messing it up. Then you learn what Lysandre wants to do and how he plans to kill off most of the world in order for it to flourish with most humans destroyed. Then you think back and ask yourself "Did any of the grunts even know what Lysandre was doing to achieve their goals?" I'm thinking they were just told the vague plan of being told they were making a more beautiful world and then when they joined they were just given tasks. I think even a few grunts mentioned they didn't know what was going on in their own organizations. Only the truly trustworthy grunts that prove their worth would become admins and even learn a fraction of Lysandre's plans.

- I have a thing for Klink and it's evolutions. I only wished they got more moves. I admit that Gen V had probably the most unique Pokemon compared to some of the others. While some people might complain about "Duurrrr, new vendor trash!" most of the non-repeat designs were new Pokemon based off of new things and it was exciting to see what was made as Pokemon here.

- I love cross generation evolutions especially ones the introduce a new niche for both the original and the evolution (like Porygon-Z and Porygon2 now that Evolite was made). I hate how Mega Evolutions are the lazy way of fixing up weak Pokemon instead of making a new generation. It can be used to fixed up third stages, but not Pokemon like Mawile, Sableye, and Audino which had plenty of abilities to just evolve and become better that way.

- Gen I was just that - the very beginnings of Pokemon. I don't call the original original good or bad compared to latter generations. It had a LOT of rough corners, but that's to be expected for the very first game from a company that probably didn't expect it to be as popular as it is now. However, it doesn't hold up to latter games. On the other hand, I felt FRLG to be a downgrade because of all the restrictions in the game and how a lot of it just feels weaker compared to RSE in terms of gameplay (I HATED the whole trade problem and evolution problem. I hated no time even compared to the much weaker version compared to GSC).

 

[antemortem]

- I have a thing for Klink and it's evolutions. I only wished they got more moves. I admit that Gen V had probably the most unique Pokemon compared to some of the others. While some people might complain about "Duurrrr, new vendor trash!" most of the non-repeat designs were new Pokemon based off of new things and it was exciting to see what was made as Pokemon here.

I would agree with you. A lot of Gen IV's new Pokemon were really typical - bunnies, cats, birds - whereas Gen V had things like electric spiders and gears and ice cream. The latter brings me to my own unpopular opinion (and I think some other people share this one): Vanilluxe's evolutionary line is cool. No pun intended, but I thought the ice creams were pretty decent. Not too shabby in-game and were INCREDIBLY cute. Unfortunately, one had to be used by N(efarious) so it kind of watered down its charm, but otherwise Vanilluxe was one of my favorite Gen V mons. Vanillite was absolutely adorable, too...

 

[Gokuzbu]

Man, fuck the snow routes in gen IV. They made your walking sooooo slow, the blizzard covering the screen was annoying and screw hail.

I think people comparing female characters hotness in a children's game is sad if anything.

 

[Hyper Cutter]

Stealth Rock should have been banned long ago, it's far too powerful relative to the other entry hazards and screwed over a lot of otherwise good Pokemon.

Also, Gen III was probably the best gen overall, it was a huge leap over Gen II in almost every respect, introduced a lot of great Pokemon designs, and gave us a box system that wasn't a hot mess (and that is still being used, three generations down the line).

tl;dr - technically possible, but I don't see game freak doing it because they're reluctant to change

See also: the Nidoran still being two seperate lines (and Nidorina/Nidoqueen being unable to breed for some reason), and the increasingly bizarre order of the National Pokedex.

I think Greninja is the next uprising of a "Charizard-esque" Pokemon in terms of fan response. I just don't find the appeal of Smog Frog.

I like Greninja, but goddamn that tongue scarf is kind of gross.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Cobalt Empoleon :

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Karen's Speech: I think Karen's Speech is a jumble of word misuse, but the message she's trying to say still doesn't mesh with how things work in the metagame. I think when Karen said "favorite" Pokemon she does mean the Pokemon you've raised and bonded with (as much as you can, anyway), she's just assuming since they're your favorite you're probably already using them. But as pointed out many times, this doesn't really work well in the metagame or even in the post game area.
However I think there's a reason for that: Karen's speech was written during Gen 2. At this point in the game there were only a handful of powerful Pokemon, no post game area like we do today, and metagame battling was mostly done between friends since you had to use a physical link cable. In short, Pokemon was sort of a casual thing back then so it could be see as the creators commenting on "schoolyard" arguments on which Pokemon was best. However as Pokemon gone on through the generation things have changed. Now there's a whole metagame filled with viable Pokemon to the point tiers need to be made to make things "fair". The post game areas your favorite Pokemon may not be enough to get through, you need to raise a specific Pokemon to get you through it. Karen re-using the speech in HGSS is just a relic of past thoughts, proven by the gentlemen in ORAS Battle Resort saying there are Pokemon which are just better.
On a character perspective, you could say its just Karen acting like her type. Dark-type (or Evil-type in Japan) are Pokemon who's behavior could be described as subversive and rebellious. So Karen isn't being deep, she's just rebelling against the popular opinion based on the environment she's in (which is as a professional Pokemon battler).

tl;dr, Karen's speech is an outdated relic from a much simpler time. In-character, she's just being a hipster.

Goddess Briyella :

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All The Zubat: I'm perfectly okay catching one Zubat, but their encounter rate is very high in at least past generation caves. Though thinking about it nowadays we have more then enough cave-dwelling Pokemon this isn't really a problem anymore as we see plenty of Pokemon walking through a cave.
Also I think since you can encounter a Pokemon on any cave tile means you run into wild Pokemon more often then on routes where that's just on grass tiles. Thus it makes it seem like you're being swarmed more then usual, but in actuality its because there are no non-encounter tiles.
Pokegirls: Um... do remember May is still a child...
Now I'm not going to tell you that you can't have a "crush" on a fictional character or have them as your "waifu". However do remember they're fictional thus not real, so don't actually base any relationship standards with them as the scale. All I'm saying.
Cyndaquil Lazing: Odd, the reason I picked Cyndaquil is because I like Fire-types. And if you picked one of the other starters I'm going to guess you probably also have other Pokemon to back you up (including one of the early birds) and your Starter at least has a Normal-type move they can use to do neutral damage. I doubt anyone with a Totodile or Chikorita is going through Sprout Tower with just them and using Water Gun or Vine Whip.
TM Use: I guess it does a bit, and since they're reusable that means the more powerful ones are found much later (sometimes even post game). But I still think it was a good decision as honestly it would only affect the metagame and even then a balance team would only need one or two Pokemon with the same move. It's more for convenience sake and doesn't really effect the game that much since for the most part you'll be relying on level-up moves.

Suspicious Derivative :

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Origins Canon: Hmm, yeah, I guess Pokemon Origins could be considered the Mega Timeline's version of Kanto. So that just leaves Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova. And while remakes of the latter two will happen eventually, the question is what about Johto...

Millky95 :

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HM Roadblock: I think they could make interesting use of needing the HMs as roadblocks if they do a "free roam" game where you pick the order of the Gyms you challenge.
Center Mart: While I like they combined the Pokemon Center and PokeMart, I do they maybe they could have replaced them with "specialty" stores. Like the Pokemon Center's PokeMart is for the basic stuff like Pokeballs and Potions, but there will be specialty shops for advance Pokeballs, X items, medicine, power-up item, etc.. Then again I suppose the Boutiques did that in XY.

Hyper Cutter :

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Sneaky Pebbles: YES! Stealth Rock is too powerful and needs to be nerfed. I think it and Spikes (and maybe any new hazard that does damage) should be revamped to make them useful but not force out certain types of Pokemon.
Nidoroyal: Like Karen's speech, that's more of a relic (just like how Nidorina and Nidoqueen can't breed). Also if they combine them that'll have to re-order the Pokedex and the only way they'll do that if they decide to reboot the series which I highly doubt they'll do.

 

[Millky95]

Millky95 :

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HM Roadblock: I think they could make interesting use of needing the HMs as roadblocks if they do a "free roam" game where you pick the order of the Gyms you challenge.
Center Mart: While I like they combined the Pokemon Center and PokeMart, I do they maybe they could have replaced them with "specialty" stores. Like the Pokemon Center's PokeMart is for the basic stuff like Pokeballs and Potions, but there will be specialty shops for advance Pokeballs, X items, medicine, power-up item, etc.. Then again I suppose the Boutiques did that in XY.

Thing is, which gym gives what HM power? Meaning you have to do Gym X to use Surf to get to Gym Y, making X have to be done before Y. Unless we have access to all HMs before any badge but that defeats the purpose IMO. To me, the badges are a sign of strength and relationships with your Pokemon. If you don't have the badge to surf, there would be good reason for it. In-game universe wise I guess. Clever use of them would be nicer to see though.

Agreed for the most part

 

[Gokuzbu]

Thing is, which gym gives what HM power? Meaning you have to do Gym X to use Surf to get to Gym Y, making X have to be done before Y. Unless we have access to all HMs before any badge but that defeats the purpose IMO. To me, the badges are a sign of strength and relationships with your Pokemon. If you don't have the badge to surf, there would be good reason for it. In-game universe wise I guess. Clever use of them would be nicer to see though.

Agreed for the most part

Just have the number gym it is correspond to what HM you get. The first gym you beat gives you cut, the second rock smash etc. Then you still have freedom to fight whoever you want.

 

[Millky95]

Just have the number gym it is correspond to what HM you get. The first gym you beat gives you cut, the second rock smash etc. Then you still have freedom to fight whoever you want.

Same issue. If a gym is blocked by Cut, it must be done after the you have enough badges to get cut. If Surf requires 4 badges, the gym on the island must be the 5th-8th gym you do

 

[DHR-107]

At the above posters:

This is why I much preferred Gen 5's way of doing things. You could use HM's regardless of when you had badges, just the HM's were placed in such a way that without trading you could not access them "early". Just however it makes relevance story wise. I much prefer HM's being required for *exploring* as opposed to progression. I always found ORAS tiring because of that. Having to pretty much always have rock smash on your team to get to the desert easily and stuff like that is annoying to say the least.

 

[Random Passerby]

Despite the fact that Gen 4 is plagued by troubles (Sinnoh "HM" Region, low framerate, HGSS's level curve, etc.), I genuinely loved the games and never understood why they were so hated. Sinnoh allows you to visit places with different geographical landscapes which are separated by Mount Coronet. It also has interesting lores on its legendaries. HGSS took everything that was good about GSC and improved it (except the level curve) so it is a pretty nice game to me.

I have also been a fan of Vanilluxe and never understood why it received so much hate. The entire family is cuter than say, the Muk line or the Magneton line.

Oh, and Whitney is a total pushover. Wanna try hard opponents? Fight RBY Misty or DPP Cynthia.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

At the above posters:

This is why I much preferred Gen 5's way of doing things. You could use HM's regardless of when you had badges, just the HM's were placed in such a way that without trading you could not access them "early". Just however it makes relevance story wise. I much prefer HM's being required for *exploring* as opposed to progression. I always found ORAS tiring because of that. Having to pretty much always have rock smash on your team to get to the desert easily and stuff like that is annoying to say the least.

At least they made routes Fly-able to (unlike the previous games). So, once you got Fly (an HM I'm sure most people used because of convenience), you can fly directly to the route where the fly point lands you past those rock smash rocks and near the desert.

I DO like the fact that in the newer games the HMs aren't required for progression, but I find the excuses for not allowing you to go certain places jarring and immersion breaking ESPECIALLY in BW. Like, I think my "favorite" had to be the guy in BW who literally told you "I'm standing here until you beat the gym leader". I actually prefer having to use an HM to bypass an obstacle even if it's only required for that one time because at least it doesn't just outright admit that you MUST beat the gym leader in the most direct way possible. Maybe a better compromise would be those times when only the gym leader could help you pass and the gym leader doesn't care about anything until you beat him/her. But don't just say "You can't go here because we like railroad you". It may have been breaking the fourth wall, but it just FELT like lazy writing.

Oh, and Whitney is a total pushover. Wanna try hard opponents? Fight RBY Misty or DPP Cynthia.

I agree that people are really overselling Whitney. I started with a Cyndaquil so I knew it was going to be a bit difficult by the time I learned it had Rollout. The Clefairy was unmemorable. The Miltank was only tough because it was fully evolved and took down fire types easily. I can't remember what I used in the original games, but I actually remember that my Butterfree was the one I used to take it down in HGSS because of Compound Eyes Sleep Powder really being effective at neutering a slower threat (which my Butterfree was faster by the time I got to her).

I also agree that, unless you started with a Bulbasaur, Misty in RB was hard. I started with a Squirtle and had a decently leveled Pikachu, and the Pikachu was taken down hard by Starmie. I think my Squirtle barely survived.

Cynthia was only hard because Garchomp is so broken. So if you don't come in at a really high level with some fast Pokemon you WILL get hit hard by it. I know my Platinum Empoleon even at level 100 is outsped and nearly killed by that Garchomp and it was the only thing I had with a super effective hit on Garchomp. Cynthia, otherwise, is a pushover for me at least.

 

[Random Passerby]

I also agree that, unless you started with a Bulbasaur, Misty in RB was hard. I started with a Squirtle and had a decently leveled Pikachu, and the Pikachu was taken down hard by Starmie. I think my Squirtle barely survived.

Cynthia was only hard because Garchomp is so broken. So if you don't come in at a really high level with some fast Pokemon you WILL get hit hard by it. I know my Platinum Empoleon even at level 100 is outsped and nearly killed by that Garchomp and it was the only thing I had with a super effective hit on Garchomp. Cynthia, otherwise, is a pushover for me at least.

Ikr, Bubblebeam is really powerful especially at that point in the game where your Pokemon are not fully evolved and you are facing an OU-level mon.

And what are you doing at Lv 100 anyway? I made it to the Elite Four when my Pokemon is in the low 50s

 

[Flareon]

Stealth Rock should have been banned long ago, it's far too powerful relative to the other entry hazards and screwed over a lot of otherwise good Pokemon.

Totally agree with this. It's like:
>community complains about over-centralization
>mentions stealth rock in almost every (if not every) analysis