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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
>Gale
I now respect the translation team for making a good call for translating a move.
So many moves are messed up with accuracy. Kinesis (Lowers Acc but has 80% Acc itself), Heat Wave as previously stated, Focus Blast (a) Aura Sphere, which is a mini focus blast never misses b) how are you focusing but missing so much) to name a few. Over 3x as many Pokemon learn flamethrower to Ember (I mean it's literally a more powerful ember lol) I always found it funny how Present has 90% Acc. Do you not want my gift :[
I don't really think any types are stupid, actually and how would you suggest Pokemon like Venusaur who are plant based monsters (like most of them are) use the earth when they actually aren't connect to it?
Also they do it's called Ingrain.
Focus Blast is even worse in spanish as it literally includes the word "Accurate" (Its name is Onda Certera) and yet...
Wow um..I don't have any words for that.
EDIT: Actually yes I do, they should of translated better.
It has 110 BP and looking at it from a competitive standpoint, only 2 OU Pokemon learn it and only one of them finds it useful imo.
I guess balance > logic sometimes ;;
They fucked up because a move whose concept indicates it should be accurate is inaccurate. Their job is to implement a realistic, credible world (relative to the fictional parameters of having magical creatures or whatever, etc.). If that world is unbalanced, it's unbalanced.
I imagine that Twister is easier to use and aim. Like imagine a strong burst of wind, but it has such a windup that it's not too hard to move out of the way. Also Twister is a Dragon typed move so it probably has some secret draconic energies involved when being made as opposed to the mundane strong winds of Hurricane.
What I mean is that they would be so much better if they had actual Earth Power instead of Earthquake. #makeMeganiumViable2k17
I feel the same way about Delphox. Literally the only Psychic Pokemon without access to Tbolt, Focus Blast or Energy Ball, it does get Thunder- and Power-Up Punch though lol.
If you're in the middle of a hurricane I'd like to see you dodge it when it covers an area bigger than a city, technically.
EDIT: Lol completely missed heybbygal's comment. 10/10 PokeLogic tho.
Well, to be fair, hurricanes can also describe the wind conditions. I imagine the move Hurricane more like producing Hurricane-force winds (speeds greater than 74 mph/118 km/h). It also requires moisture and energy to sustain. Probably because of that, that's why Hurricane is 100% accurate during rain and 50% accurate during the sun - it grows even stronger and larger during the rain and wimpier during the dry heat.
Just because they can't manipulate the ground (which is the purview of another type) they're stupid? Grass-types mainly control plants, if they have any Ground move (and aren't Ground-type) that's just a bonus. Earth Power isn't just the earth splitting apart, it's the Ground-type releasing the energy that the Ground has been storing underneath the opponent. The move you just described was essentially Grass Knot, having grass (though I imagine a root or vine would do too) tie around the opponent's foot causing them to trip. There's also Frenzy Plant & Leech Seed. Also not all Grass-types are the same, some may not have control over roots but another plant-based power.
Accuracy Balance:
Hurricane: As Siggu said we do need to look at the Japanese names sometimes. Hurricane's Japanese name is Windstorm which you still think wouldn't miss but it's evident of something else. Windstorm gives the idea its the turbulent winds which is where the damage comes from so if the user can stay grounded it won't be lifted up into the air and damaged (though with hurricanes and other windstorms there's also the "eye of the storm", a peaceful area which is maybe a place the Pokemon can take refuge until the storm goes away). And remember Twister is a Dragon-type move, it hints there's some mysticism about it making it different than your average wind funnel. And there's also the issue of competitive balance, they wanted to give Flying-types a version of Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast.
Focus Blast: Don't think "focus" as in "accurately aiming" but rather it's taking time to make a ball of energy (and its Japanese name really isn't an indicator of what its like, called "Fighting Spirit Bullet"). The idea is the Pokemon takes so much time creating this ball of energy the opponent sees it coming so they have a chance of dodging it.
Secret Bases & Sinnoh Underground:
I liked the Sinnoh Underground as a place to explore though I do agree it's a bit of a dull place to build a secret base. Though at the same time you could make your base on any wall in the Underground while Secret Bases only had so many spots so its a question of availability vs. uniqueness. I like the idea of the player having their own place (not exactly a home, while the Villa in Platinum was neat I did find it weird a 10 year old kid was given a full vacation home (and yet never invited our mom)), though I don't think its been done in a way yet that gives the player a chance to build it where they would like it though might then be told they couldn't get another player's base because it was in the same spot. Don't know how they'd fix that, maybe instead of a physical entrance they could set up a teleporter thus multiple people can have the same base yet it exists within its own pocket dimension?
Honestly I wouldn't mind if more Special Grass-types got Earth Power, but it's not strange if they don't. Also Meganium would need a LOT more to become anywhere close viable. Its a defensive pure Grass-type, at this point only a Mega could save it by either completely rehauling it or giving it an Ability/Secondary typing to make it better at what they want it to do (or both).
And yeah, Delphox is a MAGE! It should be able to do all sorts of Special attacks!
Ah that would make sense. Idk why I didn't see that, tbh.
It's a bird summoning a Hurricane in what is usually a confined area that somehow avoids damaging anything - including people and any part of the environment - aside from the target, and the part that concerns you about defiance of logic is that a powerful move isn't that accurate?
It all concerns me.
It an be sort of justified flavour wise, sure, but erosion is a slow process, and I don't think it would be that useful in a fight. :D
As an 'element vs element' advantage, I always saw that base as already being covered by the Ground type, and Rock/Ground types would still be weak to water and grass anyway.
It's a bit like how Steel doesn't resist water, but isn't weak to it either. I think that would be a much fairer way to go. (Fight, Steel and Ground make more sense as weaknesses anyway, and mostly hit on the physical side, rather than Water and Grass hitting (often 4x) on the weaker special defence).
Rock already resists Poison, but I would love resistances to Bug and Fairy
As for Head Smash Corsola, well, it might have a puny attack, but with a 150 BP move boosted by Hustle and STAB, it... ok, yeah, it's still awful ok? :D
Maybe I just need to give it a Choice Band...?
Hell yeah. Especially Regice, who is cool literally and figuratively. I even was lucky enough to get one as my starter in a randomizer once. It was awesome.
Um, maybe naturally erosion is a slow process, but when a creature is firing water at you in a high powered stream or having grass and vines striking you fast I'd imagine the process would be sped up a bit.
Also though Steel isn't weak to Water, Water does resist Steel.
The Legendary Titans/Golems/Regis have to be one of my favourite legendary trios. I just like their design. I love Registeel and Regice, their designs are amazing. Regirock is meh tbh. With Registeel, I also feel like it's one of the few Pokemon to actually benefit from the transition to 3D
It's so metallic and I like it.
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And let's not forget the awesome Golem Trio's cries in the anime
Though on the topic their theme is great too. Very ominous sounding, like you're going up against this indomitable force who keeps on coming no matter how many attacks you send at it.
RSE version
Anime version
BW2 version
ORAS version
The think the reason they don't get a lot of attention due to them mainly being defensive Pokemon... which have a weakness to Fighting. Their Abilities don't really help them any, don't have a way to reliably heal themselves, and don't have a lot Status moves to make their job easier. They're also slow, a usual trait of a defensive Pokemon, thought that does undermine Regirock's and Regice's passible Attack and Special Attack, respectively. Though that said, poor Registeel is the "middle" regi which resulted its offensive and defensive stats to be averaged while Regirock focuses on the physical side of things and Regice the special.
They're a cool idea though not executed in the best way.
Though on the topic their theme is great too. Very ominous sounding, like you're going up against this indomitable force who keeps on coming no matter how many attacks you send at it.
RSE version
Anime version
BW2 version
ORAS version
The think the reason they don't get a lot of attention due to them mainly being defensive Pokemon... which have a weakness to Fighting. Their Abilities don't really help them any, don't have a way to reliably heal themselves, and don't have a lot Status moves to make their job easier. They're also slow, a usual trait of a defensive Pokemon, thought that does undermine Regirock's and Regice's passible Attack and Special Attack, respectively. Though that said, poor Registeel is the "middle" regi which resulted its offensive and defensive stats to be averaged while Regirock focuses on the physical side of things and Regice the special.
They're a cool idea though not executed in the best way.
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Actually, defensive Pokémon which specialize in one side of the spectrum is a bad idea overall. A Pokémon with titanic Defense but no Special Defense will take a lot of damage from Special moves, and needs a humongous HP stat not to be knocked out flat by attacks from the wrong side of the spectrum (see Chansey/Blissey).
An offensive specialization is very easy to work with. You can choose what moves to use, and thus opt never to use your weakest attacking stat. Movepool and stats can be tweaked to optimalize your good side of the spectrum, and it's feasible to simply pretend the other side isn't there. But a Pokémon can't choose which moves to be hit by, so a defensive deficiency is a major minus which will be exploited. An offensive Pokémon can focus all its effort in its best attacking stat, plus Speed. But if you want to do defense well, you need to focus on both sides of the spectrum, plus maybe HP, which leaves very few stats to be put into other areas. Optimalize all defensive stats, and suddenly you can't do anything back to the opponent (see Shuckle, or again Chansey/Blissey). You need an utterly humongous BST to have stats left over to attack with, or leave a gaping hole in the defenses for the foe to exploit (see Avalugg, Cloyster and arguably Florges). At any rate, your Speed is likely to be lacking, so prepare to take hits before you can do anything.
Game Freak has tried (and failed) to address this problem, by jacking up the base stats of defensive Pokémon to ridiculous levels. Base 170+ offenses are nearly unheard of, but such high defenses are quite widely distributed. The highest non-forme Attack stat is 165 (154 on the special side), but there are six Pokémon with Defense above 180 (yet strangely only five above 150 on the special side). But while the extremely offensively-inclined Pokémon see much use as terrifying wall-breakers or sweepers, extremely defensively-oriented ones are obscure even in lower metagames.
Now that offensively-oriented Pokémon have so many high-power moves, high stats and wide coverage to work with, a good defensive stat is more useless than ever. You can't protect yourself from Critical Hits without using obscure moves or abilities, and when they happen your defensive boosts are ignored. A Pokémon can take hits reasonably well, but then you have to rely on passive damage to hurt the opponent, and a strong super-effective move or crit can take you down quickly in any scenario.
Add to this that a defensive approach is tedious and heal-intensive to use in-game, and you get a bit of a feeling that the game mechanics border on broken. Doing offense well is easy, many Pokémon can do it, it requires little set-up, and it's quick and efficient in-game. Doing defense well requires a very lucky draw in the Base Stat lottery, few Pokémon can pull it off (best example: Ferrothorn), it may require lots of set-up (which may be negated at any moment by phazing or critical hits), and in-game every battle becomes one of attrition that requires you to heal afterwards, burning through healing items or forcing you to backtrack. Gaining Exp. by playing defensive is... less than fun. And Exp. is practically required to progress through the game. What's worse, in a battle environment where defensive play is the best option, every battle becomes a boring stall-fest. Defensive playing doesn't only not work well, it can't work well for the game to be fun. The designers truly painted themselves into a corner with this one.
An offensive specialization is very easy to work with. You can choose what moves to use, and thus opt never to use your weakest attacking stat. Movepool and stats can be tweaked to optimalize your good side of the spectrum, and it's feasible to simply pretend the other side isn't there. But a Pokémon can't choose which moves to be hit by, so a defensive deficiency is a major minus which will be exploited. An offensive Pokémon can focus all its effort in its best attacking stat, plus Speed. But if you want to do defense well, you need to focus on both sides of the spectrum, plus maybe HP, which leaves very few stats to be put into other areas. Optimalize all defensive stats, and suddenly you can't do anything back to the opponent (see Shuckle, or again Chansey/Blissey). You need an utterly humongous BST to have stats left over to attack with, or leave a gaping hole in the defenses for the foe to exploit (see Avalugg, Cloyster and arguably Florges). At any rate, your Speed is likely to be lacking, so prepare to take hits before you can do anything.
Game Freak has tried (and failed) to address this problem, by jacking up the base stats of defensive Pokémon to ridiculous levels. Base 170+ offenses are nearly unheard of, but such high defenses are quite widely distributed. The highest non-forme Attack stat is 165 (154 on the special side), but there are six Pokémon with Defense above 180 (yet strangely only five above 150 on the special side). But while the extremely offensively-inclined Pokémon see much use as terrifying wall-breakers or sweepers, extremely defensively-oriented ones are obscure even in lower metagames.
Now that offensively-oriented Pokémon have so many high-power moves, high stats and wide coverage to work with, a good defensive stat is more useless than ever. You can't protect yourself from Critical Hits without using obscure moves or abilities, and when they happen your defensive boosts are ignored. A Pokémon can take hits reasonably well, but then you have to rely on passive damage to hurt the opponent, and a strong super-effective move or crit can take you down quickly in any scenario.
Add to this that a defensive approach is tedious and heal-intensive to use in-game, and you get a bit of a feeling that the game mechanics border on broken. Doing offense well is easy, many Pokémon can do it, it requires little set-up, and it's quick and efficient in-game. Doing defense well requires a very lucky draw in the Base Stat lottery, few Pokémon can pull it off (best example: Ferrothorn), it may require lots of set-up (which may be negated at any moment by phazing or critical hits), and in-game every battle becomes one of attrition that requires you to heal afterwards, burning through healing items or forcing you to backtrack. Gaining Exp. by playing defensive is... less than fun. And Exp. is practically required to progress through the game. What's worse, in a battle environment where defensive play is the best option, every battle becomes a boring stall-fest. Defensive playing doesn't only not work well, it can't work well for the game to be fun. The designers truly painted themselves into a corner with this one.
Yeah most defensive pokemon are useless in-game and having an offensive mon in a slot is 100x more efficient. The only thing I can think of that'll give defensive mons a purpose in game is if GF bumps up the difficulty of the game, like Battle Maison difficult. However, they're still pretty crucial to competitive battles. Without defensive pokemon, competitive battles would break and won't work at all.
Defensive Pokémon work surprisingly well in Double battles, I think. They can support their team mates without worrying about taking too much damage, maybe even lure attacks, and they don't have to do the job of knocking out the foe. They can hold their corner of the battlefield for as long as they have to, and provide good relief to their partner, as long as they don't have to go on the offensive. In a game filled with double battles (such as Colosseum and XD), they can gain exp. without having to knock out anything, and without dragging on the battle. Had there been more double battles in the core series games, defensive Pokémon would both have a purpose, AND they could gain experience without relying so mye on Exp. Share or switching.