Unpopular opinions

[MellowBusiness]

I know we'll never get this kind of rival, but I'd love to see a rival that's kinda like a reverse Silver. The character starts off as basically your best friend and you're having fun and stuff. But then later on in the story, loss after loss, as well as the player character getting constant praise (and being the "chosen one" for the box legend) starts to breed jealously and envy. The rival will start to take more drastic measures in order to win, and even at one point temporarily joins the evil team. They know its wrong, but they are just so desperate to win that they just don't care.

When the postgame begins, their relationship is very strained, but the rival is trying to atone for all the wrongdoings they did during the story; they'll even be a postgame episode, similar to XY's episode, Delta, and Rainbow that deals with them rekindling their relationship.

 

[Oddish.]

I've thought about that as well, and I think it'd be a really interesting route to take a rival, though I'm not sure how I would feel about having them join the evil team, even temporarily, since it might veer a little too far into Ow The Edge territory. That is if it doesn't come off as downright silly (though those two can definitely overlap). I probably wouldn't be too interested in rekindling my friendship with a person who took things that seriously. If anything, I'd want them to seek help first because anyone who goes that far over what should be friendly pokemon battles is probably not entirely stable lol. But I definitely think it'd be cool to explore an initially friendly rival who doesn't take too kindly to losing so often and the fact that everyone around you seems to go on about how special and talented you are. I think the closest we got to a rival like this is Serena/Calem, who seems to actually get increasingly frustrated the more they lose to you, at least from what I can remember. Though it never really impacts your friendship. Anyway, Pokemon definitely needs to shake things up in the rival department. While the only rivals I can say I truly disliked were the gen 6 ones and the rest are fine (or at least tolerable) to me, something new would be welcomed. I guess here's to hoping gen 8 delivers.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I'd say it would also depend on the villain team.

If we're talking about teams like Rocket/Galactic/B2W2 Plasma/Flare than probably not. These are organizations with criminal/controversial goals and/or ideologies not to mention their leaders motivation is self-centered (on themselves and/or their team). Those who join them are probably young adults who have had a rougher time with life and/or society and want to either improve their lifestyle and/or change how the world works.

I could maybe see a rival joining Aqua/Magma/BW Plasma/Aether Foundation. These are organizations who goals can be seen as environmental/humanitarian. For those who love Pokemon and think humans have abused them there's Aqua and BW Plasma, those those who want to improve the lives of people there's Magma, and Aether Foundation is a world wide organization that help rescue Pokemon and research to understand them better (closest I can think them as being is the Peace Corps of the Pokemon World). Though Aqua and Magma may not be looking for young members, BW Plasma are looking to influence the younger generation and Aether Foundation probably set up a youth volunteering program.

I can definitely see a rival falling into a group like Skull... mainly cause one of our rivals in Gen VII is part of Team Skull (though Gladion's reasons were a little more complicated, also his membership is shaky as it more sounds like he was someone Guzma hired to enforce the grunts but not part of the team; and who knows if Guzma didn't only do this on orders from Lusamine to keep on eye on Gladion (or Silvally)). But this is about Team Skull who are all made of youths of Alola who felt ostracized for one reason or another (though a lot seems to be connected with the island's traditions, specifically completing the Island Challenge). So if the rival wasn't quite able to keep up and started to feel they were being judged because of it, yeah, they may join a group of others who felt just like them.

So I'd say if they ever want the rival to join a villain team it would have to be one which goals aren't outright criminal and either has goals which you could argue is meant to be for the benefit of everyone or are a group they feel a connection with.

 

[Tapu Koko Loko]

I think TMs with BP over 80 should be made Tutor Moves, their spots filled with weaker moves (for example, replace Thunderbolt and Thunder with the likes of Thunder Fang and Shock Wave; replace Scald and Surf with Water Pulse and Bubblebeam). It would be nice to shine a spotlight on the rarer moves.

Yes, I know you would all crucify me when GF does this, are to lazy to implement tutors in the next game, and we go by half a generation without Boltbeam, Edgequake, Scald etc.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

I would actually like to see some more evolutions to otherwise mediocre Pokemon, like Sawsbuck, Mightyena, Solrock, Lunatone etc. I liked that they did that in Gen 4 (apart from Lickilicky, hate that thing).

 

[Pikachu315111]

I would actually like to see some more evolutions to otherwise mediocre Pokemon, like Sawsbuck, Mightyena, Solrock, Lunatone etc. I liked that they did that in Gen 4 (apart from Lickilicky, hate that thing).

Not likely going to happen, they seemed to have stopping giving new evolutions to past generation Pokemon (except Eevee). At best is a Mega Evo... actually at this point they could at best probably get a stat increase and maybe thrown a few moves they could make use of.

 

[stage7_4]

A few overlooked designs I'm fond of:

Seedot doesn't share much in common with it's evolutions Nuzleaf and Shiftree save for a brown color palate. But I'm rather fond of the waddling head acorn look with the mysterious racoon-like eyes.

Either that or because it wouldn't look out of place in a Kirby game. Or years of conditioning have made me fond of waddling head monsters.

cannot imagine where it comes from

 

[Worldie]

Seedot doesn't share much in common with it's evolutions Nuzleaf and Shiftree save for a brown color palate. But I'm rather fond of the waddling head acorn look with the mysterious racoon-like eyes.

I would just mention that Seedot in gen 6/7 in combat animation is another level of adorable <3

 

[PokePoindexter]

One of the reasons given as to why some people hate Black/White is that they can’t use any Pokemon from previous generations in the main story.

To which I reply: Buddy, until Umbreon gets some real attack stats and/or becomes a god of competitive battling, I don’t give a damn whether or not you miss your Geodudes and Zubats.

(Also, those aforementioned games and their sequels are my favorite Pokemon games, which has long been a seemingly unpopular opinion.)

 

[Detective Barricade]

One of the reasons given as to why some people hate Black/White is that they can’t use any Pokemon from previous generations in the main story.

To which I reply: Buddy, until Umbreon gets some real attack stats and/or becomes a god of competitive battling, I don’t give a damn whether or not you miss your Geodudes and Zubats.

(Also, those aforementioned games and their sequels are my favorite Pokemon games, which has long been a seemingly unpopular opinion.)

To be fair, that was the generation that introduced Umbreon to its new best friend Foul Play. A powerful STAB move that punishes the opponent by using their own Attack stat against them.

And I'd argue that liking B/W(2) these days is relatively popular. Liking gen 7 on the other hand...

(I'd put Let's Go here, but opinions on that are going to sway wildly until after the game is actually out)

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

l
To which I reply: Buddy, until Umbreon gets some real attack stats and/or becomes a god of competitive battling, I don’t give a damn whether or not you miss your Geodudes and Zubats.

Is ‘when Umbreon becomes viable’ the new ‘when hell freezes over’ haha?

Speaking of Gen 5 though, while I really like it overall and B2W2 are among my favourite games in the main series, there are a few specific issues I have with BW.

One in particular I’ve never seen mentioned (maybe making it an unpopular opinion?) is how limited the Pokémon you see in Gyms are. There’s a very simple pattern in almost all the Gyms that pretty much allows you to predict what the Leader has before you start the battle. After the Striaton Gym (which has its own problems for me but I digress), every leader uses Pokémon from the two or three evolutionary lines that you’ve seen the Gym Trainers use, except with an evolution or two. The only exceptions to this are the Sigilyph used by one Pilot in the Mistralton Gym and the Deino used by some of the Opelucid Gym Trainers. In fact, the Mistralton Gym is the only Gym where more than three different evolutionary lines are present, aside from the Striaton Gym, which has four on any given playthrough and six overall counting all three Leaders.

To me, this doesn’t feel natural to play through. Is there some prescribed list of acceptable Pokémon for each Gym, set by the Leader in-universe? Sometimes it’s a necesssity for rarer types like Ice, Ghost and Dragon, but going into Elesa’s Gym and seeing only three different Pokémon species the entire way through was kinda disappointing. Battling Trainers’ Drilbur, Ducklett and Cubchoo in Gyms 5,6, and 7 and just knowing that the Leaders’ aces were going to be the evolved forms of these Pokémon took some of the anticipation away.

In a game that introduced more new Pokémon than we’d ever seen in a generation, the Gyms should have been a great way to showcase as many of these new mons as possible, but I don’t feel that that’s what we got.

 

[PokePoindexter]

To be fair, that was the generation that introduced Umbreon to its new best friend Foul Play. A powerful STAB move that punishes the opponent by using their own Attack stat against them.

That is true, but it only gets Foul Play through Move Tutors, and only in one set of games can it be taught before the postgame (that being BW2). I guess I should have mentioned its difficulty to use in-game instead during my original comment. I just find it hilarious when people whine about how much they missed their favorite past-gen Pokemon in Black/White, considering my favorite Pokemon from the first 4 generations has such bad offenses that it's a pain to try to use during any main series adventure bar one or two. Welcome to the club, people.

And since I'm posting again, here's another unpopular opinion of mine: Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon > Sun/Moon. Reasons: New UB's, Team Rainbow Rocket, being able to evolve Charjabug, Magneton, and Crabrawler much earlier than in the previous games, Hau is a more interesting character, Mantine Surfing is a much less tedious method for acquiring huge sums of BP's, and the level progression is such that it actually makes sense to keep the post-X/Y Exp. Share turned on, unlike the previous 3 sets of games to use it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

One of the reasons given as to why some people hate Black/White is that they can’t use any Pokemon from previous generations in the main story.

That feels like a weak reason to not like Gen V. For one thing, don't you want to use the new Pokemon? Black & White gave us something which the other games after Gen I didn't: playing the game with all new Pokemon. Shake us out of any patterns we developed playing the last few generations and making us rethink how we form out team. Second, if a player does have a favorite they want to use there's nothing stopping them from trading one over. Like if your enjoyment of the game REALLY depends on some Pokemon being in the game maybe it would just be easier to trade that/those Pokemon over then waiting to see if they're included in the game. That said, that feels like a second playthrough thing.

To which I reply: Buddy, until Umbreon gets some real attack stats and/or becomes a god of competitive battling, I don’t give a damn whether or not you miss your Geodudes and Zubats.

As for Umbreon, they'll change it into a competitive attacker when they re-balance Flareon's stats: never. And even if they did touch up the stats I don't think they'll change Umbreon's role being defensive.

Cobalt Empoleon:
Gym Variety: Just in general it always felt odd the Gym was only filled with trainers who specialize in the same Type as the Gym Leader. Like, sure, I can understand some trainers maybe trying to aim to be type specialists under the Gym Leader's tutelage, but I would also kind of expect to also encounter trainers who maybe are training within the Gym to defeat the Gym leader thus having Types either strong or resistance to the Gym Leader's Type (as well as maybe just a Pokemon who is neutral type wise but may have a Move that's super effective). To me that what kind of makes Gyms feel a bit unrealistic, there's no other trainer who has a team to counter the Gym Leader's type (or, to really mix things up, maybe have trainers who are Gym "guards" and have Pokemon who are meant to counter the Gym's Type counters. Like a Fire-type Gym would have guards with Electric/Grass/Fighting-type Pokemon).

And since I'm posting again, here's another unpopular opinion of mine: Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon > Sun/Moon. Reasons: New UB's, Team Rainbow Rocket, being able to evolve Charjabug, Magneton, and Crabrawler much earlier than in the previous games, Hau is a more interesting character, Mantine Surfing is a much less tedious method for acquiring huge sums of BP's, and the level progression is such that it actually makes sense to keep the post-X/Y Exp. Share turned on, unlike the previous 3 sets of games to use it.

USUM content wise is better than SM because of what it includes. But I still think the story feels less and it just didn't add that much more. Look how much more content B2W2 had to BW, it does genuinely feel like a entirely new game even though it's in an already existing region. Alola has SO much potential to be extended upon... and yet they didn't.

 

[Zowayix]

USUM vs SM can't be compared to B2W2 vs BW. B2W2 were genuine sequels. USUM is a glorified third version.

 

[pokemon4eva]

One of the reasons given as to why some people hate Black/White is that they can’t use any Pokemon from previous generations in the main story.

Also, there was this old feature, the Dream World, which allowed you to get a good variety of Pokémon from previous generations. But of course, a lot of detractors focused on the bad and ignored it; but now a notable majority loves Gen 5, when it has already passed...This is also happening in some sectors regarding Gen 6, and I can guarantee it will happen for Gen 7 as well.

 

[Siggu]

Also, there was this old feature, the Dream World, which allowed you to get a good variety of Pokémon from previous generations. But of course, a lot of detractors focused on the bad and ignored it; but now a notable majority loves Gen 5, when it has already passed...This is also happening in some sectors regarding Gen 6, and I can guarantee it will happen for Gen 7 as well.

Or when many were hating RSE or DPP only to then crave for a remake.

It's always common to hate the new entry, only to find out it was actually good after it stops being new.

Just wait 'till it happens with Let's Go.

 

[stage7_4]

Wait, I thought I was the rare B/W hater, when did this change? I remember the time when B/W were pretty universally loved and seen as breathing new life into the series (B2/W2 had a rougher road, but seemed to be forgiven after X/Y came out).

Although to be honest, I only ever hated B/W's (and to a lesser extent B2W2's) story. I found the rest of the game fine. It was just way too preachy with a message that wasn't meshing with the game mechanics. Like the entire narrative was confined to the text boxes. While limitations with the graphics didn't help, if Earthbound and Mother 3 can make me cry with sprite art then it's not impossible.

I compare the scene with Lily in Sun/Moon where she gives the evolved Nebby a hug before releasing them for you to catch, as it's basically cementing everything Gen 5's story wanted to be but wasn't. That is, a cinematic moment that reinforces the narrative theme without screaming it at you like you're dumb (parents letting their children grow up and make their own choices. Lilly is doing what Lusamine never could in letting Nebby go, it's the linchpin of her growth arc).

Meanwhile, Gen 5 has a freaky fish guy debate you on ethics while a city is frozen solid. And yes I'm still salty about that.

To saying something nice, the confrontation in N's castle at the climax of Black & White is one of the best moments in the entire main-line pokemon games. I'm just disappointed the rest of the game wasn't like that.

 

[Codraroll]

Or when many were hating RSE or DPP only to then crave for a remake.

To be fair, these games had some amazing features marred by terrible downsides. I think it's implied in the remake craving that the downsides could be fixed while keeping the good stuff. RSE had bad 'mon distribution and a bit of a wonky level curve, but a really great region and a genial Secret Base system. A remake could easily fix the bad parts while further expanding the good ones. Too bad ORAS didn't really touch on the problems of RSE, even those that were fixed in Emerald. The good parts were mostly kept, however.

Likewise, I'd be all for a remake of D/P with less bland graphics, more available Fire-types (and, like Platinum, the Gen IV cross-gen evolutions actually available during the story), updated gym leader rosters and of course world navigation less dependent on HMs. Those are little things that hugely impact players' perception of the game, great flaws in DP that could easily be fixed in a remake. I think that's what people want in a remake: The best parts of the game, with the flaws patched out.

 

[Altissimo]

I think that's what people want in a remake: The best parts of the game, with the flaws patched out.

This is why I always thought FRLG were exceptionally weak as remakes... I'm not sure what the "best part" of RBY could be considered (except for glitches lol) but it absolutely retained a horrid level curve and Psychic was still broken because of the use of only Kanto natives.

 

[Kurona]

This is why I always thought FRLG were exceptionally weak as remakes... I'm not sure what the "best part" of RBY could be considered (except for glitches lol) but it absolutely retained a horrid level curve and Psychic was still broken because of the use of only Kanto natives.

I must admit I've got a lot of difficulty understanding what you mean about the level curve. I've played through the game several times and I never have trouble keeping my levels up -- in fact, compared to RBY; FRLG even added in things to make sure this wouldn't happen. The Sevii Islands sidequest means there's something between gyms 7 and 8, while the VS seeker easily patches up any oddities in your team very very quickly.

Psychics are still powerful, yes, but in my experience this generally just means tougher bosses. We usually just throw out that Psychics are overpowered without looking at individual Pokémon; but when you do, negatives become very clear. Mr. Mime requires you to go heavily out of your way and to have caught a (likely low-level) very rare Pokémon; Abra is infamously a pain to even catch and after that a pain to train; Staryu comes fairly low-levelled compared to the rest of your team and with a slow Exp. Gain to boot; Exeggcute is late; Drowzee is pitiful and Slowbro is, well, slow. Jynx is really the only Psychic-type in the game with no drawbacks, so I'd hardly call Psychics as a whole broken; strange as that might sound. They could definitely benefit from being nerfed a little, but as they are they're mostly fine.

FRLG as they stand honestly have very few problems, and the ones they do have are either a consequence of being Gen 3 (such as terrible move options for grass-types) or are just really dumb but not directly terrible, like not having access to Gen 2 evolutions. And those are very frustrating as someone who's played the damn things a lot, but they end up actually fixing a fair amount of RBY's problems by giving it a postgame and improving pacing as noted before without compromising anything that made the originals as popular as they were. If anything I'd say they're some of the strongest main titles to date as a few flaws notwithstanding they update a solid but dated classic game perfectly.

 

[Altissimo]

I don't mean using Psychics so much as fighting them. Alakazam terrifies me in that game.

As for level curve I find I'm a bit under for Brock and Koga usually

 

[pokemon4eva]

Something I dislike about FRLG is that it really doesn't expand much on the story, unlike HGSS or ORAS did. The former gave a name to each admin, showed Silver's development in a brighter light and, thanks to the Kimono girls, integrated better the legendary into the story; while the latter expanded on the villains, Steven, Wally, the legendaries, gave us the Delta Episode, etc.

And how many things in the original RBY aren't really explained much even in their remakes, like Team Rocket's motivations, what's the deal with Blue, why he just acts like he doesn't care about them during the Silph CO takeover. We can only ASSUME that Team Rocket symbolizes power and mafias, considering they run a casino, a gym and try to take over a big company; and Blue....cuz he is a jerk, but I wanted to see something more concrete (we got some Johto foreshadowing in the Sevii Islands postgame though). Will Let's Go expand on that? I don't know...

 

[earl]

Something I dislike about FRLG is that it really doesn't expand much on the story, unlike HGSS or ORAS did. The former gave a name to each admin, showed Silver's development in a brighter light and, thanks to the Kimono girls, integrated better the legendary into the story; while the latter expanded on the villains, Steven, Wally, the legendaries, gave us the Delta Episode, etc.

And how many things in the original RBY aren't really explained much even in their remakes, like Team Rocket's motivations, what's the deal with Blue, why he just acts like he doesn't care about them during the Silph CO takeover. We can only ASSUME that Team Rocket symbolizes power and mafias, considering they run a casino, a gym and try to take over a big company; and Blue....cuz he is a jerk, but I wanted to see something more concrete (we got some Johto foreshadowing in the Sevii Islands postgame though). Will Let's Go expand on that? I don't know...

Well seeing as Blue isn't even in Let's Go (assumedly), probably not in that regard.

 

[Hyper Cutter]

To be fair, these games had some amazing features marred by terrible downsides. I think it's implied in the remake craving that the downsides could be fixed while keeping the good stuff. RSE had bad 'mon distribution and a bit of a wonky level curve, but a really great region and a genial Secret Base system. A remake could easily fix the bad parts while further expanding the good ones. Too bad ORAS didn't really touch on the problems of RSE, even those that were fixed in Emerald. The good parts were mostly kept, however.

Honestly, I think most of the hate R/S got was because it broke connectivity with previous generations for technical reasons. That, and people wildly overreacting to mostly optional water.

(of course, there were other issues with Gen III, like a decent chunk of the Sevii Islands being dependent on a failed peripheral and/or Japan-only events, or that it took all 5 GBA games and both Gamecube ones to reintroduce the entire Gen I+Gen II lineup into Gen III)

 

[Kurona]

Something I dislike about FRLG is that it really doesn't expand much on the story, unlike HGSS or ORAS did. The former gave a name to each admin, showed Silver's development in a brighter light and, thanks to the Kimono girls, integrated better the legendary into the story; while the latter expanded on the villains, Steven, Wally, the legendaries, gave us the Delta Episode, etc.

And how many things in the original RBY aren't really explained much even in their remakes, like Team Rocket's motivations, what's the deal with Blue, why he just acts like he doesn't care about them during the Silph CO takeover. We can only ASSUME that Team Rocket symbolizes power and mafias, considering they run a casino, a gym and try to take over a big company; and Blue....cuz he is a jerk, but I wanted to see something more concrete (we got some Johto foreshadowing in the Sevii Islands postgame though). Will Let's Go expand on that? I don't know...

That's actually something I liked about the originals and am glad is preserved in their remakes -- that the narrative isn't explicitly explained and laid out for you, and you're left to draw your own conclusions and interpretations. It's ultimately a very subjective matter but it's a form of storytelling I miss a lot compared to later generations which like to spoonfeed you every detail. BW, BW2 and SM are still enjoyable narratives and the way they decided to tell them ultimately worked for them; but RBY/FRLG is no less valid for the way it decides to tell its own.

I don't mean using Psychics so much as fighting them. Alakazam terrifies me in that game.

As for level curve I find I'm a bit under for Brock and Koga usually

I'd say good to the former, then? You should have a hard time fighting bosses. It's fantastic that the final boss in the game has a ridiculously powerful Pokémon with no easy direct weaknesses and very few counters -- it forces you to rethink your options.