Unpopular opinions

Okay, then about about lowering the damage amount of Stealth Rock, or maybe you have to layer it like Spikes to get it to do that much damage:
Yes, this works, but then it faces the same problem from before. I do agree that this is a good solution, but now it is much worse. Now I play 1v1, where hazards are nonexistent, but I played my fair share of other formats. And in every one, stealth rocks never seemed like a major problem. I would have something weak to rock, but then have defog, rapid spin, or boots. In every situation i can remember, it never was the biggest hindrance. Annoying, and I'd rather not have them there, yes. But I always planned for the fact that there would be a hazard setter on the opposing team. Like, if you are having problems with stealth rocks, just have a defogger or spinner. And they had much more use than removing hazards. The spinners generally able to do quite a bit of damage, the defoggers able to take hits normally, etc. So basically, the hazard removers where never a burden to have on the team. I never seemed to lose much of anything when i switched into my hazard removal, unless I did a bad switch and died. Which was my fault.
 
My fellas are still demanding the nerf of a mechanic that's used in a format that doesn't exist officially?

Remember the last you heard of Stealth Rock? It was in Let's Go, where it's the only entry hazard *with no way to remove it*.

Keep wishlisting :) But remember 6v6 singles doesn't exist, nor does 6v6 doubles. The only official formats for which balance changes are made are 4v4 doubles and 3v3 singles.
In fact, considering SR / Spikes / TS are never used in those formats, there's a good chance you'll see them *buffed* in the future instead. They already tried this gen, with a Dynamax move that lays Stealth Rock, one that lays Steel Type Stealth Rock, and one that Defogs.
 
My fellas are still demanding the nerf of a mechanic that's used in a format that doesn't exist officially?

Remember the last you heard of Stealth Rock? It was in Let's Go, where it's the only entry hazard *with no way to remove it*.

Keep wishlisting :) But remember 6v6 singles doesn't exist, nor does 6v6 doubles. The only official formats for which balance changes are made are 4v4 doubles and 3v3 singles.
In fact, considering SR / Spikes / TS are never used in those formats, there's a good chance you'll see them *buffed* in the future instead. They already tried this gen, with a Dynamax move that lays Stealth Rock, one that lays Steel Type Stealth Rock, and one that Defogs.
Were they common enough in gen 7 in those formats to warrant the existence of Boots?
 
Were they common enough in gen 7 in those formats to warrant the existence of Boots?
Stealth Rock was only the one was that the uncommonly used, and in BSS its main purpose was to break focus sashes, not to punish switching only time. The other ones were significantly rarer, with only Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web receiving any serious.

As for actual users of Heavy Duty Boots, Dragonite and Volcarona are the ones that only come in mind. Maybe Articuno, which has a legit niche in BSS as a stallbreaker with Sheer Cold and good bulk, but Stall is rare thanks to Dynamax, not to mention that Sheer Cold does not affect Dynamax Pokémon.
 
Black and White are better than Black 2 and White 2. BW have less roadblocks, more interesting storyline and more forgiving difficulty. They also feel much more unique thanks to their limited Pokedex. BW2 may have better postgame content but the overall adventure feels inferior.
Sun and Moon are better than Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Due to the new legendary storyline, many of the characters and scenes from SM got butchered. Aside from that, I am not fond of the side events which often stop the gameplay to present unnecessary cutscenes. Ultra versions added mini-games, Mina's trial and more details to Alola but it's an inferior product overall.
Emerald is a below average Pokemon game. While I appreciate the addition of Battle Frontier, Emerald did very little to fix Ruby and Sapphire's issues (lack of the night-time, average spritework, boring water segments, bad movepools etc.).
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are great remakes. Contrary to my previous point, I consider these a vast improvement. Characters are more interesting, movepools are better, water segments look nicer and new additions (soaring, PSS etc.) make Hoenn a great region.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team games are better than Explorer games. Not being tied to a guild gives a better feeling of independence in the first set of games. Considering the series focuses on immersion, I consider this aspect important. Aside from it, I love Friend Areas and complain over their exclusion. Explorers also have a weird tendency of punishing the player in cutscenes even if he wins battles.
 
So I'm sitting here, discussing Mega Evolution and Z-Moves in the PS chatroom, and see people saying how it's so much better than Dynamax. So I researched. Now, I already thought that Dynamax was an interesting addition to the game and wasn't terrible at all. So research showed me that we have 48 Mega Pokemon, with 4 of those being the X and Y variants. Now Dynamax has 32 different Gigantamax pokemon. So let's compare. (I'll also throw in Z-Moves too)

Megas have -
1. New designs to freshen up some pokemon.
2. Gives love to some unloved pokemon (a good example being mawile)
3. 100 more BST for every mega.
4. New abilities.

Dynamax/Gigantamax has -
1. New designs for some pokemon.
2. Gives love to some unloved pokemon (a good example is garbodor)
3. Doubles HP.
4. Makes different types/categories of moves different when Dynamaxed.
5. Easily accessible in-game.
6. Usable on every pokemon.

Z- Moves have -
1. Special moves that depend on the type of the move/category of move/pokemon.
2. Useable on every pokemon.

So obviously I missed some stuff, and this will all be discussed. But while I may not think that mega's were a worse addition, I do think that they were a lazier addition. Dynamax simply has more features and new things to go with it, while still being original.

Edit: Sorry, I had accidentally chosen the wrong font color, feel free to see it easily.
 
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Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
So obviously I missed some stuff, and this will all be discussed. But while I may not think that mega's were a worse addition, I do think that they were a lazier addition. Dynamax simply has more features and new things to go with it, while still being original.
First, why is the first half your post invisible?

Second, y
Yeah, Dyna/Gigantmax sound better than Mega when you short sell it like that & don't include any of the cons. Think a better comparison list is this:

MEGA EVOLUTION:
The Numbers:

# 46 Pokemon get Megas; of which 2 get two Megas for a total of 48. Number increases to 50 if you count Primal Reversion as a kind of Mega Evolution.
# Generation Breakdown: 13 RBY, 6 GSC, 20 RSE, 5 DPPt, 1 BW, 1 XY
Pros:
+ Each gets a unique design meant to be an exaggeration/enhancement/ascension form of that Pokemon.
+ Each gets an additional 100 BST to their stats which are individually applied to best fit that Mega Pokemon's needs; in addition to this some Pokemon "lesser" stats were further decreased and allocated to other stats giving a further boost.
+ Some got new Types & Abilities that, combined with the stat increases, helped either strengthen what the Pokemon was already good at or gave them a new niche.
+ Were given to an even mixture of already strong/popular & to average/weak/unpopular Pokemon; many in the later category became competitively viable in higher tiers like OU & Ubers.
+ Once Mega Evolved the Pokemon stayed Mega Evolved even when switched out.
+ Can be used anytime in any battle; this means in-game doesn't affect the flow of the story.
Cons:
- Only a handful of Pokemon got a Mega & the concept is limited to fully evolved Pokemon.
- For some Mega Pokemon the +100 BST wasn't enough of a boost; in addition some stat increase decisions did not help the Mega Pokemon (such as increasing the inferior offense stat, making it feel like a dump stat to not make the Mega too powerful).
- Sometimes the way a Mega Pokemon's stats were redistributed changed how they played meaning you couldn't use their regular form a bit & then Mega Evolve and continue playing the same way (or at least do so in a way that makes the most use of it).
- Mega Pokemon that gain new Types sometime struggle to have a good STAB move to use with it; infact some of the new Abilities were purposely made to remedy this problem which some may argue wasted the Ability slot.
- Some Mega Pokemon Abilities weren't as good as one of their normal Abilities.
- For a Pokemon to Mega Evolve they needed to hold their Mega Stone; some would argue wasting the Item slot. And since only one Pokemon can Mega Evolve, if you wanted to be flexible which Pokemon to Mega Evolve you'd have to waste the Item slot on each Pokemon.
- Since many strong/popular Pokemon got a Mega, and you could only Mega Evolve once per battle, that meant a good number of the time they were used over the other average/weak/unpopular Pokemon.

Z-MOVES:
The Numbers:

# 18 Z-Moves for each Type; 17 unique Signature Z-Moves (some shared with other Pokemon); 35 total.
# Generation Breakdown For Signature Z-Moves: 6 RBY, 11 SM
Pros:
+ Any Pokemon can use the normal Z-Moves; only limitation is the Type of moves the Pokemon can learn.
+ Z-Moves turn even the lowest Power move into a hard hitting attack; Z-Move's Category is based on the base Move's Category.
+ Status Moves have an additional beneficial effect when powered by a Z-Move.
+ Signature Z-Moves tend to make the changed Move more powerful than it would have with a normal Z-Move.
+ Signature Z-Moves come with their own unique animations with the Pokemon Model (swapping in a different distorts the swapped Pokemon into fitting the skeleton of the intended model).
+ Signature Z-Moves sometime comes with a secondary effect (normal Z-Moves do not; though all Z-Moves do deal 25% damage if the user used a Protect variant).
+ Can be used anytime in any battle; this means in-game doesn't affect the flow of the story.
Cons:
- Because Z-Moves go off a base Move, what Z-Move a Pokemon can use can vary between different Pokemon (and then there's the question of what the base Move in question is, notably it's Power & Category).
- Z-Moves are one-use. Though they hit strong or give Status Moves a beneficial effect, if you had to go out of your way to get a a base Move to do a certain Z-Move that's not so useful outside access to that Z-Move, you're stuck with that Move potentially using up one of your four Move slots.
- Since a Pokemon needs to hold a Z-Crystal to use a Z-Move, not only does this use up their Item slot (and if a Z-Move is used up it essentially leaves the Pokemon without a Held Item; this compared to Mega Pokemon where the Held Item was given up for permanent boosts) but they can only use the Z-Move of that Type; Also, since Z-Moves are once per battle, if you want flexibility which Pokemon can use a Z-Move you'll have to use their Item slot (another small branch to that, while in-game you can give Pokemon the same kind of Z-Crystal, PvP Item Clause forces all Z-Crystals to be different Types).
- What Pokemon got Signature Z-Moves was limited to Gen I & VII.
- Signature Z-Moves require a specific Move which could limit a Pokemon's Moveset, especially if the base Move isn't a desired Move.

DYNAMAX/GIGANTAMAX:
The Numbers:

# 33 Gigantamax
# Generation Breakdown For Gigantamax: 12 RBY, 1 BW, 19 SwSh, & Melmetal
Pros:
+ Any Pokemon can Dynamax.
+ Increases HP, at max level doubles it. Damage calculation is kept the same. When Dynamax/Gigantamax ends the amount of HP the Pokemon has left is based on percentage.
+ Changes all offensive Moves into harder hitting Max Moves of the same Category of the base Move and has a (usually) beneficial secondary effect: Raising user & allies stats, decreasing opponent's stats, summing Weather, or summoning Terrain. All Max Moves & G-Max Moves also deal 25% damage if the user used a Protect variant. Meanwhile all Status Moves turn into Max Guard which protects from all damage even from Max Moves & G-Max Moves.
+ Can hold any Item and, depending on the Item, usually benefits from its effect.
+ Gigantamax get a unique design meant to make that Pokemon look like a giant kaiju or natural/manmade structure.
+ Gigantamax get unique G-Max Moves that, in addition doing more damage than normal Max Moves, come with their own unique effect. There are also no specific Move requirement, depending the G-Max Move's Type it replaces the Max Move of that Type.
Cons:
- Only lasts 3 turns. Arguably this is better for competitive, though you can still only Dynamax/Gigantamax one Pokemon per battle.
- Because HP is the only stat affected and all Moves are changed either into a Max Move/G-Max Move or Max Guard, while any Pokemon can Dynamax not all Pokemon may be able to use it's time as effectively as others.
- Because all Status Moves change into Max Guard must plan ahead of time when to use Status Moves before or after Dynamax/Gigantamax.
- Because of the size changing mechanic and changing all Moves into Max Moves or G-Max Moves, certain Abilities & Held Items have no effect while Dynamaxed/Gigantamaxed.
- Max Moves, notably the stat changing ones, may not have the effect you want for that Type. Have to choose either the Type or the effect, if that Pokemon has access to the Max Move with the desired effect.
- Because the G-Max Move replaces the Max Move of the Type it shares, you have to pick either the G-Max Move Effect or the Max Move effect.
- There is really no difference between a Dynamax and Gigantamax aside from the unique G-Max Move.
- Can only be used in places with a Power Spot; this means in-game it affects the story where battles take place if they want the opponent to be able to Dynamax/Gigantamax.
- What Pokemon get Gigantamax is limited to Gen I and Gen VIII. Yes, Garbodor and Melmetal are an exception, that doesn't remedy the issue but, if anything, essentiates it.
- Dynamax making the Pokemon giant loses its novelty fast, unfortunately the time spent to do all the animations doesn't go away with it.


Obviously all of this is of personally opinion... BUT I HARD disagree Megas were a lazy addition. Infact, quite the opposite, Megas probably took a lot of time to develop as they would likely need to go through the same steps a normal Pokemon needs to go through as they individualized their stats & other changes. The problem with Megas isn't the amount of effort put into them, but rather their limitation that the only Pokemon that benefits from the mechanic are the ones that got a Mega which were only 48/50 of them (which is still a nice number spanning across multiple generations, but still only them among the other 700+ Pokemon at that time; or rather their final stages within that number).

Now you'd then think laziest would then go to Z-Moves since they simplified things down to just one super attack. BUT, that said, they did really put a lot of effort into the Z-Move animations, especially the Signature Z-Move animations where they got the Pokemon model itself doing more dynamic movement only made for its model to look proper doing.

Nope, in my opinion, laziest award goes to Dynamax & Gigantamax. ~Ooh, they made the Pokemon model bigger!~ ... Yet it still does all the same animations as when it was smaller. The Max Moves also look like they have less pizzazz than the Z-Moves, ESPECIALLY the G-Max Moves which are just the Max Moves of their Type but with some additional effects. And though Gigantamax go through a form change, all they are is Dynamax Pokemon with a special G-Max Move which may or may not be better than the normal Max Move of that Type. Maybe if they at least changed their Ability to one better (or one that works while Gigantamax) that would have also been something but NOPE. Finally, I find the aesthetic only to be a bit creative due to them finding large things to turn the Pokemon into, but I find the Mega Evolution aesthetic of it being the "next step/super form" of that Pokemon feeling more natural (or at the very least less silly).
 
Last edited:

Celever

i am town
is a Community Contributor
First, why is the first half your post invisible?

Second, yeah, Dyna/Gigantmax sound better than Mega when you short sell it like that & don't include any of the cons. Think a better comparison list is this:

MEGA EVOLUTION:
The Numbers:

# 46 Pokemon get Megas; of which 2 get two Megas for a total of 48. Number increases to 50 if you count Primal Reversion as a kind of Mega Evolution.
# Generation Breakdown: 13 RBY, 6 GSC, 20 RSE, 5 DPPt, 1 BW, 1 XY
Pros:
+ Each gets a unique design meant to be an exaggeration/enhancement/ascension form of that Pokemon.
+ Each gets an additional 100 BST to their stats which are individually applied to best fit that Mega Pokemon's needs; in addition to this some Pokemon "lesser" stats were further decreased and allocated to other stats giving a further boost.
+ Some got new Types & Abilities that, combined with the stat increases, helped either strengthen what the Pokemon was already good at or gave them a new niche.
+ Were given to an even mixture of already strong/popular & to average/weak/unpopular Pokemon; many in the later category became competitively viable in higher tiers like OU & Ubers.
+ Once Mega Evolved the Pokemon stayed Mega Evolved even when switched out.
+ Can be used anytime in any battle; this means in-game doesn't affect the flow of the story.
Cons:
- Only a handful of Pokemon got a Mega & the concept is limited to fully evolved Pokemon.
- For some Mega Pokemon the +100 BST wasn't enough of a boost; in addition some stat increase decisions did not help the Mega Pokemon (such as increasing the inferior offense stat, making it feel like a dump stat to not make the Mega too powerful).
- Sometimes the way a Mega Pokemon's stats were redistributed changed how they played meaning you couldn't use their regular form a bit & then Mega Evolve and continue playing the same way (or at least do so in a way that makes the most use of it).
- Mega Pokemon that gain new Types sometime struggle to have a good STAB move to use with it; infact some of the new Abilities were purposely made to remedy this problem which some may argue wasted the Ability slot.
- Some Mega Pokemon Abilities weren't as good as one of their normal Abilities.
- For a Pokemon to Mega Evolve they needed to hold their Mega Stone; some would argue wasting the Item slot. And since only one Pokemon can Mega Evolve, if you wanted to be flexible which Pokemon to Mega Evolve you'd have to waste the Item slot on each Pokemon.
- Since many strong/popular Pokemon got a Mega, and you could only Mega Evolve once per battle, that meant a good number of the time they were used over the other average/weak/unpopular Pokemon.

Z-MOVES:
The Numbers:

# 18 Z-Moves for each Type; 17 unique Signature Z-Moves (some shared with other Pokemon); 35 total.
# Generation Breakdown For Signature Z-Moves: 6 RBY, 11 SM
Pros:
+ Any Pokemon can use the normal Z-Moves; only limitation is the Type of moves the Pokemon can learn.
+ Z-Moves turn even the lowest Power move into a hard hitting attack; Z-Move's Category is based on the base Move's Category.
+ Status Moves have an additional beneficial effect when powered by a Z-Move.
+ Signature Z-Moves tend to make the changed Move more powerful than it would have with a normal Z-Move.
+ Signature Z-Moves come with their own unique animations with the Pokemon Model (swapping in a different distorts the swapped Pokemon into fitting the skeleton of the intended model).
+ Signature Z-Moves sometime comes with a secondary effect (normal Z-Moves do not; though all Z-Moves do deal 25% damage if the user used a Protect variant).
+ Can be used anytime in any battle; this means in-game doesn't affect the flow of the story.
Cons:
- Because Z-Moves go off a base Move, what Z-Move a Pokemon can use can vary between different Pokemon (and then there's the question of what the base Move in question is, notably it's Power & Category).
- Z-Moves are one-use. Though they hit strong or give Status Moves a beneficial effect, if you had to go out of your way to get a a base Move to do a certain Z-Move that's not so useful outside access to that Z-Move, you're stuck with that Move potentially using up one of your four Move slots.
- Since a Pokemon needs to hold a Z-Crystal to use a Z-Move, not only does this use up their Item slot (and if a Z-Move is used up it essentially leaves the Pokemon without a Held Item; this compared to Mega Pokemon where the Held Item was given up for permanent boosts) but they can only use the Z-Move of that Type; Also, since Z-Moves are once per battle, if you want flexibility which Pokemon can use a Z-Move you'll have to use their Item slot (another small branch to that, while in-game you can give Pokemon the same kind of Z-Crystal, PvP Item Clause forces all Z-Crystals to be different Types).
- What Pokemon got Signature Z-Moves was limited to Gen I & VII.
- Signature Z-Moves require a specific Move which could limit a Pokemon's Moveset, especially if the base Move isn't a desired Move.

DYNAMAX/GIGANTAMAX:
The Numbers:

# 33 Gigantamax
# Generation Breakdown For Gigantamax: 12 RBY, 1 BW, 19 SwSh, & Melmetal
Pros:
+ Any Pokemon can Dynamax.
+ Increases HP, at max level doubles it. Damage calculation is kept the same. When Dynamax/Gigantamax ends the amount of HP the Pokemon has left is based on percentage.
+ Changes all offensive Moves into harder hitting Max Moves of the same Category of the base Move and has a (usually) beneficial secondary effect: Raising user & allies stats, decreasing opponent's stats, summing Weather, or summoning Terrain. All Max Moves & G-Max Moves also deal 25% damage if the user used a Protect variant. Meanwhile all Status Moves turn into Max Guard which protects from all damage even from Max Moves & G-Max Moves.
+ Can hold any Item and, depending on the Item, usually benefits from its effect.
+ Gigantamax get a unique design meant to make that Pokemon look like a giant kaiju or natural/manmade structure.
+ Gigantamax get unique G-Max Moves that, in addition doing more damage than normal Max Moves, come with their own unique effect. There are also no specific Move requirement, depending the G-Max Move's Type it replaces the Max Move of that Type.
Cons:
- Only lasts 3 turns. Arguably this is better for competitive, though you can still only Dynamax/Gigantamax one Pokemon per battle.
- Because HP is the only stat affected and all Moves are changed either into a Max Move/G-Max Move or Max Guard, while any Pokemon can Dynamax not all Pokemon may be able to use it's time as effectively as others.
- Because all Status Moves change into Max Guard must plan ahead of time when to use Status Moves before or after Dynamax/Gigantamax.
- Because of the size changing mechanic and changing all Moves into Max Moves or G-Max Moves, certain Abilities & Held Items have no effect while Dynamaxed/Gigantamaxed.
- Max Moves, notably the stat changing ones, may not have the effect you want for that Type. Have to choose either the Type or the effect, if that Pokemon has access to the Max Move with the desired effect.
- Because the G-Max Move replaces the Max Move of the Type it shares, you have to pick either the G-Max Move Effect or the Max Move effect.
- There is really no difference between a Dynamax and Gigantamax aside from the unique G-Max Move.
- Can only be used in places with a Power Spot; this means in-game it affects the story where battles take place if they want the opponent to be able to Dynamax/Gigantamax.
- What Pokemon get Gigantamax is limited to Gen I and Gen VIII. Yes, Garbodor and Melmetal are an exception, that doesn't remedy the issue but, if anything, essentiates it.
- Dynamax making the Pokemon giant loses its novelty fast, unfortunately the time spent to do all the animations doesn't go away with it.


Obviously all of this is of personally opinion... BUT I HARD disagree Megas were a lazy addition. Infact, quite the opposite, Megas probably took a lot of time to develop as they would likely need to go through the same steps a normal Pokemon needs to go through as they individualized their stats & other changes. The problem with Megas isn't the amount of effort put into them, but rather their limitation that the only Pokemon that benefits from the mechanic are the ones that got a Mega which were only 48/50 of them (which is still a nice number spanning across multiple generations, but still only them among the other 700+ Pokemon at that time; or rather their final stages within that number).

Now you'd then think laziest would then go to Z-Moves since they simplified things down to just one super attack. BUT, that said, they did really put a lot of effort into the Z-Move animations, especially the Signature Z-Move animations where they got the Pokemon model itself doing more dynamic movement only made for its model to look proper doing.

Nope, in my opinion, laziest award goes to Dynamax & Gigantamax. ~Ooh, they made the Pokemon model bigger!~ ... Yet it still does all the same animations as when it was smaller. The Max Moves also look like they have less pizzazz than the Z-Moves, ESPECIALLY the G-Max Moves which are just the Max Moves of their Type but with some additional effects. And though Gigantamax go through a form change, all they are is Dynamax Pokemon with a special G-Max Move which may or may not be better than the normal Max Move of that Type. Maybe if they at least changed their Ability to one better (or one that works while Gigantamax) that would have also been something but NOPE. Finally, I find the aesthetic only to be a bit creative due to them finding large things to turn the Pokemon into, but I find the Mega Evolution aesthetic of it being the "next step/super form" of that Pokemon feeling more natural (or at the very least less silly).
While I love Megas and think they're a great mechanic, there's license to describe them as lazy in wider context. XY has to date introduced the smallest number of new Pokémon ever, and while it has a healthy number including Megas, I think it's fairly universal to say fans would rather have more brand new Pokémon than just megas to old ones. No one ever counts Megas as their own Pokémon, where we even count cross-gen evolutions. It's fairly obvious that they designed fewer wholly new Pokémon due to the development time spent creating Megas instead, which isn't a trade anyone wants. So it is "lazy" not to ensure enough new designs are introduced alongside the Megas.

Moreover, the general gripes people have with some megas being better off as wholly new designs (Mawile, Manectric with some modifications, Banette with some modifications, Sableye with some modifications etc.) is a big negative for the mechanic. Megas exist in an awkward space where if the design is just the old Pokémon with spikes stuck to it then it's a boring design, but if it's too creative and different people wish it were a whole new Pokémon. I wish they'd just continue introducing cross-gen evos; none of the 3-stage families who received a mega were crying out for it besides like, Beedrill? Maybe Ampharos? And with regards to Beedrill, they honestly should've just given it and other Pokémon a significant stat buff that maximises their role more.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
It's fairly obvious that they designed fewer wholly new Pokémon due to the development time spent creating Megas instead, which isn't a trade anyone wants.
Ugh, no, I don't think that's the case at all. I think the reason why Gen VI started making less new species of Pokemon (which, if you'll notice, kept happening even after they stopped making new Megas) is because we're getting pretty close to the big 1k and I don't think GF are quite ready to cross that threshold. So, only solution was to not introduce as many new species of Pokemon.

BUT, they knew fans would get quite upset if they felt they were getting less Pokemon then in the previous gen. Now I wouldn't be surprised if the concept that would turn into Mega Pokemon existed before this as a "something we'd like to do but not sure when", and with them now making less species of new Pokemon this would be the perfect opportunity. They're not considered new species by dex standard so don't increase the number, but in essence are new Pokemon. It also allowed them to go back to a select group of older Pokemon, both popular and ones they felt needed some more love, and gave them an uplift.

BTW, this is also likely one reasonal for Regional Variants. An idea they probably had pinned for later, wanting to keep the dex from growing too fast, but introduce a batch of new Pokemon. None of these Pokemon too away development time of new species of Pokemon because no more new species of Pokemon were planned.

However I'm all for blaming Dynamax & Gigantamax for Dexit because GF made them all separate models thus likely filled up so much memory it became very hard (if not impossible) to fit all Pokemon in vanilla Sword & Shield.

Moreover, the general gripes people have with some megas being better off as wholly new designs (Mawile, Manectric with some modifications, Banette with some modifications, Sableye with some modifications etc.) is a big negative for the mechanic. Megas exist in an awkward space where if the design is just the old Pokémon with spikes stuck to it then it's a boring design, but if it's too creative and different people wish it were a whole new Pokémon. I wish they'd just continue introducing cross-gen evos; none of the 3-stage families who received a mega were crying out for it besides like, Beedrill? Maybe Ampharos? And with regards to Beedrill, they honestly should've just given it and other Pokémon a significant stat buff that maximises their role more.
Now these are more critiques I can somewhat agree with.

* New Designs As New Pokemon: Yeah, like I would totally be down if they took a few of the Mega Pokemon for the single/2-stages and just made them evolutions. Though they can't do this for all of them.

* Designs Just Add Spikes: A few designs you don't like is no reason to damn the whole mechanic, otherwise people would be saying cross evolutions were a bad idea when they released the plethora of the odder cross gen evos in Gen IV (then again, that was the last gen we got cross evos outside of Eevee... :blobthinking:). There are just as many if not more Mega Evos designs I find pretty creative or I at least get what they were going for than ones I kind of wonder what they were thinking/thought they were phoning home on.

* Stat Boosts In General: Yeah, they really could go more "all-in" on that. Seriously, people would feel less sore about Dexit if we actually saw effort in re-balancing some old mon to meet modern standards (even if they don't become good they could at least be usable in-game and/or be given a niche).


Honestly, I think somewhere in the mix of Mega Evos, Z-Moves, and Dynamax/Gigantamax there's a solid "super" mechanic... of course, GF always want to be playing with new toys and not combine & refine old ones...
 
The main issue that I have is that most megas are just marketing before design. They all look like they were made to sell as much as possible and then later on someone slapped whatever felt "broken" on their stats/abilities/moves and called it a day. They all feel edgy (or just milking the pokemon's cuteness as much as feasibly possible) 10-year-old action toys. The megas that don't fit this instead has the vibe of "just get over with this we have other stuff to work on" (see: mega kangashkan, mega slowbro, etc). The latter are ironically the best designs overall because they don't feel like someone is trying to make the most objectively cutting throat design or whatever

Sometimes I wonder if gamefreak feels the same way considering most of the #cool megas got fucked up dex entries, or if it was to make them seem even more cool or whatever.
 

The Mind Electric

Calming if you look at it right.
The main issue that I have is that most megas are just marketing before design. They all look like they were made to sell as much as possible and then later on someone slapped whatever felt "broken" on their stats/abilities/moves and called it a day. They all feel edgy (or just milking the pokemon's cuteness as much as feasibly possible) 10-year-old action toys. The megas that don't fit this instead has the vibe of "just get over with this we have other stuff to work on" (see: mega kangashkan, mega slowbro, etc). The latter are ironically the best designs overall because they don't feel like someone is trying to make the most objectively cutting throat design or whatever

Sometimes I wonder if gamefreak feels the same way considering most of the #cool megas got fucked up dex entries, or if it was to make them seem even more cool or whatever.
Mega Evolutions are dark and edgy, like my soul.
 
Obviously all of this is of personally opinion... BUT I HARD disagree Megas were a lazy addition.
Want to make it clear, I am not saying mega evolution is a bad mechanic. In fact, I do still like some of the megas more than gmax pokemon. But I am pretty tired of people hating on it for no apparent reason other than "It isn't creative, megas were better, it's lazy." I also admit that I obviously did not have the best first post and missed out on a lot of obvious things, thanks Pikachu315111 for displaying more of it and in a better format. So one thing I think people don't think of is the raid battles. While some people may not consider them part of the mechanic, I would count them as a definite pro as they are a way to get good items while still providing some amount of challenge, a way to play with friends, get new pokemon, and also get a way to find legendaries. Speaking of which, the dynamax adventures somewhat remind me of emeralds battle tents in a way, which I always thought were fun. Now this is all invalidated if you want to ignore raid battles, but I think that's a bit unfair, as I would count some of the points that are going towards the Z-Crystals case are the trials, which are in and of themselves their own little minigame of sorts. Then looking at how to obtain every mega stone on bulbapedia, most of them seem to be much less interesting. In sun and moon, 27 of the stones were event exclusive. That leaves 21 to obtain in-game. Now, the way that these ones are received appears to be almost entirely from purchasing them at the battle tree. The battle tree itself isn't made to be an extremely different experience from anything else, not supposed to be anything other than a place to battle to earn points. So the way of obtaining most mega stones in these games is either from an event or playing multiple battles in a row. Not the most exciting thing compared to a special trial or a form of the Slateport battle tent. (also from what I can tell x/y and or/as don't appear to have the most interesting way of finding them either.)

What are the other unloved Gigantamax pokemon? Aside from Garbodor, all of them are from either Gen 1 or Gen 8. No Gen 1 pokemon can be called unloved, and I don't think they gave any Gen 8 mon a Gigantamax form just because they predicted it would be unpopular.
The mentioned Kingler is a rather unloved one, and I could also see Butterfree and Lapras as some more unloved ones. Obviously, their cameos in the anime are the main reason why they are a bit iffier than Kingler and Garbodor.

I wish they'd just continue introducing cross-gen evos; none of the 3-stage families who received a mega were crying out for it besides like, Beedrill? Maybe Ampharos? And with regards to Beedrill, they honestly should've just given it and other Pokémon a significant stat buff that maximises their role more.
Yeah, I can understand why you say this, but we know from experience that game freak is a stickler for keeping already made pokemon as they originally were. (exceptions being in abilities)

Ugh, no, I don't think that's the case at all. I think the reason why Gen VI started making less new species of Pokemon (which, if you'll notice, kept happening even after they stopped making new Megas) is because we're getting pretty close to the big 1k and I don't think GF are quite ready to cross that threshold. So, only solution was to not introduce as many new species of Pokemon.
I definitely think this is the case, which raises another point. New pokemon are always fun and cool, but eventually, everything is going to get so convoluted with the amount of pokemon and that's when I think the games will stop. But that's a discussion for another day.

The main issue that I have is that most megas are just marketing before design. They all look like they were made to sell as much as possible and then later on someone slapped whatever felt "broken" on their stats/abilities/moves and called it a day. They all feel edgy (or just milking the pokemon's cuteness as much as feasibly possible) 10-year-old action toys. The megas that don't fit this instead has the vibe of "just get over with this we have other stuff to work on" (see: mega kangashkan, mega slowbro, etc). The latter are ironically the best designs overall because they don't feel like someone is trying to make the most objectively cutting throat design or whatever
Now that I think about this I definitely agree, especially when you consider how pokemon is generally a more child-friendly game. Obviously we all know the main exceptions to this (Drifloon, Hypno, etc.) , but even then it's really just more of a creepy story. But then look at the mega's dex entries -
"Due to the colossal power poured into it, this Pokémon’s back split right open. Its destructive instincts are the only thing keeping it moving." (Ttar)
"Anyone standing in its path gets sliced right in two, while this Pokémon continues its flight without interruption." (Salamence)
"Its intellect surpasses its previous level, resulting in battles so cruel, they’ll make you want to cover your eyes." (Metagross)
But now look at the ones that were given an example of.
"Tremendous energy strengthened the power of the Shellder on its tail, but it doesn’t really affect Slowpoke."
"Thanks to Mega Evolution, its child grows. But as the child is good only at fighting and nothing else, its mother feels uneasy about its future." (Kangaskhan)
"Excess energy from Mega Evolution stimulates its genes, and the wool it had lost grows in again." (Ampharos)
None of these seem to be made to look cuter or edgier. They all just are cool concepts, which I all like. You can also kinda tell that these were the more throwaway ones, the ones they thought "Ehhh, I guess it needs a buff."
 

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Then looking at how to obtain every mega stone on bulbapedia, most of them seem to be much less interesting. In sun and moon, 27 of the stones were event exclusive. That leaves 21 to obtain in-game. Now, the way that these ones are received appears to be almost entirely from purchasing them at the battle tree. The battle tree itself isn't made to be an extremely different experience from anything else, not supposed to be anything other than a place to battle to earn points. So the way of obtaining most mega stones in these games is either from an event or playing multiple battles in a row. Not the most exciting thing compared to a special trial or a form of the Slateport battle tent. (also from what I can tell x/y and or/as don't appear to have the most interesting way of finding them either.)
I think it's a little bit unfair to go with SM's method of obtaining mega stones as a point against megas as a mechanic, partially because it was pretty clear at that point that GF wasn't particularly interested in megas anymore and were basically just putting them in through some level of obligation. More importantly though, the point here in particular is actually somewhat misleading since it's only in SM not USM and (with the sole exception of the Kanto starter mega stones, probably because they wanted to make Red special) it's that all the mega stones obtainable outside events are for the Pokemon it's possible to get in SM without trading or Bank.

It was a solid two months before the Pokemon for the unobtainable mega stones were possible to get ingame legally, and it's very plausible that this made people on the dev team decide to not have the completely useless items in the game from launch, especially for an expensive BP price. At that point GF's hatred of patching games kicked in and the remaining mega stones were left as event exclusive, only being buyable ingame in USM.

Personally I think the Gigantamax designs look pretty bad all around, especially when you compare them on Pokemon who already had a mega, and their gameplay integration is actually horrific without the DLC since obtaining a Gigantamax for yourself requires a bunch of RNG with grinding out raid battles. Meanwhile their impact on gameplay compared to Dynamax is such a minor benefit ingame (and sometimes a strict downgrade) that they're really not worth going for. This of course being on top of how Dynamax is absolutely as much of a win button as megas, just restricted to only almost every important battle and having an even longer activation and ending animation.
 
I absolutely agree with you. Recently, the issue of the right to marriage and family for same-sex couples has been very actively discussed. In the era of total freedom, democracy and openness, this topic remains quite taboo. I recently read a pretty interesting essay on the right to marriage and family for same-sex couples on (MOD EDIT: Spam link removed) Once upon a time, marriage was seen as something completely different from what it is now. It's a commitment between two people, and the definition, according to Google, is, "in some jurisdictions, it's a union between a man and a woman." This commitment varies by culture. What do you think about this?
This is quite interesting, but I don't think this is the best thread to discuss this topic (unless there's something I'm missing).

However I'm all for blaming Dynamax & Gigantamax for Dexit because GF made them all separate models thus likely filled up so much memory it became very hard (if not impossible) to fit all Pokemon in vanilla Sword & Shield.
Honestly, I doubt this is the actual reason they excluded the Pokemon. I could be wrong, but from what I've experienced as a programmer, data / file-size almost never matters nowdays unless you are doing low-level stuff in C / Assembly (which was the case with the Gameboy games). I think the actual reason that not all Pokemon are included is to better accommodate new players. Outside of event mons, its possible to catch every Pokemon in the game (either by paying for the DLC or through online Raids) so new players don't need to purchase a separate system to obtain everything.

On that note, my (somewhat?) unpopular opinion is that the Crown Tundra should have brought back way less legendaries and more regular Pokemon. Can't speak for other tiers, but I thought the OU and BSS metagames were more interesting back in the Isle of Armor metagame. Yeah, a lot of the top tiers like Cinderace, Dragapult, Corviknight, etc. were the same, but the lower overall power level meant that a lot more underutilized mons like Rotom-H and Toxtricity could shine. It was actually quite refreshing to see more "regular" Pokemon be viable and making use of their unique attributes. While this is still possible in the current meta, its less incentived since the benefits of legendaries like Zapdos and Heatran are just too good to pass up. I would have much preferred it if other unique mons like Eelektross, Crabominable, and Gliscor came back instead.
 
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On that note, my (somewhat?) unpopular opinion is that the Crown Tundra should have brought back way less legendaries and more regular Pokemon.
Doesn't work.

Every generation since gen 6 has needed a way to make all current gen legendaries (aka, non breedable but VGC legal) available. Even if gen 8 introduced battle-ready marks (one of the best features btw), it's in GF's interest to make sure that any person who starts the game in the current generation has a realistic way to obtain them (aka, not get ridicolously lucky getting cloned leges off GTS)

There must always be a lich king hoopa-ring clone in some form.

The only way in which Tundra could have skipped bringing back all the non-mythical legendaries would have been if it wasn't the final DLC of the generation.
 

Yung Dramps

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Doesn't work.

Every generation since gen 6 has needed a way to make all current gen legendaries (aka, non breedable but VGC legal) available. Even if gen 8 introduced battle-ready marks (one of the best features btw), it's in GF's interest to make sure that any person who starts the game in the current generation has a realistic way to obtain them (aka, not get ridicolously lucky getting cloned leges off GTS)

There must always be a lich king hoopa-ring clone in some form.

The only way in which Tundra could have skipped bringing back all the non-mythical legendaries would have been if it wasn't the final DLC of the generation.
This is a problem in a post-dexit world where catching them all no longer matters because...?

Even if it was "needed" I still think it could've been done better. What if both DLCs had Dynamax Adventures with IoA having Gens 1-4 while CT had 5-7? That would space it out a bit, make things less overwhelming for players of any format official or otherwise.
 

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