Unpopular opinions

[DetectiveDaikon]

>Unpopular Opinions

I think I'll just shoot and give my take,

I think any Pokemon Game post Gen 7, is just kinda underwhelming and unenjoyable and probably the worse aspects of the franchise and is simply a cashgrab from poor gamefreak management, starting from the removal of megas and memoryholeing of them when they could've continued to add more to mons that needed it the most like Shiftry and Flygon and I can even name more mons that desperately needed a mega, secondly, no national dex meaning many certain mons just weren't in the game, limiting the metagame to very few mons until the DLC which made players spend more money and introducing a gimmick in Gen 8 that was so unpopular it got banned by Assad margins and another gimmick in Gen 9 that was basically just adaptability for all mons and almost got banned this year,

Sun and Moon should've really been their template for to handle a new gimmick, they didn't throw away or mess with Megas or anything they just kept them the same as ORAS and basically just got a traditional composite Pokémon game that didn't go overboard and was just right and then suddenly they abandoned ALL that in Sword and Shield

Again I had harsher words in mind, because there's something about the graphics and just the vibes that just doesn't feel ok to me, not trying to ruffle any feathers, DM me if you want to debate further.

 

[woodgoldtwo]

>Unpopular Opinions

I think I'll just shoot and give my take,

I think any Pokemon Game post Gen 7, is just kinda underwhelming and unenjoyable and probably the worse aspects of the franchise and is simply a cashgrab from poor gamefreak management, starting from the removal of megas and memoryholeing of them when they could've continued to add more to mons that needed it the most like Shiftry and Flygon and I can even name more mons that desperately needed a mega, secondly, no national dex meaning many certain mons just weren't in the game, limiting the metagame to very few mons until the DLC which made players spend more money and introducing a gimmick in Gen 8 that was so unpopular it got banned by Assad margins and another gimmick in Gen 9 that was basically just adaptability for all mons and almost got banned this year,

Sun and Moon should've really been their template for to handle a new gimmick, they didn't throw Megas or anything they just kept them the same as ORAS and basically just got a traditional composite Pokémon game that didn't go overboard and was just right and then suddenly they abandoned ALL that in Sword and Shield

Again I had harsher words in mind, because there's something about the graphics and just the vibes that just doesn't feel ok to me, not trying to ruffle any feathers, DM me if you want to debate further.

Flygon was actually supposed to have a Mega Evolution but they couldn't come up with a good design for it so it was scrapped


Also Dynamax wasn't banned for being unpopular, it was banned from smogon formats due to being ridiculously overpowered in a 6v6 singles environment

 

[DetectiveDaikon]

Flygon was actually supposed to have a Mega Evolution but they couldn't come up with a good design for it so it was scrapped


Also Dynamax wasn't banned for being unpopular, it was banned from smogon formats due to being ridiculously overpowered in a 6v6 singles environment

>Flygon was actually supposed to have a Mega Evolution

Oh I'm fully aware of that, no worries, the game devs said that in an interview from while back, I just remember team building and thinking how good Flygon could've been had it got a mega because of its really poor stat allocation, and Dynamax was pretty hated/unpopular I'd say we're both correct, it was overpowered and created an unhealthy metagame and was very disliked, IIRC, many folks complained nonstop about it when Mods made a thread to talk about the question of Dynamax which was what resulted in it getting yeeted,

 

[Just A Shroom God]

I wish dondozo didn't exist. It just feels like such a half-assed solution to all the crap gamefreak released this generation, like, it almost completely walls so much of the broken physical threats (Palafin, Cp, Bax, RM, Sneasler, etc.) just by virtue of typing and ability, but, aside from its gimmick in doubles (which was also too strong and thus banned), it just has nothing else to make it an interesting pokemon. It has water moves and dragon moves, earthquake for some reason, curse, and rest. That's it. It feels like a gen 3 movepool. I also feel like it's one of like, 3 defensive pokemon keeping the floodgates of OU closed (the others being Tusk and Glowking), preventing all the broken shit from running amok, and I suppose I could be grateful for that, but at this point I'd much rather just have the broken stuff out, ban it, and return to a normal state of tier rather than the Jenga metagame we have now, where banning one thing leads to another being too good.

Edit: and oh, I forgot to mention that its design is just boring to me. It's a generic catfish... but fat. Blue-on-white color scheme is the most overdone color scheme for water pokemon and it shows. It also has this big dumb expression it constantly makes, with the crossed eyes and the slightly-opened mouth, which removes ALL the suspense I had upon seeing its silhouette in the water. And I get it, it's supposed to partner with Tatsugiri, but, quite aside from the fact that that interaction is both buggy and ironically, matchup-fishy, a doubles gimmick in a game where 90% of the battles are single just isn't very useful, which means that it has to have SOMETHING to be able to stand on its own. I also feel the same way about Tatsugiri in terms of design, but at least Tatsugiri has some things going for it in Dragon typing and Nasty Plot by level-up, and its color gimmick is sort of neat if you're into that sort of thing.

On the plus side, its shiny is kinda cool at least

edit 2: Me when I post an unpopular opinion on the unpopular opinions thread and it's unpopular

 

[pika pal]

I wish dondozo didn't exist. It just feels like such a half-assed solution to all the crap gamefreak released this generation, like, it almost completely walls so much of the broken physical threats (Palafin, Cp, Bax, RM, Sneasler, etc.) just by virtue of typing and ability, but, aside from its gimmick in doubles (which was also too strong and thus banned), it just has nothing else to make it an interesting pokemon. It has water moves and dragon moves, earthquake for some reason, curse, and rest. That's it. It feels like a gen 3 movepool. I also feel like it's one of like, 3 defensive pokemon keeping the floodgates of OU closed (the others being Tusk and Glowking), preventing all the broken shit from running amok, and I suppose I could be grateful for that, but at this point I'd much rather just have the broken stuff out, ban it, and return to a normal state of tier rather than the Jenga metagame we have now, where banning one thing leads to another being too good.

I kind of have the opposite regard for this sort of interaction, because Dondozo is kind of a defensive version of what Lando-T did for a team-wide level in past gens by being a blanket check/glue on several defensive teams, such that you can build around stuff you want to try and Dondozo is usually a reasonable way to patch up a core's weakness while being splashable enough to cover several such team needs. Defensive teams have their work cut out for building ever since Gen 7, so anything that can compress that amount of defensive backbone is a godsend (I say as a player who doesn't do much Stall/Balance but knows they're important to measure a Meta's health).

 

[Worldie]

I wish dondozo didn't exist. It just feels like such a half-assed solution to all the crap gamefreak released this generation, like, it almost completely walls so much of the broken physical threats (Palafin, Cp, Bax, RM, Sneasler, etc.) just by virtue of typing and ability, but, aside from its gimmick in doubles (which was also too strong and thus banned), it just has nothing else to make it an interesting pokemon. It has water moves and dragon moves, earthquake for some reason, curse, and rest. That's it. It feels like a gen 3 movepool. I also feel like it's one of like, 3 defensive pokemon keeping the floodgates of OU closed (the others being Tusk and Glowking), preventing all the broken shit from running amok, and I suppose I could be grateful for that, but at this point I'd much rather just have the broken stuff out, ban it, and return to a normal state of tier rather than the Jenga metagame we have now, where banning one thing leads to another being too good.

I kind of have the opposite regard for this sort of interaction, because Dondozo is kind of a defensive version of what Lando-T did for a team-wide level in past gens by being a blanket check/glue on several defensive teams, such that you can build around stuff you want to try and Dondozo is usually a reasonable way to patch up a core's weakness while being splashable enough to cover several such team needs. Defensive teams have their work cut out for building ever since Gen 7, so anything that can compress that amount of defensive backbone is a godsend (I say as a player who doesn't do much Stall/Balance but knows they're important to measure a Meta's health).

Regardless, you know what I'm about to say.

Dondozo was not created as is because of singles, its entire purpose was to match with the Dondozo/Tatsugiri gimmick. Unaware makes for a perfect match for that gimmick, since you're trying to make your "raid boss" survive and do as much damage as possible, thus ignoring opposing stat buffs is reasonable.

The effect of Dondozo on 6v6 singles was not intentionally designed and is just a smogon thing. It was definitely not created as "half assed solution" to anything.
In fact, it's a pretty creative design and a successful showcase of a new gimmick for once, as despite VGC players hating it as much as you, it was one of the very few times in last generations where a gimmick pokemon actually had competitive viability.

Daily boring reminder that 6v6 singles do not exist as far as balance goes

 

[DetectiveDaikon]

I wish dondozo didn't exist. It just feels like such a half-assed solution to all the crap gamefreak released this generation, like, it almost completely walls so much of the broken physical threats (Palafin, Cp, Bax, RM, Sneasler, etc.) just by virtue of typing and ability, but, aside from its gimmick in doubles (which was also too strong and thus banned), it just has nothing else to make it an interesting pokemon. It has water moves and dragon moves, earthquake for some reason, curse, and rest. That's it. It feels like a gen 3 movepool. I also feel like it's one of like, 3 defensive pokemon keeping the floodgates of OU closed (the others being Tusk and Glowking), preventing all the broken shit from running amok, and I suppose I could be grateful for that, but at this point I'd much rather just have the broken stuff out, ban it, and return to a normal state of tier rather than the Jenga metagame we have now, where banning one thing leads to another being too good.

Edit: and oh, I forgot to mention that its design is just boring to me. It's a generic catfish... but fat. Blue-on-white color scheme is the most overdone color scheme for water pokemon and it shows. It also has this big dumb expression it constantly makes, with the crossed eyes and the slightly-opened mouth, which removes ALL the suspense I had upon seeing its silhouette in the water. And I get it, it's supposed to partner with Tatsugiri, but, quite aside from the fact that that interaction is both buggy and ironically, matchup-fishy, a doubles gimmick in a game where 90% of the battles are single just isn't very useful, which means that it has to have SOMETHING to be able to stand on its own. I also feel the same way about Tatsugiri in terms of design, but at least Tatsugiri has some things going for it in Dragon typing and Nasty Plot by level-up, and its color gimmick is sort of neat if you're into that sort of thing.

On the plus side, its shiny is kinda cool at least

I can't say I agree or disagree but I always thought it looked like a ripoff of Wishcash cause Gamefreak was simply to lazy to make new designs for Pokémon, the resemblance is so uncanny they've should've just called it a regional variant

 

[AztecCroc]

earthquake for some reason

1) It's huge and fat.
2) Catfish are associated with earthquakes in Japan.

I can't say I agree or disagree but I always thought it looked like a ripoff of Wishcash cause Gamefreak was simply to lazy to make new designs for Pokémon, the resemblance is so uncanny they've should've just called it a regional variant

Not nearly close enough to be a regional variant, but if you made it Water/Ground and made the whiskers longer and slapped a D on its forhead, I could see it as an evolution.

 

[DetectiveDaikon]

Not nearly close enough to be a regional variant, but if you made it Water/Ground and made the whiskers longer and slapped a D on its forhead, I could see it as an evolution.

Looking upon the design again and comparing both it really does look like a scrapped Mega Evo design for Wishcash almost, but yea it could've been an evo of Wishcash kinda like Basculegion or Jynx

 

[DreamPrince]

In the case of Dondozo, it feels like its purpose was to be an ultimate boss for the Titan Pokemon: It has highest stats and BST of all of them, and even has an ability that grants it stat boosts! But here's my problem they don't utillize the commander abillity at all- the Dondozo doesn't have the stat boosts. What was even the point then? It just feels unecessary to design Dondozo and Tatsugiri this way, I'm guessing the devs it would be too hard if Dondozo got +2 in every stat, hence the lack of boosts, but looking at Dondozo's movepool, a defensive Grass type would still pose a problem.

 

[AztecCroc]

In the case of Dondozo, it feels like its purpose was to be an ultimate boss for the Titan Pokemon: It has highest stats and BST of all of them, and even has an ability that grants it stat boosts! But here's my problem they don't utillize the commander abillity at all- the Dondozo doesn't have the stat boosts. What was even the point then? It just feels unecessary to design Dondozo and Tatsugiri this way, I'm guessing the devs it would be too hard if Dondozo got +2 in every stat, hence the lack of boosts, but looking at Dondozo's movepool, a defensive Grass type would still pose a problem.

Base SV doesn't really have any of those though.

 

[KalosianPorygon]

Honestly, I don't mind Dondozo's limited moveset. It's a big dumb boy, it makes sense for it to learn almost no Special moves, its job is to beat up others with tail slaps and slams.
The size of Tatsugiri's moveset, on the other hand, bothers me a lot. It's far from the worst moveset I can think of ―it's hard to make a Nasty Plot user bad, and it learns good Status moves such as Taunt, Memento, and Helping Hand― but only Normal-, Water- and Dragon-type Special moves other than Icy Wind is super odd. Like, it's the smart one, you would think it would be able to learn a few more moves.

 

[Worldie]

The size of Tatsugiri's moveset, on the other hand, bothers me a lot. It's far from the worst moveset I can think of ―it's hard to make a Nasty Plot user bad, and it learns good Status moves such as Taunt, Memento, and Helping Hand― but only Normal-, Water- and Dragon-type Special moves other than Icy Wind is super odd. Like, it's the smart one, you would think it would be able to learn a few more moves.

It's very likely this was an intentional balance decision, despite it having Storm Drain (probably just for the sake of having a usable singles ability) it was pretty clear that these 2 mons were made *specifically* to be used toghether. Giving Tatsugiri a wide moveset would have created a valid case for standalone usage, as after all we're looking at a strong defensive type and non-negligible bulk pokemon with high speed and spatk, which is not what they were looking for while designing it.

(Also i'm not really sure why it's a Dragon type... prolly some reference I'm missing somewhere... )

 

[Ironmage]

(Also i'm not really sure why it's a Dragon type... prolly some reference I'm missing somewhere... )

I'm suspicious that it's a combination of wanting the pair as a Titan encounter, not overlapping displayed types between maingame bosses, and already having a Water gym. i.e. there's no significant in-universe explanation.

 

[Worldie]

I'm suspicious that it's a combination of wanting the pair as a Titan encounter, not overlapping displayed types between maingame bosses, and already having a Water gym. i.e. there's no significant in-universe explanation.

If it was just for the whole sake of type overlap, Dondozo would have honestly made more sense as the Dragon type (though, I think that'd have made it unironically overpowered, Unaware Water/Dragon with that bulk and that ability and stab signature move that raises a stat is the stuff of nightmares)

 

[Just A Shroom God]

If it was just for the whole sake of type overlap, Dondozo would have honestly made more sense as the Dragon type (though, I think that'd have made it unironically overpowered, Unaware Water/Dragon with that bulk and that ability and stab signature move that raises a stat is the stuff of nightmares)

it's supposed to be a fake out but we were all wearing covert cloaks because you'd expect the big fish to be the dragon type but instead it's the small fish inside the big fish who is the real dragon type. Dondozo is even the "false dragon" pokemon. Although I agree it doesn't make sense past the fake out.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Also Dondozo is literally a catfish, making more of a pun with how it's a fake out and the "False Dragon" with its partner Tatsugiri being the real one.

Because the word "catfish" also refers to someone who pretends to be someone they aren't, while also referring to the literal animal Dondozo is based on, carrying a double meaning. Dondozo being a catfish while at the same time masquerading as the "false dragon" Titan with Tatsugiri both being a real dragon and the real Titan in the final boss fight is something of a pun in that regard.

 

[Imperial Magala]

From Bulbapedia:

Shachihoko

Polypterus senegalus/Senegal bichir

 

[Bakugames]

i know this is on the smogon forums but I do wish yall would at least Try to consider other reasonings for why pokemon are created and designed beyond singles/bss OR vgc. yes theres a consideration given considering gamefreak needs to make esports viable picks every gen but also...... sometimes theyre like this because its flavorful, because it references some mythology, folklore, animal, location, the design itself etc. sometimes gimmicks are done because it looks fun for the player, or makes a cool boss

 

[Ransei]

It was never about the tree.

It was about how so many Pokemon fans lost something significant for no apparent reason, only to receive nothing in return

despite even being promised they would receive things in return.

Personally, I believe all dexit did for the Switch era was give Gamefreak opportunities to cut out more content and rush games harder than ever before, only to repackage their missing content for an extra $30-35 as DLC. It literally did nothing else during this era. Competitive is more broken than it ever was within the past several generations, graphics look ugly this time around, the animations are worse than any 3D Pokemon game prior to dexit, sure it made completing the dex is somewhat more appealing, but it could've easily been like Gen 7 where you could use all the existing Pokemon while still just having a regional dex. In regards to playability of metagames, National Dex Anything Goes is virtually unplayable now, yes. That's not because we have too many Pokemon. That's because Gamefreak made many of their stupidest mechanical decisions in the history of the series throughout the Switch generations alone and they've taken a massive toll on the entire premise overall. Dexit also did not give Gamefreak less overall work. It just gave them opportunities to blitz through game after game now to send them out in shorter durations than ever. It's giving Gamefreak more room to maximize their profit by exploiting the trust of the playerbase. I'm sorry to get nasty here but I genuinely cannot see it any other way. The Switch games even have every single Pokemon in the series programmed in them, but with wiped stats in Gen 8, and completed stats in Gen 9. Their priority isn't to make the best game they could, but to make the most money they can get, which right now is by spending less time and money on the resources of one game, and pushing out as many different games as possible.

To me, this is why I believe Scarlet and Violet dropped the way they did, and why Gamefreak has been dodging any promises to spend more time on the games, despite acknowledging their schedules were an issue. It's confirmed by some of Gamefreak's dissatisfied staff through company reviews, that they know Pokemon games will still get a lot of sales no matter what state the game is finalized in, by virtue of being a main series Pokemon game. Thanks to this, a lot of the higher ups in Pokemon don't really care how the final product ends up.


I made this sometime ago and posted it somewhere, but was proud of it so I want to share it somewhere else.

 

[Samtendo09]

It was never about the tree.

It was about how so many Pokemon fans lost something significant for no apparent reason, only to receive nothing in return

despite even being promised they would receive things in return.

Personally, I believe all dexit did for the Switch era was give Gamefreak opportunities to cut out more content and rush games harder than ever before, only to repackage their missing content for an extra $30-35 as DLC. It literally did nothing else during this era. Competitive is more broken than it ever was within the past several generations, graphics look ugly this time around, the animations are worse than any 3D Pokemon game prior to dexit, sure it made completing the dex is somewhat more appealing, but it could've easily been like Gen 7 where you could use all the existing Pokemon while still just having a regional dex. In regards to playability of metagames, National Dex Anything Goes is virtually unplayable now, yes. That's not because we have too many Pokemon. That's because Gamefreak made many of their stupidest mechanical decisions in the history of the series throughout the Switch generations alone and they've taken a massive toll on the entire premise overall. Dexit also did not give Gamefreak less overall work. It just gave them opportunities to blitz through game after game now to send them out in shorter durations than ever. It's giving Gamefreak more room to maximize their profit by exploiting the trust of the playerbase. I'm sorry to get nasty here but I genuinely cannot see it any other way. The Switch games even have every single Pokemon in the series programmed in them, but with wiped stats in Gen 8, and completed stats in Gen 9. Their priority isn't to make the best game they could, but to make the most money they can get, which right now is by spending less time and money on the resources of one game, and pushing out as many different games as possible.

To me, this is why I believe Scarlet and Violet dropped the way they did, and why Gamefreak has been dodging any promises to spend more time on the games, despite acknowledging their schedules were an issue. It's confirmed by some of Gamefreak's dissatisfied staff through company reviews, that they know Pokemon games will still get a lot of sales no matter what state the game is finalized in, by virtue of being a main series Pokemon game. Thanks to this, a lot of the higher ups in Pokemon don't really care how the final product ends up.


I made this sometime ago and posted it somewhere, but was proud of it so I want to share it somewhere else.

I don’t usually use gif memes, but this is a really good summation of the Switch games.

I got a bad guts feeling that GF never playtested their new stuff for balance, instead only playtest just to make them work as intended, causing a blatant increase amount of poorly executed mechanics and power creep lately.

There’s also the P2W (pay to win) nature via most Legends mons only available via transfer, along with DLC, making real life competitive tournaments such as VGC far more expensive than it should. Their push to ESports comes off as insincere as a result.

Because of their self-imposed strict schedule, they ended up making even more new problems than they fixed old ones, and who knows when, not if, many employees cannot take the pressure anymore even by Japanese standards and call it quit. I’m not likely to want buy anymore Pokémon games made or supervised by them and it’s all too unlikely they’ll slow down.

The only positive aspect (that do not outweight the negatives, mind you) is that they still got some big creativity juice. Heck, who could have known that they create an evolution for Duraludon of all Pokémon and even succeeded? But with the strict schedule, I wonder how soon they’ll run out of it.

 

[Bakugames]

I mean the only reason gen 7 dex is like that is Because of dexit. Like i get your point but that was a thing that was gonna happen and got delayed. Wouldn't be surprised if they decided on it as soon as they finished working on XY

thank god they didnt tho because alola is peak and i dont have to defend it from dexit bros

 

[Worldie]

Honestly instead of replying with the same thing for the millionth time, I'll just link a decent summary Wolfey made about SV which had me agree with more or less all he said. (Funnily, even "first impression" vs "replaying through it a year later")

TLDR: Pokemon games are just a relatively minor part of pokemon franchise income. They just need to work, and be cute to introduce kids to the game. They don't need to be good to sell, thus they don't put more money into them.

 

[Ironmage]

I'm currently missing third versions rather than DLC. Yes, it's more total expense for the extra content if you already had the original games, but that keeps seeming like a larger and larger if. Now that I can't call the first release sufficiently complete to justify getting the base version, the balance starts to swing in the other direction: I would be waiting until there's good content (if any shows up) regardless, so I'd much prefer having a single package at 100% game price than two totaling 150%.

 

[Samtendo09]

Honestly instead of replying with the same thing for the millionth time, I'll just link a decent summary Wolfey made about SV which had me agree with more or less all he said. (Funnily, even "first impression" vs "replaying through it a year later")

TLDR: Pokemon games are just a relatively minor part of pokemon franchise income. They just need to work, and be cute to introduce kids to the game. They don't need to be good to sell, thus they don't put more money into them.

That doesn’t make it any less exploitative, as it comes off as taking advantage of children’s love of Pokémon with little return and slow improvements. Worse is that there are fans who defended flaws that are difficult to deny, such as inconsistent graphic qualities, because “the games are for children”. Being a kid’s game should not excuse poor quality.

Aiming for young children also contradict Game Freak’s, or TPC’s, push of turning their VGC into Esport since that audience is older than young kids on average. In turn, there is a lot of references to past games, even the one not from Kanto considering Let’s Go, that children may not get, though it does have an advantage of making them more curious of past regions.

Let’s not getting into the exploitative gacha elements or microtransaction in Pokémon GO, which is also partially aimed at children.

It’s a good thing the Pokémon games have strong replayability despite the incessesant cutscenes, especially Gen 6 and Gen 8-today, but the moment replayability becomes jeopardized, even children might only play it once and never again.

I'm currently missing third versions rather than DLC. Yes, it's more total expense for the extra content if you already had the original games, but that keeps seeming like a larger and larger if. Now that I can't call the first release sufficiently complete to justify getting the base version, the balance starts to swing in the other direction: I would be waiting until there's good content (if any shows up) regardless, so I'd much prefer having a single package at 100% game price than two totaling 150%.

There’s no incentive for GF to get back to third versions, especially after USUM, despite financial success, proved to be a disaster in terms of content differences (too little for what are promised) and a hot mess of debate if it justifies being third version or not even today. Going back to third versions would not improve the situation that is happening to the mainline games, especially since games costs 60$ if not 70$ in America as of this writing.

But! I will say that the base game must be sufficently loaded to justify DLC. Both Gen 8 and 9 seems to have too little content other than main story to justify DLC, making it look like GF deliberately held off some potentially great stuff behind a paywall.