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Your controversial opinions

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Rather than relying on pure hearsay, why not consider some more objective, well-rounded measurements? HGSS were given high scores by many professional critic outlets such as Famitsu and IGN, and their aggregate score on Metacritic is 87%, with a 9.1 User Score.

Therefore, liking them is not really "controversial" - the majority opinion of the games is clearly and overwhelmingly positive.

(Personally, I'm not a fan of HGSS. They aren't without merit, but they are one of the hardest entries for me to motivate myself to actually play, as I find them to be extremely slowly paced, and significantly lacking in decent team design options. Although it is probably worth noting that part of the reason why it is easy for me to cast them aside is because there is an abundance of other options within this franchise alone, all with their own takes on the standard formula, and the ones that have come after HGSS have generally been geared more toward my preferences. Were we to travel back in time to 2010, then I would probably favor HGSS quite a bit more. I suppose I should describe them as "good for their time.")
 
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Btw, after some thought I think that not only should the games go on a hiatus but for a time there shouldn't be any new Pkmn. I'm saying this because in all honesty I was never able to train more a few favorites and others that appeal to me and I think that I would be more inclined to train more Pkmn outside my confort zone if there were multiple save files that allowed me to play the story again but with different companions or to create a new region(s) so big and interesting that would allow for the training of more Pkmn...also, the story could force us to lose the Pkmn we had (stolen, lost...) to make us train new ones and then after some event we would get them again.
 
Rantaro said:
HGSS are pretty widely considered to be the best games in the series on the internet as a whole.
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Which is absolutely crazy on itself since in terms of playability, I believe it has the most critical and biggest issues that damper it.
 
Enzo said:
I actually REALLY love the chibi-esque style of gen 6. Even tho I still love the pixilated sprites and the more ''3d'' models of gen 7 and gen 8, I really like it. I still thinka lot of people dislike it, which is fine really: art is subjective after all. But I enjoy for pretty much 2 reasons:

- I still think it was the best way to transition to 3d games. If they had made ''gen 8 style'' models for gen 6, immediatly after gen 5 being finished and still being pixel styled, I think it would have weirded people out to a point. I liked how they instead made more of a ''slow and steady'' transition to the fully rendered 3d models we have today.

- I have a feeling it translates the Pokemon games the most to me. It managed to bring a more ''immersive'' feeling to the world, while still keeping it cartoony and manga-ish enough. Balancing these two things out is harder than it looks.
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The only complaint I have about the chibi character models is that the camera sometimes zooms in on them too much, particularly during cutscenes. They look great when the camera is in its classic Game Boy-style position, but aren't as effective up-close.
 
RK9 said:
Which is absolutely crazy on itself since in terms of playability, I believe it has the most critical and biggest issues that damper it.
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I think a lot of the issues with HGSS are rooted in how Johto is designed in general tbh. Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% a Johto boy and it's my favourite region, but its design holds it back a bit.
 
RK9 said:
Which is absolutely crazy on itself since in terms of playability, I believe it has the most critical and biggest issues that damper it.
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Well, the things that I think people tend to praise usually have little to do with the core campaign design, aside from the major element of having a post-game region. The positivity that I see is more directed toward the side-content and other bells and whistles - like the Pokéathlon, the Safari Zone, the Battle Frontier, Walking Pokémon, GB Sounds, and Gym Leader rematches. Plus, if you're the type of player who values that stuff, Gold & Silver are a good foundation, since even the originals had a fair amount of extra material, like the Bug-Catching Contest, the Ruins of Alph, and a lot of spots for optional backtracking (Slowpoke Well, Union Cave, Route 34, Mt. Mortar, the Whirl Islands, etc.).

And some of that stuff definitely appeals to me, but its value is cut pretty drastically if I'm feeling like I'm going through the game at a snail's pace. I'd rather have B2W2 which although it arguably has a bit less to do, runs on a faster engine and has a much healthier Pokédex, and an incredibly superior TM system (not just in terms of renewability, either - you're also not stuck with options that totally suck.)
 
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Esserise said:
And some of that stuff definitely appeals to me, but its value is cut pretty drastically if I'm feeling like I'm going through the game at a snail's pace. I'd rather have B2W2 which although it arguably has a bit less to do, runs on a faster engine and has a much healthier Pokédex, and an incredibly superior TM system (not just in terms of renewability, either - you're also not stuck with options that totally suck.)
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Same, to be honest. All that cool content is worth nothing to me if it takes me ages to reach because I either go at the pace of a goddamn Slowpoke, need to grind my eyes out cause the level curve is absurdly dumb or because teambuilding is very limited because of pokemon distribution up to the point I don't even enjoy my team.

While BW2 has maybe less, it still has the PWC, the Tree Hollow/Tower, Heatran and N. While, yeah, it may be less in the grand scheme of things, the 'path' towards it is what makes it more enjoyable/preferred to me.
 
Some clarification about what I said:

Whilst outright "edgy" pokemon isn't mentioned much, It's just the conclusion I come to when people complain about pokemon being childish and complaining that it hasn't grown up with them. Dark a la mystery dungeon or BW or SM or later special is, but stuff like early special? wouldn't fly anymore

The firing back at the fandom would be part of a larger celebration of pokemon's fandom as a whole. It would be a stern message towards some of the more toxic forms of the fandom. Amidst the references to smogon or poke-russians with slowpoke merchandise there would be some way of telling all the really toxic fans of any association that gatekeeping, deliberately trying to ruin other's fun because of the specific games they like, refusing to have civil discussions, and the drastic lashing out against other fans and gamefreak in the wake of the dex cut are unacceptable and should not be tolerated by such an inclusive community. Hate everything from Gen 6 on if you want. It's not an excuse to call fans of those game's responsible for pokemon's "decline" and bully them over it, for example

my prediction for gen 9 relies a bit on this, the former as part of a "dark-light-dark-light" cycle the game's stories go through and the latter because A: franchises like this tend to have works that rely a bit on being a gift to the fandom and B: SS had some atrocious backlash and I believe it deserves to be adressed.

A lot of other things about the prediction are unpopular opinions too (Yugoslavia Region, Humanoid legendaries, karma meter), oddly enough.
 
I’ve seen exactly one series that dabbed on their fan base and did it well (Danganronpa). Even then, it had a mixed response. Keep in mind DR is a series that tackles incredibly serious things, so fans are more likely to expect something like that. Pokémon, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of DR in every possible way. If GF tried to dab on the fanbase, not only would it likely not be done well or effectively, but it would absolutely turn even more people against them.
 
Rantaro said:
I’ve seen exactly one series that dabbed on their fan base and did it well (Danganronpa). Even then, it had a mixed response. Keep in mind DR is a series that tackles incredibly serious things, so fans are more likely to expect something like that. Pokémon, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of DR in every possible way. If GF tried to dab on the fanbase, not only would it likely not be done well or effectively, but it would absolutely turn even more people against them.
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Always fun to see your favourites bite the dust.

I'm not salty at all, no sir. Not sure where that idea came from.
 
Sheep40 said:
The firing back at the fandom would be part of a larger celebration of pokemon's fandom as a whole. It would be a stern message towards some of the more toxic forms of the fandom. Amidst the references to smogon or poke-russians with slowpoke merchandise there would be some way of telling all the really toxic fans of any association that gatekeeping, deliberately trying to ruin other's fun because of the specific games they like, refusing to have civil discussions, and the drastic lashing out against other fans and gamefreak in the wake of the dex cut are unacceptable and should not be tolerated by such an inclusive community. Hate everything from Gen 6 on if you want. It's not an excuse to call fans of those game's responsible for pokemon's "decline" and bully them over it, for example
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I don't really see what this would accomplish. The toxic fandom you're referring to doesn't respect the series anymore (and more importantly is of the personality type that doesn't respect other people in general, hence their willingness to even engage in harassment to begin with), so they're not going to suddenly change their behavior just because the games that they already hate take took an extra minute to scold them for it. That would just make them more agitated. And ultimately, healthy fandoms are capable of combating toxicity on their own - our communities just have to be resolute, and must make it clear that that sort of behavior isn't tolerable.
 
It's not really trying to convince those toxic fans. It's literally telling them get out of the fandom. They're not welcome anymore. It's designed to piss them off to the point that they dissassociate with the fandom going forward.

Is it likely? no? Would it be nice? debatably. Would everyone like it? Hell no?

Hence the unpopular opinion.
 
I honestly disagree with @BigBadButterfree. Being forced to use some pokemon doesn't sound like a nice ideia to me. If Gen 5 pokemon are that good, then they should be able to compete against other generations' pokemon. I did buy a Pokemon Black copy back in 2011, I ran a full Unova team, and I still hate some gen5 pokemon (gen5 is the first gen that I boxed my starter, because I didn't like the final evolutions' designs. The fact that you need to exclude other generations' pokemon in order to help Gen 5 pokemon makes me think that they aren't as cool as their predecessors. In my view, that's such a dumb way to force people to use them. I respect your opinion, I hope you do the same thing.
 
BigBadButterfree said:
Here's a controversial opinion:

Black and White were one of my favorite games BECAUSE of its Pokedex.

Yes, that's right, I actually enjoyed being forced to use new Pokemon. I feel newer games could do without Pikachu and Eevee and all those other popular things clogging the dex.
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ShieldFan said:
I honestly disagree with @BigBadButterfree. Being forced to use some pokemon doesn't sound like a nice ideia to me. If Gen 5 pokemon are that good, then they should be able to compete against other generations' pokemon. I did buy a Pokemon Black copy back in 2011, I ran a full Unova team, and I still hate some gen5 pokemon (gen5 is the first gen that I boxed my starter, because I didn't like the final evolutions' designs. The fact that you need to exclude other generations' pokemon in order to help Gen 5 pokemon makes me think that they aren't as cool as their predecessors. In my view, that's such a dumb way to force people to use them. I respect your opinion, I hope you do the same thing.
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I don't think that @BigBadButterfree was speaking in terms of comparison between generations but the fact that having a region with entirely new Pkmn felt better for him. I, for example, was pretty happy with that move by GF because it had great new Grass and Poison Pkmn and by the fact that I was sick of having caves filled with Zubat, Onix and Digglett and the sea with Tentacool (despite the fact that we got Woobat and Frillish, which function like "clones".
I can say that I enjoyed Sapphire to a great extent because it add very new amazing Pkmn compared to the older ones included...I'm tired of all the Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario, Eevee, Mewtwo and Legendary pandering and IF it were to exist I wouldn't mind a "new start" with only newer Pkmn if it was done right (despite like said above that I'd prefer hiatus on new Pkmn).
 
Here's an unpopular opinion. With the exception of Charizard I really don't mind Pikachu, Eevee, Lucario, etc getting pandered too. And just for the record, Eevee wasn't really all that pandered too until just recently. Yes it has 8 possible evolutions but that's its gimmick not pandering.
 
Sheep40 said:
It's not an excuse to call fans of those game's responsible for pokemon's "decline"
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Wait but did you not literally just do that yourself with fans of other games
Sheep40 said:
Gen 6 onwards and the "quality decline" are the fan's own fault, and are the direct continuation of the design emphasis seen in gen 3,
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Sheep40 said:
It's not really trying to convince those toxic fans. It's literally telling them get out of the fandom. They're not welcome anymore. It's designed to piss them off to the point that they dissassociate with the fandom going forward.
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Again, like Esserise said- if they already don't respect the games, why would they bother listening? Wouldn't making them angry just give them more to rant about in fandom spaces?

It seems like a pretty silly thing to do, too- why should any major game developing company take any amount of time in their game to think about the consequences of their game in relation to fan's behavior on fan forums? It's not related to their financial interests, it's a niche part of the fandom, and it's something that ought to just be handled by the moderating staff. That'd be like if they tried to come up with new forum skins for Bulbagarden.
 
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