SwSh Dynamax: Thoughts, Feelings, or Concerns

[Fan of Jarrus]

I'm geninuely curious about what parts of dynamaxing people find "asethetically great", because dynamax's current aesthetics are one of the biggest things that I despise about the mechanic. The garish pinkish red aura is visually discomforting (especially in the raid areas) to look at and I can't unsee the three clouds above their heads as anything else but floating turds (or darumaka heat pad fuel for the cultured folks).

Am I alone or in the minority with this opinion, or is this a more common opinion that people don't like talking about?

Why do the clouds look like that?

 

[multiingbe]

I'm not inherently gimmick-hostile as long as GF bets a better grip on what to retain and what to drop between generations. Z-moves were fun tools for an in-game playthrough (and served as both token of progression and power-up, which is better game design than the badge system) and quite daft and fun for a light-hearted region such as Alola. They were also quite ephemeral and a blight on competitive play (you can't reasonably counter an invisible super-move that smashes through usual type-advantage checks), so I'm happy to just leave them behind as Alola's in-game 'thing'.

Megas are great. They're a fantastic vehicle for new designs, new abilities, and - most importantly - great buckets of love for neglected species. Despite their competitive ubiquity, they're well-balanced by how predictable their gameplan is and by the fact that their stat boosts are often trumped by the benefits of a Choice item; they often trade immediate power for versatility. I'm a massive proponent of the notion that they should have been worked into Dynamax in some way and I dearly hope this isn't the last we've seen of them in main series titles.

As for Dynamax itself? It's firmly in camp A. I think it's aesthetically great, ties in very well to Galar's themes and brings some literal heft to the stadium battles, but I also don't want it to stick around after the fact. It's another ephemeral thing with a tiny pool of new designs and little in the way of significant changes for the species which can actually make use of GMax, so I can't foresee many broken hearts if it went the way of all things. Competitively, it's even more degenerate than Z-moves (do you have a Flying move? Do you also have a Fighting move? gg) and I can't wait for it to depart those environments.

I would rather GF improves the actual gimmicks instead of introducing a new one in Gen IX. Three gimmicks are more than enough.

Yes

Maxing overall does seem to hopefully be an intentionally exaggerated regional powering-up! and, one that would not be expected to travel to the next Gen or the proverbial new experience of Sinnoh!

I think there is a medium chance of something new to take its place in either of those potential upcoming games!

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Okay but hear me out.

Gigantamax'ed Megas.

As someone who likes Megas more than Dynamax... No. The one good thing about Gigantamax is that most of them are designed around being physically larger. They innovate with the added scale the mechanic provides. Just look at the Galar starters for example. Megas haven’t been designed from the same perspective.

 

[Esserise]

I don't mind the aesthetics to be fair. I like that it has this ominous aura cause I mean, let's be real here. You're being stared down by what? 20+ meters creatures that do stuff like spit fire.

Also it’s fueled by a scary queen Xenomorph dragon from distant space, so, that adds

It's just a shame that it comes with very little design creativity and fluidness. It's all just standing there completely still.

I mean... to be fair, battles in general consist largely of the Pokémon standing still. That was an issue before Dynamax.

As someone who likes Megas more than Dynamax... No. The one good thing about Gigantamax is that most of them are designed around being physically larger. They innovate with the added scale the mechanic provides. Just look at the Galar starters for example. Megas haven’t been designed from the same perspective.

I sort of half and half agree here. I’m with you in that Megas are not totally equatable to Gigantamax, because as you say, most G-Max forms are conceived from the ground-up to take advantage of and emphasize the huge sizes, whereas Megas exaggerate the core concept itself and like... add spikes and goatees. But at the same time, I don’t think the basic notion of Dynamaxed Megas is any weirder than Dynamaxed anything else. There’s nothing more jarring about a Giant Mega Blaziken than there is about a Giant Raichu. But definitely in terms of the sometimes-suggested idea to just coopt the Megas designs and use them *as* Gigantamax forms, I do think that would feel kind of cheap as opposed than coming up with something new and more bespoke like G-Max Charizard and Gengar. I like the Mega forms of those two, but I also think their G-Max forms are good for other reasons and are better suited to the Dynamax mechanic.

 

[RK9]

I mean... to be fair, battles in general consist largely of the Pokémon standing still. That was an issue before Dynamax.

I mean, in-game, yeah. But it's easy to envision them vividly darting across teh battlefield. These lot tho?

 

[Esserise]

I mean, in-game, yeah. But it's easy to envision them vividly darting across teh battlefield. These lot tho?

Well in that regard I don't think G-Maxes are really supposed to be darting around? They are more the sort of lumbering monolithic beasts because that's how giants tend to be depicted. It's the regular Pokémon that are supposed to be darting around them.

 

[Matthew Clerkin]

Yes

Maxing overall does seem to hopefully be an intentionally exaggerated regional powering-up! and, one that would not be expected to travel to the next Gen or the proverbial new experience of Sinnoh!

You could also argue that z moves and megas were also intentionally overexaggerated.

Doing that for three generations in a row is just unnecessary repetition.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

I'm not sure how to exactly articulate this but I feel like Gigantamax should have been designed as boss battles with the gym leaders instead of a new battle gimmick.

First off, there is very limited use for them since it can't be used outside of gyms and raids. Since the occasions where you can use them are few, I feel like there isn't really a need to remove megas and even z-moves altogether since they're not exactly alternatives.

Secondly, I feel like a lot of the pokemon designs were negatively affected by the gigantamax. IMO, some pokemon look like they're deliberately simplified for the gigantamax form. Others look like they could have just been megas if we ignore the forced perspectives incorporated into their design. If they were intentionally designed as boss battles, perhaps they would have really gone all out with designs and take them to the extreme.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

like they're deliberately simplified

Which ones are?

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Which ones are?

IMO, Centiskorch, Coalossal and Sandaconda.

 

[RK9]

I personally think Sandaconda's G-Max design is absolutely amazing. Same with Centiskorch.

 

[Esserise]

First off, there is very limited use for them since it can't be used outside of gyms and raids. Since the occasions where you can use them are few, I feel like there isn't really a need to remove megas and even z-moves altogether since they're not exactly alternatives.

There's still competitive battling, where it's going to be a much bigger factor than it is in single-player. It is probably more in that regard that they felt removing Megas and Z-Moves was the simplest option, rather than anything to do with how Dynamax is used in the main storyline campaign.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

I personally think Sandaconda's G-Max design is absolutely amazing. Same with Centiskorch.

As opposed to whether they are good or not, there just wasn't much of a difference from their base forms imo.

 

[RK9]

As opposed to whether they are good or not, there just wasn't much of a difference from their base forms imo.

If they make the designs too different people will call them overdesigned and too far away from the base, if they are to similar to the base people will complain they are too similar to the base.

GameFreak just can't win with stuff like this.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

If they make the designs too different people will call them overdesigned and too far away from the base

But if they were meant to be incredible, out there boss battles then that really wouldn't be a problem though?

 

[multiingbe]

I am sort of realizing, this is maybe the perfect mechanic to not potentially overshadow later Gens on the switch!! it has its upsides and downsides, it is very visually impressive but also very much could be topped in the future, whether in terms of visual effects or changes in the appearance of Pokemon (ala Megas, Gmax and formes)!!
The changes in moveset are simultaneously interesting and meaningful and does literally make them more basic. That is another area that could see incredible, unpredictable changes in the future, different versions of moves sort of has unlimited potential, although between Zmoves and Max moves some of it has already been reached!!

 

[SerenaToAlola]

I'm not sure if this had been discussed before but do you think they should have linked Dynamax to Totem pokemon? They're kinda similar no?

 

[Esserise]

I'm not sure if this had been discussed before but do you think they should have linked Dynamax to Totem pokemon? They're kinda similar no?

I don’t think they really are similar. Consider:

Totem auras boost can everything except HP =/= Dynamax only boosts HP

Totem Pokémon actually are physically larger =/= Dynamax Pokémon are just spatially warped illusions that appear larger

Totem Pokémon don’t use any unique moves, not even Z-Moves =/= Dynamax Pokémon all use Max Moves

 

[Matthew Clerkin]

I don’t think they really are similar. Consider:

Totem auras boost can everything except HP =/= Dynamax only boosts HP

Totem Pokémon actually are physically larger =/= Dynamax Pokémon are just spatially warped illusions that appear larger

Totem Pokémon don’t use any unique moves, not even Z-Moves =/= Dynamax Pokémon all use Max Moves

Idk. Semantic differences aside, dynamaxing feels like the Galar form of the totem Pokemon with psuedoscience lore explanation straight out of r/iamverysmart

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Idk. Semantic differences aside, dynamaxing feels like the Galar form of the totem Pokemon with psuedoscience lore explanation straight out of r/iamverysmart

Are those really semantics, though? It's kind of the majority of their mechanics. (Only things Esserise left off were the turn limits of Dynamax and the change of appearance) If we ignore the stat and move changes, we're kind of just left with "They're similar because they get bigger and more powerful", which is also the MO of regulation evolution and Mega Evolution.