How do you feel about the new Terastal gimmick?

[Turbo]

I like the crystal visuals for the most part I think it’s one of those things we’re lighting will matter a lot. As just the crystallized form looks fine and reminds me a bit of Illumina Pokémon from Snap.

The crown part I’m a bit iffy on, some look nice like on Lilligant the flowers look more natural

But on the starters it looked too big as the size of the crown is the same on them all and it’s bigger than their heads

But on some the oversized crown works as that is part of the appeal

Mechanically I really like it, I still need to know the details but I like the type changing concept as just gameplay wise it’s a nice chess game of one turn it’s one type then the next it’s a different type

The boosted stab (double stab) will need to be adjusted for better results as it also sounds a bit broken as a Fire type with a Fire move holding a charcoal and is Terastal Fire sounds too strong

Overall I like it more details can sway my opinion though but a type change alone is nice concept that isn’t too much like Mega evolution Z moves or Dynamax imo

 

[Palamon]

/Shrugs indifferent. It won't last to gen 10. I definitely don't hate it, though like I did mega evolution. Being able to find rare ones with different types is cool, though.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I'm just mad that this is fourth of very similar gimmicks that have been showing up for almost ten years. I'd rather have four more fire fighting starters. Seriously if almost every region has its own nuke button the fact that no one is coming in with multiple from different regions is so straining to my suspension of disbelief that even the multiverse the ultimate get out of jail free card isn't doing it for me. Even mainline series if in a state of constant multiversal travel the same cannot be said for Go or the Anime which does AU stuff very rarely. People thought it was repetitive for Pokémon stories to constantly revolve around pairs of Box Legendary Pokémon. Now every game's story has to about the box Legendary AND the bracelet gimmick. People seriously don't feel like being more vocal about how repetitive that is?

 

[Sweet Veil]

Can’t feel one way another, some cool designs could come from it but it's just a type change power-up? Hidden Power 3.0 essentially.

Looks really uninspired thematically. Gimmicks have burned me out, they add them and then remove next gen. Same song and dance, just feels empty at this point.

Bleh. Why can't Pokemon progress its mechanics?

 

[Norzan]

I'm honestly over these battle only gimmicks. Mega Evolution was cool but everything after has made me either shrug my shoulders (Z-moves) or annoy me (Dynamax).

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

It's just crystal hat Hidden Power. Kind of.

I like the concept and prefer it to dynamax, but the visuals are gaudy and lazy. At least with dynamax, we got new designs for some Pokémon. Here, it's just apply sparkles and a dumb hat. Would've preferred if it were just some sparkles without the hat though, if I'm honest.

At this point though, I'm tired of these gimmicks. They got it right with Megas the first time, in my opinion. And Z-moves could also be used for other Pokémon who didn't get Mega forms.

I just wish they'd just pick one and stick with it. Knowing that it likely won't last into the next Gen just makes me less interested. I know they're trying to make each Gen distinct, but it just feels more like they add something potentially cool for five seconds, only to remove it and repeat the cycle.

 

[Sakuraa]

I didn't notice before, but according to the official site, the official name of the crowns are Tera Jewels. I like it, very regal. I'm excited to see the designs of rest of the Tera Jewels for the remaining types.

Also, I'm wondering how/if Terastral Phenomenon will fit into gym battles. Z-Moves were used by the Kahunas and Dynamax was used by all gym leaders in Galar, so I figure Terastallizing would appear in Paldea's gyms. One big reason is because the design on the gym battlefield looks crystalized. If so, I'm interested in seeing how it would be applied, especially since Pokemon can have Tera Types that aren't their original type. It would be cool if a gym leader could change a Pokemon that isn't of their specialty type into one through Terastallizating. Would be interesting for sure, but I could also just see it being a power up for the main type.

 

[Battista]

I love the unpredictability. Unless I am mistaken, the wild encounters' Tera types are as random as natures are. In that sense, during the online battles and such, you have NO idea what the opposing Pokémon's type will turn into, and it can change everything in a battle.

From what I could gather in the video, most Pokémon will have the same Tera type as their regular one. It’s the “rarer” ones like the ones you get in raids that actually change type. Could be wrong though.

Reading about it on Serebii was intriguing because I thought the type changes would be more defined, almost like “temporary regional forms” in a similar vein to Gigantamax. But it looks to be more just a hat change and slight tinting, and that’s okay too but admittedly disappointing.

 

[CuboneKing]

I was definitely expecting more of an element of unpredictability and strategy rather than STAB on steroids, which is basically what it comes down to for the vast majority of individual Pokémon. I find that disappointing. I really hope there’s a way to change a Pokémon’s Tera type but the way they talked about it really didn’t indicate that would be the case. I’m going to hold full judgment until I get my hands on it. I was skeptical about the strong/agile style mechanic but actually enjoyed it once I got a feel for how seamless it was and what you could do with it. If nothing else, the hats are goofy in kind of a fun way.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Okay, but picture this: Adaptability Porygon-Z holding a Silk Scarf on top of the boost given to it by a Normal Tera Crystal... the power of its Hyper Beams would be absolutely insane. As in, "could potentially OHKO Max HP, Max Special Defense Blissey" insane.

 

[GhostLucario]

My thoughts:
I don't like the hats (I don't know what else to call them). They look silly. But I do like how the cristalized Pokémon look. Very nice.

Also we need to know if this changes types like mega evolution or if it simply adds a third type like Trick -or-treat and Forest's Curse. I'm more interested in the former cause three types sounds confusing and convoluted. Like figuring out if something will be resistant, neutral, weak, double weak, triple weak to a move seems excessive.

 

[Silktree]

I'm just mad that this is fourth of very similar gimmicks that have been showing up for almost ten years. I'd rather have four more fire fighting starters. Seriously if almost every region has its own nuke button the fact that no one is coming in with multiple from different regions is so straining to my suspension of disbelief that even the multiverse the ultimate get out of jail free card isn't doing it for me. Even mainline series if in a state of constant multiversal travel the same cannot be said for Go or the Anime which does AU stuff very rarely. People thought it was repetitive for Pokémon stories to constantly revolve around pairs of Box Legendary Pokémon. Now every game's story has to about the box Legendary AND the bracelet gimmick. People seriously don't feel like being more vocal about how repetitive that is?

PLA lacking gimmicks made it better for me. Strong and Agile moves are much more organic even if they remain limited to the Legends sub-series.

 

[Welkamo]

I like crystal mons with hats. The type changing effect seems interesting, too. It reminds me a bit of the gimmick in New Snap. Is there a connection? Is this something new?

It gives me the same vibes of Disney's Magical World 2, especially the dream sequences. It feels very nostalgic for some reason.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

"old Pokémon with different type" was already a concept covered by regional forms.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Spoiler: Okay, so, based on this...

...it appears that this entire gimmick can be summed up as "Hidden Power on Steroids"

 

[Daren]

Well, that's good news.
...though it probably means doing hundreds of raids to get a postgame team again. I pray they're not as awful as in Sw/Sh.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I honestly don't see the point. It seems like the powerup gimmicks du jour mainly exist to make each generation feel distinct from the last, due to endless snark from critics that Pokémon never changes, but I think the open world is enough to make Scarlet and Violet stand out.

 

[Nicolas721]

Visually it's pretty nice. The crystalization adds a cool and hypnotizing effect to the Pokemon and the hats look great, they aren't as silly or folkloric as people make them to be.

Mechanic-wise is meh. If you use a Terastal from one of the Pokemon's original types you get a discount Mega, and if you use any other type you get a discount Z-move and additional weaknesses you might forget in the heat of the battle. I thought that at least finding out which were the rare Terastal/Pokemon combinations (like Fire Drifblim from the trailer) would be fun, but apparently every combination is possible and it depends on the Pokemon's individual values. Haven't we gone past that? They are directly targeting the maniac collectionists until a DLC comes , aren't they?

Lore-wise it's very disappointing. Obviously we know very little, but there's nothing about it that screams "Paldea" to me or that compliments the other themes of the games (compare to Z-moves being similar to Hawaiian dances or Dynamax being related to legends of giants), it feels like it's just there to fill the gimmick requirement. Also, it being completely type-themed feels like it's ridding too much on Alola's toes.

 

[zoroarctic]

It looks pretty cool, and I like it better than Dynamax. I agree with what others are saying about generational gimmicks getting stale, and I think the franchise would benefit from Sanderson's third law.

 

[Sweet Veil]

Can you really blame GameFreak? They could release a game called Pokémon Right and Left and it would sell like hot cakes. The graphics are mad mid in our holy year of 2022, this new mechanic is lazy (It looks good on Lilligant and natural but looks terrible on Springato so it doesn’t seem they even bothered to scale these to each model) it’s just gaudy and feels like a carry over of the Illumina phenomenon from New Pokémon Snap. It reminds me of how the Normal Z-Move specifically had a static model that looked unnatural on many Pokémon.