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Trailers and News Discussion

If they're gonna keep introducing mechanics that make Pokemon more powerful, like Mega Evolutions and Z-moves, they need to increase the difficulty of the games to match. Otherwise the games won't just become easy, they'll become boring, even for casuals or kids, and XY already got really close to that. I have a feeling Totem Pokemon won't even be much of a challenge if we can OHKO them with a Z-move anyway.
 
I have a feeling Totem Pokemon won't even be much of a challenge if we can OHKO them with a Z-move anyway.

Just don't use the Z-Move
 
Just don't use the Z-Move

Such a typical response. I wasn't planning on using Z-moves anyway, just like I rarely used Mega Evolutions or the new Exp. Share. But when fans have to go out of their way and keep their Pokemon underleveled or ignore new features just to make the games less of a cakewalk, you know there's something wrong here.
 
and its not going to be done with easy 1 Pokemon battles that technically replace gym battles.

It's not just the battles against totem Pokemon that are replacing gym battles though. You'll have to do tasks and quests and presumably you'll be battling the trial captains (because otherwise why would they tell us they had a type specialty if we weren't going to battle them) and then you'll also be battling the Kahuna of each island.

I guess it wasn't clear, but I assumed that you battle the Kahuna AFTER you fight the totem Pokemon? The totem Pokemon is supposed to be the end of the trial itself, but you can't progress to the next island until you defeat the Kahuna afterwards.
 
It's not just the battles against totem Pokemon that are replacing gym battles though. You'll have to do tasks and quests and presumably you'll be battling the trial captains (because otherwise why would they tell us they had a type specialty if we weren't going to battle them) and then you'll also be battling the Kahuna of each island.

I guess it wasn't clear, but I assumed that you battle the Kahuna AFTER you fight the totem Pokemon? The totem Pokemon is supposed to be the end of the trial itself, but you can't progress to the next island until you defeat the Kahuna afterwards.

It seems to go: meet Island Captain -> do their trial -> beat their Totem -> repeat this until all trials on the same island are beaten -> fight the island kahuna -> move onto next island -> repeat process.

The island guardians might be involved in the process at some point too I guess.
 
The island guardians are owned by the kahunas, as you can see in a previous trailer which revealed Tapu Koko.
But if they are owned by the kahunas, how would you capture them to catch 'em all?

I think that the guardians appear after you defeat the kahuna to test you one last time.
 
I think throughout the story the Tapu will show up as a sign of approval. I dunno if it can be done cause of the difficulty, but I would really like it if you can only battle them in the story during the final encounter with Solgaleo/Lunala in a SOS battle, with their capture battle in the post league. The Kahuna fighting with them in the Grand Trial battles would be weird, as they are wild Pokemon, and not to mention it would be far too early to battle a 650BST legendary in the mid 20 level range.
 
But if they are owned by the kahunas, how would you capture them to catch 'em all?

I think that the guardians appear after you defeat the kahuna to test you one last time.

I think it will be sort of like N. The Kahunas will summon the Guardians to join their team for the duration of the battle, but they don't own them. My expectation is that we will be able to catch them later (but with our own OT, unlike N's Pokémon).
 
Is pressing or not pressing a single button really going out of one's way?

Ignoring entire mechanics the game keeps reminding us about =/= ignoring a single button. If they're putting those mechanics in the game, it means they want us to use them, and we should be able to do so without that taking away our sense of achievement.
I just wish they'd finally introduce proper difficulty modes at least...
 
The title of this thread suggests that we have enough news but I believe we can never have enough news. I would love to see more news this month. I know they are covering Alola region in corocoro. I am guessing the months ahead would provide both new pokemon and the new Alola variants.
 
It seems to go: meet Island Captain -> do their trial -> beat their Totem -> repeat this until all trials on the same island are beaten -> fight the island kahuna -> move onto next island -> repeat process.

The island guardians might be involved in the process at some point too I guess.

I was thinking the Kahunas might use the island guardians as one of their Pokemon.

We already know Hala has a special relationship with Tapu Koko.
 
If they're putting those mechanics in the game, it means they want us to use them

Sorry, but no, it is up to the player to decide how they want to play, and it always has been. That's kind of the whole point of it being an RPG; it's your adventure. They give you tools to use, and they show off what those tools can do so that you can make an informed decision as to whether or not you want to take advantage of them. Absolutely nobody is forcing you to crack open Pokémon-Amie and spend an hour on there, or to go in and equip a Mega Stone to your Pokémon. They put those mechanics in the game not because they implicitly expect you to use them, but because they want you to have the option to use them, because it can provide a different way of playing, and having many different ways of playing is good.
 
I'd love to use these new and special mechanics that they're always touting (both in and out of the game), but if they destabilize the gaming experience then I'm kind of stuck. It's a catch-22 - play with these fun mechanics and have the game be too easy (and therefore not fun?) Or ignore it and miss out on something I'm interested in.

The best solution would be to either increase difficulty, or implement difficulty levels so you can have a balance of what you want. And since it's your adventure, you should be able to choose how difficult you want your experience to be. It's dumb that we have to compromise, especially since we've seen them have optional difficulty levels before.
 
If z-moves are truly that overpowered I will probably save them for special occasions. Like the equivalent of a gym leader's pokemon I can't seem to get past (looking at YOU Whitney's milktank, Misty's Starmie, and any that can confuse/put to sleep/etc. my pokemon too easily). I did the same with Mega-evolution for the most part as well. I only really used it against Gym leaders or other trainers who mega-evolve their pokemon.
 
I did that with Megas, too. But then I realized that the games were still easy even without them, so I stopped using them unless I wanted to blitz though early-route trainers in order to teach them a lesson in humility.
 
The best solution would be to either increase difficulty, or implement difficulty levels so you can have a balance of what you want. And since it's your adventure, you should be able to choose how difficult you want your experience to be. It's dumb that we have to compromise, especially since we've seen them have optional difficulty levels before.

Of course I do agree that the removal of difficulty levels right after their introduction was asinine, and I do think that they should return. I am not saying that it is wrong to want a challenge - I just think that the problem of "the games are too easy" is more fundamentally rooted, and that the OPness of Z-Moves, Mega Evolutions, or hell, even Legendary Pokémon in general are not really to blame, because those can all be opted out of. As you say, the games are still easy even without them. I think that is a separate and more immediate issue.
 
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