Your controversial opinions

[WyndonCalling]

My Dexit take: It was perhaps inevitable, perhaps understandable, and perhaps necessary... but the raw emotion from the fans (not necessarily the expression of that emotion) was completely justified. This franchise has spent two decades hammering home the point that we should get attached to these creatures and that we should absolutely pick favourites, and it's very bad feels to have your squad unrepresented in the first main series adventure on a 'proper' console.

 

[Puddle]

My Dexit take: It was perhaps inevitable, perhaps understandable, and perhaps necessary... but the raw emotion from the fans (not necessarily the expression of that emotion) was completely justified. This franchise has spent two decades hammering home the point that we should get attached to these creatures and that we should absolutely pick favourites, and it's very bad feels to have your squad unrepresented in the first main series adventure on a 'proper' console.

I wonder if the backlash would had been as strong if Dexit had happened in X and Y, or Diamond and Pearl, or indeed, Ruby and Sapphire? Maybe the true problem lies in the fact that Game Freak have been "spoiling" us by allowing us to transfer our Pokemon for too long. They went above and beyond to provide us with a feature that's never been seen in any other video game series (as far as I'm aware), but ended up shooting themselves in the foot when they were no longer able to meet our expectations.

Sometimes I think - and here's another controversial opinion! - that cross-generational transfers should have never been introduced in the first place. Gold, Silver and Crystal were originally intended to be the last Pokemon games, so it made sense for all six games (seven in Japan) to be compatible with one another. But once they'd decided to make more games, they could have made each generation a completely separate ecosystem. With backwards compatibility being impossible to program into Ruby and Sapphire, this was the perfect opportunity to begin a new trend. Omitting backwards compatibility from Gens 4, 5 and beyond wouldn't have been a popular move, but we would have come to accept it as the norm eventually, and it would have saved us all the emotional turmoil of Dexit further down the line.

 

[Epic Spheal]

I wonder if the backlash would had been as strong if Dexit had happened in X and Y, or Diamond and Pearl, or indeed, Ruby and Sapphire? Maybe the true problem lies in the fact that Game Freak have been "spoiling" us by allowing us to transfer our Pokemon for too long. They went above and beyond to provide us with a feature that's never been seen in any other video game series (as far as I'm aware), but ended up shooting themselves in the foot when they were no longer able to meet our expectations.

Agreed. I think DEXIT should have happened sooner. When you're used to have 800+ mons on a 3DS (despite the lag) and then going to an even more powerful system home console like the switch and that's when they decide to do Dexit...there's a reason that those emotions were felt so harshly.

 

[Phosphene]

When you're used to have 800+ mons on a 3DS (despite the lag)

I don't think the amount of Pokemon in the 3DS games caused the lag, I think it was the amount of objects that had to be rendered on screen.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Idk how controversial this is but here's my hot take: the removal of certain moves was worse than Dexit for me. I mean, at least with Dexit we were outright told that it was happening, but the removal of moves came completely off the left field. I probably wouldn't have minded it if the moves they got rid of had been entirely ones that no one ever used, but instead several of the moves that were removed were staples like Return/Frustration, Pursuit, Signal Beam and Hidden Power, and in a few cases this culling of moves crippled a few species pretty badly, case in point: Jolteon, who frequently ran both Hidden Power and Signal Beam for coverage only for both of those moves to be removed and nothing being given to it to properly compensate for that, thereby forcing Jolteon to rely on highly situational gimmicks like Stored Power and Weather Ball or outright run a non-STAB, can't-hit-anything-super-effectively Hyper Voice. Ugh. Just typing this makes me genuinely upset. They did my favorite Eeveelution AND my favorite Electric-type so dirty...

 

[Esserise]

Idk how controversial this is but here's my hot take: the removal of certain moves was worse than Dexit for me. I mean, at least with Dexit we were outright told that it was happening, but the removal of moves came completely off the left field. I probably wouldn't have minded it if the moves they got rid of had been entirely ones that no one ever used, but instead several of the moves that were removed were staples like Return/Frustration, Pursuit, Signal Beam and Hidden Power, and in a few cases this culling of moves crippled a few species pretty badly, case in point: Jolteon, who frequently ran both Hidden Power and Signal Beam for coverage only for both of those moves to be removed and nothing being given to it to properly compensate for that, thereby forcing Jolteon to rely on highly situational gimmicks like Stored Power and Weather Ball or outright run a non-STAB, can't-hit-anything-super-effectively Hyper Voice. Ugh. Just typing this makes me genuinely upset. They did my favorite Eeveelution AND my favorite Electric-type so dirty...

I do think taking Signal Beam out was a strange choice. I quite liked that move.

That said, I actually kinda like the removal of Hidden Power, which might be a controversial opinion in itself. I don't think a "staple" move should really rely on RNG like that. Now granted, you could say they could have added something like the Mints to change a Pokémon's Hidden Power type, but I would argue, why do that when you can just give them an actual coverage move? That's not to say they have all the kinks worked out, of course, but as an overall design direction, it's one I approve of, much like removing Toxic's near-universal learnability.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I do think taking Signal Beam out was a strange choice. I quite liked that move.

That said, I actually kinda like the removal of Hidden Power, which might be a controversial opinion in itself. I don't think a "staple" move should really rely on RNG like that. Now granted, you could say they could have added something like the Mints to change a Pokémon's Hidden Power type, but I would argue, why do that when you can just give them an actual coverage move? That's not to say they have all the kinks worked out, of course, but as an overall design direction, it's one I approve of, much like removing Toxic's near-universal learnability.

Yeah, I will admit that my problem with the removal of Hidden Power is 100% biased, since Jolteon is one of my favorite Pokémon but it got absolutely nothing to compensate for the removal of one of its staple coverage moves. I probably would have actually been okay with Hidden Power not being present if Jolteon and other Pokemon who got similarly shafted in the movepool department had been given more coverage to make up for its absence.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I do think that they should have announced Sword/Shield not having every Pokemon available when they first announced Pokemon Home. It wouldn't have eliminated the backlash or even necessarily reduce it, but I think part of the problem with the initial announcement was putting it at the tall end of the Treehouse presentation. It also would have helped to reassure fans that DLC would be made to include some more older Pokemon, but maybe they wouldn't have been allowed to officially announce that until after the games came out and they had a trailer specifically for their DLC ready.

 

[Puddle]

Mythical Pokemon should not exist. Make them legendary and put them in the game as post game content or something. Then maybe I'll be interested in them. Right now I'm sitting on a bunch from the event a few years back where you could get them via a code and junk but I want to reset the game to start a nuzlocke but the impossible to get mythicals are there. I can't just throw those away even though I will never use them.

I don't like the way that Mythical Pokemon are handled either. In my controversial opinion, the only ones that Game Freak have ever got right are Deoxys in ORAS, Celebi in the Virtual Console version of Crystal, and Magearna in Gen 7. There should never be a situation where you can permanently lose access to a Pokemon if you restart your game.

Sure you can! Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty, and become wind.

You simply choose not to do so, because you have imbued those Mythical Pokémon with some level of sentimental value. Which, honestly, same - I've got the same pack of Mythicals sitting around in my HOME box, doing nothing but collecting digital dust. I've fallen for the same illusion of rarity and value as you, so I know what you mean.

(However, I actually did wipe out my entire Living Dex (aside from the Mythicals) a while back, because I began to feel that there was really no point in keeping all of those Pokémon if I would never be using them in any way. As long as their data is still registered in my HOME Dex, I figure that's all I need. So maybe it's just a matter of time until I do end up giving the Mythicals a purge...?)

I've actually erased two Living Dexes: one in Omega Ruby and, a few years later, another in Ultra Sun. I didn't keep any of the Mythicals, either. Although I enjoy collecting Pokemon, and find it satisfying to see them all arranged neatly in my PC boxes, having all that digital clutter starts to stress me out eventually. Even though I organize my PC meticulously, I start to obsess over all the different attributes the Pokemon in my Living Dex can have - their genders, abilities, egg moves, OTs, Poke Balls and so on. Ultimately, on both occasions I decided that my peace of mind was more important than hanging on to bits of data.

Nowadays, I play the games in a more casual way. I like to have just one PC box full of my favourite Pokemon, and don't usually bother to collect shinies, Mythicals or any other Pokemon that would be difficult to replace if I decided to start over. Sometimes I miss having a Living Dex and I think about making another, but I'd probably just end up deleting it a third time.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person who's done something like this, because I've always thought that I was weird for making such a drastic decision!

 

[Esserise]

I don't like the way that Mythical Pokemon are handled either. In my controversial opinion, the only ones that Game Freak have ever got right are Deoxys in ORAS, Celebi in the Virtual Console version of Crystal, and Magearna in Gen 7. There should never be a situation where you can permanently lose access to a Pokemon if you restart your game.

I think the only real controversial take about Mythical Pokémon at this point would be saying that the current model is fine and needs no changes. The fandom is pretty much in agreement that they way they've been handled for at least the last few generations just isn't satisfying. The difference in opinion seems to mainly come down to what the solution should be - some people just want them to revert to the old style of in-game captures accompanied by small story events, while others would prefer to abolish the concept of Mythicals altogether.

Since we're dog-piling on them anyway though, can I also say that I think it's pretty boring how they are all seemingly obligated to have a 600 BST? Even though their exact stat spreads and types and movesets can vary greatly, looking at a list of Pokémon by BST and seeing this huge chunk of Mythical Pokémon always makes me feel like they're still too homogenous.

I definitely think it's a shame that they blew such interesting type combinations as Fire/Water and Fighting/Ghost on Mythicals that I'll never use. Obviously they could create more Pokémon with those combos in the future, but for at least the next few years, this is what we're stuck with. (In this vein, I am actually kind of glad that Zeraora isn't an Electric/Fighting-type as has often been requested. It'd just be another cool combo wasted on a special, limited-time-only Pokémon, whereas there's plenty of mono-Electrics to choose from, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by not using or having access to Zeraora. Props to Zarude for it just being a better Shiftry. Though I take those props back if its secondary "Dada" form goes the way of Original Color Magearna and isn't released until Gen 9...)

I've actually erased two Living Dexes: one in Omega Ruby and, a few years later, another in Ultra Sun. I didn't keep any of the Mythicals, either. Although I enjoy collecting Pokemon, and find it satisfying to see them all arranged neatly in my PC boxes, having all that digital clutter starts to stress me out eventually. Even though I organize my PC meticulously, I start to obsess over all the different attributes the Pokemon in my Living Dex can have - their genders, abilities, egg moves, OTs, Poke Balls and so on. Ultimately, on both occasions I decided that my peace of mind was more important than hanging on to bits of data.

Nowadays, I play the games in a more casual way. I like to have just one PC box full of of my favourite Pokemon, and don't usually bother to collect shinies, Mythicals or any other Pokemon that would be difficult to replace if I decided to start over. Sometimes I miss having a Living Dex and I think about making another, but I'd probably just end up deleting it a third time.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person who's done something like this, because I've always thought that I was weird for making such a drastic decision!

I think what I'm finding is that I do like to keep and maintain a completed (not necessarily Living) Regional Dex on my individual saves, especially with features like Poké Pelago/Poké Jobs (more specifically the former), but when it comes to cross-generation hubs like Bank/HOME, I do start getting those same anxious feelings about attributes and clutter.

You mention Shinies, and specifically in their case, what I'm realizing is that I think I would ultimately rather keep them on the file where I caught them, where they can be a living part of that journey, rather than hoarding them all into HOME to act as mere trophies/reminders.

 

[Lanstar]

My controversial opinion: Paired versions should no longer exist, and it should be possible in one game to get all the Pokemon from the game's Pokedex without having to trade for them and use external measures at all.

I speak this because exclusives severely cripple the timelessness of the games. Playing through Platinum and Heart Gold several years afterwards, many of the fun things are trapped behind external walls, such as other games and bizarre events and mystery items. Such issues made me not want to play beyond all the postgame areas, as well as even want to psudo-complete the dex by raising other pokemon.

This exclusivity thing from Pokemon has also penetrated the lastest Animal Crossing, and it has crippled that game's sense of furniture selection: Each town's shop will only carry one variant of each kind of furniture, and shaking trees in the town will only yield one variant of potential furniture from them as well. The only way to get new variants are from balloons occasionally, and from a ship that stops by once every 2 weeks. Then there's special furniture that can only be ordered in specific towns, one variant each, and unorderable otherwise...

It's all so blatantly done to make people subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online to trade for them, and it ruins the fun of earning such furniture on your own, which I loved doing in past games. Seeing how it messed up Animal Crossing, I now know how much it has ruined Pokemon - and I want this "exclusivity mentality" gone.

 

[Phosphene]

My controversial opinion: Paired versions should no longer exist, and it should be possible in one game to get all the Pokemon from the game's Pokedex without having to trade for them and use external measures at all.

I don't think this is a controversial take. I think most people recognize that the dual-versions format is really nothing more than a cash-grab scheme.

 

[prog rocker]

I don't think this is a controversial take. I think most people recognize that the dual-versions format is really nothing more than a cash-grab scheme.

I blame Miyamoto for that one, since he was the one that suggested it.

 

[swiftgallade46]

At the very least, I wish mythical pokemon instead went the route of most Sinnoh mythicals where they come with an in-game event unlocked by an item and you still have to catch them.

Actually, a combination of this and Magearna in gen 7 (the fact that it’s permanently redeemable in every save file and doesn’t require an event) would be ideal to me. Do away with locking them behind events altogether.

 

[prog rocker]

At the very least, I wish mythical pokemon instead went the route of most Sinnoh mythicals where they come with an in-game event unlocked by an item and you still have to catch them.

Actually, a combination of this and Magearna in gen 7 (the fact that it’s permanently redeemable in every save file and doesn’t require an event) would be ideal to me. Do away with locking them behind events altogether.

They could also do what Telefang did 20 years before: Use passwords. That way they would be always accessible.

 

[Shib]

I don't think this is a controversial take. I think most people recognize that the dual-versions format is really nothing more than a cash-grab scheme.

so potentially my controversial take is that I still like dual versions and version exclusives...

I already had NSO through a family sub with my brother and some friends so per person it’s cheap and I use it for multiple games, but also I know a couple of people IRL who also play Pokémon so I like there are still multiplayer encouragements on trading exclusives.

The one caveat to that though is I really hate box mascot legendaries and would prefer legendaries to not be version exclusives-different forms being version exclusive would be fine though, particularly if they are caused by an item that can be traded.

I would really prefer them to use starters or non legendary version exclusives for mascots in future releases though so legendaries could stop being so core to the story. Stuff like Eternatus being 100% catch rate because of how it’s tied to the story annoys me and that one wasn’t even a box mascot - I’d have preferred it disappear at that point and have tracking it down as part of the post game (though that might have been messier lore wise)

 

[Puddle]

My controversial opinion: Paired versions should no longer exist, and it should be possible in one game to get all the Pokemon from the game's Pokedex without having to trade for them and use external measures at all.

I would love to see a game released as a solitary version, where you can complete the regional Pokedex without trading. Let's Go would have been a perfect opportunity to try something like this. I like paired versions from a thematic point of view - the duality of the two legendaries is always pretty neat, and choosing a version gives you a way to personalise your adventure. But being unable to catch certain Pokemon on your own - not just version exclusives, but trade evolutions too - has been frustrating me ever since I first started playing these games. It's time for a shake-up!

At the very least, I'd like to see a return of Diamond and Pearl's system, where you only need to see every Pokemon in the regional Pokedex to complete it and get a diploma. This way, you can still get a sense of accomplishment from completing a Pokedex, even if you can't actually catch them all.

They could also do what Telefang did 20 years before: Use passwords. That way they would be always accessible.

I like the idea of passwords. That would be a great alternative to QR codes, which are sadly no longer possible because the Switch doesn't have a camera.

Would it be possible for dataminers to leak the passwords before the Pokemon Company released them officially? As far as I can remember, no-one managed to leak Magearna's QR code, but a password might be easier to figure out.

 

[Esserise]

Could very likely just be two decades of habituation at work, but I still like dual versions. Can't really back that up with any strong argument other than liking the thematic duality and feeling like that's a good creative starting point for a generation. I don't think I'd have any problem if they chose to stop with that model, though.

I admit that I was a little disappointed when with SwSh, they went back on how SM made sure to give you a second Cosmog that you could barter for the opposite version mascot. A second Zacian or Zamazenta wouldn't really make much sense lore-wise (unless they also had like a cute pupper shared pre-evolution* uwu), but it would certainly be less of a pain for completing the Dex. Or, branching off from what Puddle suggested, if they gave you the opposite wolf's entry as a freebie just for seeing it. (Maybe Hop could share his own Pokédex data with you?)


* Which frankly I think they feel like they should have one? Z & Z are so physiologically similar that it makes me wonder if they are biologically related somehow (literally, not just with some of the myths supposing they're siblings). One of the first things that stood out to me about Solgaleo and Lunala was their shared glass dome foreheads, which I immediately felt was a more direct resemblance than any past box mascots had displayed, and lo and behold, it's because they evolve from the same Pokémon. The wolves aren't like Groudon and Kyogre where they're representing broad aspects of nature, or like Dialga and Palkia where they're the products of quasi-divine intelligent design. They seem like just strong wolves that both have the ability to absorb and reconfigure iron particles into armor. Though at the same time, I do kinda feel like them not having a pre-evolution gives them more mystique.

 

[Puddle]

The worst part about Zacian and Zamazenta's exclusivity is their held items. ORAS gives you both the Red and Blue Orbs, USUM gives you both the Solganium Z and Lunalium Z, and yet the Rusted Sword and Shield are limited to one per game. The only way you can get both in the same game is to pay for Switch Online and hope you can find someone willing to trade their item, or to buy a second Switch and trade with yourself, which is super annoying.

 

[Lanstar]

Maybe a more controversial take:

I like Nintendo's new marketing stance lately of revealing titles only 2 months before their release date, and wish Pokemon would follow suit. I don't like getting teased to exhaustion about a new game months on end with constant trailers - The 2 month interval is much more relieving, and I feel more hype in communities about the Nintendo games released that way.