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- Apr 13, 2021
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Coming from someone who has played nearly every mainline games in the series, there have been lots of impressions that mainline games have been becoming easier and easier with time, with people trying to explain why they have been. I get what they mean, however I think there's a big misconception over the general consensus on why.
X and Y are some of the easiest mainline games in the series. This is definitely true, but to be frankly honest, I don't think there's a huge gap between gens 1-3, gen 5, and XY in terms of difficulty. BW would've easily been around the same level on average if it had a better pool of Pokemon to choose from, and I've had some easier B2W2 runs than XY runs. Gen 4 is an exception because their games are more difficult, due to the overbearing level curves and the amount of grinding players have to do to adjust to it.
From my experience playing a lot of Pokemon, I believe the biggest factor to what's making modern generations easier, isn't the EXP Share. (I don't even understand how people end up very overleveled with it on in XY unless they use Poke Amie + go very much out of their way to battle everyone). I also do not think the biggest factor are the generational gimmicks applied to each generation.
The biggest factor to newer Pokemon games being easier is the significant increase of quality in what Pokemon you can feasibly use throughout the game. From XY-onwards, players were able to build more stacked teams than ever before, as Pokedex sizes have increased to ~400, and the pools of these 400 are significantly better than past generations overall. In XY, it wasn't just that you got a Mega Lucario. You were able to get every pseudo bar Metagross, you were able to get Gyarados, Alakazam, Hawlucha, Aegislash, a ridiculous amount of Pokemon who make every Pokemon game easy enough to be a joke. XY had so many of them for you to catch and obtain. Pokemon very well-known to dominate speedruns are now more easily accessible than ever before, and Gamefreak has never been great at making trainers keep up with that. This can be shown in many of their older postgames, where you are able to grow your team all the way to level 100 and have them stacked, but the most you can battle are stuff in the high 70s, low 80s, or Red.
Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon did a great job at whipping out boss fights that challenge even lots of great Pokemon you can use in the game, by simply setting up a system where the bosses had inherent advantage over the player. They were each given immediate stat boosts, and partner Pokemon they can summon to have your one Pokemon that's out, face off against two opposing ones at once. These bosses more frequently required some kind of strategy to work around. They were real boss fights designed to be beyond the player, which is something most Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and even Champions fail at. (SM introduced totems, but they were a lot more of a hit or miss in that game. USUM perfected them)
The truth behind modern Pokemon games is that while your options for great Pokemon are significantly expanded, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions have either never been or have been minimally altered to adjust to this. I've also learned through the use of Vs. Recorder Mock Battles, and through Team Rainbow Rocket, that these games need some trainers with teams consisting of legendary box arts, powerful mythicals, and even level 100s in the postgame to really be difficult, or they can at least set up that same totem system from USUM again.
Diantha's team isn't even that bad for an average Champion. It's just that she needed some of the not so many Pokemon who could feasibly handle threats like Mega Lucario, Aegislash, Gyarados, Greninja, and Garchomp in order to come off as remotely difficult for most people. She needed a team far beyond an average Champion. Cynthia and Iris would've gotten stomped if they were Champions of XY too, and people's impressions of them would have been much more poorly received.
Gyms are outdated. Elite Four and Champion are outdated. These bosses are just glorified regular trainers, not ones that have an inherent advantage over the player. That's why they're much easier nowadays. You most likely have a team as stacked or more stacked than theirs, and even a neutral matchup is in your favor, because you are most likely playing better than AIs.
X and Y are some of the easiest mainline games in the series. This is definitely true, but to be frankly honest, I don't think there's a huge gap between gens 1-3, gen 5, and XY in terms of difficulty. BW would've easily been around the same level on average if it had a better pool of Pokemon to choose from, and I've had some easier B2W2 runs than XY runs. Gen 4 is an exception because their games are more difficult, due to the overbearing level curves and the amount of grinding players have to do to adjust to it.
From my experience playing a lot of Pokemon, I believe the biggest factor to what's making modern generations easier, isn't the EXP Share. (I don't even understand how people end up very overleveled with it on in XY unless they use Poke Amie + go very much out of their way to battle everyone). I also do not think the biggest factor are the generational gimmicks applied to each generation.
The biggest factor to newer Pokemon games being easier is the significant increase of quality in what Pokemon you can feasibly use throughout the game. From XY-onwards, players were able to build more stacked teams than ever before, as Pokedex sizes have increased to ~400, and the pools of these 400 are significantly better than past generations overall. In XY, it wasn't just that you got a Mega Lucario. You were able to get every pseudo bar Metagross, you were able to get Gyarados, Alakazam, Hawlucha, Aegislash, a ridiculous amount of Pokemon who make every Pokemon game easy enough to be a joke. XY had so many of them for you to catch and obtain. Pokemon very well-known to dominate speedruns are now more easily accessible than ever before, and Gamefreak has never been great at making trainers keep up with that. This can be shown in many of their older postgames, where you are able to grow your team all the way to level 100 and have them stacked, but the most you can battle are stuff in the high 70s, low 80s, or Red.
Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon did a great job at whipping out boss fights that challenge even lots of great Pokemon you can use in the game, by simply setting up a system where the bosses had inherent advantage over the player. They were each given immediate stat boosts, and partner Pokemon they can summon to have your one Pokemon that's out, face off against two opposing ones at once. These bosses more frequently required some kind of strategy to work around. They were real boss fights designed to be beyond the player, which is something most Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and even Champions fail at. (SM introduced totems, but they were a lot more of a hit or miss in that game. USUM perfected them)
The truth behind modern Pokemon games is that while your options for great Pokemon are significantly expanded, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions have either never been or have been minimally altered to adjust to this. I've also learned through the use of Vs. Recorder Mock Battles, and through Team Rainbow Rocket, that these games need some trainers with teams consisting of legendary box arts, powerful mythicals, and even level 100s in the postgame to really be difficult, or they can at least set up that same totem system from USUM again.
Diantha's team isn't even that bad for an average Champion. It's just that she needed some of the not so many Pokemon who could feasibly handle threats like Mega Lucario, Aegislash, Gyarados, Greninja, and Garchomp in order to come off as remotely difficult for most people. She needed a team far beyond an average Champion. Cynthia and Iris would've gotten stomped if they were Champions of XY too, and people's impressions of them would have been much more poorly received.
Gyms are outdated. Elite Four and Champion are outdated. These bosses are just glorified regular trainers, not ones that have an inherent advantage over the player. That's why they're much easier nowadays. You most likely have a team as stacked or more stacked than theirs, and even a neutral matchup is in your favor, because you are most likely playing better than AIs.
