Your controversial opinions

[There Is No Arceus]

i actually love how the open world was implemented. i was really worried there'd be level scaling and thus no real sense of progress, but the way it was done, you can go anywhere from the start but there's still a sense of the world gradually opening up.

 

[Sheep40]

I think the next game will be an immersive sim. Closest comparison would probably be Hitman as it"s the only notable third person immersive sim

 

[Pasio]

Several things

If Mega Evolution returns, we should get a Mega Zoroark. Even if that's the only Mega Evolution they add, it would be really cool. The reason I want this has to do with Illusion mechanics in the 3DS titles.

Apparently when a Pokemon with Illusion holds a Mega Stone while disguised as another Pokemon, whenever they Mega Evolve, their disguised appearance will not only stay the same, but be unable to break upon getting hit. The Pokemon would have to switch out in order for Illusion effects to end.

We should get an Imposter Pokemon with much higher HP than Ditto. Ditto's gimmick is really cool but it can't make much use of it more often than not because its HP is too low. If a Pokemon like Mew had Imposter, the ability could go a long way and without even being too problematic, since 100 base HP is still manageable and mostly average.

Ok now that I thought about it, getting a Mega Pokemon with Imposter would be really cool too because when the Imposter Pokemon Mega Evolves, it ends up being a Pokemon with the same moveset as the Pokemon it transformed into but with its own unique stats and abilities to work with.

A Mega Shedinja would be incredible too, if it has HP buffs. Just the thought of spending a free turn to set up and then Mega Evolve from a Wonder Guard to let's say, a Mold Breaker, would be putting great use to Mega Evolution.

 

[FelipePR]

Apparently when a Pokemon with Illusion holds a Mega Stone while disguised as another Pokemon, whenever they Mega Evolve, their disguised appearance will not only stay the same, but be unable to break upon getting hit. The Pokemon would have to switch out in order for Illusion effects to end.

I'm not sure that's what happens, especially the part about the illusion not disappearing after the Pokémon is shot. This, in my opinion, makes no sense

And, considering the mechanics of this ability in the 8th generation (Dynamax/Gigantamax), it is most likely that Zoroark will not be able to mega-evolve if it is transformed into a Pokémon that does not have the mega form.

Furthermore, if the mega-evolution has an ability other than Ilusion, when mega-evolving its masquerading will certainly end, as described in bulbapedia: "The illusion disappears if the Pokémon has its Ability changed or suppressed or if it takes damage from a damaging move."

We should get an Imposter Pokemon with much higher HP than Ditto. Ditto's gimmick is really cool but it can't make much use of it more often than not because its HP is too low. If a Pokemon like Mew had Imposter, the ability could go a long way and without even being too problematic, since 100 base HP is still manageable and mostly average.

In my opinion, Imposter Ditto is quite decent, and is a very good revenge killer. Its main weak point is not HP, but rather that the opponent can see our team, and therefore be aware of the Pokémon's strategy, since every ditto does the same thing.

While I'm not sure whether a Imposter Pokémon with high HP wouldn't be exactly problematic or not, it would certainly be a generic better version of all of the opponent's Pokémon, which doesn't seem cool to me.

 

[Pasio]

I'm not sure that's what happens, especially the part about the illusion not disappearing after the Pokémon is shot. This, in my opinion, makes no sense

And, considering the mechanics of this ability in the 8th generation (Dynamax/Gigantamax), it is most likely that Zoroark will not be able to mega-evolve if it is transformed into a Pokémon that does not have the mega form.

Furthermore, if the mega-evolution has an ability other than Ilusion, when mega-evolving its masquerading will certainly end, as described in bulbapedia: "The illusion disappears if the Pokémon has its Ability changed or suppressed or if it takes damage from a damaging move."



In my opinion, Imposter Ditto is quite decent, and is a very good revenge killer. Its main weak point is not HP, but rather that the opponent can see our team, and therefore be aware of the Pokémon's strategy, since every ditto does the same thing.

While I'm not sure whether a Pokémon with high HP wouldn't be exactly problematic or not, it would certainly be a generic better version of all of the opponent's Pokémon, which doesn't seem cool to me.



It seems to me that this would be extremely useless or potentially broken, even though it can be fun.

I tested out the Illusion mechanics myself, twice. Including before making my post above. Illusion shutting down with ability change happens if the ability is changed through Gastro Acid or Skill Swap, etc.

Edit: This is also how it worked on Showdown for a while, which is how I initially found out. I decided to try it out on cart out of curiosity.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Explorers of Sky's special episodes only make the game worse. Bidoof's Wish and Igglybuff the Prodigy are unnecessary but harmless, and Today's Oh My Gosh and Here Comes Team Charm give uninteresting characters the chance to be uninteresting, but In the Future of Darkness is just awful. It completely strips Grovyle's sacrifice of any meaning. Having all those characters survive through Deus Ex Machina is just about the dumbest thing they could have done.

 

[Thegameandwatch]

I hope an ARPG Pokémon game (probably by a different developer) would happen eventually but I think it will be in a similar to how Legends wasn’t the first game in the generation.

Battles would kinda be like Pokken or Unite where there is still a trainer but the player directly controls the Pokemon.

 

[Pasio]

I enjoyed Legends Arceus a lot and it's my personal favorite non-3DS mainline game.

I appreciate the game because it does so much justice for the Sinnoh region and its lore, which was critical for the series because Gamefreak decided to make Sinnoh's lore the biggest staple to Pokemon's worldbuilding the series could ever get. The entire nature of Pokemon and how it all works completely revolves around Sinnoh since its landmass set the origins of everything and they hold the lore explaining the root cause of how everything works in Pokemon. Despite this, the Gen 4 Sinnoh games and movies (excluding Zoroark) spectacularly mishandled the implementation of the worldbuilding to such an extreme that I'll never not consider them the worst plots the entire series has ever had. On the contrary, Legends Arceus not only handled the most important things relatively ok in its story, but was able to teach me more about how Pokemon worked and why through the behavior of Arceus itself, which I was shocked to see later backed up by Cynthia in the anime. I also loved being able to take on Nobles and Pokemon gods head on. They felt more like real boss fights than the Gym Leaders of traditional main series games.

With all the good being said, when I take off the rose-tinted glasses, I find that the game itself was not great and not worth the hefty $60 price tag full-fleshed video games carry.

In all technicality, the game has little more to it than several basic action style boss fights and tasks of repeatedly catching the same Pokemon again until the dex is completed and you can farm easiest shinies in the series. It is smaller and has less content to it than all other mainline games from Crystal onwards, resulting in the game being very short-lived for people who either aren't major completionists determined to slog through many hours of extremely repetitive gameplay or shiny hunters willing to farm the easier shiny hunts than ever.

The game feels long but that's not because it's packed with things to do. It's because the game holds progression behind continuously catching the same Pokemon over and over again, and filling up as much of the dex as possible. It's like if Pokemon Emerald required you to catch 40 Pokemon before entering the next gym or if Pokemon X and Y required you to catch 300 different species of Pokemon before challenging the league.

I understand the point of this game was to catch Pokemon, but this is the game's sole focus. The battle mechanics aren't any good, these mechanics prevent PvP from being any feasible, there aren't many meaningful sidegames/minigames here, interactions with your Pokemon are minimalized, and you don't even have to interact with people at all to blow through everything by catching. All of this makes Legends Arceus's identity solely rely on being the first action RPG game in the series. There's not really anything else it stands out for. When compared to traditional mainline games, the way Legends Arceus was designed even leaves players lacking as much potential to create unique experiences and treasure moments they could be share with others. Despite the point of Legends Arceus being to catch Pokemon, this being the game's sole focus makes Legends Arceus a very lackluster game. I say this despite the fun I've had throughout the main story. At the end of the day, I learned that if catching was primarily all there is to Legends Arceus, I can just pick up any typical mainline game like Alpha Sapphire, tackle the regional or national dex there, and enjoy all the other features they have to offer. By doing this, I end up dedicating time to a game much more whole than Legends Arceus.

 

[Bolt Strike]

The battle mechanics aren't any good, these mechanics prevent PvP from being any feasible

Elaborate on this please. I fail to see any issue with LA's battle mechanics.

 

[Pasio]

Elaborate on this please. I fail to see any issue with LA's battle mechanics.

The action speed system makes agile style extremely exploitable, to the point where several Pokémon (such as Weavile, Arceus, Jolteon, Sneasler, etc) can spam agile style priority attacks to move infinite times in a row without their opponent being able to do anything, until the Pokémon runs out of PP for their priority moves. The whole speed system skews battles to a heavy degree based on the user's speed and the moves they use.

 

[FelipePR]

The action speed system makes agile style extremely exploitable, to the point where several Pokémon (such as Weavile, Arceus, Jolteon, Sneasler, etc) can spam agile style priority attacks to move infinite times in a row without their opponent being able to do anything, until the Pokémon runs out of PP for their priority moves. The whole speed system skews battles to a heavy degree based on the user's speed and the moves they use.

I agree that the Legends battle system is not well balanced and exploitable at the moment, but is it so broken that you can attack infinitely? I don't remember seeing that.

 

[Poke Dragon]

It's fine for single-player, you really shouldn't bring a level 10 against a level 60 Pokemon anyways.

 

[Pasio]

I agree that the Legends system is not well balanced and exploitable at the moment, but is it so broken that you can attack infinitely? I don't remember seeing that.

Here's an example of it working like this. Weavile was seen as the best option due to its base 120 speed and having 2 priority attacks. You're able to do this against even Arceus itself at even level.

 

[KatrinaSForest]

Here's an example of it working like this. Weavile was seen as the best option due to its base 120 speed and having 2 priority attacks. You're able to do this against even Arceus itself at even level.

I realize this might be a dumb question, but how can you tell this would work against a 100 level Arceus?

It looks like Weaville actually has base 125 speed, but would that plus the priority moves be enough? What if Arceus pulls its own priority move with Extreme Speed?

Not being argumentative; the video speaks for itself. But I'm genuinely curious how the turns would be calculated in that situation.

 

[Pasio]

I realize this might be a dumb question, but how can you tell this would work against a 100 level Arceus?

It looks like Weaville actually has base 125 speed, but would that plus the priority moves be enough? What if Arceus pulls its own priority move with Extreme Speed?

Not being argumentative; the video speaks for itself. But I'm genuinely curious how the turns would be calculated in that situation.

I've tried this before but this works in any case in which you are around the same speed or faster than your opponent even by a small amount. A level 100 Weavile is faster.

 

[KatrinaSForest]

I've tried this before but this works in any case in which you are around the same speed or faster than your opponent even by a small amount. A level 100 Weavile is faster.

Interesting. I figured there would have to be a massive speed advantage to get in an infinite loop like that.

I can totally see what you mean about it being so expoitable. Not necessarily a time saver when playing NPCs, but definitely destroys any chance for competitive play. It'd just all be Weavilles swinging at each other. (Though you wouldn't have use of Elixirs in PvP, so there's that.)

I'm not much into PvP to begin with, so I still like the system as it is, but I can see it being a disappointment for competitive players.

 

[Bolt Strike]

The action speed system makes agile style extremely exploitable, to the point where several Pokémon (such as Weavile, Arceus, Jolteon, Sneasler, etc) can spam agile style priority attacks to move infinite times in a row without their opponent being able to do anything, until the Pokémon runs out of PP for their priority moves. The whole speed system skews battles to a heavy degree based on the user's speed and the moves they use.

Oh, it's the Strong/Agile style system you don't like. I kind of liked that they were experimenting with turn ordering, but I wouldn't be opposed to them overhauling it to be more balanced or getting rid of it altogether.

Battle wise, there is one thing I want to come back and stay back from LA and that's the EL system. It is FAR more streamlined and convenient than EVs/IVs. It's one value that's transparent and easy to raise (if a bit grindy, but they could easily fix that by just coming up with better ways to get Grit items). Kind of feels like it should be a no brainer for ELs to permanently replace EVs and IVs, but then Game Freak isn't always smart about what features should stay and what features should go.

 

[Pasio]

Pokémon Z-A is an interesting concept. I don't know enough about the game to be hyped for it yet, but I've been quite worried about where they could go with it. I've thought about this, and from what I know my worries stem from one particular thing that would be heavily prevented if this following desire becomes real:

I sincerely hope the Kalos trio don't get  any new formes or additional members of their group. I hope the game handles the trio in a story with them all just being the way they already are. This game is only taking place in Lumiose anyway so there's less of a chance Gamefreak would pull off anything extreme.

Why I feel this is complicated. Say what you want about the amount of presentation Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde had in the games, but I  strongly believe the way their formes were developed was perfect and the way they were portrayed in lore and/or gameplay suggests they were meant to stay as is by the time Gen 7 rolled around.

Let's start off with Zygarde:
Pokémon X and Y introduced Zygarde at just its 50% forme. It had dex entries stating it had a secret power to use sort of as a last resort. This "secret power" was later first revealed in the anime to be a forme emphasized as "Complete". It is when all the Zygarde cells needed to reach its ultimate forme have collected together.

In Pokémon Sun and Moon, you were tasked with a quest to build this Pokémon fully from scratch. You had to collect individual pieces of it from all across the region and combine them together to access every single forme of this Pokémon from beginning to end. We had to construct this thing all the way from scratch and see through every stage of this Pokemon for it, from 0 to 100%. Not just in Sun and Moon either, but now in Pokemon GO and emphasized by Pokemon Masters EX. It would be incredibly frustrating to discover there was some secret 75% forme it could access midway through when we had to explore the development of this Pokemon's formes from beginning to end across multiple Pokemon games.

Edit 1: Even the anime made this sort of development too.

To follow up on this, I'm re-iterating that 100% forme is also emphasized as complete. When all the pieces of Zygarde gather together. Only to be accessed in very rare circumstances as a final resort. It was also used as a reward for completing Zygarde's development all the way through in both Pokemon Sun/Moon and Pokemon GO. It would be incredibly disrespectful to every single one of those players who liked this and even disrespectful to Zygarde itself for there to be a higher forme than this. Especially all the sudden years after its complete forme was emphasized as complete. Not to mention, its complete forme was never even used in a story yet. There's no harm in the game focusing on Zygarde transforming into just Zygarde-Complete at highest.

Judging by the logo itself and how it's made, I'm in heavy belief that the "A" resembles Zygarde-Complete itself, as it looks passable as that letter and far from the letter Z overall. Zygarde-10% has a Z-like shape. Zygarde-50% makes the Z a lot more clear. Zygarde-100% abandons the Z entirely and becomes more humanoid, and almost like an "A" like shape. Not to mention the hyphen could indicate that whatever "Z" is would go into "A". "Z" was always portrayed as Zygarde-50%. It could easily be Zygarde going from 50% to 100%; from Z to A; from Z-A. The name itself most likely indicates that this game would mark the end of something and a new beginning (likely an era), but it could also be used to emphasize Zygarde itself, especially with how they formatted its logo.

Ok right here on this post, I looked into the logo and found a huge discovery.

Notice the head. Pay attention to its head.

The head is pushed further down its body. The tip of its body is kinda like a new head, but sharper and pointier.
It also ends up with a tail that extends past the shape its body is trying to make. The tail is behind its legs. This is a given, but a very critical detail to note here.

If Pokémon tried to continue on its route to make its Kalos legendaries designed to resemble letters, the Zygarde-Complete forme looks more like it resembles "A" than it resembles "Z".

The face of Z is below the tip of its body and the tail extends past the shape it's trying to make.

The face of "Z" is below the tip of "A". The tail of "Z" extends past the "A".

You may now see the connection.

For Xerneas and Yveltal:
Xerneas and Yveltal are portrayed as eternal beings responsible for maintaining nature. They are from nature, they influence nature, and they maintain nature on their own. Xerneas and Yveltal have appeared as the physical formes they always were since the beginning and are frequently known to shift between formes already. Xerneas goes to sleep as a tree, then awakens as the way it is. It has a dormant form for storing energy, then an active form for using said energy to battle. It already has a dedicated appearance for battling and a dedicated appearance for retaining energy, so there's no new one needed. Yveltal's a similar case, with it becoming a cocoon while it's asleep but part of Yveltal's entire point entails it not storing energy, so it doesn't have a dormant form. I am against the idea of them getting some sort of mega forme or complete forme because Xerneas and Yveltal are actually already incarnations of said energy themselves. Mega Evolution energy already derives from them and they directly have the power to make Mega Stones a thing. Their powers to influence Mega Evolution are also expressed through Fairy Aura and Dark Aura respectively. Zygarde-Complete's dex entries also suggest that Xerneas and Yveltal in their regular formes are not much weaker than Zygarde-Complete itself. It would break the significance of Zygarde-Complete being above Xerneas or Yveltal if Xerneas and Yveltal got Mega Evolution, Primal Reversion, or Complete formes. Zygarde has a Complete Forme because unlike Xerneas or Yveltal, Zygarde is a bunch of smaller entities made up. It wouldn't make sense for Xerneas or Yveltal to get a Complete forme when they are one whole entity each and it wouldn't make sense to get a mega evolution or primal reversion when they are the very incarnates of nature's energy themselves.

These three getting new formes would break so much of what Pokémon has already established for them throughout media in ways far beyond Primal Kyogre/Groudon and Origin Palkia/Dialga. Especially since they aren't otherworldly entities from dimensions unsuitable for physical reality and aren't entities with known objects that never got utilized until their remake/premake.

A new Pokémon added to the group would also be immensely bizarre. There's no reason for something as significant as a major legendary to have not been recalled or featured in the games the rest were at all and no reason for Pokémon to start breaking past the cycle of 3. Shoehorning a 4th member in out of the blue would make the development of this group far more questionable than any group had ever been, with no telling of what makes it "complete".

Some people speculate the "A" could be Arceus. A being Arceus would be harmless but with the "A" following Zygarde's color scheme and being directly connected to the "Z" in both logo design and wording (the hyphen), it's almost clear that it's indicating a transformation from Z to A. "Z" was always portrayed as the 50% forme. The Zygarde-Complete forme never had much said about it but mysteriously strays from "Z" in shape entirely.


I might edit this later or make another post but that's all I can say for now. The formes for this legendary trio are already perfect as is, will always hold up for PvP battling (they already have more consistently than any other trio in the series bar weather trio), and giving them something new would most likely be a huge retcon that'd ruin any special feeling towards how they were portrayed before this game came out.

 

[a230]

Controversial opinion. The Native Pokémon from Alola and Paldea are the worst looking design.

 

[guzmania]

Controversial opinion. The Native Pokémon from Alola and Paldea are the worst looking design.

alola might(?) be a controversial opinion, but paldea isn't; the gen 9 mon are probably the most disliked by the community aside from maybe gen 5's when they first released (i think they are more popular now?)

my maybe-controversial opinion regarding the natdex is that hoenn's has the most memorable designs