Unpopular opinions

[Imperial Magala]

I want to believe the same reason you get attacked by an aggressive flower after descending into a chasm, the same reason Terrapagos's signature move is Terra Starstorm, and the same reason a person's hopes and dreams is the main motif of the whole game.

 

[Castersvarog]

So I want Gamefreak to stop wasting their time with the Doubles Focused Pokemon designs.

I do not mean I want them to stop trying Doubles-Mons (gimmicky or trying for power), but that if they want the Dex to include so many Pokemon that clearly only play their best in that format, the games need more Doubles Content while those mons are available. For a quick example, Passimian and Oranguru are available on Route 5/Lush Jungle areas of Alola, early-midgame catches, in a game that I don't think features more than 3 Double Battles in the entire run (and this is me assuming there are any just to cover my ass) where you could utilize their signature traits (which I find particularly glaring with Passimian since Receiver is its only non-Hidden Ability). SM/USUM actually feel particularly eye-twitching to me because SOS/Totem battles mean the OPPONENTS can utilize these techniques a lot, but you cannot since the challenge is in the 2v1 set-up.

It makes these Pokemon feel very Vanilla (even if they're good) for maingame purposes, and by the time you reach the Doubles content, they often aren't event particularly stand out compared to "regular" built Pokemon that you give Doubles Tools instead of a Doubles Focus.

This is coming off the Indigo Disk DLC for SV, where I actually experimented with the Doubles Gimmick mons because there were a sizable number of fights to actually experiment with them against both regular and boss trainers, so I could actually fine-tune my gameplan instead of breaking it out the one time it works and then just forgetting about it again. Stuff like having to consider EQ vs High Horsepower on my Excadrill or actually getting use out of Fake Out/Helping Hand on a Hitmontop to buy set-up turns. I don't need it (all) to be this level of difficulty, but some reasonable presence of Double Battles in the main game seems like a no-brainer given they design so many Doubles-focused Pokemon AND obviously it being the VGC format. Maybe something like SV's three paths, one could be focused on Doubles as opposed to Singles.

I certainly wouldn’t mind the Mons that are built for doubles if they did way more of what indigo disk did. It’s still a little boggling how despite being the focus of competitive battling, it took them like 20 years to make another game/dlc that actually focuses on doubles; instead of making everything singles focused outside the obligatory handful of fights that are double batttles.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Yeah if anything, I don't mind the fact that several Pokemon are built around Doubles. They've been doing that for a long time, even as early as Gen 5 with Pokemon such as Klinklang and Whimsicott having skillsets expressly designed for them to shine in a Doubles environment. And Doubles is actually a really fun format that invites different, and oftentimes more fun types of strategy than Singles.

They just really need to have more substantial story content that has Doubles so that such Pokemon can shine and people have room to be able to experiment with and play with these kinds of Pokemon who are designed around such a format. Indigo Disk was a great step in the right direction in that regard, being a campaign focused entirely on Doubles.

Especially since Doubles is being pushed as the official competitive format, with VGC ever since Gen 4 having its most official format being 4v4 Doubles, having more campaigns focused on Doubles not only invites room for Doubles-designed Pokemon to shine in a single-player story campaign, but also allows players to become more familiar with the format so that they more smoothly transition into the official competitive battling scene if they feel like it.

The biggest problem imo before Indigo Disk is that actual single-player content where Double Battles are prominent has been incredibly sparse, so many Pokemon that are designed around Doubles don't really get to put their most unique capabilities and skills to use. More in-game Double Battles is something I'd like to see, because Doubles is a very, very fun format that invites very unique strategies from my experience and for many reasons having more Doubles oriented campaigns would be a very welcome addition in my book. That doesn't mean Singles-oriented campaigns should be eliminated, but more heavily Doubles oriented campaigns like Colosseum/XD and Indigo Disk would be very good in my book.

 

[Worldie]

Honestly I think that the way SV has a pretty enjoyable singles main story which culminates in a solid doubles final DLC is ok. Ultimately having double battles as main part of the main story is kinda useless, low level pokemon don't really have any real doubles interaction bar some gimmicks like dondogiri or minun and plusle, so a singles main story with the odd doubles gym is fine.

I would however rather have some sort of "Doubles endgame" in the main game already, without needing to wait for the inevitable DLCs. I don't say to bring back facilities (not that I would mind, but I've stated multiple times why they won't be coming back), but having more bits of the postgame dedicated to doubles would be a better introduction for newer players to the concept, as well as giving a easier time to showcase doubles specific interactions that may be new to the generation (like previously mentioned dondozo-tatsugiri or the alolan monkeys)

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Ultimately having double battles as main part of the main story is kinda useless, low level pokemon don't really have any real doubles interaction bar some gimmicks like dondogiri or minun and plusle

Maybe, but a lot of low-level moves have the potential for doubles use that never gets utilized because they're already outclassed by the time doubles becomes relevant. For example, the level 1 status trio of Growl, Leer, and Tail Whip all hit both opponents in a double battle.

(You have VGC experience, are Leer and Tail Whip used in serious doubles? Growl I understand being outclassed by Intimidate, but lesser spread physical Fake Tears sounds genuinely strong, especially if combined with Rock Slide)

 

[Worldie]

You have VGC experience, are Leer and Tail Whip used in serious doubles?

Not really, debuffs have to be very powerful or provide extra effects in order to be actually worth using.
Es, Breaking swipe is used on Roaring Moon and some other due to hitting both targets, lowering attack and breaking sashes as well as dealing decent damage coming off protosyntesis boosted attack. Thundurus' Prankster Eerie Impulse has seen usage due to being a big fuck you to Dynamaxed special attackers. But a simple -1 without any extra flair is rarely enough to justify the moveslot on a format where most mons already basically run 3 moves due to near-mandatory Protect.

Though I do remind some 99head guy using Leer Arcanine to trigger a Defiant Kingambit in order to actually OHKO it with Foul Play... ok that was a bit too much brainpower and situational.

That said I do see your point and I agree that the odd double battle during main story is fine. Like the ghost gym showcasing a Boomburst + ghost types interaction, or Raihan in SwSh showcasing weather teams. But in long run a "doubles main story" isnt that much different from a "singles" one. People all praise the N64 games for their doubles-focused gameplay, but forget most of the battles in that game don't really have "doubles strategy", just happens to be 4 pokemon on the field instead of 2 with no inherent sinergy going on.

 

[artificialdeath]

Black and White 1 has one of the most monotonous structures in the entire series, and it has some of the weakest ability to make good teams.

Essentially the structure of the game is: Gym, the counter is in a side route, Team Plasma encounter, repeat. I can even lay it out for you, this is changed only a few times.

N -> Monkeys in side route -> Gym 1 -> Team Plasma steals Pokemon -> Fighting Types in side route -> Gym 2 - > Team Plasma in forest -> Darumaka in bit of route up ahead -> Gym 3 -> N -> Side routes have good mons, though could find them on the way technically -> Gym 4 -> Cold Storage -> Peek up next route to get a Level 24 Deerling with Grass move and Jump Kick for Excadrill -> Gym 5 ->Chargestone has Team Plasma -> Emolga trade next to gym -> Gym 6 -> NO TEAM PLASMA -> Gym 7 -> Dragonspiral Tower (Team Plasma) -> Pawniard (Steel) in grass right before Dragon Gym -> Gym 8

While there are a few slight changes to the structure, BW1 very much works in a very predictable pattern even as a new player in my opinion. And it kind of renders teambuilding to be difficult. Keep in mind, before the first gym your only options are two Normal-Types (only one of which is worth a damn), a Dark-Type that sucks, and your elemental monkey, which also sucks after this gym. Then after that you get a few more options, but overall I find teambuilding in Gen 5 to be pretty dull and slow.

And I think it is telling that B2W2 and beyond very much try to keep a good pool of Pokemon in the region. And frankly, yes, I think keeping the dex to only the new Pokemon wasn't a good idea, it doesn't make teambuilding more creative, it turns it the opposite. While Gen 4 is infamous for having very similar teams, I think it is a game where it frontloads all of the good Pokemon, and the rest you have to very much go out of your way to get.

Meanwhile, the games I see have the most variety are the ones that give a lot of different, non-competing, viable options (as in, not going to make your playthrough more difficult) are the ones with the most variety. It doesn't even need to be like SWSH dropping like 150 Pokemon before the first gym, even a game like RSE has some good stuff. Mightyena really isn't terrible for an early/late game option, you can pick up a Lotad easily, Ralts, Wingull, etc. before the first gym. After that you get Mawile, Geodude, Sableye, etc.

In Gen 5, it follows a problem Gen 1 has. If there are similar typed Pokemon, they are usually version locked so you only actually have one, and so the variety suffers by sheer numbers. Gen 2 also.

You can say that it makes BW1 feel more special, but I'd say that making a game's design only really meaningful on a first playthrough (and that is debatable, again, the game has almost an exact type of team it wants you to craft, and basically leads you to it) in a series that got a lot of popularity (especially in the West) for being a very replayable RPG series, is in my opinion not a good idea. Especially with the workload needed to make it work.

Sun and Moon almost has this problem (early game can be a bit rough for options), but Akala Island is full of tons of variety of Pokemon. And then Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon becomes one of the most fun games to teambuild with in the entire series.

As for the story structure, me-no-like. It feels mostly arbitrary outside of the N fights, and I do not think we need anymore caves full of evil team members in Pokemon. Ever again. On replay, BW1 is also way more linear than people say. I think Alola and Unova BW1 have about the same amount of optional areas.

Like, you never even touch Alola's desert if you just follow the story, IIRC.

God, Gen 7 needs more appreciation.

I know this is from a few pages ago but no one commented on it. I grew up with Gen 5, it was my favorite since before everyone suddenly realized it was good, and if anything I agree with you because I've played through BW so many times before. I'm the type of person who plans their teams out beforehand and doesn't like to repeat types too much, and I always end up choosing from the same pool of mons because of how the game is structured. I'd always plan to use things like Golurk or Bisharp because they're really cool mons but between evolution levels and availability it'd just be better to use Excadrill, Krookodile, Chandelure, etc. People joke about Sinnoh (esp DP) encouraging starter/garchomp/staraptor/lucario/(one of floatzel or roserade)/luxray teams but if anything BW1 were bigger offenders wrt that, even if the pool of viable mons feels slightly bigger than DP.

Also, have people really said that BW don't feel linear? Back when hating BW was cool I remember people pointing out how linear they were compared to Sinnoh, Johto, or Kanto (Hoenn has a bit of exploration with the 7.8/10toomuchwater sections, but otherwise you're just going from point A to point B).

Re: Alola, I agree. It's probably the best you can expect from the 3D era of pokemon as it stands. It's too bad because SV and its DLCs had a lot of cool ideas, and you can tell the game would've been a fan favorite if it had been given proper development time to flesh out Paldea, make its locations memorable, and balance the open world aspect so that you aren't just encouraged to fight gyms in order based on level. (I'm not a fan of open world design in turn based RPGs, and I think other games like SMT V have suffered because of this, but it's possible to make an open-world Pokemon game that is still enjoyable)

 

[Hugin]

That said I do see your point and I agree that the odd double battle during main story is fine.

I take the opposite view, doubles with a singles-focused team is painful. Nothing has Protect, you have spread moves that hit your allies, you don't have any pure support mons, etc. Throwing Raihan or Ryme into the lategame doesn't let people learn the format, build a team, and gain experience with it, it just gives people a one-off change of pace, exactly as relevant as Sky Battles or the Inverse House from XY(less relevant, tbh).

If they want doubles to be a thing(and apparently they do, given that it's the official format and all), it would behoove them to make it so people can experience doubles properly in-game. Otherwise, cut the doubles battles completely.

 

[Axiemeister]

not unpopular (for this place) opinion time: i am not even a fan of double battles (not even just in a game; watching them is distinctly worse than singles to me) and would be perfectly fine if they never existed, and they know most people aren't, given the main games, the anime and most spin-offs very much focus on single battles. competitively it just happens to be... i wouldn't say more balanced, but... harder enough to break that they don't need to actually keep a banlist...? than singles, and that made them focus on it.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

You know, looking back it's actually really weird there've only been two doubles-centred gyms

I mean yeah obviously they were going to do a doubles gym in Hoenn, it's the generation double battles were introduced and they always display the new feature (though we didn't get a triples or rotation gym... I think we can all agree BW fumbled triples/rotational battles badly). It's one of the things Emerald does best: that virtually every route has one or two or even three or four 2v2 fights set up on it, whether it's a pair of Twins or two unconnected trainers who gang up on you.

And DPP to my recollection do go quite out of their way to throw double battles at you fairly frequently but... like, this is something that really should have been a staple in future games. Even if it is just one gym leader out of eight, it's a concept that has been a mainstay since Gen III but for some reason is largely restricted to the postgame. And yeah not everyone likes double battles okay whatever, but that's hardly a justification to exclude it when there's all sorts of mechanics throughout the game you're often forced to try at least once. In an ingame run you rarely need a strategy more complex than "use strong moves": very few double battles pre-Raihan have a specialisation beyond the occasional Earthquake+Levitate combo.

 

[Ironmage]

not unpopular (for this place) opinion time: i am not even a fan of double battles (not even just in a game; watching them is distinctly worse than singles to me) and would be perfectly fine if they never existed, and they know most people aren't, given the main games, the anime and most spin-offs very much focus on single battles. competitively it just happens to be... i wouldn't say more balanced, but... harder enough to break that they don't need to actually keep a banlist...? than singles, and that made them focus on it.

Part of it is also a different philosophy on what's acceptable. Smogon-run doubles OU is also a format that exists and maintains a standard banlist, while GF also does BSS where nothing stops you from running a team that's fully classed as Ubers under Smogon's system.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I know this is from a few pages ago but no one commented on it. I grew up with Gen 5, it was my favorite since before everyone suddenly realized it was good, and if anything I agree with you because I've played through BW so many times before. I'm the type of person who plans their teams out beforehand and doesn't like to repeat types too much, and I always end up choosing from the same pool of mons because of how the game is structured. I'd always plan to use things like Golurk or Bisharp because they're really cool mons but between evolution levels and availability it'd just be better to use Excadrill, Krookodile, Chandelure, etc. People joke about Sinnoh (esp DP) encouraging starter/garchomp/staraptor/lucario/(one of floatzel or roserade)/luxray teams but if anything BW1 were bigger offenders wrt that, even if the pool of viable mons feels slightly bigger than DP.

Also, have people really said that BW don't feel linear? Back when hating BW was cool I remember people pointing out how linear they were compared to Sinnoh, Johto, or Kanto (Hoenn has a bit of exploration with the 7.8/10toomuchwater sections, but otherwise you're just going from point A to point B).

BW1 is definitely a very railroaded experience yeah. Having an entirely new roster of Pokemon isn't a bad idea in a vacuum but at the same time the way the Pokemon are designed and distributed in BW1 doesn't lend itself to an experience where you have much variety.

The whole segment around Striaton in the first part is the most heavily railroaded (and boring) part of the game that gets incredibly boring over more replays, and there's literally no variety: it's always going to be Starter+Patrat/Lillipup+Elemental Monkey because that's what the game wants you to have for Striaton.

The distribution of the mons across the game and their evolution levels, movepools, etc. also stands out because BW1 is ultimately also designed in a similar way to Gen 1, with evo levels being distributed with respect to where and at what level you first meet a given Pokemon in the wild, and it tried to do the "single player RPG" design of RGBY. Which means a lot of early route Pokemon are good early on, but fall off in power and become less impressive later, while the latter part of the dex has Pokemon who are good in the late and end-game but evolve late and are often encountered late. Which is to say, it does feel they intended for BW1 to be played as a rotating team experience, you start using early route mons first and then boot them off once they're not cutting it anymore and you keep catching mons and having later ones take over once they're strong enough. A lot of early route mons like Swoobat, the elemental monkeys, Watchog, Liepard, and whatnot stand out as notably average or unimpressive and become increasingly underwhelming later, and then the latter half of the dex has really good stuff like Chandelure, Haxorus, Bisharp, etc. who are great, but don't reach their potential until very late. Hydreigon is the most notorious offender in the latter group.

I know Sinnoh gets memed a lot (and I grew up with Sinnoh and that was my most formative region) but I think that's just a matter of DPP frontloading you with really good options right off the bat. Starly is one of the best early game birds in combat, and is designed in a way where it will be a very strong and good Pokemon for the whole playthrough, and Shinx is a solid three-stage Electric-type, and Garchomp is a late game mon but is one of the most usable late bloomers in-game, only other ones I feel have been as good for in-game playthroughs in my experience are Metagross, Goodra, and Baxcalibur. DP doesn't really have that much variety (no fucking Fire-types lol) but it often ends up with same-y teams simply because the options it does give you are good, so you're just that naturally inclined to use them. They're good in combat and have really great designs (Starly and Shinx have a well made cute->badass progression in design). There's still plenty of other good stuff to try out especially in Platinum, Abomasnow for instance has been a surprisingly great mon whenever I've used it and has been a great late-game asset on my teams. Skuntank, Bronzong, Toxicroak in Platinum, Drapion, and whatnot are all pretty great and there are some solid options across the region, it just so happens the early game options are so compelling because they're just good. In Platinum I've found Electivire, Magmortar, and Glaceon to be nice to have on a team.

BW1 on the other hand had the opposite situation where most of the early-route options are really...not good long term and not the kind you want to keep around on your team barring a select few exceptions. No one is gonna want to keep the monkeys, Swoobat, or Watchog on a team long term. I actually do feel it has its own constant team composition from what I've noticed: it's often Samurott/Serperior+Zebstrika+Excadrill/Krookodile+Haxorus+Chandelure+Carracosta/Archeops. The fossils are good, Zebstrika, Excadrill, and Krookodile are all reasonably solid early obtainable options, and Haxorus and Chandelure can feasibly make it in time for the first E4 run and hit hard as shit. I highlight Samurott and Serperior because those two were way more popular among people than Emboar, there seems to be a general level of dislike towards Emboar sadly.

But yeah BW1 is a pretty linear experience and the distribution of its roster doesn't lend to a variety of teams, much less a variety of teambuilding styles.

 

[bdt2002]

My issue with the Black & White roster isn’t how linear the game is. In fact, I welcome a streamlined experience over this open-world stuff any day. I enjoy having my tasks specifically laid out for me to understand and for the most part, the Pokémon distribution, as hit or miss as it can be, lends itself well to the idea that newer, stronger Pokémon keep being introduced throughout the main story. I particularly like how the first Ice-Type in the game shows up just in time for a stretch where Ice theoretically wins against three of the last four Gyms (the other one being a mirror match, at that), but how said Ice-Type is the incredibly weak for this point in the game Vanillite.

The problem for me is how redundant the new Pokémon feel when they’re either A. outclassed by options found later in the game, or B. feel far too similar to their inspiration counterparts to warrant the idea that you’re actually using new Unova Pokémon. You replace, say, a Timburr with a Machop, and the game fundamentally does not change. In the older games and most newer ones, unique options for team building were located both on and off the main path.

 

[Codraroll]

The problem for me is how redundant the new Pokémon feel when they’re either A. outclassed by options found later in the game, or B. feel far too similar to their inspiration counterparts to warrant the idea that you’re actually using new Unova Pokémon. You replace, say, a Timburr with a Machop, and the game fundamentally does not change. In the older games and most newer ones, unique options for team building were located both on and off the main path.

Yeah, BW certainly has a problem in that it wanted to "start over" with the Pokémon roster, but ended up re-using similar concepts to what had been done earlier. For almost the entire first half of the Pokédex, you can tell quite clearly that there's a previous-game analogue to each Pokémon: "This is this region's Pidgey. Here's an equivalent to Poliwag. Sandshrew. Geodude. Machop. The Hitmons" and so on. Even the weirdly specific concept of a Psychic-type tapir whose design centers around dreams was re-used.

And then you get to Sandile or thereabout, and suddenly there's a total flip: nearly every Pokémon from there on out is a completely unique, original, never-before-seen concept. There are steel durians and electric lampreys and ghostly candles and jousting beetles and shaolin ferrets and all the whatnot. As if the designers went through a checklist for the first half of the Pokédex and were only allowed to be original after crossing out the final box. It's not very clear where the "inspired" designs end and the "original" ones begin, but it's a quite clear trend when you see the Unova dex as a whole. Gen V really showed us the best and the worst of Pokémon designs, at least for the time.

 

[Ransei]

Legal White Kyurem is more viable in ORAS Pure Hackmons than it is in ORAS Anything Goes.

This is an unpopular opinion because I would be the only one to even know anything regarding this topic, also the idea of anything at all running a legitimate set being more viable in Pure Hackmons than Anything Goes is funny.

To sum up why this is the case, ORAS Pure Hackmons appreciates Pokémon having the Turboblaze ability more, since Wonder Guards block everything else except for super effective coverage, ORAS Pure Hackmons provides lot more opportunities for White Kyurem to get the support that it needs to be threatening, and White Kyurem is able to pressure Giratina, who is the best Pokémon in ORAS Pure Hackmons, way more than it is able to pressure a Mega Rayquaza or an Arceus, the two Pokémon arguably holding top spot in ORAS Anything Goes.

White Kyurem has a whopping base 170 SpA and a good offensive type combination, especially ice, allowing it to hit most Pokémon very hard with STAB. It also has Earth Power and Fusion Flare to hit most STAB resistances super effectively. It's not too frail, and not super slow either. These factors combined make legal White Kyurem exist with a niche use it could pull off somewhat consistently in ORAS Pure Hackmons, when no other Pokémon holding a legal set could do the same.

 

[DreamPrince]

While were on the topic of Puppy Pokemon, can I come out and say how much I despise Yamper and the fact that I don't consider it cute and one of the most ugly dog Pokemon we have had? Its evolution Boltund, does do much better, its just standard electric type with high speed and mediocre coverage moves, let alone it doesn't have the same personality that Houndoom, Granbull, and Stoutland ooze, it frankly looks like a yellow Foxhound and that's it.

On another note, I never understood what the appeal of Toxtricity is. To me, it appears to be an ugly lizard guitar player with a very bad haircut with an evolution that's very obtuse to get its form since its tied to natures. Not to mention on paper, its whole niche of breaking Ground types with Punk Rock boosted Boomburst falls short when you realize there is no STAB and there are stills walls like Rhyperior, Steelix, Palossand, Runerigus, Clodsire exist meaning that it can't do its job as effectively as it likes; not to mention stats aren't that great except for Sp. Atk, which is average by Gen 9 standards.

 

[artificialdeath]

While were on the topic of Puppy Pokemon, can I come out and say how much I despise Yamper and the fact that I don't consider it cute and one of the most ugly dog Pokemon we have had? Its evolution Boltund, does do much better, its just standard electric type with high speed and mediocre coverage moves, let alone it doesn't have the same personality that Houndoom, Granbull, and Stoutland ooze, it frankly looks like a yellow Foxhound and that's it.

On another note, I never understood what the appeal of Toxtricity is. To me, it appears to be an ugly lizard guitar player with a very bad haircut with an evolution that's very obtuse to get its form since its tied to natures. Not to mention on paper, its whole niche of breaking Ground types with Punk Rock boosted Boomburst falls short when you realize there is no STAB and there are stills walls like Rhyperior, Steelix, Palossand, Runerigus, Clodsire exist meaning that it can't do its job as effectively as it likes; not to mention stats aren't that great except for Sp. Atk, which is average by Gen 9 standards.

Is this an unpopular opinion? I always thought Yamper and Boltund were some of the worst designs ever made. In general, SWSH designs were not very good imo. Usually the pokemon formula of catching new creatures and raising them means that even poorly made games will be fun to me, but it was hard to have any enthusiasm about Gen 8's offerings. There are a few standouts like Hatterene, Grimmsnarl, Frosmoth, Barraskewda, Corviknight, and Dragapult, but most of them (incl. the starters) just suck. At least Gen 9 saved Applin and Duraludon from their suckage, even if Appletun was one of the less offensive designs.

 

[Ironmage]

Is this an unpopular opinion? I always thought Yamper and Boltund were some of the worst designs ever made. In general, SWSH designs were not very good imo. Usually the pokemon formula of catching new creatures and raising them means that even poorly made games will be fun to me, but it was hard to have any enthusiasm about Gen 8's offerings. There are a few standouts like Hatterene, Grimmsnarl, Frosmoth, Barraskewda, Corviknight, and Dragapult, but most of them (incl. the starters) just suck. At least Gen 9 saved Applin and Duraludon from their suckage, even if Appletun was one of the less offensive designs.

For me, the gen 8 mons end up as a low point partially because gen 8 itself is a low point. Mons like Duraludon, Applin's evolutions, and Drednaw feel like their design payoff is as a GMax but that's temporary (both within a battle and with the entire mechanic not returning) and has awful mechanics associated with it. Meanwhile, something like Corviknight gets held to a higher initial standard because of Dexit: if a similar mon already exists, the new one needs to be at least as good to justify being a replacement (which, given Skarmory is my absolute favourite mon, you can guess how that one went). Natdex ladder already being up and running probably helped my impression of much of gen 9's newcomers.

 

[Sonikku A]

Design wise
Flapple >>>> Appletun

 

[Imperial Magala]

Yamper is among the Pokemon marketed as cute that I find the real world animal to be far more cute.

Mincinno is the other big one to me. I prefer my small animals stubby with actual snouts I guess.

 

[Axiemeister]

i... think yamper is really cute... i had no idea it was so despised......

boltund is also one of my favourite canine pokémon but actually i don't think i dislike any of those? i guess i think mega manectric is silly looking but megas are very hit or miss in general imo

 

[pika pal]

This isn't a criticism I levy often, but Yamper feels like it was trying too hard to be cute with the expression combined with the yellow spots and simple bright green eyes as opposed to the Black dots for the real Corgis. I can't explain it but it feels so artificial to me compared to something like Wooper or even stuff only I find cute like Slither Wing.

 

[pokemon4eva]

Speaking of merch appeal, Terapagos...ooh boy. I don't like this Pokemon, how its Base form serves absolutely no purpose in game since it inmediately transforms into Terastal Form as soon as it's sent (despite Base form having its own base stats). Previous legendaries handled the "cute, underpowered stage" much better: the Zygarde cells are not used for battle but they have a role in being components of Zygarde with increasingly powerful forms, Cosmog revealed to be the pre evo of Solgaleo/Lunala, even Calyrex having mediocre stats becoming one of the most powerful mons ever when it gets its steed back.

Also not much of a fan of Stellar Form, the design feels a bit lacking in game but maybe it'll look better in the anime, perhaps?

 

[pika pal]

Speaking of merch appeal, Terapagos...ooh boy. I don't like this Pokemon, how its Base form serves absolutely no purpose in game since it inmediately transforms into Terastal Form as soon as it's sent (despite Base form having its own base stats). Previous legendaries handled the "cute, underpowered stage" much better: the Zygarde cells are not used for battle but they have a role in being components of Zygarde with increasingly powerful forms, Cosmog revealed to be the pre evo of Solgaleo/Lunala, even Calyrex having mediocre stats becoming one of the most powerful mons ever when it gets its steed back.

Also not much of a fan of Stellar Form, the design feels a bit lacking in game but maybe it'll look better in the anime, perhaps?

It feels like an anime tie-in where Terapagos is spending a lot of time as either the Jewel or the Base form as a semi-Macguffin, vs the Games where the only thing we can do with it is the Sync Machine and Battling. People often say the games are a vehicle for merch and Anime tie-ins, this feels like that property in reverse, where the Base form only exists for Anime purposes and the Gameplay is saddled with it to match.

 

[Axiemeister]

it's still so weird to me because... they want the cute form to be available so they can capitalise on it, but... it didn't occur to them that people would want to battle with it, too?

it would have been so easy to create an alternate condition for the base -> terastal transformation, such as an item (key or held), or a move, or something, so the base form could be usable in battle. feels like a huge missed opportunity when even cosmog and cosmoem, with their two status moves and a third on evolution, are entirely playable.