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Magma Storm is probably its own case compared to other partial trapping moves. Stuff like Whirlpool is primarily used on stall sets that need several turns to rack up passive damage (or occasionally Perish Song). It's easy to switch in on a predicted use of these moves because their initial damage is very low. Whether Heatran is too good because of a strong signature move with the stats to back it up feels like a separate issue.
At the end of the day, there needs to be some answer to switching so the place doesn't degenerate into pure Regenerator cycling. I'm partial to entry hazards on this front, but a controlled amount of trapping is probably a good thing to have as an alternative.
Magma Storm is probably its own case compared to other partial trapping moves. Stuff like Whirlpool is primarily used on stall sets that need several turns to rack up passive damage (or occasionally Perish Song). It's easy to switch in on a predicted use of these moves because their initial damage is very low. Whether Heatran is too good because of a strong signature move with the stats to back it up feels like a separate issue.
At the end of the day, there needs to be some answer to switching so the place doesn't degenerate into pure Regenerator cycling. I'm partial to entry hazards on this front, but a controlled amount of trapping is probably a good thing to have as an alternative.
Also in SWSH wasd things like Tapu Fini which had a trapping set that was actually a giant part of why Toxapex had to run Shed Tail. It could 1v1 just about any Pokemon, or get major chip damage at almost no cost.
Clicking an attack that forces an opponent to not be able to switch afterwards exasperates matchups. Pokemon that are able to heal easily are generally not very offensive, and offensive Pokemon are generally not able to heal easily. This means that the Pokemon that are generally used to pivots are unable to pivot, thus making them a sitting duck for a free KO. And offensive Pokemon take damage that is basically unstoppable.
Lando T is a common pivot into Magma Storm in Gen 8 with spdef and lefties, it takes around 30%. Heatran clicks protect. It switches out. Your Lando T is about half dead, more because of the unstoppable damage. You can say it's a Heatran specific thing, but I don't agree. It's more that most good Pokemon do not have trapping moves outside of Pursuit, which is now gone.
Plus, bad concepts and mechanics can be underpowered. Something that shouldn't be in the game can be underpowered, and not relevant to the average game; there are Pokemon that are unviable that I'd consider to have broken combinations of traits that make playing against them unfun and bad, and something that a good designer would remove.
Generation 8 Crown Tundra is just a great example because it's a gen where 3 of the Pokemon in the tier have had major stints as trappers. Fini, Heatran, Magnezone.
Sidenote: IDGAF about Regen. If you want to nerf Regen, nerf Regen, don't bring in other shit mechanics to nerf it. That's horrible game design.
I see people say that several evos in the recent gens seems unnecessary, specifically for Bisharp and Duraludon.. I am here to argue against that. Bisharp and Duraludon both actually DID need evolutions.
Anyone who used these Pokemon in prior gens know that these Pokemon could feel somewhat.... lacking. Offensively, both Pokemon were fine, though Duraludon's coverage was a bit bleh. However, both of these Pokemon did not feel adequate defensively. For final stage evolutions, these Pokemon both felt like paper in the last gen and often could not withstand moderately powerful attacks like Dragapult's Shadow ball (in bisharps case) and unstabbed Ice beams in Duraludons case. Compared to more optimized Pokemon, both Bisharp and Duraludon felt a bit lacking since their offensive output was only average given their poor bulk.
Statwise, I think both Kingambit and Archaludon are perfect in the sense that they address the core issues these Pokemon faced. Offensively, Archaludon and Kingambit are only slightly better than their evolutions (when not factoring abilities). However, the primary purpose of these evos was to jack up the defensive power. Archaludon fixes most of Duraludon's crippling weaknesses, with its special bulk now being passable and its physical bulk being superb. Kingambit does something similar for Bisharp. These Pokemon finally feel like they have the defensive profile to match their offensive output.
There was a long time (and some still do, IIRC) in SWSH where Toxapex was essentially required to run Shed Tail. The other Fire resists are going to get weakened (say, Dragapult, frail but resists Fire), and Toxapex is often the dedicated pivot, especially for Fire moves. Without Shed Tail, this turns it into a 100-0 matchup, which also therefore makes Heatran much more powerful for the rest of the game.
I realize this isn’t really the point of the conversation, but I feel like I may be missing some context that’s making it a little difficult for me to follow — I’m pretty sure Shed Tail is a move introduced in SV that Toxapex doesn’t learn?
I realize this isn’t really the point of the conversation, but I feel like I may be missing some context that’s making it a little difficult for me to follow — I’m pretty sure Shed Tail is a move introduced in SV that Toxapex doesn’t learn?
I see people say that several evos in the recent gens seems unnecessary, specifically for Bisharp and Duraludon.. I am here to argue against that. Bisharp and Duraludon both actually DID need evolutions.
Anyone who used these Pokemon in prior gens know that these Pokemon could feel somewhat.... lacking. Offensively, both Pokemon were fine, though Duraludon's coverage was a bit bleh. However, both of these Pokemon did not feel adequate defensively. For final stage evolutions, these Pokemon both felt like paper in the last gen and often could not withstand moderately powerful attacks like Dragapult's Shadow ball (in bisharps case) and unstabbed Ice beams in Duraludons case. Compared to more optimized Pokemon, both Bisharp and Duraludon felt a bit lacking since their offensive output was only average given their poor bulk.
Statwise, I think both Kingambit and Archaludon are perfect in the sense that they address the core issues these Pokemon faced. Offensively, Archaludon and Kingambit are only slightly better than their evolutions (when not factoring abilities). However, the primary purpose of these evos was to jack up the defensive power. Archaludon fixes most of Duraludon's crippling weaknesses, with its special bulk now being passable and its physical bulk being superb. Kingambit does something similar for Bisharp. These Pokemon finally feel like they have the defensive profile to match their offensive output.
I give this a bit more to Duraludon than Bisharp, since Duraludon was presented as rivaling a big Pseudo Legendary yet was weaker than "fake" Pseudos like Haxorus or Flygon in terms of both its stat distribution and total. Pawniard and Bisharp are decently strong but Pawniard usually appears in mid-late game around the Wild-30 range, so I don't think it's meant to be a mon that will always hold up at the top level of in-game or PvP post-game.
Conceptually I do like Kingambit's Shogun look and continuing the Chess motif by commanding its pre-evolutions as a force, I just don't think it's a stretch to say Bisharp didn't "need" the evolution even if he benefits from it, compared to Duraludon having a stated role/idea that it was outright not sufficient to handle. Also a small nitpick I have is you can't promote a piece that isn't a Pawn, and can't promote anything to a King, obviously. I guess it's electing more for Kingambit to have its own motif than 100% cohesion with the Chess theme alongside the name. Where's my Queenslash Promotion?!
I see people say that several evos in the recent gens seems unnecessary, specifically for Bisharp and Duraludon.. I am here to argue against that. Bisharp and Duraludon both actually DID need evolutions.
Anyone who used these Pokemon in prior gens know that these Pokemon could feel somewhat.... lacking. Offensively, both Pokemon were fine, though Duraludon's coverage was a bit bleh. However, both of these Pokemon did not feel adequate defensively. For final stage evolutions, these Pokemon both felt like paper in the last gen and often could not withstand moderately powerful attacks like Dragapult's Shadow ball (in bisharps case) and unstabbed Ice beams in Duraludons case. Compared to more optimized Pokemon, both Bisharp and Duraludon felt a bit lacking since their offensive output was only average given their poor bulk.
Statwise, I think both Kingambit and Archaludon are perfect in the sense that they address the core issues these Pokemon faced. Offensively, Archaludon and Kingambit are only slightly better than their evolutions (when not factoring abilities). However, the primary purpose of these evos was to jack up the defensive power. Archaludon fixes most of Duraludon's crippling weaknesses, with its special bulk now being passable and its physical bulk being superb. Kingambit does something similar for Bisharp. These Pokemon finally feel like they have the defensive profile to match their offensive output.
As much as I was caught off guard with both Bisharp and Duraludon getting an evolution, the focus on defensive stat increases does help Kingambit and Archaludon to be actually bulky without being too poweful with stats alone, as there are other factors that make them stronger instead.
Kingambit already have 135 Attack to work with, but going from 65 HP to 100 HP greatly help it’s potential defensive profile. The real highlight Supreme Overlord, as overkill it proved to be in practice, fits for the even sharper overlord of the Pawniard line, as the emperor unleash their destructive power once their underlings are knocked out. It still have access for Defiant instead for Doubles, where VGC is about.
Archaludon‘s base 125 SpA seems like a minuscule increase compared to Duraludon’s base 120, but Electro Shot helps giving more firepower, especially in rain teams. Although the HP increase isn’t as drastic as Bisharp-Kingambit, it is still noticable, and 90 HP + 130 Defense makes it truly phyically durable. Both Stamina and Sturdy also allows further improvement over Duraludon’s situational-to-useless Light Metal and Heavy Metal. Stamina is especially useful since it can allow for Body Press shenanigans.
While the offensive power creep is undeniable in SV, GF goes to show that new evolutions that focus on buffing defensive stats can work so long that they are also provided with ways to actually do increased damage in-game compared to their already hard-hitting pre-evo, making the original Pokémon more rewarding to capture.
(Probably be easier if I went backwards than trying to catch up where I last left off...)
I think you're overthinking things. Especially since newer gens have more distinct Shinies than previous gens. The reason earlier gens had a lot of lackluster Shinies is likely due to 2 reasons:
They were more Pokemon per gen thus more Pokemon that need Shinies thus the likelihood these being just a few shades off the basic.
It's believed the ways a lot of Shnnies were made was engineered palette swaps. Some Pokemon had their Shinies specifically tailored, but it seems most others just had a program which shifted some values over and they called it a day. Sometimes this resulted in a distinct Shiny, sometimes it meant the Shiny was just a lighter/darker shade of their base color. It could also be why a lot of Pokemon of the same base color have Shiny of the same color, like blue Pokemon turning a purplish pink or a lot of purple Pokemon turn blue or green.
I'm not. Not because titles aren't fun, but because it's more RNG BS.
We already have Shinies (and before SV, Pokerus), we don't need more "hey this random Pokemon you caught has a secret unique feature". Why? Why does 1 out of 50 Pokemon have a chance to have a certain Weather Mark? It's not enough I caught the Pokemon in the weather condition? It's not enough I caught the Pokemon at a certain time of day for a Time Mark? That I fished a Pokemon to get the Fishing Mark? What makes the Pokemon which gets the Mark so special from the dozen of other Pokemon which don't?
Or how about the Personality Marks. So they're Natures without any benefits besides a funny title. I guess at the very least I can see why one Pokemon would have it and a dozen other doesn't... but then again outside the Title it's not like there's anything different about it.
The one which gets me is the Uncommon and Rare Mark. These have to be the two most insulting ones. Uncommon Mark feels like the participation award of Marks, it's a "here's a mark for no reason!". Yeah? am I supposed to be amazed a Pokemon has this Mark? And the Rare Mark... what's so rare about the Pokemon with this Mark? "Well it has this Mark!". What else. "Well, um, nothing really". So it might as well be the Uncommon Mark for all the difference that it makes.
Going back to my second sentence, Title are a fun idea. But I feel for the most part they should have been made a feature that is earned and not locked behind RNG BS. Have their be a NPC called the "Mark Maker" or "Title Giver" or whatever and they'll give your Pokemon Marks/Titles if they can complete certain tasks. Like for a Weather Mark the Pokemon either needs to have battled 50 opponents in said Weather or has an Ability which involves a certain weather condition. To get a Personality Mark it either needs to do something which relates to that Personality OR have a certain Nature or IV Characteristic. I'm glad SV has a few Marks like this, but ALL Marks should have been like this. If they were, maybe they would be a bit more popular as it would actually give something players to do with many of the Pokemon in their Box.
BTW, I have similar thoughts when GF had the audacity to make a rarer "Shiny" variant. F*** NO, at least not as an RNG thing. BUT maybe as a feature where you can change a Shiny's Pokemon sparkle to be something more "fitting" by completing a task? Sure, would be like Gen IV's Ball Capsules... Or, you know, just bring that idea back and keep it and expand upon every gen instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every gen...
This is actually the basis of one of my personal projects/thought experiments. I've only focused on the core series teams, but it's been fun thinking of scenarios. I won't post my whole ideas (as most of them are unfinished anyway), but I'll give the gist (and put them in spoiler boxes for those who don't care):
So the series name is "Pokemon Syndicates"; a nice catchy name.
Instead of the player being a self-insert, I felt for a series like this its better to have an actual character you're playing as. The issue with a game where you're part of the antagonist team is that the antagonist team will eventually lose and even disband. While a self-insert isn't impossible in that scenario, having an actual character who can go through a planned growth and story arc would better help fit this into canon while still showing off what the team was about (it's also easier to have said character to join the team as they'd have their own goals the player doesn't need to have, at most the player just needs to understand the character's motives).
Also because of this, the gameplay is a bit different. It's more akin to say the Pokemon Colosseum games than a normal Pokemon adventure. The big difference is that, since most of the game you're working in an organization, the gameplay is mission-based and you're accomplishing a goal before heading back to base. When it comes to Pokemon, you start with a Starter and most of your other Pokemon would be rentals from the organization's Pokemon collection (and as you increase in rank within the organization the more Pokemon you'll get access to). There will likely be points you can catch Pokemon either to add to the organization's collection or keep for yourself, but those opportunities will not be often. The appeal of the series would be seeing not only how the organization operates from the inside (getting to explore the HQ & other bases, talking with other members, seeing what missions that team has members doing & how people react to the villain team, etc.) but also how things change overtime. We see the organization before the core games take place (not the creation of the team, it's well established by the time the player character joins it), how the mood changes when its the time of the core games (the big plan is finally happening, there's rumors of a trainer thwarting the team's plans, the personalities of the bosses & admins start shifting, etc.), and finally what happens after the climax (notably to the player character and the other members we got to know along the way).
Pokemon Syndicates - Rocket: Focusing on Team Rocket, the story expands across Kanto & Johto and the stories of Gen I & II. MC is an older teen boy named Jett, he lived in the Goldenrod ghetto his whole life and owns a Houndour. One day, after chasing and beating down a group of hoodlums who stole Hondour's Poke Ball, he's approached by a Team Rocket Recruiter who's impressed by his hustle and invites him to join Team Rocket; promising money, companionship, and a purpose. He works for Team Rocket and works up the ranks but never reaches Admin; slowly over the first-third of the game he grows disillusioned with Team Rocket and their increasingly horrific acts and runs away to the Sevii Islands (just before Giovanni goes to face the Gen I protag in his Gym). The second-third of the game takes place over the 3 year period between Gen I & II, Jett uncovering a plan to revive Team Rocket. During this time he's discovered by Pokemon League Investigators (maybe even Lance) and agrees to go undercover in this "Neo" Team Rocket to stop their plans as a form of redemption. This makes up the final-third of the game where his missions are split between Neo Team Rocket & the Pokemon League.
PS - Advance: Focusing on Team Aqua & Team Magma, Hoenn, & RSE; Since there's two teams the codename is "Advance" as Gen III was often referred to as the "Advance" generation. There are two MCs this time, two friends: Shaun, an older teen boy with a Trapinch, and Raine, an older teen girl with a Horsea. Shaun & Raine are junior environmental scientists working at a lab monitoring habitat changes under a highly respect mentor. Then one day the lab blows up. The friends are split during the explosion and each find the dead body of their mentor at different times. While grieving, each one is approached by one of the teams: Shaun my Maxie & Team Magma, Raine by Archie & Team Aqua. They're told that the other team caused the explosion while they tried to stop it, looking for some data. As it turns out both Shaun and Raine have a copy of the data, and are invited to join the team that approached them to get revenge and prevent a geological disaster. You freely switch between Shaun and Raine doing missions for their respective team. Early on both discover their friend had joined the other team, and at first angry at the perceived betrayal, eventually both question if there's more going on than they're being told and start investigating the secrets of their team, even finding ways to work indirectly together.
PS - Galactic: Focusing on Team Galactic, Sinnoh, & DPPt. At the start of the game the MC, an older teen girl, wakes up in an abandoned cabin on Route 217 without any memory, only having a Bronzor in her possession. While exploring the cabin, a squad of Team Galactic grunts suddenly rush in with unconscious members and lies them down. Sneaking around, she discovers that she can astral project into people's minds and uses it to heal and awaken the unconscious Galactic grunts. She soon gets caught and brought back to the Galactic HQ, meeting with Cyrus who theorizes she must have looked into the eyes of Uxie; erasing her memories but gaining the ability explore the minds of others. Given the name Astral, she is recruited with the promise they'll try to get he memories back, using her powers to help further their plans. But as she works with Team Galactic, she starts to get visions of an upcoming apocalypses, especially when she's near Snowpoint Temple. And at the center of the apocalypse: Team Galactic; bringing her into conflict on helping them to regain her memories or trying to prevent the end of the world.
PS - Plasma: Focusing on Team Plasma, Unova, & all the Gen V games. MC is a young man named Gray who hates Pokemon as, when he was young, he lost his parents to a crazed Darmanitan that rampaged through his home town & burned down many houses, including his where his parents perished. One day a group called Team Plasma visits his home town preaching about Pokemon Liberation & that people & Pokemon should be separated. Interested, he talks with the Sage that came with Team Plasma, Rood, where they share their views: Team Plasma is interested in helping Pokemon that humans have mistreated, Gray sees Pokemon as dangerous monsters that have held back people's potential. Still, Gray says their goal of separating people & Pokemon align and he joins. Gray has a secret: Earlier in the day that the Darmanitan rampaged through his home town, he found a Keldeo trying to cut a rock in half. After helping it learn Sacred Sword, the other three Swords of Justice appear to take Keldeo back with them, though as thanks they gave Gray the ability to call upon wild Pokemon if he ever needed help (thus he doesn't need a Starter Pokemon)(he used this power during Darmanitan's rampage, Keldeo appearing to protect him from fires. But when it confronted the Darmanitan, instead of slaying it, it helped it escape, making Gray feel betrayed). While working with Team Plasma, the other Swords of Justice appear to Gray and he begrudgingly helps them. He gets spotted by Sage Rood doing this and brought to N and the other Sages. Finding Gray an interesting person with equal interesting views, assigns him into a special group called "Crusaders" who do Team Plasma's top secret missions, being also given a ceremonial sword (which later on the Swords of Justice empower to perform special tasks). But as Team Plasma's goals come to fruition, Gray starts to suspect there's more going on behind-the-scenes. He's summoned away by the Swords of Justice when BW's finale happens, and spends the next 2 years helping former Team Plasma members get their lives together (including Rood, some othe Sages, Anthea, and Concordia). Then one day Rood calls Gray and informs him a new Team Plasma is forming and he requests he goes undercover (along with another former Plasma grunt as his contact) to find out what they're planning, what happened to Ghetsis, and put a stop to it. And throughout the game Gray questions whether its right or wrong for people & Pokemon to be together and if his own views are as he believes them to be.
PS - Flare: Focusing on Team Flare, Kalos, & XY. MC is a young woman named Elita who owns a Shiny Eternal Flower Flabebe (a gift from her father, the flower was thought to be extinct but her father obtained a dried seed they were able to clone and have a Shiny Flabebe bond with). Elita is from a once rich and influential family until her father's business partners stole his business and framed him for a crime, taking away most of her family's wealth. On the grand opening of Lysandre's Cafe, feeling her family deserves to be represented, sneaks into the VIP section but get caught. She's brought to Lysandre who remember her father was an early investor of his company before being arrested. After hearing her side of the story and her viewpoint on people (she believes people are selfish by nature and those who aren't suffer; her father was kind and goodhearted which his selfish business partners took advantage of), he recruits her to join Team Flare. But as the story progresses she interacts with many people and hear their view on things which makes he start questioning if what Team Flare plans on doing is too extreme.
PS - Ultra: Focusing on Team Skull, Aether Foundation, Ultra Recon Squad, Alola, Ultra Space, and USUM; Since we're focusing on multiple teams I'm using the "Ultra" codename. There are four MCs. The first two are a young woman (& the older sister) named Lei who owns a Bounsweet and a older teen boy (& the younger brother) named Lua who owns a Cubone. Lei is an optimistic & overachiever former Island Challenge Champion and had just joined the Aether Foundation as a rookie member; but as she goes up the ranks she gets more embroiled with the darker side of Aether Foundation and has an inner conflict between her career and ethics. Meanwhile Lua is angsty and had just quit his Island Challenge to the disappointment of their parents, feeling disillusioned with Alola's traditions determining someone's worth; he decided to run away and ends up helping some Team Skull grunts escape who invite him to join Team Skull he finds kinship and starts improving himself, but begins to waver on Team Skull's delinquency. The other set of MCs are Chrysoph (older teen boy) & Sophyte (older teen girl), a pair of fraternal twins and Ultra Megalopians and both share a Poipole (and any other Pokemon they obtain); they're another Ultra Recon Squad duo who are given a secret mission to return Ultra Beasts back to their home worlds (often ending up working with Looker & Anabel). The story makes many twist & turns as you switch between Lei, Lua, and the twins who sometimes cross paths and takes them across the islands of Alola and all over Ultra Space.
PS - Max: Focusing on Macro Cosmos, Team Yell, Galar, & Gen VIII; Since we're once again focusing on multiple teams, went with the codename "Max" as it's the shared term between "Dynamax" and "Gigantamax" (& "Eternamax"). MC is an older teen named Howl, grew up on the streets of Wyndom who owns a Nickit. Wanting to join this year's Champion Cup, after failing to get a sponsorship from any of the local businesses, tries applying for one with Macro Cosmos. Meanwhile, Rose has learned the Spikemuth Gym Trainers, under the "guise" of Team Yell, are planning to cause trouble in this year's Champion Cup and make plans to stop them without drawing any attention. Howl takes the test to get the sponsorship but, due to his unruly attitude, is rejected. However this catches the eye of Rose who was observing the tests & asks to meet with Howl. Rose tells Howl that, though he can't be part of this year's Champion Cup, he has a much more important task for him: to go undercover as a member of Team Yell for Macro Cosmos (and to do some other tasks such as collecting Wishing Stars). Rose offers both payment and a guaranteed sponsorship for next year's Champion Cup, which Howl accepts. But as he journeys all across Galar he learns that there's more than fame and fortune at stake with the Champion Cup and Rose & Macro Cosmos may not have everyone's best interest in mind.
PS - Star: Focusing on Team Star, Paldea, & Gen IX. MC is an older teen girl named Estrella, she's introverted and has a stutter & owns a Varoom. She's accepted into the Paldea Academy a month after an incident caused all the previous staff to quit & many students to ditch their studies and form a group called Team Star. Due to her stutter and social awkwardness, Estrella is bullied, but one of those times she gets helped out by some Team Star members (but they get chased off by student council members who warn Estrella to stay away from them, they also blame her for causing trouble). When she again sees the Team Star members who helped her being confronted by a student council member, she defends them and defeats the council member who runs off saying they're going to report her. The Star members than invite her to their base to meet their Captain and to join Team Star. While Estrella still attends classes even after joining Team Star, when she participates in that year's Treasure Hunt she makes it her goal to recieve recognition of all the Star Captains. (Since the final SV DLC isn't out yet, this is still a WIP).
... How so? The discussion suddenly went into the Adventure/Special manga that I don't think we ever got back to this.
Like, I don't see how DPPt, BW, or the climax of SM's story disregarded the influence of the Legendary Pokemon.
DPPt: Cyrus was just about to use the power of Dialga and/or Palkia to redo the universe, and the only way he was stopped was by the Lake Guardians (DP)/Giratina (Platinum) intervening that broke the timespace dragons freed.
BW: The game does all it can to have the battle be the player's dragon vs N's dragon. Then once you defeat N, Ghetsis swoops in while you're weak and N's dragon (& other Pokemon) are unable to battle. Ghetsis team also seems specifically made to counter N's team, including whatever dragon he had (thus whatever dragon you have).
SM's Climax: Are you pointing out that Nebby didn't immediately unfuse Lusamine from Nihilego? My only guess is that Lusamine was receiving a power boost from each of her Pokemon that just made her too strong to be susceptible to unfusing. Once all her Pokemon was defeated the power they were sharing with her was gone and Nebby was able to swoop in. Not to mention they were surrounding by other Nihilego, Nebby may have very well been keeping an eye on those while the player battled Lusamine, waiting for its opening to free Lusamine and fly everyone out of Ultra Space.
I was solely referring to the games when I mentioned these, oops
Gen 4
Regarding Gen 4 it's just a really awful look when the absolute gods who define the entire nature of the multiverse are merely used as pawns despite lesser legendaries being able to overcome similar challenges with ease. Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and the Lake Trio could and should have been able to stomp Team Galactic with ease but were canceled out for the sake of Team Galactic's progression. They should have been treated like the respectable gods the lore made them out to be. The mishandling of these Gen 4 Pokémon has notoriously created lots of confusion for those who dig into these Pokémon because while they were treated as much lesser than their concepts allow, they've proven to actually resemble those concepts.
I think a great idea would have been to have Team Galactic attempt to catch lake trio, then utterly fail because the lake trio are a powerstomp in the Pokémon canon, and eventually as we learn Cyrus's backstory Uxie could have erased Cyrus's bad memories, Mesprit could have made Cyrus look at the positives in life, and Azelf could have given him the willpower to strive for a better life. In the end, he creates a mechanical business with his Team Galactic crew, while the bulk of the game's story focuses on Giratina's lore, how it tampered with the boundaries of time-space, how Arceus banished it, and how it could one day seek out vengeance for its ban. This validates and respects the legendary Pokémon, fleshes out on the arc of major human characters involved, and makes the bulk of the game's story about the Pokémon on the box. If Uxie erasing memories is too extreme, maybe the story could've just had it use its powers to lead Azelf and Mesprit into helping to fix Cyrus. Uxie would canonically know about Cyrus's goals, his life, and what he's upset about, since it's the embodiment of knowledge. These Pokemon could've simply used their powers to influence the story in a way that lets them be taken seriously for their concepts, as Gen 4's worldbuilding made it more critical for its legendaries to be taken seriously than any other point in Pokemon's history.
Gen 5
As for Generation 5, the presentation made it seem as if it was a battle between truth and ideals... but personally, nothing about that fight was truly between either.
Firstly, Black and White's story was not about the Pokemon. You were not fighting to decide the fate of Pokemon. You were fighting to expose N of all the lies Team Plasma tried to spread throughout the region, as they have shown many clear signs throughout the plot of their words being just lies. The first example is shown in the Dreamyard where Team Plasma members kick a Munna. Outside of that, the grunts give away hints of their ploy throughout the game, there's even one grunt you can find who explicitly tells you the truth in N's castle before the final fight, Ghetsis vaguely gives himself away twice, once in Castelia City in his conversation with Burgh, and the other in Tubeline Bridge. They were really just trying to manipulate people into giving Plasma their own Pokemon or getting rid of their Pokemon so Plasma could have all the power in the world. The Pokemon themselves can have a say, the Pokemon themselves can escape when they want, the Pokemon themselves can fight back. That's all been shown and expressed throughout other games and other media, but Black and White fails to showcase this and as a result, grossly misrepresents the Pokemon in an attempt to have a more compelling story.
Reshiram's case doesn't make sense considering N did not want to keep the world true to the way things always were, and he was lied to his whole life, but that's not as relevant. I'll mostly explain Zekrom instead.
Zekrom's entire purpose of existing is to work alongside humanity to have them accomplish what they find most ideal in the world and yet, was not only fighting for something that was obviously not ideal by the majority and the very laws of Pokemon itself, it was fighting to erase its entire purpose of existing...
The whole reason this dragon split in the first place was so it could work alongside humanity in different parts of itself. What's even the point of the Original Dragon, Reshiram, or Zekrom if people and Pokémon are liberated? I believe this could've elevated the plot even further if this was addressed or if N understood he was wrong before the very tail end of the game.
Sun/Moon
This is less about Nebby's handling and more about the lack Ultra Beasts' utilization within the climax of Sun and Moon for what its story built upon. It's based around the idea that Ultra Wormholes are an important part of the worldbuilding. It uses them as a plot device to touch up on the Aether Family's backstory, as Mohn studied Ultra Wormholes then got sucked into one. The idea is that Lusamine dug through Ultra Wormholes in pursuit of her husband but ended up being brainwashed by Nihilego instead, driving her to insanity, including but not limited to abusive behavior towards her children and a rather unclear final motive. First, Lusamine displayed her room of frozen Pokemon, which she stated were her "precious babies", who would all be preserved for eternity. Then, she suddenly shifted into a desire to let Ultra Beasts free into the Alola region to express themselves, and then she suddenly entered into Nihilego's world, claiming the Nihilego are now the only things she loves and how she wants to live there. Three different motives rapidly shifting between each other.
"I can live here in a world filled with only the things that I love! And I will live here!""I don't care if you are my child or not!""I don't care if you were loyal to me or not!""I don't care if you're the rarest Pokémon there is in the world or not!""If you're not beautiful enough to be worthy of my love, then I don't NEED you!"
She went from caring strongly about all the Pokemon around her, to caring solely about Nihilego, within a very short span of time throughout the game, and clearly lost it at this point. During the climatic battle, for some reason, she throws a Nihilego out of a Beast Ball and fuses with it... only to still have a regular Pokemon battle against us, then suddenly changes her behavior again upon being defeated despite her neurotoxins still kicking into effect.
I genuinely disagree with people calling this a great execution of Lusamine, especially when the explanations behind her entire behavior were glossed over throughout the entirety of this major event. This entire plot revolved around added development of Ultra Wormholes, the effects Nihilego's parasitic nature carried towards humanity, and the threat behind Ultra Beasts' rather lesser known capabilities in natural overworlds, and yet it focused so heavily on the human family dynamic that Lusamine's own development took a hard stunt and went directionless by the end of Sun and Moon's story. Nihilego was the overarching antagonist in the game and a character strongly tied to the concept of Ultra Wormholes. It was also an intelligent entity who exploited Lusamine for its own merits. Despite all of this, this all merely got glossed over. Nihilego was never confronted once. We never got to understand Nihilego's motives, we never fully got to know how the rest of the Ultra Beasts felt about being dragged to a new world, and we never got to know if any of this could've had some connection to where Mohn ended up. The climax of Sun and Moon should have been overtaken by Ultra Beasts. This plot would've benefitted a lot more since it would've tied into the theme of the game and the backstory of the game, while allowing Lusamine's character to develop and conclude appropriately. Instead of creating a fused form of Lusamine + Nihilego for no apparent reason, how about we have a second Lusamine boss fight, and then Nihilego use its powers to become a totem version of itself, creating the same Nihilego as the one Mother Beast was in, and summoning other Nihilego in the process. Afterwards, Lusamine gets knocked out and you help her escape, then work to deal with the confused Ultra Beasts who have spread all over Alola from there. Zygarde was specifically made for this as the concept of Ultra Beasts interfere with Zygarde's whole purpose. Upon the onslaught of Ultra Beasts being presently shown, you could collect more Zygarde cells and be sent a message by Zygarde cores that it's in the region to help defend against the Ultra Beasts. From there, maybe after going through a certain amount of beasts, Zygarde temporarily transforms into Zygarde-Complete with all of your cells + remaining cells in the region, and teams up with the rest of Alola's legendaries to finish off everything. From there, the climax ends, and someone in the game (maybe Colress) manages to find out where Mohn ended up based on a machine that measures the time and location in which various Ultra Wormholes opened.
This may sound crazy but I think this would genuinely be a suitable plot for the game, and tie up loose ends for everything without leaving Lusamine going through several different phases of development with her ending up in a hospital or Bill's lab as a cop out.
I was solely referring to the games when I mentioned these, oops
Gen 4
Regarding Gen 4 it's just a really awful look when the absolute gods who define the entire nature of the multiverse are merely used as pawns despite lesser legendaries being able to overcome similar challenges with ease. Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, and the Lake Trio could and should have been able to stomp Team Galactic with ease but were canceled out for the sake of Team Galactic's progression. They should have been treated like the respectable gods the lore made them out to be. The mishandling of these Gen 4 Pokémon has notoriously created lots of confusion for those who dig into these Pokémon because while they were treated as much lesser than their concepts allow, they've proven to actually resemble those concepts.
I think a great idea would have been to have Team Galactic attempt to catch lake trio, then utterly fail because the lake trio are a powerstomp in the Pokémon canon, and eventually as we learn Cyrus's backstory Uxie could have erased Cyrus's bad memories, Mesprit could have made Cyrus look at the positives in life, and Azelf could have given him the willpower to strive for a better life. In the end, he creates a mechanical business with his Team Galactic crew, while the bulk of the game's story focuses on Giratina's lore, how it tampered with the boundaries of time-space, how Arceus banished it, and how it could one day seek out vengeance for its ban. This validates and respects the legendary Pokémon, fleshes out on the arc of major human characters involved, and makes the bulk of the game's story about the Pokémon on the box. If Uxie erasing memories is too extreme, maybe the story could've just had it use its powers to lead Azelf and Mesprit into helping to fix Cyrus. Uxie would canonically know about Cyrus's goals, his life, and what he's upset about, since it's the embodiment of knowledge. These Pokemon could've simply used their powers to influence the story in a way that lets them be taken seriously for their concepts, as Gen 4's worldbuilding made it more critical for its legendaries to be taken seriously than any other point in Pokemon's history.
Gen 5
As for Generation 5, the presentation made it seem as if it was a battle between truth and ideals... but personally, nothing about that fight was truly between either.
Firstly, Black and White's story was not about the Pokemon. You were not fighting to decide the fate of Pokemon. You were fighting to expose N of all the lies Team Plasma tried to spread throughout the region, as they have shown many clear signs throughout the plot of their words being just lies. The first example is shown in the Dreamyard where Team Plasma members kick a Munna. Outside of that, the grunts give away hints of their ploy throughout the game, there's even one grunt you can find who explicitly tells you the truth in N's castle before the final fight, Ghetsis vaguely gives himself away twice, once in Castelia City in his conversation with Burgh, and the other in Tubeline Bridge. They were really just trying to manipulate people into giving Plasma their own Pokemon or getting rid of their Pokemon so Plasma could have all the power in the world. The Pokemon themselves can have a say, the Pokemon themselves can escape when they want, the Pokemon themselves can fight back. That's all been shown and expressed throughout other games and other media, but Black and White fails to showcase this and as a result, grossly misrepresents the Pokemon in an attempt to have a more compelling story.
Reshiram's case doesn't make sense considering N did not want to keep the world true to the way things always were, and he was lied to his whole life, but that's not as relevant. I'll mostly explain Zekrom instead.
Zekrom's entire purpose of existing is to work alongside humanity to have them accomplish what they find most ideal in the world and yet, was not only fighting for something that was obviously not ideal by the majority and the very laws of Pokemon itself, it was fighting to erase its entire purpose of existing...
The whole reason this dragon split in the first place was so it could work alongside humanity in different parts of itself. What's even the point of the Original Dragon, Reshiram, or Zekrom if people and Pokémon are liberated? I believe this could've elevated the plot even further if this was addressed or if N understood he was wrong before the very tail end of the game.
Sun/Moon
This is less about Nebby's handling and more about the lack Ultra Beasts' utilization within the climax of Sun and Moon for what its story built upon. It's based around the idea that Ultra Wormholes are an important part of the worldbuilding. It uses them as a plot device to touch up on the Aether Family's backstory, as Mohn studied Ultra Wormholes then got sucked into one. The idea is that Lusamine dug through Ultra Wormholes in pursuit of her husband but ended up being brainwashed by Nihilego instead, driving her to insanity, including but not limited to abusive behavior towards her children and a rather unclear final motive. First, Lusamine displayed her room of frozen Pokemon, which she stated were her "precious babies", who would all be preserved for eternity. Then, she suddenly shifted into a desire to let Ultra Beasts free into the Alola region to express themselves, and then she suddenly entered into Nihilego's world, claiming the Nihilego are now the only things she loves and how she wants to live there. Three different motives rapidly shifting between each other.
"I can live here in a world filled with only the things that I love! And I will live here!""I don't care if you are my child or not!""I don't care if you were loyal to me or not!""I don't care if you're the rarest Pokémon there is in the world or not!""If you're not beautiful enough to be worthy of my love, then I don't NEED you!"
She went from caring strongly about all the Pokemon around her, to caring solely about Nihilego, within a very short span of time throughout the game, and clearly lost it at this point. During the climatic battle, for some reason, she throws a Nihilego out of a Beast Ball and fuses with it... only to still have a regular Pokemon battle against us, then suddenly changes her behavior again upon being defeated despite her neurotoxins still kicking into effect.
I genuinely disagree with people calling this a great execution of Lusamine, especially when the explanations behind her entire behavior were glossed over throughout the entirety of this major event. This entire plot revolved around added development of Ultra Wormholes, the effects Nihilego's parasitic nature carried towards humanity, and the threat behind Ultra Beasts' rather lesser known capabilities in natural overworlds, and yet it focused so heavily on the human family dynamic that Lusamine's own development took a hard stunt and went directionless by the end of Sun and Moon's story. Nihilego was the overarching antagonist in the game and a character strongly tied to the concept of Ultra Wormholes. It was also an intelligent entity who exploited Lusamine for its own merits. Despite all of this, this all merely got glossed over. Nihilego was never confronted once. We never got to understand Nihilego's motives, we never fully got to know how the rest of the Ultra Beasts felt about being dragged to a new world, and we never got to know if any of this could've had some connection to where Mohn ended up. The climax of Sun and Moon should have been overtaken by Ultra Beasts. This plot would've benefitted a lot more since it would've tied into the theme of the game and the backstory of the game, while allowing Lusamine's character to develop and conclude appropriately. Instead of creating a fused form of Lusamine + Nihilego for no apparent reason, how about we have a second Lusamine boss fight, and then Nihilego use its powers to become a totem version of itself, creating the same Nihilego as the one Mother Beast was in, and summoning other Nihilego in the process. Afterwards, Lusamine gets knocked out and you help her escape, then work to deal with the confused Ultra Beasts who have spread all over Alola from there. Zygarde was specifically made for this as the concept of Ultra Beasts interfere with Zygarde's whole purpose. Upon the onslaught of Ultra Beasts being presently shown, you could collect more Zygarde cells and be sent a message by Zygarde cores that it's in the region to help defend against the Ultra Beasts. From there, maybe after going through a certain amount of beasts, Zygarde temporarily transforms into Zygarde-Complete with all of your cells + remaining cells in the region, and teams up with the rest of Alola's legendaries to finish off everything. From there, the climax ends, and someone in the game (maybe Colress) manages to find out where Mohn ended up based on a machine that measures the time and location in which various Ultra Wormholes opened.
This may sound crazy but I think this would genuinely be a suitable plot for the game, and tie up loose ends for everything without leaving Lusamine going through several different phases of development with her ending up in a hospital or Bill's lab as a cop out.
I liked this a lot and you made some really good points (especially about gen 4, which I've always felt had a rather lacking plot but could never quite put my finger on why) but for the love of god please use the enter key more, that final paragraph was an excellent read but incredibly hard on the eyes
on the unexpected cross-gen evolutions subject, i think the ones i like the least are the ones who don't fulfill the "we give out evolutions when we get a good idea for one, and not only to improve their stats" premise gamefreak supposedly follows.
of course, this was a recurring thing with the megas (what do you mean flygon was hard to design a mega for? look at mega manectric. clearly they weren't that worried), but even some full-fledged evolutions feel that way, and starting as early as blissey in gen 2. why did chansey evolve, in terms of fulfilling something else with the design and concept? happiny might be useless mechanically in every way, but it added so much more flavour to the evolutionary line than blissey. it's a criticism very easily pointed to gen 4's smorgasbord of evolutions, though when they were good they were great (froslass my beloved).
(sidenote: even mechanically, blissey wasn't really that necessary. maybe if it came in a later generation, but as it was, they could have given chansey that 75 sp.atk blissey has in the sp.atk/def split instead of 35, and it would function nearly the exact same as blissey forevermore.)
on the unexpected cross-gen evolutions subject, i think the ones i like the least are the ones who don't fulfill the "we give out evolutions when we get a good idea for one, and not only to improve their stats" premise gamefreak supposedly follows.
of course, this was a recurring thing with the megas (what do you mean flygon was hard to design a mega for? look at mega manectric. clearly they weren't that worried), but even some full-fledged evolutions feel that way, and starting as early as blissey in gen 2. why did chansey evolve, in terms of fulfilling something else with the design and concept? happiny might be useless mechanically in every way, but it added so much more flavour to the evolutionary line than blissey. it's a criticism very easily pointed to gen 4's smorgasbord of evolutions, though when they were good they were great (froslass my beloved).
(sidenote: even mechanically, blissey wasn't really that necessary. maybe if it came in a later generation, but as it was, they could have given chansey that 75 sp.atk blissey has in the sp.atk/def split instead of 35, and it would function nearly the exact same as blissey forevermore.)
Someone in GF 1997: Yo, let's give Chansey an evo
Other GF staff: W-why? It's already a powerful tank. We're literally going to nerf its Sp. Atk
Someone: Nah nah, it'll make sense 14 years now
Others: Pff, like this franchise will last longer than the new millenium. Tell you what, you make a new item that would be funny
Someone: Alight >:] *14 years, later*
Someone: Hey, bitches. I was thinking of having an item that doubles defenses for none fully evolved mons
Others: Well that seems worth–
Someone: Points to Chansey
Others: Fuck. Fine, but we're making hard mode an unlockable
Someone in GF 1997: Yo, let's give Chansey an evo
Other GF staff: W-why? It's already a powerful tank. We're literally going to nerf its Sp. Atk
Someone: Nah nah, it'll make sense 14 years now
Others: Pff, like this franchise will last longer than the new millenium. Tell you what, you make a new item that would be funny
Someone: Alight >:] *14 years, later*
Someone: Hey, bitches. I was thinking of having an item that doubles defenses for none fully evolved mons
Others: Well that seems worth–
Someone: Points to Chansey
Others: Fuck. Fine, but we're making hard mode an unlockable
I don't agree. I believe that switching is a core tenant of Pokemon, and being punished with what is essentially a free kill if the player switches in at the correct time, one single time, without the opportunity for the other core tenant to me (teambuilding) to support your Pokemon, is broken.
To me, the entire point of 6v6 singles as a competitive game is that you make your team, and you switch around it with strategy in order to wiggle out of weaknesses. The Magnet Pull dynamic to me is just matchup fishing + removes too much control from the other player. If one Pokemon gets a kill, it just dies. If it switches in on the turn the opponent switches in the Magnet Pull Pokemon, it just dies. If the opponent uses U-Turn on that Pokemon being swapped in, it just dies.
Of course, this isn't to say "any scenario where you have to sack is uncompetitive", it's that these are conditions that are too easy to pull off. Usually you get into that position around midgame where you make dents, knock off items, use hazards and status to put your opponent into a condition where they must start cutting their losses. Magnet Pull just puts you, by Turn 1, into a condition where it is essentially a 5v6 game. The moment your Steel-Type does anything that does not involve using U-Turn on the Magnet Pull Pokemon coming in, or killing the Magnet Pull Pokemon, it is dead.
I think that is a bad thing for the game. Magma Storm is much more common so I will use for attacking trapping movesfor why I think it's bad for the game: Simply put it's the same concept. A team will not have several switch ins to the same type (if it is good) generally, and thus an attacking move that traps can put you into a Catch 22. There was a long time (and some still do, IIRC) in SWSH where Toxapex was essentially required to run Shed Tail. The other Fire resists are going to get weakened (say, Dragapult, frail but resists Fire), and Toxapex is often the dedicated pivot, especially for Fire moves. Without Shed Tail, this turns it into a 100-0 matchup, which also therefore makes Heatran much more powerful for the rest of the game.
Simply by being able to prevent the opponent to switch out, you can do absurd shit by just counting and waiting out the chip damage.
Conditional trapping is still bad for the game IMO. Having the certainty that the opponent cannot switch out makes for very bad interactions and makes Pokemon much more powerful than they should be (should, as in, deserving to on outside factors).
Not a super-specific response but actions that change/remove normal options are pretty common in PvP games for strategy purposes. Trapping Abilities are probably a little much, but I think trapping moves are fine. Yeah, they do tend to be a matchup fish, but that's just the nature of moves like these. Magma Storm is certainly in a league of its own, but that's because it also has high BP (coming off of Heatran's high Special Attack) in addition to its trapping.
I would bring up the comparison of removing/changing held items. Moves that do this force changes to a similar "core tenet" in competitive Pokémon, but these are normally seen as balanced. I'd argue that Knock Off is its own beast because it actually does notable damage (similar to Magma Storm) and has good distribution. The ability to restrict move options is rarer, but they exist (Disable, Taunt, Torment, Encore, the also-changing-held-items option of using Trick/Switcheroo to give the target a Choice item) and are seen to have strategic value; I'm not sure why moves, at least, that prevent switching appear more fundamentally problematic to you.
This isn’t demeaning anyone who does it, nor am I saying that I don’t understand why people do it; but I’ve heard some arguments defending VGC’s decision on transfer only Pokémon as not “ pay to win “ because you can have a friend trade you the missing Pokemon you are lacking. There’s two problems: For starters, not everyone has friends to trade with them, even with wifi. But the other issue is that you are using third party software to create a Pokémon, even if the result it legitimate identically. And it’s very clear that the use of external software is forbidden to get Pokémon, even if the result is legitimate is not. One other argument is that glitches are fine since they are in the game and not third party, but I disagree since you are using an unintended feature to get Pokemon, especially Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, which are clearly intended to be one time only.
It's more about how people talk about different gens.
You don't see people complain about Unova being linear and really forcing you down many story events, but you do for Alola. There is a cognitive dissonance or a conscious thought that there is no issue with Unova's linearity, but there is about Alola.
I've heard people try to reconcile this with "Unova has side routes", but you aren't even forced to go through like half of Melemele Island. It has a ton of side areas, side characters, side quests, especiailly in USUM.
It's the unskippable cutscenes with their unmashable text (since you can't move to the next box until the character model finishes moving its mouth to said text). It makes them a slog on replay that doesn't really happen with the pre-gen 7 games.
I've been seeing some discussion here on aspects of the competitive and/or online multiplayer side of Pokémon, and while I'm probably never going to prefer multiplayer content over single player content on average, I do want to take a moment here to talk about what I believe to be a major discrepancy about game balance as a whole. My opinions all center around what I think is the most over-used word in competitive multiplayer- "broken". Seeing this word get thrown around a lot has always confused me since it's so difficult for players to come to a consensus agreement on if certain aspects of the game are "broken" or not. The definition I'm going to use for the purpose of this post involves when assets of the game are added at a later point that already existing assets were not designed with in mind. Let's take a look at some examples of commonly debated "broken" strategies in an effort to explain what I mean by that:
Baton Pass (Gens 2 onwards): Baton Pass is arguably the single most controversial move ever added to competitive Pokémon as a result of the near-infinite potential the move provides the Pokémon and team structures using the move. In theory, any Pokémon created without Baton Pass in mind can be "broken" via the use of Baton Pass, in the form of allowing these Pokémon access to benefits they would not otherwise have access to. Furthermore, well-constructed Baton Pass teams can include specific strategies within their team structure in an effort to protect an active Baton Pass chain from being broken.
Trapping Abilities (Gens 3 onwards): The third generation games added Abilities into the game for the first time, and while a number of the third generation's own Pokémon were created with the new mechanic in mind, many Pokémon were also given Abilities that have forever changed their play style and reputation in the competitive scene. Trapping abilities such as Arena Trap, Shadow Tag, and Magnet Pull immediately come to mind as additions to already existing Pokémon that invalidate a core aspect of Pokémon's competitive gameplay.
Generational Gimmicks (Gen 6 onwards): Admittedly, Mega Evolutions earn a bit of a pass here, as the new forms are specifically designed with their respective Pokémon in mind and as such do not do anything to "break" these Pokémon in theory. This is not to say that certain Mega Evolutions have not been perceived as overpowered in different metagames, though. Other generational gimmicks that function as a universal addition to the roster of Pokémon are a different story, however, as these gimmicks (Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastalizing) have been proven to push Pokémon designed without these gimmicks in mind over the edge. Z-Moves provide significantly improved offesnive potential to anything that can afford to use them, and both Dynamax and Terastalizing have provoked discussions of being banned from standard play entirely.
The approach a set of players have to individual 'mons as if they were goddamn NFT's is irritating. The franchise's artificial scarcity for some things is not a good thing.
Catching something in a beast or an apri ball doesn't make it more valuable.
The approach a set of players have to individual 'mons as if they were goddamn NFT's is irritating. The franchise's artificial scarcity for some things is not a good thing.
Catching something in a beast or an apri ball doesn't make it more valuable.
The approach a set of players have to individual 'mons as if they were goddamn NFT's is irritating. The franchise's artificial scarcity for some things is not a good thing.
Catching something in a beast or an apri ball doesn't make it more valuable.
No, but equally the aesthetic and/or novelty value means something to some people.
Say what you will about artificial scarcity, I think it adds to the novelty to have some balls be restricted or harder to obtain. Like pre-Gen VIII only a select handful of Pokemon could be in the Sport Ball, for instance. There's a fun, kitschy appeal in having a Pokemon from HGSS in that particular ball (and that is a justified scarcity, it's a ball specifically for the Bug-Catching Contest so doesn't really make sense to have it be available elsewhere).
I'm a bit of a "lineage-freak" when it comes to the Pokemon I breed/catch, by which I mean I do take notice of the ball they're in, what region they come from and what route they were hatched on - why? Idk just personal preference, but I guess because it makes them more unique in my eyes. What's the difference between the Bagon you hatched and the Bagon I hatched (assuming they've got comparable stats)? Nothing in particular except for the ball they come in, their OTs, and the location they were met. All these things have a certain allure for some people.
And I am unashamedly quite into the aesthetic value of having a Pokemon be in a certain ball. Like I caught a Staryu in a Dive Ball in RSE and it just looks so freakin' good in it (even though Staryu isn't a Dive-exclusive mon). I have a shiny Bagon I caught in a Premier Ball and the green and white just work well together for some reason. I'm currently catching all the Shadow Pokemon from XD so it's been on my mind because I've been pondering, what do I want to catch in what ball? What looks good in a Pokeball vs Great Ball and so on.
The approach a set of players have to individual 'mons as if they were goddamn NFT's is irritating. The franchise's artificial scarcity for some things is not a good thing.
Catching something in a beast or an apri ball doesn't make it more valuable.
