Pokémon You like(d) Pokémon but these things irk(ed) you!

[Snek]

That's one of the things I love about Pokémon: being able to freely explore and catch all kinds of Pokémon, and take on Gyms in a different order. The newer games have become much too linear for my liking. I want to be able to go to destination C first, rather than have no choice but to go to destination A because I'm not allowed to play the game how I'd like.

Yes, I agree with this 100%. Unfortunately, Game Freak thinks that since their main target audience is children that they have to dumb-down the games. Yes, they actually think children aren't smart enough to figure out how to play Pokémon, one of the easiest games to play. Your problem with the Exp. Share is also because GF thinks children will find things "too difficult". From Gen 5 to the present, every Pokémon game has had some aggressive hand-holding. Gen 6 gave us our current Exp. Share. Gen 7 had the worst region in the history of Pokémon. 4 islands. Can't get more linear than that. Even in SwSh with the barebones "Wild Area" the game was extremely linear. If GF really wants to make a true open-world game, they have to cut out the hand-holding and linear gameplay. BoTW is a good model for an open world Switch game but even in that game there was a linear path. BDSP is a lost cause but I do have hope for Legends. As long as they cut out the helicopter parent act, we can enjoy and explore the game how we want.

 

[GuerreraD]

Also, another tiny thing that I forgot to add to the massive starting post:

How and why, in the holy name of the great Arceus, is Azurill a normal type instead of water?! It's practically a bubble! Twice the bubble, in fact!

 

[your local goomy]

I've kinda lost faith in Legends. I'm sick of all the regional variants and nEw EvOlUtIoNs!!!! I was ok with it in gen 7, I was a bit disappointed to see it return in gen 8 (though I do enjoy some of them), especially with regional variant LEGENDARIES, and it seems that Legends is fully relying on these regional variants and giving previous Pokémon more evolutions. It's honestly really lazy imo. They have all this creativity and they waste it on taking a normal Pokémon, recoloring it, and altering its hairstyle a bit. I don't mind the EXP share or how linear the games are, mainly since I just play through the games for writing inspiration or shiny hunting, but I'm just sick of the variants, man! And something tells me that they're not going away any time soon. It was fun the first few times, but now it's just stale.

 

[Enyo]

I think X & Y was the true downfall of the franchise, not for any of the gimmicks or mechanics it introduced but because it felt watered down, half baked, and a desperate quota rush. Black and White 2 were the final game titles I felt had any love for the franchise.

Yes, you’ve read right. It’s not the fact that they decided to introduce a new type 18 years later... it’s the fact that they made a new type completely out of the blue that nobody asked for, instead of pleasing the fans and implementing the widely known and adored fan-made Light type that has been around since the times of Gold/Silver/Crystal as a counterpart to Dark.

As someone stated before about translating typings this also extends to Psychic types who are actually "Esper" in Japanese. With that being said Fairy is only a general naming for it but there is more than one type of Fairy (Fairy vs Fae) obviously introducing Fae officially would mean a 19th typing would be a bit much when they're the same coin.

Being a light typing would make all the Pokemon from that typing "Heroic" to mirror Dark, with Fairy typings based on some dex entries it isn't the case. A lot of them are meant to Mimic Fae behavior (Mawile, Hatterne, Impidimp line) where others are more Fairy (Florges, Togakiss). Limiting to something as narrow as Light/Heroic would have been a huge loss to dex content and lore.

But drone bees don't change form...? from the wikipedia for drone bees, "drone is a male honey bee. Unlike the female worker bee, drones do not have stingers. They gather neither nectar nor pollen and are unable to feed without assistance from worker bees. A drone's only role is to mate with an unfertilized queen" Yeah I'm not sure who you would want them to portray this in a family friendly setting lol Also I'm not sure how to interpret Salandit and Salazzle as anything other than a sub/dom metaphor

There's a lot of nifty things about Salazzle. Since it originates from Hawaii (Alola) it's more than likely based on Mo'o and instead of guarding water it resides in flame (Salamanders and Newts are often associated with fire), in the wild female reptiles tend to be larger than males too. I think the choice was pretty interesting one.

• Mega Evolution was a fantastic gimmick that was destroyed by being set aside for much weaker and honestly really bad replacements (z-moves and dynamaxing). It added a lot of competitive flare for certain Pokemon like Mawile and Banette. It also added the risk of having two pokemon on your team who could mega evolve forcing people to either forgo their strategy in fear of repercussions. A lot of them made a lot of sense too, the designs were also appealing.
• I understand the game is targeted for children but I'm hard-pressed to believe the developers aren't aware they have a substantial 18+ following who would appreciate more grit and difficulty to the game just like the good ol' days. Smarter AI, better stats for AI and your rival to nut up and stop picking the element weakest to you would be great as an option for adults you still want to enjoy the franchise.
• Paywalling and destroying the national dex. It really took the heart out of the game for me as the whole point is to transfer your beloved team.
• Item trades STILL not being a thing despite them being an essential part of gameplay for a lot of players
• The community for the most part. It's super toxic but so is any Nintendo community. I just usually can't enjoy a Pokemon game if I have someone breathing down my neck pointing out all the flaws I'm already aware of.

 

[Asteroid]

*picks up mic*
Pokemon Home *gags*
*mic drop*

 

[Alienfish]

That every single E4/Gym leader that's supposedly are being Ice themed got a ****ing Lapras, like okay we got you want the big beef but water...? Come on. Yeah, sure you can probably have a decent electric type but

 

[tumut]

Hello there, bell-treers!

As the fellow Pokémon lover that I was in the past, I want to share a few opinions with you and hear your own. Not that I don't love Pokémon anymore, it's just that my love only reaches from Gen 1 to Gen 5. However, good for you if you're still having fun with the latter games! Just remember to please be polite when expressing your opinion or replying to someone else's. You don't have to agree, but there's no need to be rude!

Okay, this will be long... but without further ado, here I go!

• There was nothing wrong with Jynx being black.

Okay, so she resembled African people. Why would that be a bad thing? I don’t see CocaCola CEOs complaining about how much Delibird resembles their commercial image of Santa Claus. Did Native Americans/Native Polynesians feel offended by Xatu? Were Goths bothered by the Gothita line? Were construction workers insulted by the Timburr line? Or were Czech/Jews annoyed by the Golett line?

Just so you know, Animal Crossing did the same face-washing with the gorilla Jane, look it up.

I don't think comparing depictions of construction workers, santa claus, and goth people is really comparable to you know, depicting black people in the same way that racist caricatures had in minstrel shows meant to humiliate and defile them. This whole take is very uneducated.

Anime/Manga had a habit of portraying black people in a similar way to black face. The depictions of black people were often inspired by the childrens book "Little Black Sambo" which had racist depictions of the black protagonist and was popular in Japan. So racist caricatures of their features is often what we get

Spoiler

On fairy type, it was meant to nerf dragon type while buffing poison and steel types

 

[Alienfish]

I wouldn't say Usopp/Yasopp is that caricatural though lol.

And yeah I agree about Home, at least move GTS back to the game big sigh.

 

[Sweetley]

There so many things which bothers me about Pokemon nowadays tbh, none of the new games really caught my attention and my motivation playing any new Pokemon game is sort of gone now. It started to vanished when Sun and Moon released, I already found OR/AS lame tbh and as much as I was excited for Gen 7, it was overall not that great as I hoped it would be imo. Alola became one of my least favorite regions, the story was boring, everything felt so slow as it would take forever to be able to go forward. I completely skipped US/UM and also didn't touch Sword and Shield yet simply because those looking meh for me. The last Pokemon game I actually enjoyed was Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, although this one was also not the greatest, was only worth for me to play it once and never again.

I'm not sure if I should give BD/SP a chance since Gen 4 is one of my favorite Gens and I loved playing Diamond and Pearl back then, as they were also my first main Pokemon games. Not a huge fan of the graphics now because of the chibi look but I could live with it if the rest is at least good. Not sure what I should think about that Legend Arceus game or what is called.

 

[Alienfish]

Yeah Alola was definitely my least fave region, also the fact that especially USUM had such a steep curve when you got to a certain point (level 70 legendary/Poni canyon etc).

X/Y were my least faves graphically like... don't get me started about that one city.

Sword/Shield is actually okay for the graphics being, I mean it's no way they would have done like botw super console graphics or anything. The interface is not the best I agree, though.

 

[Midoriya]

- snip -

Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl are actually really good to be honest and nothing like Sword/Shield and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon in any way. They kept pretty much everything the same, but upgraded the underground into the Grand Underground, and upgraded contests into Super Contest Shows. They also added some other new stuff as well. After having played them enough, I have to say that they did better with these than OR/AS was done to remake generation three. I wouldn’t let something as trivial as the graphics turn you away, but it’s up to you whether you try one out or not. The only downside that I can see is that the exp share can’t be turned off, but the game is still pretty fun regardless.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Every Pokemon game just feels identical to each other and its been like this since Red and Blue. You go out on your journey, catch Pokemon, battling trainers to get experience, defeat gym leaders, defeat your rival, defeat an evil team organization, and then you become the champion. If you want a Pokemon game that has like a really good story try Black/White or Sun/Moon because at least they made changes that made feel more serious and can get you into the story.

Just once I want Pokemon to have a different formula and not repeat the same stuff I know that is going to happen. I know some people the Pokemon community want change, but the problem is that they are scared of change when its done in either a good way or a bad way. I know there has been a lot of heated debates and controversy about Pokemon Legends Arceues not looking good because of the graphics but Game Freak is working hard to make sure its polished and its doing something different for once.. So I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt that they are actually doing something new that will change Pokemon in the future for better or for worse.

 

[Flicky]

Home is beyond a joke.
Payments aside, it's so limited in what Pokemon can be transferred. For example: from my Go account, I moved over a Nidoran. When I received it in Home, it told me I could only transfer it to Sw/Sh. And yet, from Go, I could have transferred to the Let's Go games. So why couldn't I transfer it to Let's Go if I could have done it straight from Go? It makes no sense. Nearly everything I move onto Home can only be transferred the game it came from, even on games that share the same moves/Pokemon.

Also, I really don't care much for Mega Evolutions and Dynamax. Nor do I appreciate the constant hand holding. Kids aren't stupid, they can work out the basics of a game.

 

[Alienfish]

Inb4 this turns into unpopular onions but i actually like the exp share being turned on, i play the games for collecting and story not to spend hours training up stuff, i just use whatever level 100 genned stuff for the elite fours and there is that.

if anything i didn't like the earlier games for being so annoying with just training.

 

[Sweetley]

Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl are actually really good to be honest and nothing like Sword/Shield and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon in any way. They kept pretty much everything the same, but upgraded the underground into the Grand Underground, and upgraded contests into Super Contest Shows. They also added some other new stuff as well. After having played them enough, I have to say that they did better with these than OR/AS was done to remake generation three. I wouldn’t let something as trivial as the graphics turn you away, but it’s up to you whether you try one out or not. The only downside that I can see is that the exp share can’t be turned off, but the game is still pretty fun regardless.

I mean, I don't mind the chibi look that much actually, back when they announced the games I thought they would stick with the same Sword/Shield graphics therefore I was surprised tbh when they showed the new graphic choice for BD/SP. I got a bit more used to it now that watched some Let's Plays, still not a huge fan of it but it's okay. The exp share doesn't bother me that much, I can live with that. Otherwise, I guess I will give BD/SP a try, after all I loved to play Diamond back then and maybe my interest for Pokemon in general comes back while playing.

 

[GuerreraD]

Several pkmn behind a paywall. That's not being nice, Nintendo... people already pay for the games and platforms .

 

[Croconaw]

Every Pokemon game just feels identical to each other and its been like this since Red and Blue. You go out on your journey, catch Pokemon, battling trainers to get experience, defeat gym leaders, defeat your rival, defeat an evil team organization, and then you become the champion. If you want a Pokemon game that has like a really good story try Black/White or Sun/Moon because at least they made changes that made feel more serious and can get you into the story.

Just once I want Pokemon to have a different formula and not repeat the same stuff I know that is going to happen. I know some people the Pokemon community want change, but the problem is that they are scared of change when its done in either a good way or a bad way. I know there has been a lot of heated debates and controversy about Pokemon Legends Arceues not looking good because of the graphics but Game Freak is working hard to make sure its polished and its doing something different for once.. So I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt that they are actually doing something new that will change Pokemon in the future for better or for worse.

This is a month old post, but I wanted to reply to this. I see what you’re saying. I agree to an extent. Some Pokémon games do feel the same, but my favorite games in this series are Pokémon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness. Both of those games take a different approach to the game and I love it. I won’t say much about the games to avoid spoiling anything, but they are games worth looking into if you are a Pokémon fan looking for something different.

 

[VanitasFan26]

This is a month old post, but I wanted to reply to this. I see what you’re saying. I agree to an extent. Some Pokémon games do feel the same, but my favorite games in this series are Pokémon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness. Both of those games take a different approach to the game and I love it. I won’t say much about the games to avoid spoiling anything, but they are games worth looking into if you are a Pokémon fan looking for something different.

The problem is that those Pokemon games you mentioned are so underrated since they were only released on the GameCube and most people have never heard of those games. If they were to bring these games to the Switch if they plan on adding GameCube games in the future I am sure some people would be surprised how good they are. I saw Chuggaocnory played those games on YouTube and I was impressed of how good it was.

 

[Croconaw]

The problem is that those Pokemon games you mentioned are so underrated since they were only released on the GameCube and most people have never heard of those games. If they were to bring these games to the Switch if they plan on adding GameCube games in the future I am sure some people would be surprised how good they are. I saw Chuggaocnory played those games on YouTube and I was impressed of how good it was.

I agree. They’re very underrated titles and most don’t even know they exist. I was hoping for a Pokémon game very similar to those games, but we haven’t gotten one. I think a remake of some sort for the Switch would be amazing.

 

[Miss Misty]

Like I've seen others mentioned, I love replaying older Pokemon games (especially difficulty hacks and randomizers) but a lot of the newer ones are so streamlined and designed to get you to the "post-game" as soon as possible... except said "post-game" is literally just VGC/online play. I've never cared about online battling - I dislike multiplayer games on principle.

No taking time to level your team up individually, no exploring areas you walked through in the main story but have hidden side areas accessible by HM later on, no single player battle challenges like the Battle Frontier (the Battle Tower is an inferior replacement, and the only reason that hasn't been cut is because they haven't worked out how to distribute its items/TMs any other way. Because the optional side areas where you used to delve deep to find good items have all been cut.) And there are so. many. cutscenes. that tell you exactly what to do, where to go, and what order to do/go in. But absolutely nothing else. Heaven forbid the cutscenes add to the story, heaven forbid you get asked to find things for yourself. You might get lost, or distracted, and we can't have that. Nope, we're on a time crunch people! Gotta get you competitive-ready so you can start paying Nintendo money for online battles ASAP.