Pokémon Games Discussion Thread (Gotta Discuss 'Em All!)

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BD/SP look like they will be a step backwards (was hoping for a remaster like OR/AS). Legend of Arceus looks amazing.
 
I know it's been quite a few months since the last post in this thread, but I'm definitely looking forward to BD/SP and Legends Arceus after seeing this week's Pokemon Presents.
 
BD/SP are definitely improvements from first reveal trailer, enough to make me consider buying though my issue is that unlike other remakes which were also steps up in the franchise as a whole, this feels very much like a nostalgic pit stop which is fine but definitely less than FR/LG HG/SS and even OR/AS. I'm worried it's going to be like LGPE where I pick the game up do everything, transfer my team to Pokemon HOME then never touch it again.

Legends Arceus I have issues with it trying to hard to be BOTW, a few of the stuff look like it was only there just because most Open Worlds have it (like crafting) and not because it'll make the game better. However, I'm still excited for it as looks me to be a great single player experience with a new battle system dedicated towards single player.

Legends Arceus is the first time I can't decide what starter to pick. It's usually Water all the way as they have the best line designs IMO but here. I could go Oshawott as it's my 4th favourite starter line overall and my favourite Gen V starter. I could go Cyndaquil because its my favourite non-Water starter. Or I could go Rowlett as I like it a lot but I never got to choose it from Sun and Ultra Sun.
 
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When you consider Mega-Evolutions, exclusive Z-Moves, Gigantamax forms, and regional forms, I wonder what Kanto species are left without having anything yet? Heck, it seems like a species having one of these things doesn't exclude them from having another one, such as how Meowth not only has two regional forms, but also has a Gigantamax form. Another example being Snorlax and Eevee, which both have an exclusive Z-Move and a Gigantamax form.

With the news that Growlithe has a Hisuian form, I wonder what other Kanto species we could see getting regional forms and possibly separate evolutions in Legends Arceus? My guess is that all the species in Legends Arceus that weren't originally in D/P/Pt will be getting regional forms, as we can see with Growlithe and Braviary. It seems likely that Rufflet, Stantler, and Basculin will be getting regional forms, too. As for Arcanine, I think it's still anybody's guess as to whether we'll get a Hisuian Arcanine, or a new evolution altogether in the vein of Obstagoon or Sirfetch'd.

EDIT: I also think it's very likely that some species will not be in Legends Arceus solely because their presence in Legends Arceus would be anachronistic, such as Porygon, Solrock and Lunatone, and Elgyem. But I could definitely see species that were canonically first discovered much longer ago - such as Bronzor/Bronzong and Spiritomb - being present in Legends Arceus, just as they were in D/P/Pt. In a similar vein, I also highly doubt that Voltorb/Electrode will be present, unless they get regional forms. That, on the other hand, could be interesting; while it's stated that Voltorb first appeared around the same time that contemporary PokeBalls were manufactured, perhaps a Hisuian Voltorb could be modeled on the much older Apricorn Balls.
 
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I think it was confirmed on the website Stantler and Basculin new evolutions are not from regional forms and are from their base form. Also website says Rufflet in Hisuian evolve into Hisuian Braviary so I think we won't see a Hisuian Rufflet and will be another Koffing, Pikachu and Cubone situation
 
I think it was confirmed on the website Stantler and Basculin new evolutions are not from regional forms and are from their base form. Also website says Rufflet in Hisuian evolve into Hisuian Braviary so I think we won't see a Hisuian Rufflet and will be another Koffing, Pikachu and Cubone situation
Interesting, I don't see anything that would imply that Stantler and Basculin lack Hisuian forms. But you might be right regarding Rufflet.

On another note, I think the new trailer showcased Legends Arceus' performance a lot better than the initial reveal trailer. That first trailer must've been from an earlier build or something, considering it had a lot more frame-drops.
 
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I do find it interesting they are putting Gen V Pokemon in the game outside Oshawott. I figured this game would be exclusively Gen I to Gen IV except the starters since they were confirmed to be from other regions.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think one of the guys in the expedition you work for a Time Travelling antagonist :lol: . Their building looks to modern compared to the rest Hisuian and the logo looks very reminiscent of Team Galactic
 
I do find it interesting they are putting Gen V Pokemon in the game outside Oshawott. I figured this game would be exclusively Gen I to Gen IV except the starters since they were confirmed to be from other regions.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think one of the guys in the expedition you work for a Time Travelling antagonist :lol: . Their building looks to modern compared to the rest Hisuian and the logo looks very reminiscent of Team Galactic
If you saw the latest Pokemon Presents, you literally work for the Galaxy Team, and your boss seems like she could be Cyrus' ancestor.
 
Yeah I know that's why I think therell be a twist and someone there will be the true villain
It also could be very straight-forward, with the main villain being Arceus itself, or maybe something (or somebody) else other than the Galactic Team. Still, I'm very much looking forward to both games - it may be what makes me finally get a Switch sooner than later.
 
Over the course of this year. I've been playing through Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness on the Gamecube and really been enjoying myself and are definitely an underrated Gen 3 highlight.

Pokemon Colosseum is a bit too grindy, purifying Shadow Pokemon is a chore and the final boss level jumps way too high, I often have to regrind after failing the first time, but I enjoyed the overall setting of Orre being a mostly rundown region that hides a massive conspiracy with the villainous team Cipher. I also love how the bosses in the game each are identified for their strategies with Miror B. using a Rain Strategy for his Ludicolos, Akim has the Protect+Earthquake strategy and Venus relies on status effects especially Attract. Meanwhile Ein uses a mixture of all 3 with added flavours like using Thunder in Rain, using Toxic for status effects and Protect for the added stall with Toxic. Feels so odd looking back this was the best way to obtain the Johto starters as Emeralds way is very mundane.

My Team for Colosseum was:

Espeon
Umbreon
Feraligatr
Ampharos
Flygon
Tyranitar (I did wait until the final boss with 5 Pokemon to add him as my 6)

Pokemon XD is a major improvement in terms of grinding. Only ever needed to grind once so far. Bosses are a little less interesting with their tactics but that because Shadow Pokemon work differently and add an extra challenge of having unique movesets and being Super Effective against all non Shadow Pokemon with really crippling status moves since they aren't restricted by game balance. However CITADARK ISLE IS WAY TOO LONG!!!!! At the halfway point before taking a break and it took me 3 HOURS to get there, it's such and endurance for no reason. Thankfully there's no save points and you can save wherever you want

My Team in Pokemon XD. (Up to the Ardos Boss fight)

Jolteon
Mightyena
Walrein
Aggron
Dusclops
Victreebel


Overall I'm enjoying myself with these games more than even Sword and Shield. However it is limited by both Gen III not having a Special/Physical split and Lv. Movesets not being that amazing relying on TMs and purified moves.

I intended to get Shadow Lugia purify it for Deoxys signature move and transfer it all the way to Sword and Shield :lol: (which funnily enough, Psycho Boost I'd still in the game despite Deoxys not)
 
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Over the course of this year. I've been playing through Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness on the Gamecube and really been enjoying myself and are definitely an underrated Gen 3 highlight.

Pokemon Colosseum is a bit too grindy, purifying Shadow Pokemon is a chore and the final boss level jumps way too high, I often have to regrind after failing the first time, but I enjoyed the overall setting of Orre being a mostly rundown region that hides a massive conspiracy with the villainous team Cipher. I also love how the bosses in the game each are identified for their strategies with Miror B. using a Rain Strategy for his Ludicolos, Akim has the Protect+Earthquake strategy and Venus relies on status effects especially Attract. Meanwhile Ein uses a mixture of all 3 with added flavours like using Thunder in Rain, using Toxic for status effects and Protect for the added stall with Toxic. Feels so odd looking back this was the best way to obtain the Johto starters as Emeralds way is very mundane.

My Team for Colosseum was:

Espeon
Umbreon
Feraligatr
Ampharos
Flygon
Tyranitar (I did wait until the final boss with 5 Pokemon to add him as my 6)

Pokemon XD is a major improvement in terms of grinding. Only ever needed to grind once so far. Bosses are a little less interesting with their tactics but that because Shadow Pokemon work differently and add an extra challenge of having unique movesets and being Super Effective against all non Shadow Pokemon with really crippling status moves since they aren't restricted by game balance. However CITADARK ISLE IS WAY TOO LONG!!!!! At the halfway point before taking a break and it took me 3 HOURS to get there, it's such and endurance for no reason. Thankfully there's no save points and you can save wherever you want

My Team in Pokemon XD. (Up to the Ardos Boss fight)

Jolteon
Mightyena
Walrein
Aggron
Dusclops
Victreebel


Overall I'm enjoying myself with these games more than even Sword and Shield. However it is limited by both Gen III not having a Special/Physical split and Lv. Movesets not being that amazing relying on TMs and purified moves.

I intended to get Shadow Lugia purify it for Deoxys signature move and transfer it all the way to Sword and Shield :lol: (which funnily enough, Psycho Boost I'd still in the game despite Deoxys not)
I played through XD with each possible evolution of Eevee. I'd do it all over again if they produced another sequel.
 
I played through XD with each possible evolution of Eevee. I'd do it all over again if they produced another sequel.
Once I beat the Miror B. Superboss for the Dragonite and transfer my Mons over, I'm probably gonna playthrough XD again, I really enjoyed myself with it.

It's a bit of a shame there hasn't been a sequel. A lot of what Ardos says and does towards the end of the game hints that he'll be back reviving Cipher after Greevil and Eldes redeem themselves. I would love to revisit the Shadow Pokémon formula
 
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Once I beat the Miror B. Superboss for the Dragonite and transfer my Mons over, I'm probably gonna playthrough XD again, I really enjoyed myself with it.

It's a bit of a shame there hasn't been a sequel. A lot of what Ardos says and does towards the end of the game hints that he'll be back reviving Cipher after Greevil and Eldes redeem themselves. I would love to revisit the Shadow Pokémon formula
Given that New Pokemon Snap went over well and showed that there is demand for remakes of older side games, it wouldn't surprise me if we had a revisiting of the series in the next year or two. They're definitely not shying away from spinoffs that deviate from the standard formula, and the Shadow purifying mechanic would fit in nicely with their current emphasis on how Pokemon should be viewed as companions and not living weapons.
 
Given that New Pokemon Snap went over well and showed that there is demand for remakes of older side games, it wouldn't surprise me if we had a revisiting of the series in the next year or two. They're definitely not shying away from spinoffs that deviate from the standard formula, and the Shadow purifying mechanic would fit in nicely with their current emphasis on how Pokemon should be viewed as companions and not living weapons.
That's where things get tricky. Colosseum and XD are apart of the Stadium series along with Battle Revolution but there's clearly no interest in those kind of games from GF especially since the main series is now in 3D. Colosseum and XD single player mode was only out of necessity to complete the Gen III Pokedex, as several Johto Pokemon were locked behind these games until Emerald, and Ho-oh and Lugia can ONLY be obtained with these games.
 
  • The main game is pretty much DP to a tee, no Platinum Pokédex, teams are based on DP. Although you can access the Underground for non-DP Pokemon before post game.
  • Levels are exactly the same as in DP for main game
  • EXP. Share is Mandatory again (I really hate this)
  • Elite Four have all their Pokémon use Held Items
  • In the post game you can rematch Gym Leaders and Elite Four. Elite Four first rematch will use their Platinum Teams at a higher level then the 2nd rematch, they'll expand beyond that. Capping off with Cynthia Garchomp at Lv. 88
  • Online battles still a 20 minute timer from SWSH
  • Most Moves cut from SWSH don't return and several TMs are replaced with newer Moves to compensate.
  • After catching Giratina, you can go where Pal Park used to be and enter the "Distortion Room" and battle a Lv. 100 Origin Form Giratina, defeat it and you get the Griseous Orb
  • Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus events are all coded in. When or If they'll be implemented we have no idea.
  • Game runs on Unity, which will make very Mod friendly
  • Legendary Birds get their own theme
 
Yeah I'm not feeling either of these games.

BD/SP just seems like a lazy remake of Diamond and Pearl. Outsourced, same old annoying design/balancing choices, little to no innovation or QOL improvements anywhere (like seriously, no mega evolution despite the outcry from the community wanting its return). Just a straight pixel-for-pixel remake with the EXP share turned on (yikes). OR/AS are probably my favourite "modern" Pokémon games because they introduced a lot of interesting new features on top of the base game, making it more of an improved retelling than a straight rehash. BD/SP are just a clear step down from that level of a remake. Not to mention they decided to remake the inferior version of the generation instead of Platinum, so no Battle Frontier to speak of, which is highly requested by pretty much everyone in the community. OR/AS had that issue too but it proves Nintendo is continually not listening to their fanbase on that regard.

Legends: Arceus just looks like one of the strangest attempt at a spin-off or new idea for Pokémon I've ever seen. It takes a concept that we all would think it pretty neat, an open world Pokémon RPG, and throws it back in time to the founding of Sinnoh. On pure concept alone it's pretty exciting but the game comes out really soon and there just isn't anything to it from the gameplay I've seen. The graphics are horrendous, like PS2-level textures, and the world just looks incredibly empty. Breath of the Wild was empty too but they managed to hide tonnes of clever puzzles and lore into the landscape, which I just have a feeling Legends: Arceus won't pull off. It doesn't look empty because that's supposed to be the theme of the game, it looks empty because they just didn't bother to make a complete game. I feel like the game is just going to become a full-map expansion of the Wild Area from Sword (gross) with little else to talk about.

Honestly, Pokémon really needs to go on hiatus or be rebooted straight-up at this point. Introducing 9999 forms and 9999 new Pokémon (without ever all being featured in the same game again) isn't what anyone wants, we want games with actual thought and effort put into them that take more than a year to develop. Game Freak and Pokémon have really become Nintendo's Call of Duty at this point. Yearly releases with hardly any innovation to speak of. I tried Sword and it was the laziest piece of game I have ever touched on the Switch. Still haven't gotten past the gym challenges. I won't be buying BD/SP since I own the originals and they don't need replacing at the moment. I might buy Arceus if it turns out to somehow be this fresh new start for the series, but we'll see about that and hope they haven't screwed it up in the meantime.

Either way, Pokémon as a franchise has just become bloated and soulless, and it needs to stop now.
 
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OR/AS are probably my favourite "modern" Pokémon games because they introduced a lot of interesting new features on top of the base game, making it more of an improved retelling than a straight rehash.
I thought ORAS was the weakest of the 3DS Pokémon games. I give X and Y the benefit of having to make 600+ models from Scratch for the lack of stuff to do but ORAS has no excuse. ORAS did have improvements but a lot of scale back too like difficulty and Trick House missing a few sets. I consider Emerald a better R/S remake than ORAS.

Platinum might take that title too for D/P :lol:. I'm not much of a Visual guy but I do judge Pokémon a lot on it now since they said that's the reason to cut the Pokédex, and models took inspirational from Let's Go but still we don't have proper scaling (why is one of the few good things about Let's Go not sticking...). And the Grid based battle arena is even more obvious than in Sword and Shield which is very glaring once you notice.
 
About the TMs for BDSP.

They are back to being single use again, HMs have also became the single use TMs and it appears you get more by BP

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I don't know how they did it, but they made me miss HMs...
 
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About the TMs for BDSP.

They are back to being single use again, HMs have also became the single use TMs and it appears you get more by BP

View attachment 1093894

I don't know how they did it, but they made me miss HMs...
What HMs are you honestly going to use in-battle aside from Surf and Waterfall? I mean yeah, there's the rare use of Fly, but even then, that's three HMs that are useful in battles out of how many? Oh no, I'm so scared of Cut and Rock Climb!

Anyway, if all moves that were omitted from Sw/Sh - even including the ones they added back in via DLC - were also missing from BD/SP, then that would likely mean that Hidden Power would still be missing, too. So what does Unown learn? Or did they just cut out everything involving Unown?

Either way, I still think BD/SP and Legends Arceus both look fun. Once I get a Switch, I plan to at least get SP and Legends Arceus to see them for myself.

My idea is that if BD/SP had ranked battles planned, then there would've been a more robust effort to overhaul the games - more in the vein of OR/AS - rather than what we got. I think GameFreak does have some sort of plan, here, with omitting ranked battles from both BD/SP and Legends Arceus while partially outsourcing the former. Makes me wonder how long they can keep the VGCs interesting if they simply plan to keep using Sw/Sh.

It's too bad that remakes have seemingly become a more spin-off series than something more respectable, but I'm sure GameFreak and TPCI have a plan of some sort. You don't manage the biggest media franchise in the world while being a complete moron. There surely must be machinations here beyond our comprehension, especially with how secretive not only game development is in general, but especially TPCI, with how they aggressively go after leakers. I'm sure that for one thing, GameFreak is working on Gen IX as we speak, and I bet it'll be set in California.

I also recall there being a day-one patch for BD/SP that seems to add quite a bit, so we should at least stay tuned for that.
 
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What HMs are you honestly going to use in-battle aside from Surf and Waterfall? I mean yeah, there's the rare use of Fly, but even then, that's three HMs that are useful in battles out of how many? Oh no, I'm so scared of Cut and Rock Climb!
Well Fly is good in single player since the A.I never take advantage and yes it is 3 but it is 3 out of 8.

I honestly don't like HMs at all and have been glad they have been cut all together but I rather it over turning Surf and Waterfall into rare moves you are massively restricted on. Water is my favourite type so I'm one of those who are definitely affected by this more than others.

I don't think there was ever a gameplan for BD/SP. This feels like a cheap cash grab for Legends Arceus to get all the benefit. Not that I think they are being moronic but I think TPC are being very malicious, like they are pumping out these releases almost yearly with what seems like little budget as it'll sell well because Pokémon. I don't necessarily blame the developers (except the TMs here) but TPC themselves.

Day One Patch is already out and data mined, it just includes the post game areas already in DP or shown in the trailer, nothing really else.
 
I don't think there was ever a gameplan for BD/SP. This feels like a cheap cash grab for Legends Arceus to get all the benefit.
Yeah, but I'm sure there's a reason why that's the case. A part of a broader strategy - especially with both BD/SP and Legends Arceus not having ranked battles...
 
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Well Fly is good in single player since the A.I never take advantage and yes it is 3 but it is 3 out of 8.

I honestly don't like HMs at all and have been glad they have been cut all together but I rather it over turning Surf and Waterfall into rare moves you are massively restricted on. Water is my favourite type so I'm one of those who are definitely affected by this more than others.

I don't think there was ever a gameplan for BD/SP. This feels like a cheap cash grab for Legends Arceus to get all the benefit. Not that I think they are being moronic but I think TPC are being very malicious, like they are pumping out these releases almost yearly with what seems like little budget as it'll sell well because Pokémon. I don't necessarily blame the developers (except the TMs here) but TPC themselves.

Day One Patch is already out and data mined, it just includes the post game areas already in DP or shown in the trailer, nothing really else.
Seems incredibly dumb they need to include that in a patch.
 
Seems incredibly dumb they need to include that in a patch.
Dumb? Sounds more to me that they didn't have time to finalize that content by the time the vanilla version went gold, so it could be that they wrapped up debugging or whatever for the patch's content in the timespan between the vanilla going gold and the actual release.
 
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Dumb? Sounds more to me that they didn't have time to finalize that content by the time the vanilla version went gold, so it could be that they wrapped up debugging or whatever for the patch's content in the timespan between the vanilla going gold and the actual release.
After seeing what disaster that is the GTA Trilogy, I am stunned that they didn't already have it in the game.
 
Yeah, but I'm sure there's a reason why that's the case. A part of a broader strategy - especially with both BD/SP and Legends Arceus not having ranked battles...
Legends Arceus not having ranked is more likely that the battle mechanics and gameplay is made with Single Player in mind, I don't even think therell be online battles at all.

While BD/SP is just a minor pit stop that GF themselves didn't take seriously enough and gave it to ILCA.

SwSh is the only thing suitable for VGCs right now.

Seems incredibly dumb they need to include that in a patch.
It is confirmed to be in the Day One Patch from the data miners.

I don't think it was dumb (at least from ILCA perspective) but is the after effects of a rush job they were forced to do
 
Legends Arceus not having ranked is more likely that the battle mechanics and gameplay is made with Single Player in mind, I don't even think therell be online battles at all.

While BD/SP is just a minor pit stop that GF themselves didn't take seriously enough and gave it to ILCA.

SwSh is the only thing suitable for VGCs right now.
I just wonder why TPC/GameFreak decided to take this whole approach. I'm sure there's a valid reason - or perhaps multiple reasons - but I don't think we'll ever truly learn of the machinations behind this strategy. I wouldn't call myself a blind defender of GameFreak/TPC - especially since I don't know how much pressure gets put on GameFreak by TPC - but I will say that I trust GameFreak/TPC to have some sort of plan that they likely cannot disclose due to tons of NDAs that involve profound punishments if someone were to break them.

Look, if TPC made mere leakers pay six figures each for leaking, god knows what they'd do to a member of TPC/GameFreak staff that decided to disclose top-secret development info, or broader strategies like what I'm trying to figure out. They might have the power to blacklist that sort of person from the entire gaming industry - who knows. Basically, I see TPC as being like a deity, being immensely powerful, and you definitely don't want to get them mad. I suppose a bit like a legendary Pokemon?
 
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I've finished the main game of Brilliant Diamond. I was doing a mono Steel Team.

One thing that really annoyed me was I could tell the A.I were getting smarter, the Teams were really strong and well set up but I barely could experience it. The EXP. Share forced on made me overleveled against everyone except Cynthia. Affection is gained passively instead from an option event, so except for Dialga who was a late addition, all my Pokemon got increased Crit ratios and evasion. I really felt like I cheated even though I didn't and played like I normally do in OG Diamond which when I replayed that last year, I won with Lv. 55 to 57 and didn't have the affection bonuses.

What really set this tone was the battle against Flint. I tried to counter the Drifblim > Infernape strategy but he pulled it off after burning my Bronzong. I tried to outsmart by using Psychic the turn he switched but he outsmarted my outsmarting as Infernape had a Focus Sash. It was getting really intense and was making me think until Bronzong healed it's Burn cause he loves me, and just wiped the floor with him with no real penalties after that.

The A.I and Team increase could've made this game as interesting as Colosseum, XD and Black 2 Challenge in terms of boss battles but the forced "benefits" stripped that away. I know there are ways to make it harder on yourself but I shouldn't have to go out of my to make the game harder when the game was already getting harder by the A.I just because I play Pokemon like I normally do where it was a challenge at points through Gen I to Gen VII

It's even worse when you're trying to have your Pokémon at the same level but Bastiodon is in the Erratic exp group. I rarely used him because he'd just sprint to levels way passed the others and I really didn't like that.
 
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Samurott is easily the best if you ask me, similar to the original but I don't have a problem with that. Typhlosion probably looks better in gameplay but I much rather the original bulkier design. What went wrong with Decidueye? :lol:
 
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