Pokemon News and Discussion

[Matasoga]

Shanderaa

YEP

I guess this means Z is all but confirmed. heart

Yeah, it sure looks that way. They better have made a lot more upgrades than usual with the third game in an installment (examples being Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum) for as long as they taken to give us any real info... Not that they really have yet.
Seeing as they took Ruby and Sapphire and turned it into what they did, my hopes are high.  

[Matasoga]

maui boy no ka oi

Lady-Sanctuary

maui boy no ka oi

POH KAY MAHN

X/Y were actually surprisingly good. I never liked gen 4 and 5 that much personally. 6 was quite the improvement IMO.

I'm getting into this! I love Pokemon, but I've never been one for religiously buying the new ones as they come, I'm a bit more hit and miss!

Overall, I think that X/Y was the better of this generation of games. ORAS, while a remake of one of the best in the series, was simply underwhelming in terms of its delivery. Mega and primal evos along with updated graphics are not enough to make me consider them really good. R/S/E was innovative and brought many new things to the table that continue to be staples of the Pokemon franchise to this day. ORAS introduced broken a** Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza...

Those two don't really compare. Mega Rayquaza is in his own tier, now.
Honestly, I love Pokemon. I love the idea of Pokemon. I'll probably always buy the new games, barring financial catastrophe.  

[Matasoga]

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Lady-Sanctuary

maui boy no ka oi

POH KAY MAHN

X/Y were actually surprisingly good. I never liked gen 4 and 5 that much personally. 6 was quite the improvement IMO.

I'm getting into this! I love Pokemon, but I've never been one for religiously buying the new ones as they come, I'm a bit more hit and miss!

Overall, I think that X/Y was the better of this generation of games. ORAS, while a remake of one of the best in the series, was simply underwhelming in terms of its delivery. Mega and primal evos along with updated graphics are not enough to make me consider them really good. R/S/E was innovative and brought many new things to the table that continue to be staples of the Pokemon franchise to this day. ORAS introduced broken a** Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza...

Those two don't really compare. Mega Rayquaza is in his own tier, now.
Honestly, I love Pokemon. I love the idea of Pokemon. I'll probably always buy the new games, barring financial catastrophe.

Mega Rayquaza is in his own tier only because he can mega evolve without a stone. Life orb Rayquaza is very strong but can be countered just like Mega Salamence. Is he broken? Yes. But Mega Groudon is just as broken honestly. The only difference is that Mega Groudon doesn't hit as hard when Mega Rayquaza holds life orb.

That makes a big difference, but I haven't checked stats to see if there's more. I'm fairly comfortable assuming that Smogon knows better than we do.  

[Matasoga]

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Overall, I think that X/Y was the better of this generation of games. ORAS, while a remake of one of the best in the series, was simply underwhelming in terms of its delivery. Mega and primal evos along with updated graphics are not enough to make me consider them really good. R/S/E was innovative and brought many new things to the table that continue to be staples of the Pokemon franchise to this day. ORAS introduced broken a** Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza...

Those two don't really compare. Mega Rayquaza is in his own tier, now.
Honestly, I love Pokemon. I love the idea of Pokemon. I'll probably always buy the new games, barring financial catastrophe.

Mega Rayquaza is in his own tier only because he can mega evolve without a stone. Life orb Rayquaza is very strong but can be countered just like Mega Salamence. Is he broken? Yes. But Mega Groudon is just as broken honestly. The only difference is that Mega Groudon doesn't hit as hard when Mega Rayquaza holds life orb.

That makes a big difference, but I haven't checked stats to see if there's more. I'm fairly comfortable assuming that Smogon knows better than we do.

Smogon is a bit biased with their tiering system. The reason that M. Ray was banned from ubers was simply because there wasn't much in the uber tier that could counter it. People would end up having to fit dedicated M. Ray counters onto their team to take him out. Most of these counters were from OU tier so should the opponent not bring along M. Ray (for example M. Kang), their team would be completely undergunned due to specializing in taking out M. Ray. If we don't take Smogon tiering into account, M. Ray isn't that incredibly powerful that it breaks the meta as Smogon would try to make you believe. The official VGC tournaments by Nintendo allow the use of M. Ray and only ban Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect, Diancie, and Hoopa. The big difference between Smogon rules and VGC rules here are that VGC limits you to only two any of the following per team: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde. I have a coworker who participates in VGC tournaments every year and he too has said that M. Ray is overrated. Most of the mega evos in VGC consist of M. Kang simply because it is such an insane powerhouse and opens up slots for more useful Pokemon such as Lugia and Primal Groudon.

TL;DR: M. Ray dominates in Smogon rules single ubers because very few ubers counter him but is not any more powerful than Primal Groudon under VGC 2015 rules because primal Groudon isn't checked by common threats like Slowbro or Azumarill.

I'd have to brush up on stats before I could really argue many of those points, but I wholeheartedly agree that Mega Kangaskhan is a broken mess. I won't be using any rule system that allows it in the event that I run each year.  

[Matasoga]

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Overall, I think that X/Y was the better of this generation of games. ORAS, while a remake of one of the best in the series, was simply underwhelming in terms of its delivery. Mega and primal evos along with updated graphics are not enough to make me consider them really good. R/S/E was innovative and brought many new things to the table that continue to be staples of the Pokemon franchise to this day. ORAS introduced broken a** Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza...

Erm... This is going back a little, but did you -really- think that the original Sapphire and Ruby were the best in the series?

For the era in which it was introduced, yes. RBY was a broken mess with no sense of balance whatsoever. G/S balanced out RBY but did little to introduce new ideas outside of introducing new Pokemon. R/S/E introduced the EV and IV system that is still used to this day, introduced natures that increased and decreased certain stats which helped to further define a Pokemon's identity, introduced abilities which play a huge part in not only the competitive scene but also the single player experience as a whole, introduced the first (and only?) dragon types that actually looked like a dragon in Salamence and Rayquaza, introduced a revolutionary box system that doesn't require you to have to frickin manually switch boxes whenever you run out of space, introduced double battles which are the official battle format of VGC tournaments today, introduced personality values and secret IDs to determine such factors as gender and shininess (as opposed to the old system which determined shininess based entirely on IVs), and of course the introduction of the Battle Tower which remains the pinnacle of the single player experience even to this day.

Sure D/P/P introduced Pokemon battles/trades over the internet, split move properties individually into physical or special, and introduced a new 3D rendering system (although whether this is a good change or bad one is subjective), but the things introduced in any other generation pale in comparison to the revolutionary redesigns that happened in Gen 3. I never owned a Pokemon game until Gold version. I only ever had the chance to play a friend's Blue version until I finally got my own GB and I thoroughly enjoyed Silver. But it is definitely Ruby that got me to thoroughly enjoy the Pokemon series.

Gen 4 was a bit of a let down and I don't think I even finished playing through my Pearl version before moving on to Heart Gold for nostalgic reasons. Gen 5 as far as I know introduced little to make anything within B/W memorable and I still have a copy of White 2 that I haven't even opened yet.

Gen 6 was really good in comparison to 4 and 5 IMO due to the introduction of so many fun things to do such as Pokemon-Amie and super training. Mega evolutions are obviously one of the biggest introductions. The addition of the out-of-battle effect of destiny knot makes breeding much less of a grind than previous generations. They were also the first generation of Pokemon to make the 3D styling work (IMO probably due to character customization) due to the increased performance of the new 3DS system. The ability to move diagonally, as well as the gorgeous (for a Pokemon game) environments that you get to explore really help to bring out the awesome traits of the game's open world. The characters in the game are genuinely likable and the story actually feels like a legitimately enthralling story. Overall, Gen 6 was just the best improvement to the series since Gen 3 and if OR/AS was released alongside X/Y, its significance may not have been so eclipsed as it had been since OR/AS released a considerable time after X/Y released.

Also, it may be biased, but the Pokemon designs in Gen 3 have held more awesome-level designs than any other generation IMO. Examples include Rayquaza, Groudon, Aggron, Salamence, Metagross, Blaziken, Ninjask, Flygon, Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, Milotic, Tropius, and Gardevoir.

Sorry for taking so long. I've decided to move this over here, since you made so many pertinent points.
That is a pretty great argument for what is (I feel generally agreed to be) everyone's least favorite Pokemon game (their recent remakes notwithstanding).
I feel that the first had such revolutionary gameplay that their mistakes were forgiven. The second gave us two whole regions to explore: who could ask for more than that? Then the third... Well, it started off with, what I think are regarded by most to be the least charming starters in the franchise... And no, I was never really on the Blaziken bandwagon.
Anyway, how do you feel about the 20th anniversary approaching (or has the precise date come and gone, already?) without a main-series game release being announced?  

[Matasoga]

Shanderaa

WELL. That didn't take long!

A rabbit in a ridiculous dress. It's everything I want. <3 <3 <3

It's very you.  

[Matasoga]

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Matasoga

maui boy no ka oi

Overall, I think that X/Y was the better of this generation of games. ORAS, while a remake of one of the best in the series, was simply underwhelming in terms of its delivery. Mega and primal evos along with updated graphics are not enough to make me consider them really good. R/S/E was innovative and brought many new things to the table that continue to be staples of the Pokemon franchise to this day. ORAS introduced broken a** Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza...

Erm... This is going back a little, but did you -really- think that the original Sapphire and Ruby were the best in the series?

For the era in which it was introduced, yes. RBY was a broken mess with no sense of balance whatsoever. G/S balanced out RBY but did little to introduce new ideas outside of introducing new Pokemon. R/S/E introduced the EV and IV system that is still used to this day, introduced natures that increased and decreased certain stats which helped to further define a Pokemon's identity, introduced abilities which play a huge part in not only the competitive scene but also the single player experience as a whole, introduced the first (and only?) dragon types that actually looked like a dragon in Salamence and Rayquaza, introduced a revolutionary box system that doesn't require you to have to frickin manually switch boxes whenever you run out of space, introduced double battles which are the official battle format of VGC tournaments today, introduced personality values and secret IDs to determine such factors as gender and shininess (as opposed to the old system which determined shininess based entirely on IVs), and of course the introduction of the Battle Tower which remains the pinnacle of the single player experience even to this day.

Sure D/P/P introduced Pokemon battles/trades over the internet, split move properties individually into physical or special, and introduced a new 3D rendering system (although whether this is a good change or bad one is subjective), but the things introduced in any other generation pale in comparison to the revolutionary redesigns that happened in Gen 3. I never owned a Pokemon game until Gold version. I only ever had the chance to play a friend's Blue version until I finally got my own GB and I thoroughly enjoyed Silver. But it is definitely Ruby that got me to thoroughly enjoy the Pokemon series.

Gen 4 was a bit of a let down and I don't think I even finished playing through my Pearl version before moving on to Heart Gold for nostalgic reasons. Gen 5 as far as I know introduced little to make anything within B/W memorable and I still have a copy of White 2 that I haven't even opened yet.

Gen 6 was really good in comparison to 4 and 5 IMO due to the introduction of so many fun things to do such as Pokemon-Amie and super training. Mega evolutions are obviously one of the biggest introductions. The addition of the out-of-battle effect of destiny knot makes breeding much less of a grind than previous generations. They were also the first generation of Pokemon to make the 3D styling work (IMO probably due to character customization) due to the increased performance of the new 3DS system. The ability to move diagonally, as well as the gorgeous (for a Pokemon game) environments that you get to explore really help to bring out the awesome traits of the game's open world. The characters in the game are genuinely likable and the story actually feels like a legitimately enthralling story. Overall, Gen 6 was just the best improvement to the series since Gen 3 and if OR/AS was released alongside X/Y, its significance may not have been so eclipsed as it had been since OR/AS released a considerable time after X/Y released.

Also, it may be biased, but the Pokemon designs in Gen 3 have held more awesome-level designs than any other generation IMO. Examples include Rayquaza, Groudon, Aggron, Salamence, Metagross, Blaziken, Ninjask, Flygon, Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, Milotic, Tropius, and Gardevoir.

Sorry for taking so long. I've decided to move this over here, since you made so many pertinent points.
That is a pretty great argument for what is (I feel generally agreed to be) everyone's least favorite Pokemon game (their recent remakes notwithstanding).
I feel that the first had such revolutionary gameplay that their mistakes were forgiven. The second gave us two whole regions to explore: who could ask for more than that? Then the third... Well, it started off with, what I think are regarded by most to be the least charming starters in the franchise... And no, I was never really on the Blaziken bandwagon.
Anyway, how do you feel about the 20th anniversary approaching (or has the precise date come and gone, already?) without a main-series game release being announced?

I may sound blasphemous stating this, but I feel like the main series may have already worn out its charm. The majority of people who had played Pokemon in their youth do not seem so involved in the series as they had once been. I even went out of my way to buy a Pokemon X for a friend of mine who I used to play Pokemon with a lot back in middle school and he eventually gave it back to me after 6 months without having ever gotten past the 2nd gym.

A lot of that may have to do with the fact that most people simply have a nostalgic connection to the old Pokemon generations and haven't been able to assimilate the new Pokemon that have been released recently. The relative success Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series and exploration into the fighting genre in Pokken Tournament are evidence of this change in demographic. People don't feel as attached to the Pokemon they're training these days, but that is no fault of the games themselves. It is simply the fact that everything that could be done has, for the most part, already been done.

The whole idea of Pokemon as a series drew in a huge player base due to its innovative ideas given the limitations of the hardware at the time. Generation 3 introduced aspects such as Pokemon contests which you could bring your Pokemon to which didn't involve combative competitions. Generation 4 (briefly) introduced individual interactions with each of your Pokemon via having their sprite follow you around (Yellow not included due to the companion Pokemon being limited to Pikachu). Generation 6 has Pokemon Amie.

As the generations progress, the features introduced to try to keep you connected to your Pokemon are getting weaker and weaker. I can honestly say I've felt more attached to my gen 2 Tyranitar and gen 3 Aggron if for no other reason than the fact that they were the Pokemon that I had experienced so many "firsts" in the series with. Training to level 100 and steamrolling through the Elite Four? Tyranitar holds that spot. Winning my first "tough" Pokemon contest with my sturdy Pokemon who could not be OHKO'ed by any Pokemon in the game? Aggron.
It is for these reasons that I wholeheartedly welcome the new spin-off titles stemming from Pokemon and, while I question the potential of games like Pokken Tournament, I'm sure they will find the right genre to stick Pokemon in.

While you're definitely not wrong about there being less firsts, and perhaps the need (or at least the obvious benefits of) including engaging new activities that can be experienced for the first time, I still get quite attached to all of my Pokemon, at the very least for the time that I spend adventuring with them. I suppose it is true that the memories fade and the attachment does largely as well, when the adventure is all over with... Aside from one.
To be fair, that one was largely things that happened completely outside of the game, but I deeply want to see a return of sprites walking with you and the Pokewalker. I loved both of those functions.