Pokémon Thread XXX: Hot Skitty on Wailord Action!

[boj0]

I don't really play Pokemon anymore, but I keep up with the threads; kind of funny to see people bring up a meme team I made 10 years ago

[TaiLiu]

I don't really play Pokemon anymore, but I keep up with the threads; kind of funny to see people bring up a meme team I made 10 years ago

Did you ever use the team in combat? Or was it just a proof of concept?

[boj0]

Yeah I used it for a while on Showdown, it wasn't getting me a top 50 spot or anything, but it had its moments; really it was just to mess around in low ladder matches for laughs. I don't remember the specific match ups because this was way back in Gen 5.

[MCerberus]

I just had a realization, that the pokemon tcg app is completely free. You cannot actually buy anything in it. You get booster packs and cards from the battle pass and monthly ladder which then pay for the battle pass. Cosmetics are earned with a trickle of gold that is only earned by playing matches. Surely there must be some kind

*there is currently $100 worth of TCG merch being shipped to me as we speak*

some kind of trick here.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Asberger's end of ASD perhaps?

Nope, we want Donnie as our representative, he's way cooler.

...Okay, I want that, I haven't exactly held a vote on it. Donatello from the Ninja Turtles, Frank Martin from The Transporter and with some serious squinting Sergeant Todd from Soldier, those are my autistic role models in media.

...And I guess that power ranger from the newish movie can join too. I didn't enjoy it as much as a movie, but they put effort into the representation and it was kind of cool to see a guy be the "heart of the team" for ones. So fine, he's in.

I'm keeping my eyes open for members from other age and gender groups.

Leonardo might have some mild daddy/authority/stress/being too serious all the time issues, but I'm not sure we need to shoehorn him into anything foe that. Also depending on the incarnation of course.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I just had a realization, that the pokemon tcg app is completely free. You cannot actually buy anything in it. You get booster packs and cards from the battle pass and monthly ladder which then pay for the battle pass. Cosmetics are earned with a trickle of gold that is only earned by playing matches. Surely there must be some kind

*there is currently $100 worth of TCG merch being shipped to me as we speak*

some kind of trick here.

Because you bought it, because you spent a lot of time earning it, or really because you get it all for free? I'm confused.

[MCerberus]

Because you bought it, because you spent a lot of time earning it, or really because you get it all for free? I'm confused.

TCG merch like booster packs come with a card that has a QR code, be it booster packs or collection boxes. You scan it and in the online app you get a digital version (it rerolls the contents of the pack). So the joke is that the digital stuff is all free and they give you everything you need...

because it's a loss-leader to get you to buy more physical product.

[TaiLiu]

Yeah I used it for a while on Showdown, it wasn't getting me a top 50 spot or anything, but it had its moments; really it was just to mess around in low ladder matches for laughs. I don't remember the specific match ups because this was way back in Gen 5.

Oh, cool! Sounds like it was fun.

[Bartmanhomer]

What would happen if two Legendary Pokemon Zacian and Zamazenta fused?

[Celestia]

What would happen if two Legendary Pokemon Zacian and Zamazenta fused?

Then you'd have an Aegislash.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Then you'd have an Aegislash.

I don't know, Zaciamenta does sound a bit like an Italian dessert or something.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I don't know, Zaciamenta does sound a bit like an Italian dessert or something.

I’m thinking ice cream flavor. Cotton candy base and…? No idea what Fighting or Steel would be for ice cream. 🤔 Chocolate fudge chunks and nuts maybe? Tin roof has chocolate and peanuts, so if tin is peanuts lets say walnuts for steel, they have tougher shells.

[TaiLiu]

I'm most of the way through Pokémon Ultimate Journeys. Goh goes through a lot on this show and it makes me sad.

[MCerberus]

I'm most of the way through Pokémon Ultimate Journeys. Goh goes through a lot on this show and it makes me sad.

Reminds me of when I caught an episode of the Alola series. "haha we're all having- oh that Stoutland died and now the Litten is an orphan"

Anyway, anyone see the art for the 151 series cards? A lot of them are just stunning

[TaiLiu]

Reminds me of when I caught an episode of the Alola series. "haha we're all having- oh that Stoutland died and now the Litten is an orphan"

Yeah! The Alola series was very funny and also very sad. I'm not sure any other series deals with death to the same extent that Sun & Moon does.

Honestly my favorite anime series. I wish Journeys kept more from Sun & Moon.

Anyway, anyone see the art for the 151 series cards? A lot of them are just stunning

I didn't! Do you have pics?

[MCerberus]

Here's the link to the card gallery

and here's a dragonair

Spoiler

Show

[TaiLiu]

Here's the link to the card gallery

and here's a dragonair

Spoiler

Show

Oo! They're pretty. I especially like the Mew ones.

[Bartmanhomer]

Has Pokemon always been broken? What I mean by broken is overpowered.

[Lord Ruby34]

Has Pokemon always been broken? What I mean by broken is overpowered.

Are you talking about competitive Pokemon, or the games themselves? Because those are two very different things. The games are easy enough to beat however you'd like, but there are some ways that you can abuse the AI, or some particularly strong Pokemon, to make them even easier.

[Bartmanhomer]

Are you talking about competitive Pokemon, or the games themselves? Because those are two very different things. The games are easy enough to beat however you'd like, but there are some ways that you can abuse the AI, or some particularly strong Pokemon, to make them even easier.

I'm talking about both.

[TaiLiu]

Has Pokemon always been broken? What I mean by broken is overpowered.

I think Pokémon (the creatures) have been getting better movesets as new generations have come out.

It also feels like the average power of moves has increased over the years. I'm guessing some of it is due to Z-Moves, which are just moves that are more powerful.

Stat total averages also seem to be rising, partly due to mega evolution.

I dunno if it means Pokémon are overpowered, though. When I play Pokémon, I actually feel most powerful in the early games.

EDIT: There's this old thread from 2010 discussing power creep in Pokémon. Curious how it'd look like now, 13 years into the future.

[Fable Wright]

The answer is yes. Gen 1 was broken in uncountable ways, to the point that the speedrun time for Pokemon Red/Blue is 1 minute 18 seconds and the competitive metagame is basically two teams of the same six pokemon designed to beat the same six pokemon with different movesets. Gen 2 introduced spikes and toxic spikes which were overwhelmingly powerful in the competitive scene and had glitched AI and easily abusable pokemon and moves. Sleep especially was a deeply problematic mechanic. The game is so busted that all official tournaments do not use the 1-v-1 format players experience in the game since their inception because it would be impossible to make fair.

Pokemon is, and has always been, a busted game, to a greater or lesser extent. Greater in the style the game teaches you (1-v-1), lesser in the curated tournament format (2-v-2). The least busted it may have ever been was Gen 4 VGC (2-v-2) format when legendaries were banned.

[Bartmanhomer]

I think Pokémon (the creatures) have been getting better movesets as new generations have come out.

It also feels like the average power of moves has increased over the years. I'm guessing some of it is due to Z-Moves, which are just moves that are more powerful.

Stat total averages also seem to be rising, partly due to mega evolution.

I dunno if it means Pokémon are overpowered, though. When I play Pokémon, I actually feel most powerful in the early games.

EDIT: There's this old thread from 2010 discussing power creep in Pokémon. Curious how it'd look like now, 13 years into the future.

The answer is yes. Gen 1 was broken in uncountable ways, to the point that the speedrun time for Pokemon Red/Blue is 1 minute 18 seconds and the competitive metagame is basically two teams of the same six pokemon designed to beat the same six pokemon with different movesets. Gen 2 introduced spikes and toxic spikes which were overwhelmingly powerful in the competitive scene and had glitched AI and easily abusable pokemon and moves. Sleep especially was a deeply problematic mechanic. The game is so busted that all official tournaments do not use the 1-v-1 format players experience in the game since their inception because it would be impossible to make fair.

Pokemon is, and has always been, a busted game, to a greater or lesser extent. Greater in the style the game teaches you (1-v-1), lesser in the curated tournament format (2-v-2). The least busted it may have ever been was Gen 4 VGC (2-v-2) format when legendaries were banned.

The power of unbalanced gameplay and competition. I just wish it was balanced but that's impossible.

[tonberrian]

I'm not so sure that "balanced" is really a goal of the designers of Pokemon, or that it even should be. Competitive Pokemon is a small part of the franchise in general, and collecting legendaries in general has always had some mons as inherently better than others. I'm a big fan of fighting and capturing Legendaries, it's a big part of why I play pokemon, and I'd be upset if the box legend pokemon was only as powerful as your starter was - what's the point in going after it if everything's well-balanced?

[Bartmanhomer]

I'm not so sure that "balanced" is really a goal of the designers of Pokemon, or that it even should be. Competitive Pokemon is a small part of the franchise in general, and collecting legendaries in general has always had some mons as inherently better than others. I'm a big fan of fighting and capturing Legendaries, it's a big part of why I play pokemon, and I'd be upset if the box legend pokemon was only as powerful as your starter was - what's the point in going after it if everything's well-balanced?

You got a point there.

[Spore]

I'm not so sure that "balanced" is really a goal of the designers of Pokemon, or that it even should be. Competitive Pokemon is a small part of the franchise in general, and collecting legendaries in general has always had some mons as inherently better than others. I'm a big fan of fighting and capturing Legendaries, it's a big part of why I play pokemon, and I'd be upset if the box legend pokemon was only as powerful as your starter was - what's the point in going after it if everything's well-balanced?

The thing is, at least important story battles have to increase in difficulty too. It is not much fun trampling your rival with the box legendary when he still opens with a Dubwool. And it is not even about this being a Route 1 'mon vs a legendary, it is that the Route 1 'mon has no creative moves, your pokemon can cheat for you via "friendship" mechanics while you can be immune to status, have free sturdy/focus sash and rock at least two stab moves, a legendary signature move and a status while said sheep has double kick and headbutt.

At least leave it with Cotton Shield, give it Fluffy (halves physical contact moves, doubles fire), Body Slam, Zen Headbutt and Reversal. Still easily outplayed but there are at least some surprises there. But dont have a Steadfast Cotton Shield, Double-Edge, Double Kick (WTF) and Headbutt (why?) in the fricking Galar league.

This is not amateur hour aka Gen 1 League where Bruno carries HARDEN.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

The thing is, at least important story battles have to increase in difficulty too. It is not much fun trampling your rival with the box legendary when he still opens with a Dubwool. And it is not even about this being a Route 1 'mon vs a legendary, it is that the Route 1 'mon has no creative moves, your pokemon can cheat for you via "friendship" mechanics while you can be immune to status, have free sturdy/focus sash and rock at least two stab moves, a legendary signature move and a status while said sheep has double kick and headbutt.

At least leave it with Cotton Shield, give it Fluffy (halves physical contact moves, doubles fire), Body Slam, Zen Headbutt and Reversal. Still easily outplayed but there are at least some surprises there. But dont have a Steadfast Cotton Shield, Double-Edge, Double Kick (WTF) and Headbutt (why?) in the fricking Galar league.

This is not amateur hour aka Gen 1 League where Bruno carries HARDEN.

I would also like to protest every NPC trainer up to and including the villainous Team bosses only having four Pokemon when the player can be expected to have six.

[Spore]

I'm not so sure that "balanced" is really a goal of the designers of Pokemon, or that it even should be. Competitive Pokemon is a small part of the franchise in general, and collecting legendaries in general has always had some mons as inherently better than others. I'm a big fan of fighting and capturing Legendaries, it's a big part of why I play pokemon, and I'd be upset if the box legend pokemon was only as powerful as your starter was - what's the point in going after it if everything's well-balanced?

The thing is, at least important story battles have to increase in difficulty too. It is not much fun trampling your rival with the box legendary when he still opens with a Dubwool. And it is not even about this being a Route 1 'mon vs a legendary, it is that the Route 1 'mon has no creative moves, your pokemon can cheat for you via "friendship" mechanics while you can be immune to status, have free sturdy/focus sash and rock at least two stab moves, a legendary signature move and a status while said sheep has double kick and headbutt.

At least leave it with Cotton Shield, give it Fluffy (halves physical contact moves, doubles fire), Body Slam, Zen Headbutt and Reversal. Still easily outplayed but there are at least some surprises there. But dont have a Steadfast Cotton Shield, Double-Edge, Double Kick (WTF) and Headbutt (why?) in the fricking Galar league.

This is not amateur hour aka Gen 1 League where Bruno carries HARDEN.

[Fable Wright]

I would also like to protest every NPC trainer up to and including the villainous Team bosses only having four Pokemon when the player can be expected to have six.

TO BE FAIR

In the older games, the players also tended to have 4 active pokemon because two existed for the sole purposes of using HMs. It's reasonable to believe that in-universe, people would reserve a certain number for utility and only have a few trained up for battle. Or some of them may have been KO'd/been on low HP doing battles between now and the last pokemon center. It's better than the usual paradigm where the PCs are constantly low on spellcasting resources doing adventuring things while every NPC spellcaster starts every encounter with their full daily allocation.

[MCerberus]

he still opens with a Dubwool.

This seems like a direct attack at Hop. Who deserves it.
On the other hand you'll get a Cynthia situation who pulls out a full competitive comp and simply slaps you down with cruel indifference. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, but that's more of what the post-game is for.


A good middle-ground would be the Paradise Protocol fight where the paradox mons you fight were good but not a difficulty cliff.