(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

[Codraroll]

One major thing that has been bothering me is the fact that Game Freak introduces useful features and mechanics that significantly facilitate the process of breeding, training and leveling your Pokémon in order to be able to participate during tournaments in one generation, apparently just so they can replace them or fully remove them again in the next generation. Some of their decisions honestly don't make any sense to me.

Another point of major annoyance is that they are clearly aware that people EV train their Pokémon, and even acknowledge and facilitate IV breeding and Nature hunting... but one-off Pokémon are still needlessly annoying to get. If you want to IV/EV train a bred Pokémon, you use Everstones and Destiny Knots and Power items and Hyper Training and whatnot, and you'll get your desired hatchling within that many tries. It's a little more work if you're looking for specific Hidden Power spreads, but that move is increasingly obsolete and has at least got a fixed base power now.

But if you want an optimal spread for a legendary Pokémon, you're in for a world of pain. First of all, if you've already caught it and saved while playing casually, that's it, you've spent your chance, done and dusted, forget your plan. No legendary Pokémon for you. Restart your game or buy another one if you're desperate.

And if you yet haven't caught it, you'll still only get one try. Preparation can help you to some degree (namely, the Synchronize trick, or some carefully prepared shenanigans with Final Gambit or Speed-optimized Pokémon), but even if you know exactly what you're doing, you can't influence the process that much. You have one roll of the dice, and your only strategy is to repeatedly say "that one didn't count!", and roll over until the desired result appears. I know people say it's "cheating" to use generated Pokémon rather than soft-resetting "the honest way", but honestly soft-resetting still feels like cheating as well. The game intends you to only get one chance, but by saving and resetting you can replay that chance over and over again until the outcome suits you.

I wouldn't be so mad about this if not for the fact that many one-off legends are allowed in official tournament formats, and not only that, they're really good in those formats as well. Cresselia, Landorus-T, Heatran, Thundurus... they swept the boards in 2015, and were used on more teams than not in the top tiers of the tournament. In 2016, even more legendaries were allowed, and practically required to use in order to win.

Why is it, then, that the only way to get a battle-ready top-tier legendary is to save and reset to give yourself infinite dice rolls until you get a good one? Never mind that you can only get one per game? I'd much rather see them ban all one-off Pokémon outright from the tournaments, if they insist on enforcing the "one legendary per game" rule for all future. You can get yourself battle-ready Pokémon of most species by meticulous selective breeding, but getting a good legendary requires you to cheat.

 

[Siggu]

The problem mostly comes from one thing: The game does not do well at motivating the use of Hyper Training (which fixes every problem with one-off Pokemon bar the Hidden Power type) because of how difficult it is to get a Pokemon to Level 100.

The only remotely reliable ways there are are leveling up in ORAS with the Blissey Secret Bases, exploiting the Poke Pelago glitch (which while faster than regular grinding techniques, it involves doing the same steps for up to 2 hours at worst) or getting the 5* Rare Kitchens, which is not easy, requires a lot of FC and isn't free.

While I admit the Caps themselves are also rather difficult to get, they aren't the main problem.

So far, in 4 months of gameplay, I literally only used 4 silver Bottle Caps - three on a Rayquaza and one on a Kyogre, which, guess what, they were leveled up to 100 in ORAS.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

As a person that always mindlessly grinds, I actually have no problem with the level 100 requirement. It's the Bottle Caps that are the limiters for me. I haven't been playing as much as I normally do but I've gotten 3 different in-game teams to level 100 and my competition teams up to level 100. Unfortunately due to how little Bottle Caps I have, I've only really been able to get key stats of my legends on the competition teams Hyper Trained.

 

[Kurona]

I do wonder if it'd be better off if Legendaries could only have IV values of 0, 1, 30 and 31.
One might say that Game Freak wouldn't account for such things as Hidden Power and Trick Room so why wouldn't they just do all six 31s... except it seems they do account for it to some degree, as the current (awesome) IV checker has a specific phrase for IVs of 30.

 

[Detective Barricade]

Another point of major annoyance is that they are clearly aware that people EV train their Pokémon, and even acknowledge and facilitate IV breeding and Nature hunting... but one-off Pokémon are still needlessly annoying to get. If you want to IV/EV train a bred Pokémon, you use Everstones and Destiny Knots and Power items and Hyper Training and whatnot, and you'll get your desired hatchling within that many tries. It's a little more work if you're looking for specific Hidden Power spreads, but that move is increasingly obsolete and has at least got a fixed base power now.

But if you want an optimal spread for a legendary Pokémon, you're in for a world of pain. First of all, if you've already caught it and saved while playing casually, that's it, you've spent your chance, done and dusted, forget your plan. No legendary Pokémon for you. Restart your game or buy another one if you're desperate.

And if you yet haven't caught it, you'll still only get one try. Preparation can help you to some degree (namely, the Synchronize trick, or some carefully prepared shenanigans with Final Gambit or Speed-optimized Pokémon), but even if you know exactly what you're doing, you can't influence the process that much. You have one roll of the dice, and your only strategy is to repeatedly say "that one didn't count!", and roll over until the desired result appears. I know people say it's "cheating" to use generated Pokémon rather than soft-resetting "the honest way", but honestly soft-resetting still feels like cheating as well. The game intends you to only get one chance, but by saving and resetting you can replay that chance over and over again until the outcome suits you.

I wouldn't be so mad about this if not for the fact that many one-off legends are allowed in official tournament formats, and not only that, they're really good in those formats as well. Cresselia, Landorus-T, Heatran, Thundurus... they swept the boards in 2015, and were used on more teams than not in the top tiers of the tournament. In 2016, even more legendaries were allowed, and practically required to use in order to win.

Why is it, then, that the only way to get a battle-ready top-tier legendary is to save and reset to give yourself infinite dice rolls until you get a good one? Never mind that you can only get one per game? I'd much rather see them ban all one-off Pokémon outright from the tournaments, if they insist on enforcing the "one legendary per game" rule for all future. You can get yourself battle-ready Pokémon of most species by meticulous selective breeding, but getting a good legendary requires you to cheat.

Well for that to be a thing, other Pokemon will need to gain access to the terrain surge abilities which make the Tapu so desirable currently.

But the other problem with legendary Pokemon also stems from their "one per game" factor. It can take awhile to catch one's ideal legendary, but because you only get one most of the time, all that time and effort can be rendered moot if it now has to run a completely different set than what you had been originally aiming for. You don't get another chance for it unless you buy another game.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Most niggling of niggles, but I just got burned by Alolan Meowth having a different evolution method. I like to try to fill out the Pokedex in a regular playthrough - definitely slows me down but just makes me feel like I'm engaging with the full game experience a little more. As a result, if I find a pre-evo in the wild and it's near evolution level, often I'll catch it, grind out (or just Rare Candy) the few remaining levels and get its evolution.
In Malie Park, you can get wild Meowth around level 24-26. I knew Meowth evolved at level 28, so caught one and stuffed a couple of RCs into it until level 28 - only to have it grin back at me smugly and do precisely no evolving whatsoever.
Turns out Alolan Meowth needs 2 b ur fraand to evolve.
Not impressed/10.
Where do I apply to get my RCs back.

Reminds me the time I tried evolving my Doublade by leveling up only upon getting to I think level 50 began thinking it evolved another way (and I was right, it evolved by Dusk Stone *sigh*). The only Alolan evolution methods I have a problem with is for Raichu, Exeggutor, & Marowak.
Out of all the Alolan Pokemon, these three would seem the most Alolan-exclusive. Their pre-evolution is the same as normal, they evolve the same way (though Cubone needs to be evolved specifically at night but its the same level as normal), the only difference is the game/region. So in future games how will we be able to have these three without having to transfer them from the Gen VII games? Even if they say, put in a flag in Pikachu, Exeggcute, and Cubone to indicate they were bred from an Alolan version, you'd still need to get the Alolan parent.

As a person that always mindlessly grinds, I actually have no problem with the level 100 requirement. It's the Bottle Caps that are the limiters for me. I haven't been playing as much as I normally do but I've gotten 3 different in-game teams to level 100 and my competition teams up to level 100. Unfortunately due to how little Bottle Caps I have, I've only really been able to get key stats of my legends on the competition teams Hyper Trained.

I think for competitive players the issue is they made the requirement Level 100... even though in competitions they usually lower it down to Level 50. I wouldn't be surprised if many competitive players only raise their Pokemon to level 50.

I do wonder if it'd be better off if Legendaries could only have IV values of 0, 1, 30 and 31.
One might say that Game Freak wouldn't account for such things as Hidden Power and Trick Room so why wouldn't they just do all six 31s... except it seems they do account for it to some degree, as the current (awesome) IV checker has a specific phrase for IVs of 30.

Wouldn't be surprised if the only reason they don't do that is because of Hidden Power because otherwise there's no reason why a Legendary/Mythical/non-breedable one off shouldn't have maxed IVs.

You know, I got an new annoyance that may sound weird but I'll explain what I mean: low IVs having no beneficial factors.
"Well no duh, you don't want low IVs so of course they have no benefit". My point exactly, you don't want to have low IVs... so why do they exist? It's something barely noticeable in-game, and competitive its an unneeded nuisance.
My point is why not give less than perfect IVs a point other than the archaic Hidden Power (which lost holding onto this mechanic once the Fairy-type was introduced; give us another way of assigning a Hidden Power type only using the old mechanic as the default). But back onto my point, why not make it so that if a stat's IV is less than perfect it helps other stats or aspects of the Pokemon. Not sure of exact details how, gotta get a real good look at how IVs exactly work and that would go into wishlisting. But my point stands is if they're going to enforce IVs having 32 values (0 to 31) give us a reason to consider having these lower values other than Hidden Power/a hazard to overcome.

Oh, and letting us directly increase/decrease IVs would be nice too. Hyper Training is nice and all but that doesn't help much for getting the Hidden Power type you want.

 

[Siggu]

Another issue with breeding is the items.

You cannot inherit a specific nature, a specific IV and 5 IVs between the parents at the same time as those need 3 items.

 

[Xen]

I wouldn't say that low IVs have no beneficial factors at all. Besides Hidden Power, some slow mons prefer having a 0 Spe IV to take advantage of Trick Room and Gyro Ball, and pretty much any special attacker prefers having a 0 Atk IV to minimize confusion/Foul Play damage if it's not running any physical moves whatsoever. And while it's far more situational, there are even some Pokemon that prefer having 0 Def for Counter.

But that's the problem; Hyper Training is a good start towards making it easier to max out stats (provided we actually get an easy way to level up in future games), but HT is a one way road; between breeding and many Pokemon coming pre-packaged with 3+ max IVs now, it's actually getting more difficult to breed for low IV numbers, and even more so for legendaries that may want them.

 

[Siggu]

IV and Nature manipulation for unique Pokemon is seriously lacking.

We get guaranteed Natures for gift Undiscovered Pokemon through Synchronize, but it's still not guaranteed for Wild encounters (which annoyed me a lot with Ultra Beasts), and there's nothing that lets us manipulate IVs.

Why not the Power items, for instance?

 

[Detective Barricade]

IV and Nature manipulation for unique Pokemon is seriously lacking.

We get guaranteed Natures for gift Undiscovered Pokemon through Synchronize, but it's still not guaranteed for Wild encounters (which annoyed me a lot with Ultra Beasts), and there's nothing that lets us manipulate IVs.

Why not the Power items, for instance?

There's still nothing for Pokemon obtained through Mystery Gift, AFAIK. So while Magearna and Marshadow are covered by QR Scan, and the former's is said to not expire and can be easily found for your region, thus will probably be the same for the latter, I wouldn't hold out hope for those with a Japanese 3DS wanting a competitive shiny Tapu Koko and such.

 

[Siggu]

There's still nothing for Pokemon obtained through Mystery Gift, AFAIK. So while Magearna and Marshadow are covered by QR Scan, and the former's is said to not expire and can be easily found for your region, thus will probably be the same for the latter, I wouldn't hold out hope for those with a Japanese 3DS wanting a competitive shiny Tapu Koko and such.

Just that Synchronize for gift Pokemon of the Undiscovered Egg Group.

But then, if it's not of that Egg Group... you are doomed.

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

Japan getting everything while we get scraps. Shiny Diancie, nope. Like shiny Arceus and Genesect? Move to Japan. Oh, and we (Japan) also want to be able to do an extra 30 damage with our Victini too, just to bug you guys more.

It bugs me so much that I started a movement on Twitter (basically gonna bug them non stop until they actually listen to fans cuz you know, 5 comments saying JPN exclusive stuff rocks, all from JPN, means that everyone likes it even though there are 5000 comments above saying to at least limit it to non-shiny legends/stronger moves. Anything else is fine IMO)

Edit: I just opened a thread on the topic to (hopefully) be heard and gain support for the cause. Hope you guys will support it whether here or on Twitter. Let us be heard!

 

[Kanburi]

Japan getting everything while we get scraps. Shiny Diancie, nope. Like shiny Arceus and Genesect? Move to Japan. Oh, and we (Japan) also want to be able to do an extra 30 damage with our Victini too, just to bug you guys more.

It bugs me so much that I started a movement on Twitter (basically gonna bug them non stop until they actually listen to fans cuz you know, 5 comments saying JPN exclusive stuff rocks, all from JPN, means that everyone likes it even though there are 5000 comments above saying to at least limit it to non-shiny legends/stronger moves. Anything else is fine IMO)

Edit: I just opened a thread on the topic to (hopefully) be heard and gain support for the cause. Hope you guys will support it whether here or on Twitter. Let us be heard!

Piggybacking on this, I can't wait to get my hands on that shiny Tapu Koko that starts next week. Synchronizer should work on these gifts, right? If I have the time, I'll HT it and do a giveaway too.

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

Piggybacking on this, I can't wait to get my hands on that shiny Tapu Koko that starts next week. Synchronizer should work on these gifts, right? If I have the time, I'll HT it and do a giveaway too.

If you arent in Japan then it won't be coming it seems. But yes, Synch should work.

 

[Kanburi]

If you arent in Japan then it won't be coming it seems. But yes, Synch should work.

Don't worry, I'm in Japan. The only thing I'm not sure is if it'll be distributed to North American 3DS's. If it will be, I can get two, but if it won't be, I can only get one on my Japanese 3DS. Or can I transfer the Tapu Koko, delete the Wonder Card, and then get another one?

Gonna post this on SM SQSA thread too actually.

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

Don't worry, I'm in Japan. The only thing I'm not sure is if it'll be distributed to North American 3DS's. If it will be, I can get two, but if it won't be, I can only get one on my Japanese 3DS. Or can I transfer the Tapu Koko, delete the Wonder Card, and then get another one?

Gonna post this on SM SQSA thread too actually.

Well maybe you can help us get better events worldwide. Wanna join the movement to help others out?

 

[Kanburi]

Well maybe you can help us get better events worldwide. Wanna join the movement to help others out?

I mean, I don't know what can be done and neither do I know if other countries are just being lazy or if Japan won't let them be distributed elsewhere. Don't some other countries/areas get their exclusive stuff too, though?

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

I mean, I don't know what can be done and neither do I know if other countries are just being lazy or if Japan won't let them be distributed elsewhere. Don't some other countries/areas get their exclusive stuff too, though?

The US hasnt gotten anything exclusive since (iirc) gen 4 (unless you count Fusion Bolt Victini instead of Bolt Strike. Japan didn't get that). And honestly, its non Japanese divisions not giving a crap about the fan base. Lol

Edit: So the goal I have is to get them to pay aattention to the fan base (US division don't care for fans much. Lol)

 

[Pikachu315111]

Edit: So the goal I have is to get them to pay aattention to the fan base (US division don't care for fans much. Lol)

That's something I was just thinking about. Why should Pokemon Japan care about the US when there is a US division. HELLO, Pokemon USA, are you home? Well you must be, the website is being updated every day, new merchandise is being put into the store, the anime is getting dubbed, so obviously you're home. You seem to be doing everything BUT getting us Events. Why?

Now here the answer splits:

PUSA doesn't care: Well START! Come on! Okay, yes, you might not be able to do some Events like Japan does, but that doesn't mean you can't bring them over some other way. You've made deals with GameStop, ToysRUs, McDonalds, Burger King, and other places in the past. Hey, why not just distribute it online or make it a special offer through Pokemon Bank. Heck, maybe even have our own promotion, like give out a Victini for Independence Day like how Japanese players get a Jirachi every Tanabata. And it's not like we're asking for EVERY Event, just the really notable ones.

Pokemon Japan is preventing them: Why? You put PUSA in charge of the United States, let them do their job! They'll best know how to distribute the Event in the US and what exclusive Events that we in the states would want. And if its for a shallow reason that you want to feel special, get over yourself. Pokemon is an international franchise, you have fans all over the globe! We matter just as much as your home fans (who, may I remind you, was perfectly willing to drop you for Yo-Kai Watch! while most other places around the world decided they'd stick with Pokemon).

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

That's something I was just thinking about. Why should Pokemon Japan care about the US when there is a US division. HELLO, Pokemon USA, are you home? Well you must be, the website is being updated every day, new merchandise is being put into the store, the anime is getting dubbed, so obviously you're home. You seem to be doing everything BUT getting us Events. Why?

Now here the answer splits:

PUSA doesn't care: Well START! Come on! Okay, yes, you might not be able to do some Events like Japan does, but that doesn't mean you can't bring them over some other way. You've made deals with GameStop, ToysRUs, McDonalds, Burger King, and other places in the past. Hey, why not just distribute it online or make it a special offer through Pokemon Bank. Heck, maybe even have our own promotion, like give out a Victini for Independence Day like how Japanese players get a Jirachi every Tanabata. And it's not like we're asking for EVERY Event, just the really notable ones.

Pokemon Japan is preventing them: Why? You put PUSA in charge of the United States, let them do their job! They'll best know how to distribute the Event in the US and what exclusive Events that we in the states would want. And if its for a shallow reason that you want to feel special, get over yourself. Pokemon is an international franchise, you have fans all over the globe! We matter just as much as your home fans (who, may I remind you, was perfectly willing to drop you for Yo-Kai Watch! while most other places around the world decided they'd stick with Pokemon).

Yup. They (auto correct thought I meant we somehow) get just enough to keep us buying but not enough to keep us playing. PUSA cares less about us then the Japan division. There used to be more JPN events in the US than anything else. Soon they'll lose their entire non-japan fan base. All because events don't get around here, whether due to laziness or Japan blocking us from getting them. We need to take a stand (and I will be doing so on Twitter) to try to change this

 

[Johta]

Yup. They (auto correct thought I meant we somehow) get just enough to keep us buying but not enough to keep us playing. PUSA cares less about us then the Japan division. There used to be more JPN events in the US than anything else. Soon they'll lose their entire non-japan fan base. All because events don't get around here, whether due to laziness or Japan blocking us from getting them. We need to take a stand (and I will be doing so on Twitter) to try to change this

Alright mate, slow down there. Yes, not having nearly as many Events as the japanese does indeed suck but losing their entire fan-base from the west because of it? That's simply never, ever happening.

 

[ToadBrigade]

I mean, I don't know what can be done and neither do I know if other countries are just being lazy or if Japan won't let them be distributed elsewhere. Don't some other countries/areas get their exclusive stuff too, though?

I can understand Mythical Pokemon being seldom distributed as well as other legendary Pokemon but I remember some random level 30 Electabuzz and Magmar being distributed which seemed to be a bit weird.

The Pokemon Company International should be able to release events worldwide (such as the GF events last year) but I'm almost certain there's some sort of sponsor deal with retailers which stops that from happening too often. Sucks for us non-Japanese since we don't have the same retail culture they seem to have.

 

[YourKingSkeletor]

Alright mate, slow down there. Yes, not having nearly as many Events as the japanese does indeed suck but losing their entire fan-base from the west because of it? That's simply never, ever happening.

They were losing fans big time before gen 6. They did better with gen 6 (only fail was the JPN exclusive shiny Diancie) but now they'retransitioning back to the "only Japan exist" ways. It may change but ATM its planned for only JPN to get the shiny Tapus, and likely they'll be the only ones getting shiny UBs and Solgaleo/Lunala. It won'tbe an overnight thing but eventually people will stop trusting them.

For example, all but 2 of my friends have abandoned the franchise. Literally all of them did so b/c of the way events are.

 

[Kanburi]

They were losing fans big time before gen 6. They did better with gen 6 (only fail was the JPN exclusive shiny Diancie) but now they'retransitioning back to the "only Japan exist" ways. It may change but ATM its planned for only JPN to get the shiny Tapus, and likely they'll be the only ones getting shiny UBs and Solgaleo/Lunala. It won'tbe an overnight thing but eventually people will stop trusting them.

For example, all but 2 of my friends have abandoned the franchise. Literally all of them did so b/c of the way events are.

IMO that's a bit of an overreaction to leave the franchise because they don't agree with the distribution methods of event Pokemon, it just seems like such a small part of the game to me. I doubt shiny Solgaleo and Lunala will be released any time soon anyway, they gave out shiny Xerneas and Yveltal worldwide after ORAS was released and we haven't even gotten shiny Groudon and Kyogre (have we?) yet. But to each their own, I guess.

 

[Pikachu315111]

They were losing fans big time before gen 6. They did better with gen 6 (only fail was the JPN exclusive shiny Diancie) but now they'retransitioning back to the "only Japan exist" ways. It may change but ATM its planned for only JPN to get the shiny Tapus, and likely they'll be the only ones getting shiny UBs and Solgaleo/Lunala. It won'tbe an overnight thing but eventually people will stop trusting them.

For example, all but 2 of my friends have abandoned the franchise. Literally all of them did so b/c of the way events are.

Okay, I'm annoyed Japan gets all these cool Events, but to abandon the franchise over it? That's a bit of an overreaction, as much as we want them the Events are just a bonus, your enjoyment of the franchise shouldn't be based partly on them. Like the only Events you should be counting on are the ones which give out the the region's Mythical Pokemon, every other event is like sprinkles on a dessert treat. The games aren't changed or effected by bonus events and even if they lock off something to be connected to an event it's only a little thing (and they probably do plan on releasing that Event worldwide).

EDIT: Shedinja'd by Kanburi