They don't directly explain them but yes they probably were from the old kingdom, where they acted as. Watchtowers. Presumably. There's usually other ruins nearby so there probably used to be other buildings and settlements beyond what became the nearby towns.Did they ever explain what the Watchtowers were all around Paldea? Like, I know their meta function was to provide Fly spots, and are pretty much the main locations to catch Gimmighoul (and also a chunk of coins), but I can't remember if there was any lore attached to them. We know Paldea had an old kingdom which collapsed, were these Watchtowers a part of the old kingdom? What were their function? Why do they have different amount of platforms ranging from one to three? Does Gimmighoul appearing their have any significance?
I went to check if this was due to sleep/spore nerfs, and ironically, it seems they do NOT introduce a new thing that knows Spore in generations where Spore has been nerfed and do introduce a mushroom if Sleep is particularly bad.And also odd generations have new mushroom Pokemon. Parasect, Breloom, Amoongus, Shiinotic, Brute Bonnet + Toedscruel....?????
The confirmation that Raging Bolt is part dragon and a likely paradox entei will almost certainly be part dragon too just further fuels this conspiracy theory of mine that slither wing was meant to be our first bug/dragon but got screwed over because they didn't want too many dragon type past paradoxes. Wish they'd taken the dragon type from roaring moon instead. :PWith confirmation of Walking Wake's typing, I am now all in on my conspiracy theory that slither wing was originally designed to be bug/dragon but they decided that the scarlet paradoxes were already slaying so hard that they couldn't make 3 of them dragons (not counting the raidons), and so they nerfed the little slithery guy. :(
And just to twist the knife they made it part fighting, the most overrepresented paradox type :P
Old Couples and Young Couples seem like a decent shout, although Old Couples are depicted as pairs of Experts in RSE/ORAS (the only games where the class appears), while Young Couples have always had a unique dual sprite that doesn't correspond to any individual trainer classes.A comment in a different thread got me to thinking about trainer classes: namely, their relation to one another. An interview to promote Gold and Silver mentioned that Schoolboys grow up to be Super Nerds, while Lasses grow up to be Beauties. There seems to be a conceptual link between Beauties and Swimmers too - in Gen I, female Swimmers do not exist so all female trainers encountered in water routes are Beauties, while in Emerald two elderly female move tutors brag about their past glory, with one having being a renowned Beauty and the other a famously tough Swimmer.
This is an interesting idea, and makes me wonder how many other NPC classes are supposed to be connected in this way. Tubers, for instance, would seem to be younger versions of Swimmers, and are sometimes found paired with them in sea routes as "Sis and Bro" in the Kanto and Hoenn games. It's pretty much confirmed that Bug Maniacs are basically just older versions of Bug Catchers, who fittingly use stronger and/or more evolved Bugs like Parasect, Pinsir, and Ninjask. In Gen V at least, Experts appear to be older Ace Trainers. Pokefans are presumably grown-up Pokekids, or at least the parents of said children. Presumably Gentlemen and Socialities are older Rich Boys/Ladies.
Several trainers often have overlap while being distinct: Bikers and Roughnecks/Cue Balls often hang out together, while Collectors and Pokemaniacs have a lot in common but are generally considered to be different.
Any others I'm missing? I'm specifically thinking of the main series since the GameCube and Wii games have a whole separate system of trainer categories.
Sr. and Jr. is actually Senpai and Kouhai in Japanese. The closest thing to it would be calling it Upperclassman and Lowerclassman, but this type of relationship, which barely has any presence outside of Japanese culture, is quite different from friendship. Basically the Senpai(Upperclassman) is supposed to be the responsible one and teach their Kouhai(Underclassman) the ropes of whatever they have in common. The translation I gave of upper/lower classman isn't completely accurate, because it's not only used in school settings but also in the workplace or sometimes the Senpai can merely be more experienced in a shared profession or hobby without having to always work directly with the Kouhai, or even just merely be the Kouhai's predecessor for the role or title they have. Actual Age also isn't a factor on who is the Senpai or who is the Kohai, because the length of time one has been a part of something is the only thing that really determines that.Sr. and Jr. pairs and Schoolboys/Schoolgirls don't seem to have any thematic connection beyond them all being students. The latter are generally depicted as studious, often telling the player about mechanics in their dialogue, while the former tend to just be stereotypes of teenage girls/female friendships.
Haha I considered going into the senpai/kōhai stuff because I suspected that if I didn't someone would reply with an explanation assuming (fairly) that I didn't know, but decided to treat the English translations as their own thing for the purpose of this discussion. My mistake I guess!Sr. and Jr. is actually Senpai and Kouhai in Japanese. The closest thing to it would be calling it Upperclassman and Lowerclassman, but this type of relationship, which barely has any presence outside of Japanese culture, is quite different from friendship. Basically the Senpai(Upperclassman) is supposed to be the responsible to to teach their Kouhai(Underclassman) the ropes of whatever they have in common. The translation I gave of upper/lower classman isn't completely accurate, because it's not only used in school settings but also in the workplace or sometimes the Senpai can merely be more experienced in a shared profession or hobby without having to always work directly with the Kouhai, or even just merely be the Kouhai's predecessor for the role or title they have. Actual Age also isn't a factor on who is the Senpai or who is the Kohai, because the length of time one has been a part of something is the only thing that really determines that.
It's a very Japanese thing and the Gen III translation of the name was pretty clunky so I'm not surprised ORAS gave up directly translating it entirely.
You mean like these two Flying Press articles that I and TMan87 worked on.This is an interesting idea, and makes me wonder how many other NPC classes are supposed to be connected in this way.
Perhaps "slow down" or "decelerate", or even "slump", which broadly fits what the Pokemon is doing. Agility is described as the user "relaxing and lightening its body" to become faster so Curse, having the opposite effect, could feasibly be described as the user settling down and spreading its weight/thickening its body to become stronger and sturdier.What would Curse's non-Ghost effect be translated as? The original name could be read as either "curse" or "dull/slow" (Google Translate reveals the less-euphemistic "stupid" as another interpretation). But while Curse works well for a move name in English, Stupid is an adjective, which is reserved for ability names as far as I can tell.
Personal theory here, but I assume the high cost for Stufful to Bewear is similar to Wailmer to Wailord, Stufful to Bewear is a pretty notable size increase (over quadruples in height, and its weight is just under 20x higher). In addition, Bewear is portrayed as being deceptively strong in a lot of the series, the pokedex entries alone show this, but though I haven't watched much of the Alola anime, it plays a significant role with some impressive feats in that as well, fighting at least somewhat evenly against a Guzzlord from what i've read.The odd one out in this group is... Stufful. Bewear isn't a particularly brilliant Pokemon in Pokemon Go or the main series, nor does it have a particularly onerous evolution requirement. It's particularly odd since it literally debuted during a community day with double candy, meaning that evolving it was trivial if you caught a relatively small amount (using Leppa Berries, it's 12 candy per catch), and it has been fairly common since then.
Some additional notes for context to non-Go playersIn typical fashion, I posted something in a different thread which prompted me to post about a whole other topic in another thread. So let's have at it!
Since day one Pokemon Go has featured certain Pokemon with a massively outsized evolution cost relative to other species. Initially, this was limited to Magikarp alone, but it's since expanded to include Wailmer, Swablu, Noibat, Stufful, Wimpod, Larvesta, and Meltan.
For those who don't play, most evolutions in PoGo work on a standard basis: Pokemon which evolve once typically require 50 candies to evolve (occasionally with an additional item or quest thrown in, such as the Metal Coat for Onix or walking 10km for Bonsly). Pokemon which evolve twice typically require 25 candies for their first evolution, and then 100 for the second (again sometimes with the aid of an item, such as the King's Rock for Politoed or the Dragon Scale for Kingdra).
Some exceptions do exist: weaker, more common Pokemon such as Ledyba have a reduced cost of 25 candy to evolve, while Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle similarly only need 12 candy for their first evolution and 50 for their second. Azurill only requires 25 candy for both its evolutions. Several two-stage Pokemon like Accelgor and Ambipom do need 100 candy instead of 50 to evolve.
So looking at the 400-candy crew, it's evident enough why most of them have this requirement:
Unreleased Pokemon with the 400-candy requirement are Applin (for both evolutions) and Kubfu: these fit for the same reasons covered already. Poipole and Type:Null also both have an evolution requirement of 200 candies. Obviously all of these are subject to change before release.
- Magikarp, Wimpod, and Larvesta all reflect the extra effort needed to evolve them in the main series
- Wailmer feels like a slight meme pick, but it's a nod to Wailord being the largest Pokemon in the series
- It's generally accepted that Swablu and Noibat being part of this group reflects Niantic's general efforts to make Dragon the most elusive type, as well as Noibat's incredibly high evolution level in the main series. Each of the eighteen types has a catching medal that slightly increases the catch rate for Pokemon of that type when certain numerical milestones are hit (for which obtaining Pokemon by trade and evolution both count towards the overall total); due to Dragon being the rarest type, the platinum Dragon medal is fittingly frequently the hardest to obtain. Swablu is weak and relatively common (now - like most things, it was rare when introduced) so the high evolution cost prevents players from evolving a bunch of them to artificially inflate their numbers.
- Lastly, Meltan is a mythical Pokemon, so has a high cost to reflect this fact
The odd one out in this group is... Stufful. Bewear isn't a particularly brilliant Pokemon in Pokemon Go or the main series, nor does it have a particularly onerous evolution requirement. It's particularly odd since it literally debuted during a community day with double candy, meaning that evolving it was trivial if you caught a relatively small amount (using Leppa Berries, it's 12 candy per catch), and it has been fairly common since then.
Weirdly, there's an omission here, too: Skrelp. Interestingly, when Skrelp was first datamined, it was a 400-candy evolution. Why? Because it, like Swablu, evolves into a Dragon-type. Skrelp hasn't been a vastly common Pokemon since its debut (shame, because it's a favourite of mine - though coincidentally the shiny will be available from tomorrow) but it's common enough that you could conceivably catch enough to evolve a bunch of them. It was tweaked to have the standard 50-candy evolution prior to release.
Specifically on the Alola anime, Bewear is shown fighting the Ultra Beasts evenly if not winning (Grapples Buzzwole for literally half an episode, curbstomps a Pheromosa, and has the upperhand on Guzzlord until it takes bad shots protecting its cub), although that depends on if you chalk that up to the species and "Mama Bear" concept, or just that specific Bewear where its being absurdly strong is usually for comedy. Notably most of the UB's aren't battled directly by the cast, and those that are tend to be a combined effort (the Guzzlord Bewear took on was fought by the Kahunas, the first Shiny one needed a Z-move combination from all of Ash's Classmates plus Hau and Gladion, and the last one was fought back by Ash and Masked-Royal-Kukui), so being able to 1v1 them consistently is supposed to indicate strength clearly.Personal theory here, but I assume the high cost for Stufful to Bewear is similar to Wailmer to Wailord, Stufful to Bewear is a pretty notable size increase (over quadruples in height, and its weight is just under 20x higher). In addition, Bewear is portrayed as being deceptively strong in a lot of the series, the pokedex entries alone show this, but though I haven't watched much of the Alola anime, it plays a significant role with some impressive feats in that as well, fighting at least somewhat evenly against a Guzzlord from what i've read.
These combined are my theory on what led to the heightened candy cost it has
(also minor correction, it's pinap berries rather than leppa)
To think I've played that damn game since 2016 and got that wrongPersonal theory here, but I assume the high cost for Stufful to Bewear is similar to Wailmer to Wailord, Stufful to Bewear is a pretty notable size increase (over quadruples in height, and its weight is just under 20x higher). In addition, Bewear is portrayed as being deceptively strong in a lot of the series, the pokedex entries alone show this, but though I haven't watched much of the Alola anime, it plays a significant role with some impressive feats in that as well, fighting at least somewhat evenly against a Guzzlord from what i've read.
These combined are my theory on what led to the heightened candy cost it has
(also minor correction, it's pinap berries rather than leppa)
Re Stufful, my point was that Stufful literally debuted with its community day. It had a high cost but you could evolve it from the off; the same is not true of any other 400-candy monSome additional notes for context to non-Go players
- Noibat also had a Community Day similar to Stufful, even if not with the Double Candy it was spawning very frequently to get one stockpiled during that time
- Meltan is a Mythical but you can also span 30+ of them with the Box every 3 days if you're doing Home/Switch transfers (which you can do easily on that frequency with any junk)
- Skrelp may have been changed because outside of events or rare seasonal spawns, it's only available through 12km eggs I believe, which are a task to hunt down (need to fight a Rocket Leader who in turn needs 6 grunts to get a Radar, then have an open slot to receive the egg), are the longest to hatch, and obviously are only a chance of Skrelp out of the pool. Niantic may have decided that was excessive for Dragalge who's just okay and didn't have a shiny until this Go Fest.
TBH, I've never liked Curse as a name. It works for the ghost element but doesn't for the non-ghost option. Acupuncture would be an interesting name since it still works by stabbing, but making you slower-but-better would be a reasonable thing it could do.What would Curse's non-Ghost effect be translated as? The original name could be read as either "curse" or "dull/slow" (Google Translate reveals the less-euphemistic "stupid" as another interpretation). But while Curse works well for a move name in English, Stupid is an adjective, which is reserved for ability names as far as I can tell.
I think Curse works for the non-ghost version, getting thing X but at the cost of thing Y feels like a curse's warehouse.TBH, I've never liked Curse as a name. It works for the ghost element but doesn't for the non-ghost option. Acupuncture would be an interesting name since it still works by stabbing, but making you slower-but-better would be a reasonable thing it could do.
So you want an alternative English name for Curse which could relate to both its effects like its Japanese name? Here's three I thought of:What would Curse's non-Ghost effect be translated as? The original name could be read as either "curse" or "dull/slow" (Google Translate reveals the less-euphemistic "stupid" as another interpretation). But while Curse works well for a move name in English, Stupid is an adjective, which is reserved for ability names as far as I can tell.
EDIT: I originally wrote a response but then saw most others beat me to the punch here. I'll still post it since I typed it all out.The odd one out in this group is... Stufful. Bewear isn't a particularly brilliant Pokemon in Pokemon Go or the main series, nor does it have a particularly onerous evolution requirement. It's particularly odd since it literally debuted during a community day with double candy, meaning that evolving it was trivial if you caught a relatively small amount (using Leppa Berries, it's 12 candy per catch), and it has been fairly common since then.
Weirdly, there's an omission here, too: Skrelp. Interestingly, when Skrelp was first datamined, it was a 400-candy evolution. Why? Because it, like Swablu, evolves into a Dragon-type. Skrelp hasn't been a vastly common Pokemon since its debut (shame, because it's a favourite of mine - though coincidentally the shiny will be available from tomorrow) but it's common enough that you could conceivably catch enough to evolve a bunch of them. It was tweaked to have the standard 50-candy evolution prior to release.