(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

Why can't we buy NPC clothes? Or get them in some other way? The art is already done. I know they can't just copy-paste, NPC assets are different from PC assets, but a good chunk of NPC models are clearly built on the same skeleton as the PC just for convenience, why not let us dress the same as Lass/Ace Trainer/Evil Grunt/etc?
 
Why can't we buy NPC clothes? Or get them in some other way? The art is already done. I know they can't just copy-paste, NPC assets are different from PC assets, but a good chunk of NPC models are clearly built on the same skeleton as the PC just for convenience, why not let us dress the same as Lass/Ace Trainer/Evil Grunt/etc?
There is actually a bunch of NPC-based clothing in SwSh, as well as obviously the gym trainers sporting the same outfit that you get after defeating the gym.
I assume it's the first time they actually bothered with it, and I've seen far too many people with the Marnie cosplay clothing at this point.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
Non turn based games usually will always have some degree of reliance of "just git gud", due to having the fact you have to execute commands "in real time".
Sure if they are RPGs there's still likely the chance you can overlevel and bruteforce a boss, but that's not a rule.
You're not going to be able to overlevel a mission in GTA, you can't overlevel a boss in Bayonetta or DMC, you're not going to be able to win at a sports game by getting higher level players (...ok we do not speak of latest FIFA games), you're not going to overlevel a Roguelike or even a Roguelite, you're also not going to bruteforce a fighting game either, and usually even in modern single player RTS the games put some sort of "soft timer" either by you running out of resources or a literal timer on finishing a mission.
I didn't get what I was alluding to across good.

Sure, those games don't have levels, but they do have ways of making them just as artificially hard where it takes a kind of "grind" to get through them.

For GTA, sure there's no levels, but if they want to make a mission harder they can up the amount of mooks you gotta gun down as well as making resources scarce. Heck, GTA has missions where you can only use a specific weapon, usually a melee one like a bat, which could make those missions much more harder compared to having let you just use a gun.

Bayonetta, DMC and Roguelike/Roguelite may not have a level system the way Pokemon does, but they can still up the difficulty by making the opponents stronger. Hit harder, have a lot of HP, give them a gimmick you need to work with or around to defeat them, could have minions/allies with them you'd need to also fight at the same time, etc..

Sport games are an interesting case because, similar to Pokemon, unless they want to be obvious with their artificial difficulty all players have stats. However, while Pokemon is a turn based thus increased difficulty comes from levels, with sport games most of the time difficulty comes from reaction time. While developers try to replicate real life reaction times, the computer will still has better reaction time to do actions & maneuvers. They're ones which the player could technically do too but a player will sometimes fumble; the computer will always be able to execute the action/maneuver perfectly everytime.

And there's plenty of other examples. My point was that all of these all involve grind of some kind even if they're not gaining levels. GTA would require you to memorize the mission knowing where are enemies and resources (or in case of using a specific weapon, how best to use the weapon). Bayo, DMC, & Rogues you'll just have to keep on fighting until the opponent is defeated while trying to keep yourself healthy. Sports you'll have to know what the best strategies are to prevent your opponent from starting theirs or countering them.

In general (bar some very specific exceptions with roguelikes that force permadeath or straight up punish experimenting) once you remove the "real time" element from a game, you make the game basically become "do you know the strategy? Yes you win, No you lose" and the "difficulty" only becomes either bruteforcing the element via grinding, or reading the strat on the internet.
Once again, I feel if you switch around some things the same is true for all genres that are "real time". If you know the strategies and are able to keep up with the action then you win. If you don't then you gotta figure it out, and with a real time game I can only imagine that's more frustrating as, unlike with Pokemon where you have time to think of what to do next, in the real time game you still gotta keep dodging/healing yourself.

The lack of having to execute "on the fly" really hurts any type of challenge you can propose in turn based games. Pokemon just suffers from it even more due to how "simple" the combat system is on basic level
(We all know it's actually pretty complex, but that complexity only happens when enemies have "infinite" options)
I disagree. I think the main problem here is that Pokemon doesn't really show us how battles can provide thoughtful challenges during the main game; ESPECIALLY when there's always on Exp. Share keeping your team either up to pace or even further ahead of the level curve. If you look at the strategies that ILCA gave to the Gym Leaders, Pokemon League, and villain team there's actually some creative ones that may have made them more interesting battles in the original DPPt.

You know, I know you made that dialogue more of a meme, but a part of me wonders if one of the reasons for picking DP over Plat as base was simply cause that way there was a "sureproof" way to recreate both versions, while if they used Plat at base it'd actually have required some more thought on how to split stuff, expecially the expanded pokedex available.
That's the only reason I can think of, in addition to not wanting to include the Battle Frontier which would be the major feature to make it based on Platinum. And if exlcuding Platinum also means losing some story bits that didn't really add anything, so be it.

Hm, thinking about it, being they then placed all the Platinum extended Pokemon in the Grand Underground, I wonder if the other choice to do so was so they could do that and thus "justify" the Grand Underground.

Sinnoh surfing was also very reduced, generally just being used for short cuts and a couple short side areas, and any time it does come up it's generally very short routes.
They probably reduced it because of Hoenn backlash, honestly, it does not feel like a coincidence.
Maybe, though it could also be because they wanted to focus on Mt. Coronet sort of being the "hud" of Sinnoh so some progression involved a new way of navigating it usually via an HM.

Why can't we buy NPC clothes? Or get them in some other way? The art is already done. I know they can't just copy-paste, NPC assets are different from PC assets, but a good chunk of NPC models are clearly built on the same skeleton as the PC just for convenience, why not let us dress the same as Lass/Ace Trainer/Evil Grunt/etc?
Don't forget hairstyles. They could even make it a sort of "collectable", like in order to obtain the Lass's clothing style you need to defeat 10 Lasses or maybe all the Lasses on the first three Routes or something along that idea.

And on the flipside, maybe also apply the different skin, hair, & eye color options the player has to all the trainers so that, even if they're wearing the same clothes, they'll look different (though wouldn't also argue having a few alt clothing styles for the Trainer Classes to make them further look different, and then make them all available for the player to obtain and wear).

I could also mention a ton of other ways they could make customization more robust but I'll spare you the reading (for now...).

There is actually a bunch of NPC-based clothing in SwSh, as well as obviously the gym trainers sporting the same outfit that you get after defeating the gym.
I assume it's the first time they actually bothered with it, and I've seen far too many people with the Marnie cosplay clothing at this point.
But remember some of that is DLC. And while I'm not against DLC adding more clothing options, at the same time I do think that any of the clothing the Trainer Classes & major NPCs are wearing in-game should be made available in the base game. Paid DLC clothes should be something like sets of clothes based previous gens or maybe even other game series (and of course they either should be cheap if sold individually (mictotransaction pretty much) or if its a set there should be a significant amount of clothes depending on the price point).
 
Sure, those games don't have levels, but they do have ways of making them just as artificially hard where it takes a kind of "grind" to get through them.

For GTA, sure there's no levels, but if they want to make a mission harder they can up the amount of mooks you gotta gun down as well as making resources scarce. Heck, GTA has missions where you can only use a specific weapon, usually a melee one like a bat, which could make those missions much more harder compared to having let you just use a gun.

Bayonetta, DMC and Roguelike/Roguelite may not have a level system the way Pokemon does, but they can still up the difficulty by making the opponents stronger. Hit harder, have a lot of HP, give them a gimmick you need to work with or around to defeat them, could have minions/allies with them you'd need to also fight at the same time, etc..

Sport games are an interesting case because, similar to Pokemon, unless they want to be obvious with their artificial difficulty all players have stats. However, while Pokemon is a turn based thus increased difficulty comes from levels, with sport games most of the time difficulty comes from reaction time. While developers try to replicate real life reaction times, the computer will still has better reaction time to do actions & maneuvers. They're ones which the player could technically do too but a player will sometimes fumble; the computer will always be able to execute the action/maneuver perfectly everytime.

And there's plenty of other examples. My point was that all of these all involve grind of some kind even if they're not gaining levels. GTA would require you to memorize the mission knowing where are enemies and resources (or in case of using a specific weapon, how best to use the weapon). Bayo, DMC, & Rogues you'll just have to keep on fighting until the opponent is defeated while trying to keep yourself healthy. Sports you'll have to know what the best strategies are to prevent your opponent from starting theirs or countering them.
Everything you described sounded like regular difficulty.
 
Hey, I'm glad to see finally someone understands this. Slight faith in humanity restored.

Turn based RPGs can't be made hard. You can make them *grindy* sure, but not hard. Grind != difficulty, making games become grindy is just making them boring.

Due to the fact there's no "time pressure", you are always allowed to take your time to think your strategies both before and after the battles, or even just bruteforce the enemy by sheer overleveling if that's possible.

Even the so fabled boosted E4 and gym leaders of BDSP are nothing you can't bruteforce. Sure you can die once out of surprise from the items on some of their pokes, but round 2 will usually just go smooth as long as you have basic knowledge of type matchups.
You are skipping over the fact that the thinking of strategies is what a lot of people mean when they say hard. If they player does not put in a ridiculous amount of effort into limiting themselves, the mainline games are simply a hit the A button simulator: you don't really have to think about typing, speed tiers or if you will live a hit. You outspeed and one shot with any decent pokemon or you take weak hits kill 2-3 pokemon and maybe heal. What "hard" means is making you think about your pokemon. With competent gym rosters through out the entire game you think about typing and resistances (x pokemon has good typing I can switch in and take this), you appreciate the pokemon a lot more (x pokemon can learn volt switch and u turn and is fast / slow and bulky enough to put good use to it, x pokemon has swift swim/ chlorophyll and can learn sunny day/ rain dance, x pokemon can set up screens, etc). Not to mention in a "difficult" game you will explore more/ catch more pokemon. It is only in rom hacks that I have caught a pokemon with super luck or compound eyes to get items that could be useful ( 20% type boosting items, life orbs, etc), or caught early powerhouses like beedrill, or even had to appreciate a mon with pickup.

I have been playing competitive pokemon for a decade and pokemon for even longer; I know movesets, BSTs, and typings like the back of my hand so I am rarely surprised, but I still play "hard" versions of the games because at least they can make me think about and appreciate the actual point of the game (the pokemon themselves). It's nuts that some people feel they have to use more than 6 pokemon, not because they want to, but to introduce some form of difficulty to incredibly easy games. There is quite a long way between that and having to grind.
 

AquaticPanic

Intentional Femboy Penguin
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributor
Community Leader
Ok so this thing

1639203299051.png


In BW, its one of the few mons that are explained outside of the Pokédex - Professor Juniper is doing a field research in Chargestone Cave, where she explains:

"Hi there! Did you find something? I think we're just about done collecting data. This cave has been around since the distant past, but… Data to prove that Klink existed more than a hundred years ago can't be found. So that must mean… Klink suddenly appeared a hundred years ago! Where Pokémon came from and where they are going… If we can learn that, I believe we can get along even better!"

AND THEN ALONG COMES SWORD AND SHIELd! And their godawful writing team!

Shield Klink Dex Entry: It's suspected that Klink were the inspiration behind ancient people's invention of the first gears.

Shield Klank Dex Entry: Many companies in the Galar region choose Klang as their logo. This Pokémon is considered the symbol of industrial technology.


I don't even care for Klink that much but HOW do you fuck up this badly so as to contradict the literal only piece of lore that Klink even has going for it, that the games it debuted in even made a special dialogue to make a point out of????
 
While the Klink entry is worth an eye roll (~100 years ago wasn't necessarily "ancient", yeah?) the Klank one is fine? Modern companies use it as their logo because its interlocking steel gears, it's a good symbol of industry regardless of when Klank itself was discovered.
And if we want to be charitable then there was an unknown period of time between BW1 era and SWSH era, in universe you can just handwave it with "There has been new evidence discovered that points at a link between ancient people and Klink [possibly in galar specifically]"



Though honestly seems like it should have been about "200" years ago instead, industrial revolution feels like it'd make more sense since Pokemon's kinda-sorta meant to be contemporary and ~1810 would line up with the industrial revolution that would probably have technological machines with big gears like....well....Klink.


Then again it's obviously not our world either and they're so loose with time scale as it is (meiji era sinnoh sure feels more ancient than what it actually would be if we were more approximate) so...
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
To be fair, the dex says it's SUSPECTED that Klink was the inspiration for the first gears. What is the suspicion based on? Was evidence found that revealed Klink existed all that way back? Are they sure this evidence points toward Klink or could this evidence may be referencing another Pokemon or something else like a symbolical representation (I'd imagine in the Pokemon world that would be an issue; like archeologists find a pictograph of a sun with a face and now have to figure out is it symbolism or a drawing of a Solrock)? Or, could it be a Regional Variant/predecessor that existed back then but when more metallic gears become common the Steel-type Klink family we know today became more common. Don't want to post spoilers, but a recent announcement revealed a Pokemon we thought was modern turned out to have a Regional Variant which existed in the wild a while ago and likely is the predecessor to the modern species, so there could be a Grass-type Klink made of wood or a Rock-type made of stone/crystal/obsidian.

Another possibility, though it's really twisting what Juniper said, is that Juniper only said KLINK didn't have evidence of it appearing until the recent 100 years. She said nothing about Klank nor Klinklank, so maybe it was thought they just existed; Any Klinks seen assumed to be a smaller Klank or Klank with missing pieces. Heck, who knows, maybe, just maybe it was the case Klank/Klinklank were just as they were but something caused them in the last 100 years to develop the smaller Klink prevo. So it's not that Klink inspired the ancient people, it was Klank/Klinklank, then later on Klink developed a 100 or so years ago (it would also explain Klank's Shield dex entry).
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
One minor annoyance I have with BW1 is that Brycen for whatever reason never seems to send his Beartic out last.

Beartic is his signature and "ace" Pokémon with it being two levels higher than his other two Pokémon, but every time I've faced him he never sends his Beartic out as his final Pokémon. It's particularly annoying to me here because BW1 has a "Final Pokémon" theme for the Gym Leaders, and I feel it is most fitting when the "ace" Pokémon of the Gym Leader is last. There are cases where other Gym Leaders like Burgh, Clay, and Skyla may be inclined to send their ace out second particularly if the ace is advantageous against your own Pokémon, but otherwise they will be inclined to send their second non-ace Pokémon out second. Brycen for whatever reason always sends his Beartic out second, even though it's his ace, and I have so far never been able to find a trigger to make him summon Cryogonal second rather than Beartic. I have never seen any videos of him sending his Beartic out last either. It's very irritating for a Gym Leader to have a clear cut ace Pokemon and they virtually never send it out as their final Pokémon, and as I said, I haven't found any Pokemon that would cause him to send Cryogonal out before Beartic. Particularly annoying since the next Gym Leader in Drayden or Iris will always send out their signature Haxorus as their final Pokemon no matter what, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Brycen.

I just wonder if there was some weird data or coding that they had with Brycen because Beartic should logically be the last Pokemon he sends out in his Gym Battle due to it being his ace, but he never sends it out as his final Pokemon.
 
I had that issue with Emerald Norman. I was trying to do a run where I used cheats to catch trainer pokemon, with the rule of having to steal Gym Leader aces. I reloaded multiple times trying to get him to send out Slaking last so that I'd have to face his full team. Eventually I just gave up and caught it without ever seeing Linoone.

Oddly, that does not seem to be normal, since plenty of other people face his team in a reasonable order without that.
 
One minor annoyance I have with BW1 is that Brycen for whatever reason never seems to send his Beartic out last.

Beartic is his signature and "ace" Pokémon with it being two levels higher than his other two Pokémon, but every time I've faced him he never sends his Beartic out as his final Pokémon. It's particularly annoying to me here because BW1 has a "Final Pokémon" theme for the Gym Leaders, and I feel it is most fitting when the "ace" Pokémon of the Gym Leader is last. There are cases where other Gym Leaders like Burgh, Clay, and Skyla may be inclined to send their ace out second particularly if the ace is advantageous against your own Pokémon, but otherwise they will be inclined to send their second non-ace Pokémon out second. Brycen for whatever reason always sends his Beartic out second, even though it's his ace, and I have so far never been able to find a trigger to make him summon Cryogonal second rather than Beartic. I have never seen any videos of him sending his Beartic out last either. It's very irritating for a Gym Leader to have a clear cut ace Pokemon and they virtually never send it out as their final Pokémon, and as I said, I haven't found any Pokemon that would cause him to send Cryogonal out before Beartic. Particularly annoying since the next Gym Leader in Drayden or Iris will always send out their signature Haxorus as their final Pokemon no matter what, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Brycen.

I just wonder if there was some weird data or coding that they had with Brycen because Beartic should logically be the last Pokemon he sends out in his Gym Battle due to it being his ace, but he never sends it out as his final Pokemon.
If the AI isn't specifically written to send something out last, it usually just checks for the best offensive matchup. In Brycen's case, Beartic has all the same attack types as Cryogonal while having coverage in brine. From that, there's no situation in which Cryogonal would be favoured, and Beartic would be the clear preference against fire, rock, and steel types that a player would logically be using in an Ice gym since brine hits them better than the shared normal/ice moves. I actually think BW1 Drayden/Iris is using the same logic, since Druddigon has all of Haxorus' attacking types, but also has a Fighting move.


Gen 5 ice types really need better movepools.
I had that issue with Emerald Norman. I was trying to do a run where I used cheats to catch trainer pokemon, with the rule of having to steal Gym Leader aces. I reloaded multiple times trying to get him to send out Slaking last so that I'd have to face his full team. Eventually I just gave up and caught it without ever seeing Linoone.

Oddly, that does not seem to be normal, since plenty of other people face his team in a reasonable order without that.
What were you using? Norman's Linoone has no coverage while Slaking has Faint Attack, so a Ghost, Psychic, or Rock type would encourage him to send out Slaking instead.
 
Last edited:

Samtendo09

Ability: Light Power
is a Pre-Contributor
Gen 5 ice types really need better movepools.
That’s Ice-types in general, at least the pure Ice-type ones. Pokémon with a type that is supposed to be a glass cannon should absolutely not have poor coverage.

I wouldn’t say Ice failed defensively despite supposed to be a glass cannon; it failed because of the concept and the fact that Fire, Rock and Fighting are common offensive typings, not helped by slow Ice-type not bulky enough to avoid the common problems.

Ice is by far the most overspecialized type when it comes to type effectiveness. It doesn’t need dozen of resistances; it just need something like a resistance to Ground and Flying so that the defensive side isn’t completely useless.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
If the AI isn't specifically written to send something out last, it usually just checks for the best offensive matchup. In Brycen's case, Beartic has all the same attack types as Cryogonal while having coverage in brine. From that, there's no situation in which Cryogonal would be favoured, and Beartic would be the clear preference against fire, rock, and steel types that a player would logically be using in an Ice gym since brine hits them better than the shared normal/ice moves. I actually think BW1 Drayden/Iris is using the same logic, since Druddigon has all of Haxorus' attacking types, but also has a Fighting move.
Huh, that actually makes sense. I previously thought that the AI would opt for the best defensive matchup but it seems that explains a lot. That was kind of apparent in that whole Elgyem/Litwick situation I brought up in that other thread but here it definitely shows with the Gym Leaders. That certainly explains certain tendencies I saw with other BW1 Gym Leaders during my many runs of BW1, such as with Clay, who sends his Excadrill out second whenever I used Ducklett against him since his Palpitoad only has Water and Ground coverage (Ducklett resists Water and is immune to Ground) while Excadrill has Rock coverage. Of course, any Grass-type triggers Excadrill to be sent out second (though that didn't give it away at first, since I assumed at first it was because Excadrill was part Steel and was thus neutral to Grass). Oddly enough whenever I used Simipour or Dewott against Clay, Simipour or Dewott would trigger Excadrill but on the other hand, Tirtouga triggers Clay to summon Palpitoad before Excadrill. Any Fighting-type sent out against Clay will also make him send Palpitoad out second. This is despite the fact that both Palpitoad and Excadrill have roughly similar coverage to be able to hit Dewott, Simipour, and Tirtouga with Bulldoze. I guess maybe the fact that Excadrill has more neutral attacks to hit Simipour or Dewott causes the AI to favor Excadrill in that instance?

So I would also assume the AI will favor the Pokemon who has more neutral/super effective attacks against the mon currently out in such a case, if I'm reading the AI right here. This is also noted in tendencies I saw with Skyla: Archeops or Carracosta triggers Skyla to send out Swanna second (Water coverage being the reason for sure, while Unfezant cannot hit Archeops or Carracosta for neutral damage, and both Normal and Flying are resisted by them), but an Electric-type like Zebstrika will trigger Skyla to send out Unfezant second: I presume because Unfezant has two Normal moves and thus more attacks to hit Zebstrika neutrally with as opposed to Swanna only having one Water move to hit Zebstrika with. I think that sort of points to how the AI functions in such a case?

Another thing that might suggest the AI might favor the mon who has more moves that can hit super effectively/neutrally is that I used Musharna against Burgh to defeat his Whirlipede once, which triggered Dwebble over Leavanny, presumably because Dwebble had both Struggle Bug and Faint Attack while Leavanny only had Struggle Bug. Two super effective moves as opposed to one. Or obviously a case like a Fire-type in which Dwebble has Rock coverage and thus would be favored.

But yeah that definitely seems to line up, it's a lot less obvious with Brycen and Drayden/Iris though since all three of their mons are single-typed and thus the way the AI functions wasn't as immediately obvious.
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
One minor annoyance I have with BW1 is that Brycen for whatever reason never seems to send his Beartic out last.

Beartic is his signature and "ace" Pokémon with it being two levels higher than his other two Pokémon, but every time I've faced him he never sends his Beartic out as his final Pokémon. (...) It's very irritating for a Gym Leader to have a clear cut ace Pokemon and they virtually never send it out as their final Pokémon, and as I said, I haven't found any Pokemon that would cause him to send Cryogonal out before Beartic.
You know what's odd: From B2W2 onwards his ace is actually Cryogonal. Which is especially odd as most people would probably relate Cryogonal to Zinzolin as he uses two of them (though his ace is technically Weavile as it's higher leveled). The anime and it being his highest level Pokemon would make you think it was Beartic, but he'll always have Cryogonal on his team like the other Gym Leader's ace and in Masters his base is paired with Cryogonal (even the Special Manga has him more paired with Cryogonal).

Even odder: Looking at it's moveset, I noticed Cryogonal has Rapid Spin. Why would it have Rapid Spin unless they intended it to be send out second (at least some of the times) to clear our Stealth Rock for his final Pokemon? It's a Special Attacker with low Attack, it would make more sense to either have Light Screen, Icy Wind, Hail, or Flash Cannon (heck, even Ice Shard would make more sense).

Maybe because people kept facing Cryogonal last they decided to change it? :blobshrug:

Ice is by far the most overspecialized type when it comes to type effectiveness. It doesn’t need dozen of resistances; it just need something like a resistance to Ground and Flying so that the defensive side isn’t completely useless.
What Ice-types need is HIGH SPEED. Come on GF, it's been 8 gens and we only have, what, the Sneasel family? Stop with this "mighty glacier" mindset cause that's not how the Type is built!

Why isn't Beartic Ice/Water? He has a lot of coverage Water moves, and he'd have more resists with Water defensively
Also he's a freaking Polar Bear
Well, while polar bears are notably good swimmers and have adapted to swimming in cold water in a cold environment, that doesn't necessarily make them aquatic animals. Infact, looking it up, polar bears can't really stay in arctic water that long, just a few minutes (which is longer than a human certainly, but nowhere are near as long as other more water attuned animals such as penguins and pinnipeds like seals and walruses; not to mention fish and aquatic mammals like orca). They have adapted to water thus learned Water-type moves, but they aren't master of the water.
 
guys beartic learns Aqua Jet, Brine and sometimes Waterfall, it’s okay gu-hey wait where you goin

real talk, even as a huge gen V fan, their Ice types aren’t very good gameplay wise. vanillite is good…when fully evolved, natural Ice Beam is great, but before vanilluxe it can be fragile and simultaneously not that strong (stuff like Druddigon can easily live Ice Beam).

cryogonal would be fantastic if it wasn’t a 1% outside winter and actually available in the sequel maingame

beartic is…beartic.
 
What Ice-types need is HIGH SPEED. Come on GF, it's been 8 gens and we only have, what, the Sneasel family? Stop with this "mighty glacier" mindset cause that's not how the Type is built!
The other option is to actually make a Mighty Glacier mon. Fun fact, if you check out the average stats, the type is actually no more defensive than types like Water, and significantly worse than defensive behemoths like Rock. When there is an ice mon with ridiculously good bulk, it's usually very one-sided(Cryoganal, Avalugg), which makes it easily exploitable. There's not a nice defensive spread like Ferrothorn or Toxapex among them. That wouldn't fix the problem, obviously*, but I think it's hilarious that we're all saying they need to stop with the slow bulky Ice types, when they basically haven't even given the type that. Regice, Glastrier, and Kyurem are kind of the only actually bulky options. In-game? Walrein, Lapras, Eiscue...there's options, but I wouldn't call any of them actually bulky.

*compare Rotom-Frost to Rotom-Wash or Heat for an idea of how bad the typing is
 
The other option is to actually make a Mighty Glacier mon. Fun fact, if you check out the average stats, the type is actually no more defensive than types like Water, and significantly worse than defensive behemoths like Rock. When there is an ice mon with ridiculously good bulk, it's usually very one-sided(Cryoganal, Avalugg), which makes it easily exploitable. There's not a nice defensive spread like Ferrothorn or Toxapex among them. That wouldn't fix the problem, obviously*, but I think it's hilarious that we're all saying they need to stop with the slow bulky Ice types, when they basically haven't even given the type that. Regice, Glastrier, and Kyurem are kind of the only actually bulky options. In-game? Walrein, Lapras, Eiscue...there's options, but I wouldn't call any of them actually bulky.

*compare Rotom-Frost to Rotom-Wash or Heat for an idea of how bad the typing is
Walrein was actually bulky enough to get an entire sub-archetype of stall back in gen 4 when you could reasonably have Hail up the entire game. Though it is worth noting that both it and Lapras are paired with one of the best defensive types in Water.
 
When people throw out "bulky" I don't think they're particularly referring to things like Ferrothorn, which have very high stats in both defenses.

Just, you look at something like Sandslash-A and it's easier to shorthand "bulky" instead of "high Defense, low speed, but also low special defense". If you dig through other types you'll see similar deals throughout of course, but it sticks out more for Ice especially with a lower amount of Pokemon.
 

Samtendo09

Ability: Light Power
is a Pre-Contributor
Let me clarify further when I said Ice being built as mighty glaciers as “fundamentally flawed”. Even if Game Freak eventually built more than one fast and viable Ice-type Pokémon the next gen no matter how unlikely this is, we still have plenty of slower Pokémon or those with one-sided bulk that or those who are straight up masters of none still struggles because of how much Ice sucks defensively.

As such, adding a few fast and hard hitting Pokémon isn’t going to solve that, not helping with Ice’s alarmingly low quantity that even Dragon, the supposedly rarest type, actually have more Pokémon due to bloated with pseudos and Legends, rare in their own right to be fair.

What we need is not a simple solution. We need a middle ground to make it work. I’ll keep it short and vague to not fall into wishlisting;
  • More than Weavile and Hail-reliant Arctozolt to have actually good and fast Ice Pokémon.
  • Give two more resistances for Ice, and those resistances must be important. No more, but no less.
Making Hail more usable by itself would also help. But then we don’t want to run risk making Arctozolt too good unless it’s a defensive benefit for Ice…

It’s worse when you think about the fact that fangames doesn’t even solve the issues with Ice despite how annoying or detrimental these aspects are. Really go for style-over-substance, are they?
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 12)

Top