POKÉMON CENTER

[crude moon]

a big part of gen 3 is the nuance that goes into teambuilding, especially when choosing movepool.
Like, Salamence can have high Attack and run rock moves to hit fliers, fighting to hit tyranitar/blissey, and flying for general coverage.
Or Salamence can invest more into Special Attack to run a grass move for water types, fire for steel types, and dragon claw for its best overall move.

[arctic dagger]

Yeah, I'm aware.

I did competitive from gen3 to gen6

[crude moon]

But with the split, you can always just run whatever moves you want since they all have physical options

Gengar in gen 3 has maybe the most move variety of any pokemon in any format

[arctic dagger]

I'd talk about its EV variety tbh

Which to me is way more interesting

[crude moon]

and a lot of that would be lost if it could run Shadow Ball for huge damage and lost access to fire punch and ice punch

[arctic dagger]

The amount of small adjustments for specific counters is so cool

[crude moon]

gen3 would definitely be a very different format with the split; i don't think there's any way to say if it would be better or worse

[arctic dagger]

What, of course there is, we have romhacks that are faithful recreations of gen3 but with the physical/special split

We could absolutely make a format for it

The hard part would be getting people to play it enough

[crude moon]

yeah, there's no way to go back in time and have a decades-long culture develop around that alternate version

[arctic dagger]

Sure but you could do it forward in time, it'd just be really hard.

[crude moon]

and even then there would not be a clear-cut answer of "better" or "worse"

[arctic dagger]

I'm probably being too tired and overly semantic.

Ignore me.

[pliant violet]

that's definitely untrue

[crude moon]

poor word choice; you can run almost any type coverage you want within the same set with minimal downside

[arctic dagger]

I honestly think that's more to the fact hidden power is strong in gen3 too

Being able to have 70 power HP and the lack of just general 80+ power moves makes for HP being sometimes optimal even if you have other options

I think it would be interesting to see what it would be like if every move that changed from physical or special to the other one got a clone copy in the other one

Like there was just a physical version of Shadow Ball

[sudden spade]

HP is in part strong because quite a few pokemon have just rancid learnsets when it comes to coverage.

[arctic dagger]

As well

Sure but also it's like

The best flying and bug type move in general in a lot of cases? XF

Like there just didn't exist good bug moves at all

I seem to remember sala using HP fly sometimes because its only other option for fly stab was Fly

[covert saffron]

gengar is FASCINATING

[covert saffron]

here’s to you [any eeveelutions]

[sudden spade]

Flareon: "Don't worry, once there's a physical/special split I'll be great...right?"

[wild thorn]

I found a shiny this morning in Pokémon Sleep

...it was fucking Mime Jr

[covert saffron]

that grim reaper comic “i was a good eeveelution, right?” and death just says “lol absolutely fuckin not”

[sudden spade]

Flareon: "Come on, Fire Physical Priority Move...please start existing in my moveset."

[wispy yarrow]

Espeon my beloved

[deft path]

it is, I've played it

it sucks and it's why they changed it

the old system was maybe one of the most unintuitive things I've ever seen in a Pokémon game and absolutely just bad design that was done to make coding the game an actual possibility rather than an active decision

There's absolutely zero sense to what types are special and what types are physical outside of certain very obvious ones

[manic kindle]

Sorry that was my son can you send him back

[deft path]

it's interesting competitively just because it's different

but imo the PS split was legitimately the best thing to happen to the series

[manic kindle]

I think theres a lot of interesting stuff to play with and learn by engaging in the older games on their turf (pre-split, for example) but largely we have the current advancements in pokemon for the better

[covert saffron]

sure the split is probably the best and most unintrusivr inter generational mechanical change

however

BANETTE SHADOW BALL TECH

SPECIALLY OFFENSIVE TYRANITAR

BRRRRRRR

[crude moon]

my single favorite element of the gen3ou meta:
skarmory is one of the best pokemon in the format. Magneton outspeeds Skarmory, kills it in one attack, and has an ability that stops it from switching out. So if a Magneton is in against Skarmory, it just gets a free kill.
Dugtrio outspeeds Magneton, kills it in one attack, and has an ability that stops it from switching out. So if a Dugtrio is in against Magneton, it just gets a free kill.

and there is no team preview!

so a common play is to send in Skarmory then immediately switch to Dugtrio, on the chance your opponent has a Magneton and tries to switch in against Skarmory

[arctic dagger]

On the other hand if they just hit you or do their own set up

Not great

[crude moon]

exactly

[arctic dagger]

This happens in other gens but part of gen3 that I actually think is good if there's so many fewer options

[snow cobalt]

aw your name changed back

[arctic dagger]

There's just so many things that can happen it's just not worth trying to predict specific plays like that

And also the need for team preview because without it, and there being so many options...

It just becomes madness

[azure crane]

Focus Band Magneton with HP Grass.

[arctic dagger]

Speaking of the split tho'

https://youtu.be/jXxZkc9ya9I

A thing I watched a bit back and is interesting data on it

One of my favorite fun facts was that Dark was special until gen4, and then EVERY SINGLE existing dark type move became physical

[crude moon]

god

for all the praise i was giving gen3ou before

evasion moves being banned but not accuracy-reducing moves is an unfathomably dumb decision

literally what is the difference

accuracy moves are banned other gens

[exotic garden]

there is theoretically a difference in that you can switch out to clear accuracy debuffs

but also, that is really dumb

[crude moon]

there's a team that leads a Ninjask with protect, substitute, sand attack, baton pass

[pliant violet]

gross

[crude moon]

that builds up speed boosts while stalling and lowering the opponent's accuracy, then switches in to a slow but strong attacker to swords dance and sweep

it's not the best team, but it's definitely not bad, and its wins largely depend on accuracy checks

it's so dumb

[sudden spade]

In theory the distinction is you can Set Up with evasion boosting but not accuracy reducing but yeah...stupid.

[soft isle]

Ninjask 😌

[crude moon]

looking through a big .txt of recommended teams for new players and

i

i guess??

[near flower]

focus punch???

[crude moon]

i feel like a reliable fighting move would make so much more sense than insurance against getting slept

yeah focus punch is a big move in gen 3

[near flower]

huh!

[crude moon]

if you're confident your opponent will switch out or do a status move, it'll get really solid damage on almost anything

[near flower]

interesting

[pliant violet]

part of the issue with early gens is simply the moves are not good

like I know power creep or whatever but newer moves tend to be more interesting to me

also, less cool signature moves which is something I thrive off

[arctic dagger]

Yes but also I dislike the like, 100-150 power no downsides stuff personally

[pliant violet]

oh yeah no those cannot exist

except specifically megaton hammer

[crude moon]

flamethrower, earthquake, ice beam, and thunderbolt are still the staples they always are in every generation

[pliant violet]

shadow ball too, I imagine

[arctic dagger]

No because shadow ball is physical

[crude moon]

yeah but it's a different move in gen 3

[arctic dagger]

xD

[pliant violet]

right, ghost was physical

I forget

[exotic garden]

the moves being worse overall in gen 3 is really funny because it means focus punch does sometimes just make sense on a moveset

150 power is hard to say no to

[pliant violet]

because this is no kind of logic

[arctic dagger]

There was a theory ghost and dark got swapped phys/spec on accident

And they just kept it

[exotic garden]

ghost was physical in gen 1 wasn't it

[crude moon]

like moves themselves aren't that bad

almost everyone still has a strong 90+ power move

[pliant violet]

in gen 1 weren't the physical and special stats just a single stat?

[arctic dagger]

No, special was just one stat

[exotic garden]

sure, but strong on-stat STAB is a bit harder to come by

[arctic dagger]

Attack/def still existed

But special was just special

No spatk/spdef

[pliant violet]

you're right, I shouldn't have said bad so much as boring, to me

[crude moon]

focus punch is still commonly run on non-stab pokemon

[arctic dagger]

Eh, there's a LOT of bad moves

[manic kindle]

guts focus punch heracross destroys so many things

[arctic dagger]

And more importantly there's VERY LOW ACCESS to the few good moves

[exotic garden]

yeah it kicks ass

[arctic dagger]

Some pokemon would be good if they got moves but just don't

[exotic garden]

just lock in and predict the switch

[manic kindle]

its easier to use as both players get better, in a funny way

[crude moon]

focus punch is a lot more interesting than all the moves that just do a lot of damage and have a tiny chance to do a devastating status move

[arctic dagger]

Like there are pokemon that would be good if they HAD the good move in their stab type, but just... Don't?

[manic kindle]

because you start to get into the swapping mindgames

[pliant violet]

speaking of things from another time, we must be just about due for some more z-a news

[manic kindle]

its hard to use focus punch against a player w/out experience and skill

[arctic dagger]

Seems likely

Sure you can't predict people who are hitting buttons randomly

And worse players don't switch much

[manic kindle]

not just that

They wont know that its common to run Focus Punch, so they dont try to plan around it or its inclusion in the meta

[pliant violet]

never seen this map before https://legends.pokemon.com/_images/feb_27_2025/map_thumb-2x.jpg

[manic kindle]

But then once you know Hera can run Focus Punch, its a new thing you gotta play with

etc etc

the basics of learning

blahblah

its neat to me i love it

[arctic dagger]

Yeah mind games are great

[pliant violet]

ohh apparently the gym gimmick of this is it's a night time battle royale?

[arctic dagger]

but it's not like later gens don't have mind games

Yes

IDK if it's a gym gimmick or just like, "Trainer routes' are at night

[manic kindle]

yeah its applicable to all mind games, but i like it in particular in the gens where moves like focus punch have their time to shine

[pliant violet]

it's the gym gimmick judging by the website

[arctic dagger]

Gotchu

[pliant violet]

the rival trainer challenges you in it

and the gameplay loop is like "catch pokemon and do resource stuff during the day, do battle royale stuff at night"

[arctic dagger]

Will be interesting to see how they define how that changes

Like if you just say it changes, if youy have an action limit during the day, etc

[pliant violet]

indeed

[arctic dagger]

Maybe you only get to heal once per night

Etc

[pliant violet]

It cannot be a real time change thing

that's just about the only hard and fast rule

[arctic dagger]

Yeah that was my thought

[pliant violet]

you'd lock whole sections of the player base out from half the game

[arctic dagger]

On the other hand if you can change between them at will

That'd be so boring

[pliant violet]

depending on the limitations on what you can do in each phase

must be due for more info

https://youtu.be/tezs2FsIxgA?si=7Zj4f8EToQMru_2u I don't remember seeing this trailer

I wasn't so big on legends Arceus but this seems more up my alley, and I could not tell you why

maybe just the setting

[arctic dagger]

I was huge on the regional forms for Arceus but

Could not care about the game outside of that

I think pretty much every Hisuian form was Chef's kiss

[pliant violet]

I didn't really vibe with most of them, in part because I did not like their original variants

[arctic dagger]

The Paradox pokemon shoulda been more like Hisuian forms IMO

[pliant violet]

one exception was hisuian sneasel

[arctic dagger]

Sneasler signatrure move is illegal

IDK there's a reason Hisuian Zoroark has become the face of fanfic

Snail goodra is so cool compared to slug goodra IMO

[pliant violet]

I don't engage with fanfic

[wispy yarrow]

Sneasler is so dumb I love them

[pliant violet]

Dire Claw is indeed some bullshit but even without it I'd like sneasler

I like it inherently a lot better than weavile also it's my favourite two types

[signal glen]

I don't know why I find it funny you can sneak attack trainers in Z-A.

[pliant violet]

I like it, specifically in the context of it being a battle royale

you show up in the battle zones at night? prepare to get jumped

apparently same can happen to you if they notice you

[signal glen]

Though I think the thing about Z-A I want to know more about is how like real time-y its combat looks.

[crude moon]

i liked the openness of legends arceus, but i really did not like the battle system at all

[sudden spade]

The Light/Heavy system I felt didn't really get used well.

It felt like 'we were a bit lazy and made multiple moves into the same move but only the damaging moves cared abut this'.

...Agile/Strong, not Light/Heavy

[pliant violet]

same thing really iki

the vibes of arceus just didn't sit with me

I don't go for the big epic adventure with pokemon type thing

[wispy yarrow]

I loved Arceus, personally. I think the Agile/Strong system was meh, but the whole presentation and the vibe was spot-on for me

[pliant violet]

very reasonable, and a lot of people did

just wasn't my speed

definitely looking forward to za though, it helps that I feel kalos is very under explored but I had a good time there

and I like that like Arceus they went for something very different, from entirely environment to entirely cityscape

[azure crane]

I liked putting it on special attackers, so if they switched to Blissey, they got an OHKO for their troubles.

Though what is the minimum Attack you need to guarantee the OHKO on 252/252+ Blissey?

[languid lichen]

252 def with bold?

you'd need to be a 100 base (i.e. mew) fighting type with maxed evs

there are things you can do to improve that, but life orbs didn't exist in gen 3

nor did the expert belt

for non-stab you'd need either 252+ off 150 base atk (to guarantee an ohko), 118 atk (to give an absolute maxroll the chance of an ohko), or 81 base atk with a boost (from a choice band or bulk up)

[covert saffron]

chat

seaside themed gym

what would its gimmick be

[worldly plume]

Big puddles

Where sea anemones dwell

[crude moon]

switches that change it from high tide to low tide, opening different routes

[worldly plume]

All the lil crabs and shallow water creachurs

[arctic dagger]

Swap between rain and sandstorm terrain every other round

[crude moon]

do sandstorms happen at seasides?

[near flower]

strong winds can blow the sand around quite a bit

[spare wing]

Roaming wingulls that steal items

But more realistically, yeah a water puzzle

You could also do something cool with like, one way traversable sand or something

[manic kindle]

Diving for pearls

[sullen mesa]

(webgame gpx) welp gg ez

[snow cobalt]

let's gooooo

[languid lichen]

skorupi my beloved

[pliant violet]

webgame? no these are scorpions not spiders

[foggy mango]

https://bsky.app/profile/sweetdream-alys.bsky.social/post/3lpacsofgk22q

💫Alys💫 COMMS OPEN (@sweetdream-alys.bsky.social)

Here comes the booooy~✨
Wallace is the best and most reliable Quagsire I love him dearly 💙✨

#pokemon #quagsire #digitalart

Bluesky · May 15, 2025, 8:05 PM

[covert saffron]

MAN

[crude moon]

there should be a move that raises attack and special defense

"Inspirit", maybe

i want more wacky setup moves

or a move that changes the target's ability while doing a bit of damage

since Spikes and Stealth Rock have been turned into damaging moves

[covert saffron]

there is a move it’s called snorlax

[crude moon]

snorlax just has a move that raises attack and normal defense

[snow cobalt]

https://bsky.app/profile/verface.bsky.social/post/3lpf5mfz3is2e

VER // D-13 @ MCM London (@verface.bsky.social)

an ill omen

Reposts

767

Likes

1812

Bluesky · May 17, 2025, 6:16 PM

[covert saffron]

there is also another one called muk

[covert saffron]

have you seen the full meme

[languid lichen]

not the pokemon version, but the original IRS one yeah

[covert saffron]

the pokemon one is very good

[languid lichen]

oho?

[deft path]

Incineroar!
Fake out!

Light that's not how the death note works-

Parting shot!

[languid lichen]

based

[fickle thicket]

pokemon horizons spoilers, ||it kind of bothers me that roy's shiny lucario is just not at all elaborated on. just gotta live with it.||

[soft isle]

@glacial ore

[umbral hound]

I am once again remembering lycanroc-dusk looks so cool but isn't good... give us a bipedal lycanroc-dawn form!

[crude moon]

[wispy yarrow]

oof

[near flower]

karmic punishment

[crude moon]

for what??

skarmory is the people's hero

[near flower]

idk maybe in a past life you stole candy from a baby or something and it's only coming back now

[crude moon]

dang

[near flower]

it happens to everyone

[crude moon]

you know

it's kinda crazy that they've never once tried making accuracy/crit checks a little minigame like in paper mario

in a spinoff or something

it seems like the perfect fit

[near flower]

yeah it is pretty odd

i feel like time attack systems like that are the first thing that would come to my mind if you were to threaten me at gunpoint to come up with a design idea to make turn based combat ''''more engaging''''

[wispy yarrow]

Papermon would go hard

[pliant violet]

I think accuracy/evasion stuff is sorta touched in legends arceus and likely will be in Z-A

[languid lichen]

what? dusk is the deliberately-optimized strong form

do you mean midnight?

[azure crane]

https://bsky.app/profile/juliethedoodler.bsky.social/post/3losybarqjc2d

˗ˏˋ julie ˊˎ˗ (@juliethedoodler.bsky.social)

Flygon taking Trapinch on their first flight (‘:

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897

Bluesky · May 10, 2025, 12:52 PM

[crude moon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57ZTKRGicM

Choice Band Taunt Skarmory is horrifying

[covert saffron]

sorry what skarmory

[crude moon]

solo muk brought him to the very bottom of the ladder

where he almost beat a team with a choice band skarmory with drill peck, taunt, and two mystery moves

||he did get several wins from repeatedly running into one guy who instantly resigned whenever he missed a move||

[wispy yarrow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tnQYBs4ZpY

[worldly plume]

Its a trip really

I love fashionista Ruby and feral battler Sapphire

[covert saffron]

manga is absolutely hard

[wispy yarrow]

Gold is my goat

[peak island]

This is my brain

[crude moon]

protip: if you ever want merch/decorations, there's a ton of free pokemon papercraft patterns online, as a fun and dirt cheap (if you have access to a color printer) way to get figurines

this site has some really good ones
http://tenpepakura.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/cat37131889/index.html

[near flower]

https://bsky.app/profile/spyrook.bsky.social/post/3lppdrr7ras2x

Spyrook (@spyrook.bsky.social)

Guys there's something wrong with my phone
#Pokemon

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824

▶ Play video

Bluesky · May 21, 2025, 7:33 PM

[round perch]

https://www.tumblr.com/scribblespecters/736539224162107392/thats-a-gen-2-awoo-if-i-ever-heard-one-yt?source=share

[crude moon]

forgot to mention, there's a third layer to this:

Porygon2 has Trace, which copies the enemy's ability. So if Porygon2 switches in against Dugtrio, it copies arena trap and prevents dugtrio from switching out.
Since Recover has a ton of PP in gen3 for some reason and dugtrio always has choice band, porygon can always spam recover until dugtrio starts using Struggle, then kill dugtrio at full health.

[umbral hound]

okay I did not realize how much pokemon cries changed over time until just now.

[crude moon]

and porygon2 is an alright bulky attacker on its own

[near flower]

recover has like what, 30-40 pp in the older games?

[crude moon]

it maxes at 32

[languid lichen]

it's had its pp halved twice lmao

[sudden spade]

I do think it's PP got cut a bit much but hey, I like stall so I think I'm literally satan and my opinion doesn't matter 😛

[languid lichen]

i think it's a really bad decision that gen 9 tanked the pp of all healing moves except wish to 8

[arctic dagger]

I'm ok with it personally. Stall is boring even when it's fun

I like defensive options being good but just constant healing just gets boring imo

That said I'm a huge anti fan of the stat creep and move power creep, since the way the stats work it tends to favor offense as numbers go up by a lot

I prefer things that create forward progress and help you out, but can't just be sustained forever

It's my main problem with regenerator

[crude moon]

also in singleplayer if you have one pokemon with 32 recovers you just never have to go to a pokemon center

(well, 20 before PP up)

[near flower]

20 is still pretty crazy

[soft isle]

We’re trying out a new Crystal romhack and it has a music player built in at the main menu. It’s got a few songs from other games, including a very good arrangement of the Cynthia battle theme

https://tenor.com/view/cat-jam-cat-jam-head-bounce-kitty-gif-17946989

High effort too - they’ve got a whole piano roll and everything

It’s Pokemon Polished Crystal, if anyone wants to try it out

[pliant violet]

currently trying the demo for a fangame

pokemon swirling seasons, it's not bad

[obtuse ravine]

that's pretty awesome

[obtuse ravine]

what's the premise of it?

[pliant violet]

it's a very weather focussed game, with a weather for each type, with up to 1 weather of a category being able to be in play at each time, with 3 categories

[obtuse ravine]

I bounced off of Unbound not sure why, maybe I'm not really deep enough into the fun strategy part of pokemon

just feels like i'm kinda mashing through

[obtuse ravine]

[pliant violet]

atmosphere (usual weather stuff)
pollutants (smog but also like pollen and pheremones)
and then like... the energy of a room (fighting type, dragon type, etc)

it's just your usual pokemon style romp

set in the pacific north west

[obtuse ravine]

inch resting

[pliant violet]

demo only has till like the first gym atm

oh and gym leader and elite four teams are themed not types

like first gym is construction themed

and the bad guy team is based on amazon

[obtuse ravine]

ooh sick

themed gyms sound fun

[azure crane]

https://ablob.tpmblr.com/post/184908051625

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/247956919711432707/1374813749327827034/image-165.png?ex=683164d4&is=68301354&hm=c0ec508546f921ae5875810a074f36dc45bede9e9eba744fcae692b63c6d0b6e&

[near flower]

PNW you say? you have my attention

[pliant violet]

yeah, only demo atm but it's not bad

reasonable amount of new pokemon, music is appropriate

[azure crane]

Appropriate music for the PNW? So grunge?

[pliant violet]

appropriate for a pokemon game

but there is a grunge based gym leader iirc

[azure crane]

My favorite themes from recent Pokémon are the Team Star boss theme and Area Zero.

I'm not sure how representative they are of the series since I'm not a musician.

[crude moon]

there's been a lot of real good ones lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yqm7vrCp-g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MO4IcSHWGw

[pliant violet]

pokemon has always had good music

[soft isle]

Legends Arceus has some of our favorite music in the franchise tbh

its renditions of the Dialga/Palkia theme and the (very late story spoilers) ||Arceus battle theme|| are bangers

Listening to this sold us on Cynthia's battle theme

servalerror ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yqm7vrCp-g 📎

[azure crane]

https://bsky.app/profile/advosart.bsky.social/post/3lpthaave222a

Advos (@advosart.bsky.social)

He saved you a slice

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3328

Bluesky · May 23, 2025, 10:45 AM

[azure crane]

I feel like that's not spoilers, because ||it's guaranteed to happen in a game called Pokemon Legends: Arceus.||

[soft isle]

Figured better safe than sorry

[languid lichen]

PEAK

MY FAVORITE LITTLE GUY

[manic kindle]

Very very cool game

I played the demo up to layer 6 and its doing really fun shit w/ the pokemon ideas within

Nyx is a fun protag with Problems too

[signal glen]

Stantler variant as a Ragelope is pretty good.

[near flower]

i can respect that

[arctic dagger]

This is... Only tangentially Pokemon I guess but

https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveTrash/s/5sbh2FDvFz

That's a regi

[trail bridge]

regihydrate

[iron lake]

what's the source on the art?

[arctic dagger]

Speaking of extremely specific EV setups btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2pOqtyQd-w

[arctic dagger]

Reminder poke about the source on art since Galius didn't actually ping you

[languid lichen]

uh

thanks for the ping

no idea, let's find out

mire_esan on twitter

[obtuse ravine]

😭

[azure crane]

https://www.phixiv.net/en/artworks/130839386

ザングースvsハブネーク by (@*Bo)

ザングースvsハブネーク
#Pokémon, #pocket monsters, #pokemon, #zangoose, #Seviper

https://github.com/thelaao/phixiv · May 26, 2025, 10:34 AM

[crude moon]

so what's the explanation for why when a pokemon fully Explodes or Self Destructs it just goes back into its ball and its fine

[near flower]

pokemon are built different

[languid lichen]

they tech it

[manic kindle]

just an energy explosion that hits everything around it but uses up 100% of your energy

like a DBZ explosion

[arctic dagger]

Pokemon are not actually being destroyed even when the name of a move suggests it

Even the most powerful of pokemon moves like Spacial Rend or whatever aren't strong enough to actually kill a pichu

They're impossibly tough.

[manic kindle]

whats that one z-move with the hilariously over the top villain name...

https://tenor.com/view/light-sun-and-moon-pokemon-ultra-sun-ultra-moon-gif-12165626086548047400

Light That Burns The Sky, that was it

just some truly FF Bahamut shit

[languid lichen]

its jp name goes even harder

or at least, the accepted transliteration is heaven-scorching light of destruction

[manic kindle]

its so good

[signal glen]

Ultra Necrozma is just so over the top for Pokemon.

[crude moon]

it's kinda surprising how good sun/moon were

[near flower]

the more poetic 'heaven scorching light of destruction' is really cool obviously but theres something to me about the no-frills simplicity of 'light that burns the sky' that i like more.
they werent lying that Light can Burns the Sky

[crude moon]

shout-out to the time "World-Eating Serpent" got translated as "Serpent Eating The Ground"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRFgviKp5hA

[signal glen]

The way speedrunners deal with Ultra Necrozma will always be funny to me.

[near flower]

oh yeah that shit kinda beats your ass even if youre playing normally
how do speedrunners handle it

[signal glen]

So the main of the run is a Hawlucha but early in the run in the trainer school they catch a Zoura and teach it Toxic. They then send that Zoura out against U Necrozma illusioned as Hawlucha. Necrozma sees a Fighting type and just spams his psychic move on it to no effect while dying to Toxic.

[near flower]

cant believe it gets got by the modern equivalent to the gen 1 light screen spam exploit LMAOOO

[lunar hinge]

Whimsicott's signature move.

[soft isle]

Love how several pokemon can just trivialize USUM’s boss fights

Leogon255 ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) So the main of the run is a Hawlucha but early in the run in the trainer school they catch a Zoura a…

It’s very neat

[pliant violet]

still imo the hardest mainline game

[soft isle]

(Malamar’s topsy turvey completely destroys all challenge from totems for example)

Rose (It/Its) | The Labrynth Doll ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) Love how several pokemon can just trivialize USUM’s boss fights 📎

[obtuse ravine]

👀

[pliant violet]

specifically to nuzlocke

z moves are a hell of thing to try play around

and lusamine in particular has the most unpredictable ai

[manic kindle]

https://youtu.be/ltpcTTc_Abc

[pliant violet]

Ooh

I assume balatro mod

[crude moon]

maybe the concept of ranked pokemon is not actually good

[karmic imp]

The cake goat

[manic kindle]

lmaoooo i love focpunch gengar

[near flower]

unrighteous

[pliant violet]

Ttar diff'd

[languid lichen]

your ttarnished vs their ttitan

[pliant violet]

elden ring ass statement

[trail bridge]

something unfortunate just happened here

its almost as if this game rewards blind luck

[pliant violet]

luck leads to interesting scenarios and tense moments

also game was not inherently designed to be a competitive game and while the reality of competition is acknowledged, the more casual nature of the game is still at its core

[manic kindle]

I would argue comp does not reward blind luck, but it is a factor in play for rolling the dice and building teams/scenarios

You never ever rely on rock slide flinching, in this case its just the best move pick, the flinch is just funny

[deft path]

this is a losing matchup for skarmory anyway the flinch is just hilarious

[manic kindle]

yeah

[crude moon]

getting up spikes layers before dying is important tho

[signal glen]

https://bsky.app/profile/pokemongems.bsky.social/post/3lqcnf52tj22a

Pokémon Gems (@pokemongems.bsky.social)

Reposts

264

Likes

1267

Bluesky · May 29, 2025, 11:45 AM

[pliant violet]

I'm mad that this team is like, manageable

[arctic dagger]

I'm mad that Haxorus isn't replaced by Dweino

Axew*

[pliant violet]

tyrunt

team is only 5, can fit one more without replacing

[arctic dagger]

That is not a Tyrunt

We Bite

I want something with 2 heads

[pliant violet]

no I'm saying we need a tyrunt there

[arctic dagger]

Ohhh.

Yes

I think Axew gets replaced by Dweino and you stick Tyrunt in there

[manic kindle]

i dont think you can find one that early in scarvi

[obtuse ravine]

go my cyndaquil

[soft isle]

So we don’t know much about 1v1, but blindly using population bomb on a slowbro seems ill advised

[crude moon]

they chose it before i switched to slowbro

[soft isle]

Ahhh

That makes sense then

[crude moon]

the core of multiplayer pokemon is predicting what your opponent will do and responding accordingly

[karmic imp]

With the variety of moves a pokemon may have, how?

[crude moon]

I mean, you don't need to know exactly what move they'd do of course, and most pokemon only have a limited amount of useful moves

like, if you have a flying type in and your opponent has a lightning type, the intuitive thing is that they'll attack with thunderbolt. So you could switch to a ground type to negate their attack and be in a good position to counterattack.

[jovial rampart]

Most competitive sets generally run the same moves as well with some floating moves.

[crude moon]

but they might predict you'll switch from a flying type to a ground, and switch to a grass type so they'll be in a good position

if you're confident they'll do that, you could attack with a flying move instead of switching to damage their grass type

but you would be brutally punished if they just do the intuitive thing and click thunderbolt

[arctic dagger]

Yeah Pokemon can have lots of moves but

Most of them aren't GOOD

There are of course pokemon that can have very varied sets

Gengar was famous for it in the early gens

But once you see a couple moves you tend to have a pretty good idea what the rest are.

And uh, Maushold is kinda only there for Population Bomb in this particular case, and Tidy Up

It has other moves but like, those are the reasons you run it

Betting that the Maushold uses its super strong signature move is a pretty good bet

[manic kindle]

set innovation is very neat when it happens because of this

you can have a pokemon development an entirely new moveset because it has a singular niche against one major threat

[azure crane]

https://bsky.app/profile/cco00oo.bsky.social/post/3lqhxmouku22a

olyester 🌼 (@cco00oo.bsky.social)

Squimsh

Reposts

952

Likes

3986

Bluesky · May 31, 2025, 2:32 PM

[snow cobalt]

https://bsky.app/profile/petday.bsky.social/post/3lqjpejyh2s2h

ERIS (@petday.bsky.social)

Psyduck's pain

Reposts

233

Likes

776

Bluesky · Jun 1, 2025, 7:09 AM

[round perch]

Cross posting.

https://www.ddinstagram.com/reel/DKU_vIEPt1p/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

daisilynn (@daisilynn)

This is literally just Lysandre’s plan in X&Y..

▶ Play video

InstaFix

[manic kindle]

https://bsky.app/profile/serebii.bsky.social/post/3lqn2qvtcqk25

Serebii.net (@serebii.bsky.social)

Serebii Update: A trailer for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet for Nintendo Switch 2 has been released on the Nintendo Today app www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

Reposts

125

Likes

623

Quotes

201

▶ Play video

Bluesky · Jun 2, 2025, 3:11 PM

[umbral hound]

I swear, if it turns out that S/V's optimization issues were because they were designing for Switch 2 hardware...

[manic kindle]

I don't think thats a realistic case given timelines

They were just unoptimized in many ways for the Switch, and the Switch 2 has enough horsepower to fix it

[umbral hound]

yeah, that's probable.

[arctic dagger]

https://youtu.be/YksUn7261mU

Interesting thought experiment IMO

[pliant violet]

this guy has good content

[honest cairn]

only unbiased comments

[crude moon]

i feel like Jolteon would be pretty good if it only had Spore

[near flower]

they should reallocate all of feraligatr's special attack stat to attack and speed

[soft isle]

If they can do it for mega beedrill they can do it for feraligatr

[near flower]

please.... game freak i dont ask for much just make my boy the strongest

[covert saffron]

CHAT

we discuss mons

what are everyone’s thoughts and feelings and reactions towards swinub

[languid lichen]

cute, but mamoswine is goated

[pliant violet]

swinub? it's shy

[exotic garden]

I love swinub

[covert saffron]

would swinub do well in a region with a colder climate more pastoral starting area

as a low level early encounter mon?

[arctic dagger]

Yeah for sure

He's just this cute little fella and not super good until late so a good early "worth the investment" Pokemon

[covert saffron]

solid

he’s in

[arctic dagger]

Like he's pretty bad until level 33 so

No issue with including early

[covert saffron]

what about stunky

[arctic dagger]

250 bst hurts lmao

Another late evolve but better bst

Less bad early, less good late

Only issue is that both are kinda eh for the same level period basically

You don't want too many that are weak for the same level range

[covert saffron]

maybe introducing stunky a bit later

early midgame mon

[exotic garden]

stunky is pretty neat but despite being a skunk person, not my favorite. fits in very well with route 1 goobers as an early encounter though

[covert saffron]

not a total shitmuncher tho

can get some pretty good moves

what do we think about mawile and sableye

[crude moon]

sableye is rad

both in terms of design and gameplay

having Encore and Will-O-Wisp with Prankster is diabolical

[wispy yarrow]

I love me poison types

[mellow robin]

both very cool as like, out-of-the-way weirdo cave encounters

sorta dunsparce vibes to me- in the sense that they're rare and elusive but have an Aura

stunky is cute, great typing, kinda a nice offbrand pick for variety cuz it isn't super popular
did not get bite-by-levelup until like gen 7, which is a little tragic

[obtuse ravine]

i like it

it's cute

but also very fragile

so eepy

[obtuse ravine]

i like both! mawile is the nommer and awesome, and sableye is just a silly lil guy

also it gets a red rupee when it mega evolves

mega mawile looks great too

I can't speak on gameplay, I'm a super casual pokemon trainer

[umbral hound]

Sableye is my favorite pokemon.

[arctic dagger]

Sableye needs tm support iirc to be interesting

So make sure you include that

If you plan on putting it in

A large part of the fun of the Pokemon is its absolutely enormous move pool

[umbral hound]

Sableye has an absurdly huge movepool tbh

[arctic dagger]

Yeah but like, it's all shitty physical attacks by level up iirc

Most of its move pool that's interesting is late levels or tms iirc

[umbral hound]

Yeah, kind of. Sableye actually has an excellent attacking movepool; it just has no stats to use on them. But a lot of it is from TMs.

[snow cobalt]

https://bsky.app/profile/sociohat.bsky.social/post/3lqotuik5l222

noelle sociohat (@sociohat.bsky.social)

Regiceberg EXPLAINED #b3d

Likes

106

Bluesky · Jun 3, 2025, 8:13 AM

[karmic imp]

The breeder idea
Make her get fought once, seems she'll stop, the heroes leave, then later on the protagonists realize the base has secret levels and she was secretly breeding more and more pokemon down there
So they do a second raid, fighting through swarms of pokemon

[wispy yarrow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JilSxdzKiOM

The madman put out another one

[obtuse ravine]

https://bsky.app/profile/beefxcake.bsky.social/post/3lqtkixxan222

🍖BeefxCake🍖 (@beefxcake.bsky.social)

the Aura on this mareep is crazy

Bluesky · Jun 5, 2025, 5:09 AM

[crude moon]

I KNOW RIGHT

[wispy yarrow]

god

I forgot how fucking hype Yellow vs Lance was

[arctic dagger]

Today I learned Regieleki can move so fast Trick Room doesn't slow it down

[soft isle]

How in the world does that work?

[sudden spade]

Trick Room doesn't actually Step Backwards Through Speed Order.

It just adjusts speed values so that you're going at '10,000 - speed, if the speed is greater than 8191, subtract 8192.'

Regieleki can be so fast it avoids the 'if speed is greater than 8191' part with just 10k-Speed.

Leaving it acting at like 8000 speed.

It does still need like 3 Agility uses to get that fast though.

[obtuse ravine]

[soft isle]

What.

Ikiryo ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) Trick Room doesn't actually Step Backwards Through Speed Order.

We had no idea it worked like that! Today we learned.

[near flower]

ahh overflow/underflow

[arctic dagger]

Not exactly.

They specifically avoid overflow/underflow by doing some weird math

And it turns out if your speed is high enough the weird math breaks

XD

[obtuse ravine]

oooh very cool

[obtuse ravine]

adorable 🥺

[azure crane]

https://www.phixiv.net/en/artworks/101147309

ポケモンまんがまとめ by (@ぱこ)

ポケモンまんがまとめ
ツイッターのまんがをまとめました
#manga, #Pokémon, #what is this cuteness, #やさしい世界, #Life with Pokemon, #なにこれほっこり, #なにこの仔たちかわいい, #なにこれかわいいってレベルじゃない, #Pokémon 50000+ bookmarks

https://github.com/thelaao/phixiv · Sep 11, 2022, 2:38 AM

[dusk bison]

That's 155kg without an issue, dude's been on that Ash Ketchum workout regime

[pliant violet]

We can all do this, if it’s for a puppy

[covert saffron]

real glup shitto pokemon, all three

[covert saffron]

feathers mcgraw energy on this fucker

[azure crane]

https://fxbsky.app/profile/infinitebrians.neocities.org/post/3ll5hz7kv2k2l

infinite brians (@infinitebrians.neocities.org)

shouldn't have used that dubious disc.....
︀︀
︀︀#drawdogs #pokemon

**🔁 319 ❤️ 764 **

FxBluesky · Mar 24, 2025, 7:20 PM

[round perch]

https://bsky.app/profile/somesacredbird.bsky.social/post/3lraink76cs2b

birb (doggy mode!!!!!) (@somesacredbird.bsky.social)

just a doggy goin about my day

Reposts

265

Likes

1031

Bluesky · Jun 10, 2025, 8:40 AM

[azure crane]

https://bsky.app/profile/obscurecryptid.bsky.social/post/3lr73hf25ps2y

Doppelgänger (@obscurecryptid.bsky.social)

Typhlosion doing a heckin' big stretch

Reposts

188

Likes

509

Bluesky · Jun 9, 2025, 7:11 PM

[obtuse ravine]

😌

[near flower]

big stretch!

[azure crane]

https://bskye.app/profile/onemegawatt.bsky.social/post/3lrebjhezl22r

[obtuse ravine]

lotus 🥺

[crude moon]

so true

the death star stormtroopers are ghost types

[pliant violet]

crossbreeds were real popular some years back, was always a big fan

[azure crane]

They're all ghost types when I'm done with them.

[snow cobalt]

https://bsky.app/profile/thegreatworlder.pmd.social/post/3lqqwic7gak2c

Wapple Worlder 🥧 (@thegreatworlder.pmd.social)

And we're team- WAIT WHO GAVE HER THAT
Celebis really been messing with the timeline this time

Also

Deltarune tomorrow
#pmd

Reposts

196

Likes

689

Bluesky · Jun 4, 2025, 4:05 AM

[obsidian stump]

drowsee deserves it tbh

[near flower]

vulpix has a GUN!
who gave them a gun...?

[obtuse ravine]

🥺

[karmic imp]

Lmao

[soft isle]

Important announcement:
https://bsky.app/profile/serebii.bsky.social/post/3lrilq2fwms2x

Serebii.net (@serebii.bsky.social)

Serebii Update: The Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Wolfe Glick's Incineroar distribution to celebrate the North International Championships has been released

Code: NA1C25C0NPER1SH

Runs until June 20th 2025 at 23:59 UTC

Full details @ www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

Reposts

251

Likes

907

Bluesky · Jun 13, 2025, 1:57 PM

[soft isle]

https://bsky.app/profile/cyndaquilism.bsky.social/post/3lro3upifus2s @obtuse ravine

Cyndaquilism (@cyndaquilism.bsky.social)

Bluesky · Jun 15, 2025, 6:29 PM

[obtuse ravine]

https://tenor.com/view/cyndaquil-quilava-typhlosion-sleepy-pokemon-gif-24818731

[obtuse ravine]

it’s true! 🥺

[snow cobalt]

https://kittycouch.tumblr.com/post/786010320340746240

[sullen mesa]

this gives me A Vibe

[arctic dagger]

YOOOO

The goat Medicham just hit OU

[mellow robin]

whaaaaaa

how

...wait, natdex or regular ladder

[arctic dagger]

Gen3 OU

Singles

[foggy mango]

@glacial ore I don’t know if you play TCG Pocket, but the next booster pack announced is Eevee themed

https://youtu.be/AtSPAFMF7b0?si=qIuIjTrt4KWjXd5K

[soft isle]

well we sure do now

Stoutheart Zen ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) @glacial ore I don’t know if you play TCG Pocket, but the next booster pack announced is Ee…

[arctic dagger]

Anyone ever play this?

https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/s/VoFyzis1uq

It looks interesting

I like the idea of a vanilla plus experience that forces you to not just go back to the Pokemon center to heal after every fight

Or makes it so hard you have to

[obtuse ravine]

https://bsky.app/profile/cyndaquilism.bsky.social/post/3lry6n7t5pk2p

Cyndaquilism (@cyndaquilism.bsky.social)

ok bye

Likes

157

▶ Play video

Bluesky · Jun 19, 2025, 6:45 PM

[soft isle]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[languid lichen]

post deleted

finished in 30 days

hmmmmmm

probably AI

oh wait three months

still

[arctic dagger]

He said he didn't

[crude moon]

there's not really a shortage of great vanilla-style but more difficult pokemon romhacks

[arctic dagger]

I checked

[languid lichen]

ic

[arctic dagger]

Sure but it's a new region

Most of those are just old region but with qol

[umbral hound]

Thinking about an incredibly dumb idea I had for an inteleon set which there's just no reason to run, with Snipe Shot/Air Cutter/Vacuum Wave/Protect/scope lens next to a mon with dragon cheer. It was silly and pointless but it does kind of have a niche in avoiding redirection? That niche just isn't good.

[soft isle]

We found out recently that our childhood copy of Pokemon Yellow somehow still had its game save on it and today we actually backed up the game save to our pc 😌

rescued our childhood Nidoking who was our first favorite

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/158714684508340225/1385587380957745193/Pokemon_-_Yellow_Version_-_Special_Pikachu_Edition_USA_Europe_CGBSGB_Enhanced-0.png?ex=68569c4e&is=68554ace&hm=259aa8b23c0a574a0a2b795f8edabdd9e2dff539233f8cfbb6c385559a080e8f&=&format=webp&quality=lossless

Our son yet lives

[obtuse ravine]

omg that's awesome

glad to hear y'all were able to do that 🥹

https://bsky.app/profile/artifyber.xyz/post/3lrr3tvnbys2g

arti (@artifyber.xyz)

DAY 534 - E-mail

Reposts

548

Likes

2337

Bluesky · Jun 16, 2025, 11:06 PM

[azure crane]

I'm wondering if Hisui Samurott could run Air Slash. It's got good SpA and Sharpness, and it would deal a chunk to the grass and fighting types which would otherwise force it out.

[arctic dagger]

I think because it runs x-scissor for grass coverage

If it really wants to

But I think it usually is really move limited

Since it runs water stab, ceaseless edge, flip turn almost all the time

So you only get one move for other utility and coverage

[azure crane]

Yeah, it probably also wants either Aqua Jet or Sucker Punch, as it only has 85 speed.

[arctic dagger]

I think you scarf it

And use flip turn as your "I don't like this mu" get out

Instead of having coverage

I usually saw knock off ? Smogon suggests sacred sword too

Probably mostly for kingambit

Vest with a prio move is the other option apparently

Which lets you go adamant instead of jolly

[azure crane]

https://too-much-green.tumblr.com/post/116874774324/i-finally-gave-in-and-did-one-of-those-cool

[covert saffron]

thinkin about hypothetical pokemon rom hack again

what do we think about a retail park/strip mall environment

we were thinking it has a kind of home store, maybe a tech place, a big grocery store, a bowling alley, and a restaurant smack in the middle

[arctic dagger]

Like urban wilderness?

Abandoned buildings

[covert saffron]

an abandoned building isn’t a bad idea

abandoned arcade next to the bowling alley :0

ghosts

go real fnaf with it the kids love that shit

[arctic dagger]

Gives you electric, fighting, rock, ghost, steel

[covert saffron]

overgrown bit out back similasr to the school in alola

[arctic dagger]

As good types

[covert saffron]

grocery place would be like a riff on whole foods or smth i think

sell like. the vitamins. all the berries. fresh waters. etc

[arctic dagger]

He's main thing would be that like

You don't get Pokemon places humans still are all the time right

[soft isle]

Chain of 81! That was way faster than expected. Still, was kinda hoping for a female

[soft isle]

just beat the S/V base story

honestly Gamefreak were kinda cooking

[obtuse ravine]

👀

that's exciting to hear :D

[soft isle]

yeah we actually really liked the story from start to finish

it's up there with Sun/Moon in our minds, which is a massive compliment

we loved the writing of SuMo

[manic kindle]

Base story is fun, and the dlc story is enjoyable

[soft isle]

The dlc has Carmine and Ogerpon so it's peak

[azure crane]

I thought Arven was the weakest part of the SV story at first. But then I saw his sick dog and went, "I WILL DIE FOR YOU!"

[arctic dagger]

Probably to me it's the penny storyline

Penny herself is great but the story is kind of just still

Silly

[pliant violet]

as a villain team they do not make sense

[worldly plume]

What even does the Villain team in ScarViol do

[arctic dagger]

Skip School

Fight bullies

Forget that they're supposed to be fighting bullies and start being bullies a bit

... That's it

[wispy yarrow]

It's like

student council(derogatory)

[worldly plume]

Pffft

I miss the vibe of the old villain teams

[signal glen]

It's like around Gen 7 the villain teams have kind of just stopped being really a thing.

[arctic dagger]

I mean the Gen 8 team was legit just angry sports fans iirc?

[signal glen]

They were Soccer Hooligans basically

[arctic dagger]

Yeah angry sports fans

[signal glen]

Until Rose's thing happened

But yeah I'd argue that Team Flare is the last Villain Team.

[wispy yarrow]

See, I miss when the villains were actual villains yeah

I also miss rivals who were dickheads

They've all gotta be friendly now

Give me someone who I can beat down and be like "Fuck you, man, I won, eat shit"

Closest thing we got recently was Bede

[obsidian stump]

Eh, I always found them more frustrating than anything

You can't call me a weakling when I've beaten you every time we've interacted, silver

[wispy yarrow]

Well like, Blue/Green wasn't as big of a dick in the games as Gary was in the anime, but he definitely had the "I'm a little brat who needs worldly experience to chill" energy. Silver never believed it was HIM who was weak. It was his Pokemon. He just needed stronger Pokemon and he'd win.

[signal glen]

I do kind of find the nostalgia for dickhead rivals kind of funny. Only like 2 of them were and one of them chills out by the end while the other stays a hater.

[tardy folio]

arven was really mean for about 2 minutes

but in that 2 minutes he outdouched like the past three generations of rivals

[pliant violet]

my precious boy arven is having a rough time

[tardy folio]

carmine is mean but she's really funny so i don't exactly get mad at her

[signal glen]

She also chills out from what I understand. Her brother meanwhile...

[tardy folio]

also i wanna know what you mean by this, the two latest mainline (non-remake) entries have some of the series' best villains

namely the respective final final bosses of each

are we just talking abt the teams

because if so fair yell and star were 🙁

i like skull they're not evil per se but they ahve a lot going

[signal glen]

See they just can't top Lysander.

[tardy folio]

okay but Lysandre has one huge drawback

[pliant violet]

I don't like what they did with attempting the exact same bait and switch two games in a row

SM and SwSh

[tardy folio]

depending on the version you're playing gen 6 has the most bafflingly stupid story i've ever seen

(pokemon y)

it just does not wwork at all and im surprised people dont talk about that

[signal glen]

Oh yeah, it makes sense in Y

X is a bit iffy

[tardy folio]

I feel the opposite

The professor and rival are being fencesitters about genocide

in Y

they treat it as a whole moral debate whether Lysandre is in the right for wanting to kill everyone

That's my understanding at least

[signal glen]

Ok I don't remember that

I was thinking of like the Legendary used to power the Superweapon

[tardy folio]

but yeah i definitely remember the rival specifically asking to try seeing things from lysandre's perspective

and sycamore just going "that's oomf...."

[wispy yarrow]

I do mean the teams, yeah

[tardy folio]

skull definitely the least frustrating one of the 3d era i think

[wispy yarrow]

Team Skull had like... a decent enough reason/motivation, Guzma was a real character

[tardy folio]

Guzma is great

Gladion was also like,. affiliated. i dont remember the whole thing but i like gladion

[signal glen]

Bunch of idiots (affectionate)

[wispy yarrow]

Gladion was Lusamine's other kid, and Lusamine was basically fueling Team Skull

[tardy folio]

right

[crude moon]

sun & moon were honestly really good tbh

[tardy folio]

truthful

[arctic dagger]

I liked Nemona a ton as a friendly rival, but I don't think the last few before it worked as well

[wispy yarrow]

I like Nemona because she treats it like a challenge run

She'll start from scratch on the journey just for you

[torpid pivot]

7's Evil Team worked out because there was second, secret Evil Team doin' some real cursed business

( also they were a bunch of silly homosexuals so that's a bonus )

[obsidian stump]

yeah, but they completely fluffed it in 8 trying to recreate the same thing lol

I honestly really liked SwSh's story, but the sudden introduction of MC really didn't do it any favors

If they were actually present in the narrative before the last possible second I think a lot more people would like it

Because SwSh does such a good job of making you feel like the hypest bitch in the world

The fucking raid battle with eternatus is easily one of my favorite moments in a pokemon game

Like imagine if Macro Cosmos was present throughout the whole game, and the reveal at the end was just that Chairman Rose secretly in charge instead of the reveal being that they existed at all

[wispy yarrow]

Sword and Shield upset me because there were so many times where it was like

"there is a fucking kaiju fight happening offscreen"

"anyways go do your gym challenge, the adults(tm) will fight this"

like no motherfuckers I'm the protagonist let me be cool too

[obsidian stump]

yeah

[soft isle]

We liked Nemona in part because we found her incredibly relatable

Alice(She) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) I like Nemona because she treats it like a challenge run

She’s got a special interest that she is incredibly passionate about and nobody else can quite match up to that passion, while also having some social difficulties and is hinted as having some kind of injury or other disability

[obtuse ravine]

always looking for the next battle 😌

[azure crane]

Nemona is basically Goku as a Pokémon trainer.

[signal glen]

Macro Cosmos was present throughout the game, just not in any villainous way.

It was just the mega-corp that basically ran most of Galar.

[sudden spade]

Just full on 'Hey, I hear you're strong. We should fight!'

[manic kindle]

Previous administration tried to cover up a huge bullying scandal, so the victims banded together to fight back, which looked even worse to previous admin, so they tried to cover it all up
So the victims decided to go awol and stand up against it all
Basically lots of adult miscommunication hurting teens

[azure crane]

And the thing is, a lot of long time Pokémon players feel like Nemona. They're champions many times over, restarting to see what the story is with these new people.

[soft isle]

Team Star really resonated with us. We think they handled the themes pretty well

[manic kindle]

its a little silly in execution, but i think thats purposeful - the principal is in a lame disguise getting you to help them because they know the kids wont talk to a figure of authority, its campy from the start

[worldly plume]

Mmhmm
Star seems more interesting than Yell now that you explain it that way

[arctic dagger]

Star is definitely better than yell imo

But they're both not villain teams really

[umbral hound]

Team Star is hamstrung by the game's structure. They're an antagonistic team, but they never do anything during the game... because they can't do anything, because at any given point in the game it's impossible to know how much progress you've made in the team star storyline. You can't have them being obnoxious in a city, because by the time you reach that city you might have finished that storyline. They can't ever interfere with gyms or titan pokemon or anything. All they can do is sit in their location and wait, just like the gym leaders.

That's why they feel weak. Previously, antagonistic teams intruded upon what you were trying to do. They blocked routes or took over buildings or just made themself into nuisances. Even when they weren't evil, like Team Yell, they were still antagonistic. But Team Star isn't.

[worldly plume]

Oh yeah SV had like

The three routes

[signal glen]

Didn't Team Star put up like roadblocks? Or did the open world nature of the game kind of just neuter those?

[manic kindle]

I mean. You, as the player, are not the object of Team Star's aggression, either. You're the one seeking THEM out.

[manic kindle]

3 stories that all tied together into one ending, yep!

[umbral hound]

they did not put up any roadblocks, unless you count roadblocks to entering Exactly Their Base.

[manic kindle]

as far as the player is concerned w/out doing the storyline itself, these are just a bunch of delinquents skipping school and tanking the school rep.

[umbral hound]

Exactly. Because the structure of gen IX did not permit for them to do anything else.

[signal glen]

I think the most they do is a couple of them attack you at the beginning.

[manic kindle]

some of the grunts do, yeah

cuz they're doing hooligan things

[manic kindle]

i think we're coming at this from two entirely different angles of design

[umbral hound]

yeah, at the very beginning they try to forcefully recruit... well, Penny, actually, not even you.

which is hilarious because that's the only point in the game where it's known they still exist.

[manic kindle]

i think Team Star was very purposefully designed the way it was for the player to interact with from the ground-up

Not as a limitation of game design

[umbral hound]

That's fair. But, regardless of whether it was intentional or forced for Team Star to act the way they do, the end result is that they risk seeming unusually toothless and ephemeral.

[soft isle]

Penny presumably just went "this is annoying, I'll just get that rando to deal with it" immediately after

Bananatron (She/He (Mix it up)) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) yeah, at the very beginning they try to forcefully recruit... well, Penny, actually, not even you.

[languid lichen]

i keep forgetting they exist lmao

[umbral hound]

On the other hand, they are the most likely of all the evil teams to have a discord server.

[languid lichen]

i think that's another negative probably

[manic kindle]

I think they suffer from Nostalgia Effects

people remember/want the obnoxious old school evil teams of thugs and goons and beating up npcs

so trying new things and new story angles sometimes bounces off the oldheads

[signal glen]

Don't even get any like form of progression for beating them. Like the Gym Leaders increase the max level you can capture and the Titans unlock more features for the box legendary.

[umbral hound]

The progression is unlocking more options in the TM machines at pokemon centers.

[manic kindle]

you unlock TMs

[signal glen]

Oh they increase the TM selection? Didn't know that.

[umbral hound]

which is arguably more than what gym badges do, since those only impact the maximum level for traded pokemon that'll obey you, and many people never trade.

[manic kindle]

yeah! your friendly hacker 'hacks' the pokemon center machines for you to give you TM recipes

part of what she has to apologize for at the end of the story route is doing just that :P

[umbral hound]

yeah, she did nothing wrong besides the grand larceny

I forgot that part was illegal also, but it makes sense.

[manic kindle]

im the biggest scarvi defender so i have to have all of this on lock

[umbral hound]

I will admit that despite having consumed a lot of scarvi content I have not played it myself. That said, my general opinion of it is "two steps forwards, one step back".

[manic kindle]

I think its hard to judge something unplayed personally

but i'll step back from the convo at that

[umbral hound]

fair! I don't have particularly stong opinions on it myself, as a result. Besides talking about the fact that it gives me an opportunity to use the word "katabasis".

other uninsightful thoughts: Ceruledge looks like MegaMan.exe

[sudden spade]

Ceruledge is all those 'what if I drew Zero as a girl' megaman fanarts come to life 😛

[azure crane]

I'm glad Dudunsparce is the way it is.

[arctic dagger]

I saw one named Mega Dunsparce on ladder once

It was very funny

[round perch]

I missed the conversation, but I feel Team Skull should be the basis of all the not-really-that-evil teams.

They're shit heads that cause issues and get in the way. They give you lots of shit and cause lots of noise, and they are a problem to a degree, but they're harmless in the grandscheme of things. And I think gangs of hooligans work for the European based regions.

I feel team Yell could have been a bit more serious, being based off actually menacing street punks.

I also feel Spikemoth could have been developed more. It's a pour city and I think them putting all their bets on Marney to bring them some noteritty and possible wealth would be sweet.

[arctic dagger]

Yeah that wasn't that bad

IDK for team star I just felt like it had the same like, I want to feel like I have antagonist the whole way?

The just doing the adventure is cool but it's not until the Crater that I get the like, ok here's something that's antagonistic rather than just part of the vibes?

[round perch]

Yeah, I think the Aether Foundation is a good looming threat because you know something is off from the start.

I do feel I won't like SV's world that much when I finally get around to playing it. The open world feels like it would work against it for me, as being able to go anywhere feels a lot less like you're going on a journey.

[arctic dagger]

I liked it

Honestly 90% of people are gonna end up doing basically the same route anyway

I think open world was a bad idea but it basically ended up just because of how levels and areas work that if you play naturally you mostly go the same way everyone else does

So it was just something that didn't do anything?

For most players

Like it wasn't a benefit or a malus really because it mostly just didn't matter

Unless you wanted to deal with wild Pokemon ten levels bigger than you to like try to speed run

Iirc the speed run involves like running off and catching an almost level 40 Pokemon as close to the first thing they do

[near flower]

it lead to me taking perhaps one of the only Ls ive ever taken in pokemon (at least until indigo disk but that was because i was running a really jank ass badge quest shiny team) which i found super refreshing

but i do wish the areas had level scaling for if you beat one of the later gym leaders/totems(dont remember the proper term its midnight here) 'too early'

[pliant violet]

I think the way SwSh did a similar concept was a better version

[near flower]

<guy who did not play swsh
actually did i tell the story of why i didnt play swsh

[pliant violet]

were you one of those anti-dexit people

[near flower]

not initially

i told a friend of mine 'if totodile's not in it, i wont buy it' as a joke
because i thought 'theres no way the starters wont be in, right?'

and then they werent in (this was before the idea of DLC as a thing pokemon would do was conceivable to me)
but charmander and charizard were
not any of the other kanto starters either, just them

i also didnt have a switch at the time i think?

i was soooooo smug about the whole 'if my fave's not in im not in' because i was just supremely sure there was zero chance of that happening
and i was technically right like 1 year after the game had come out or whenever the DLC came out

[pliant violet]

I like that this presupposes you're strong enough to lift that aron

[arctic dagger]

I mean no one is impressed by Ash in universe (for his insane physical abilities)

I'm reasonably convinced that people in Pokemon are in fact Built Different

[signal glen]

Like Cosmoem weighs about 2000 lb yet Lily is able to carry it around in her bag no problem.

[deft path]

cosmoem presumably just floats around in there

[soft isle]

Do hacked tera raids exist in S/V? Because we had one with some absurd rewards and we're like "there's no way this is legit"

[pliant violet]

@jovial forge

@fickle thicket

[soft isle]

oh hell yes

[pliant violet]

I personally think gens 8 and 9 and unfairly maligned, personally, gen 8 is one of my top 3 gens on vibes and pokemon design alone

[soft isle]

how is BDSP reggie?

[pliant violet]

(4 and 7 are the others)

BDSP is bad

[soft isle]

(if you bought it)

ACK

[runic umbra]

The only one I really don't like is gen5 tbh

[soft isle]

that's such a shame i really like platinum

[pliant violet]

like, specifically it's the lesser sinnoh experience, in that platinum I think is a better way to explore the region

no diamond and pearl

[fickle thicket]

personally gen 8 is genuine bottom tier for a lot of things including vibes and pokemon design

[pliant violet]

and I think that the changes made in the remake are just, bad

[runic umbra]

idunno I liked the designs of 8

[pliant violet]

8 has falinks and dragapult so like, I will both kill and die on this hill

[fickle thicket]

yeah, those are neat

[pliant violet]

corviknight is a cooler skarmory

[runic umbra]

also love their take on ...whatsitcalled in english

poison orbs

[pliant violet]

Galarian Slowbro is fun as fuck

[fickle thicket]

but it also has duraludon and icecue and the yaoi hands lizard and the dogs and eternatus and

shit I'd have to look up the dex to remember more names

[pliant violet]

the yaoi hands lizard?

[fickle thicket]

yeah uhh

fuck

[pliant violet]

also I like duraludon

[soft isle]

didn't gen 8 give us hisuian typholsion

[fickle thicket]

water starter final evo

I keep forgetting its name

[pliant violet]

Inteleon

[fickle thicket]

yes that one

looks like a bad joke

[pliant violet]

yes but I'm not a big fan of legends arceus

[fickle thicket]

it's just like the gen 5 mixed bag but instead of 50:50 it's like 20:80 or something

[pliant violet]

I don't mind it personally but I do think galar's starters are relatively weak

oh big disagree

[soft isle]

…oh my god?

[pliant violet]

gen 5 is like, my second least favourite

[fickle thicket]

look at that bitch

[runic umbra]

weezing

[pliant violet]

ohhh

Galarian Weezing who is clearly a factory owner

[runic umbra]

I named mine Brunel

[fickle thicket]

I appreciate galar weezing's concept but the stovepipe hat stovepipes just aren't it

also gen 8 is home to the single worst pokémon design out of all of them and I will not change this decision

look at this dude

at least the other uninspired designs are inoffensive

[pliant violet]

I think it's funny tbh

[runic umbra]

eh

gen5 has worse

[soft isle]

licking him round.

[pliant violet]

not good, but funny

[wispy yarrow]

Pokemon has always had goofy ass designs

We just remember the older ones fondly

[fickle thicket]

yeah but they usually aren't terrible

hole on lemme pull up uhhh wossname

[soft isle]

i do not remember jynx fondly

Alice(She) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) Pokemon has always had goofy ass designs

[runic umbra]

I'm not talking about the trashbag btw. that was one of gen5s better designs

[pliant violet]

Gen 8 does a really good job with it's sports themeing which I like, the music is banging, and more than anything the first time I entered the wild area I got a real hit of feeling like a 10 year old kid again

[wispy yarrow]

Garbodor my beloved

[fickle thicket]

look at this

fuckin goofy

[pliant violet]

and it does a good job with that sorta innocent joy

[fickle thicket]

love it

that's a good silly design

[pliant violet]

tbh I wish there was no villain plot so they'd commit to that more, rather than doing the same villain bait and switch two games in a row

[pliant violet]

Revavroom

[wispy yarrow]

I can never be upset at a pokemon design

[fickle thicket]

I can, and I'll do it again

[soft isle]

i do think sudowoodo's design is timeless, especially with how it reacts to you in pokémon refresh. it will think there's a threat and go into tree mode, then realize it's you and get REALLY happy about it. truly refresh endeared me to pokémon whose designs i otherwise could not stand

[wispy yarrow]

Because Geodude was a rock with arms
Pidgey was a bird
And Heracross was just a fuckin bug

[fickle thicket]

still not over calyrex

[wispy yarrow]

Peak of creativity, Pokemon is not

[fickle thicket]

he looks so mysterious and majestic

reminds me of xerneas

WOE SOCKPUPPET BE UPON YE

[wispy yarrow]

I'll fight over Xerneas that was cool as fuck

[fickle thicket]

what happened

[soft isle]

mewtwo was giygas. lol

Alice(She) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) Because Geodude was a rock with arms
Pidgey was a bird
And Heracross was just a fuckin bug

[pliant violet]

Gen 8 also has toxtricity

and any badmouthing of toxtricity will result in violence

[fickle thicket]

I'm not saying gen 8 is bereft of good designs

[pliant violet]

he's my precious stupid son

[fickle thicket]

shit I already agreed with you on a few

[soft isle]

toxtricity needs to stop shrimping. bad for its back

ReggiesWarOnEverything (He) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) and any badmouthing of toxtricity will result in violence

[fickle thicket]

but they're few and far between and the lows are really low

[pliant violet]

and I don't agree about the lows

[wispy yarrow]

I'm just saying how low is the bar really

[fickle thicket]

doesn't help that nearly all dynamax forms are "we've got megas at home"

[pliant violet]

or that they're few and far between

gigantamax

[wispy yarrow]

How low is the bar set by "actually just a rat"

[pliant violet]

which, I think that mechanic is bad in general

[fickle thicket]

"no man I haven't seen any delectable cubes around haha"

[pliant violet]

I also don't really like megas so there's that

[wispy yarrow]

Lmao

[pliant violet]

(that's mostly an issue with how they picked what got a mega for me personally)

[runic umbra]

that's funny. that one can stay

[soft isle]

actually just a manineko
actually just a duck
actually just another duck
actually just a turtle
actually jus—

Alice(She) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) How low is the bar set by "actually just a rat"

[pliant violet]

actually my fave mechanic is Tera, from gen 9

[fickle thicket]

I kinda agree there, but the mega designs themselves generally fuck

[wispy yarrow]

I thought Megas were about the extent of these new mechanics

[fickle thicket]

g-max designs can't hold a candle

[wispy yarrow]

That I was cool with

Didn't like z-moves

[fickle thicket]

the fact that gamefreak keep throwing out their mechanics to jam in new ones, or how they're implemented is a different conversation

[pliant violet]

Z-moves are just too swingy

Dynamax just felt silly and like there's no real counterplay

[soft isle]

not the biggest fan of z-moves but i do enjoy the animations for them so that's. something i guess

[pliant violet]

Megas are poorly selected and just sorta let you steam roll

Tera is like, clever and allows both offensive and defensive play

[fickle thicket]

I just wish the tera crowns weren't so huge

[pliant violet]

and there's almost no pokemon that doesn't have a good tera type option

[soft isle]

heavy is the head

[pliant violet]

can agree there

[fickle thicket]

like sure dipping into a sweet tera fire is cool and all but now my guy has to wear a big sparkly candelabra the whole time

get that OUTTA HERE

[runic umbra]

the heavy is dead?

[fickle thicket]

why is the heavy dead

[soft isle]

i thought it was jeremy???????

[fickle thicket]

fuck it, done talking about shit designs

here's one I like

[runic umbra]

that's the worst thing I've seen all day

[pliant violet]

I'm not big on the paradox pokemon but they can stay

[runic umbra]

who put the bananas on its head

[pliant violet]

I actually am not super hot on most of the gen 9 designs

[fickle thicket]

check out raikou's then

here's a design I like

[soft isle]

amy rose coded

Rich Greedman⭐ ↩️

[Reply to:](#1160615504562638910 message) here's a design I like 📎

[fickle thicket]

and here's my favourite

[soft isle]

https://tenor.com/view/sonic-x-amy-hamer-amy-rose-hammer-amy-rose-burning-hammer-amy-rose-mad-amy-rose-angry-gif-23837787

[fickle thicket]

basic bitch I know but it's great

[runic umbra]

that's just a person

I mean not judging

[fickle thicket]

eh, I feel it dodges the "just a person" problem some designs have

[soft isle]

medicham is the most just a person

medic ham,,,,

[fickle thicket]

(like throh and sawk or the gen 8 starters or machoke line)

[pliant violet]

Charcadet evos, Fuecoco line, the pika clone for gen 9 for some reason, the minecraft salt golem, Revavroom, Annhilape but only when he's at a safe distance from me, The Cash Money ghost, oh and many wurms in my apple

[fickle thicket]

i have a personal vendetta against the cash money ghost

[pliant violet]

these are the new gen 9 pokemon I like

is it because it's tedious to make the cash money ghost?

[fickle thicket]

no

I love ghost types

I love cash money

[pliant violet]

oh also the terrifying fish, though I never did actually catch him

[fickle thicket]

a cash money ghost comes along

AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE STRING CHEESE GUY

[runic umbra]

oh wait, I remember a gen5 design I liked. the death mask/sarcophagus one.

and its galar variant in gen8.

[pliant violet]

yamask

and cofagrigus/runerigus

[fickle thicket]

blends in seamlessly

in contrast I like gimmighoul (though it looks a bit like the reddit creature)

[runic umbra]

that's just you

[pliant violet]

yeah he's a funny little guy

utterly unusable

[soft isle]

i like that alolan persian looks like it got stung trying to eat a bee

[runic umbra]

that's exactly how I think Rich looks