Unpopular opinions

I like the notion of Hyper Training. You no longer "need" to sit there soft-resetting legendary Pokemon for ages in the hopes of getting a 5 or 6 IV, as odds are that by the time you manage to get good ones of some of those legendary Pokemon, the next games are almost out and may very well throw all that effort out the window due to the metagame shift. Now you can get an acceptable one, patch it up, and use it much sooner.

I also prefer it when the legendary Pokemon have higher capture rates. I mean, how is having to buy 99+ of every Poke Ball and wasting most of them just to catch one Pokemon "fun" or "challenging"? All you're doing is mashing A while keeping an eye on the Pokemon to see if you need to Spore it again, all the while hoping it doesn't Struggle itself before it's finally caught. (and then having to soft-reset because the Synch failed or its IV's are all wrong or it's not the right HP type) Anywhere from 30 to 45 is fine, they don't need the same rate as Magikarp.
 
I like the notion of Hyper Training. You no longer "need" to sit there soft-resetting legendary Pokemon for ages in the hopes of getting a 5 or 6 IV, as odds are that by the time you manage to get good ones of some of those legendary Pokemon, the next games are almost out and may very well throw all that effort out the window due to the metagame shift. Now you can get an acceptable one, patch it up, and use it much sooner.
It would be better if it didn't require the Pokemon to be level 100 first.
 

Sondero

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It would be better if it didn't require the Pokemon to be level 100 first.
From a logical standpoint, it makes sense that the Pokemon need to be level 100. You've trained to a level that's considered the highest, now you have to put in the little extra work to get your IVs up to the point that Pokemon who won the genetic lottery (those with perfect IVs) would be at with the same ammount of training up to that point.
I didn't think liking Hyper Training was an unpopular opinion, since many loved the fact that breeding and soft resetting for IVs is much more optional now. I understand why the people who had valuable RNG's and Soft resets from OR/AS and earlier would be salty that their mons were drastically reduced in value, but that group seems very niche in comparison.

To put my own unpopular opinion into the mix: I don't really think I was bothered by the lack of unfriendly rivals. I feel like every emotional string that can only be pulled by having a rival that starts off as antagonistic rival has already been pulled by Blue and Silver. The feeling of dread given by a rival character that's really unfriendly becoming the champion before you has already been done by Blue in the Kanto games. Silver from the Johto games was a good example of strong character development that was symbolized in their Pokemon, specifically Golbat->Crobat. There's a lot more that can be done with rival characters, but I don't think they necessarily have to start off as bad people.
 

Pikachu315111

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From a logical standpoint, it makes sense that the Pokemon need to be level 100. You've trained to a level that's considered the highest, now you have to put in the little extra work to get your IVs up to the point that Pokemon who won the genetic lottery (those with perfect IVs) would be at with the same ammount of training up to that point.
I didn't think liking Hyper Training was an unpopular opinion, since many loved the fact that breeding and soft resetting for IVs is much more optional now. I understand why the people who had valuable RNG's and Soft resets from OR/AS and earlier would be salty that their mons were drastically reduced in value, but that group seems very niche in comparison.
Yes, which is probably why GF did it that way, but that doesn't mean it isn't a hassle, especially when official formats lower the Pokemon's Level down to 50 anyway. That combined with there not being any good grinding spots in Gen VII (yes, I know, USUM have Chansey & Blissey, but you have to find one first via ambush encounter and even when forcing them to call for SOS you gotta make sure it succeeds in calling another replacement before knocking it/the replacement out). Also it's not like it's pointless for the Pokemon to get Hyper Trained before Level 100, all Hyper Training does is increase its IVs to 31 and all level-ups would calculate as such. It's not like eating a Rare Candy which gives you an auto level-up though you would have gotten it eventually anyway so no major difference, the 31 IVs would always be in effect.

To put my own unpopular opinion into the mix: I don't really think I was bothered by the lack of unfriendly rivals. I feel like every emotional string that can only be pulled by having a rival that starts off as antagonistic rival has already been pulled by Blue and Silver. The feeling of dread given by a rival character that's really unfriendly becoming the champion before you has already been done by Blue in the Kanto games. Silver from the Johto games was a good example of strong character development that was symbolized in their Pokemon, specifically Golbat->Crobat. There's a lot more that can be done with rival characters, but I don't think they necessarily have to start off as bad people.
Yeah but even the friendly rivals are getting tiring. Since Gen III we've only had friendly rivals. You know, how about this, instead of a jerk or friendly rival how about a rival who doesn't really care as you've just met each other? Or how about a rival who doesn't want to be rivals but they've been sort of pushed into the role somehow. Or how about a rival who turns out to be working for the villains (not the same as N, this rival would be more of a spy who was assigned to watch new upstart trainers since the villains are genre savvy and know trainers working for the Professor have thwarted past villain team's plans. Or, maybe as the game progresses the rival ends up joining the villain team). Or do a twist where a rival starts friendly but upon repeated defeats they become more and more hostile toward you. Or a funny twist where they introduce a whole slew of "rivals"... only you discover that after getting their Pokemon they're off doing their own thing and you never battle them. Etc., etc..
 
That combined with there not being any good grinding spots in Gen VII (yes, I know, USUM have Chansey & Blissey, but you have to find one first via ambush encounter and even when forcing them to call for SOS you gotta make sure it succeeds in calling another replacement before knocking it/the replacement out).
Sorry but I've really got to disagree with brushing that grinding spot aside like that. Finding it is negligible unless you're gonna start complaining about 20% encounter rates in general, and keeping an eye on it not knocking itself out is a little annoying... at least until you realise that it has a total of 60PP, meaning you can relax a little and only have to replace it every 25 KOs or so. Those are honestly extremely minor knocks against one of if not -the- best and easiest grinding experience I have ever had in a Pokémon game.
 
Sorry but I've really got to disagree with brushing that grinding spot aside like that. Finding it is negligible unless you're gonna start complaining about 20% encounter rates in general, and keeping an eye on it not knocking itself out is a little annoying... at least until you realise that it has a total of 60PP, meaning you can relax a little and only have to replace it every 25 KOs or so. Those are honestly extremely minor knocks against one of if not -the- best and easiest grinding experience I have ever had in a Pokémon game.
And besides, if you so much want to take them to Level 100, there's the "Level up to 66, then use Rare Kitchens" method, and USUM makes it easier in that you get more FC per task or by using the Battle Agency (of course, getting to Rare Kitchen 5* and someone offering Treasure Hunt 2* for Bottle Caps is still the hardest part) and getting Rare Candies for those two levels left to reach 100 is easier (again, with the Battle Agency, or by Mantine Surfing)
 
. Or how about a rival who turns out to be working for the villains (not the same as N, this rival would be more of a spy who was assigned to watch new upstart trainers since the villains are genre savvy and know trainers working for the Professor have thwarted past villain team's plans. Or, maybe as the game progresses the rival ends up joining the villain team).
You mean like Gladion?
 
It’s not the encounter rate that’s really the issue with Chansey. It’s the fact that you have to leave and reenter the area after every couple of tries. But, yeah, it’s still good. It’s more annoying if you’re trying to use that spot for a shorter leveling up, like to 50.
 

Pikachu315111

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Sorry but I've really got to disagree with brushing that grinding spot aside like that. Finding it is negligible unless you're gonna start complaining about 20% encounter rates in general, and keeping an eye on it not knocking itself out is a little annoying... at least until you realise that it has a total of 60PP, meaning you can relax a little and only have to replace it every 25 KOs or so. Those are honestly extremely minor knocks against one of if not -the- best and easiest grinding experience I have ever had in a Pokémon game.
The encounter rate is 20%? Took me nearly half an hour to encounter one. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mindset or had my Pokemon prepared accordingly.

Though that still doesn't negate my point that Hyper Training requires Level 100 meanwhile most official tournaments (and the Battle Tree) lowers your Pokemon's level down to 50.

You mean like Gladion?
Eh, not really what I was thinking though Gladion was an interesting rival in his own right. Course you don't encounter Gladion as much as other rivals so it more feels like he's "filling" the role than actually being the role, if you get what I mean (like, Hau is the main rival but the game has Gladion come in at times to give you a more challenging battle in place of Hau, similar to how Wally replaced May/Brendan in Gen III).
 
In terms of rivals, I dislike those jerk rivals, like Blue or Silver.

I think that the idea behind the rival character is to have a recurring opponent that encourages you to prove you're better than them. But when the rival is a jerk, you just want them to stop showing up. It's like choosing between playing with friends or other nice people vs. the toxic part of a gaming community.

Barry or Hau Hugh were the rivals I liked the most - friendly towards the player character, making competition healthier, while also showing character development.

(Though I have my doubts on calling Hau Hugh a rival. The player character is more like his minion in his quest of revenge, not competing with you but testing if you are strong enough to help.)
 
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Pikachu315111

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(Though I have my doubts on calling Hau a rival. The player character is more like his minion in his quest of revenge, not competing with you but testing if you are strong enough to help.)
Wha? Are you confusing Hau (friendly rival of Sun, Moon, and USUM, grandson of Kahuna Hala and just wants to travel around to eat malasada (and defeat Hala in a no-holds-barred battle)) with Hugh (rival of Black 2 & White 2 who is your friend though his main goal is to hunt down Team Plasma and get back his little sister's Purrloin (and sort of drags the player along too))?
 
Wha? Are you confusing Hau (friendly rival of Sun, Moon, and USUM, grandson of Kahuna Hala and just wants to travel around to eat malasada (and defeat Hala in a no-holds-barred battle)) with Hugh (rival of Black 2 & White 2 who is your friend though his main goal is to hunt down Team Plasma and get back his little sister's Purrloin (and sort of drags the player along too))?
Yes, good point. My bad :P

I did mean Hugh.
 
In terms of rivals, I dislike those jerk rivals, like Blue or Silver.

I think that the idea behind the rival character is to have a recurring opponent that encourages you to prove you're better than them. But when the rival is a jerk, you just want them to stop showing up. It's like choosing between playing with friends or other nice people vs. the toxic part of a gaming community.

Barry or Hau Hugh were the rivals I liked the most - friendly towards the player character, making competition healthier, while also showing character development.

(Though I have my doubts on calling Hau Hugh a rival. The player character is more like his minion in his quest of revenge, not competing with you but testing if you are strong enough to help.)
I never saw Blue as being that much of a jerk. When I think about him, I feel like he's known the player character long enough to know what buttons to push to get them going. Silver though starts out as a genuine jerk, though it's not hard to see why when you learn that he's Giovani's kid. The encounter with Lance does help begin to turn Silver around to the path of being a nicer trainer, both to others and his Pokemon, though.

I think most are just a bit tired of the rival that's just kind of there. X/Y's group of friends were pretty weak as they're rarely alone and usually just there to dump some exposition. Trevor and Tierno don't really develop at all, Shauna only just a little, and Serena/Calem just kind of... accept that you're always going to trounce them no matter how hard they try. My favorite may actually be Wally. It's kind of cool that his character is inspired by the player helping them, and with his health improving, decides he wants to get strong enough to challenge the player. (and indeed does become strong enough to be invited to the Battle Resort in OR/AS)
 
-I liked Voltorb Flip in HGSS and really want GF to bring it back (or something similar) if they can't have gambling. I don't like having nothing.
-Charizard should look more like Charmeleon. Or at least keep the color upon evolution.
-Sun/Moon were nice but without gyms I felt something was missing. Mainly a few levels on my team
-Gen 4 was the last gen to introduce any really noteworthy mechanics, or at least any that couldn't have been introduced in an earlier gen. (Though I may be mistaken about Mega evos or Z moves)
-Ice-types need a major buff. Maybe make them resist Flying and Dragon
-Water-types are OP and need nerfing.
-We need more Special Defense specialists. Literally the only two Pokémon with a SpD 200 or above are Regice and friggin Shuckle, and even then the highest after that is Deo-D and Kyogre-P's 160. And even then many of the Pokémon with high SpD are either general defensive specialists, or general special... specialists, or just have generally high stats. (I might make a separate post with more details for those interested)
-Chansey being supposedly more viable than Blissey disgusts me on a fundamental level
 
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Pikachu315111

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I liked Voltorb Flip in HGSS and really want GF to bring it back (or something similar) if they can't have gambling. I don't like having nothing.
If we can't have gambling games I thought a neat idea would be making the Game Corner into more of an arcade (including Voltorb Flip and maybe other such logic games). Instead of buying coins you buy tokens, instead of winning coins you get tickets, and instead of playing typical gambling games you play Pokemon version of traditional arcade games (or maybe recycle the E-Reader mini-games). BUT, also allow the player to plat the arcade games for free, they just won't win any tickets.

"Say, that doesn't really change the gambling aspect of it"

No, but I bet you it'll pass the ESRB without much issue because it'll have a Chuck E. Cheese/Dave & Buster's coat of paint instead of a typical casino setting. :P
GF could also release the traditional Game Corner as a E10/Teen rated app/Virtual Console game which connects to the main game (post launch), that way the base game retains its E rating but older fans get our Game Corner (and as a final insult to the ESRB, when we're about to jump generation just release a final update that puts the Game Corner in the base game). ;)

Charizard should look more like Charmeleon. Or at least keep the color upon evolution.
A Charmeleon colored Charizard would look rad. Also a gold Shiny Charizard like its shiny pre-evolution.

Sun/Moon were nice but without gyms I felt something was missing. Mainly a few levels on my team
Not sure what you meant by levels, but I'll agree I don't feel the Island Challenge was a good replacement for the Gyms, or at least how they did it. The puzzles they came up with was fine and Totem Battles interesting, but without an equivalent to Gym trainers and Gym Leaders it felt less I defeated a boss and more I got past an obstacle. If anything the Trials more felt like the Gym puzzles for the Kahuna battle, meaning we sort of had 4 Gyms. Personally, I would have the player first needing to beat the Trial Captain in a battle to prove they're ready to take on the Trial (sort of like what Ilima did, though since he's the only one to do so it's forgettable). No real solution for lack of Gym trainers, the route trainers would just have had to fill that gap.

Gen 4 was the last gen to introduce any really noteworthy mechanics, or at least any that couldn't have been introduced in an earlier gen. (Though I may be mistaken about Mega evos or Z moves)
Gen V is the only generation without a major mechanic introduction, rather focusing on the story and improving/expanding upon existing mechanics (Triple & Rotation battles, Hidden Abilities, double battle focused moves, etc.). Now one reason for this was maybe because Gen V was the "last hurrah" for the "sprite-based" games, they wanted to go out on a big story and have that be central focused so took this time to also round out some mechanic ideas.
Gen VI brought us the Fairy-type & Mega Evolutions while Gen VII brought us Z-Moves & Variant Forms (& new Pokemon in third/sequel/second pair versions). Oh, and the jump to 3D. Though I can understand not seeing these as major mechanic changes for the majority of players as they don't really force you to change how to play. Gen II fixed mistakes made in Gen I (and also let you revisit Kanto and still let you catch most of the Gen I Pokemon and trade with the Gen I games) so you more more playing a proper sequel disguised as a new generation. Gen III introduced Abilities completely changing how certain Pokemon played as well as Double Battles here and there bringing more strategy in term of team mate and moves used. Gen IV split the move categories so the move itself decided its category and not the type, another thing completely changing how certain Pokemon (or entire Types) played while also introducing new moves to fill in gaps opened by this.
Maybe one of the mistakes of Gen VI and VII was not pushing their new gimmicks enough. Only a few trainers Mega Evolved or used Z-Moves. Understandable for Mega Evolutions as only a few Pokemon could, though maybe planned for that and had most "boss" trainers use a Mega: Rivals, Gym Leaders, Villain Team Admins & Boss, Elite Four, & Champion. Have higher ranked trainers in the Battle Chateau use Mega. Did any trainer in the Battle Maison use Mega, I don't recall? But there's honestly no excuse why every trainer in Gen VII didn't use Z-Moves cause any Pokemon could use them. It would really hammer the point to the player they'd need to master Z-Moves otherwise they'd be wiped out but all the other trainers who did.

Ice-types need a major buff. Maybe make them resist Flying and Dragon
What Ice-types need is GF to stop treating them like mighty glaciers and more fragile speedsters. Ice-types should be like Fire-types, fast with high offense stats. Ice also need a change to their signature status effect, making it more fair and thus allowed to be more common. A few changes to Ice match-ups wouldn't be bad either, not your suggestion for Flying or Dragon (because honestly what would that change?) but...

Water-types are OP and need nerfing.
How about Ice being Super Effective (or at least normally effective) against Water? Cause, you know, Water freezes. Or maybe make it so that Water-types are more likely to get Frozen (and maybe Paralyzed by an Electric-type move).
Though the problem with Water-types is there's SO MANY of them. Type wise it makes sense, planet being 70% water and all, and thus Water-types had the most diversity in terms of Pokemon with different stat layouts resulting in some powerful Water-types.

We need more Special Defense specialists. Literally the only two Pokémon with a SpD 200 or above are Regice and friggin Shuckle, and even then the highest after that is Deo-D and Kyogre-P's 160. And even then many of the Pokémon with high SpD are either general defensive specialists, or general special... specialists, or just have generally high stats. (I might make a separate post with more details for those interested)
Eh, personally I'm perfectly fine with Pokemon with high Special Defense also having high Defense/Special Attack/Attack, though the same is true for Pokemon with high Defense. By all means, that Pokemon can have a SpD over 200, but would like it also having something else (and also HP to make use of that high defense).

Chansey being supposedly more viable than Blissey disgusts me on a fundamental level
Because of Eviolite, Blissey needs a Mega (with a unique Ability, like it uses its Special Defense stat for all damage calculations) in order to even compete with Chansey.
 
The Game Corner was always trash and I'm glad the ESRB got rid of it. It was just another RNG mess in a game already full of it (hi Safari Zone), and we certainly don't need another gambling simulator in a gaming landscape currently full of lootbox ridiculousness. I can sleep very easily without a 'solution' of sneaking gambling past the ESRB into a children's game.
 

Sondero

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The Game Corner was always trash and I'm glad the ESRB got rid of it. It was just another RNG mess in a game already full of it (hi Safari Zone), and we certainly don't need another gambling simulator in a gaming landscape currently full of lootbox ridiculousness. I can sleep very easily without a 'solution' of sneaking gambling past the ESRB into a children's game.
I don't think it's fair to compare an optional in-game facility that only uses in-game currency to buying a digital product of random quality.
I can see that it'd be annoying if they brought back the Gamecorner in Gen 8 and for example the only way to get the Ice Beam TM would be to spend 10k Coins there, though. But in a Game like R/S/E, there's at least other methods of getting the Pokemon and items in the Game Corner.
 
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The Game Corner was always trash and I'm glad the ESRB got rid of it. It was just another RNG mess in a game already full of it (hi Safari Zone), and we certainly don't need another gambling simulator in a gaming landscape currently full of lootbox ridiculousness. I can sleep very easily without a 'solution' of sneaking gambling past the ESRB into a children's game.
While I agree with the overall opinion, comparing the Game Corner to lootboxes is really harsh, as lootbox games are often built around the gambling aspect of lootboxes and are integral to one's progression in a game, whereas the Game Corner was completely optional and all of them had ways of getting the prizes they offered without having to play those games.
Edit: Ninja'd
 

Xen

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Plus there’s also the option to skip the slots entirely and just buy the coins straight up. That’s what I always did since squinting at the slots and trying to line up constant 7’s would give me a terrible headache.

That being said, I don’t miss the Game Corner per say, but I do miss being able to obtain some of the more rare Pokémon and items from them. Sure made Abra a helluva lot easier to pick up than (ironically) gambling with wild ones.
 

Pikachu315111

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The Game Corner was always trash and I'm glad the ESRB got rid of it. It was just another RNG mess in a game already full of it (hi Safari Zone), and we certainly don't need another gambling simulator in a gaming landscape currently full of lootbox ridiculousness. I can sleep very easily without a 'solution' of sneaking gambling past the ESRB into a children's game.
Hm, good point, only reason to play the Game Corner was to buy extra TMs (and Pokemon), but now that TMs are infinite use no need for that and I would rather not have TMs locked behind that. So in that regard, if they brought back the Game Corner in any form, what would they offer?

Maybe they should go the Mantine Surf route and just give BP (NOT bet BP; using my arcade idea, you'd buy Tokens/Coins to use to play games and your reward instead of more Tokens/Coins is certain amount of BP).

Also, I think we're stretching with connecting this to lootboxes. The controversy with lootboxes is that you pay real money for a "loot box" which awards you an assortment of random items (and depending on the system you could get doubles). Game Corner is nothing like that, it's an in-game casino simulator. Even if, Arceus forbid, they do offer coins for real money, the use of the coins is different from the loot box (also you know what you're getting: more coins, and since its gambling you (should) know you also have a chance of losing).

If we're going to compare Game Corner to anything it probably would more fall in line with microtransactions. Microtransactions is where players pay real money for an in-game currency (usually a unique one separate from the normal in-game currency) which they can then spend in whatever way the game allows them to spend the currency. That sounds more like something the Game Corner would offer as it has its own unique currency (Coins, which is different from PokeDollars).

Though I think GF has proven they don't intend on putting any lootboxes or microtransactions (that cost real money) into the main series. They're microtransaction game is Pokemon Shuffle, and that's free-to-enter. Heck, that haven't even ever had DLC which you had to pay for (unless you count the third versions that). Speaking of which, that's really the main shady business practice Pokemon does: one game for the price of two. There's an odd case of this being toned down in recent years thanks to the GTS... yet also ramping up with the third version also being paired games (arguably justifiable for B2W2, but egregious example for USUM)
 
In terms of rivals, I dislike those jerk rivals, like Blue or Silver.

I think that the idea behind the rival character is to have a recurring opponent that encourages you to prove you're better than them. But when the rival is a jerk, you just want them to stop showing up. It's like choosing between playing with friends or other nice people vs. the toxic part of a gaming community.
I kind of agree and kind of disagree. Obviously the player and rival should strive for the same goal to create a conflict. Which is why I think especially May and the XY rivals are badly designed. They arent rivals, they are your friends. And friends make bad rivals since it creates no real motivation to be better then them. Like who is mad when you lose to friends? But losing to that one guy you kinda dislike? I agree with you that a pure jerk rival is equally bad since they are so replaceable and dont seem believable. I kind of dislike Gary because of that. He always seems like a arrogant jerk that delivers one liners with no real substance and no character development at all.
Silver is completly different from that group of annoying villans imo. While he is arogant and treats the player like dirt, it is not for the hell of it. It is because you havent proven your worth to him yet. As you keep beating him, he stops talking it of as luck and gets really involved with the player. He wants to find out how you keep beating him and even treats you with more respect (Mt. Moon dialog is the best imo).
I guess what I am trying to get accross is that liveless generic rivals are boring in games just as much as films. And in my opionen Silver is not like that. He has a story and ambitions outside the players action, not like so many pokemon rivals that basicly only exist to get in your way.
 

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