• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Aspects of PLA that should be improved/fixed in the Gen 9

Entradius1

Just some dude
I liked the game for the most part but here is what I would change:

1. Battling trainers: They should give some cash for being defeated and I would have like to see more battles/re-battles.

2. Money was too hard to get. I had to craft everything I used. It was not too bad but I went through A LOT of pokeballs so I had to spend a lot of time gathering a ton of materials.

3. Rewards tied to your star rank. In addition to what they already give, I would have tied bonus exp and bag space to the star ranks. (I do not want to spend 1 million+ prize dollars on 1 bag slot).

4. Changes in rewards for pokedex completion. Just a minor change but I wish I would had obtained the shiny charm for catching all 242 species. I would also give 2 new rewards for working on the pokedex: for all rank 5's I would have given an alpha charm that increases the spawn rates of alpha pokemon, and for all rank 10's maybe an item that allows you to master moves without the seed of mastery.

As for a final note I really did not care too much for the boss battles. I like battling gym leaders more.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
2. Money was too hard to get. I had to craft everything I used. It was not too bad but I went through A LOT of pokeballs so I had to spend a lot of time gathering a ton of materials.

Money is actually pretty easy to accumulate. Stardust is pretty common, and there are a number of items that are high in sell price.

Seeds of Mastery in particular sell for $3,000. You don't really need them since your pokemon can easily master moves by leveling up. Grit Rocks also sell for $3,000, and you can get them a number of ways.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
And once you get the Miss Fortune Bandits roaming around you can hunt them down for easy money, they tend to drop four nuggets at a time.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Battles are so much more fun without having to base everything around them, and the grit items make just about every pokemon usable for a change instead of only having the same dozen pokemon dominate the competitive scene
Abilities are a huge component of some Pokemon's viability though. Removing them makes very few Pokemon more viable but it makes plenty of Pokemon less viable. I can guarantee you that if we see a main series game with a competitive scene and no abilities, you're still going to see a small handful of Pokemon dominating the metagame. If anything that handful will be even smaller as Pokemon like, say, Mimikyu, Dragonite, Rillaboom, various weather setters, and many others who rely on their abilities to not be outclassed by other Pokemon would now be completely outclassed. Pretty much nothing is going to rise up in viability because of a lack of abilities, the pool of viable Pokemon will just shrink a bit.

As for held items, I'm not sure how removing them makes any Pokemon more viable at all, especially with the lack of Z-Crystals and Mega Evolution. If anything it again narrows the pool of viable Pokemon even further as certain Pokemon who could get away with say using a Choice Scarf to make up for otherwise lackluster speed could no longer do that.

I'm all for diversifying the competitive scene. Axing abilities and held items is not the way to do that.
 

Teravolt

cilan lives forever in my heart
I hope they keep the lack of hold items and abilities

Battles are so much more fun without having to base everything around them, and the grit items make just about every pokemon usable for a change instead of only having the same dozen pokemon dominate the competitive scene
I think held items and abilities are nice (except for
L E V I T A T E), but i totally agree about the grit system. It makes it so that I can have stronger mons while not having to worry about EVs and IVs (not that I did to begin with, but still!)
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
I don't think you should be thrown in for a legendary battle twice after a fully capable team. Some people might say it's challenging, and while I don't disagree per se, it's not a good way to design a challenge. It just feels cheap as a result.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
I don't think you should be thrown in for a legendary battle twice after a fully capable team. Some people might say it's challenging, and while I don't disagree per se, it's not a good way to design a challenge. It just feels cheap as a result.
I think it especially doesn't work well with the new turn system. It's pretty difficult to beat Volo's main team without taking some losses as it is as you're likely to lose at least a few Pokemon to revenge killing, and then you get a Giratina with boosted stats thrown at you twice with no opportunity to heal. This was pretty much the only battle that I can remember that I ended up resorting to using Max Revives in, and even then I only pulled through because I had a Scizor who could eat a hit from Giratina and let me revive two teammates with Max Revives.

Like you said, sure, it's difficult, but it feels like a very strained and somewhat unfair kind of difficulty. It's the difference between facing an opponent who's really good and facing an opponent who's cheating. It's part of the reason why I didn't really feel bad about using Max Revives; I usually don't, because no NPC can use them, but no NPC is supposed to have 8 Pokemon, including effectively 2 boosted title legendaries, either.

I think if you were healed between the fight with Volo's main team and the two Giratina fights it might be a little more fair. Again I wish there were optional difficulty modes; maybe on normal mode you get healed, while on hard mode you have to run the entire gauntlet without healing.
 

Auraninja

Eh, ragazzo!
I think it especially doesn't work well with the new turn system. It's pretty difficult to beat Volo's main team without taking some losses as it is as you're likely to lose at least a few Pokemon to revenge killing, and then you get a Giratina with boosted stats thrown at you twice with no opportunity to heal. This was pretty much the only battle that I can remember that I ended up resorting to using Max Revives in, and even then I only pulled through because I had a Scizor who could eat a hit from Giratina and let me revive two teammates with Max Revives.

Like you said, sure, it's difficult, but it feels like a very strained and somewhat unfair kind of difficulty. It's the difference between facing an opponent who's really good and facing an opponent who's cheating. It's part of the reason why I didn't really feel bad about using Max Revives; I usually don't, because no NPC can use them, but no NPC is supposed to have 8 Pokemon, including effectively 2 boosted title legendaries, either.

I think if you were healed between the fight with Volo's main team and the two Giratina fights it might be a little more fair. Again I wish there were optional difficulty modes; maybe on normal mode you get healed, while on hard mode you have to run the entire gauntlet without healing.
Yeah, I ended up using Max Revives and added a Regigigas to my team as sort of a tank (it had Ice Punch as well). I did beat Giratina before, but I didn't save because I felt like I got by with a fluke, but second time, I just didn't care enough. Both times, Shadow Force would fail once, so I had an extra opportunity. However, it isn't like a move wouldn't miss before on my side because somehow, Shadow Force just obscures Giratina for a bit. I just think this could have been better designed.
 

PCN24454

Well-Known Member
Abilities are a huge component of some Pokemon's viability though. Removing them makes very few Pokemon more viable but it makes plenty of Pokemon less viable. I can guarantee you that if we see a main series game with a competitive scene and no abilities, you're still going to see a small handful of Pokemon dominating the metagame. If anything that handful will be even smaller as Pokemon like, say, Mimikyu, Dragonite, Rillaboom, various weather setters, and many others who rely on their abilities to not be outclassed by other Pokemon would now be completely outclassed. Pretty much nothing is going to rise up in viability because of a lack of abilities, the pool of viable Pokemon will just shrink a bit.

As for held items, I'm not sure how removing them makes any Pokemon more viable at all, especially with the lack of Z-Crystals and Mega Evolution. If anything it again narrows the pool of viable Pokemon even further as certain Pokemon who could get away with say using a Choice Scarf to make up for otherwise lackluster speed could no longer do that.

I'm all for diversifying the competitive scene. Axing abilities and held items is not the way to do that.
Well, then it’s a good thing that they didn’t include PvP so that that doesn’t matter.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Well, then it’s a good thing that they didn’t include PvP so that that doesn’t matter.
... But the post I was replying to said that they hope they keep the lack of abilities/held items and specifically mentioned their impact on the competitive scene?

If you're going to post a snarky reply in a conversation, it helps to actually read the entire conversation first so you don't end up sticking your foot in your mouth like this.
 

Pokefan_1987

Avid Pokemon TCG Card collector.
I hope they keep the lack of hold items and abilities

Battles are so much more fun without having to base everything around them, and the grit items make just about every pokemon usable for a change instead of only having the same dozen pokemon dominate the competitive scene
That would be REALLY annoying for Charizard, Volcarona, and Talonflame players that want to use Heavy Duty Boots to bypass the 4x Stealth Rock weakness instead of Defog or Rapid Spin.
 
I gotta agree with the popular opinion here. While I think the simple gameplay of gen I has a lot of charm I don't think it is the best for competitive and definitely does not increase variety among viable Pokémon. I do like that PLA didn't introduce any "gimmicks" like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves or Dynamax/Gigantamax though, which sometimes can feel like they're more there for the "wow" factor rather than improving the competitive scene.

I didn't play LGPE(which also didn't have abilities or held items) but I know that it did have a competitive scene, but from what I can tell it wasn't too popular.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
I prefer abilities and items. Without abilities it just comes down to who can hit the hardest, there's no real strategy. As for hold items, while I usually don't use them, it can be fun trying to decide if you want to use a hold item and which one would be best for your Pokemon.

As for what I'd fix, I'm not a big fan of not being able to just switch Pokemon when I knock one out. I get the lore reason behind it, trainer battles are still pretty new so there's no rule that says that you have to wait to attack while the other trainer decides if they want to switch after they knock out your Pokemon. I'd be fine with it if the villains didn't follow this rule but for other trainers I'm not a big fan of that.
 

Twilight-Kun

Pokemon World Champion
That would be REALLY annoying for Charizard, Volcarona, and Talonflame players that want to use Heavy Duty Boots to bypass the 4x Stealth Rock weakness instead of Defog or Rapid Spin.
Well then, do I have some good news for you, given that there's no Stealth Rock mechanic in the game - the move's been reworked, just like every other status effect, to just deal DOT for a few turns instead of deleting half your health bar
 

Pokefan_1987

Avid Pokemon TCG Card collector.
Well then, do I have some good news for you, given that there's no Stealth Rock mechanic in the game - the move's been reworked, just like every other status effect, to just deal DOT for a few turns instead of deleting half your health bar
I know it's a lot more like Gigantamax Coalossal's Volcalith.
 
As for what I'd fix, I'm not a big fan of not being able to just switch Pokemon when I knock one out. I get the lore reason behind it, trainer battles are still pretty new so there's no rule that says that you have to wait to attack while the other trainer decides if they want to switch after they knock out your Pokemon. I'd be fine with it if the villains didn't follow this rule but for other trainers I'm not a big fan of that.
I like that the game essentially has the player play on SET. I suspect some of the reason is to prevent the players from exploiting Strong Style to knock one Pokémon out and then switch Pokémon to avoid a speed penalty.
That said, I don't see any reason why it couldn't work, and I think some customization options in that regard could be nice. Like starting the player off with the current system, but let them toggle on switches on defeat in the menu similar to the old SHIFT system.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
Abilities are a huge component of some Pokemon's viability though. Removing them makes very few Pokemon more viable but it makes plenty of Pokemon less viable. I can guarantee you that if we see a main series game with a competitive scene and no abilities, you're still going to see a small handful of Pokemon dominating the metagame. If anything that handful will be even smaller as Pokemon like, say, Mimikyu, Dragonite, Rillaboom, various weather setters, and many others who rely on their abilities to not be outclassed by other Pokemon would now be completely outclassed. Pretty much nothing is going to rise up in viability because of a lack of abilities, the pool of viable Pokemon will just shrink a bit.

As for held items, I'm not sure how removing them makes any Pokemon more viable at all, especially with the lack of Z-Crystals and Mega Evolution. If anything it again narrows the pool of viable Pokemon even further as certain Pokemon who could get away with say using a Choice Scarf to make up for otherwise lackluster speed could no longer do that.

I'm all for diversifying the competitive scene. Axing abilities and held items is not the way to do that.

Well ultimately I don't think much can be done to prevent competitive from relying on a handful of characters. That just seems to be the nature of competitive gaming, they're looking for every advantage they can get so any minor bump in power to win. I don't think any amount of balancing is ever going to eliminate that aspect from competitive gaming, and that's part of the reason I tend to avoid competitive in the first place.

That being said, I do agree that keeping hold items and abilities offers slightly more balance and more depth and variety to the strategy so they should really be kept.

I think it especially doesn't work well with the new turn system. It's pretty difficult to beat Volo's main team without taking some losses as it is as you're likely to lose at least a few Pokemon to revenge killing, and then you get a Giratina with boosted stats thrown at you twice with no opportunity to heal. This was pretty much the only battle that I can remember that I ended up resorting to using Max Revives in, and even then I only pulled through because I had a Scizor who could eat a hit from Giratina and let me revive two teammates with Max Revives.

Like you said, sure, it's difficult, but it feels like a very strained and somewhat unfair kind of difficulty. It's the difference between facing an opponent who's really good and facing an opponent who's cheating. It's part of the reason why I didn't really feel bad about using Max Revives; I usually don't, because no NPC can use them, but no NPC is supposed to have 8 Pokemon, including effectively 2 boosted title legendaries, either.

I think if you were healed between the fight with Volo's main team and the two Giratina fights it might be a little more fair. Again I wish there were optional difficulty modes; maybe on normal mode you get healed, while on hard mode you have to run the entire gauntlet without healing.

This was exactly my problem with Volo and Giratina. It's just too much of a grueling marathon with LA's mechanics. You have to beat Volo without switching, then Giratina (in BOTH forms), with no healing, and if you lose at any point you have to start the whole shebang all over again (you can't just beat Volo and lose to Giratina and then checkpoint yourself into resuming with Giratina, no if you lose to Giratina you have to fight Volo all over again and beat both in one sitting. Kind of a brutal fight thanks to a perfect mix of mechanics. And yeah, I had to use a ton of Max Revives too (thank Arceus you can buy and craft them in this game, if you didn't that would be even worse), and even then, that still wasn't enough until I used some Grit items on my team.
 
Top