Mega evolution - add to, or drop?

[UltimateNinja]

Like them way more than the Z-Moves since they add a lot more than a glorified strong move. But give them to weaker Pokemon rather than to Pokemon who absolutely doesn't need them.

 

[Scammel]

It's also worth mentioning that Z-moves are a dire mechanic that should never return. They completely upturn the concept of counterplay - teams can be blown apart by a single, completely invisible nuclear button.

 

[nel3]

I agree scammel, drop the z moves altogether. The mega stone can stay. The z moves destroyed the battling for me, i wasn't bothered to do the casual battling that I did back in gen 6 in the gen7 games.

Though I do have 1 way I can be fine with z moves staying: keep them just for status moves. Drop the z nukes and deal with boosted stats from a z move

Another note: leave Flygon alone, i love the design as it is even if it's not the strongest tier pokemon anymore. Keep the typing appearance and ability the same but boost its base stats

 

[Dragalge]

Admittedly, I'm bias here, as Charizard is one of my favorites, but how is that a bad thing? It makes perfect sense to capitalize off of the popularity of whatever the fan favorite happens to be. Game Freak's goal should be to make things that appeal to a many people as possible. So if Charizard already appeals to a large amount of people, it's smart choice to use that a base to make something new that will appeal to those people.

Because pandering to the same damn thing a lot is tiresome and annoying to where even fans of whatever is being pandered to is boring. Like IS constantly shoving the Fire Emblem Fates royals down people's throats that usually end up with negative reception.

It's also worth mentioning that Z-moves are a dire mechanic that should never return. They completely upturn the concept of counterplay - teams can be blown apart by a single, completely invisible nuclear button.

Yeah because every Z move is a "nuke" oh wait there's status Z moves! And using Protect/Detect actually weakens the moves so they aren't even all that stupidly powerful, camel that scams people on the market!

I agree scammel, drop the z moves altogether. The mega stone can stay. The z moves destroyed the battling for me, i wasn't bothered to do the casual battling that I did back in gen 6 in the gen7 games.

Though I do have 1 way I can be fine with z moves staying: keep them just for status moves. Drop the z nukes and deal with boosted stats from a z move

No that goes to Megas who ruined competitive lol. The powercreep was ridiculous and made the meta stupidly stale. It's still stale now in a way but compared to Gen VI, it's not as bad save for the Tapus running around. And as stated in my first post, they most likely aren't going to get rid of these assets easily like Megas because it's a dumb decision to scrap this sorta thing in your game after the work put in.

Btw Necrozma NEEDS a Z Crystal to become Ultra Necrozma so that blows a hole in people's wishes for them to not return! Ahahahaha! =D

 

[nel3]

No that goes to Megas who ruined competitive lol. The powercreep was ridiculous and made the meta stupidly stale. It's still stale now in a way but compared to Gen VI, it's not as bad save for the Tapus running around. And as stated in my first post, they most likely aren't going to get rid of these assets easily like Megas because it's a dumb decision to scrap this sorta thing in your game after the work put in.

my official response to this is: meh, i dont really give a *censored* anymore about that gen 6-7mega VS Z moves hypocrisy argument. i liked the megas alot when they came out in gen6, sure there were some that were just OP to deal with but what pokemon game doesnt have that?? gen6 had the best games ever IMO, gen7 had its own downgrades and advantages but i lost 80% interest in gen7 within the first 1-2 months?? there really were too many changes to gen7 (despite some good ones) for me to keep my interest in the video game series. the first thought i had when i heard about the z moves was: great, they just decided to drop a nuke on your team...

bluntly said: gen7 sucks overall (atleast in my eyes) and was half baked in an attempt to put out a new pokemon game for an anniversary. will this model ever change? unlikely but it doesnt mean i have to agree with their decision on what to add to or cut from a future game. i aint forking over money for a Switch so its already the end of the line for me.

im sure there are others who just love gen7 more than previous games but everyone has their own opinions.

 

[Bguy7]

A self-fulfilling prophecy, surely? Charizard gets the lion's share of attention from fans because it get the lion's share of attention from the creators because it get the lion's share of attention from fans bec-

Sure, but it all started because Charizard was popular in the first place. And there's nothing wrong with making an already popular Pokémon more popular.

Because pandering to the same damn thing a lot is tiresome and annoying to where even fans of whatever is being pandered to is boring.

Can't really speak for others, but as a Charizard fan, I will never grow tired of it getting attention. No offense, but are you sure you not just projecting your own feelings onto the topic? It's fine if you don't like Charizard, and it's fine for you to personally wish that it didn't receive as much attention as it does, but objectively speaking, in all reality, Game Freak should be pandering to what's popular. It's simply the best and easiest way to make the most people happy.

Like IS constantly shoving the Fire Emblem Fates royals down people's throats that usually end up with negative reception.

Can't comment, as I don't know Fire Emblem.

 

[RedJirachi]

Please keep. Some Pokemon need the Megas to be viable, looking at you Mawile and Beedrill. Pokemon should not disregard its old power-ups for the new thing, hence why I was annoyed that you couldn't access megas until the post game of Alola

 

[Scammel]

No that goes to Megas who ruined competitive lol. The powercreep was ridiculous and made the meta stupidly stale.

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the mechanics of megas, though. Sure, some of them boast stats and abilities that make them too powerful for most standard play, but this isn’t a unique flaw or indeed anything new to the series – there have been numerous legendary and non-legendary Pokémon throughout the years which are too powerful compared to their peers and there’s nothing that mechanically makes megas any different. Megas actually often end up with lesser stats than their normal counterparts when items are taken into account. Mega Scizor can Swords Dance with greater bulk for insurance but Choice Band Scizor hits far harder off the bat.

Megas are also highly visible. Many can be spotted a mile off in team preview (Medicham, Audino, Pinsir, Mawile, Glalie etc. are not seeing standard play any time soon) and will typically mega evolve the turn they hit the field. Mega evolution also very rarely changes the counters for the base form; Tyranitar is still going to be wrecked by Fighting types, Scizor is still going to be toasted by Fire and Slowbro is still going to loathe Thunderbolt (Charizard is probably the worst offender here, as both megas require a very different set of counters).

Z-moves are all but impossible to identify until they're used, and it thus damages the concept of counterplay. You know how Landorus T lacks good Flying STAB, making Tangrowth a great check? Not anymore! You know how Dugtrio struggles to pack the raw power to muscle through Ferrothorn? All-Out Pummelling says hi! Gliscor's reliable recovery allows it to put a stop to Blacephalon - that is, until Ghostium-Z makes an appearance!

Good teams play like interlocking puzzles, where gradual abrasion wears one down until larger gaps appear to be exploited. Z-moves can break that puzzle out of nowhere with no real ability to anticipate it.

Yeah because every Z move is a "nuke" oh wait there's status Z moves!

And? Said moves broadly aren't the issue.

and using Protect/Detect actually weakens the moves so they aren't even all that stupidly powerful

If you want to sacrifice a quarter of your team's moveslots to account for Z-moves, be my guest. You'll lose a lot.

Btw Necrozma NEEDS a Z Crystal to become Ultra Necrozma so that blows a hole in people's wishes for them to not return! Ahahahaha! =D

Like Milotic needs Pokeblocks to evolve.

 

[keithpetrosky]

I’d like to see some mega. I had an idea mega porygon z would be a humanoid robot form

 

[Missingno.Fan]

I’m kind of hoping they will drop it. It was just wasted potential IMO. Most of the Pokémon who got Megas didn’t even need to be improved, and many of the designs looked like something a third grader came up with.

 

[Erron Black]

Most of the Pokémon who got Megas didn’t even need to be improved

That's really not true at all.

Of all the Megas we got, the ones whose normal forms were not in the Under Used/Over Used tiers(the top two not including Ubers) in Gen 6 are:
-Sableye
-Sharpedo
-Absol
-Aerodactyl
-Blastoise
-Diancie
-Gallade
-Houndoom
-Medicham
-Venusaur
-Sceptile
-Abomasnow
-Aggron
-Charizard
-Kangaskhan
-Manectric
-Pinsir
-Steelix
-Altaria
-Ampharos
-Audino
-Banette
-Beedrill
-Camerupt
-Glalie
-Lopunny
-Mawile
-Pidgeot

Compared to Ubers/OU/UU:
-Blaziken
-Rayquaza
-Garchomp
-Gengar
-Latias
-Latios
-Scizor
-Slowbro
-Tyranitar
-Alakazam
-Salamence
-Gardevoir
-Gyarados
-Heracross
-Lucario
-Metagross
-Swampert

Mega Evolutions were phenomenal additions to the game as they shifted the meta greatly and allowed for a lot of less viable Pokemon(Beedrill, Mawile, Pidgeot, Manectric, Altaria, etc...) to be more viable and usable in battle without directly boosting their base stats, adjusting movesets, changing abilities, etc... A lot of these Pokemon wouldn't have even stood much of a chance with those changes anyway, they would've very slightly aided them in most cases.

This is very evident in Pokemon like Pelipper and Gigalith, who were trash in Gen 6 but got an ability change in Gen 7 and it made them a lot better, but then we had ability changes for Pokemon like Beartic and Vanilluxe barely got affected by their changes. Or even Pokemon like Masquerain and Arbok who got stat changes that really didn't add anything to their viability.

 

[bobandbill]

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing new ones. I would rather they focus on less powerful Pokemon however if they do add more, as they stand to get the most benefit while existing powerhouses are strong enough already.

 

[KyogreThunder]

I'd like to see weaker Pokemon get Megas, but not the Pokemon that don't actually need them (I really don't want to see another Mega Garchomp/Mega Salamence).

 

[Ignition]

I'd like to see weaker Pokemon get Megas, but not the Pokemon that don't actually need them (I really don't want to see another Mega Garchomp/Mega Salamence).

Mega Garchomp is ironically worse than regular Garchomp

 

[RedJirachi]

Like them way more than the Z-Moves since they add a lot more than a glorified strong move. But give them to weaker Pokemon rather than to Pokemon who absolutely doesn't need them.

I so agree with you on that. On that note, I think some weaker Pokemon deserve a proper evolution so they can be viable and not be limited to a held item to do so. New megas should be for Pokemon that are servicable but nothing special, new evolutions for Pokemon that are weak or average

 

[Almighty Zard]

Mega evolution to me feels superior between the two mechanics, but that's my opinion.

Still I don't think the mechanics should be outright dropped, even if their relegated to post game, i'd prefer that to losing them.

 

[KyogreThunder]

Mega Garchomp is ironically worse than regular Garchomp

Yeah, and this is another reason it wasn't needed.

 

[JensV95]

I'm more into megas than the (OP) z-moves.
And if GF is going to introduce new mega's, i hope they give them to the ones that need them (not for the psuedos or other overly popular ones).

 

[ThroughTheIris56]

Mega's for Pokemon that don't need them are a flat out bad idea (cough Salamence, cough Blaziken, cough Mewtwo), but I suppose they can be a good idea for weaker Pokemon such as Pidgeot of Beedrill. But if a Pokemon can get an extra evolution such as Mawile or Sableye, I think that makes more sense.

 

[dannymusic]

TBH I was hoping that Mega Evolutions would be specifically a Gen 6 thing and Z-moves a specifically Gen 7 thing. I liked the mechanics in those generations, adding a unique experimental twist to the game that shook up the typical battle formula. I don't like a majority of the Mega Evolution designs from an aesthetic perspective, but mechanically it's fine.

My problem is more of a broader trend with pokemon -- there tends to be a "design through accretion" philosophy. You can see that if you look through the item list in Gen 6-7; all the Arceus plates, Genesect drives, Silvally memories, legendary-specific items like the Gracidea or DNA Splicers, every unique Mega Stone, the Primal Reversion orbs, and Z-crystals ... it's getting rather excessive IMO. Each of these items, within the context of the games in which they were introduced, have significance in the story, and the pokemon they affect play an integral part in their introduction game.

But this is not so in games that were released subsequent to the item/pokemon's introduction. In subsequent games, the items are given or purchased by an NPC and usually accompanied with a message "hey, if you happen to see Pokemon X, give them this item Y." They're hardly integrated into the overarching plot at all, and as a result they're largely tangential to the core pokemon experience. (But a lot of them do contribute to power creep, competitively speaking.)

Gen. 8 will undoubtedly introduce a new unique battling or pokemon mechanic, and while I am interested in and look forward to what that might be, I think it's about time to give some of the old twists a well-deserved rest. It was nice to see Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee focus solely on its core gameplay (giving a break to even items), and I think the main series pokemon games would benefit similarly from scaling back the extras.