The Unova Region

[O Fortuna]

Stealth Rock as a Move Tutor~~

That wouldn't be such a bad thing if they'd nerfed Stealth Rock reasonably. I think I would've preferred for Stealth Rock damage to have capped at 25%, regardless of type combination. The mere fact that decent Pokemon like Charizard, Articuno, Moltres, etc. are so severely crippled by 50% of their health just for switching in is ridiculous. This was even more ridiculous given that the TM was available from the first gym and learnable by damn near everything.

I can see there being move tutors for the elemental punches (it's becoming a staple) as well as previous TMs like Focus Punch, Roost and Sleep Talk. Maybe the inevitable RS remakes will give us move tutors for some of the now-defunct TMs introduced that gen, such as Snatch and Skill Swap.

 

[Mario with Lasers]

That wouldn't be such a bad thing if they'd nerfed Stealth Rock reasonably. I think I would've preferred for Stealth Rock damage to have capped at 25%, regardless of type combination. The mere fact that decent Pokemon like Charizard, Articuno, Moltres, etc. are so severely crippled by 50% of their health just for switching in is ridiculous. This was even more ridiculous given that the TM was available from the first gym and learnable by damn near everything.

I can see there being move tutors for the elemental punches (it's becoming a staple) as well as previous TMs like Focus Punch, Roost and Sleep Talk. Maybe the inevitable RS remakes will give us move tutors for some of the now-defunct TMs introduced that gen, such as Snatch and Skill Swap.

I personally would rather if Stealth Rock only did damage to Ground-immune pokémon, even if poor Yanmega still took 50% damage upon switching in. I just find ridiculous Game Freak creates an entry hazard to make up for ground-immune pokémon's invulnerability to Spikes and Toxic Spikes... and make it hit every single pokémon in existance.

And smething that could also happen is RS remakes having not only Move Tutors, but new TMs. They can't be held items anymore, so Game Freak could make TM01 Close Combat if they wanted to.

 

[Ophie]

That's a good point--changing what TMs correspond to what. I like Focus Punch though. It's situational and only a few Pokémon can really use it well, but it's so fun to see when it actually connects.

I hosted a Wii section of a Pokémon card tournament, and people applauded when, during an exhibition match against a challenger, I one-hit KOed his Empoleon with my Mawile.

I was sure Game Freak would reduce the power of Stealth Rock. I'm sure someone at Game Freak will see its rampant use in single battles in online ranked battles and find some other mechanism to curb its use, even if it has to power down. On the other hand, other modes don't see Stealth Rock as much, and it's completely useless in non-Shooter Rotation Battles.

 

[Seryu]

So basically no more Roost CT? Por Scizor? Too bad. No move tutor to learn it.

 

[Mario with Lasers]

On the other hand, other modes don't see Stealth Rock as much, and it's completely useless in non-Shooter Rotation Battles.

Even then, they create moves and abilities and pokémon exclusively for non-Single metagames (Simple Beam, Telepathy, Oobemu); they could at least *try* to pay a bit more attention to the first and most prominent (at least in-game) battle mode! Stealth Rock and Outrage are moves pretty much made for Singles; funnily enough, one got boosted in Gen IV and the other was created in the same Gen, which is also the one on which they "improved" the Doubles metagame and made it the official one for Nintendo tournaments. Pursuit is yet another Singles-only move and it was HEAVILY glitched in Plat/HGSS (and also had a funny glitch in Japanese D/P that dated back to 3rd Gen). It's almost as if Game Freak didn't care anymore !__! Throw us a bone here, guys...



But meh, complaining here won't help a bit. It's not like it's exactly as easy to lay down SR this time around than it was in DPPt anyway.

 

[Lorde]

I was traveling around Isshu today, just trying to find all of the changes that come with the winter season. I discovered that almost everyone in Sazanami Town, leaves in the winter. I didn't know that happened. I knew that Cynthia left, but I thought she was the only person. Anyway, the whole town just looks so depressing with most of the people gone. I was in Fukiyose City and I noticed that it hails during the winter there. That's cool. It also hails in the route north of Fukiyose City and even down in Hodomoe City. The Hiun City ice cream shop also closes in the winter apparently.

 

[Ophie]

Even then, they create moves and abilities and pokémon exclusively for non-Single metagames (Simple Beam, Telepathy, Oobemu); they could at least *try* to pay a bit more attention to the first and most prominent (at least in-game) battle mode! Stealth Rock and Outrage are moves pretty much made for Singles; funnily enough, one got boosted in Gen IV and the other was created in the same Gen, which is also the one on which they "improved" the Doubles metagame and made it the official one for Nintendo tournaments. Pursuit is yet another Singles-only move and it was HEAVILY glitched in Plat/HGSS (and also had a funny glitch in Japanese D/P that dated back to 3rd Gen). It's almost as if Game Freak didn't care anymore !__! Throw us a bone here, guys...



But meh, complaining here won't help a bit. It's not like it's exactly as easy to lay down SR this time around than it was in DPPt anyway.

Funnily enough, I got that same impression--that most of the work done to try to balance out the game was done through double battles, and the same goes with this generation.

That being said, as I specialize in double battles in the 4th-generation games (and I'll try to do the same for Rotation Battles and the Shooter in the 5th-generation), there was more I liked than disliked about the changes.

I wouldn't be surprised if single battles were phased out entirely as a mode by the time Generation VII or VIII comes around, reduced to only when 1 Pokémon from each player's team remains.

 

[BCVM22]

I wouldn't be surprised if single battles were phased out entirely as a mode by the time Generation VII or VIII comes around, reduced to only when 1 Pokémon from each player's team remains.

I can't imagine they would nearly completely axe the most basic, oldest and least complicated form of Pokémon battles, can you? Double battles are a decade old, triple/rotation battles are nascent and yet they've shown no sign of phasing out single battles, have they?

 

[Ophie]

Yeah, you're right. It was just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[Turtwig209]

The unova regions like the best parts every region mashed together the desert from hoenn, the caves from johto a new form of battle frontier like how they redid it between the 3rd and 4th and the general awesomeness from kanto

 

[Pikacu]

The unova regions like the best parts every region mashed together the desert from hoenn, the caves from johto a new form of battle frontier like how they redid it between the 3rd and 4th and the general awesomeness from kanto

I think your missing sinnoh or was there nothing good about it?

 

[Lorde]

The unova regions like the best parts every region mashed together the desert from hoenn, the caves from johto a new form of battle frontier like how they redid it between the 3rd and 4th and the general awesomeness from kanto

While the desert of Unova does remind me of the one in Hoenn, I'm pretty sure that the desert in Unova (the Resort Desert as it's officially known) is much larger. I've been there and I've explored every inch of it and I can also confirm that it contains more species of Pokemon than Hoenn's desert area. Anyway, I'm sort of puzzled about your comparison between Unova's caves and Johto's caves. Every region so far has had caves and I think Unova might even have more than previous regions had.

I think your missing sinnoh or was there nothing good about it?

You've got a point. Hmm, how about Sinnoh's frosty peaks? There, now Sinnoh won't feel left out

 

[O Fortuna]

I personally would rather if Stealth Rock only did damage to Ground-immune pokémon, even if poor Yanmega still took 50% damage upon switching in. I just find ridiculous Game Freak creates an entry hazard to make up for ground-immune pokémon's invulnerability to Spikes and Toxic Spikes... and make it hit every single pokémon in existance.

The fact that the entire 4th gen metagame seemed to revolve around making sure you can get rocks in, and making sure you have a spinner, shows just how overdone the move was. I was glad to see it replaced as a TM but wuite frankly, surprised also.

And smething that could also happen is RS remakes having not only Move Tutors, but new TMs. They can't be held items anymore, so Game Freak could make TM01 Close Combat if they wanted to.

I don't understand the coding in the games, but I never understood why that couldn't have been done as early as FRLG. Would it not have been possible for a Pokemon to be holding TM01 Focus Punch in Ruby, and then trade it to Leaf Green where the player detaches TM01 Mega Punch?

Either way, your idea is actually better than the idea of move tutors, because the TMs can be reusable. In fact, if they were to do that, I'd love for all the TMs to be changed (including mainstays such as 26, 32, 13, etc. which have been the same since RG), but I cannot see that happening.

 

[raz1337]

Funnily enough, I got that same impression--that most of the work done to try to balance out the game was done through double battles, and the same goes with this generation.

That being said, as I specialize in double battles in the 4th-generation games (and I'll try to do the same for Rotation Battles and the Shooter in the 5th-generation), there was more I liked than disliked about the changes.

I wouldn't be surprised if single battles were phased out entirely as a mode by the time Generation VII or VIII comes around, reduced to only when 1 Pokémon from each player's team remains.

And if you only have one Pokemon on your team?

Why would you get rid of the most basic form of combat? Any game that has involved combat has treated 1 on 1 fighting as a cornerstone of its battles. If I was stuck to 2 on 2 battles, I wouldn't like it very much. Determination of skill is left to how well two or more Pokemon can coordinate with each other? Individual skill should never lose its merit.

 

[Ophie]

Having one Pokémon on your team total is the same as having one Pokémon remaining, isn't there?

By the way, the Digimon World games began with a format similar to triple battles and never had any 1-on-1 combat except when each player has only 1 Digimon left.

In any case, I'm not being entirely serious here--I don't think single battles will be eliminated entirely, but I do seriously believe that it will no longer become the primary battling style. We'll probably get more games that work like Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, where battles are doubles unless specified otherwise.

Single battling is my least favorite style, so I'd be all for it.

 

[BCVM22]

I realize you're not pushing this all that hard, but be honest: do you really have a basis for believing single battles - again, the earliest, easiest, most common and least complex type of battles - will be phased out to whatever degree beyond

Single battling is my least favorite style

 

[R_N]

I think the fact that you can count the amount of double battles found in-game on like two hands shows that singles will never leave as the primary spot.
Shoot, one could probably count the amount of triples & rotation (which is basically Singles: With Wheels) on a single hand.


(I would love it if a future game gave the option of making every battle a single, double, triple, or rotation battle, though)

 

[Ophie]

The decreasing proportion of staff resources to single battling, such as game balancing, and the downplaying of single battling at official events.

Come to think of it, the doubles-heavy stuff have all been from Genius Sonority. So scratch that. Game Freak will keep single battling as the primary stuff. Genius Sonority, on the other hand, favors anything but singles.

 

[Endoplasmic Reticulum]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but one thing I hate about Unova is how linear it is. I mean, all the cities are in a straight path!

 

[cartert4219]

I both love and hate it. I like how easy it is to get around without HMs a LOT. It did seem overly simplistic but I prefer that to how frustrating some of the other games have been to navigate. They put a lot of work into making everything easier on us; reusable TMs, very few HMs before the elite4 that you rarely need, (and the rocks STAY moved!!!), AND the overly-linear map. The good outweighs the bad for me but I can relate.