This Gen's new gimmick.

[RileyXY1]

Where were Galar Forms confirmed?

They weren't.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Making all moves OHKO moves with +6 priority that never miss would change the competitive scene, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Changing the competitive scene is necessary, but it needs to be done in a balanced way that promotes new strategies, not just making things more and more broken until power creep consumes anything resembling strategy in this game.

Not saying that's what Dynamax will do as we simply don't know enough about it yet, but after seeing Z-move's effects on the metagame, I'm not optimistic that a mechanic that gives Pokemon 3 super-charged moves won't be another stone paving that road. More information needs to be revealed before we can make any truly useful commentary.\

EDIT: This post aged pretty well lol.

 

[Pokemon Fan]

Have z-moves really been that broken? Certainly they can turn the tide in a battle, but they also mean that the pokemon using them is basically left without an item for the rest of the match. At most they seem to just work really well on a select few pokemon and can help a pokemon punch through something that would normally be able to knock it out or handle the hit (and doing this requires holding back the z-move until it is most advantageous to use it).

Regardless, I'll wager max moves will be less powerful, if only to balance that you potentially get to use them three times.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

I kind of like how Dynamax converts a Pokémon’s moves to certain attacks like “Max Guard” or “Max Strike.” It kind of looks like Game Freak’s trying to shake up how players raise their Pokémon & forces you to try different moves that work better when using Dynamax.

I can see why it’s annoying, but this also feels like a breath of fresh air since nearly everybody & their Aunt Trixie seem to use the exact same movesets from Smogon over & over again.

 

[shadowmax889]

Let me see...

Gen 2 - EV/IV, Held Item, Dark Type, Steel Type
Gen 3 - Double Battle, Ability
Gen 4 - Physical/Special Split
Gen 5 - Triple Battle, Rotation Battle, Secret Ability
Gen 6 - Sky Battle, Mega Evolution, Fairy Type
Gen 7 - Z-Move
Gen 8 - Dynamax

Also you forgot inverse battles in gen 6

 

[shoz999]

Also you forgot inverse battles in gen 6

No, I don't believe that had any impact on multiplayer but there is the special split of Gen 2.

 

[DannyDark]

Huh, so.. Theoretically.. A top tier team of 3 will consist of a Mega-capable Pokemon, a Z-Move user and a Dynamax Mode user? If the prior two return.

Also, realised that Dynamax has carried over my most hated thing regarding Z-Moves; that is, there's seemingly no distinction between Physical and Special moves. It was always so immersion breaking to see, say for example, Blissey using a Z-Move based on Hyper Beam.. which then turns into Breakneck freakin' Blitz. So you've then got a Blissey, base Attack stat of 10, charging down the opponent. They wouldn't even have to be detailed, just two moves per type, one clearly Physical and one that's Special.

 

[Pokemon Fan]

On another note, people keep joking about "dynamax Wailord" and how gigantic it will be. I get the joke, but I hope most people realize that based on what we've seen, dynamax Pokemon all seem to grow to approximately the same giant size (at least to me it looks like the Raichu gets about as big as the Gyarados), with their initial size not really mattering that much.

Also, realised that Dynamax has carried over my most hated thing regarding Z-Moves; that is, there's seemingly no distinction between Physical and Special moves. It was always so immersion breaking to see, say for example, Blissey using a Z-Move based on Hyper Beam.. which then turns into Breakneck freakin' Blitz. So you've then got a Blissey, base Attack stat of 10, charging down the opponent. They wouldn't even have to be detailed, just two moves per type, one clearly Physical and one that's Special.

They could have done that, but considering there has long been precedent for attacks working in special ways (i.e. Psyshock using the user's Special Attack but the target treating it as Physical damage), they probably regarded it as unnecessary.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

On another note, people keep joking about "dynamax Wailord" and how gigantic it will be. I get the joke, but I hope most people realize that based on what we've seen, dynamax Pokemon all seem to grow to approximately the same giant size (at least to me it looks like the Raichu gets about as big as the Gyarados), with their initial size not really mattering that much.

Pretty sad this is the case.

It's not like Pokemon Colosseum, where they DID account for the size of Pokemon.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

Yeah I realized that to, also Wailord is often depicted as small in battles so...

 

[Pokemon Fan]

Pretty sad this is the case.

It's not like Pokemon Colosseum, where they DID account for the size of Pokemon.

I was more speaking of dynamaxing being treated as increasing a pokemon to a certain max size, regardless of its original size. So a Raichu gets to be, say 50 feet tall, and so does a Pikachu (with some variations still based on the Pokemon's shape, how it stands and so on).

I do hope that in their normal state they scale pokemon to each other and their trainers more accurately than in the past portable games. Not sure if we've seen enough to really judge if they do or not yet.

 

[ShadowForce720]

Yeah I realized that to, also Wailord is often depicted as small in battles so...

Forget "Dynamax Wailord", "Dynamax Alola Exeggutor" is where it's at considering if it gets that tall it will be reaching into Outer space or maybe even the moon. lol XD

 

[Lord Godwin]

Forget "Dynamax Wailord", "Dynamax Alola Exeggutor" is where it's at considering if it gets that tall it will be reaching into Outer space or maybe even the moon. lol XD

Maybe Dynamaxed Pokemon are of similiar size? In the trailer the Raichu was of similiar size to Gyarados and wr know it is normally not the case. I am wondering which Pokemon will be excluded from dynamaxing as a Dynamaxed Mega Rayquaz/Ultra Necrozma/Perfect Zygard or even Mega Mewtwo sounds crazy...

 

[keithpetrosky]

A Dynamax Unown would be neat to see as it uses hidden power

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Z-Moves made the game more unpredictable, which is something that Western fans don't like. They also affected more competitive tiers in bigger ways than Megas which by their nature (fully evolved Pokemon, legendaries, starters, pseudos, etc.) limited their impact. A close comparison to the magnitude of changes was when Drizzle and Drought appeared on Pokemon not named Groudon and Kyogre.

That’s one thing I don’t like about competitive battles or the metagame: since they prefer predictability, it just feels a little stale since everyone’s either using the same Pokémon and movesets or they’re just spamming how many legendaries & shinies they have.

What I like to see with Pokémon battles is strategy, imagination, & unpredictability (mainly because I grew up watching Ash’s battling tactics in the anime). I admit that I do use Smogon to get some ideas for moves, but most of the time I prefer to go against the main tiers by using pokémon or move combinations wouldn’t normally expect.

With Dynamaxing, I’m hoping it’ll really shake the metagame up more than Z-moves did & force people to come up with their ow original battling strategies.

 

[shadowF]

Story Lore I could see Dynamaxing being a gimmick where while the Pokemon gets big, it is only projected as big and is really a hologram or stimulation or something technology advanced which is why it can only hurt other Pokemon and not people.....Or only people can Dynamax Pokemon and part of the story will be Dynamaxing falling under the wrong hands and being used to terrorize the region.

 

[Divine Retribution]

I'm not entirely against unpredictability. I somewhat question its place in a competitive game, but the fact of the matter is Pokemon isn't designed to be a proper competitive game, what with RNG having such a large impact on pretty much every battle. My issue with Z-moves is more that in many cases they took the concept of defensive counterplay and tossed it completely out the window. This seems to fit in perfectly for GameFreak's vision of the game, which is short, fast, action-packed battles, but I've always been partial to longer, more strategic battles. That being said, no Z-moves didn't completely ruin the game for me, I just think it would have been better off without them, or if Pokemon could only use Z-crystals that matched their types. You can play around Z-moves easy enough, and you can usually figure out what your opponent's Z-move user is, or at least scout for potential Z-moves from likely users, and once they pop that one Z-move, that's it. You don't have to worry about it any more. Dynamaxing sounds a bit scarier as just playing around that one move isn't enough, now you need to deal with 3 turns of powered up moves.

Also as a side note, I understand some people's misgivings with Smogon and similar resources, but generally speaking the reason why you see their sets everywhere is because they're generally the most effective sets in the largest number of circumstances. Most of Smogon's sets are actually fairly obvious when you look at a Pokemon's stats and movepool, or optimized versions of obvious sets anyways. Making your own sets is fun and I encourage it whenever possible, but usually if you're using a set that's actually effective it's going to end up looking very similar to one of the Smogon sets. Maybe your team could appreciate different coverage options, or you might tweak your EV spread a little, but it isn't particularly common to come up with something radically different than the standard set that actually works. Those sets are standard for a reason. As I understand it, a similar phenomenon occurs in VGC, where certain sets become standard because they're generally speaking the most effective sets, and those tend to be the sets you see most often. Innovation is great, but there isn't as much room for innovation as you'd think in a game where Pokemon have specific stat spreads and limited movepools, not to mention the fact that a few million people play the game, so it's kind of difficult to find something new that someone somewhere hasn't already tried before.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I'm not entirely against unpredictability. I somewhat question its place in a competitive game, but the fact of the matter is Pokemon isn't designed to be a proper competitive game, what with RNG having such a large impact on pretty much every battle. My issue with Z-moves is more that in many cases they took the concept of defensive counterplay and tossed it completely out the window. This seems to fit in perfectly for GameFreak's vision of the game, which is short, fast, action-packed battles, but I've always been partial to longer, more strategic battles. That being said, no Z-moves didn't completely ruin the game for me, I just think it would have been better off without them, or if Pokemon could only use Z-crystals that matched their types. You can play around Z-moves easy enough, and you can usually figure out what your opponent's Z-move user is, or at least scout for potential Z-moves from likely users, and once they pop that one Z-move, that's it. You don't have to worry about it any more. Dynamaxing sounds a bit scarier as just playing around that one move isn't enough, now you need to deal with 3 turns of powered up moves.

Also as a side note, I understand some people's misgivings with Smogon and similar resources, but generally speaking the reason why you see their sets everywhere is because they're generally the most effective sets in the largest number of circumstances. Most of Smogon's sets are actually fairly obvious when you look at a Pokemon's stats and movepool, or optimized versions of obvious sets anyways. Making your own sets is fun and I encourage it whenever possible, but usually if you're using a set that's actually effective it's going to end up looking very similar to one of the Smogon sets. Maybe your team could appreciate different coverage options, or you might tweak your EV spread a little, but it isn't particularly common to come up with something radically different than the standard set that actually works. Those sets are standard for a reason. As I understand it, a similar phenomenon occurs in VGC, where certain sets become standard because they're generally speaking the most effective sets, and those tend to be the sets you see most often. Innovation is great, but there isn't as much room for innovation as you'd think in a game where Pokemon have specific stat spreads and limited movepools, not to mention the fact that a few million people play the game, so it's kind of difficult to find something new that someone somewhere hasn't already tried before.

Somewhat true. I do think Smogon isn't complete though and misses a lot of viable opportunities in their sets and descriptions, especially for doubles and Royales formats as Smogon really focuses on 6v6 singles. Pokémon like Tsareena still don't have any doubles description there despite Tsareena reaching top 30 various times in VGC2019. Togedemaru was more popular than Mega Metagross at some point in VGC2019, but Smogon's only doubles set for it is a level 1 troll set with Endeavour and Sturdy. That said, I don't think Z-Moves completely ruin stall or anything. I've played formats like the Spooky Cup and Simple Symphony and stalling pokémon like Toxapex, Gliscor, and Clefable were popular in those, as well as quite effective, and Z-Moves were allowed there. It's more Tapus and UBs that put a damper on stall because of how insanely hard they hit. A pokémon like Vaporeon with Acid Armour, Aqua Ring, and Leftovers, it can set up on Mega Metagross lacking Thunder Punch, Garchomp, Landorus, and so on. It just walls them, they can't get through once it has a couple of Acid Armours and Aqua Ring up, and it has the bulk to set up on them.

As for the standard is the best, I'm not so sure either. I've run Scizor in VGC Sun series and Moon series with tons of success, and it's nowhere near popular in the VGC 2019 format. I've had way more success with it than with Tsareena, which was actually popular. Scizor is such a fear-factor to Xerneas because of that Bullet Punch threat that everyone knows it carries, and it puts Xerneas in a tough spot because it can't switch out as it'd lose its only Geomancy. It pivots with powerful U-Turns to dodge Incineroar's Flare Blitz and Intimidate, it steals berries with Bug Bite, and it can also Feint. Wacan Berry Araquanid is another one I've had a lot of success with, even though Araquanid is not that popular. Tons of bulk, enough to survive Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt with the Berry, Wide Guard support, hits hard with Liquidation even without investment especially in Kyogre's rain, and it can use Entrainment on partner Kyogre to give it Water Bubble, particularly viable to set up with U-Turn Incineroar bringing in Kyogre. And Water Bubble Kyogre in the rain deals unheard of levels of damage. I've run Minun in battle spot doubles formats to Entrainment Volt Absorb onto Suicune, which can then turn into a big duo threat together with a Xurkitree. Suicune's water and ice attacks and Tailwind added with Xurkitree's high Sp.Atk, Discharge, Beast Boost, and electric coverage is almost impossible to wall and is unresisted outside of Shedinja. Nobody else runs Minun that way as far as I know. People just run it with Minus and Entrainment to give a partner Minus and then get a mutual Sp.Atk boost with which they try to sweep, but that gets ruined the moment Minun goes down.

 

[Inoshi]

Am I the only one who thinks making your pokemon is silly and even very stupid? Everything else I saw in the Direct I liked but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that. I truly wish they had come up with a better idea.

 

[Leonhart]

I was a bit skeptical about the Dynamax feature the other day since it seemed interesting yet also somewhat similar to Totem Pokemon, but I like the fact that the Max Raid Battles don't require you to link with other players and can be done with just NPCs as well.