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Unpopular Pokemon opinions V2 (READ FIRST POST)

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
Squawkabilly is one the best pokemon in all of Gen 9 due to its use as a crippling pivoter, PERIOD!!
 

SoraFan23

Generation 4 was how I got into Pokémon
Pokemon should not always have gyms in every game. In Sun and Moon they replaced them with Trials and Kahuna Battles which I do like that and it was a nice change. Then when it was brought back in Gen 8 and Gen 9 I didn't really feel like the gyms didn't do it for me. Maybe because they expect you to do all these like "mission challenges" where its like similar to the Trials in Sun and Moon but it just comes off as like a "Rinse and repeat" situtation where it feels like you're just doing the same thing.

I really don't mind if Pokemon doesn't have gyms at least it will not be so predictable and so obvious of whats going to happen. There needs to be more of a change of pace and something fresh so that way it doesn't feel like you're doing the same stuff that you've done in most other Pokemon games. Scarlet and Violet while it did had gyms at least they made it to where you can choose whatever order you can battle the gyms (but its too bad that they messed up the level scaling) I can tell they wanted to give the player choice but it was poorly executed. Just to claify I am not saying "Gyms should never return in Pokemon" I am just saying that because whenever you play a Pokemon game you always expect the same stuff and it doesn't feel that exciting.
 

Dark_King25

Shillmon Defender
Charizard hate is more forced than Charizard Favoritism
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
BDSP is the worst because it's painfully clear they shelled it out just to appeal to fans screaming about Gen 4 remakes.

In the end, we didn't get a Gen 4 remake. We got a Gen 4 remaster.

Ehh, the remakes have been on a downward spiral for multiple games. Really the only thing BDSP uniquely does worse is that they failed to adopt SwSh's artstyle and instead went for a chibi style very similar to the original games. Other than that, pretty much any complaint you could make about BDSP could also be made about the likes of ORAS and LGPE.

Honestly I agree with @Snewed119. The remakes peaked with HGSS, but even that game was still held back by some of the things it refused to update with the newer generation and there are some things that every remake has done wrong. Biggest issue I see is with the dexes/Pokemon selection. The older games have aged horribly because of how much more varied the National Dex has become since those original experiences, but the remakes insist on pretending that those Pokemon don't exist until post game at best (or worse yet, the Switch remakes pretend the newer Pokemon don't exist period) and so you're left with the same horrible variety of Pokemon that the original games had despite having more than enough Pokemon to fix the variety issues. They're basically tying one hand behind their back for the sake of nostalgia, and it really exposes just how poorly those games have aged.
 
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PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
Ehh, the remakes have been on a downward spiral for multiple games. Really the only thing BDSP uniquely does worse is that they failed to adopt SwSh's artstyle and instead went for a chibi style very similar to the original games. Other than that, pretty much any complaint you could make about BDSP could also be made about the likes of ORAS and LGPE.

Honestly I agree with @Snewed119. The remakes peaked with HGSS, but even that game was still held back by some of the things it refused to update with the newer generation and there are some things that every remake has done wrong. Biggest issue I see is with the dexes/Pokemon selection. The older games have aged horribly because of how much more varied the National Dex has become since those original experiences, but the remakes insist on pretending that those Pokemon don't exist until post game at best (or worse yet, the Switch remakes pretend the newer Pokemon don't exist period) and so you're left with the same horrible variety of Pokemon that the original games had despite having more than enough Pokemon to fix the variety issues. They're basically tying one hand behind their back for the sake of nostalgia, and it really exposes just how poorly those games have aged.

I actually consider ORAS to be the best remakes.

It not only has a new regional layout, but new character designs, a new story, a great post-game and new Mega Evolutions. On top of that, the Secret Base feature was revamped to allow players to make their own gyms (which I took FULL advantage of lol), as well as the birth of Soaring, which we did not see again until Scarlet & Violet (in some capacity).

I actually hated HGSS, which was disappointing because Silver is my favorite game in the series. Yet, the vibe just wasn't there.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
It not only has a new regional layout

New layout? It was mainly a copy/paste job like every remake. There were a few revamps here and there (and even then, Granite Cave was revamped for the worse), but other than that it was the same old layout as the originals. Other than that, you just had a handful of tiny islands you could soar to that took all of 30 seconds to explore, whereas FRLG and HGSS added much meatier new areas (FRLG had an entire subregion in the Sevii Islands, HGSS added Rt. 47, 48, and the Safari Zone and brought back multiple areas from Kanto that were cut in the originals). ORAS... just doesn't measure up when it comes to layout and map designs.

a great post-game

Okay this I REALLY have to contest because this is my biggest issue with ORAS. ORAS' post game was kind of disappointing. ORAS' biggest issue by far is that it largely neglected Emerald content and most of its post game content were the bite-sized Mirage Spots. Pretty much none of Emerald's post game or side content made the cut. No Battle Frontier. No Safari Zone Expansion. No Desert Underpass. No Terra/Marine Cave (which to be fair would've been a stretch because this mainly existed solely because Emerald was a third version and this allowed access to the original mascots, but they possibly could've done something new with them). No Trainer Hill. No Mirage Tower. No Magma Hideout. And no, the Delta Episode did NOT include Emerald's plot elements, it was largely its own thing and had almost nothing in common with Emerald's plot other than Rayquaza being the focus. HGSS was a MUCH bigger bump from GSC and featured almost all of Crystal's content (the only thing really missing from Crystal is the Odd Egg), whereas ORAS was a relatively tepid bump in content over even the original RS and honestly feels like a tossup compared to Emerald. Not a favorable comparison for a remake that released a full 9 years later with much stronger hardware capable of much more.

I actually hated HGSS, which was disappointing because Silver is my favorite game in the series. Yet, the vibe just wasn't there.

What "vibe"? Explain.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
New layout? It was mainly a copy/paste job like every remake. There were a few revamps here and there (and even then, Granite Cave was revamped for the worse), but other than that it was the same old layout as the originals. Other than that, you just had a handful of tiny islands you could soar to that took all of 30 seconds to explore, whereas FRLG and HGSS added much meatier new areas (FRLG had an entire subregion in the Sevii Islands, HGSS added Rt. 47, 48, and the Safari Zone and brought back multiple areas from Kanto that were cut in the originals). ORAS... just doesn't measure up when it comes to layout and map designs.



Okay this I REALLY have to contest because this is my biggest issue with ORAS. ORAS' post game was kind of disappointing. ORAS' biggest issue by far is that it largely neglected Emerald content and most of its post game content were the bite-sized Mirage Spots. Pretty much none of Emerald's post game or side content made the cut. No Battle Frontier. No Safari Zone Expansion. No Desert Underpass. No Terra/Marine Cave (which to be fair would've been a stretch because this mainly existed solely because Emerald was a third version and this allowed access to the original mascots, but they possibly could've done something new with them). No Trainer Hill. No Mirage Tower. No Magma Hideout. And no, the Delta Episode did NOT include Emerald's plot elements, it was largely its own thing and had almost nothing in common with Emerald's plot other than Rayquaza being the focus. HGSS was a MUCH bigger bump from GSC and featured almost all of Crystal's content (the only thing really missing from Crystal is the Odd Egg), whereas ORAS was a relatively tepid bump in content over even the original RS and honestly feels like a tossup compared to Emerald. Not a favorable comparison for a remake that released a full 9 years later with much stronger hardware capable of much more.



What "vibe"? Explain.

We're just gonna have to agree to disagree on ORAS. lol

As for HGSS, it lacked the peaceful, serene vibe I came to associate Gold & Silver with. There was too much going on in the background, and having your pokemon follow you whether you like it or not made it worse. The music was very disappointing as well, especially Lake of Rage.

FRLG were the much needed remakes to replace the prototype that is Gen 1, and ORAS built on everything I loved about Gen 3. HGSS, however, ruined my favorite generation, at least for me.
 

Lluc

Not a Very Well-Known Member
I know I'm being a broken record on this topic but:

There is nothing "artificially difficult", "grindy", or "unfair" about boss trainers in the pre-modern EXP Share era having their Pokemon higher leveled than yours. This is a game that allows you to switch to another Pokemon for free after KO'ing a Pokemon to counter whoever is coming out next, allows you to use as many potions/status cures/X items/revives as you want in the middle of a battle, and (if you're playing gens 1~3) gives you gym badges that boosts your stats. Meanwhile your opponent has bad AI, no coverage, no EVs, doesn't know what switching or held items are. Who is really the one being unfair in this scenario?

Even if you play on Set Mode and don't use bag items, the bad AI makes them lose to basic strategies if you have a decently composed team. Even at a ten level gap, Cynthia lost to me in my playthrough of Platinum where I banned KO'ing Wild Pokemon and rematching trainers because she did not know the incredibly basic strategy of "withdraw your Leech Seed'ed Spiritomb and switch to a Pokemon that will OHKO the Gyarados that is currently trying to use Dragon Dance six times in a row."

For that reason, saying "The EXP share doesn't make the game easier, it just removes grinding" is a contradiction since beating the games that don't have it without KO'ing Wild Pokemon or rematching trainers is perfectly easy and time-efficient as well. If you don't know how to beat the games that don't have it without grinding but do know how to beat the games with it turned on without grinding that means it's... easier.
 
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shikidixi

Eevee Extraordinaire
I think my only mildly unpopular opinion is that gen 8 as a whole did not slap. Leon is such a babe tho <3 his stupidity allures me
 

Ignition

Live freely
People who act like there’s a massive difference between Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, and their respective base games are highly over exaggerating. Especially for DP to Platinum where people act like the former are unplayable. Yes the additions are appreciated and would play them over the first iterations but they are not some massive overhaul of the originals.
 

SoraFan23

Generation 4 was how I got into Pokémon
I know people love to give Game Freak a lot of flack but the blame should be on the publishers; The Pokemon Company and Nintendo themselves. If they didn't rush Game Freak maybe then the Pokemon games would not be so broken. Pokemon as a franchise is still having a mid life crisis, it doesn't know what to do with itself. Whenever it tries to change things up it sometimes goes well but most times doesn't. They have a bad habit of removing and adding features whenever a new generation starts. Its this type of a thing that makes it hard to enjoy Pokemon.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

*On Vacation. Go Away!*
I’ve never liked Marlon’s Gym position in BW2. He’s just way too easy even on Hard Mode for a final Gym Leader. If he was in the middle of the Gym run then he would not be so bad but he barely has any counters to Electric attacks which can easily wipe him out if it’s raining and you abuse Thunder.
 

Luthor

Well-Known Member
I’ve never liked Marlon’s Gym position in BW2. He’s just way too easy even on Hard Mode for a final Gym Leader. If he was in the middle of the Gym run then he would not be so bad but he barely has any counters to Electric attacks which can easily wipe him out if it’s raining and you abuse Thunder.

I'm also not the biggest fan on the fact that they made him share typing with another Unova former gym leader and gave him an ace pokemon from an Unova Elite 4 member. If a new gym leader was needed for BW2 I'd have made it Unova's steel specialist. Unova's steel specialist is technically Colress but he's not very strict with it using Pokemon like Rotom and Beeheyem and could easily be considered no type speciality and Unova BW2 dex has some decent steel options that could easily function as a better final challenge.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

*On Vacation. Go Away!*
I'm also not the biggest fan on the fact that they made him share typing with another Unova former gym leader and gave him an ace pokemon from an Unova Elite 4 member. If a new gym leader was needed for BW2 I'd have made it Unova's steel specialist. Unova's steel specialist is technically Colress but he's not very strict with it using Pokemon like Rotom and Beeheyem and could easily be considered no type speciality and Unova BW2 dex has some decent steel options that could easily function as a better final challenge.
Cheren I understand becoming another Normal type Gym Leader since Lenora decided to stop being a Gym Leader to focus more on her archeology research and Cheren has no real type specialty in BW and Normal is an easy type that all three starters can handle well and not suffer from crippling super effective hits. He can get a pass as he’s more of a replacement Gym Leader and it is perfectly fine to have two Gym Leaders that specialize in the same type if there is a good reason for it. Iris and Dryden work because Iris is an apprentice to Drayden in BW who eventually becomes strong enough to become Champion in BW2. RSE worked having Water be the final Gym because both Wallace and Juan were incredibly strong and had counter to both Grass and Electric types with Whiscash being immune to the latter type and Sealeo and Kingdra having Ice attacks for Grass Pokémon. Kingdra was also one of the most difficult Pokémon to KO with ease pre-Fairy types. Wallace made the Water type a threat with having a Sealeo of his own with the same attacks as Juan’s and then switching Kingdra for Milotic which could heal itself and also become even harder to take down if Marvel Scale activated. Marlon was just pathetic compared to Juan and Wallace. I actually took out Marlon’s entire team on Hard mode in less than four minutes with an underleveled Electivire and Ampharos. Having Mantine on the Hard mode team made things extremely easy for you as one Thunderbolt and Mantine goes down without even making a single move.
 

Litleonid

Well-Known Member
Unpopular opinion: The graphics in recent games are not nearly as bad as people make them out to be. Yeah, they're not up to par with some of the Switch's best graphics, but I really don't think they're  that bad.
 

Lluc

Not a Very Well-Known Member
People bringing up Red when criticizing GSC/HGSS's level curve is kind of silly considering he's a secret post-game fight (the Kanto stuff is all after the credits so it is basically post-game). Secret superbosses with ridiculously high stats is a very common JRPG trope and Pokemon GSC/HGSS aren't even the only Pokemon games to do this. Pokemon Emerald has Steven and Pokemon Black/White has Cynthia and the GameFreak employees who have teams full of level mid-70 Pokemon like Red does in GSC. You could even make a stretch to say FRLG and Platinum have their own secret post-game superbosses too through their champions' rematch teams after you clear the post-game storylines (their teams are in the mid 70's like GSC Red). As with the case in GSC/HGSS your Pokemon definitely aren't going to be level 70 by the time those fights open up if you're managing a full party of six and never grind.
 
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Captain Jigglypuff

*On Vacation. Go Away!*
People bringing up Red when criticizing GSC/HGSS's level curve is kind of silly considering he's a secret post-game fight (the Kanto stuff is all after the credits so it is basically post-game). Secret superbosses with ridiculously high stats is a very common JRPG trope and Pokemon GSC/HGSS aren't even the only Pokemon games to do this. Pokemon Emerald has Steven and Pokemon Black/White has Cynthia and the GameFreak employees who have teams full of level mid-70 Pokemon like Red does in GSC. You could even make a stretch to say FRLG and Platinum have their own secret post-game superbosses too through their champions' rematch teams after you clear the post-game storylines (their teams are in the mid 70's like GSC Red). As with the case in GSC/HGSS your Pokemon definitely aren't going to be level 70 by the time those fights open up if you're managing a full party of six and never grind.
I defeated Red in Crystal many times with a severely underleveled team. I think my highest level was 60 and it was just Pokémon that I caught in the game as I didn’t have a link cable and another GB to help me trade Pokémon or use the Time Capsule.
 
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