What do you think of the overall battles of Sun & Moon?

[MidnightMelody]

The best battles were Brock and Misty in Kanto. We to say Kanto had the best battles this series.

They are pretty lackluster. We have got cheap one-shotted battles with Z-Moves (KOing dartrix with x 0,25 effective Bloom Doom, really?), bad animation for some Z-Moves (Corkscrew Crash, Devastating Drake, Supersonic Skystrike are less beautiful than generic Drill Run, Dragon Pulse and Sky Attack), bad choreography (first part of Olivia Grand Trial was sooo anti-dynamic and stall) etc.
XY(Z) was a real highlight of battles :/

Not that I am defending anything SM does but you should never sue game logic for the anime.

 

[Kintaro]

The fact that Misty and Brock of all characters have the best battles of S/M when:

1. They're not even part of the main cast this saga, and thus upstaged the 5 SM characters

and

2. Misty and Brock were known for doing very little battling or having generally poor battles in their original run in the OS

....is both kinda funny and ironic.

 

[BTS_fan]

Not that I am defending anything SM does but you should never sue game logic for the anime.

I agree to an extent, but some of SuMo's battle tactics have been questionable like the whole water nullifying Mudsdale's Electric type immunity thing. *Barfs*

 

[MidnightMelody]

The fact that Misty and Brock of all characters have the best battles of S/M when:

1. They're not even part of the main cast this saga, and thus upstaged the 5 SM characters

and

2. Misty and Brock were known for doing very little battling or having generally poor battles in their original run in the OS

....is both kinda funny and ironic.

I mean they were both gym leaders so they gave experience next to people who prior to SM might never have battled minus Kiwi

 

[Kintaro]

I mean they were both gym leaders so they gave experience next to people who prior to SM might never have battled minus Kiwi

Yet if you compare the SM cast to Kanto-era Misty/Brock, the SM cast are more powerful. Which was the point I was trying to make, Misty/Brock were never strong in the original series, not even in Johto much. If the SM cast battled Kanto-era Misty/Brock, they'd surely win except maybe Lillie or Mallow

 

[MidnightMelody]

Yet if you compare the SM cast to Kanto-era Misty/Brock, the SM cast are more powerful. Which was the point I was trying to make, Misty/Brock were never strong in the original series, not even in Johto much. If the SM cast battled Kanto-era Misty/Brock, they'd surely win except maybe Lillie or Mallow

Don’t forget the battles in general have got more...intense so even good battles at the time seem meh due to that. Idk personally can’t say anyone minus Kiwae is really good. The rest just have plot amor

 

[DatsRight]

It's hard to really rate the girls since they're only ever in battles they COMPLETELY have the upper hand (usually due to plot armour or only facing lame opponents), like the writers don't even like them to suffer a single hit unless it's absolutely mandatory to the plot or to set them up getting a DEM boost. They're kept in this weird complacent limbo where they never lose but never get better either. That's why it would be a completely farce if they were suddenly competent in the league.

Sophocles was similar but after a while they started to develop his specific experience level, he was allowed to lose a couple odd times and was given at least one genuine full battle to develop his skills and master his Z Move. It feels like they still keep sidling from even this for the girls, especially with the 'they're training, it's just offscreen' crap we've gotten recently. Even Lana's done no official battling despite being the de facto girl 'battler'.

The main difference between the SM non-battlers and OS Misty and Brock was that they weren't kept as plot armoured in that area and were allowed to get their ass kicked most of the times they genuinely fought bad (besides Misty with Psyduck). Their incompetent or outclassed moments were more obvious. There's a strange ambiguity with the SM cast, they only ever put them in battles they can't possibly lose, like they know they aren't gonna bother developing them so just don't want to set up any weak moments they have to resolve. Serena was similar in XY. It's kind of dull watching the girl protagonists battle now since you know unless the battle is called off it will be completely one sided. They're forbidden to be challenged now or improve their approach in a way that isn't just getting DEMs for their Pokemon. Mallow is the most blatant example, she got a nad-crusher of a fully evolved Pokemon but still barely gives basic commands to it.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

I hope the league give us a battle like the kanto ones.

 

[Leonhart]

The best battles were Brock and Misty in Kanto. We to say Kanto had the best battles this series.

It is somewhat ironic that Takeshi and Kasumi had some of the better battles in SM, although given that the writers and animators tend to go all out whenever they involve Mega Evolution in battles, I'm not too surprised by the quality of Takeshi and Kasumi's battles during the Kanto field trip episodes.

 

[Remix2]

I hope the league give us a battle like the kanto ones.

Same but that all depends on not only the animators put actual into the battle(which a lot of the time in big battles they don’t) but if they keep putting Junichi fujisaku in big battles

 

[CMButch]

Some are good, but most are weak/bad.

 

[Litleonid]

The SM series has has some very lackluster battles, and it doesn't help that battling has never been a big focus in this series. I can only think of one battle really that I enjoyed and that was Ash's Grand Trial against Kahuna Olivia. There were quite a few battles that were ruined because of stupid reasons, like Lycanroc going berserk, Ash dropping a Z-Crystal, or stupid decisions like Ash going for Corkscrew Crash instead of Gigavolt Havoc. I haven't seen battles this weak in the Pokemon anime since BW.

 

[Leonhart]

The SM series has has some very lackluster battles, and it doesn't help that battling has never been a big focus in this series. I can only think of one battle really that I enjoyed and that was Ash's Grand Trial against Kahuna Olivia. There were quite a few battles that were ruined because of stupid reasons, like Lycanroc going berserk, Ash dropping a Z-Crystal, or stupid decisions like Ash going for Corkscrew Crash instead of Gigavolt Havoc. I haven't seen battles this weak in the Pokemon anime since BW.

Admittedly Lugarugan sabotaging Satoshi by going berserk was really frustrating, mainly because it was almost like a complete copy of the Hikozaru Blaze thing from DP.

 

[Kintaro]

In terms of battles overall, I'd say the best to worst:

DP/XY > AG > Johto/BW > Kanto > SM

Actually kinda pains me to rank Kanto so low, but when you realize we only had like 3 proper Gym battles and a rushed league, well...there you go.

 

[Hanto]

Yet if you compare the SM cast to Kanto-era Misty/Brock, the SM cast are more powerful. Which was the point I was trying to make, Misty/Brock were never strong in the original series, not even in Johto much. If the SM cast battled Kanto-era Misty/Brock, they'd surely win except maybe Lillie or Mallow

No, only Kiawe could potentially beat the late Johto Misty & Brock. SM cast seems stronger only due to all of them have a Z-Moves in their disposal. Poliwhirl/Politoed & Corsola had kinda amazing amount of wins considering none of companions had much focus in Johto. Foretress and Crobat, on the another side, did almost nothing.

 

[Leonhart]

No, only Kiawe could potentially beat the late Johto Misty & Brock. SM cast seems stronger only due to all of them have a Z-Moves in their disposal.

Personally, I don't think that the SM classmates other than maybe Kaki and Suiren are stronger than Takeshi and Kasumi were even with Z-Moves. When it comes to Satoshi's use of Z-Moves though, I feel like they've been good as finishing moves in most battles, but that the writers have overused them to the point where they feel like cheap ways to win.

 

[Kintaro]

No, only Kiawe could potentially beat the late Johto Misty & Brock. SM cast seems stronger only due to all of them have a Z-Moves in their disposal. Poliwhirl/Politoed & Corsola had kinda amazing amount of wins considering none of companions had much focus in Johto. Foretress and Crobat, on the another side, did almost nothing.

I dunno, even not counting Z-moves, I think Lana could beat both Brock and Misty from the OS.