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A Pokemon Rant


Aria Heavy-Hand

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Just wanted to get this open. It's a little negative, but eh.

 

So I don't know if this issue has been covered, I don't even think it's technically an issue, but I wanted to be heard on this issue. I've finally recovered from my Pokemon X binge and picked up Omega Ruby for a serious run. I've been playing extensively for the past few days and recently even got far enough to legitimately start breeding Pokemon. However, when one breeds, one almost invariably gets bored, and whilst in the Battle Resort, I decided to kill some time talking to NPCs, because they might give me shit or battle me or whatever, you know how NPCs are. 

 

I ran into one that, for the first time, made me lose my shit at an actual, handheld Pokemon game. I ran into an NPC that said:

 

"It's one thing to enjoy leisurely battles, but real battles can be a severe trial. Truly strong Trainers sometimes must be prepared to choose Pokemon that can win rather than their favorite Pokemon."

 

Now this, this INFURIATES me. More than it should any reasonable human being. Why? How DARE he, how dare GAME FREAK suggest that your favorite isn't good enough. How DARE they suggest your favorite can't win. How DARE they suggest that you might just have to leave your favorite Pokemon in a box and use the same shit everyone else uses. 

 

My favorite Pokemon is Exploud. Is it a great Pokemon? No. In fact, some might even call it a bad Pokemon. It's not particularly bulky or fast, and there are certainly faster Special sweepers out there who can hit harder. But I don't give a rat's ass about that sort of thing, because he's AWESOME and my favorite. It's a Pokemon I like to try and include in my team whenever available. This NPC, though, Game Freak suggests that I forego Exploud for something that's better in general. Maybe Porygon-Z, who hits a little harder, is a little faster, and has the same general beefiness (except for in HP). Almost a direct upgrade. Maybe Magnezone, who is only a little slower but has better defensive and offensive typing and stats. An upgrade in many ways.

 

But I don't WANT to use those Pokemon. I want to use Exploud, because I've loved him ever since Gen III. 

 

Like I said, this is the first time I've ever been truly pissed off at a main series Pokemon game. It's enough that everyone and their mothers on Showdown! (as well as some on the handheld itself, in fact) run around with the same Gliscor, Rotom-W, Landorus-T teams because they WORK, and because they're too piss scared to try and do something special with their favorites. (unless their favorites happen to be one of the above, then hey!) But for Game Freak itself to ENCOURAGE this behavior is unbelievable. That they'd insinuate that some of their own creations are flawed and you just basically shouldn't use them is a horrible thing in every way. That they'd insinuate that you can't be a truly strong trainer while still using the Pokemon you love is awful. That they'd insinuate that using the same Gliscor, Rotom-W, Landorus-T teams as everyone else is a GOOD thing is unbelievable. 

 

I doubt anyone's ever talked to this NPC and thought, "You know what? He's right! I'll ditch my favorite Pokemon!" if they hadn't done so already, but not only is this a rant, but also a PSA of sorts. I IMPLORE you. If your favorite Pokemon is Exploud, then USE Exploud. If your favorite Pokemon is Youngster Joey's top percentage Rattata, great! I encourage you to use it! If you like MAGIKARP, if you like FEEBAS, if you like SUNKERN, please, PLEASE use them. Give them the love they so desperately need and, if you do it just right, they might surprise you.

 

All I know is, whatever tier Exploud resides in, when I use him I feel like top of the Ubers charts. And that makes me feel like a winner, a truly strong trainer, in itself.

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I read it and you really need to calm down. I agree with you, use the Pokémon you like. But when I was 8 I really liked fire Pokémon and I still do. I had a team of 6 fire Pokémon and needless to say there were some more than challenging opponents. At that time 8 year old me would have had great use of that advice. 6 fire Pokémon look cool, but it's not very effective.

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Jesus. All that NPC was pointing out was that just because a pokemon may be your favorite, it won't be able to win every fight.

 

Also, I feel this is relevant to that rant:

 

87b7e9632kxna.png

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Just like to highlight that your rant completely agrees with the NPC. You yourself admit that Exploud isn't the best (Though Specs Scrappy Boomburst is a great wallbreaker set) and that other pokemon may be better for the job. You're saying exactly what he said.

 

Also any player that uses Gliscor AND Lando-T, two physically defensive pivots with identical typing, is an idiot.

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While I do agree that GAMEFREAK putting in a NPC to say such a anti-diverse thing to do, a lot of NPC just state their own opinions and that's what it really is, an opinion.

Also I feel this is an great time to mention one of the Elite 4 quotes from second gen which made me respect myself for using Pokemon I like,

"Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites. I like your style. You understand what's important. Go on â€” â€” the Champion is waiting.""~ Karen (dark-type Elite Four member)

 

I feel like you're getting too mad for just a NPC quote.

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I read it and you really need to calm down. I agree with you, use the Pokémon you like. But when I was 8 I really liked fire Pokémon and I still do. I had a team of 6 fire Pokémon and needless to say there were some more than challenging opponents. At that time 8 year old me would have had great use of that advice. 6 fire Pokémon look cool, but it's not very effective.

I'M NOT SHOUTING!

ALL RIGHT I'M SHOUTING! I'M SHOUTING, I'M SHOUTING, I'M--

candlestick.gif

 

Also something notable I'd like to point out for your 8 year old self. I ran a Fire type monotype team on Showdown! for quite a long time. Not only did I have a lot of fun with it, it was surprisingly more effective than you might think. Which alludes back to my point that anything can be effective to a competitive extent if you train it right and try something new with it.

 

Jesus. All that NPC was pointing out was that just because a pokemon may be your favorite, it won't be able to win every fight.

 

Also, I feel this is relevant to that rant:

 

pic

I don't feel like that's the case. If that were what he meant, I feel like it could have been worded much better, like: "You might not necessarily be able to use your favorite Pokemon in every battle effectively. Sometimes, a trainer will have to choose a team player over something they'd love, but wouldn't fit the bill." (That was probably awful, but I think you get the idea)

 

Also I think the picture applies better to what pudding said than my rant, since my rant was talking more about single Pokemon than team coverage. (I still like it, though)

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Just like to highlight that your rant completely agrees with the NPC. You yourself admit that Exploud isn't the best (Though Specs Scrappy Boomburst is a great wallbreaker set) and that other pokemon may be better for the job. You're saying exactly what he said.

 

Also any player that uses Gliscor AND Lando-T, two physically defensive pivots with identical typing, is an idiot.

Well sure, I did say that. But I also said I'd definitely still USE it, whereas the NPC is implying you should just box or ignore it in lieu of something else.

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So, um..... Pachirisu. If you get this, then you understand.

Ahh, Pachy the dragonslayer. I'm sad I wasn't there for that, I almost was X3

 

Back @ Aria, the NPC is implying that some Pokemon are better than others. That's all. And he doesn't say you HAVE to, he says you 'have to be prepared to.' Those are different things. I use my favourites wherever I can, and most if not all pokemon have some viability when supported correctly (as anyone who watched me Storm OU with my Mothim can testify), but, you're reading far too much into this.

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If you're able to build a decent team, most pokemon have their plus sides, I happen to have fully EV trained a snorlax, full HP, 200 defense and like 50 attack, I use belly drum on it and it's pretty much a 1-hit KO in most battles I play, together with meowstic's reflect and the other one (I forgot the name, +sp. def) it's pretty fucking OP.

Point is: I love snorlax, I really like Meowstic, I never see them in comp and this works pretty fucking good...

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To be honest, I don't even think I have a favorite Pokemon. I just mix and match teams between what I know is good and what I know I probably haven't used before. I've never seen someone get so buttmad over a programmed NPC line... Even though it's right... Your favorite Pokemon could be Primal Rayquaza and then maybe you could sweep, but getting into competitive Pokemon battle with people who aren't NPC's takes a lot of strategy and actually a lot of work. No joke, days of grinding, breeding, leveling, and so on. 

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I really don't understand why you are getting so mad this. Gamefreak put the NPC in there because they know some of their pokemon are just weaker then others. I mean, lets say my favorite pokemon is torchic. I refuse to evolve it, and I breed more so I can even more torchic on my team. Could I win some battles? If I was insanely over leveled, yes. Otherwise, probably not, depending on the trainer your facing. 

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Here's the things: Smogon exists. In their attempts to balance the game they heavily limit creativity with their countless bans, rules and tiers.

Personally, I play VGC doubles, mostly since there is much more freedom and you see more diversity than the generic Greninja/Speed Boost Blaziken/Aegislash/Landorus-T/Rotom-W/Charizard teams that you see anywhere people follow smogon rules.

Also, nobody is holding you to these tier lists. You aren't being forced to use them. You can always try using pokemon that people mock or niche strategies and still win.

Like, I run Typhlosion on most teams. Is it competetive? No. Is it good? Not really. But it does have power, some great moves and, with the right support (through baton passing, pranksters or hazards in singles) then Typhlosion is my amazing sweeper. I also run Dusknoir. Max defences, no HP, does nothing but will-o-wisp, pain split, curse, shadow sneak and PP stall with pressure. People generally don't know what to do with it until it put a heavy dent in the opponent just because nobody ever uses it.

TL;DR

Use what you want. Unfamiliar mons and strategy fuck people up. Also, don't use Smogon rules since they limit creativity.

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Also any player that uses Gliscor AND Lando-T, two physically defensive pivots with identical typing, is an idiot.

Umm no lmao.

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Here's the things: Smogon exists. In their attempts to balance the game they heavily limit creativity with their countless bans, rules and tiers.

Personally, I play VGC doubles, mostly since there is much more freedom and you see more diversity than the generic Greninja/Speed Boost Blaziken/Aegislash/Landorus-T/Rotom-W/Charizard teams that you see anywhere people follow smogon rules.

Also, nobody is holding you to these tier lists. You aren't being forced to use them. You can always try using pokemon that people mock or niche strategies and still win.

Like, I run Typhlosion on most teams. Is it competetive? No. Is it good? Not really. But it does have power, some great moves and, with the right support (through baton passing, pranksters or hazards in singles) then Typhlosion is my amazing sweeper. I also run Dusknoir. Max defences, no HP, does nothing but will-o-wisp, pain split, curse, shadow sneak and PP stall with pressure. People generally don't know what to do with it until it put a heavy dent in the opponent just because nobody ever uses it.

TL;DR

Use what you want. Unfamiliar mons and strategy fuck people up. Also, don't use Smogon rules since they limit creativity.

 

Your evidence undermines your argument. People would all use Gren / Blaziken / Aegislash because they're good - in fact they're too good, they centralise the metagame. Which is WHY Smogon banned them - to ENCOURAGE creativity. Same applies to M-Khanga, M-Gengar, M-Mawile, etc. You don't really seem to understand what the banlist is for. Tiers are there specifically SO you can play with your favourites, and you can do it somewhere where everyone else is playing with their favourites too. Besides, Anything Goes is now a tier, go splash around in that pool if you're so inclined.

The rest, I agree with, as I stated earlier. Almost any pokemon is 'good' when supported properly (though baton passing is a bit tedious an example), and the element of surprise is an underestimated one.

 

Umm no lmao.

Uhh, yes. You got Pokemon Showdown?

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Also, it's fine if you want to use whatever you want. But don't butthurt about it when someone beats you w ith a standard team. I don't care how other people play, but it ticks me off when y'all complain about unoriginality. If you don't want to be beat, use what you know you won't lose with.

 

 

(This is coming from a competitive battler)

 

 

Uhh, yes. You got Pokemon Showdown?

 

Sure do. I'll hit you up once I've flown back into Hawaii.

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Also, it's fine if you want to use whatever you want. But don't butthurt about it when someone beats you w ith a standard team. I don't care how other people play, but it ticks me off when y'all complain about unoriginality. If you don't want to be beat, use what you know you won't lose with.

 

 

(This is coming from a competitive battler)

Oh, this reminds me of the days when I first got into comp battling. I would get steamrolled left and right until I learned team synergy and to not have a team of six physical sweepers or things with a 4x weakness to stealth rocks.

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My faves are mostly dual-types with little weaknesses (excluding Gyrados). I once had a team that was all dual-types and most of the pokemon types were covered.

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