Pokémon Game Pros and Cons

I started playing Pokémon FireRed early last week for the first time, and it’s good fun, although really challenging compared to what I’ve gotten acustomed to with newer games, and as I played, I noticed a lot of features and mechanics which work differently from other games, or that exist in this game but not in others, or whatever. So I decided to go out of my way to write a list of what I like and don’t like about each main series game I’ve played. Think of it like ABrandonToThePast’s “50 Things Wrong With Pokemon” videos, exept I’m talking also about what I do like, and some of what he has issues with, I don’t (hell som of what he lists, I probably see as pros, but I dont remember for sure and Im not going to waste time going back to look), and thats fine. I respect his opinions and some of it probably wasnt even wrong to him he just had to pick somthing to reach 50. I also don’t expect that I’ll talk much about Red and Blue if at all just becus it was the first game, and yea it was primitive even for its time, but compared to its sucessers, not it’s contemperaries, I cut it a lot of slack, especially becus of all the cuts they had to make becus they couldn’t add everything they wanted due to space limitations. I’ll also list both versions even thogh Sun and Moon is the only pair in which I’ve played both versions, becus except for exclusiv Pokemon and dialog and shit, they’re pretty much the same.

FireRed (and Leafgreen)

Pros

Cons

• Experience is redistributed among all unfainted Pokemon who have faced the same opponent. I’ve had battles where I only send out one Pokemon against an opponent and it gains over 1000 Exp., but if I send out three Pokemon against the same opponent, they’d only get like a couple hundred Exp. each, all the exact same number, unless the first time Pokemon were all defeated, in which case the third one gets all the Exp.
• Before gen 6, the Exp. Share isn’t a Key item, so its benefits only apply to whichever Pokemon holds it.
• Do to how Exp. is distributed (and I think this was an issue in Blue too) my Pokemon have constantly been underleveled even when I’ve battled all the trainers that I can. I think the only times they weren’t was when we liberated Silph Co., when we were overlevelled, and when battling Sabrina, becus I skipped her and battled a bunch of swimmers and scientists and burglars before battling Blaine, then I went back to battle her and our levels were fairly equal.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Pros

Cons

Sun and Moon

Pros

• No more HMs! And you get to physicly ride actual Pokemon to overcome obstacles
• The first games where if you catch a Pokemon while having a full team, you can choose to add it to your team and send one of your current party members to the PC instead, without having to go all the way back to the Pokemon Center.

Cons

• The cool thing about HMs was that at least you were using your own partners to help you traverse the land. I guess I understand if it doesn’t make any diffrence to anyone else, but I remember going out of my way to catch a Tauros just so I could pretend the ride Tauros was actually mine.
• This gen is the beginning of the end of all the cool gadgets and having an actual Pokedex. I get why a lot of people found the talking Rotom annoying, even if I didn’t, and even I’m glad the Rotom in later games don’t talk.
• No more Victory Road. I guess it's okay if not every region has one, but why is it that in the last three gens, when the Pokemon League has become a bigger deal, that's when theres no Victory Road? And when I say a "bigger deal", it's more than "every Trainer goes there eventually" like it was in the previous games. In Alola, they're getting their own League for the first time, while in Galar Gym and League battles are a spectator sport, and in Paldea, ... well it's Paldea. And in all these regions, there's no Victory Road. There's a path between the League and the last town, but that's it. Some people say Vast Poni Canyon is Alola's Victory Road, and I guess that's fair, that place is absolutely awesome. I can forgive Alola not having Victory Road, maybe after the Pokemon League is established the get some Ace Trainers hanging around in Mount Lanakila or something, but when they don't have one for three new regions straight, it's getting ridiculous.

Sword (and Shield)

Pros

Cons

• I know electric bikes exist in the real world, hell I’ve even seen the Amish use them. But here’s the thing, I dont want electric bikes in my Pokemon games! Literally what reason is there even for me to ride my bike on water? Why cant i just ride my Pokemon?
• I also don’t want smart phones in my Pokemon games. No longer do we have an actual Pokedex, we now have a Pokedex APP. I dont want a Pokedex app, I want a Pokedex, and all the little gadgets for calling people or whatever, and maybe a physical map. Or have the Pokedex do those things, like how the Pokedex as a device held PokeNav Plus in ORAS.
• The Exp. Share no longer exists, yet all party Pokemon still get experience, and now there’s no way to disable that. I almost definitely wouldn’t turn it off if I could, but son of a bitch, some players want the challenge that comes with not having all you Pokemon get experience without battling, and think that Experience sharing makes the games to easy, so at least give them the option to use Exp. sharing or not!

Legends: Arceus

Pros

• An actual physical Pokedex, and one that has to be developed no less! I remember wondering how the Pokedex could tell you so much about a Pokemon that you caught, when supposedly Oak didn’t already have it filled or whatever, so one of my earliest Pokemon fanfics was a story about a kid sent by Oak to catch Pokemon and observe them, and then write something for the Pokedex. And to think that years later we’d have something similar in an actual game!
• I’ve seen people hate Kamado for antagonizing the player character, but honestly, they’re wrong. Becus at the end of the day the player is still a stranger with unknown origins, who fell from the rift in the sky, and Kamado was doing what he thought had to be done for the safety of his people. Honestly I have such a mancrush on Kamado. He refuses to let the tragedy that beset his homeland make him a victim, and he remains calm and composed in a crisis, and he’s so benevolent and ready to praise whenever you have to report to him. He is hands down the best character.
• Ingo is very closely the second best character. Except for seeing him and Emmet for the first time in one volume of Pokemon Adventures, I have had no interactions with him outside of this game, and he was awesome, and he deserves as the popularity that he has.

Cons

• We litterally can’t travel to the past without being afforded some modern convenience, like a fucking smart phone…
• Your Pokemon can only stand around, they can’t walk with you, even though Hisui to me just seems like the PERFECT region (well, besides maybe an Edo-like Johto) to walk around with Hisuian Samurott and Decidueye, like travelling samurai or somthing.
• That fucking bitch-ass Melli. I literally have so much to say that I can’t even say it.
• All the Noble and ride Pokemon just happen to be new evolutions or forms of old Pokemon.
• All the new Pokemon except for Enamorus are evolutions and/or regional forms of old Pokemon. I would have liked to see at least one evolution line (so not a mono-stage, and it could have even been a two-stage) that was completely new and unique to Hisui.
• Also did we need Enamorus? I’m fine with the weather genies showing up just because they’re more Japanese than American anyway, but I think they could have been handled diffrently, like maybe they’re from Sinnoh but came to Unova for whatever reason?

Scarlet and Violet

Pros

• Honestly it was a lot more fun than I had expected. The trailers really did these games a massive disservice. They litterally had me expecting that early in the game the Academy would be like “Player, this is our region’s legendary Pokemon, and YOU get to be the student who gets to just ride it around”. I mean honestly I think the background of Koraidon and Miradon still does cheapen the whole “legendary” title, but holy hell could it have been way worse!
• Arven was honestly the best character. I don’t think he should be considered a “Rival”, but then that’s another role that’s been cheapened.

Cons

• Nemona was so fucking annoying! I hate her, and I hate everyone who loves her! I get her choosing a new starter and a whole new team to fight you with and wanting to start over, and I love battling just as much as the next Trainer, but fucking hell was she so obnoxious about it! And then there was the thing about her asking to be called your rival, and you can say “No” all you want, but let’s be real, you don’t have any real choice in the matter, you HAVE to agree to call her your rival. And I especially hated her in Area Zero. She is literally so stupid she couldn’t recognize the other Miraidon’s raising its hand as an act of aggression. Seriously, if any of you reading this ship her with the player character, you’re fucking retarded!!!
• The Team Star backstory was honestly so damn weak its unreal. Like, oh you were bullied? Okay. How were you bullied? Oh some kids just picked on you or teased you? … That’s it? Fucking hell I can write in detail all the major incidents that happened to me years after they occurred, and I still hesitate to call it bullying, but you are so vague and still have the guts to call it bullying? Get out of here! I mean evidently some of these kids were already weirdos before creating Team Star. I’m not saying you should be like everyone else, I think that’s stupid and God knows I couldn’t fit in if I tried, but Jesus Christ in a tree, there’s being different, and then there’s being a dork or a freak. One of those doesn’t deserve bullying, the other certainly does.

Pros

Cons

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