vikingboybilly

Do we need another low level grass type attack when we’ve had absorb, vine whip, and razor leaf since gen 1? Has GameFreak decided that Rowlett is incapable of any of those moves (I honestly see razor leaf as a fitting move), or did they just want a non-physical vine whip?

Well, clearly they want a starting move for Rowlet, something it can have at level 5 (just like all the starters had in generation VI), and just as clearly Razor Leaf is too strong for that. It could easily learn Razor Leaf later on. Is Vine Whip appropriate for Rowlet? Eh. Doesn’t strike me as a great match. We’ve never had a bird-like Grass-type before, so new moves that go along with that strike me as nothing more than we should expect.

Anonymous asks:

What exactly is “special defense”?

I don’t think it’s necessarily anything, really. I don’t think any of the stats are anything. Think about speed, for instance. Rapidash has a base speed of 105, and that’s clearly because she runs really fast, but then, Kadabra also has a base speed of 105 and it’s equally clear that this does not mean Kadabra can run as fast as Rapidash. In Kadabra’s case it represents something more like reaction time. So really speed is “anything that enables a Pokémon to gain a tactical advantage which can be represented by moving first.”

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Anonymous asks:

Hi dear pokemaniacal, what do you think about a new “Cosmic” type added to the game? A type that would´t bother much the current metagame, given to very little pokemon in form of Megas to don´t mess too with the current types (like Solrock/Lunatone, Clefable, Sigilyph, Deoxis and the likes or few forgotten ones as Xatu) or just only to the new legendaries to add more mysticism and exclusivity to them. Anyway, what pokemon would you give this type? Match-ups? Would this type have right to exist?

I pretty much have to refer you to this recent question and answer, which is kinda my default reply to anything involving adding more types. I just don’t think it adds anything worthwhile at this point – is the fact that we don’t have a whole type dedicated to Pokémon associated with celestial phenomena really a significant limitation on design? If we want something we can give to legendary Pokémon to make them more powerful, well, sure – we’ve pretty much thrown game balance out the window with them long ago anyway, and there are good aesthetic reasons for wanting them to stand head-and-shoulders above other Pokémon. But personally I’d rather overhaul the way we interact with legendary Pokémon in the games completely.

Anonymous asks:

Suppose clear body, white smoke and flower veil also protected from self-inflicted stat loss. Thus, torkoal and heatmor would suck a bit less thanks to lack of overheat recoil, florges would be useful in doubles, and regirock migbt get some use out of superpower. My main worry is metagross, who’s already a solid pokemon and loves using hammer arm. Would that be too broken?

You know, I think we’re probably fine there? Like, if there is any doubt about Metagross, then just apply the change only to White Smoke. I don’t care if they have Overheat without recoil; Heatmor and Torkoal are still not going to dominate anything any time soon. And even Metagross… well, Hammer Arm isn’t really its primary attack, and it also has the options of Bullet Punch and Agility anyway. Like, it’s a buff to a Pokémon who probably doesn’t need it, but I honestly don’t think it’s a huge one? Sure as hell pales in comparison to giving Metagross a Mega Evolution, and we were apparently fine with that.

Anonymous asks:

The problem with cherrim’s flower gift ability is that it boosts the wrong stats. Imagine if cherrim had its special attack and speed state boosted in the sun! Not necessarily doubled, perhaps just buffed by 1.5. Cherrim doesn’t exactly have the best special movepool, but it does have STAB grass attacks + weather ball, which would make it a pretty competent sun sweeper.

Mmm, sure, sounds fun. I mean, the problem with reliance on weather as a general thing is that Tyranitar still exists and can say “nope” to you at will, especially if you have as much riding on the weather as Cherrim does. Also Cherrim’s starting attributes are poor enough that something like Chlorophyll Venusaur (who’s tough enough for Growth to be viable some of the time) might still outclass her. But yeah, Grass + Fire has always been great, and this would probably make Cherrim suck less, though I wonder if it actually decreases her flexibility in doubles, since much of the point of Flower Gift is that it applies to your whole team, and you now have fewer partners who are eligible for the damage boost. Then again, everyone likes speed.

Anonymous asks:

Remember when 100 base attack was “high”? Gamefreak just keeps giving new pokemon more and more insane stats, causing older pokemon to pale in comparison.

…no? I mean, in generation I, Rhydon had 130 base attack, and Alakazam had 135 base special. And sure, there are Pokémon that top that now, but when you cut out legendary and mega-evolved Pokémon (who are, y’know, supposed to make others pale in comparison) most of them are, like… not actually very good? Like, Haxorus is fine, but I’d still rather take Garchomp or Dragonite. Chandelure is good, but hardly dominating. And when you look at the defensive stats, well, pretty consistently the best Pokémon are the well-rounded ones, not the ones who have one stat absurdly inflated – Avalugg is garbage, Florges and Goodra are fine but hardly the strongest around, and… well, Shuckle. Just… Shuckle.

So… I disagree with all parts of this statement.

Godzillakiryu91 asks:

What seven would that be, and what would decide where an existing Pokemon would get placed?

I knew someone would ask that next.

To be honest it’s not even so much a revision of the current type chart as throwing it out altogether and starting from scratch. Sort of a “can I just do this completely differently?” thought experiment, which probably has to go along with massive changes to how we do status effects, PP, accuracy, and several other things (including doing away with physical/special). Pokémon don’t even have types at all, they just have weaknesses and resistances to attack types (of which attacks can have one, two, or even none), and those are assigned case-by-case.

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vikingboybilly asks:

The canned idea of a BIRD type is starting to grow on me. It would have been GameFreak’s way of differentiating the wind element from all the NORMAL birds in the game, and they wouldn’t have had the NORMAL type on them. This also got me thinking that maybe FISH types would be cool to round out the BIRD and BUG types. Some other ideas: EARTH, SNOW, WOOD, FOSSIL, MAGIC, MUSIC, and of course, LIGHT. I’ve also seen COSMIC on youtube. Feel free to praise or criticize any of my choices.

Well, that’s the thing, I have more of an inclination (unpopular, I think, in the Pokémon community) to reduce the type chart down rather than add more to it. So I would reject all of those, as well as probably several of the existing types, including Ground, Bug, Flying and Dragon. I recently thought through this, for no particular reason, and I think you could reasonably cut it down to as few as seven. So yeah. I think we’re just coming at this whole thing from opposite directions entirely.

EDIT: The inevitable follow-up question.

vikingboybilly asks:

Okay, listen to this: What if, instead of breeding eggs, pokemon trained each other by playing at the day care, giving their IVs, egg moves, or abilities to the other pokemon, and your pokemon can reach it’s full potential by learning and growing from the other pokemon at the day care instead of ridiculous egg breeding chains? This could be controlled with the power items and everstones and such, but it might work a little differenty (The power bracer’d pokemon get the attack IV from the other

You know, I think I like that, or something along those lines anyway. I talked a bit in one of these old things about expanding the complexity and interactivity of Pokémon storage, placing a bit more emphasis on what your Pokémon are getting up to when they’re not actually with you, and this kind of thing might play into that kind of aim really well. I think it reinforces the sense you get of Pokémon as individuals if they help each other to learn and grow, rather than just keeping it as the sole responsibility of the trainer. There’s a lot of scope there for, say, the combinations of Pokémon’s natures having different effects on each other, or for abilities that (in addition to their battle effects) alter the way Pokémon can interact with each other in the day care. Maybe Pokémon that have trained together will be more effective in double or triple battles together? Lots of different directions you could take it.

Anonymous asks:

I know Pokémon’s weaknesses, resistances, and immunities don’t always make sense, but what do you think is the deal with 1) Normal being immune to Ghost but Fighting isn’t, and 2) Steel being immune to Poison and Rock and/or Ground aren’t?

I think the Normal immunity to Ghost attacks comes from a sort of obliviousness to the paranormal. Ghosts and spirits have no hold over you if you don’t believe they can harm you, and Normal Pokémon are just too normal, too mundane, too out of touch with the supernatural, to know that they should even be scared. Steel and Poison… well, Rock and Ground do resist Poison attacks, despite not actually being immune to Poison attacks or the poison status, so I think we probably shouldn’t read too much into it. However, I suppose I would say that what I think they’re implying here is that Steel-types are more divorced from normal Pokémon biology than Rock-types are; Rock Pokémon have layers of anatomy that are in some sense “normal” underneath their silica-based shells, but the bodies of Steel Pokémon are radically different through-and-through at the level of their biochemistry, which makes them invulnerable to ordinary poisons.