Gen 7 was one of my favorites, Olivia's gigalith was a pain because the sandstorm made it impossible for primarina to OHKO her Pokemon. Plus Armaldo hits hard.
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Pokémon Sword and Shield announced. Coming Late 2019
- Thread starter Xavi
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Johto has always been the hardest, just because that crazy level jump at the elite 4, and no place to grind.
You say this now. In 3 months you'll be just done with how much they have shown. Once they start, they don't stop.
Kalos feels easier than Unova because of the games uneven experience curve due to the new EXP Share and the additional buffs added that generation you might have been using (O-Powers and Affection buffs like shrugging of status, surviving attacks that would knock you out with 1hp, buffed EXP Gain leaving you overleveled and the ability to straight up dodge attacks).
Because on move-set fronts, they both roughly match each-other, every mon has good movesets using Stab moves and coverage moves, with the odd status attack thrown in there.
https://www.serebii.net/xy/elitefour.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/elitefour.shtml
The only differences are a Sitrus Berry for the "Ace" pokemon each Elite 4 has in Black and White, The Sole Mega Pokemon used by Diantha in X/Y and Black and White Elite 4 also have 2 Full Restores on stand-by (I'm taking Serebii's word here because I can't remember if X/Y elite 4 used Full Restores or not).
It's also worth mentioning that with Unova's Elite 4, you had to beat the harder Round 2 versions to become the champion due to how the story works out, whilst the Kalos Elite 4... don't even have a Round 2.
Because on move-set fronts, they both roughly match each-other, every mon has good movesets using Stab moves and coverage moves, with the odd status attack thrown in there.
https://www.serebii.net/xy/elitefour.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/elitefour.shtml
The only differences are a Sitrus Berry for the "Ace" pokemon each Elite 4 has in Black and White, The Sole Mega Pokemon used by Diantha in X/Y and Black and White Elite 4 also have 2 Full Restores on stand-by (I'm taking Serebii's word here because I can't remember if X/Y elite 4 used Full Restores or not).
It's also worth mentioning that with Unova's Elite 4, you had to beat the harder Round 2 versions to become the champion due to how the story works out, whilst the Kalos Elite 4... don't even have a Round 2.
Wasn't there that one patch of grass at the top of a waterfall somewhere in the southwest that had stronger Pokemon than Victory Road?
I'll always think that the platinum E4 were particularly good, though USUM give a good showing. Bizarrely remember as a kid have massive difficulty with the gen 3 E4; Sidney's cacturne always punched a hole in my swampert dependent team, and the less said about Steven's cradily the better.
Hoenn's Elite Four is probably the worst Elite Four in the series---
Now I don't mean in terms of difficulty, but like from a design standpoint they kind of suck. First of all, everyone but Sydney uses multiple of the same Pokemon in R/S, and Emerald only fixes this issue with Drake. ORAS goes back and actually makes it worse in terms of repeated Pokemon, though thankfully there's the post-game rematch.
But the biggest issue is...who the FUCK are they? I don't recall any NPCs in RS/Emerald, or ORAS talking about the Elite Four---I think the only bit of lore is that Phoebe is the granddaughter of the folks at Mt. Pyre.
Otherwise? Sidney---he has a rad design in ORAS, but has like no character other than vaguely being a "punk". Glacia? Doesn't even appear outside the Elite Four, and likes ramen. Hopefully one day we see what Region she hails from (pun!) originally since she came to Hoenn, but who knows? Drake? Cool pirate dude that's friends with Briney...
It's so disappointing that ORAS didn't do more with them especially considering all the little bits of lore they added with Professor Cosmos, Wattson, and all the extra stuff they did to make Team Aqua and Team Magma interesting. The Elite Four got the short-end of the stick.
This doesn't include Steven and Wallace though, they're both fairly cool characters.
Now I don't mean in terms of difficulty, but like from a design standpoint they kind of suck. First of all, everyone but Sydney uses multiple of the same Pokemon in R/S, and Emerald only fixes this issue with Drake. ORAS goes back and actually makes it worse in terms of repeated Pokemon, though thankfully there's the post-game rematch.
But the biggest issue is...who the FUCK are they? I don't recall any NPCs in RS/Emerald, or ORAS talking about the Elite Four---I think the only bit of lore is that Phoebe is the granddaughter of the folks at Mt. Pyre.
Otherwise? Sidney---he has a rad design in ORAS, but has like no character other than vaguely being a "punk". Glacia? Doesn't even appear outside the Elite Four, and likes ramen. Hopefully one day we see what Region she hails from (pun!) originally since she came to Hoenn, but who knows? Drake? Cool pirate dude that's friends with Briney...
It's so disappointing that ORAS didn't do more with them especially considering all the little bits of lore they added with Professor Cosmos, Wattson, and all the extra stuff they did to make Team Aqua and Team Magma interesting. The Elite Four got the short-end of the stick.
This doesn't include Steven and Wallace though, they're both fairly cool characters.
ORAS gets a lot of flack but it did wonders for some characters and sub plots.
Ever grande city made me laigh a lot back in the day. It's just a Pokémon center and the league. Lmao how is this a city
Steven is such a boss in ORAS, likely my favorite rendition of a champion character in the mains story. What a nice guy.
This and the Mr. Bonding quest in that game, Gamefreak was on something when making that game.
Speaking of quests I hope the sidequests and events from SM and USUM return. They had a lot of really great ones and ones that built on characters. The eevee quest, the nanu starter thing, a lot of character building for all the captains and Aether/Skull leaders after their role in the main story was done, its a feature I really hope they keep around.
It's over a year later so I guess I should get around to completing UM before Sword and Shield...
I got to Vast Poni Canyon and got my last team member, Mienfoo. I also got a Master Ball from...I forgot where. It's been forever since I played the original SM, much less remember all the stuff USUM added, so where should I use it?
I'm tempted to atleast to try and complete the Alola Dex.
I got to Vast Poni Canyon and got my last team member, Mienfoo. I also got a Master Ball from...I forgot where. It's been forever since I played the original SM, much less remember all the stuff USUM added, so where should I use it?
I'm tempted to atleast to try and complete the Alola Dex.
I'd be shocked if Glacia was from anywhere but Sinnoh.
My favorite E4 despite the large ass level jump is probably Johto's if only for being in the unique position of having a mix of new blood (Will/Karen), a bit of the old guard (Bruno) and a previous Gym Leader/NPC getting promoted (Koga). The HGSS E4 Rematch teams are pretty fantastic, too. (Karen's in particular is a pretty fuckin' huge improvement)
It'd be neat seeing a previous NPC pop up in a future E4 one of these days like Caitlin did in Unova. That was pretty cool.
My favorite E4 despite the large ass level jump is probably Johto's if only for being in the unique position of having a mix of new blood (Will/Karen), a bit of the old guard (Bruno) and a previous Gym Leader/NPC getting promoted (Koga). The HGSS E4 Rematch teams are pretty fantastic, too. (Karen's in particular is a pretty fuckin' huge improvement)
It'd be neat seeing a previous NPC pop up in a future E4 one of these days like Caitlin did in Unova. That was pretty cool.
I actually hope they continue the gen 7 thread of you having already interacted with a majority of the elite four actively and gotten to know their characters before you reach them. Its much more satisfying fighting someone you have spent a lot of time with than a bunch of literal whos you've never met before.
Though I kinda like the idea of these untouchable characters surrounded by some mystery, because hey, they're an Elite after all.
But I wouldn't mind that in the post-game, after we got to meet them already, they appear to reveal a little bit more of their personality, background, etc.
I get what you mean, but I feel like its more satisfying for me personally if you've built up a history with that character and have been anticipating fighting them at full strength. Its a lot more build up and the more fleshed out characters there are the better imo.
You know I realize the anime usually skimps on the Elite Four...it took till Gen III for the entire Kanto Elite Four to appear, though Sinnoh had them all appear in the season.
The others? Will and Karen never appeared. Hoenn has only had Drake and Steven in Advanced, though Wallace popped up in DP---by the time Ash reached Sootopolis Emerald was out so Juan replaced him. Unova only had Alder if I recall. XY had Diantha in the actual show, but Siebold and Malva only in Mega Evolution specials iirc while Wikstrom cameo in the Diancie film.
Sun and Moon already had both sets of Elite Four appear in the show though which isn't a surprise since they're reoccurring characters in the games as well. Actually apart from the Ultra Recon Squad, I believe every new unique model character from SMUSUM has appeared in the show except Dexio and Sinnia who weren't in the XY anime. Oh, and technically Grimsley as he didn't appear during BW.
The others? Will and Karen never appeared. Hoenn has only had Drake and Steven in Advanced, though Wallace popped up in DP---by the time Ash reached Sootopolis Emerald was out so Juan replaced him. Unova only had Alder if I recall. XY had Diantha in the actual show, but Siebold and Malva only in Mega Evolution specials iirc while Wikstrom cameo in the Diancie film.
Sun and Moon already had both sets of Elite Four appear in the show though which isn't a surprise since they're reoccurring characters in the games as well. Actually apart from the Ultra Recon Squad, I believe every new unique model character from SMUSUM has appeared in the show except Dexio and Sinnia who weren't in the XY anime. Oh, and technically Grimsley as he didn't appear during BW.
Unova had Caitlin appear for a battle with Cynthia at some point and the DP E4 got around 2 focus episodes each I think, with Cynthia featuring pretty prominently, don't remember anything else that you didn't mention.
WTF is that? Is it really a Snorlax?
You're gonna like my mosquito.
I like the quietness from GF and TPC. I'd like them to show some info off during E3 but generally keep things like Pokemon hidden leading up to launch. Keep some mystery in the adventure. I want a Regi-type experience with some post-game mons.
They are going to reveal pretty much every single important Pokémon before reveal.
Zygarde is a very unusual case because Z got cancelled. Those forms (and Ash Greninja) were clearly not planned for Gen 7 originally.
I suspect Magearna wasn't originally planned for Gen VII either and Z would've been the first game to introduce a new Pokemon mid-generation. It just fits Kalos way better than Alola.
What's interesting about that is that (presumably) Sayuri Ichiishi did key art for the Elite 4 way back in the 90s but only one of them got used (Bruno, and Lorelei was slightly altered, mostly her hair):
Source
No idea why the anime shied away from the E4 so much, it would have made so much more sense for them to show up at the Leagues as powerful trainers rather than some random people who were never seen before or since.
Magearna's an odd one. Its aesthetic and royalty backstory certainly fit Kalos more and its signature move being called Fleur Cannon makes the comparisons to Floette/the ancient weapon feel a bit too on the nose. There's the unused Poke Ball coloured form.
On the other hand, it is explained that some sort of royalty used to exist in Alola and I'm struggling to think of and having two new mythicals for one movie seems out of the ordinary. They also kind of used the princess theme already that generation with Diancie.
On the other hand, it is explained that some sort of royalty used to exist in Alola and I'm struggling to think of and having two new mythicals for one movie seems out of the ordinary. They also kind of used the princess theme already that generation with Diancie.
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Yeah, Acerola is the last living member of the royal family. Still, Magearna is far more fitting to Kalos. Go figure.
This is purely speculation, but there's a few empty model ID slots in Gen 6/7 (the list that was the origin of the infamous "Meltan is #891" debate) and one of them is between Zygarde and the mythicals. It could be that Magearna was planned for Gen 6 at some point but there's no way of knowing for sure what #771 was (if it was anything at all).
They also seemed so ill defined until like a quarter of the way through the DP season, too. Like we had these E4 & a Champion but they seemed entirely unrelated to the actual goal of the anime (the big tournament) but the ywaited forever to show that "oh yeah you go to the Champion's league next".
Then after that they went right back to barely showing them if ever. Caitlyn was the only E4 member in Unova to show up. Malva had story prominence but Siebold was shuffled off to an alain mini episode; WIkstorm made a movie cameo and Drasna never showed up.
SM is the first one to show off all the E4 members in a long time and this was probably less due to actively doing so and more because how the E4 members were selected in the game.
It's kinda weird that we have never seen a Normal Type Eltie Four Member - i guess the reason why is because Normal Pokemon are easier to take down i guess which is why there hasn't been one.
Magearna was definitely gonna be Zeraora one gen earlier, a mythical added in the last games. It like Zygarde are drawn in the Gen 6 style which is immediately noticed compared to the flatter more vibrant Gen 7 style.
Well if Z had happened, then Gen VI's lifetime would've been expanded and there probably would've been another Kalos movie too. So there wouldn't have to be any sharing.
I find it funny how big the gap between the champions/E4 and the trainers in the pokemon league is in the anime. Like Paul was a championship contender but she swept him with her Garchomp pretty easily. The anime makes it seem like, for the most part, the Champion basically only ever has to even worry about the E4 to make them actually try., at least in the DP anime, where the E4/champion were most prominent.
They could take advantage of dual type Pokémon, and have a varied team, ie: Sawsbuck, Pyroar, Bewear, Heliolisk, Pidgeot, Lopunny.
There are many options: Drampa, Oranguru, Diggersby, Girafarig, Wigglytuff, and all the Normal/Flying birds.
The Zygarde Cell quest in SM will always be up there as the one most forced subplots in a Pokemon game.
They try and make it seem like Zygarde is foreseeing the UB outbreak, but absolutely nothing comes of it and it ignores the backstory set up in XY that it's there to as a neutralizing force to Xerneas and Yveltal's power in Kalos.
Honestly, the way the anime shows it makes more sense. I feel like Power Construct originally wasn't a thing and there were supposed to be only two cores with one having a blue nucleus, which is reflected in Zygarde Complete's design.
Form changing was possibly handled entirely by the Zygarde Cube or something else.
They try and make it seem like Zygarde is foreseeing the UB outbreak, but absolutely nothing comes of it and it ignores the backstory set up in XY that it's there to as a neutralizing force to Xerneas and Yveltal's power in Kalos.
Honestly, the way the anime shows it makes more sense. I feel like Power Construct originally wasn't a thing and there were supposed to be only two cores with one having a blue nucleus, which is reflected in Zygarde Complete's design.
Form changing was possibly handled entirely by the Zygarde Cube or something else.
I noticed this as well, but we had seen no other Gen 7 artwork at that point. I'm pretty sure that Sugimori drew the official art for most Alola forms as well.
Yeah, I remember all this because the marathon was last month lol. Flint took her down to her last pokemon, but ended up losing to her Garchomp, but generally champions/E4 in the anime are basically undefeated and on another tier than everyone else.
Sorry for being off topic but wait what
Klinklang's line is the only pokémon evolution line with a single steel typing, excluding megas, mythicals and legendaries
That's like, really interesting. I never thought about this before. wow
Klinklang's line is the only pokémon evolution line with a single steel typing, excluding megas, mythicals and legendaries
That's like, really interesting. I never thought about this before. wow
I think, if I'm not mistaken, that most of Gen V's evolutionary lines were created with the specific instruction to fill certain types / combination of types.