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Pokémon Community Thread 4: "Your Portal to What's Hip and Happening in Sinnoh!"

Mr-Joker

Banned
In regards to the series being linear, it has always been linear since from gen 1 but games from gen 1-4 did at least have section where the players could branch off and explore, with Sinnoh sending the player back and forth over Sinnoh hence why they get the HM fly and the ability to use around the 3rd gym badge, 4th in Platinum.

Gen 5 while was a circle it also did have branching path where the players could explore, with some requiring HM.

It was gen 6 and gen 7 where the exploration aspect started to wain as Game Freak made the region even more linear, especially with Alola as they prevented players from exploring which I found confusing as the Rotom Dex would allow younger players to figure out the correct path.

Furthermore I have been playing Pokémon Diamond and I can see how young kids got confused in where they had to go as the game doesn't make it clear what the player is suppose to do.

For example after the player has defeated Crasher Wake in Pastoria City the player is suppose to talk to the Galactic grunt and chase him down but the game makes no mention of it and assume that the player will talk to him, this was fixed in Platinum.

The other confusion is in Canalave City where Professor Rowan tells the player to go to Lake Valor but he mention the other lakes name as well and I can see kids getting confused to where they should go, especially after they have visited Lake Valor and were suppose to go to Lake Verity.

I mean, it's true that the game lets you face the Olivine and Fuschia gyms in the order you like, but you're still actively driven to one of the options by the game, the game has an intended order, just because they didn't enforce it, I wouldn't call it non-linear.

Agreed as contrary to popular believe Kanto is not a non-linear region as the player has to fight the first two gym in order to progress and the Giovanni will always be the last gym leader.

It's the middle part that could be called non-linear but even then the players still have to follow a set path in order to progress like for example in order to challenge the Saffron gym the player has to;

- Defeat the first two gym leaders,
- Defeat your Rival to visit Bill,
- Visit Bill to get the ticket to the SS. Anne,
- Fight the Rocket grunt to gain access to Vermilion City,
- Board SS. Anne to get HM Cut (This can be avoided if one trades over a Pokémon with Cut.)
- Get the HM Flash which requires the player to catch at least 10 Pokémon (again this can be avoided if the players trades over a Pokémon with Flash.)
-Trek through Rock Tunnel,
-Head to Celadon City,
-Infiltrate team Rocket hideout and fight Giovanni,
-Obtain a drink for the guard to get access to Saffron city,
-Head back to Lavender Town and climb to the top floor of the Pokémon Tower and obtain the Pokéflute,
-Head back to Saffron city and drive Team Rocket out of Silph Co and Saffron city and the gym will finally be unlocked.

None of that exactly scream non-linear as that the requirement to challenge Fuchsia Gym, Cinnabar Gym and Viridian Gym as the player cannot skip any of those part and they can't challenge Viridian Gym till they have 7 badges.

Furthermore the gym leaders being non-linear causes some level imbalance as Sabrina is the 6th gym leaders thus her Pokémon are at a much higher level than the player would be.

Heck I had trouble taking down my rival in Silph Co because I went out of order and it was only when I released that I was suppose to go to Fuchsia City first and then travel back round to Saffron.

It's also why in Johto the level curve gets bad after the players has obtain the fourth gym badge as the level is capped until the players has defeated the next three gym and when they head to Kanto the gym leaders level aren't that much different as the player has the freedom to take them down in any order.

Taking on the gym in a non-linear fashion is just a terrible idea if the game doesn't adjust accordingly to how many badges the players has obtain as if they face a gym leader that is too strong they they will struggle and if have to face the same level Pokémon then their team won't grow as they will be getting very little experience.

Well Just beat Lance in Heartgold!!!
Team was:
Feraligator Level 50
Hydro Cannon
Waterfall
Crunch
Avalanche

Ambipom Level 48
Thunder
Double Hit
Shadow Claw
Nasty Plot

Arcanine Level 47
Flamethrower
Bite
Fire Blast
Extreme speed

Crobat Level 47
Shadow Ball
Fly
Wing Attack
Mean Look

Heracross Level 47
Brick Break
Close Combat
Earthquake
Strength

Dragonair Level 43
Surf
Dragon Rush
Dragon Pulse
Extreme Speed

Cool team.

So this is interesting. Is Ash's Rockruff potentially evolving into a third form? Apparently Rockruff is going to evolve "soon" and this is part of the preview for the next episode.

https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/893057358552854528

Both Lycanroc forms have been shown pretty recently in the anime so it. Ohmori is supposed to be on that Poke-whatever it's called now this week and new movie merchandise will be out within the next few days as well. Not to mention that Lycanroc placeholder on the Global Link.

Though it could be nothing and they're just trolling everyone.

It's just a tease to get kids on edge as they get excited to see what form Ash's Rockruff will take.

There's no way he isn't getting Day form.

So that's half of the Kahuna battles and a majority of the trials dealt with, just over half a year into the anime.

Interesting.

Hmmm, either they will slam the brakes and head into filler territory or finish up the trials and have fight gym leaders because they will be in Ultra Sun and Moon. My bet is on the first part.

Also interesting to note that Ash still has two spot free so I wonder what Pokémon he will catch?
 
Maybe Ash clears the 4 Grand trails and at the end of it all the league is created and he has to earn 8 gym badges like previous gens. That explains his dominance over the Kahunas. So gym leaders > Kahunas and gyms in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon CONFIRMED!!!!!


jk
 
Hmm. Let's say we do get a new Lycanroc. Are we just expecting US/UM to not be fully compatible with S/M a la OR/AS?


Wouldn't Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon be to Sun and Moon what ORAS was to XY?

Later versions having new Megas/Alolan forms and move tutors but could still battle with players who has the earlier version. You wouldn't be able to trade the new forms to the older version though just like you couldn't trade the new Mega stones to XY.
 

brinstar

Member
Wouldn't Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon be to Sun and Moon what ORAS was to XY?

Later versions having new Megas/Alolan forms and move tutors but could still battle with players who has the earlier version. You wouldn't be able to trade the new forms to the older version though just like you couldn't trade the new Mega stones to XY.

Yeah but in OR/AS it was easy to implement since Megas require an item and are temporary. I'm wondering how entirely new Pokemon forms would be handled. Then again I never tried playing OR/AS with X/Y players so I'm not sure how fussy it was or wasn't.

Either way I'm all for them adding as much as possible to inter-generational games. I don't give a shit about the compability I'm just curious how it will be handled if they're entirely new Pokemon forms.
 
Yeah but in OR/AS it was easy to implement since Megas require an item and are temporary. I'm wondering how entirely new Pokemon forms would be handled. Then again I never tried playing OR/AS with X/Y players so I'm not sure how fussy it was or wasn't.

Either way I'm all for them adding as much as possible to inter-generational games. I don't give a shit about the compability I'm just curious how it will be handled if they're entirely new Pokemon forms.


Depends on your point of view I guess. I view Mega as a entirely new Pokémon even if they are temporary. It shouldn't be too big of a deal. I've battle other players from XY to XY and ORAS to ORAS and finally from ORAS to XY. Besides the notification that I had to play by the XY rules before a battle I didn't notice anything different and was always able to use any Pokémon with any move tutor moves I wanted to use.

I don't know if that answers your question.
 

brinstar

Member
Oh I basically view megas as new mons too but I guess what I mean is like... in XY you can't have a situation where in the team preview you can see icons of Pokemon that aren't in that game at all, right? I'm just wondering how that would work with S/M if they introduced entirely new forms of Pokemon.
 

Sandfox

Member
So this is interesting. Is Ash's Rockruff potentially evolving into a third form? Apparently Rockruff is going to evolve "soon" and this is part of the preview for the next episode.

https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/893057358552854528

Both Lycanroc forms have been shown pretty recently in the anime so it. Ohmori is supposed to be on that Poke-whatever it's called now this week and new movie merchandise will be out within the next few days as well. Not to mention that Lycanroc placeholder on the Global Link.

Though it could be nothing and they're just trolling everyone.

At first I thought they were going to have it be Midday form to contrast Gladion's, but this makes a lot of sense.
 
So I just watched Ash vs Olivia. I did not like parts of the battle. Lol... this is something many anime does but I hate it when I see it. It's when Rockruff floated over and kicked the Magnet bomb that then lead it to collide with the zap cannon. I don't care that Rockruff saved Rowlet, it's the animation sequence that bothers me. Another thing that bothered me is how they used Stealth Rocks which is a entry hazard the way they did. That's a minor complaint though.

I can't believe the animators jobbed out Olivia Lycanroc to Ash's Rockruff like that. They made the Midday Lycanroc look weak. So I don't think it'll evolve into a Midday Lycanroc and with Gladion Midnight Lycanroc being booked strong I don't think Ash's Rockruff would evolve into a Midnight form because it'll possibly be it's rival. Either Ash's Lycanroc evolves into a new form or it evolves into one of the forms we already have but it'll have a special ability or move.

I'm excited either way. I would love a new Lycanroc form just because of the possibilities and potential of it but Midnight form has grown alot on me recently. If we do end up getting a new form I hope it's base stats delivers.
 
I wonder what kind of stat spread a third form would have. Unless they want to make it outright superior to Midday/Midnight stat-wise , they'll have to keep its BST of 487. The main difference between Midday and Midnight is their speed and their defenses, their attack is the same. Maybe sacrificing some attack/special atk for some more speed? Though Lycanroc's main problem is its movepool.

Something interesting that SciresM pointed out is that Lycanroc's current max form ID is at 1, while the placeholder found on the global link is at 4. Someone in the replies suggested that ID 2 and 3 could be a Totem Lycanroc (that may have been seen in the trailer) for both current forms, while 4 is the new form.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
and it's out, didn't know bandai is doing it

DGXma4dXYAAAO0q.jpg
 
I wonder what kind of stat spread a third form would have. Unless they want to make it outright superior to Midday/Midnight stat-wise , they'll have to keep its BST of 487. The main difference between Midday and Midnight is their speed and their defenses, their attack is the same. Maybe sacrificing some attack/special atk for some more speed? Though Lycanroc's main problem is its movepool.

Something interesting that SciresM pointed out is that Lycanroc's current max form ID is at 1, while the placeholder found on the global link is at 4. Someone in the replies suggested that ID 2 and 3 could be a Totem Lycanroc (that may have been seen in the trailer) for both current forms, while 4 is the new form.


Keep in mind that I'm doing my research from a phone which really isn't fun and it's my own opinion.


My thoughts on Lycanroc.

The Midday Lycanroc isn't fast enough and doesn't hit hard enough. You could blame the base stat total or the spread of the base stat total it has. I keep pointing to Weavile because it's one of my favorite Pokémon. It's base speed is 125 and it's base attack is 120. Pair those stats with a expert belt and I used Weavile in competitive to wreak havoc on opposing players. The fix is easy, take 10 points off its special attack and 5 points off of its defense and special defense and add those 20 points to its speed and attack and it'll be a much better Pokémon. It'll hit hard and be able to out speed alot of the Meta.

On to Midnight

Stat spread wise this thing almost works except it's typing kills it. It's needs three things to happen to make it work. It's base speed to increase to 90, it's base attack increase to atleast 120, and Dragon Dance which I feel shouldn't be a problem for him/her to get exclusively since Midday got Accelerock exclusively. Don't get me wrong it could also use moves like Drain Punch and more hard hitting but low accuracy moves to take advantage of the no guard ability. Those can be taken care of with move tutor ofcourse.

On to the possible new form Lycanroc

I hope it has a higher base total with a better spread of its stats compared to the other two. Lycanroc feels like it's going to be this gen Greninja in the anime for Ash. I feel Midday and Midnight fell flat with the competitive player base and those two have already been feature considerably in the Anime. If Game Freak wants to cash in on Lycanroc like they did with Greninja they need to create a new stronger form or give the previous two some new ability or attack that would be exclusive to Ash Lycanroc in the anime atleast.
 
Isn't that just cosplay Pikachu from ORAS? I never did any contests in that game besides the first time you reach one but I think certain Pokemon can pull off special moves like that.

Edit: Yep https://youtu.be/1o_86zIlDRE?t=6m23s

There is US/UM footage in the rap video, but it's the Pikachu area we already saw in the trailer.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
At first I thought they were going to have it be Midday form to contrast Gladion's, but this makes a lot of sense.

I still stand by that Ash will either get Midday form or his Rockruff will pull a Bulbasaur and refuse to evolve.


I really need to get round to watching the Litten capture episode and the battle episode.

Keep in mind that I'm doing my research from a phone which really isn't fun and it's my own opinion.


My thoughts on Lycanroc.

The Midday Lycanroc isn't fast enough and doesn't hit hard enough. You could blame the base stat total or the spread of the base stat total it has. I keep pointing to Weavile because it's one of my favorite Pokémon. It's base speed is 125 and it's base attack is 120. Pair those stats with a expert belt and I used Weavile in competitive to wreak havoc on opposing players. The fix is easy, take 10 points off its special attack and 5 points off of its defense and special defense and add those 20 points to its speed and attack and it'll be a much better Pokémon. It'll hit hard and be able to out speed alot of the Meta.

On to Midnight

Stat spread wise this thing almost works except it's typing kills it. It's needs three things to happen to make it work. It's base speed to increase to 90, it's base attack increase to atleast 120, and Dragon Dance which I feel shouldn't be a problem for him/her to get exclusively since Midday got Accelerock exclusively. Don't get me wrong it could also use moves like Drain Punch and more hard hitting but low accuracy moves to take advantage of the no guard ability. Those can be taken care of with move tutor ofcourse.

On to the possible new form Lycanroc

I hope it has a higher base total with a better spread of its stats compared to the other two. Lycanroc feels like it's going to be this gen Greninja in the anime for Ash. I feel Midday and Midnight fell flat with the competitive player base and those two have already been feature considerably in the Anime. If Game Freak wants to cash in on Lycanroc like they did with Greninja they need to create a new stronger form or give the previous two some new ability or attack that would be exclusive to Ash Lycanroc in the anime atleast.

I have used Midday Lycanroc in Pokémon Sun and one of the biggest problem that I had with him is that Lycanroc move's set is so shallow, him not learning Earthquake really held him back I feel, and as a result he ended up being a kinda of there member drawing a parallel to Mightyena on my Ruby team, except Mightyena managed shine in the Elite 4 my Lycanroc had no such moments.

The other problems that I had with Lycanroc is I felt that both Lycanroc form should have been a split evolution and that night form should have been Rock/Fighting whereas Midday being pure Rock.
 
I still stand by that Ash will either get Midday form or his Rockruff will pull a Bulbasaur and refuse to evolve.



I really need to get round to watching the Litten capture episode and the battle episode.



I have used Midday Lycanroc in Pokémon Sun and one of the biggest problem that I had with him is that Lycanroc move's set is so shallow, him not learning Earthquake really held him back I feel, and as a result he ended up being a kinda of there member drawing a parallel to Mightyena on my Ruby team, except Mightyena managed shine in the Elite 4 my Lycanroc had no such moments.

The other problems that I had with Lycanroc is I felt that both Lycanroc form should have been a split evolution and that night form should have been Rock/Fighting whereas Midday being pure Rock.


I definitly believe that Ash's Rockruff will evolve. I relate Rockruff to Ash's Charizard wanting to get stronger then Ash's Bulbasuar wanting to be strong without evolving. For me atleast it'll feel weird that Ash's Rockruff would evolve into Midday or Midnight because they have been feature on the show with Rockruff and Rockruff doesn't look interested in evolving into either of them. He seemed more interested in flat out beating them which is why I'm in the group of maybe a new form evolution.

I understand about the move pool but I got lucky. I did one and only one wonder trade and I got a Rockruff with its egg moves - Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, and Sucker Punch so my experience with Midday was that it didn't hit hard enough instead a shallow move pool.

I agree on the Split evolution statement except Midnight Lycanroc should have been Rock/Dark or to a lesser extant Rock/Ghost to play into its wear wolf theme and Midday Lycanroc should have been Rock/Fighting or Rock/Ice (Artic Wolves)

I honestly feel like this is trolling and it's gonna be Day form. Hope Im wrong though.
Kinda wish we get more info on Ultra sun and ultra moon

I would laugh so hard if that's the case. Mainly at myself for believing it'll be a new form.
 
Well they've built up the whole Rockruff getting more aggressive as it nears evolution. I don't see how they would just pull a Bulbasaur and just wave that away. It's definitely evolving at least, even if it somehow doesn't happen in this episode.
 
This is a issue I've said before that I have with the game. Right now I'm breeding and hatching Rockruff eggs because I'll like a Shiny Rockruff.

The problem is that I'M BORED!!! Back in XY or in ORAS I could've been doing this while also getting battle request from randoms or I could've challenge randoms to a battle without having to break from hatching eggs except to do the actual battle.


My absolute biggest hope for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is that Game Freak improves the Festival Plaza. Make it so that I can be signed in online even when not in the Festival Plaza and have a profile saying that I'm excepting battles at all times. I miss being challenged by randoms while being on my journey.
 
I think a good way to improve the Festival Plaza is to have the communications screen be usable without having to go into the plaza itself.

Festival_Plaza_Bottom_Screen.png


The plaza will still exist obviously to get items and whatever but you wouldn't have to load up a separate area just to use basic communication features.

Also, was there any way to separate VIPs from friends in the plaza list in S/M? If not, do that as well.

US/UM is built off of the base of S/M and both were in development at the same time, so I don't expect the plaza to be completely removed until next gen.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Honestly I am so glad that Game Freak at least added an option for quick trade and battle so players didn't have to boot up the Festival Plaza as the player would need to do one mission before trading when they first boot it up.

In Pokémon Moon I didn't even bother with the Plaza.
 
I'm 240 eggs hatched into my quest for a Shiny Rockruff. I have a Shiny Charm and it's 01:39 in the morning. Holy shit I lost track of time. Yeah after this I don't see myself breeding for another shiny. The only reason I'm going to continue is because I already invested so much time into getting this Shiny Rockruff.
 

MAtgS

Member
So that's half of the Kahuna battles and a majority of the trials dealt with, just over half a year into the anime.

Interesting.
The faster they burn through gen 7 the more likely it'll end before Serena's obligatory guest spot.

Hurry Anime, before she catches up!
 

GoldStarz

Member
The faster they burn through gen 7 the more likely it'll end before Serena's obligatory guest spot.

Hurry Anime, before she catches up!

I mean, they didn't do a Gen V guest spot, so it's clearly not an obligation

also they could just bring back clemont and/or bonnie

what im saying is that they should bring back bonnie.
 
This brings up a good point: are scans of the covers not allowed here? If not:

It's an orange-colored Lycanroc with fur...points on its cheeks and it's too obscured by a beyblade and a pink デ to really be seen. I think I see some sort of sharp rocky thing either sticking out of its head (if bipedal) or on its body (if quadrupedal). If it's quadrupedal, you might be able to see a large white tail as well.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
it has
green eyes
too

makes me wonder if we're gonna see a "reversed" lycanroc, where sun is upright and moon is quadrupedal
 
The scan is too blurry to make a thread about it yet anyway.

Though someone probably will eventually lol.

Is corocoro out early this month?
 

brinstar

Member
now that I'm thinking about it... I wonder if Gen 2 Alolan Pokemon are coming. It would go along with G/S being rerelased on VC just like how R/B/Y was rereleased before S/M...
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
I think we might get Gen 2 variants in Gen 8---I had some ideas for some in a desert-style Region.

I imagine we'll probably get another "extreme" environment now that we have a tropical one, like one very hot or one very cool.
 

GoldStarz

Member
And the new Lycanroc form is official.

i think this lends credence to the idea of new alola forms even if lycanroc is a gen vii pokemon
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
So Lycanroc has a new form and yeah Ash's little Rockruff will totally evolve into this form, would also explain why the writers took forever to get Ash off Mele Mele Island.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
In case there was any doubt Ash's Rockruff evolves into the Dusk Form.

I will admit that I didn't see that coming as I always thought that he would get Midday form, though Dusk form has the body of Midday so I was kinda right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe Oricorio will get new forms if there are different islands.

That's what I am wondering as well will Lycanroc be the only Alola Pokémon to get new forms or will other Pokémon get one as well?
 
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