Adam Levine
[color=#ffffff][font="Century Gothic"]I have tried
- 5,200
- Posts
- 13
- Years
- Age 22
- he/they
- Kara's Flowers
- Seen Aug 28, 2024
I've had this thought many times when a Pokémon's in-game viability is brought up, and especially in competitive circles, "weak" Pokémon are usually bemoaned, with many people begging for "buffs" so that they might be "worth using," and a similar reaction occurs to the opposite extreme, with people disliking Pokémon that are "overpowered." But while I understand the sentiment, I can't help but ask: does a Pokémon need to be "balanced" for gameplay first and foremost, or should its gameplay capabilities reflect its personality and flavor?
I think a good place to start is with Delcatty. Delcatty is considered one of the worst fully evolved Pokémon of all time, with a base stat total even lower than Spidops's, a rather unimpressive movepool, and a less than stellar choice in abilities. Delcatty clearly has no place in a serious playthrough, let alone a nuzlocke or competitive play, so justifiably people want Delcatty to get more than just the 20-point Speed boost it got in Generation VI.
But I mean...look at it. Skitty and Delcatty are clearly designer breeds, so they're meant to be better pets than fighters.
A valid argument is that Skitty and Delcatty shouldn't exist in the first place because they're just dex-fillers at that point, but I think that weak Pokémon are essential to fill out a Pokédex, because such a high saturation of strong Pokémon leaves a region feeling homogenous. Besides, having a Delcatty on your team can add an interesting challenge to your party.
Tl;dr Delcatty's design is more in line with its "flavor," but not "balance" (i.e. gameplay balance).
But what do you think? Should Pokémon like Skitty and Delcatty stay weak for flavor reasons, or should they be buffed to appeal to more competitive players?
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's Onix. It's a giant rock snake that's almost nine meters in length, but has an Attack stat lower than Oddish's, and an HP stat that's even lower. Even though Steelix was introduced the next generation, you have to wonder why Onix has such bizarre stats for how it looks.
People often suggest that Onix was designed to be a "first boss" of sorts, hence its massive Defense and decent Speed but a lackluster everything else. In fact, this comment on Big Yellow's video on Ground-types in RBY got me thinking about it further:
Should Onix have been given this treatment? Or should it have been given stats that actually fit its physical appearance and capabilities?
I've had similar thoughts about people wanting to buff Meganium. I saw a YouTube short of someone explaining how they would change Pokémon's types, and the instant they suggested making Meganium a Fairy-type I clicked off. The thing about the Johto starters is that they were intended to be monotype even in their final form, so giving one of them two types makes them stick out like a sore thumb (looking at you, Emboar). Even though Meganium is awful in competitive play, it doesn't warrant a new type in my book.
Besides, there are probably more clever ways to balance Pokémon than slapping a new type on them while still keeping them in line with their aesthetics and personality. I remember reading a suggestion that Meganium's Hidden Ability should be Flower Veil, an ability that makes the user (if it's a Grass-type) and its Grass-type allies immune to stat drops and status conditions. Currently, literally no Grass-type has Flower Veil, so Meganium having it would give it a unique defensive niche, even if small.
Tl;dr Meganium's design is in line with its "flavor," but it might be possible to design it in line with "balance" as well.
And finally, I'd like to talk about a more personal gripe with Koraidon and Miraidon. They might be my favorite box legendaries in terms of character and implementation in story, but I really dislike the fact that they have some of the most overpowered signature abilities we've seen so far. Sure, they're powerful, but should that warrant Koraidon having Zacian's and Groudon's abilities at once, while still somehow not being the more broken dragon? To me, it just doesn't feel like their gameplay abilities and their in-universe lore don't match up.
Tl;dr Koraidon and Miraidon's design is more in line with its "balance," but not "flavor," but unlike Onix, which is unjustly awful, Koraidon and Miraidon are, at least in my opinion, too strong if you keep flavor in mind.
Let me know what you think, though. Do Pokémon like Delcatty and Meganium deserve to be good in battle? Do Pokémon like Onix deserve to have stats that "make sense?" Should Pokémon like Koraidon and Miraidon be more "balanced" to make them fit their lore better, or do they deserve to be so absurdly powerful?
I think a good place to start is with Delcatty. Delcatty is considered one of the worst fully evolved Pokémon of all time, with a base stat total even lower than Spidops's, a rather unimpressive movepool, and a less than stellar choice in abilities. Delcatty clearly has no place in a serious playthrough, let alone a nuzlocke or competitive play, so justifiably people want Delcatty to get more than just the 20-point Speed boost it got in Generation VI.
But I mean...look at it. Skitty and Delcatty are clearly designer breeds, so they're meant to be better pets than fighters.
A valid argument is that Skitty and Delcatty shouldn't exist in the first place because they're just dex-fillers at that point, but I think that weak Pokémon are essential to fill out a Pokédex, because such a high saturation of strong Pokémon leaves a region feeling homogenous. Besides, having a Delcatty on your team can add an interesting challenge to your party.
Tl;dr Delcatty's design is more in line with its "flavor," but not "balance" (i.e. gameplay balance).
But what do you think? Should Pokémon like Skitty and Delcatty stay weak for flavor reasons, or should they be buffed to appeal to more competitive players?
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there's Onix. It's a giant rock snake that's almost nine meters in length, but has an Attack stat lower than Oddish's, and an HP stat that's even lower. Even though Steelix was introduced the next generation, you have to wonder why Onix has such bizarre stats for how it looks.
People often suggest that Onix was designed to be a "first boss" of sorts, hence its massive Defense and decent Speed but a lackluster everything else. In fact, this comment on Big Yellow's video on Ground-types in RBY got me thinking about it further:
Tl;dr Onix's design is more in line with its "balance," but not "flavor."The funny thing about Onix having a high defense and low HP is that it's basically optimized to make Bide as weak as possible. Wonder if they did that on purpose to keep Brock from being any harder.
Should Onix have been given this treatment? Or should it have been given stats that actually fit its physical appearance and capabilities?
I've had similar thoughts about people wanting to buff Meganium. I saw a YouTube short of someone explaining how they would change Pokémon's types, and the instant they suggested making Meganium a Fairy-type I clicked off. The thing about the Johto starters is that they were intended to be monotype even in their final form, so giving one of them two types makes them stick out like a sore thumb (looking at you, Emboar). Even though Meganium is awful in competitive play, it doesn't warrant a new type in my book.
Besides, there are probably more clever ways to balance Pokémon than slapping a new type on them while still keeping them in line with their aesthetics and personality. I remember reading a suggestion that Meganium's Hidden Ability should be Flower Veil, an ability that makes the user (if it's a Grass-type) and its Grass-type allies immune to stat drops and status conditions. Currently, literally no Grass-type has Flower Veil, so Meganium having it would give it a unique defensive niche, even if small.
Tl;dr Meganium's design is in line with its "flavor," but it might be possible to design it in line with "balance" as well.
And finally, I'd like to talk about a more personal gripe with Koraidon and Miraidon. They might be my favorite box legendaries in terms of character and implementation in story, but I really dislike the fact that they have some of the most overpowered signature abilities we've seen so far. Sure, they're powerful, but should that warrant Koraidon having Zacian's and Groudon's abilities at once, while still somehow not being the more broken dragon? To me, it just doesn't feel like their gameplay abilities and their in-universe lore don't match up.
Tl;dr Koraidon and Miraidon's design is more in line with its "balance," but not "flavor," but unlike Onix, which is unjustly awful, Koraidon and Miraidon are, at least in my opinion, too strong if you keep flavor in mind.
Let me know what you think, though. Do Pokémon like Delcatty and Meganium deserve to be good in battle? Do Pokémon like Onix deserve to have stats that "make sense?" Should Pokémon like Koraidon and Miraidon be more "balanced" to make them fit their lore better, or do they deserve to be so absurdly powerful?
Last edited: