HM's as abilites as oppose to moves?

[Baker's Bulbasaur]

I have only just got back into playing the pokemon games, currently sat down with my platinum game in front of me.
And it was made me remember how frustrating HM's can be when you have to use HM slaves to get through parts of the game, especially when you have a full team and then need to go back to a pokemon centre to get one.

I have had a though that I think would make pokemon games even more interesting, and less annoying.

I think that HM's should be assigned to pokemon as extra abilities as oppose to taking up a valuable move slot when 9/10 the move isn't good.

For example

Fire pokemon such as Charmander or Typhlosion, or certain electric pokemon would have the ability of Flash,

Flying pokemon would obviously have Fly, but only birds pokemon that are big enough (In their final stage of evolution) such as Pidgeot, Salemence, Charizard

(I have always questioned the idea of my Lv 5 Taillow flying me across the country.)

Cut would go to pokemon that actually have sharp claws/teeth/weapons, Scyther, Meowth, Farfetched, Bulbasaur (Razor Leaf)

And so on and so fourth, I'm sure you can sue your imaginations to decide what HM ability would go to what pokemon, or even if they would have multiple ones.

These abilities would obviously also be dependant on pokemon LV, or perhaps an in game event that would take place after defeating a gym or something

I have also always thought that Vine whip would be good as a HM ability for certain aspects of the game.

Just wanted to see what people thought of this?

 

[PlatinumDude]

You can't manually activate abilities outside of battle, so I don't think that HMs should be abilities. Also, making HMs into abilities may give the Pokemon more than 2 abilities (if it has 2), not counting Dream World abilities.

 

[Baker's Bulbasaur]

You can't manually activate abilities outside of battle, so I don't think that HMs should be abilities. Also, making HMs into abilities may give the Pokemon more than 2 abilities (if it has 2), not counting Dream World abilities.

No but the point of the idea, is that The HM moves wouldn't be an ability as in abilities like Blaze or Intimidate.

Those abilties would stay the same as 'Battle Abilities'.

Pokemon would have 1 or 2 'Outside of battle' abilities
aswell as the 'Battle Abilities' which would be the moves like
Strength, Cut, Rock Climb

 

[WaterSplash]

But that could pose a similar problem as the one you are trying to undo; what if you didn't have a Pokémon with that particular "Outside of Battle" Ability? Plus you're saying to limit those so that less Pokémon have that ability? Think about it, and you'll have to agree that HMs (for now) just make more sense.

BTW, a better way to do this would be to just make the HM moves into items. That way you wouldn't need any certain Pokémon. :)

 

[aruchan]

But that could pose a similar problem as the one you are trying to undo; what if you didn't have a Pokémon with that particular "Outside of Battle" Ability? Plus you're saying to limit those so that less Pokémon have that ability? Think about it, and you'll have to agree that HMs (for now) just make more sense.

BTW, a better way to do this would be to just make the HM moves into items. That way you wouldn't need any certain Pokémon. :)

I agree, since making HMs into abilities would be less than efficient. It would make it so your whole team has to be filled with certain Pokemon, even if those Pokemon turn out to be better than current HM slaves like Bibarel.

 

[Vindra]

BTW, a better way to do this would be to just make the HM moves into items. That way you wouldn't need any certain Pokémon. :)

I was thinking that it would be nicer to have HMs be abilities that you, the trainer, learn as you progress through the game, but I like the idea of having items for them even better.

At the very least, they could make the HMs better for use in battle so that it doesn't feel like you're wasting an ability slot.

 

[ISA56 2.0]

In theory, items or abilities that the trainer learns would work, but then again, not really. I guess the items would kinda go like this:

Surfboard-Replaces HM Surf
Hedge Clippers-Replaces HM Cut
Jet Pack?-Replaces HM Fly
Sledgehammer-Replaces HM/TM Rock Smash
Flashlight-Replaces TM Flash
Boxing Gloves?-Replaces HM Strength
Mountain Climbing Gear-Replaces HM Rock Climb
Giant Fan?-Replaces HM Defog
Scuba Diving Gear-Replaces HM Dive

Darn, can't think of any others.

 

[Sydian]

I think we should just abolish HMs all together, especially stupid ones like Rock Climb and DEFOG OMG. But that's just me. Abilities sound nicer. But sometimes we don't have the time to evolve a little bird into its final form, or we're doing an NFE run so having it as an ability for fully evolved Pokemon isn't fair.

 

[GlitchCity]

I wouldnt mind. If you can use sweet scent and dig out of battle, you can use Razor Leaf or Slash out of battle to cut down those pesky trees.

 

[Shining Raichu]

My idea would be to, finally, after five generations, up the amount of moves one pokemon is allowed to have. I've always found the idea of someone forgetting how to scratch in order to learn to throw an ember unbelievable.

 

[Logiedan]

I've always thought of something similar to Pokémon Ranger added into the original games where the Pokémon have the ability to do a certain action such as slicing a tree, putting out fires, etc. HM Moves could be removed and in exchange they change the HM moves to abilities like Pokémon Ranger had.

 

[The Corrupt Plague]

I would much rather have them as items and as some other creative workarounds such as having a speedboat for the water moves such as Surf, Whirlpool and Waterfall. A flashlight could also be used for Flash, and maybe they can have some sort of transit system in place such as a ferry or airline that could go to any town and replace fly. An axe could also work as cut and power gloves could be used for Strength and RockSmash. Maybe the boat could also have some sort of submarine mode for Dive? There could also be some special goggles to handle Defog and they can use generic rock climbing equipment for Rock Climb.

 

[aspie3000]

I agree with the guy who posted this it seems stupid realisticly for a pokemon to need and HM to fly or swim.

 

[Timbjerr]

Honestly, the only HM moves that are worthless are Flash and Defog. Cut's good in the hands of a technician pokemon and everything else has at least 75 base power. :/

I really don't see the point of changing the system at all.

 

[Shining Raichu]

I really don't see the point of changing the system at all.

It's mainly a problem with Water Pokemon, who have the opportunity to learn awesome moves but can't because they are bogged down with up to three HMs. Sure, the HMs themselves aren't terrible as attacks, but when you're about to go up against a Dragon trainer and you don't have any room for an Ice attack, it becomes a problem. Besides that, a water Pokemon should know how to swim you across the water without having to be taught to do it.

I just think that Pokemon are meant to be these all powerful creatures, and the idea of HMs just means they often can't reach their potential.

 

[jcsimpson]

It's mainly a problem with Water Pokemon, who have the opportunity to learn awesome moves but can't because they are bogged down with up to three HMs.

My Seaking has Waterfall,Surf and Whirlpool and if I was playing Emerald Seaking's fourth move would have to be Dive fIlling up it's move list completely with HMs. I could just catch another water pokemon but then I have to lose another type and have two water pokemon on the same team.

AND WHY GIVE A POKEMON WINGS OR MAKE IT THE "FLYING" TYPE IF IT CAN'T LEARN FLY!!! :cer_pissed:

 

[Porygon Z]

Well, HMs are good moves after all, except for Cut, Rock Smash and Whirlpool.
But, it could be good to have them as "Extra Moves", only usable outside of battle, and having your four moves ready. This could be the death of HM Slaves :D