Let's talk Tera types and the Terastal phenomenon

[Orion☆]

As some of you may know, today's Pokémon Presents introduced Tera types and the Terastal phenomenon for SV. What do you think of it? How do you think it's gonna work?

I personally think the Terastallized forms look a bit ridiculous and that this is a simple rehash of Z-Moves and Dynamax combined, but eh, I've done no-gimmick runs before so I can live with it. I do wonder, however, if Tera types are just bringing to the forefront a long-abandoned mechanic - Hidden Power. Are Tera types supposed to be an improved version of that? Would HP type and Tera type overlap?

 

[PokeDude645]

I think they look really cool, I like the idea of changing types. They also look amazing in their diamond like state. I'm not sure about that HP type, but that would be cool, mabye they should have a move the Tera Beam(special), and Tera Slash(physical) that change depending on your tera type and only work when in Tera Form. Idk but I really love them they look so epic!

 

[Sheep]

Now that I look back on it I feel like I should have expected a crystalization mechanic of some sort - the hints were there! But at the same time, seeing this gimmick isn't what I expected. It's pretty but it needs more time to grow on me. Like you said, right now it does feel like a mix Hidden Power, z-moves, and dynamax to an extent.

I wonder how we'll be able to test what type our Pokémon will tera with? Guess there will be an NPC that will tell us, or we'd have to come into battle and test? Hunting for mons with rare tera types will be hard if we need to catch them and go test things out!

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Once again, it is just Mega Evolution in a different form. I really don't like all the gimmicks. Why do we have to change it every generation now. To, it is what killed Yugioh for a lot. And they are doing the same thing we pokemon.

I like the idea of crystalized pokemon, but I just think it is going to be annoying to learn 100%. They didn't really explain it in the game.

 

[Arcaneum]

Once again, it is just Mega Evolution in a different form. I really don't like all the gimmicks. Why do we have to change it every generation now. To, it is what killed Yugioh for a lot. And they are doing the same thing we pokemon.

I like the idea of crystalized pokemon, but I just think it is going to be annoying to learn 100%. They didn't really explain it in the game.

They explained it pretty clearly, only thing that was really omitted was the fact you won't be able to do it all the time.

I think this is probably, currently, one of my favourite mechanics that have been introduced. I think I like the diversity in that it isn't limited to a Type per Pokémon, it will be interesting to see how this opens up the competitive scene. In theory it has the potential to kinda crash it, because a lage chunk of meta/matchups is the Types and well if that starts being eliminated with this mechanic... interesting.

 

[TwilightBlade]

It's a bit of a rehash of mega evolutions, z power, hidden power, and dynamaxing. It amplifies same type attack bonus or gives certain Pokémon a new typing all together. I'd rather receive a fire regional variant of Drifblim than to see it wearing a hat.

Maybe this will help enhance some Pokemon. Curious to see its impact on competitive battling.

If Psyduck /Golduck can't be part psychic and Luxray line can't be part Dark through this gimmick (assuming they're in the game), I'd be mad.

 

[Hammyslayer]

can we start making fun of azurite devs now

 

[_confused_piplup_]

I have heard many people being very disappointed about the new "gimmick hat" given to the pokemon. Personally, I don't really care. I am not neutral on it, indeed I think they aren't amazing, but I don't mind them. They didn't bother me from what I have seen today. Maybe, watching new trailers and actually playing the game will make me have a clearer opinion about it. For now, I don't care.

Other than that, I like the fact that like Dynamax, every Pokémon can do it. Competitively, instead, I am very disappointed. I am not a competitive player, but, from what I understood, this gimmick is going to damage the competitive part of the game. Considering that a Pokémon might have a new type, the players will have to guess but never exactly know until the opponent will use the gimmick. This pretty much reminds me of the " ally switch" discussion. It's used as an "unexpected" thing that makes the opponent win, except that this time the "unexpected" isn't just a move but a lot of type and Pokémon combinations. I don't wanna start a discussion about this, but I think something is definitely off with this gimmick. But, I also think it's too early to judge, but yeah I am a bit worried, because it's a damage to the concept of "competitive game" itself.

 

[ReKoil]

Visually it looks kinda ridiculous to me.
I've never really cared about any of the gimmicks though, I don't see this one as being the one that will hook me.

 

[Corveone]

Another one-gen gimmick. It doesn't look interesting to me, and I don't care much about learning it for just one game.

I hope it's something that can be easily ignored in-game because I doubt it will enrich the gameplay experience much, considering that Megas and Dynamax in my opinion made things worse for the most part.

Maybe it will be super important for the competitive, but I'm not into that. The (official) competitive will allways be ruined anyway since it's all about finding out what are the most broken things and using them. Every new gen/gimmick, and for one Pokémon that stops being broken some other will likely take its place.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

No real solid opinion, just another one time gimmick to add to the pile. Looks pretty at least lol

 

[Iceshadow3317]

They explained it pretty clearly, only thing that was really omitted was the fact you won't be able to do it all the time.

I think this is probably, currently, one of my favourite mechanics that have been introduced. I think I like the diversity in that it isn't limited to a Type per Pokémon, it will be interesting to see how this opens up the competitive scene. In theory it has the potential to kinda crash it, because a lage chunk of meta/matchups is the Types and well if that starts being eliminated with this mechanic... interesting.

They explained what it is, but what does it actually do? Like examples.

Flying Pikachu, does it become Electric/Flying or does it become pure Flying?
And say if we have Garchomp with Fire, does it change Ground or Dragon? Does it become pure fire? Or does it become a Dragon/Ground/Fire?

And if it becomes just a pure type of the chosen Tera Type, then what is even the point of many pokemon using it? And does the Tera Type affect battles outside? Are we just going to have to go around and catch pokemon until we get a Tera Type we want, or do they have a set of a few Tera Types?

They don't explain that which is a significant detail that should have been explained.

 

[Jiggykoopbob]

When i saw how those Tera Raid battles operated, i was like "OMG, TIMING DURING BATTLES IN A POKÉMON GAME?". They basically added in an Active Turn battle system of sorts.

As someone who grew up with Mario RPGs mostly, This is wonderful and im excited.

I personally like the Terastal phenomenon mechanic so far. It gives them these Kirby copy ability-esc hats which i find nice and cool in a way.

 

[Zeostar]

I'll agree with some others here that I'm starting to stale on some of these 'one and done' gimmicks.

 

[Devalue]

Definitely seems to be Hidden Power+. Likely wishes to move away from difficult-to-understand mechanics like Hidden Power. Also stated in the official news:

Pokémon that appear in Tera Raid Battles may have a Tera Type that differs from their usual type or types.

Suggests something more like Gigantamax forms and less like Hidden Power mechanics.

Does not mind different gimmicks like this between games. Creates different challenges when replaying them. Fears a heavy hit in Sun/Moon. Deals with retaliation more in Sword/Shield. Emphasizes good type match-ups in this one. Expects something like same-type attack bonus to increase from 50% to 75% or something.

Hm. Expects gym leaders to use Terastallize. Could lead to team variation, in a sense. Expects you to use a Fire-type for the Ice Gym. Guards against that with Water Tera Cetitan. Actually feels a bit more favorably towards the mechanic with this possibility.

Appreciates all Pokemon benefitting from this, also.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Definitely seems to be Hidden Power+. Likely wishes to move away from difficult-to-understand mechanics like Hidden Power. Also stated in the official news:

Suggests something more like Gigantamax forms and less like Hidden Power mechanics.

Does not mind different gimmicks like this between games. Creates different challenges when replaying them. Fears a heavy hit in Sun/Moon. Deals with retaliation more in Sword/Shield. Emphasizes good type match-ups in this one. Expects something like same-type attack bonus to increase from 50% to 75% or something.

Hm. Expects gym leaders to use Terastallize. Could lead to team variation, in a sense. Expects you to use a Fire-type for the Ice Gym. Guards against that with Water Tera Cetitan. Actually feels a bit more favorably towards the mechanic with this possibility.

Appreciates all Pokemon benefitting from this, also.

That's what I was thinking too. It sounds a lot like Hidden Power 2.0, which to me, is good since Hidden Power is a potential game changer and was missing from Sword and Shield. The type might not be based on IVs like Hidden Power, but it is still very similar to Hidden Power and better because it also boosts moves of the same type. I am definitely very excited about all this!

 

[Sheep]

Appreciates all Pokemon benefitting from this, also.

Good point! I hadn't thought of that. Every Pokémon benefitting from this on top of getting a change to their design (unlike dynamax, which just enlarged most of them) is a nice thing to have. I think this will rank above dynamax for me.

 

[Janp]

I think it's a lot better than Dynamaxing. The change of type could potentially lead to some funny and unexpected situations - for example Water-type Gym Leader could use this mechanic to turn his Pokémon into Ground-type to counter their Electric-type weakness.

I also find it interesting that one Pokémon can have more Tera types

But I don't like the visuals. The idea of crystallization is cool, but the execution doesn't look good. Hats look stupid and I think could be replaced with more subtle way to show new type.

And in the end, I expect this to be just one-off gimmick, barely utilized in the game, so I can't get excited about it.

 

[RevKenHack]

The visuals and the mechanic itself just makes me cringe. But you know what? We'll finally get our Crystal Onix boy into an official game 😂!

 

[Orion☆]

With the reveal that some, if not all, Gym Leaders will have a Pokémon that is not of their speciality type Terastalize into such, I had a thought. Leak spoilers ahead.

Spoiler:

Assuming the rest of the Gym Leaders besides Brassius are real, there's apparently an Electric-type Leader among them. Now, Brassius has a Sudowoodo in his team, which he Terastalizes into the Grass-type - therefore playing into the fact it pretends to be a tree. What if the Electric leader has a Mimikyu, which pretends to be a Pikachu, Terastalize into the type of the Pokémon it's disguising itself as? That would be an awesome way of putting Mimi back into the spotlight!