The PokéCommunity Forums

The PokéCommunity Forums (https://www.pokecommunity.com/index.php)
-   Previous Generations (https://www.pokecommunity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=200)
-   -   4th Gen Cynthia or Lance? (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=347470)

Sirfetch’d April 15th, 2015 12:18 PM

Cynthia or Lance?
 
Obviously there were 2 champions of the Pokemon League in the 4th generation, Cynthia in Diamond, Platinum, and Pearl and Lance in Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Which of these two champions did you prefer and why? Who was tougher?


Entermaid April 15th, 2015 12:37 PM

Cynthia gets my vote and her design, personality, and relatively challenging team are the reasons why.

Though, I do like Lance as well.

Melacine April 15th, 2015 5:29 PM

Oh, Cynthia for sure. She had a wider range of Pokemon that were much harder to defeat (Spiritomb, I'm looking at you) than Lance. Plus, her design is wonderful!

Sirfetch’d April 16th, 2015 10:13 AM

I think the better question I could have asked is "is anyone a better champ than Cynthia" I don't think anyone competes with her in all honesty. Like she is the epitome of perfection and there is just nothing to dislike about her. Definitely my favorite champ all time!

Sheep April 17th, 2015 11:49 AM

Cynthia by miles. She's beautiful and has one of the best battle themes in the history of Pokemon games.. very fitting for a team that's actually quite challenging, more so than any other champion in my opinion. She's an amazing character overall and few others can compare. Opening up with a Spiritomb that had no weakness in this generation was quite a pain in the butt for me when I was younger!

Lance is iconic and awesome too but I'll always prefer Cynthia.

Pendraflare April 17th, 2015 5:05 PM

As i've mentioned, Cynthia is my favorite Champion, and that still stands. However, it is a bit disappointing that she does nothing productive against Team Galactic, I mean she comes with you to the Distortion World but doesn't really do anything. And it's not helped by how she leaves a bunch of Psyduck who are suffering chronic headaches. Her team definitely makes up for that, but it's still not something i'm fond of.

As for Lance, he turns out to be quite helpful in the Team Rocket HQ, and it's cool that he fights alongside you. His team is strong, but does have a lot of shared weaknesses.

blue April 18th, 2015 5:59 AM

Cynthia for me. She was the first female champion of the franchise, she looks powerful, and she uses an interesting variety of Pokémon! She is also the only champion who I actually struggled against, particularly in Platinum.

Lance is pretty cool too, but against them all Cynthia wins hands down for me.

Scotash! April 21st, 2015 7:18 AM

Cynthia. I found her a lot tougher. Lance was somewhat easier to defeat. Electric type for Aeordactyl, Charizard and Gyarados, Ice type move for the 3 Dragonites. Cynthia had a more widespread range on her team, and yes the Spiritomb was an annoyance.
Her design is much better too. I liked her in the Anime a lot more than Lance as well.

Hikamaru April 21st, 2015 7:06 PM

I'm on the Cynthia bandwagon as well, because she's one of the hardest champions in the series and for those who like actual challenge, she pretty much becomes a fave for those types of players.

Lance is iconic but I think he's overrated which most early-generation characters seem to be, so I don't like him as much.

Starry Windy April 21st, 2015 9:15 PM

I'll root for Cynthia more than Lance. She's the first female Champion, she also goes into action when the situation goes brink, and well, she has a pretty unique theme of herself, with the signature piano leitmotif there. Not to mention that she is also on Black and White games as well.

Don't get me wrong, I still like Lance, but I just feel that Cynthia is more standing out though.

Huseyin April 22nd, 2015 5:45 AM

Lnce was tougher in my opinion because Cynthia's team has common weaknesses if you have a well balanced team and lance has not really weaknesses when i fought him with my well balanced team . In my opinion Cynthia is not so strong . i like Cynthia's design but I just like lance a bit more.

JJ Styles April 22nd, 2015 5:52 AM

Before i get to tank Cynthia's Garchomp Outrage, Lucario's Bullet Punch, Roserade's Petal Dance, and her Milotic's Hydropump. I will say this. Even though Cynthia would pretty much curbstomp in this poll, I'll do my best to still show some love for Lance.

I remember Lance being so cool when he actually came by and fought alongside the player in both gen 2 and gen 4. Lance as mentioned previously did something productive against the bad guys. He even had his Dragonite use Hyper Beam on a rocket grunt because that's how pissed Lance was during the whole situation. He was willing to go that far, and i love it when they do that.

Of course, Cynthia pretty much wins as an in-game "boss" for her respective game because she pretty much got the proper treatment from gamefreak to have a lineup that wasn't only good on paper, she is the only in-game trainer in any game in the core series to have an entire lineup with Perfect IV pokemon, something that a true Pokemon League champion would actually have to establish being the game's core "final boss" before the credits roll. Of course, most casual players who dont' give shits about IVs or EVs or any "complicated pokemon data related matters" wouldn't know but they would just wonder how come their team of at least lvl 50 to 60+ pokemon got their chests kicked by Cynthia's team.

As far as the in-game teams go, Gen 4 was a missed opportunity for Lance to have an initial lineup that would actually be good. The whole 3 Underleveled Dragonites gig was pretty much getting old, and i guess gamefreak thought that players in HGSS would already go to the Pokemon League with their party on the early to late 40s with 50 being their highest levele'd member, and along with lance, I still question why HGSS was still that underleveled like how the majority of Gen 2 was. It would take going through more of the game to actually see a lineup for Lance that was actually good or at least way better looking on paper than 3 Dragonites and 3 not-Dragons but still cool and fit the whole "Dragon and Flying" theme well. Also, why didn't Lance get the perfect IV pokemon that his contemporary counterpart did. It still bugs me up to this day. If Gamefreak deliberately gave Cynthia a lineup of perfect IV monsters, why didn't Lance get his?

Cloufy April 23rd, 2015 3:18 PM

i have a large preference to Lance generally because Heart Gold was one of my favorite games. I don't dislike Cynthia - in fact I really do like her a lot, just not as much as Lance

Sydian April 25th, 2015 6:57 AM

I don't make it a secret that I'm not a huge DPPt fan, however I have to give credit where credit is due. That being said, my choice for these two definitely goes to Cynthia. I still think she's the most difficult Champion of the series and in a series that I don't find much difficulty with anymore, that's a pretty good feat. However, that's just for battling. As far as being a Champion overall, I much prefer Lance. Cynthia just kind of...gets you to do stuff. Lance actually gets involved with things and there's just something about his presence. Maybe it's the cape. Don't quote me on this though, because it's been some years since I've played DPPt so I'm probably forgetting where Cynthia does something in Platinum.

Overall though, I'm still voting for Cynthia just for being so daunting to fight even to this day.

Qibli April 27th, 2015 7:38 AM

Cythia due to her design and really strongly balanced team to make you pressure and well prepared.

While Lance is decent it all, but let you it simple swipping.
All you need is a decent ice-type with ice beam, BLAM!!! Dragonite is dead. against charizard waterfall, surf and hydro pump even rock slide to max, his gyra is no pushie just zap it with thunderbolt and gone also Aerodactly zap or crush it with your strongest steel, rock, water and even ice (but I prefer water/steel) just one special attacker on it BLAM! IT died.
MY votes on Cythia because her team is prefect and no flaws. :)
Tl;dr [Lance team is basically themed with dragons, mostly flying and dragon-typing. Which makes ice, rock and electric attack super effective especially dragonite which is died on single ice-type ice beam]

AquaMarine8 April 27th, 2015 3:29 PM

Lance, based solely on the fact that I have never played a Sinnoh game. I also really like Lance, I always thought he was so cool. Plus, being practically no trainers in Johto, I do find him challenging.

Sebastian_Sommer April 27th, 2015 7:53 PM

I played both games and I find both champions to be quite difficult since you are almost always under leveled, but I personally find Cynthia to be the most difficult of the two. This is primarily because her team have perfect IVs and they are properly EV trained. Although Lance's dragon team was difficult due to their typing but they never pushed me to the point where I felt that I'm going to lose even after spamming potions and revives.

curiousnathan May 1st, 2015 10:05 PM

Easy choice. Cynthia hands down. Not only has she got a killer design but her difficulty in the game is x10 greater than that of lance who spams Dragon types which can easily be taken down with a few consecutive Blizzards or Ice Beams. For me, Cynthia demonstrates a true Champion. She uses a variety of Pokemon both of which are strong and majestic.

Bounsweet May 1st, 2015 10:11 PM

Cynthia is my favorite champion of all time, and probably one of my favorite characters in the entire series, so... Cynthia is my choice!

Cerberus87 May 2nd, 2015 12:19 AM

IMO Lance is the better character.

The reason Cynthia doesn't fight alongside your character seems to be that they didn't want to reveal her team before her final appearance, which didn't make sense in Platinum since she kept most of her Pokémon from DP. Still, the others only fight for you after you know their teams. Lance obviously has Dragonite, and Steven has Aggron and doesn't use his Metagross until the final battle.

Both their designs are good, but I hate how Cynthia is this Mary Sue type of character that never loses. In the anime her Pokémon overcome obvious type disadvantages against equally skilled trainers. That's almost as much plot armor as Ash has.

Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer May 2nd, 2015 2:31 AM

Easy Peasy Cynthia All the way, She is the best Champion and a really cool character. Lance is just a weird guy in a cape =p.

KirbyRobot May 10th, 2015 9:30 PM

Cynthia all the way. I remember when i originally played platinum. I couldn't get past the second elite four member, and I had to get my friends Lv100 Staraptor just to beat her. When I got to Cynthia, I was shaking. The Staraptor saved me, but barely. I honestly shouldn't have tried so many times, I should've just restarted my game and prepped my team. But, here I am today, and I know the elite four, and I have a balanced team. Let's hope it can handle Cynthia & the elite four.

27thColt May 18th, 2015 4:37 AM

Cynthia is way more epic. Lance did have the dragon thing going, but there weren't a lot of Dragon types that he used. All it was was 2 Dragonites (Oh sorry, 3 Dragonites cus GF had to be asses to us), Aerodactyl, Charizard, & Gyarados. It was just a cheap trick of spamming with Dragonites too make it so we could never win.

Cynthia's had diversity. Granted it is something that pretty much everybody has except for Lance & Steven, but her diversity was a real challenge. Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss (or Gastrodon), Milotic, Lucario, Garchamp.

She would start out with Spiritomb witch had NO weaknesses at the time, so trying to beat that early one was annoying. Her Roserade in Platinum could poison you to death (like Gardenia's Roserade but on STEROIDS). Then you have either Gastrodon or Togekiss. While Gastrodon didn't really stand out for me, it does have a huge range of moves that could take you out like Earthquake & Sludge Bomb. But the Togekiss was just a special sweeper. Lucario was the physical sweeper in the team. The fact that there were only 2 fire types in DP adds to how hard it was to take down Lucario and Roserade. Milotic was there to stall her opponents with Aqua Ring & Mirror Coat forcing you to spam healing items until she sends out the beast that is GARCHOMP. It got STAB from Dragon Rush & Earthquake, and then she has two other powerhouse moves on her set which are Giga Impact and Brick Break/Flamethrower. Don't forget that Sitrus Berry also.


Another thing that supports my opinion of Cynthia is the leveling of the whole game. I am talking about the level of the pokemon. While it does not really make a difference, because any fight will be hard because it is expected you will always be a few levels lower, it does give an effect on the battle. Higher levels at the end of the game will give an illusion that the player worked harder. This could really be just because DPPT are just longer due to pacing than HGSS's main game but it gives a sense of an intense battle because it is two experienced players.

Look at the end levels of RSE, you have Steven/Wallace packing level 55-60 pokemon. Then you got Cynthia rocking the level 58-62 (Yes, Garchomp was level 62). After that, you have HGSS & GSC with only 48-50 pokemon. Both are equally hard, but on seems stronger than the other. Cynthia.

Thats my reasoning.

Melfice May 21st, 2015 2:57 AM

I like both of them, but I would have to choose Lance. Cynthia has a better team though.

BettyNewbie May 21st, 2015 7:59 AM

I'm going to be blunt: I hate Cynthia.

I hate that she was given such a blatantly cheap, overpowered "perfect" team. I hate that she was stuffed into every single DS era main series game while other, perfectly good characters were left to rot. I hate that, instead of being a good or even interesting character, she's instead, a bland Mary Sue with perfect supermodel/Barbie doll looks who always says the right things at the right time and doesn't have any flaws. I hate that the fandom blindly worships her and uses her as a stick to beat other Champions with. I hate that both GF and the fandom hold her up as the "ultimate" Strong Female Role Model and use her as a stick to beat other female characters with.

Sure, you could argue that Lance is a Gary Stu, but he actually showed character progression going from RBY to GSC. He went from being a bratty, overconfident Elite Four member:

"Ah! I heard about you, Red! I lead the Elite Four! You can call me Lance the dragon trainer! You know that dragons are mythical Pokémon! They’re hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior! They’re virtually indestructible! Well, are you ready to lose? Your League challenge ends with me, Red!"

"That’s it! I hate to admit it, but you are a Pokémon master!"

To being a gentle, humble Champion:

"I’ve been waiting for you. Gold/Kris! I knew that you, with your skills, would eventually reach me here. There’s no need for words now. We will battle to determine who is the stronger of the two of us. As the most powerful trainer and as the Pokémon League Champion… I, Lance the dragon master, accept your challenge!"

"…It’s over. But it’s an odd feeling. I’m not angry that I lost. In fact, I feel happy. Happy that I witnessed the rise of a great new Champion!"

Sure, his team isn't as good as Cynthia's, nor is he anywhere as difficult to battle, but having a tough team doesn't mean jack if there's no character to go along with it...

... which is why Blue is still the best Champion. :P


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 5:27 AM.


Like our Facebook Page Follow us on Twitter © 2002 - 2018 The PokéCommunity™, pokecommunity.com.
Pokémon characters and images belong to The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo. This website is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK, The Pokémon Company or The Pokémon Company International. We just love Pokémon.
All forum styles, their images (unless noted otherwise) and site designs are © 2002 - 2016 The PokéCommunity / PokéCommunity.com.
PokéCommunity™ is a trademark of The PokéCommunity. All rights reserved. Sponsor advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service. User generated content remains the property of its creator.

Acknowledgements
Use of PokéCommunity Assets
vB Optimise by DragonByte Technologies Ltd © 2023.