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-   -   Does Anyone Else Hate S.O.S Battles? (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=384738)

Lunar December 4th, 2016 10:03 AM

Does Anyone Else Hate S.O.S Battles?
 
Don't get me wrong, I know S.O.S battles have their uses, but I really don''t think they've been done right. As trainers, we should have the option to CHOOSE whether we want one to occur (darker grass or something) or a much lower chance of a second Pokemon appearing. It's seriously turned the most basic concept of Pokemon, into something super annoying. I just want to either catch one Pokemon, or train one of my lower leveled party members by grinding, but I can't do that because most of the time I'm stuck against two Pokemon, who usually knock out the Pokemon I'm trying to train, or an endless battle where the same result occurs, it's so frustrating.

I like the idea of these battles, so I really hope Game Freak decide to actually patch them so that either there's a much lower chance of another Pokemon appearing, or that only the original Pokemon can call for help, cause at the moment it's just ridiculous. Personally, this is the only bad thing about Sun and Moon for me, but what are your thoughts?

Mawa December 4th, 2016 10:10 AM

I see the positive point and I really want to try this for the higher IV's and shiny rate when I' in my post game! (if these speculations are trues)

But for now, I am doing the game just for fun, I didn't beat the game yet (exams session so I only played like 6 hours). It's a bit too excessive when you play casual.

MightyBewear December 4th, 2016 10:20 AM

Well S.OS do help for the better IV's ( around 30 to 40 fainted pokemon) and shiny pokemon ( just happen to catch a shiny caterpie right now) but I can understand why some people can get annoyed about this option, but overall i'm neutral about S.O.S, since I mostly see S.O.S for EV's trainning!

DarkPoke001 December 4th, 2016 10:38 AM

I'm finding them rather annoying every now and then throughout playing the story, when you're not able to always one- hit a pokemon and you just want to get out of a battle. THEN they call in another.

Post Game, I think they'd be very useful for gaining experience, EV'S and shiny hunting etc so I'll take the good with the bad

an interesting feature to say the least... ~

Belldandy December 4th, 2016 10:42 AM

I think it can be a bit annoying, but let's be honest: hoards was a much, much worse mechanic in that it was even more annoying than S.O.S. battles. I think S.O.S. battles are an improvement; however, it'd be nice if they occurred perhaps later in the game, or if it gave the option to send out a second Pokemon when an S.O.S. is called.

Pinkie-Dawn December 4th, 2016 5:53 PM

I'm only annoyed from the fact that some Pokémon can only be encountered through S.O.S battles, which is why I'm currently struggling on completing my dex.

Boss Salamence December 4th, 2016 6:08 PM

Sometimes it can be annoying. Sometimes it can be great. Depends on the situation. Also depends on if the Pokémon you wanted for your team is only found in the wild via it and never showed up despite many attempts. Looking at you Gengar :<

lillienull December 4th, 2016 7:00 PM

That is why I always carry around Magnezone with me (with thunderwave of course) S.O.S battles aren't really a problem for me, they do have their uses (for good IVs, certain Pokemon, possibly shinies, and they are ideal for EV training as well)
However, if you want to stop them from calling out more Pokemon, have a Pokemon with thunderwave in your first slot and paralyze them first chance, paralyzing doesn't allow them to call any help. Then I'd bring out Absol with false swipe. Generally that is my technique for catching a Pokemon.

The Evil Mewtwo December 4th, 2016 9:59 PM

SOS is really annoying for some species with un-released hidden abilities such as Passiman and Oranguru.

Hikamaru December 5th, 2016 11:25 PM

I'm with the same reasons as Pinkie - some Pokemon being SOS-only makes them frustrating to catch, even worse if it's one that can only be summoned when a weather condition is active.

Kikaito plush December 6th, 2016 12:58 AM

I think they are annoying if I am trying to catch a pokemon but good for leveling up my pokemon.

tenchi December 6th, 2016 2:22 PM

no one likes sos battles. theyre a pain in the ass.

SaniOKh December 7th, 2016 11:51 AM

I like them. They make things more interesting.

I have two gripes with them though:
  • Wild Pokémon should skip a turn when they call for help.
  • I wish the probability of encountering different species or evolved form was higher.

LilyGardy December 8th, 2016 6:36 AM

I for one like SOS battles as it helps me encounter Shiny and High IV Pokemon. I have picked up 5 Shinys so far with this method. :)

However I understand that some may find the prospect of battling multiple Golbat say whilst playing through the story annoying to say the least. Perhaps an option in the settings to turn SOS battles off could be available with SOS only Pokemon being very rare regular encounters in this setting.

Juno December 8th, 2016 6:53 AM

I thought they were cute at first but my opinion changed very quickly when Magby called 8 other Magby in a row without giving me a break, while I was trying to catch the first Magby.

DarkPlat December 8th, 2016 8:23 PM

Without a doubt the worst aspect of the game for me.

When it comes down to shiny Pokemon, I honestly couldn't care in the end because I don't shiny hunt, but I can probably get away with saying I would prefer shiny hunting with hordes (since I inadvertently found two shiny Pokemon that way).

And if we're talking IVs, I can also probably get away with saying I prefer the DexNav.

Wild battle gimmicks have been a thing since 5th generation, so I guess it'll be tradition now for every gen to include something as preposterous and monotonous as this.

Rivvon December 8th, 2016 8:40 PM

DexNav chaining was so much better. You don't need to worry about keeping any one Pokémon clinging on to 1HP while it tries to call for help, because you just knock them out and keep going. Found a Pokémon with 3+ IVs, its Hidden Ability, or even some cool Egg Move on the way? Catch it! Your chain will keep. You'll find your shiny along the line and have multiple good parents for future breeding, too.

SOS battles? Nope. You're only gonna catch one Pokémon in the entire chain, because you can't aim when there are two Pokémon on the opposing end of the field. And of course, when I don't use the Adrenaline Orb (because I don't want you to call for help, please stop calling for help-- !!) it always calls for help and the help always arrives. When I do use the Adrenaline Orb because I want to try to chain? "It called for help! ... Its help didn't appear!" Of course.

Not to mention that I actually enjoyed creeping up on Pokémon in ORAS. That kept you... awake. You actually did something that wasn't just staying in the same battle for 2+ hours hoping your shiny will fall from the sky.

magicalgirlj December 10th, 2016 7:37 PM

Sure S.O.S. battles can be handy for experience, but when you are trying to catch a Pokemon and the quick ball did not work and the Pokemon is hard to catch, it is so annoying. Like when I tried to catch an Elekid but it would not get into any pokeballs it kept calling for help, ugh such a pain.

Degurchaff December 11th, 2016 1:26 PM

God the amount of times Pokemon called for help When i tried to grind my team It's not fun at all I think they got a nice idea with it and all But it seems a little bit overused Like when the Pokemon you are fightning has a low amount of health it Will call for help 85% of the time Made me run from some battles at times.

Maserati777 December 11th, 2016 9:24 PM

I tried SOS for Growlithe, but it has Roar so every turn my Pokemon would switch back and forth 1 to 2 times to be honest Roar should fail if you are higher level, not switch your Pokemon.



Negative aspects of SOS compared to Dexnav and Friend Safari.

1vs2, you have two Pokemon attacking you at the same time. The status attacks are as bad if not worst then the physical attacks.
Need to stay in a battle for 70 turns, then your odds are still over 600 with shiny charm, 1,000 without.
Need to buy lots of healing items, sometimes you needed to buy repels but you honestly didn't have to buy potions or anything with dexnav, to be honest you don't even need to attack the Pokemon, in most mirage spots you can just run and hop on the bike.


Maybe if they didn't axe so many better methods from gen 6.
One thing though is I have a Yawning Slowpoke on my team so don't really have to worry about them calling for help as they are asleep. Of course I'm only up to the second island so it probably won't be as easy with higher level Pokemon, but sleep is still the best status condition overall.

Adam Levine December 12th, 2016 9:21 PM

Pros:

Chances of getting Hidden Abilities.
The EVs you could get from this.
The potential to get new Pokémon.
Great way to get EXP.
Better use of Timer Balls.

Cons:
Not being able to catch a Pokémon until one of them faints, which can be a hassle if it's your first time trying to catch one of them.
Is it seriously the only way for the three first pros to happen?
Being even harder than Horde Battles.

masterxy December 15th, 2016 12:17 PM

Honestly they could have done them a lot better. Like, make the chance it calls for help lower but make the Adrenaline Orb increase the chance more. On top of that make the Adrenaline Orb only work on the Pokemon that are on the field while you use it so you won't get annoying calls for help later when you decide to catch one in your chain. Or let us throw Pokeballs in the first place, makes no sense we can't.

Lunar December 15th, 2016 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterxy (Post 9519417)
Honestly they could have done them a lot better. Like, make the chance it calls for help lower but make the Adrenaline Orb increase the chance more. On top of that make the Adrenaline Orb only work on the Pokemon that are on the field while you use it so you won't get annoying calls for help later when you decide to catch one in your chain. Or let us throw Pokeballs in the first place, makes no sense we can't.

I completely agree, they're definitely a great concept, but I feel like replacing one of the most standard things in Pokemon with a high chance of an endless (or long) S.O.S battle is ridiculous. I just wanna train a Pokemon but almost every battle it either faints or gets painfully low on health.

Disolia December 15th, 2016 12:29 PM

I wouldn't say I dislike it, though it can be tedious at times when you just want to catch a certain pokemon. They could have at least made another item like the adrenaline orb, that would stop all S.O.S Calls.

Imperator161 December 15th, 2016 8:41 PM

I'm not done with the game yet, but so far, I'm not a big fan of SOS battles. I really wish I could activate them by choice (e.g., with Adrenaline Orbs) and avoid them otherwise. My HM users may be gone, but now I feel obligated to always keep a status-inducing Pokemon, preferably with multiple types of high-accuracy status moves (e.g., sleep + paralysis in case a Pokemon isn't susceptible to one of those) in my party instead.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind these nearly as much if we catch Pokemon when more than one is on the battlefield. If we could aim, like in Colosseum and XD, I would probably be ok with it. But for now, the feature really makes catching Pokemon a pain.

classiccartoonsftw December 16th, 2016 2:54 AM

The idea of S.O.S. battles wasn't that bad, but the execution was. The thing is, wild Pokemon tend to call for help even if they're in near-perfect condition. Therefore, the term S.O.S. has pretty much lost its meaning.

masterxy December 16th, 2016 4:37 AM

After having some frustrating SOS-Battles today I'm gonna expand on my previous post.

As of now SOS-Battles are frustrating for both sides - people that want to avoid it and people that use it to chain Pokemon:
  1. For people that want to avoid it, there's no counterpart to the Adrenaline Orb that prevents the wild Pokemon from calling for help. Sure you can use a sleep-inducing move but not everyone carries those around plus it's a lot more hassle and there's still a chance the wild Pokemon will cal for help before using the move or after waking up. This could have also be made better by lowering the chance to call for help especially while still in the higher HP range.
  2. For people that want to chain Pokemon, the SOS mechanic is too unreliable, even with the Adrenaline Orb. Using the Adrenaline Orb should guarantee a call for help on at least the Pokemon with the highest call rates. The difference in call rates for different Pokemon should be lower, Pokemon with low call rates almost never call for help and when they do they don't get any most of the time. Which leads me to the next part: There's two things that can go wrong with the call for help: Either the pokemon doesn't call for help, or help doesn't arrive. Both combined makes it really frustrating on Pokemon with low call rates. In my opinion one of those things should be guaranteed.


Unfortunately for us, Game Freak is not the company that will change mechanics of a game after the game has already been released so we can only dream of the SOS-Battles being better.


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