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5th Gen The Elemental Monkeys

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
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    • Seen Jul 1, 2023
    This has always been a huge debate here (and I know what side I'm on). Did you think the monkeys were necessary? They took up six spaces in the Pokedex and did very little in their time in the games - they were just a gimmick.

    But was it worth including all three? Did getting one of them make it easier to travel the games? ...did you use it beyond Striaton City?
     
    Amore

    Amore

    5,285
    Posts
    14
    Years
    • Seen May 1, 2024
    I liked their designs, found them to be solid battlers (in particular Simipour with Surf coming off its high special attack stat), but hated how you had to keep them unevolved for far too long before they learned their best moves (for some reason I found this much more of a problem than with any other Stone-evolution pok?mon, except perhaps Growlithe in HgSs - but that one's more because of the awful level curve meaning you could defeat the pok?mon league and still not have learned Flare Blitz), and that after a couple of plays through the Striation Gym gimmick wears pretty thin.

    Three of the first four times i played Black I used the monkeys all the way through (the very first time Victini beat out the Fire-type one for a slot in the team), but after that I've always found myself uninterested in them taking up a space where a far superior pok?mon can fit in - Unova for once actually gave us decent Fire-types available pre-E4 for the first time since probably Gen I, meaning even the Fire-type monkey had higher-calibre replacements.
     

    Ho-Oh

    used Sacred Fire!
    35,992
    Posts
    18
    Years
    • Seen Jul 1, 2023
    Amore said:
    I liked their designs, found them to be solid battlers (in particular Simipour with Surf coming off its high special attack stat), but hated how you had to keep them unevolved for far too long before they learned their best moves (for some reason I found this much more of a problem than with any other Stone-evolution pok?mon, except perhaps Growlithe in HgSs - but that one's more because of the awful level curve meaning you could defeat the pok?mon league and still not have learned Flare Blitz), and that after a couple of plays through the Striation Gym gimmick wears pretty thin.

    Three of the first four times i played Black I used the monkeys all the way through (the very first time Victini beat out the Fire-type one for a slot in the team), but after that I've always found myself uninterested in them taking up a space where a far superior pok?mon can fit in - Unova for once actually gave us decent Fire-types available pre-E4 for the first time since probably Gen I, meaning even the Fire-type monkey had higher-calibre replacements.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah that to me was a pain. Why did they have to be stone based? Why not just you know... level 25? That would have made SO much sense but basing it on stones just seemed dumb. It was a forced use of an evolution stone, which early on, should be saved for better Pokemon, imo.

    That's dedication! I gave mine up as early as I could... most of mine didn't get very strong. If they had a better design so I had something to look at ~maybe~.
     
    blue

    blue

    gucci
    21,057
    Posts
    16
    Years
    • I've never been a fan of the Elemental Monkeys and I've never used one on my team. The moment I received one I ended up just boxing it because I knew I wouldn't want to train it up. I don't know what it is about them but I'm just really not into the idea, their designs are quite bland and generic.
     

    Hikamaru

    50,218
    Posts
    13
    Years
    • I can see why these Pokemon are despised, but I actually like the concept which was being based on the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" sign of the three wise monkeys. Also, the monkeys are not that bad in battle either and can usually do a usable role on an in-game run.

    Thankfully they don't have many moves worth learning after Lv22 so it's not an issue if you use the stone at that level. Panpour's line is my fave (Water-types, you know) but they all have their properties as a usable team member. I just want them to get more love, that's all.
     
    Lunar

    Lunar

    4,044
    Posts
    9
    Years
    • They are definitely a gimmick imo, but I did kinda like them. I used a Simipour in my first ever playthrough of White and although they don't do much in the grand scheme of things, I didn't dislike them.
     
    Amore

    Amore

    5,285
    Posts
    14
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    • Seen May 1, 2024
    Forever said:
    Yeah that to me was a pain. Why did they have to be stone based? Why not just you know... level 25? That would have made SO much sense but basing it on stones just seemed dumb. It was a forced use of an evolution stone, which early on, should be saved for better Pokemon, imo.

    That's dedication! I gave mine up as early as I could... most of mine didn't get very strong. If they had a better design so I had something to look at ~maybe~.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah Lv.25-30 seemed the logical thing. I guess they were wanting to use the original stones again as a further reflection of how Black and White were meant to be Red and Green / Blue again?
     
    FeraligatrMaster

    FeraligatrMaster

    34,658
    Posts
    7
    Years
    • Seen today
    The only elemental monkey line that I like is the Pansage line. They're easily the best looking ones out of the three. The other two felt so weird looking and unnecessary in my opinion.

    However, since I picked Snivy as my starter, I got Panpour, which I switched out for a male Frillish as soon as I got one.
     
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