Does LEGENDARY still mean something?

Started by Paige Berlitz September 12th, 2013 3:52 PM
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Should Legendary be considered a type?

Paige Berlitz

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Remember the old days of Pokemon when catching a Legendary was the coolest thing ever. Now and Days catching a legendary really isnt that cool anymore. so Does the word Legendary even mean something?

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Most of the new legendary pokemon have lost their credibility as Legends to be honest, yes we have legendary trio's but to be honest I find them to not even be legendary, Gen 3's Trio are Golems, which by any reasoning are not legendary seeing as there is another pokemon created in the same way and that being Claydol, as for others like Jirachi, Shaymin and Celebi I would call them more gimmick legends than anything and as for the legends pokemon which appear on the cases of the games, I would say they are the true legends which obvious exceptions like, Arceus, Mew, Mewtwo, Deoxys ect.


Can we not consider Rotom to be a legend seeing as it appears so little in the games, (Granted it was a gen 4 addition) you can only ever obtain one of them from ingame and although it can be bred does that mean it shouldn't be a legendary symbol? After all Manaphy can be bred?

Another pokemon which gets tossed around as to whether or not it's a legendary is Unkwown, It has many Forms but cannot be bred because it has no egg group at all, or would you say it's another gimmick pokemon? who knows, it's never really played an important role anywhere other than being captured to fill your pokedex.

Brendino

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yes
lol
it does mean alot

That's... very insightful. Care to explain why?

Anyway, I don't think the aura of legendary Pokemon is quite as great with such a large selection of them now, but I don't think that makes them any less legendary. When you think about it, there's still only one of each in a game, and there are still very few of each as far as the anime's concerned (and sometimes, still only 1 each). Plus, the name legendary is more referring to the fact that the tales of many of these Pokemon have been passed down through generations as mythical Pokemon that are rarely seen- making them legendary. They might seem a little more special though if we weren't up to nearly 50 individual legendaries at this point, though.

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That's... very insightful. Care to explain why?

Anyway, I don't think the aura of legendary Pokemon is quite as great with such a large selection of them now, but I don't think that makes them any less legendary. When you think about it, there's still only one of each in a game, and there are still very few of each as far as the anime's concerned (and sometimes, still only 1 each). Plus, the name legendary is more referring to the fact that the tales of many of these Pokemon have been passed down through generations as mythical Pokemon that are rarely seen- making them legendary. They might seem a little more special though if we weren't up to nearly 50 individual legendaries at this point, though.
Tales of many of the pokemon? If you saw the movie with Arceus (I think it's that movie) where you see the large battle between two sides of pokemon, surely every pokemon in that battle can be considered legendary because there is a tale involving them? I know alot of them are very common but by that logic pokemon which are not legendary that are rarely seen and have a few stories about could be considered legendary? Such as Rotom and Unkown.

Brendino

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Tales of many of the pokemon? If you saw the movie with Arceus (I think it's that movie) where you see the large battle between two sides of pokemon, surely every pokemon in that battle can be considered legendary because there is a tale involving them? I know alot of them are very common but by that logic pokemon which are not legendary that are rarely seen and have a few stories about could be considered legendary? Such as Rotom and Unkown.
I can't say as I have seen that movie, but I'd say that comparing common Pokemon in those tales with legendary Pokemon themselves would be like comparing unicorns and horses in real world stories- one's a mythical creature, but the other's still a regular animal.

That is a good point about Rotom and Unown, though. I know that Rotom was even considered a legendary by some at one point because of its rarity and having legendary battle music when encountered, so it does have a bit of a legendary feel. As for Unown, I think it's more that its an ancient Pokemon that's rarely seen, but because there's an abundance of them when found, they aren't quite as special as singular legendaries, and don't quite fall under the same category.

MrBananaMan212

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Sorry for my other post. I think that legendary still does mean something because when a pokemon is legendary one of the things means that it can not breed. that means that legendaries are a lot rarer than other pokemon. Also, most legendaries have high base totals, meaning they are powerful. You can only catch one of a legendary per game, and if you mess up a lot of the times you can't try again. Some legendaries are even vesrion exclusive, meaning they are even HARDER to get. Some legendaries are event only, meaning you have to go to a specific location to get them (but not recently, considering Wifi connection). That is why I think that the term legendary still has some meaning.
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Decimosoma

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Today's legendaries are only worth mentioning during the story, BW1/2 are great examples of this, where legendaries pop out of nowhere. I hope XY doesn't throw a Mewtwo in your face with a giant board on his forehead with "CAPTURE ME BRO!!!"

Legendary has lots it's meaning after the challenge of seeking them out and capturing them has been nullified, today it's just a walk at the beach with a My-waifu pillow with a pretty sunset.

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The use of hacking in stuff and then trading with WiFi really makes legendaries not be the same. Of course they are powerful, but I don't see a point in them if you don't catch it. I like the sentimental value of capturing and training them. That's what makes me like them. Not just receiving a level 100 shiny Dragonite with perfect EVs from a trade.
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BurningLanguages

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Well, I feel that we may be using the words "legendary" and "rare" as synonyms. The mere fact of being legendary does not mean that you are 1 in a billion(Though that seems to be the case with all legendaries in Pokemon). There can be as many legendary people/things/animals as people deem fit.

In the Pokemon games the legendary Pokemon have done something important or awe-striking, from creating earth and sea to gathering random trainers up to release their Pokemon and being a scientific success(Mewtwo).

For me personally, I just catch them to add them to my Pokedex. I don't like using them in battles, I think that every legendary Pokemon is still "Legendary."

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I remember playing FireRed and finally getting into the cave where you find Mewtwo, things like that is something game freak should bring back, I loved the addition of roaming legendary pokemon as I thought it mean't players had to go and actually hunt down the pokemon rather than just saving near the legendary then restarting if you fail to capture it.

Having Legendary pokemon hidden away for the players to find is a lot more exciting then just saying "Here is a master ball" here is a fight you cannot decline from like in Black and White and then just catch it.

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I think maybe when they were making 4-5 legends a region it was fine but now a days they make so many. Let's look at Gen 5. 13! And Gen 4? 15! Gen 3? 10. Now 10 I think should be the limit. It's just the right amount. But 15? Really Nintendo? Either way I think Legendary has lost it's purpose now a days.


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Tsutarja

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I would say the importance of Legendaries has diminished quite a bit.. my reasons being are that they are now in circulation more with trading due to online wifi trading and the GTS, and that there are just more and more of them as Pokémon moves along, and the fact that there are games that allow for chances to catch more than just the version-exclusive legendaries (such as being able to catch Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza in HGSS).

Livewire

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With the advent of the action replay and Pokecheck, the GTS, and simply the fact that they do literally 10-12 legends per game, it's hard to say that legendary Pokemon still have the mystique they did before the rise of wi-fi trading. You can find hundreds upon hundreds of copies of just about every legendary Pokemon on the GTS or via Pokecheck. The point of being a legendary Pokemon, was that it was rare, something to be treasured. That rare mystique is gone now I think.

I used to freak out if I ran into a legendary Pokemon while playing. Ran into Raikou in Gold once, just by happenstance, and totally ran around like a psycho everywhere when I caught it. Fast forward ten years to Heartgold, and caught it again, and was like, "Oh cool, Raikou. Let's go deposit it".

:/

Sheep

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We have online trading which gives us quick access to almost any Pokemon, including legends. Plus Pokemon's going into the sixth generation meaning the total amount of legendaries is going to go up by quite a lot. So sadly, no.. they're not quite that elusive anymore. They're simply much too easy to get. :(

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I tell ya hwat, Pokemon just ain't what it used to be anymore. These durn whippersnappers an' their fancy wifi trading an' cheating. They ruinin' Pokemon. Back in the day, I tell ya hwat, catchin' a Legendary MEANT somethin'. I used ta spend all day throwin' ma durn Ultra Balls at that there Mewtwo an' if I caught it I'd be all skippin' home like I won a gawsh-durn contest.

But for real, Legendaries are still Legendary. Who cares how many there are? Legendaries have always had three aspects to them:
>They're hard to catch.
>There's only one of each in the entire game.
>You're guaranteed a battle against most of them (roamers not withstanding).

That being said, wifi trading and cheating have indeed opened the doors to being able to obtain everything under the sun and ruining the novelty of it all. HOWEVER, those things only ruin the novelty if you let them. You can choose to not cheat or trade. You can choose to play your games and obtain your Legendaries on your own. Catch them in your own games, trade them between your own games, obtain event Pokemon on your own, do everything on your own in order to preserve the novelty of it all. Just don't act like your world is ruined because other people are doing things you don't like.

moon

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Tbh, I think gen IV ruined it a bit. There were too many legendaries there (or almost-legendary, the lines have really gotten blurred, haven't they?) so they felt more like "slightly more powerful and rare" pokémon than actual legendary incredible beings.

Back in gen I and II, there were only a few and in gen I, I hardly think legendary was a thing? Gen II introduced huge, cool pokémon with roles in the story, like the two bird thingies and the beast trio. That's the pattern the games have been following since. A trio and game mascots with key roles for the plot. They were still pretty amazing in gen III with the weather trio, and the Regi trio didn't disturb too much from what I recall. I didn't even meet them in the games.

But after that, it spiraled away. Maybe it was a result of increasingly accessible online battling and need for strong pokémon. Sure, legendary is still legendary, but it's not quite as unique and special as it used to be. In my old and bitter mind ;)
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It's essentially the law of diminishing marginal utility where after continously consuming an item (or in this case having more legendaries created as the number of gens increases) your satisfaction with the item (or legendaries) decreases.

Besides the game's mascot legendary I don't really care about the others. It's nice to have them for my collection, but I just don't have that same sense of excitement anymore really that I once had.
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Tbh, I think gen IV ruined it a bit. There were too many legendaries there (or almost-legendary, the lines have really gotten blurred, haven't they?) so they felt more like "slightly more powerful and rare" pokémon than actual legendary incredible beings.

Back in gen I and II, there were only a few and in gen I, I hardly think legendary was a thing? Gen II introduced huge, cool pokémon with roles in the story, like the two bird thingies and the beast trio. That's the pattern the games have been following since. A trio and game mascots with key roles for the plot. They were still pretty amazing in gen III with the weather trio, and the Regi trio didn't disturb too much from what I recall. I didn't even meet them in the games.

But after that, it spiraled away. Maybe it was a result of increasingly accessible online battling and need for strong pokémon. Sure, legendary is still legendary, but it's not quite as unique and special as it used to be. In my old and bitter mind ;)
These are exactly my thoughts as well. If there's one thing that degraded as the generations have gone on, its been the name "Legendary." There are, what, 48 legendaries as of Gen V? And now its been brought up to 50 with Xerneas and Yveltal. Sure, out of about 600 Pokémon total, that isn't a lot, but the point of the legendaries is that there needs to be so few of them that they really feel arcane and unattainable.

Back in Gen 1 and Gen 2, they had it under control. Gen 1 introduced 5 legendaries (Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Mew, and Mewtwo) and Gen 2 introduced 6 (Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh, and Celebi). They should have just continued with that pattern: the game mascots + a trio or one other Pokémon. But then Gen 3 came along and ruined it all. Introducing the 10 they did in Gen 3 opened the door up to introducing 14 in Gen 4 and 13 in Gen 5. And you know what's the most frustrating of it all? A good majority of them have no bearing on the story. I mean, really, tell me how Manaphy or Regigas or Heatran or Meloetta are so crucial to the story line of their respective games.

If it were up to me, I would have limited it to the following:

Gen 3: The Weather Trio (Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza) and the Legendary Golems (Regirock, Registeel, and Regice)

Gen 4: The Creation Trio (Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina) and the Lunar Duo (Cresselia and Darkrai)

Gen 5: The Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem)

If they had done it my way, we'd now have 29 Legendary Pokémon instead of 50.

I'm really hoping Gen 6 keeps the Legendaries to a minimum. I would actually be happy with just 3: Xerneas, Yveltal, and whatever Z's legendary is gonna be.

Now, to answer the question as to whether I believe Legendary should be a type, as in a separate unique thing along with Fire, Water, Steel, etc., the answer would be: no. Different legendary creatures possess different attributes. Therefore, they need different types. It would be a limiting factor to introduce a Legendary type that would need to be stuck on every Legendary Pokémon.

Negix

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It's true that the name "Legendary" has lost its value over the course of many years. But to me, it really depends on how hard it is for you to get one. Back then in Gen I, there were few Legendaries, which gave them a majestic feeling when you actually encountered one. Not to mention, they were a bit hard to get. Then came Gen II and a few more were added, but this time, they actually had roles in the game itself, all tho everyone besides Lugia wasn't that challenging to get. The title of Legendary, in my opinion, means to be one of a kind and hidden. Making you search the deepest parts of the region to encounter such a magnificent beast. To be honest, I don't think Gen III ruined it. I'm not saying this because I'm favoring it over the others, but it still had that touch. If you look at it from a different point of view, Gen III was just as good as other ones.

Back then in RS, you could only get 6 Legendaries overall (without counting the event ones and the different version legendaries). Also, getting the Regi Trio was pretty hard. Not everyone knew about the secret area, and that you had to have a Wailord and Relicanth in your party, plus use dig in front of the carving in the back. And even after figuring that out, you'd STILL have to figure out the riddle to open their respective doors. Therefore, in my eyes, I feel that majestic feeling from them, then any other Legendary. When I was a kid I didn't even know this! It wasn't till a few years later that I started doing research to learn what it was about.

My point is, the more challenging it is to get the legendary, the more memorable it will be. And even if some aren't hard to get, you can have good memories from them. Just look at Arceus, its just an event, but climbing those stairs and facing him at level 80, wasn't that heart stopping?

Fading Tree

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Legendary Pokemon has no meaning to me any more. I have a new classification of Rare, and Legendary.
Up Until 4th Gen Legendaries were all special to me. But from seeing Legendaries with genders in game and babies in the anime the only real legendary pokemon are pokemon that exist 1 of it self. I stil question if Rayquza is Legendary or not.

#I'm mad that Mewtwo has a shiny form, because there is only 1 Mewtwo.
I was happy with the Gen II Formula
The Trio (which should be able to breed in some way (opinion))
The Duo
The Mew

I was even happy with gen III
The Trio
The Eon Duo (lost legendary status with Tobias)
The Mascot Trio
The Mew
X random pokemon. (Deoxys)

Did nintendo plan on ending pokemon with gen IV? It feels like they went all out with DP Pt? It feels like that with them having
5 Mews
Lake Trio
Shaymin (before sky form)
Manaphy (Phione isn't legendary)

Mascot trio (good trio)
Dream Duo (Good)
Arceus - That X pokemon that could be anything

Regigas, Heatran, Manaphy, and Phione maybe not be considered legendaries to bring the number back to 10.

Gen V
The Mew
Musketeer trio (qaud)
Region trio
Mascot Trio

Meleotta not a legend (my eyes) Genesect is a fossil pokemon wearind steel. Metal Coat Armaldo/Kabutops trade?

Just give the option for legendaries to breed then we'll know who the true lengends are (Nidoking)

The term legendary has been saturated to nothing because of the asunance and ease of availability of lendagaries that exist.
(Yes these pokemon should easily be available but the sheer number of legendaries that exist makes the status of being a legendary pokemon mean nothing.)

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well it's tough. because you have to balance giving people more new pokemon and legends(myths) every generation, it's also something that makes that generation unique. but i sometimes wonder why pokemon like shaymin and meloetta are considered legendaries and even ?

i think the perfect amount of legendaries per generation is 5. 1 major, a trio and 1 unique/loner not focused on in the story to much like darkrai. there is something like 48 legendaries spread out amongst the 5 generations thats almost 10 per gen.

Even though legendaries feel less special now then in the past (based off my opinion) i still enjoy catching legendaries post story.
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Personally, I dislike that they're releasing so many legendaries. However, legendary still has a meaning: pokemon that are hard to come across and typically having high stats. Yes, there are more of them, but they're still relatively more difficult to acquire than something you can find an infinite number of in a route.

"Back in the day", being legendary didn't mean all that much anyways. The legendary birds (60% of all legendaries back in Gen 1) had BSTs lower than Dragonite. They had no backstory at this point either (until the anime's 2nd movie and GSC gave them some.)

Legendary a type? No...
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