Do you think Pokémon are getting too powerful?

[Sweet Serenity]

When I first started playing Pokémon, which was Pokémon Black and earlier games, the Pokémon that could be captured on the early routes were often weak, even when fully evolved. More often than not, Pokémon had base stat totals well under 500 and served no purpose other than to build your team during the early game. For example, an early route Pokémon such as Watchog is horrible and has nothing going for it at all. A similar argument can be made for many of the early birds too. However, nowadays, especially in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, it seems that the games are just overloaded with many powerful Pokémon. Early Pokémon such as Smoliv eventually evolves into Arboliva, which is actually very powerful with a good Ability in Seed Sower. Also, I recall Starter Pokémon always being good, but they still didn't have Abilities or stat spreads that really stood out compared to the others. For example, a lot of Starter Pokémon before Generation V didn't have a stat that exceeded 120, if I'm not mistaken. Now, not only do Starter Pokémon tend to have some of the best stat spreads in the game that exceed 120, but they also tend to have some of the best Hidden Abilities in the game as well, along with powerful signature moves too.

This makes Starter Pokémon feel like minor legendaries to me nowadays. In addition, extremely powerful Pokémon that are tough as legendaries are easy to come by too. For instance, Palafin has a base stat total of 650 in its Zero to Hero form, which is on par with major box cover legendaries. It's also fairly easy to obtain, as Finizen isn't rare and can be evolved via the Union Circle. It seemed that strong Pokémon like that in the past were much more difficult to obtain. In addition, the game is also loaded with "special" Pokémon such as Paradox Pokémon, which can be found all over Area Zero. They are just as strong as minor legendary Pokémon and, in my opinion, seem to overshadow the actual legendaries in the game because of their presence. Because they're so strong, people don't really even use actual Pokémon anymore for competitive purposes, instead settling mostly for Paradox Pokémon. What do you think? Do you think that Pokémon are getting ridiculously strong these days?

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Not to mention *most* (I'm not gonna say all, as I'm not 100% sure if this applies to all Pokemon under this circumstance) Pokemon that evolve using special stones just having all of their moves available to them immediately. In the older games, you had to train that Growlithe up to level 49 just to get freakin' Flamethrower, now you can get Flare Blitz at level 1! Add to that the permanent EXP share and the games just fly by! (and not in a good way...) So yeah, Pokemon are very much feeling too powerful these days. At least to me.

 

[Devalue]

Agrees and disagrees.

Power (through movesets). Vastly improved movesets from the older games. Felt like a stark difference while playing Crystal recently. Look at Heracross's moveset differences.

- Crystal: Tackle, Leer, Horn Attack (6), Endure (12), Fury Attack (19), Counter (27), Take Down (35), Reversal (44), and Megahorn (54).
- Scarlet/Violet: Tackle, Leer, Arm Thrust, Fury Attack (5), Endure (10), Aerial Ace (15), Horn Attack (20), Counter (25), Brick Break (30), Pin Missile (35), Throat Chop (40), Thrash (45), Swords Dance (50), Megahorn (55), Close Combat (60).

Accesses a lot of good moves through TMs and the Move Relearner too, as mentioned by Alex_Among_Foxes. Just poke Pikachu with a Thunder Stone. Say hello to Thunderbolt, Nasty Plot, and Agility. Applies in Sword/Shield too.

Power (through signature moves/abilities). Handed out some doozies. But honestly, where would these Pokemon without them? What does Maushold have going for it without Population Bomb and Tidy Up? What is Cylizar doing without Shed Tail? Who is going to give Garganacl a second look next to Gigalith (whenever it shows up)? Created over 1000 Pokemon. Needs something to set them apart from each other. Does not want more Luvdiscs and Delibirds clogging up the Pokedex.

Now, are some too strong? Some, yes. Did Gholdengo really need Good as Gold? Probably not. Is Zero to Hero's stat boost too big for its trigger? Yes.

Was not sufficient for every Pokemon, however. Rarely hears about Mabosstiff's Guard Dog, Farigiraf's two signature abilities + Twin Beam, Veluza's Fillet Away, or Scovillian's Spicy Extract.

Starters. Made them all really good this generation. Credits their signature moves (and good movesets) for taking them above and beyond. Manages without their Hidden Ability, unlike Serperior and kind of Blaziken.

Designed earlier starters differently out of necessity, in fairness. Compares pretty closely in base stat total. Stopped wasting stat points in their worse offense in recent games. Gave Blaziken 120 Attack and 110 Special Attack, for example. Had to do this in earlier generations before the physical/special split (and also more varied move types).

Early-route Pokemon. Finds good and bad still. Acquires some beasts like Flamigo and Palafin and some wimps like Oinkologne, Spidops, Squawkabilly, and Wiglett early. Compare this to Starly, Budew, and Zubat alongside Bidoof and Kricketot in Generation 4. Do not forget Nidoking and Alakazam before Misty in Kanto, chilling with the Beedrills and Zubats (without Crobat) of the world. Grabs Conkeldurr and Hariyama relatively early in their respective games. Do not knock a Pokemon like Lillipup either. Bags a Gyarados in just about every generation too.

Balances some of these on lack of knowledge. Expects no one to evolve Finizen or Gurdurr immediately without prior knowledge.

Points out one big change between earlier games and newer games: early accessibility. How many different Pokemon do you see in Black/White before the first gym? ...Six or so (not counting starters)? (Is not too familiar with Black/White, so maybe 2 more.) Wild Pokemon at level 10 and under around the town before the academy: Psyduck, Magikarp, Pichu, Igglybuff, Hoppip, Sunkern, Paldean Wooper, Ralts, Azurill, Starly, Combee, Buizel, Bonsly, Happiny, Fletchling, Scatterbug, Oricorio, Bounsweet, Skwovet, Chewtle, Arrokuda, Toxel, Lechonk, Tarountula, Pawmi, Fidough, Maschiff, Shroodle. Totals 28, if you can actually reach all of them. Stumbles across even more, namely Flamigo, by looking around more. Deals with a much wider field than old games. Inevitably finds a few strong picks in there.

Paradox Pokemon. Are they good? Yes. Acquires (most of) them at the very end of the game (and maybe postgame for a few like Roaring Moon?), however. Barely impacts a normal playthrough. Hobnobs with Zwelious/Drakloak and Gabite.

Fills a role much like the other legendaries before the Champion, such as the legendary birds. Cannot breed them. Has similar stats to a legendary. Recalls hearing about Paradox Pokemon being banned in competitive for a while, at least. Identifies little difference from a normal legendary or Ultra Beast. Would people have used Raikou, Entei, and Suicune in Generation 2 competitively, given the chance? Believes so.

Edit: Reformatted this.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

I think thatll always be a "depends" type question. If i HAD to say i would say pokemon generally getting more improved movesets from prior games and perma exp share have made it easier to get them powerful

 

[Adam Levine]

The first Pokémon that came to mind when thinking about this question were Koraidon and Miraidon: it's insane to me that, after nerfing Zacian, they decided to give Koraidon Drought and Intrepid Sword at the same time, and even then Miraidon is considered the superior bike dragon. Powercreep is a foregone conclusion with each new generation, and it seems nowadays TPC is pandering more and more to the competitive scene, so they're pulling out all the stops when it comes to the new Pokémon this generation. Chi-Yu and Chien-Pao tore OU apart before being banned, Palafin was clearly designed with Doubles play in mind, and Dondozo-Tatsugiri is an extremely common core in VGC. In fact, I can only name a handful of Generation IX Pokémon that are bad in both VGC Doubles and Smogon Singles, and there are a lot of insane new signature moves and abilities.

As for Paradox Pokémon, I think they're...an interesting bunch. Much like the Ultra Beasts before them, they tend to fare well thanks to a BST of 570 and some logical stat distributions (usually). The difference is there are 16 of them now as opposed to the Ultra Beasts only numbering 8 (if you don't count Poipole), and because most of them are so good and varied there's never really a reason not to use at least one.

Now that I think about it...yeah, there's a higher concentration of new "strong" Pokémon this generation than any other. And that's saying a lot, considering that this is our first generation since the fifth where the new Pokémon species number at least a hundred.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

I don't think they are getting OP, it's just that there are so many useless (stat-wise) Pokémon that already exist and won't ever get fixed, that it's just easier for Game Freak to make newer mons be viable in some way (either for raiding or for PvP).

 

[DragonMasterX34]

There are Pokemon with high BSTs that are underwhelming and there are Pokemon with low BSTs that are good. BST is just one part of the equation. Unless it's egregiously low, typing, movepool and stat distribution determine a Pokemon's strength. Currently, there are too many Pokemon with wide movepools, so there's no reason to use lower BST Pokemon since the only difference is stats at this point.