5th Gen How do you feel about less emphasis being placed on HMs?

[Zerrah.]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?

I don't really mind the fact that there are less HMs. I mean, the only thing they really did was make getting around in some dungeons a pain. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. And in HGSS it's not like it was hard to find the HMs, they were pretty much handed to you, and I distinctly remember getting three in less than 20 minutes.

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?

Again, in agreement with above, it's fine that we only need one. I'd actually prefer if I didn't have to waste an entire spot on my line-up just so I can cut down a little sprout that is incredibly blocking my path.

 

[fenyx4]

Some of you may know that in Black and White, only four HMs are given out before the Elite Four, while to beat the main story, you only need one HM - Cut. Adding to that, overall there are only 6 HMs that can be obtained, the second lowest amount that can be obtained in games - with generation 1 having the lowest (5 HMs). On the plus side, you only need one HM slave!

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?
Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?

The idea of less HMs in the games is great, but if most of them aren't even required for game completion, then they might as well revamp the whole "HM" concept and reintroduce TMs like Stealth Rock. At least we only need one HM slave this time around, but it's still annoying when one is trying to train or partake in other activities...

I'm really happy with it, it's incredibly annoying when you have to compromise your pokemon's moveset (or your entire team to include HM slaves) just so it can have some moves which aren't ideal but help you out on the field.

I have never understood why they couldn't just have field moves that are completely separate from battle moves. Makes so much more sense.

This. I actually made 2 Smeargle "HM slaves" (the Japanese equivalent term of Secret Agent is so much better, with a bonus of avoiding negative connotations) in Emerald so I wouldn't have this problem. I tend to rely on the Water-type starters to provide "Surf", but the necessity of HydroPump and Waterfall pose a problem for certain Pokemon. As for Fly, I taught it to Rayquaza in Sapphire and Emerald, but it can be detrimental for slower Pokemon because the opponent essentially gets a free turn to set up.

I contemplated teaching Fly to Charizard in FireRed, but Charizard is offensively oriented in Special Attack, so IMO Air Slash would be a more viable Flying-type attack for battle. I don't know if I'm going to have a Flying-type Pokemon capable of using Fly on my BW team, so there might be a problem for using it to facilitate of traveling... T_T

I agree that field moves should be separated from battle moves, but I wonder how Game Freak would implement this (Key Items?). The exploratory nature they provide is nice, but HMs usually come across as inconveniences instead as they potentially use up move slots and/or party Pokemon slots.

 

[ManhattanTheStarr]

I LOVE it. Even though I haven't played B/W yet, I am super relieved to hear that HMs have little to no use in these games. Of course I'll still need Fly and Surf, but seeing that Rock Smash is now a TM, and Cut apparently only needs to be used once, it won't really matter. I still have bad memories of Victory Road in D/P/Pt when I needed pretty much EVERY HM (except Cut and Defog) to get through it. I had to RC one of my Pokemon and replace it with an HM slave. T_T

 

[Sydian]

It makes me happy. I hate HMs so much. They did almost everything this generation, I swear. The only HM I really bother having around with me is Fly, just so I can leave the Great Hall quickly. BUT YEAH. Less importance of HMs is amazing. I was thrilled when I realized I wasn't even using them much when playing.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I don't really have much of an opinion about HM in general but I like the HM moves themselves like Surf and Fly :)

 

[Ink.]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?
Yeah, the moves are pretty crappy as it is, apart from maybe surf and fly.

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?
No more replacing good moves with crappy HM's, so yeah.

 

[Kyite]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?

Heck yes! Like everyone stated it gets rid of the HM slaves which allows my team to be nice and well rounded instead of 4-5 being my solid team and the last being useless and me Q_Qing when I have to use em. Personally I like to keep my 6th slot for eggs...(total pokemon breeder). But am a HUGE fan of Fly...one because I'm lazy and I hate back tracking and it helps getting to my berries a lot easier...

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?

I like it to a point, if I remember correctly there was a previous poster that mentioned that the HMs should be taught as just outside moves and possibly use them in contests...but yeah I'd rather have that but I'll be happy with just one HM being used. But Cut really c.c so useless in game in my opinion.

 

[institutions]

I haven't played B&W yet so I didn't know any of this information.

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?
Sounds great! I hate having to keep HM slaves with me everywhere I go.

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?
Yeah, I think it's great. I just wish it were a more useful one like surf, that actually did something decent in battle.

 

[Farelsien]

It's excellent. For the most part, HMs just wasted a perfectly good move slot/Pokemon slot. They should have done this way back in Gen. 3. They should, in my opinion, do away with HMs and just replace them with key items that have the same effect.

 

[Late]

HM amount doesn't matter for me but I hate Dive (I think it was because of the speed you could move underwater in R/S/E) and Defog (useless thing).

 

[BenjiTheKid]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games? Yes. I have honestly felt that HM moves do nothing but take up space. Some of them aren't even good moves. (Cut, Rock Smash, etc.) Of course, before the league, you can fly to the move deleter and make them forget a move and teach new ones. But they still take up space.
Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story? Yes. I have never liked that you 'need' HMs to complete a story, anyway. I don't see how they added anything to the game. They don't make it harder, don't make it more strategic... even when I was young, I didn't think it made much sense that you needed HMs to move on.

 

[King Gumball]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?
Since TMs are reusable it doesnt bother me. I mean, it means I wont have to have a spot taken by a HM slave *cough Sanshew cough* but... idk XD I guess it doesn't bother me.

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?
No. I mean the mapping of Unova was terrible imo. Just having one TM to beat the game doesn't make it seem as... idk it makes it unlike the other pokemon games and makes the landscaping seem bad (wish they made the landscape more like Sinnoh <3 ). You shouldn't need cut to beat the game only. It makes the game unrealistic, like pokemon unrealistic if you know what I mean, and as annoying as HMs were I think it takes away from the pokemon adventure experience. It just makes the story too easy to complete. I would have LOVED some more surf too. But I havent played the game so I can't talk XD

 

[Pkmn Trainer Touko]

I hate HMs! I'm so glad we can get through the game without them! Its such a waste to carry an HM slave Pokemon in my party. The only HM moves that I like are Surf and Fly. But others are such a waste.

I wish they would change the HM method. Instead, our Pokemon should learn abilities at certain levels and those abilities will be usable after certain tasks-like earning a badge. These abilities would not take up a space in your Pokemon's move set. It's more realistic that way anyways. For example, maybe your Pikachu doesn't use flash in battle, but if you were in a cave, he would still be able to flash....

 

[Miss Doronjo]

Yeah -- I can't tell you how much I love this concept. <3 Honestly, whenever I play Heart Gold, I always have to constantly wonder about which pokemon to use HMs on; like on my Lapras, I'd have to use Whirlpool / Waterfall / Surf / Ice Beam as Lapras's movepool, which I wasn't a big fan of, because Lapras learns a variety of great moves like Thunder. Its also a pain to have to teach someone Cut or Rock Smash; to create some shortcuts. I constantly have to go to my Pokemon PC, get like an oddish or geodude or something, and put one of my pokemon that's actually on my main team, in my box.

So yes, I think its a good thing that you'd only need one HM for the story, because now I can just concentrate on the prefered pokemon that I want on my main team, as opposed on getting an HM slave! And i talso makes me excited for the TMs found too. <3 I can also concentrate on those as well. <3

 

[インフェルノの津波]

You know this was a pretty good idea, not really needing HMs anymore and when you do now, it's more like a sidequest, and extra requirement really!

So yeah I love this!

 

[Barn]

Oh thank goodness. I haven't played the game yet so I do hope there are places where we can USE the other HMs - particularly Surf and possibly Waterfall. Surf was my favorite of other HMs, I didn't need to put it on a slave because it was actually useable. I was also hoping that Dive would make a reappearance, but I guess I was wrong. :/

Oh yeah, Fly. I do hope we get that early in the game. When I was playing HGSS it was always a pain to go back and forth between towns when it took forever. :/ Especially if you wanted to show Professor Elm the hatched Togepi.

 

[Evilade]

I hadn't heard this before, but now that I have;

FYEEEAAAAAAHHHH

 

[Weavile05]

Oh thank goodness. I haven't played the game yet so I do hope there are places where we can USE the other HMs - particularly Surf and possibly Waterfall. Surf was my favorite of other HMs, I didn't need to put it on a slave because it was actually useable. I was also hoping that Dive would make a reappearance, but I guess I was wrong. :/

Oh yeah, Fly. I do hope we get that early in the game. When I was playing HGSS it was always a pain to go back and forth between towns when it took forever. :/ Especially if you wanted to show Professor Elm the hatched Togepi.

You do get Dive, but I think it might be Post-E4, and not required to progress through the storyline. It's mainly just a way to get some extra items and such.

And Fly is in the game, but of course not required to progress through the game. Most people will probably use it quite heavily though.

 

[Adam.]

I'm glad the game isn't heavily HM based because it was kind of a pain having to use certain Pokemon or take away certain moves just for those darn things...

 

[shinx12345]

I like the idea of less HM's, but I am disappointed to think that when I first got Pokemon ruby, I thought that cut was great because it hurt water Pokemon my blaziken couldn't hit otherwise.
Doesn't it suck to notice that you had more fun with Pokemon when you didn't know how to play it properly?