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

[CoffeeWolf]

I like it... except i really think that surf should be required =/
Pokemon games need that annoying surf to an island

 

[Yusshin]

I believe Strength is required to get through Dragon Spiral Castle >>

but I like how they're not emphasized anymore. Though they should just be TMs if it's like that.

 

[Livewire]

I love that we don't have to totally rely on them anymore, HMs were obnoxious. (Flash in particular)

 

[Geras]

Do you like the idea of less HMs than in other recent games?
I honestly don't really care. I think I might be one of the only people who never used an HM slave. Like many people have said, I think there should be better HM moves you would actually want in a moveset.

Along with that, do you think it's a good thing that you only need one HM to complete the story?
Yes. I never liked the necessity of HMs for story, but i did like the need of them for free exploration. They should be given post-game.

 

[.-Notched]

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?

1. Of course. Back in Gen III, on m Emerald, I had two different HM slaves. And it wasn't fun. I fixed this a little in HeartGold, but I still had one.

2. Indeed! Not such of a hassle to find an HM that you need to complete the story, ESPECIALLY when looking for...I suppose.... HM 02 FLY! Seriously, it'd take me forever to go between towns to find the HM.

 

[Destiny.]

I have always hated the overreliance on HMs (with the exception of Surf, of course). In the older games, HMs dealt a reasonable amount of damage considering how powerless most attacks were. My most detested HM, was of course flash which basically did nothing... I still dislike Fly. At least Surf can OHKO most of the time.

 

[Eurydice]

i really dislike hms because they greatly annoy me so them getting rid of needing them all the time is great i hated using up an attack space for an hm so now i just needed a pokemon for cut the one time and that is all

 

[Elric of Grans]

I always hated HMs, so I am certainly not complaining, but I feel they went about it the wrong way. Rather than de-emphasising them, merely making them more appealing would have solved the problem. No one complains about Surf or Waterfall, do they? If Strength were to, say, raise your Attack stat, I think people would be far happier with it. If Cut were more like Grass Knot/Low Kick (essentially, something that scales up as you move through the game), it would be an excellent attack for Normal-types. Simply changing the moves to they are no longer a handicap solves the original problem.

 

[Sammuthegreat]

I've never understood the concept of HMs. I mean, why should a Braviary - an eagle, which spends its entire life flying - need to be "taught" to Fly? It's ridiculous. Similarly, why should my Darmanitan, who's definitely strong enough to push rocks around, need a certain move to actually do so? Why should a jellyfish like my Jellicent need to be taught to swim?! It just doesn't make any sense.

So yeah. I'm very pleased that HMs are less important in Black and White. I think they can go a step further and completely abolish HMs though. I'm all for keeping out-of-battle moves, though. A Charizard should automatically be able to Fly/Cut or burn down trees etc... Maybe it would make sense to make the badges act like "licences" whereby they are a sign that the trainer is ready and allowed to use unsafe manoeuvres like riding on a Pokemon's back outside of battle. That would retain the exploration aspect of the HMs, while not taking up valuable moveset slots - and it would make the game far more believable, given that Pokemon are able to do what they should naturally be able to do - like swim, fly, push boulders - without needing to be taught.

It could even be linked to their stats. A Pokemon with a high enough Speed stat could be used as a Bicycle. A Pokemon with a high enough Attack could push boulders around, etc. But all these abilities would be out-of-battle abilities only, so there's no need to waste a move slot on something terrible like Defog.

 

[D0N3GAN]

I do like that there is less use of HM's in Black & White, but only needing to use Cut like once is not enough. I would have thought there would be a route with water which you needed Surf and a few boulders needing to be push here and there via Strength.

 

[Phototoxin]

I'm not keen on HM's as they tend to gimp your team and force selection of certain pokes. I'm glad that cut is required only once or twice. However I did find strength useful in some caves. I hope that this follows a trend whereby HM's are reduced to the bare essentials.

 

[Pebblycone]

I actually forget about them alot now that there is less emphasis :P
I only remember they exist when I see the odd boulder or tree, and then Im like:
"Oh..... they still have those?" xP

I've never understood the concept of HMs. I mean, why should a Braviary - an eagle, which spends its entire life flying - need to be "taught" to Fly? It's ridiculous. Similarly, why should my Darmanitan, who's definitely strong enough to push rocks around, need a certain move to actually do so? Why should a jellyfish like my Jellicent need to be taught to swim?! It just doesn't make any sense.

You have a very valid point... and I also lol'd at your very frank comments :P

 

[Pkmn Trainer Touko]

I've never understood the concept of HMs. I mean, why should a Braviary - an eagle, which spends its entire life flying - need to be "taught" to Fly? It's ridiculous. Similarly, why should my Darmanitan, who's definitely strong enough to push rocks around, need a certain move to actually do so? Why should a jellyfish like my Jellicent need to be taught to swim?! It just doesn't make any sense.

So yeah. I'm very pleased that HMs are less important in Black and White. I think they can go a step further and completely abolish HMs though. I'm all for keeping out-of-battle moves, though. A Charizard should automatically be able to Fly/Cut or burn down trees etc... Maybe it would make sense to make the badges act like "licences" whereby they are a sign that the trainer is ready and allowed to use unsafe manoeuvres like riding on a Pokemon's back outside of battle. That would retain the exploration aspect of the HMs, while not taking up valuable moveset slots - and it would make the game far more believable, given that Pokemon are able to do what they should naturally be able to do - like swim, fly, push boulders - without needing to be taught.

It could even be linked to their stats. A Pokemon with a high enough Speed stat could be used as a Bicycle. A Pokemon with a high enough Attack could push boulders around, etc. But all these abilities would be out-of-battle abilities only, so there's no need to waste a move slot on something terrible like Defog.

That's literally exactly my idea for HMs!!!!!!! I've been wishing for this forever!

Seriously, I say we all write to Game Freak with this idea!

I'm really glad that there is a less need for HMs in this game. But instead of getting rid of the challenge of needing certain HMs, they should just go with this concept.

 

[Pidgeotto]

I didn't think I'd like it at first, but I'm also playing through HeartGold now, and I find that I'm generally annoyed that I need an HM slave with me.

So, I'm happy about it.

 

[Clairissa]

I love the more infrequent use of HMs, most, other than surf, strength or waterfall, I did not like using simply because they took up a move slot and were rather weak moves to begin with.

 

[Krovvy]

I don't really mind. Some HMs in the previous games were kind of a chore. It has the important ones (Fly, Surf, Strength), and that's all that matters.

 

[Braeden23000]

It didn't really change much, instead of having to beat a gym to get a rock out of your way, you need to beat a gym to move a person out of your way. So its just as limited on where you can go. They didn't remove any useful HMs, so it didn't change any move pools or anything. But I do like how I don't need more than one HM slave, so I guess I like the lack of HM's.

 

[Scraggiland]

I like how there is less use of HM's within Pokémon Black and White, saves having a HM slave in my party.
Though HM's are not needed in this generation, well HM01 Cut is early on. I've found myself teaching them to my Pokémon, the Flying type learns Fly, the Water type learns Surf and each time I've taught my Scraggy and Darmanitan Strength. I've also had my Watchog use Cut in battle during the first part of the games.

 

[Red Scizor]

It didnt bother me.

But more required usage of HMs also doesnt bother me..

I'm content with both.

 

[blakeg]

What they should do is get rid of Hms they could do what they did with rocksmash, flash, sweet scent sinse Tms now have infinite use. Make the gym leader give it to you when you beat them as the TM.

Just a field move. It allows expoloration and doesnt require a HM slave. And they can help in battle as well as being replacable. :)