Power Points

[Devalue]

(No, not the presentation.)

How do you feel about Power Points (PP)? Existed since the beginning. Does it still have a place today, or is it a relic of the past?

______________

Views power points as an annoyance, mainly. Forces you to use worse moves or a different Pokemon in the case of long dungeons. Acts as a safeguard from stalemates too. Appreciates what it intends. Usually means wasting time backtracking to heal instead, however.

Prefers to see power points disappear. Interacts with it too little in most battles, even with Pressure and the rare Spite or G-Max Depletion. Would rather see something more like Disable, Cursed Body, and (essentially) Grudge for disabling moves. May need to introduce a fatigue mechanic or something. Subtracts hitpoints, like Struggle, after X straight turns in battle (maybe 20). Could assign specific fatigue amounts to moves instead, also. Begins to Struggle at X fatigue points.

 

[Duck]

I think they had their place in the earlier games but considering we just have more information about mechanics nowadays so we're better players in general, the exp buffs and frequent heals / healing items / fast travel to heal, they feel more like annoyances than anything.

 

[Zeostar]

I understand it as a point of balance. Gives more repercussions to absurdly powerful moves.

 

[ReKoil]

I rarely run back to a Pokemon Center to restore PP specifically tbh.
I guess it could be annoying, but for me completely running out of PP is so rare that I don't mind it.
Guess idc about it =p

 

[Corveone]

It's an irrelevant factor most of the time, and it's kinda pointless since the strongest moves usually already have an accuracy penalty so having less PP is mostly just an extra annoyance.

I have done quite a few entire Elite Four without using a single PP restoring item so... I guess the only reason I see for PP to exist is to prevent "eternal stall" situations or specific cases like that, and to give Pressure and Spite a niche, but honestly Pressure allways felt like a generic placeholder ability to me that was given to (mostly) legendary Pokémon they couldn't came up with anything interesting for.

Fun fact, PP become more relevant in Legends Arceus, since due to the Strong/Agile style you sometimes have to keep an eye on PP usage.

 

[Drayton]

I don't have time to look for elixir or either in-game, at this point I may resort some less powerful move than going with full power one. I do want to end the fight fast after all but using a lot of 80-90 base power moves, moves with high recoil and other drawback moves seemingly have flexible PP, things like fire blast if missed few times and that is -1 PP for not hitting proprely due to accuracy. It's either I want to get this done fast or conserve last fight for good.

How often you find PP ups and PP max in the game? They're scatter about and seemingly rare find indeed.

 

[Roni]

I strike a good balance where I select moves that can OHKO or 2HKO foes while having around 15-20 PP. Multiply that by 3 or 4 and it'll take 45-80 turns before I run out of attacks. On just ONE Pokemon in my party of six. When it comes to dungeons, I believe I'm always set. Main line games don't even really make 'em that long anymore, and if they do, they plop in one or two healing spots here and there to make it a non-issue. Rom hacks with annoyingly long routes are the ones I struggle with, but thankfully I haven't encountered that in a long while.

I'm fine if GF ever changes that mechanic sometime in the future, but I'm also fine if they stick with it to the end. Doesn't affect me much if at all.

 

[Amore]

I've never really considered the idea of GF getting rid...as an experienced player obviously they're mostly an inconvenience, but as a kid it was really worrying when I saw their PP go into the red. I like that they keep the reusable TMs in check.

 

[Sheep]

I'm quite used to them at this point, and generally not bothered by their existence since I have enough PP-healing items most of the time. But running out as a teen during the Hoenn Elite Four because several of Phoebe's Pokémon have the Pressure ability was…not fun, to say the least.

Most of what I use are more accurate moves with okay PP (Thunderbolt, Psychic, Ice Beam etc) but if I had more low accuracy and PP moves it would definitely be a struggle to keep healing lol. I feel like PP mainly just exists for the competitive side since things would be too broken otherwise.

 

[TwilightBlade]

They're an inconvenience at this point. I have to specifically grow Leppa Berries since Elixir/Ether aren't really purchasable as far as I know. It's not fun to run out of PP during the Elite Four, chaining for shiny Pokemon, etc. It makes the Dynamax Adventure in Sword/Shield more difficult because some of the final battles are with legendaries with the Pressure ability. The rental Pokemon are so awful that I'll run out of a super effective move by the end. I guess it adds to the challenge?

 

[Palamon]

I think it's a necessary evil. Imagine if moves had unlimited uses. That would be completely unfair and unbalanced for Pokemon, anyway, in my opinion. Other games have MP or cool downs, so I'm not bothered by power points since it's been in Pokemon since day one. I don't think it's going to go anywhere. I wish PP restoring items were easier to come by, though. Like, at least let us by Ethers in the stores. It doesn't have to be elixirs, or anything.

 

[Duck]

In a theoretical kind of way PP is there for balance, but is it really a check in practice?

Like, during normal gameplays I'm usually already strong enough that I don't even need to be Super Effective to kill most random trainers without too much issue and I can always force a heal before gym leaders.

Which means that PP is only really a factor when dealing with the Elite Four + Champion (and not even that in recent games since in Galar at least, they give you a full heal between fights, irrc) or when I'm just stalling a battle via the use of healing items / healing moves which is just kind of a cheap strategy in and of itself.

I'm also not the most competitive minded player but I don't think PP is usually a relevant factor in the competitive scene outside of Stall battles (which are just annoying and a cheap strategy in and of itself?). Really, the main argument I'd have for PP is that not having it makes Infinite Battles easier to happen but even then those are pretty rare to begin with.