Why is fighting 'not very effective' against psychic?

Omaeka

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    • Seen Mar 25, 2013
    I never, ever got this. I do understand psychic being super effective against fighting, but surely it should work both ways? Because something is intelligent it's automatically resistant to being hit by brute force? Lol.

    If they are happy to be stereotypical about brains hurting brawn, surely brawn should also hurt brains. I'm pretty sure if a scientist got punched in the throat by a professional fighter, it'd be 'super effective'.

    Pokémon...
     
    I think mainly due to the common saying of "brain over brawn." I actually don't find any issues with this, as although yes, being punched in the throat would hurt, this is Pokemon, so psychic types have very different abilities than humans do when it comes to brains.
     
    You could make an argument for any type vs type. You could ask why ice doesn't resist water because it is frozen water. GF had to balance out the type chart to make all types have advantages and disadvanatges whether we like it or not. The game would not be the same if fight hurt psychic, IMO.
     
    Curious. said:
    I think mainly due to the common saying of "brain over brawn." I actually don't find any issues with this, as although yes, being punched in the throat would hurt, this is Pokemon, so psychic types have very different abilities than humans do when it comes to brains.
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    Pretty much this.

    To add: in other media, tactical thinking (compared to Psychic) is often the better solution as opposed to brute force (compared to Fighting).
     
    I agree to a point, especially about the overall balance, and I see why it makes sense for psychic to hit fighting hard. It just doesn't make sense that, if Machamp punched Alakazam in the face at full power, it would be 'not very effective' when he could throw a rock at him instead and do decent damage.

    I don't think it'd be too different if they hit eachother hard tbh.
     
    Omaeka said:
    I don't think it'd be too different if they hit eachother hard tbh.
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    Gameplay-wise, it probably would, in fact, make a huge difference. You have to realize how weak Ice-types are defensively. And the culprit? It only resists its own type. So if you take the only other type that Psychic-type Pokémon resist apart from itself, you can't expect the likes of Alakazam, who are frail to physical damage, to be too happy about that. And to add more salt to the injury, the thought of making Fighting-type moves super effective would put Psychic-types in an even worse state than Ice-types, because it would only be effective offensively against two types compared to Ice's four, while having the same number of weaknesses as Ice. Admittedly, this isn't too fair of a comparison, since the four types that Ice is weak to are far more common than the three (or if you add Fighting, then four) types that Psychic is weak to, but you get the drill.

    Nevertheless, I get where you're coming from. I really think that tons of other stuff in the type chart don't make sense. It's just that they have to balance things out gameplay-wise, like jellicentfan1 said.
     
    I think it's because fighting types are based around precise martial arts techniques and psychic pokemon can predict what they're going to do and therefore lessen the impact.

    As for bugs, I guess it's because they're so dumb that even they don't know what they're going to do next, never mind a psychic pokemon trying to read its mind.
     
    In Gen 1, Psychic-types were commonly associated with moves like Barrier, Reflect, and Light Screen, so I presume that's why - they create those barriers to block things coming right for them, because nerds like Alakazam have frail bodies and have to make up for it somehow. Rock Throw is a more distant attack and they can't set up those barriers as easily.

    Also Alakazam can make Machamp punch itself in the head, so that's why Psychics are super-effective against fighting. They can move stuff.
     
    Some good points, but none of them override reality, not everyone who can fight is a dumb jock who you could trick into punching themselves in the head. That's far from the case, most martial artists are extremely educated. Fighting should have naturally lower accuracy against psychic types but still deal 2x damage, I'm hoping they'll add something like that in the next generation as mechanics improve. Fighting Pokémon should have a tough time hitting a Psychic type, but when they do they should deal huge damage, and not just through high attack vs low defence, but through type advantage too. Either that or make it regular damage rather than 1/2x.

    Also, no fighting Pokémon uses brute force except maybe Conkeldurr and Embaor. Medicham, Machamp, Hitmonlee/chan, Hariyama, Lucario, Mienshao etc. are all technical fighters. Fighting type moves are also very technical, with the exception of Rock Smash, every fighting move uses technique (i.e Focus Punch, Karate Chop, Vital Throw, Submission). As for Fighting dealing 2x damage against Normal, I think comes from reality, where a highly trained fighter would easily handle an average Joe, and normal types kind of constitute as the average Joe Pokémon.
     
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    I see what you mean,and whilst as I do partially agree with you...look at it this way.
    Why not cut the accuracy of all fighting type moves if targeting a psychic type pokemon,but make them super effective?
    Well the only problem though would be;why would a psychic type pokemon only keep fighting pokemon away? Why not all physical attacks?
    If they did that it would seriously buff all psychic pokemon because their main weakness would be gone.
    Trust me,it annoys me sometimes as well,but i'd rather just fighting type moves be "not very effective" then only special attack reliant moves have any chance of hitting. :/
     
    I always thought that Psychic types held a defensive advantage over Fighting-types for the same reason the Byakugan and Sharingan gave advantage over physical moves in the Naruto world (I kinda dislike using this an example but meh~). Instead of actual visual prowess, Psychic types can probably foresee where a Fighting move may land and adjust accordingly to lower the impact. Inversely, Dark (Evil type in japanese IIRC) types and Ghost types probably invade a Psychic types mind and use their power of foresight against them or cloud their judgment, which is why they would be super effective against Psychic types.

    Also, being a Psychic type doesn't necessarily mean the Pokemon is intelligent. (e.g. Slowbro)
     
    jellicentfan1 said:
    You could make an argument for any type vs type. You could ask why ice doesn't resist water because it is frozen water. GF had to balance out the type chart to make all types have advantages and disadvanatges whether we like it or not. The game would not be the same if fight hurt psychic, IMO.
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    This all the way. Arguments can be made for all type advantages/disadvantages, so they all "make sense," but there has to be a limit somewhere.
    Omaeka said:
    I agree to a point, especially about the overall balance, and I see why it makes sense for psychic to hit fighting hard. It just doesn't make sense that, if Machamp punched Alakazam in the face at full power, it would be 'not very effective' when he could throw a rock at him instead and do decent damage.

    I don't think it'd be too different if they hit eachother hard tbh.
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    By that logic, Fighting would be super-effective against everything, and I don't think I need to point out the problems that would cause.
    Also, if you were to throw a boulder at someone at full power that would probably be considered "super-effective" too, if being "punched hard in the face" were to be. So Rock would be super-effective against everything, too. Or at least against Psychic, since you seem to think that Psychics are not very beefy by nature (although Reuniclus would beg to differ).

    I can totally understand why, in your example with frail Alakazam, you would think that Fighting-type attacks should be super-effective. But as stated above, all type advantages/disadvantages can be argued. Because of that, limits need to be in place, or else everything would be super-effective against everything else. Also, as also stated above, not all Psychic-types are frail, and some actually have good reason for being able to resist such attacks.
     
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    Mind over matter. Pure physical force is inferior to a meticulous hatched idea/plan/mindset.

    Of cos this is just in the philosophical sense.
    Common sense tells us if a machamp can somehow land a dynamicpunch on alakazam it should of cos KO alakazam given Zam's frailness and machamp's super strength.
    But game mechanics (based on the philosophical sense) dictate otherwise.
     
    And maybe I could add that before you could even run and strike the guy, the guy will use his psychic powers and move you to anywhere they like.
     
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