Pokémon!

[Nelavar]

I just realized that I went overboard on my stat increases as well anyway. The problem is that I am against redistributing stats in order to get a certain stat to appropriate levels. In Beedrill's case I felt it was fine as I don't think Beedrill has any special moves anyway and thus no use for the stat. With Meganium's mediocre attacking stats you kind of need to do it however.
Or end up staying mediocre.

Unless you go for defensive stat boosts, but then where is the difference to Venusaur?

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Isn't petal blizzard a 2-3 turn attack like outrage? I wouldn't walk both my stabs to be uncontrollable, if that's the case.

Petal Dance confuses you like Outrage does. Blizzard is just a solid 90 BP physical grass attack, no secondary effects.

[Well]

I just realized that I went overboard on my stat increases as well anyway. The problem is that I am against redistributing stats in order to get a certain stat to appropriate levels. In Beedrill's case I felt it was fine as I don't think Beedrill has any special moves anyway and thus no use for the stat. With Meganium's mediocre attacking stats you kind of need to do it however.
Or end up staying mediocre.

Unless you go for defensive stat boosts, but then where is the difference to Venusaur?

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Petal Dance confuses you like Outrage does. Blizzard is just a solid 90 BP physical grass attack, no secondary effects.

I am getting confused with the 6th gen's physical grass attack. Is that it?

[Nelavar]

I am getting confused with the 6th gen's physical grass attack. Is that it?

Dunno if it came from gen 6, I would guess it does as I hadn't heard of it before as well.
http://www.serebii.net/attackdex-xy/petalblizzard.shtml
For reference.

[Well]

Yeah, checked it up. Petal Blizzard is fine. That's the last of our problems though.

I really don't see why you would not want something that's been mediocre to finally get its share in the shining light of competitive play, but I digress. The special movepool of Meganium is literally of 2 types, with the 2nd one being Rock in Ancientpower. It though learns all special grass moves. Useful. :P

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Point being, that there's simply no reason for someone to use anything that has to be mixed because of... lack of moves and we're in fucking gen 6, because you force them to by design, unless the stat is so stupidly high (in the 180s) that you could get away without fully investing in it. But that simply isn't going to happen I guess. If they give meganium a simple +25 on all stats and call it a day, it's just bad design, I feel. Instead, I believe that they should move a mediocre pokemon somewhere, so it can shine. If some people that always had Meganium in their minds as a special attacker (given my example above), are disappointed, I am sure that they will be happy with a pokemon that can finally hold its ground in a battle, in some way or another.

But please, Game Freak.

No Magic Bounce yet again ><

[Adramalech]

I don't think there's a problem in making a pokemon that is typically special into physical with a Mega. I think it's great that it offers more variety that way, kinda like Mewtwo is a special attacker through and through, but it got the X Mega Evolution that turns it into a physical attacker. I'm not opposed to anything, as long as it's not slapping the +100 stats somewhere and giving it Leaf Guard again (I'm looking at you, Blaziken, and other pokemon who don't change their ability or get a crappy one upon M-Evolving).

[Nelavar]

I simply do not want to go to ridiculous lengths to make it happen. At times we simply have to accept that some Pokemon are badly designed stat or movepool wise.
Giving Meganium Dragon typing and cutting off 30+ SpA to make your stats IS borderline ridiculous to me.

If it happens, it'd be great and I'll gladly use Meganium but I will also start to get scared how much further they can go with other Pokemon.

[Adramalech]

I don't think it's that farfetched. I mean, just look at Beedrill. One of the worst fully evolved pokemon in the entire game, outclassed by every single one of its "low level bug" peers in every possible way. And now it's a colossal threat, because it was given the right ability and they went as far as moving most of its Special Attack into Attack.

Although I don't see them adding Dragon typing to it... well, let's just say I wasn't expecting it for Sceptile either.

[Nelavar]

Beedrill had a clear indication of what it was in base form though. A physical attacker. They took that and improved upon it. I still think it is wrong yet slightly acceptable.
Now Meganium doesn't have that same indication I feel. It's there if you look at the movepool, but nothing about its stats or its design scream "I am a physical attacker!".
Sure the changes from Mega evolving might make it look like that but I wonder: At what point are the changes so great that it would be more efficient to simply create a new Pokemon that fulfills what you want?

[4KhazModan]

Top 5 Friday #2: Top Gym Leaders-

For this list, you can take into account their actions and personality in game as well as their anime appearances!

1. Norman: His team is simply terrifying! Not only is it terrifying though, it perfectly suits his badge the Balance Badge. Slaking is fast and powerful, but balanced out by their truant ability. If you try to inflict a status on them, they will balance it by hitting you with powerful Facades. You can't just bring ghost types because they also run feint attack. In the anime, Norman used a balance of speed with Vigoroth and power with Slaking, throwing Ash off when they battled. Everything about Norman reflects his badge and it's purpose, to teach the player a lesson. But it isn't just about his badge though, it's about what that fight means for the player in the game. Norman was the first and only father to the player character we have seen and battling him felt much more like a personal victory of us finally surpassing him than any other gym leader before or since, and when you beat him, he couldn't be more proud.

2. Crasher Wake: While most other gym leaders are very serious, Crasher Wake emphasizes the importance of having fun while you battle! He is a wrestler with a bombastic personality with more energy than New Mauville! He even has his own theme song that he sings! And if he couldn't be more awesome, you know what he does with the money he wins from pokemon battles? Not but more potions and pokeballs like your selfish ass, he gives it to charity! That's right, Crasher Wake is a gym leader, wrestler, philanthropist! Sorry for all the exclamations, but Crasher Wake deserves nothing less!

3. Korrina: People who claimed XY were the easiest games yet must have completely skipped Korrina's gym in Shalour City. Fighting as a type in general is arguably one of the stronger types, being able to learn fantastic coverage for all of it's weaknesses. Apart from that, her gym is filled with trainers rocking some of the most powerful fighting types in the game; Sawk, Throh, Heracross, Hariyama! If you nuzlocke it, you may very well find yourself having to visit the death box when you challenge her gym. Furthermore, she is one of the few characters in the game that is capable of using mega evolution. She also has a fun personality, really friendly and full of energy. Also, her in game persona carried over into the anime as well, making her equally as awesome. My only complaint about Korrina is that she doesn't use a Lucario in her gym battle in game, but other than that, she earns the #3 spot.

4. Drayden: Look up old badass dude in the dictionary and his picture is what you will see. Do I really need to say much else? Well, maybe I do cause gen 5 in general gets a lot of flack. Anyways, he remembers a time before there were pokeballs, and despite Drayden's age, he is full of energy. Built like a Machoke, he also serves as the mayor of Opelucid city and the mentor to Iris who would go on to become the champion. And can we talk about his gym for a second? Not 1, but 2 giant imposing dragon statues with him all the way at the top, could he BE any more badass? Also, he emphasizes the relationship between trainers and their pokemon. He may be from the past, but he always looks to the future.

5. Brock: Brock was the first gym leader we would ever face and it would set the bar for what was to come. Sure, if you used Bulbasaur or Squirtle the fight was a breeze, but if you don't go at him with those 4x weaknesses, you may have a hard time getting past his powerful Onix(which at that low level is a threat). He doesn't just get on here for being the first though, what really solidified his spot this high on the list was his tenure on the anime. We all know and love Brock, so I don't think I really need elaborate from his anime appearance.

[Nelavar]

Had a rough time coming up with the order but here goes.

1. Blaine - Well first off he has a fire gym. I love fire Pokemon, nuff said on that front. On top of that he a highly experienced and highly intelligent guy who does know how to crack some nice jokes. His story also has a solid amount of drama, creating Mewtwo and all the bad things coming from that and then his Gym getting destroyed by the volcano. He's had it rough but it doesn't matter he's still ready as ever to incinerate all challengers.

2. Koga - I just really really like how we get to see a Gym Leader rise up the ranks to an E4 member, without taking such a huge jump like Wallace and Iris did. Though in both their games it was more the case of the champion having other shit to do than anything but still I ask: Why couldn't a previous E4 member take over as champ and Iris/Wallace be the new E4 member? Anyway, Koga does it the "right" way for me plus he's a flipping ninja.

3. Flannery - Fire type gym leader HYPE. I like how she tries her best to fill her grandfather's shoes. She has the best introduction in gen 3 hands down.^^

4. Brock - I like Brock for pretty much the same reasons that you do Khaz, we really do all love Brock, even us guys that picked Charmander.

5. Roxie - \m/ Kid's in a metal/punk band, I dig that. Bonus points for being the first Poison gym leader since Koga, sad that she is such an early gym leader though. Would have loved to see more and fully evolved Poison types in a gym.

[Well]

I simply do not want to go to ridiculous lengths to make it happen. At times we simply have to accept that some Pokemon are badly designed stat or movepool wise.
Giving Meganium Dragon typing and cutting off 30+ SpA to make your stats IS borderline ridiculous to me.

If it happens, it'd be great and I'll gladly use Meganium but I will also start to get scared how much further they can go with other Pokemon.

I can't find a single reason not to do that though. What's the problem? I am honestly curious. Why wouldn't someone want to essentially re-design a terrible and forgotten pokemon for competitive battling?

[Nelavar]

I can't find a single reason not to do that though. What's the problem? I am honestly curious. Why wouldn't someone want to essentially re-design a terrible and forgotten pokemon for competitive battling?

Because you cannot avoid having terrible and forgotten Pokemon anyway. If everyone is special no one is. You cannot fix everyone and once you realize that why "fix" Meganium over say, Tropius? It hurts but creating a new Pokemon and learning from the mistakes is more fair than trying to fix each and every badly designed Pokemon.

[Well]

Gym Leaders, huh? Hard one.

5. Sabrina. I was in love with the Psychic type back in my childhood. Water too, but Sabrina had me fucking terrified when I first saw the episodes of her trapping the gang and the likes. I don't list Misty, because she should have beaten Ash in the anime. Starmie was such a fav back then.

4. Pryce. I absolutely loved that he threw the white flag in the anime and said: "A trainer knows when he has lost". Oh God. Faved.

3. Cilan, Cress & Chili. I love the fact that they simply pick the worst matchup for the player based on the player's starter. It was a challenge that was very well-done for the 1st gym.

2. Marlon. I love the guy, somehow. Idealistic, Carefree & Water just take me away.

1. Cheren. I really like how he had story built on him and didn't just pop up to be forgotten after you beat him.


I am waiting to see how the anime will treat Valerie & Olympia, and then I'll see if they will be in my favourites list! :P

[4KhazModan]

@ Nel: Ya, if I did honorable mentions, I would definitely have Blaine and Flannery on there

@ Well: Interesting choices. Personally, the C-brothers would be harder if you didn't get the monkey that countered them :/

[Well]

Because you cannot avoid having terrible and forgotten Pokemon anyway. If everyone is special no one is. You cannot fix everyone and once you realize that why "fix" Meganium over say, Tropius? It hurts but creating a new Pokemon and learning from the mistakes is more fair than trying to fix each and every badly designed Pokemon.

I can certainly see the point of not making everyone an offensive powerhouse. That is a concern of mine as well. But no. You certainly can have NO pokemon that are forgotten. Pokemon have always been about each trainer and their personal style of battling. With each new human, comes a new team they lead in pokemon battling. Sure, some may be used less than others, but it's unacceptable for me to have pokemon that are complete crap, except from lore ones that simply would not make sense if they were strong, like Phione for instance. My point is that not everyone needs to be a powerhouse of offence, but rather, at least, while trying to make something new and you can see that it fails (Meganium is a very good example), and so many years have passed by with it seeing no changes or help... Try to make it into something that will actually be good at offence for example.

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@ Nel: Ya, if I did honorable mentions, I would definitely have Blaine and Flannery on there

@ Well: Interesting choices. Personally, the C-brothers would be harder if you didn't get the monkey that countered them :/

Thanks, Khaz. I really like all your choices, except Korrina, who I consider to be... craptastic to be honest. A 10 year old girl that does not even use her Lucario in your gym battle? I actually thought that she was insulting and underestimating the player by not using Lucario. She even gives you a mega-stone, because she's... stupidly good & kind? Korrina for me, is just a prime example of the stupid and unrealistic friendliness, the Pokemon franchise is going for lately. I really don't like that.

[4KhazModan]

Thanks, Khaz. I really like all your choices, except Korrina, who I consider to be... craptastic to be honest. A 10 year old girl that does not even use her Lucario in your gym battle? I actually thought that she was insulting and underestimating the player by not using Lucario. She even gives you a mega-stone, because she's... stupidly good & kind? Korrina for me, is just a prime example of the stupid and unrealistic friendliness, the Pokemon franchise is going for lately. I really don't like that.

But...how do you not love Korrina?

"Time for Lady Korrina's big appearance!"
"Haha, I'm just messing around with you! I know, you're rollin' in the aisles, right? I already know you're a strong Trainer, so let's get this show on the road!"

"Oh! I have been defeated! Alack, alay! Lady Korrina gave a terrible display! This is it. I must give up my title and admit that your strength far exceeds—Just teasing! But here's your Badge. Boy, you'll be rolling in 'em soon!"

She's not even salty when her Lucario wants to go with you!

[Deleted]

Beedrill had a clear indication of what it was in base form though. A physical attacker. They took that and improved upon it. I still think it is wrong yet slightly acceptable.
Now Meganium doesn't have that same indication I feel. It's there if you look at the movepool, but nothing about its stats or its design scream "I am a physical attacker!".
Sure the changes from Mega evolving might make it look like that but I wonder: At what point are the changes so great that it would be more efficient to simply create a new Pokemon that fulfills what you want?

The thing is that Meganium's design is to just be all-round decent and balanced. You would pretty much always pick some other Grass-type Pokemon to fill wall/physical attacker/special attacker/support role because they outclass it in that specific niche.
It has somewhat high base 100 defenses and decent HP + speed, wide support movepool and shallow offensive movepool. As a result it is usually run as either a support or a wall.

I would totally approve changing it into a physical attacker because right now it has more decent physical move options (like Outrage and Earthquake) than special ones and it does also look quite bulky and strong. Really tanky mega evolution with good ability and typing would be cool too. I run a lead/support set on my main Meganium which consists of Counter/Magic Coat/Reflect/Light Screen (this is for E4 team so there is no point in using damaging Grass moves).

[Well]

But...how do you not love Korrina?

"Time for Lady Korrina's big appearance!"
"Haha, I'm just messing around with you! I know, you're rollin' in the aisles, right? I already know you're a strong Trainer, so let's get this show on the road!"

"Oh! I have been defeated! Alack, alay! Lady Korrina gave a terrible display! This is it. I must give up my title and admit that your strength far exceeds—Just teasing! But here's your Badge. Boy, you'll be rolling in 'em soon!"

She's not even salty when her Lucario wants to go with you!

Exactly, that's the problem. I really can't shallow a Gym Leader with such an attitude. "Oh, one of my best buddies wants to suddenly abandon me, and follow this guy that he knows for 15mins. Perfectly fine! I can't care less"

Lol, what?

"Oh, before you go, take this one-of-a-piece megastone because you're the guy I've known for 15mins and my Lucario wants to go with you."

Ugh...

[4KhazModan]

The thing is that Meganium's design is to just be all-round decent and balanced. You would pretty much always pick some other Grass-type Pokemon to fill wall/physical attacker/special attacker/support role because they outclass it in that specific niche.
It has somewhat high base 100 defenses and decent HP + speed, wide support movepool and shallow offensive movepool. As a result it is usually run as either a support or a wall.

I would totally approve changing it into a physical attacker because right now it has more decent physical move options (like Outrage and Earthquake) than special ones and it does also look quite bulky and strong. Really tanky mega evolution with good ability and typing would be cool too. I run a lead/support set on my main Meganium which consists of Counter/Magic Coat/Reflect/Light Screen (this is for E4 team so there is no point in using damaging Grass moves).

Ya, Meganium works best as a support pokemon like a dual screener/aromatherapy. I think an ideal Mega would have it with Magic Bounce and more bulk and maybe a secondary typing like Fairy.

[Deleted]

Ya, Meganium works best as a support pokemon like a dual screener/aromatherapy. I think an ideal Mega would have it with Magic Bounce and more bulk and maybe a secondary typing like Fairy.

I really hope they never dump "Grass skin" ability to a Grass type mega evolution if they can't come up with anything else. Seems like they are throwing Magic Bounces around like that right now.