I love the fact that they're bringing us more viable Ice typings. I do still hope they modify the type-chart itself, given that even Ice-Steel has it's problems (despite being half steel - the best defensive type in the game), but just getting Ice-Steel & Ice-Fairy gives a greater chance to make an Ice-type Pokemon more viable, assuming they have the stats to go with it. I do kinda wish that they'd've come up with new, unique Pokemon for such new, unique typings, but at least I can say the result looks amazing. I'm likely gonna have to find room for one of those on my team - I do like Ice types despite their poor defensive typing.
Alolan Exeggutor makes sense, and is an interesting Pokemon, but looks so silly. I do hope we get some other Grass-Dragon beyond just this, though - if not this gen, then next - simply because I think they can do loads better than a tall palm tree that's a dragon because reasons (as opposed to a short palm tree that's psychic because... reasons).
I love the four birds, as well as their typings (yay, more ghosts!). Their ability could get out-of-control real fast in double/triple battles, though, which admittedly could be hilarious.
I love Lurantis' design, but really wish it was more than just a straight grass-type. Combined with its dependence on Sunny Day (particularly to use its ability), it's just doesn't seem that useful, particularly given the amount of more useful grass-types out there. Looks gorgeous, but not sure if I'd actually use it.
Minior's pretty cool, but I'll need to see stats before I can really judge it, given how the Pokemon works with its ability.
I love the decision to mix things up with this Island Challenge instead of the traditional League structure. Keeps the heart of the challenge alive while changing how it works, which is a good way to step into a new idea for the standard structure of the games. I like how the Trial Captains all seem to have different focuses in terms of challenging you, as well as different personalities to match. Hopefully, they & the Kahunas will be fairly involved in the story, too. And the fact that you have various different battles to go through, and have to fight against these interesting Totem Pokemon even before you battle the Kahuna (who might be fighting with those Guardian Pokemon, given how the later choose the former). It's just a cool set-up!
I'm really hoping the Poke-Ride replaces HM moves, because good lord do they need to get rid of those already. Seriously, HM requirements & the difficulty in forgetting them are the things that have frustrated me the most since I started playing in Gen IV. I want to be able to train my team to the best of my ability, and use interesting move sets for coverage & combos, but HMs always get in the way. I had to teach my Togekiss in Y Fly instead of Air Slash just so I wouldn't have to constantly mess with the PC to go everywhere. Also, needing to teach Sharpedo Surf in Alpha Sapphire to take advantage of its surf speed, despite the fact that it's a physical attacker. It's annoying, and if Poke-Ride replaces the need for that (I'm fine with it being an option), than all the better.
Also, Z-Moves. Obviously, tied to Zygarde. I like that it gives another option to make a Pokemon more powerful outside of Megas, but really, you're still gonna want to use this on already-powerful Pokemon to get a OHKO in competitive. Also, you still get to use a Mega on top of that (as far as we know - would be odd if you couldn't, given a Mega is still better than a one-off Z-Move), so Megas aren't going anywhere. Despite what some people are saying, I still want new Megas, too. While Megas have been given to some Pokemon that really don't need them (*cough*Garchomp*cough*), they've also brought a lot of other Pokemon up into the realm of usability (Mawile, Kangaskhan, Beedrill, Audino, ect). I'd like to see more of that. As for the Z-Moves, I'll have to wait and see how useful (or overpowered) they really are in-game.
Alolan Exeggutor makes sense, and is an interesting Pokemon, but looks so silly. I do hope we get some other Grass-Dragon beyond just this, though - if not this gen, then next - simply because I think they can do loads better than a tall palm tree that's a dragon because reasons (as opposed to a short palm tree that's psychic because... reasons).
I love the four birds, as well as their typings (yay, more ghosts!). Their ability could get out-of-control real fast in double/triple battles, though, which admittedly could be hilarious.
I love Lurantis' design, but really wish it was more than just a straight grass-type. Combined with its dependence on Sunny Day (particularly to use its ability), it's just doesn't seem that useful, particularly given the amount of more useful grass-types out there. Looks gorgeous, but not sure if I'd actually use it.
Minior's pretty cool, but I'll need to see stats before I can really judge it, given how the Pokemon works with its ability.
I love the decision to mix things up with this Island Challenge instead of the traditional League structure. Keeps the heart of the challenge alive while changing how it works, which is a good way to step into a new idea for the standard structure of the games. I like how the Trial Captains all seem to have different focuses in terms of challenging you, as well as different personalities to match. Hopefully, they & the Kahunas will be fairly involved in the story, too. And the fact that you have various different battles to go through, and have to fight against these interesting Totem Pokemon even before you battle the Kahuna (who might be fighting with those Guardian Pokemon, given how the later choose the former). It's just a cool set-up!
I'm really hoping the Poke-Ride replaces HM moves, because good lord do they need to get rid of those already. Seriously, HM requirements & the difficulty in forgetting them are the things that have frustrated me the most since I started playing in Gen IV. I want to be able to train my team to the best of my ability, and use interesting move sets for coverage & combos, but HMs always get in the way. I had to teach my Togekiss in Y Fly instead of Air Slash just so I wouldn't have to constantly mess with the PC to go everywhere. Also, needing to teach Sharpedo Surf in Alpha Sapphire to take advantage of its surf speed, despite the fact that it's a physical attacker. It's annoying, and if Poke-Ride replaces the need for that (I'm fine with it being an option), than all the better.
Also, Z-Moves. Obviously, tied to Zygarde. I like that it gives another option to make a Pokemon more powerful outside of Megas, but really, you're still gonna want to use this on already-powerful Pokemon to get a OHKO in competitive. Also, you still get to use a Mega on top of that (as far as we know - would be odd if you couldn't, given a Mega is still better than a one-off Z-Move), so Megas aren't going anywhere. Despite what some people are saying, I still want new Megas, too. While Megas have been given to some Pokemon that really don't need them (*cough*Garchomp*cough*), they've also brought a lot of other Pokemon up into the realm of usability (Mawile, Kangaskhan, Beedrill, Audino, ect). I'd like to see more of that. As for the Z-Moves, I'll have to wait and see how useful (or overpowered) they really are in-game.
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