Features Pokemon is Phasing Out

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

Happy JPR Friday! What features do you miss the most?

[@noviranger88]

43-car fields.

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

I guess I do miss the "linearity" of travelling in Pokémon games.

[@TheShadow1347]

Fishing and trainer rematches

[@DanielNICE-x1m]

being able to intrude into peoples' houses

[@cjcavallo5525]

@@noviranger88

[@menojuan93]

Sad that fishing is gone, especially in Gen 9, where it's based on Spain and Portugal which both have remarkable seafood. It would have been nice to see the fishing/fisherman fleshed out more.

[@Josh-qt5zi]

Gamefreak be like nah let's have a school setting for the Spanish region, which doesn't make sense for one

[@ninjaman0003]

They removed fishing? That is so stupid. It’s been in since gen 1 and is a good reason to get pokemon in deep water.

[@Castersvarog]

I hate they they’ve been removing it more and more. Because it was super nice to have a way to get water types before getting surf, and it opens up new locations for Pokémon to live in. Deep sea Pokémon are in underexplored concept and it’s a shame it’s gonna be gone

[@Lemuel928]

We don’t catch Water Type Pokémon anymore?

[@gaitadefoles]

​​@@Josh-qt5ziit's also portuguese PORTUGAL CARALHO!!!

[@castform7]

Dude I loved the VS Seeker. Not only a nice way of showing the evolution of the world around you but also just a nice way of making grinding less tedious and getting a bunch of extra cash pretty easily. I really wish it was in more games.

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

truly the craziest removal of all time

[@njivwathomassilavwe2056]

@@castform7 it was an Arceus send for FRLG grinding

[@vaporterra]

VS Seeker should’ve been a staple

[@castform7]

@@njivwathomassilavwe2056 Cannot play FRLG without excessive use of it.

[@jbcatz5]

Even when caves weren’t VS Seeker friendly it was still great for grinding exp and pokedollars. In the post-game there’s a trainer on Five Island iirc whose Pokémon held a high selling price item that made farming money a cinch if you had an item stealing move, and if you had a trainer in an open area that you could reliably defeat for good exp and minimal use of moves for more efficient PP over multiple battles, that’s exp farming sorted.

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

Personally I never minded that HMs are gone because, besides being annoying that I had to have one Pokémon to use HMs and not being an useful part of the team, I also felt bad for said Pokémon as it wasn't a real part of the team.

[@Silentraddish]

I enjoyed it. It made exploration more dangerous and satisfying.

[@Yoshyguy21]

@@Silentraddish I'd agree if they didn't feel so clunky to use. Hindering your mon's moveset for a move that was, in many cases, mandatory to make progress and also not very good in combat was a pain in the ass

[@LeetTron5000]

How was it not a real part of the team? Not every pokemon needs to be a battle slave to be part of the team.

[@Yoshyguy21]

@@LeetTron5000 Well you certainly engage far less with them if their main purpose is to clear obstacles in the overworld (specially prior to gen 6 since there was no game mechanic that allowed you to interact with your mons in any other way)

[@llamadrama1090]

​@Yoshyguy21 yeah, they feel like you only have them because of the tm so they don't "feel" like a buddy, just a worker

[@RestingStitchFace0]

All they had to do with HMs was make them "free." If a Pokemon COULD Surf, it can just do it. No moveslot needed.

[@extremmefan7305]

That's the idea I had, personally. Call them "Techniques", in that they're overworld traversal tools but not mastered enough by the Pokemon in question to really use them as the actual moves. (And then have the associated moves exist separately, and the HM gives you the option to teach it as either a move or a technique)

[@notme8232]

Sorta like Let's Go ride Pokemon (still so mad they removed that)

[@pn2294]

That would remove commitment

[@RestingStitchFace0]

@@pn2294 So does constantly having a legendary Pokemon do it for you, or a magical surfing bicycle.

[@extremmefan7305]

@@pn2294 They're already removing it anyways via Ride Pokémon, flying taxis, and godly Bidoofs. The very least they could do is allow us to have it depend on our own team rather than random rental/working/instantaneous Pokemon.

[@Deadpool3E]

Legends: Arceus used Ursaluna as an Item Finder. You even ran when you were tracking something.

[@GoldenSun3DS]

I can't remember the exact details, but I remember there being a mod available that improved Ursaluna's controls.

[@Pitrek1113]

In Let's GO your starter functioned as an itemfinder too. They would wiggle their tail if there's a hidden item nearby.

[@eljohnny1615]

Gen 6 lowkey had such great features that i still mourn to this day. Super training was pretty useful, engaging and beginner friendly option for ev training. The dexnav from ORAS was also such a thorough iteration of the pokefinder, like, you could get egg moves and specific natures for a ton of pokemon without much hassle. Really miss the usefulness it provided

[@chrisclifton192]

Gen 6 was peak feature wise tbh. I enjoyed gen 7 but it was a step in the wrong direction and gen 8&9 haven’t improved in those areas and just have gotten worse.

[@oscarzxn4067]

I never felt any connection with my Pokémon with the HM, I was just looking at a Lapras and later Wailmer sprites or some black bird silhouette

[@dinar471]

Lol for real, like are we misremembering HMs as these meaningful experiences? Go through victory road in gen 4 and let me know if you feel connected to your Bibarel

[@raonair]

The rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia. I'm pretty sure JPR hated having to use useless moves that you couldn't delete from you mons at will, just like the rest of us

[@taylorjames14]

​@@dinar471yeah HMs were awful in the first 4 gens but with unbreakable TMs they weren't half as bad

[@johnnyknadler1157]

@@taylorjames14Surf and waterfall were good.

[@Shinntoku]

@@oscarzxn4067 yeah I had way more attachments to ride pokemon, noble pokemon, and the raidons than I ever did to HMs

[@njivwathomassilavwe2056]

Triple battles, rotation battles and inverse battles my beloved. (Granted inverse was one building in one game but still)

[@tpsam]

2 games xy and oras

[@JustaGr8GuyHere]

Inverse battles were so much fun!

[@vaporterra]

I miss those too

[@Zorothegallade-rpg]

They removed those cause they don't know how to optimize their code, so rendering 6 Pokémon at a time would melt the console

[@justjoannak]

I miss rotation battles sm 😢

[@Rainfire-forgets-to-animate]

I think ride pokemon should be like a combination between legends arceus and scarlet and violet. I imagine having a second "ride party" at the bottom of your menu like miraidon in s/v. There'd be one slot for basic "go fast plus maybe jump" rides, one slot for climbing rides, one slot for swimming, one for flying. Every pokemon would logically be sorted into the proper categor(ies). You wouldn't need to waste moves or even battle with it, but you would have to catch at least one pokemon that fit into each ride category, and then you could pick which of those pokemon you wanted to ride. Then you'd have a personal connection to your ride pokemon, and you could make sure you get to use the one you like most. Plus, you could ride on any eligible shinies you find.

[@FrozenFennekin]

Oh that actually sounds really cool! It might be difficult to implement for every pokémon though (especially for ones with a unique riding sprite like running or surfing ride pokémon). Maybe there’s a building (or just an npc if gamefreak wants to continue the trend of “shove everything in the Pokémon center even if it makes no sense”) in every town that tells you what pokémon are eligible to ride and let’s you register a ride pokémon there. Instead of the gym leader telling you that you can now use cut/surf/fly/etc., they’ll give you a license to register that type of ride pokémon. If you don’t have any eligible pokémon, you could also “rent” a ride pokémon that you pay for when returning it like when you take out pokémon from the daycare. Or you could get gifted eligible pokémon like the gift lapras in X/Y (not as obvious as that one though, you’d have to actually look for the gift npc but someone in the registration building would tell you about them/give you a hint.)

[@64bitEmerald]

I think cut should've been super effective on grass types because... cutting grass. And strength should've been fighting type because fighting types are supposed to have strong muscles

[@robertlupa8273]

On one hand, I can see why Strength would be Normal, since it's just a blow done by someone who has a lot of... well, strength. On the other hand, it has the same Japanese name as the category of Machamp, the poster man of Fighting type. It was even the only Pokemon to learn the move by level up once it lost its HM status in Gen 7. Not to mention it being the Ride Pokemon for the Strength replacement.

[@commonviewer2488]

You could make them dual-type moves

[@arininquotes8396]

Cut could be like a steel type freeze dry where it's super effective against a type it otherwise wouldn't be.

[@goGothitaLOL]

and Rock Climb should’ve been………well Rock-type Bonus points if it’s 100% accurate which is long overdue for a physical Rock move, not named the pitifully weak ass Smack Down. That and physical Rock-types themselves could really use a reliable STAB for once.

[@aruakise9803]

Cut should be flyong type for the same reason aerial ace/tsubame gaeshi is. Strength fighting type, and rock clumb rock

[@bulborb8756]

Personally I'm glad HM's are gone, they where annoying to deal with, and I'm not saying that having a water and/or flying type on a team is bad, it was just dumb how like half your team had to be dedicated to your starter (if you didn't pick the water one), a water type and someone who can learn fly. And personally, i'd like for HM's to remain gone forever

[@raonair]

Tbf, you never HAD to use your starter for the whole run

[@joshuafrimpong244]

@@raonair That sounds like a personal betrayal of what one was then

[@Zorothegallade-rpg]

It would be cool if Gamefreak went the Palworld route and made HMs into key items that unlock that functionality for all Pokémon of that species. IE. you obtain a Rapidash saddle and from that point on you can ride around on any Rapidash you catch.

[@avenger4027]

@@Zorothegallade-rpg Gamefreak could lift a page from the Ranger games. The Field Move system is pure genius; every Pokemon (by species) has an overworld ability to interact with obstacles (and not just this vanilla surfing and cutting - you can extinguish flames or electrify obstacles) - no Pokemon species is really obsolete and you can do puzzles and progression locks by gating it behind the availability of the species.

[@marlonhoek9835]

HM's being removed were more like "well, now i can actually make that last slot useful." Then anything

[@kmdreacts]

Dexnav feature from ORAS was a damn Arceus-send in finding Pokemon with special moves and hidden abilities that GF said "Aaaaaaaaaaand It's Gone!!" Mega evos, rollerblades, Soar (instead of fly), Rotomdex lottery from USUM, in-world events that can only be accessed by a certain time of day/night, Roaming legendaries (I rather enjoyed the randomness of them). Berry Pots and Pokepelago were some uncommon favourites of mine, too.

[@Xanegoh]

The dexnav was one of the best things game freak ever came up with. Easy access to the map, being able to see what pokemon are found on the routes and which you caught, the trainer's eye showing you npc's you can rematch. Plus, after unlocking HM fly, you can simply open the map and select your destination. No more awkwardly navigating through your team and selecting the pokemon with fly just to use it.

[@digifreak90]

Oh, I absolutely love the DexNav and "Hidden" pokemon mechanic in ORAS.

[@notme8232]

Mantine Surf my beloved

[@CrimpyPlate]

Personally, I'd like the option to rematch NPC trainers in Scarlet and Violet. Like, if you find them while exploring still, you can walk up to them and challenge them again. Of course, that ties into a larger problem with these games, in that they really needed level scaling. Granted, most people bring that up when talking about challenging the gym leaders in any order you want. But it could also be used here

[@nickdentoom1173]

I have a feeling Level Scaling will never be a thing in Pokemon anyways, due to the cohesive storyline being a problem then. At the same time though, not having level scaling defeats the purpose of having Open World. Not only that, not talking about level scaling exclusively, Scarlet and Violet have proven Open World doesn't really work for Pokemon in its current capacity anyways and then i am not talking about the exploration bit, but about the Pokemon themselves. They are just there, they just walk around aimlessley like robots. Like... we know that there are connections in the game between certain Pokemon, but even they don't interact with eachother (Zangoose/Seviper). It also the case that Pokemon don't seem to migratory, which at least makes sense for some Pokemon not being able to get from one area to the next, but birds/flying types, Pokemon that float or fish/water dwelling, should be migratory. That is also a cool way they can make seasons return too, where some Pokemon migrate away to another area because the other area isn't suited anymore. I preferred the way Sword and Shield did it as well, having both Overworld and random encounters, since that also makes more sense in my mind, having some Pokemon only be random encounter because they are to shy to come out of their hiding spot.

[@CrimpyPlate]

@nickdentoom1173 I don't really think the storyline is a major concern for this. A game like Super Mario Wonder was able to manage it where the first 3 worlds are set, but worlds 4-6 can be taken on in any order you want. If there's a conversation you need to have with an NPC at a certain point in the game's progression, it can easily be programmed to trigger after you receive X number of badges

[@nickdentoom1173]

@@CrimpyPlate This is Gamefreak we are talking about. They always want to have a sense of linearity because of their target audience being children. Hence we still got a set way of doing the Paldea gyms/trials/evil team is terms of typings + Nemona's team didn't level scale either. Its also not about the trainers perse, its more about the wild Pokemon and the area's. You really cannot level scale early game until you have a certain amount of badges, because then you either struggle to advance or level up so much the rest of the game becomes a cakewalk, defeating the purpose of level scaling.

[@Petsinwinter2]

No, I totally feel you on The "old man yells at cloud" points. Since the move to 3D, it feels as though Game Freak has been throwing out any semblance of challenge for the sake of convenience. I admit I haven't played LA or SV, but damn, it felt like I haven't had to work for much of anything in the mainline Pokemon games I've played released in the past decade.

[@mcihay246]

QoL is not a bad thing. Neither is convenience. It has never been easier to compete in competitive Pokemon as an example, due to how IVs, EVs, and Abilities can be easily modified. In the past, the common player had no way of creating a competitively viable team legitimately without having to question their masochism. Now, competitive Pokemon has a lower barrier of entry. Instead of needing to be a masochist and skilled at the game to enter, all you have to be is skilled at battling. Which should only have ever been the only requirement. HMs are also unnecessary, thank goodness for that. Nobody wanted to have to be forced to get rid of a move, interfering with a preferred battle moveset (by replacing it with something that does not gel well either), just so they can continue playing the game. Games shouldn't be designed to where you have to shoot yourself in the foot first before having the means to actually play, and then feel accomplished by believing that it was so worth shooting yourself to get that far.

[@Petsinwinter2]

@mcihay246 oh, sorry, maybe I should have laid down my own examples. I'm not talking about actual QoL. I'm very glad to see HMs gone and the improvements made to crafting the perfect Pokemon. What I was talking about was how much easier story progression has gotten. Despite the Experience buffs between gens 5 and 8, trainer battles have only gotten easier. Wulfric, XY's _8th_ gym leader, has at least 1 Pokemon with 3 moves. I've noticed a bunch of trainers in Galar who have 2 pokémon that are *lower level* than the wild encounters of the same route. I just didn't feel challenged anymore, which is why I stopped playing the franchise after SwSh.

[@mcihay246]

@@Petsinwinter2 Ahh. I understand. I don't think that's considered a detriment to story (because that implies writing) but more so a detriment to gameplay. Forgive me for the text below but I'll try to format it in a way so that it's more digestible to read. In that however, I definitely agree. How they design the dungeon and boss (Gyms and Leaders) is lacking considering the tools provided (Wild Pokemon). For example, Elesa in BW can be much tougher than it has to be, unless you were to catch a Pokemon from the Desert the route before. But that requires having the knowledge that Ground types are unaffected by Elec Pokemon, therefore rewarding players that know type advantages. That's good game design. The examples you brought forward regarding Galar, would be poor game design in comparison. Then there's the games where there's EXP Share in Gen 6 and 7, which provides EXP for all Pokemon in the party. Gen 6 and 7 had it be toggled. On for Easy mode, Off for Normal. Optional, which is a good thing and a positive to QoL design. Games like BDSP and Sw/Sh however are not designed well to consider the changes, especially when you cannot turn it off. Indicating negative game design. Lastly, and apologies if this is getting too long, is that even though I mention the benefits of making a competitive team... I could be wrong but I'm afraid that the competitive aspects has been put on the forefront and has more resources put in the design of the game compared to single player. Where the main game is designed as simple as possible, like a tutorial, just to reach endgame and the competitive scene faster. Even the Pokemon as the gens go on, have been growing in power as time goes on. Which is mostly relevant as an incentive when it comes to multiplayer. Which is a shame. If you read this far, thanks! I mean it.

[@enlongjones2394]

I like the jokes that recent games make related to the removal of HMs. In Legends Arceus, Ingo muses that the Pokémon you call with your flute have amazing abilities, almost as if they know some sort of “Hidden Moves”. And in Scarlet/Violet, you teach your ride legendary new traversal abilities by giving it “Herba Mystica”. Two kinds of “HM”.

[@andreabosio6452]

In a way, Paldea also got rid of obligatory trainer challenges: you could avoid a lot of trainer in the overworld but some were mandatory and couldn't avoid them. Now i did all scarlet without battling a single trainer in the overworld...at first it was "ah good, I don't have to battle too much"...but then it became "wew...this is sad"

[@sinnohperson8813]

Just go to them and challenge yourself

[@andreabosio6452]

@@sinnohperson8813 I never felt the need to do it, that's the point. Trainer challegens during your playthrough has always been a staple of Pokémon games, maybe going through a dungeon when your team running low and you have to manage well your resources you get spotted and forced into a battle. I'm not saying it wasn't annoying but it was a feature of Pokémon games that was faded away in Paldea (and I guess in other future games if they keep the open map thing)

[@caetano7460]

@@andreabosio6452yeah plus most trainers in Paldea have only one Pokemon 😵‍💫

[@andreabosio6452]

@@caetano7460 yeah, so you have no incentives to go fight them to train as depending on the area they may be super weak or super strong compared to you and to find those worthy your grinding time you have to battle all of them which is ...pointless? And you are not obliged to fight them so ..why put the at all?

[@digifreak90]

Yeah, in SV the only times I really fought any trainers outside of required battles was if there was an item I could get by doing so (i.e. defeating 5 trainers in West Province Area 3 in order to get the Amulet Coin in Medali)

[@BasilicanBarkBR]

I thank god everyday for hms being gone. I love doing challenge runs with weird team compositions, but it gets really annoying when I'm doing a run where none of my pokemon learn Surf. Besides, even if I'm playing normally, having no HMs means I don't need to have a water type or a pokemon that can learn Strength or whatever.

[@youtube-kit9450]

Yeah, it's such a genwunner take that I don't understand where it suddenly came from that being able to choose your team freely is a *bad* thing.

[@jacquelineking5783]

Not all oldersters, getting rid of HMs in my opinion was one of the best QOL features they have done. That said as long as they kept being able to access the PC anywhere and made them forgettable while being able to change your moves whenever they could bring them back.

[@Thedawg2604]

8:30 oh yes ditching my pokémon for ones that can use hms sure does make me feel closer to ky pokémon

[@zombieboyxx]

skill issue 😭😭

[@RealSkello]

7:38 These aren’t gone, they’ve just taken new forms, such as places you can’t get to unless you’ve unlocked certain miraidon abilities

[@rickysutphin5871]

The barries in sun and moon are only for trial participants, Everyone else is allowed to hop the fence, But if a trainer hops the barrier the trial captain will refuse them and ask how they got there without a trial badge

[@ianmurphy3840]

That Thumbnail of the Elio losing the feature reminds me of his counterpart Sun losing all of his money once he enter Ultra Space.

[@prayagsuthar9856]

The million dollars from the manga???

[@ianmurphy3840]

@@prayagsuthar9856 Yep! almost 50,000,000 yen. He didn't receive the other half yet.

[@midpixie]

It really shows how good gen 9 is that I didnt even realise fishing had been removed

[@dinar471]

I'm all for HMs staying gone. You can have challenging puzzles and engaging routes without them, if they can't come up with any then that's a creativity issue.

[@briansilva3344]

I like how they handled them in BDSP. Because I like the RPG elements and traversing overboard obstacles.

[@violeth2255]

HMs were removed? There's an entire branch of the storyline in Scarlet & Violet where you go around finding HMs ("h"erba "m"ystica) that make Koraidon/Miraidon unlock new travel mechanics like swimming (basically just surf).

[@Jjk58174]

I miss explorable buildings, trash can items, and most of all, the daycare centers. I do not care for the stupid egg basket at a picnic. You have to stay in said picnic until an egg appears (which takes hours away from playing the game to check the dumb basket). SWSH had multiple daycare centers, which was awesome. It feels like SV put everything into the open world and story without care for much else. Both games did need more work, honestly. To an extent, I miss the majority of the features in the video. HMs should have been learned by Pokémon without taking move slots, but oh well.

[@janetthompson11]

1. I agree about having more explorable buildings/dungeons in more modern Pokemon Switch games. (Not counting remakes, of course.) 2. Trash cans are a little obscure for me, unfortunately. 3. As for S/V breeding, just make an Egg Power sandwich! It takes less time than just periodically checking the basket for an egg without the sandwich. Don't get me wrong, I kinda do miss Daycare Centers as much as the next person, but I believe that picnics are a more convenient option than flying or biking straight to the place beforehand. 4. I do like this idea, and believe that similar ideas were implemented in LGPE and BDSP.

[@gechoman44iwantahippo]

I think there was a better way to handle getting rid of HMs. If you don’t have a pokemon in your party that knows the move, then a wild pokemon will help you. If you do, then YOUR pokemon will use the move. I love the idea of your pokemon helping you in the overworld. Basically, I don’t want to ride in a flying taxi if my regional bird knows fly, and i want to be able to ride my pokemon on water if it knows surf. At least in Gen 9, you mostly ride around on a pokemon that is actually yours, but I still liked being able to use my different party members for different tasks.

[@pn2294]

Why would a wild Pokémon do that? Even your own Pokémon won’t listen to you without the respective badge.

[@gechoman44iwantahippo]

@@pn2294 I guess it doesn’t make much sense, but that’s how HMs work in BDSP, so…

[@KuroBlitz]

Love the Chandelure nightlight in the end.

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

he is my favorite :)

[@garettturbettmusic]

I think the “HM” system that BDSP has is the best. Still get the HM puzzles and such, but don’t have to mess with your team and their moves

[@joycelinlgbtq]

I think it would have been preferable to have a different Mon for each move tho. Just a Bibarel and a Staraptor are boring.

[@Kowal_conditioning]

4:41 assuming this was recorded before chaos ensued but this quote is fitting.

[@robertlupa8273]

Is this about the huge new leaks? I haven't been keeping up with them at all.

[@goggles8691]

​@@robertlupa8273 Skyla is a sexy Latina. This is the only part that matters. Zero beloved Pokemon have become associated with marrying child brides, in case you were wondering.

[@jbcatz5]

@@robertlupa8273I’m not paying any attention to leaks

[@Cerdmasterjgcc]

my favorite roadblock in Pokemon is gen four where the psyducks have headaches so you have to get medicine from Cynthia for them

[@Shamazya]

HMs being gone is positive, totally fine with its removal. If they wanted to expand on the personability of this stuff, make it so all Pokemon that should logically be able to do a thing are in addition to an option you also always have. So if you have Charizard in your party and use fly, it'll show an animation of it flying, if not Corviknight services can take you. I think it'd be a nice touch but is probably too resource intensive.

[@avenger4027]

It's the Field Move system from Ranger games. Honestly, if Gamefreak looked at that sub-series better, we'd have tons of cool features by now.

[@MrMitchbow]

-Cut should be steel type with a chance to lower defense -Fly is fine -Rock Smash should break through protect -Flash should lower both defenses instead of accuracy -Strength should raise attack -Surf should remove hazards -Whirlpool should have a confusion chance every turn while trapped -Waterfall is fine -Rock Climb should be able to hit flying or bouncing pokemon like how grotle does it in the anime -Dive should have lowest priority during the attacking turn

[@richardklein1167]

Well, Rock Smash already lowers defense and with so many other options for getting around protect or stopping it beforehand Rock Smash is only in need of a greater stat boost decrease effect or STAB vs. Rock types.

[@MrMitchbow]

@@richardklein1167 how many other options really are there for the common mon? Feint?

[@sonicbladex12]

Miss my Vs Recorder. Loved battling my buddies and saving the replay so I can challenge their teams whenever I want.

[@bdt2002gaming]

Features being phased out? That’s cute, try having entire games phased out. (This comment was written by a Pokémon Ranger fan)

[@paperluigi6132]

Ranger was made for the DS. And don’t try to tell me that people won’t get physically tired with a motion control option for Switch.

[@bdt2002gaming]

@@paperluigi6132 They could have had another game on 3DS or on Wii U, and Legends: Arceus provides a decent enough foundation for how a Ranger game or something like it would play on Switch. 😁

[@aiden6255]

I’d like to add that the switch DOES have a touchscreen, so old style ranger controls could work with ui changes!

[@thomasdegroat6039]

It’s not “old man yelling at clouds” because you are absolutely right. The main problem with SV is that it’s so brainless. It’s basically a walking simulator with some bosses scattered around.

[@rodolfotapia5909]

6:04 and 11:58. I relate to this heavily. I miss having to use my brain. I miss complex dungeon puzzles to find rare items or strong TMs. I miss when fishing could be used to find rare Pokémon you wouldn't normally find while surfing. The VS Seeker and other methods of re-battling for money, or level training, or EV training were amazing. I miss depth. I miss when Pokémon Leagues in its entirety, Gyms, Elite Four, and Champions were difficult, because they're like Boss Battles, it is supposed to present a challenge. Characters have gotten better, and open world is great, but it just seems... there's less in the world. Excuse me for my rant.

[@Rhino-n-Chips]

I'd be more sad about fishing going if they ever made any effort to make it entertaining. Almost all water types, one of the most common types, barely any exclusive to fishing, and the action is close to the same since Gen 1. Entire games have been made around the act of fishing, and still they can't figure out how to make it fun or interesting.

[@digifreak90]

You talking about repels in SV just made me think about how much I wish there were, for a lack of a better term, invincibility frames after you end a battle, because the number of times I ended a battle (either by winning or running) just to immediately start another one because a wild pokemon happened to be standing under my player drives me insane.

[@TMcCarrick]

Reminds me of the time I bounced off of a wild Pokemon's hitbox and fell from the top to the very bottom of Area Zero.

[@MumboJ]

I've always said that there should be alternatives to HM moves. Admittedly this worked better on the old system where badges are required to use HMs outside of battle, but the idea of using Night Slash or even Incinerate to remove a tree sounds like so much fun! Instead of Surf, maybe you could use Magnet Rise to float over the water. Instead of Fly, you could Dig or Teleport to a town of your choice. Instead of Strength, you could use Kinesis or Superpower. Alternatively, you could allow HMs outside of combat without having to actually learn the move. As long as you have the HM with you, any pokemon that can learn cut is able to cut down trees. Kind of like Scarlet/Violet or Sun/Moon except with your whole team instead of only the legendary or rentals. I miss being able to use my own pokemon to traverse the wilderness.

[@adam2802]

I like the idea that an ‘HM’ is more like a move specific upgrade tied to badges. E.g.: beat the first gym, get HM ‘Cut’ unlocked, now any one of a certain list of potential moves will now show up on the stats page as, for example: Night Slash (cut) or Night Slash (HM), using these moves in the over world acts as if the OG HM had been used, possibly with some element specific visual effect like fire particles. I particularly like the (HM) option because it lends so low level trial and error/memory to the system, you have to, ya know, be a trainer and learn stuff about your pkmn.

[@xMaugrex]

The conspiracy theory part of my brain likes to think they phased out HMs because the term "HM Slave" wasn't so deeply ingrained in the fan culture, and includes the word "slave" which is probably not ideal

[@chrishall5570]

I do admittedly miss HMs. I do like to imagine that its my pokemon that are helping me traverse the world. I think if they just make it instead that your pokemon does something instead of having to need a bunch of specific moves it would be much more enjoyable. Like instead of the only way for me to cross the ocean is surf let me fly across it. Instead of having to cut a tree make a fire type able to burn it away, a flying type fly us over it or even have a grass or ground type shift the tree to the side and then move it back. There are a million interesting ways pokemon can interact with the world so please just let them in a way that doesn't bog down gameplay.

[@eastsidereviews727]

I didn't notice there was no fishing in Gen 9 and honestly, I don't think many folk cared it was gone. Fishing isn't the most fun activity and is only kind of useful for trying to get shines. Of it doesn't return outside of remakes I don't think it will be missed.

[@jesuisunstroopwafel]

"Oh, a bite!"

[@raonair]

Fishing has always been annoying. Especially after I noticed that better rods give you a smaller time window to press A and actually reel in your catch. Fishing with super rods is really shifty sometimes, what do you mean taking ONE SECOND to press A is "too slow"?

[@youtube-kit9450]

Fishing absolutely will go the route of the safari zone mechanics and the game corner. People will cry about it being gone for this gen, but a few gens later people realize how cumbersome the mechanics were.

[@LimeLoaf]

I like how fishing is somewhat agreed by most to be annoying/least fun activity in my 3 favorite games (stardew, terraria, pokemon)

[@raonair]

@LimeLoaf art imitating life

[@hitkid2456]

Hopping down ledges made THE most satisfying sound.

[@NinjaKingAce]

Call me crazy, but I didn't really miss most of these things. Aside from the VS seeker, but I never really thought of that as a standard feature. Like HMs, for example, were always a bad idea. I get what they were going for, but the fact it takes up a move slot, and can't be removed easily, is way too limiting. Ride Pokémon, while not perfect, just works a hell of a lot better

[@ViroVeteruscy]

There was an interview before Sword and Shield released where the devs said that they've purposely removed features from the series so that they can "subvert expectations" and bring them back in the future. So basically they are just rotating features just so you can think that they are either bringing something new to the games (aimed at newer players who haven't played older gens) or bringing back fan favorite features (aimed at veterans). So yeah, they know their player base are both: smart, cause hardcore fans can data mine and find out if the devs are bullshitting them and dumb, cause there are fans who think they aren't being jerked around and will defend Pokemon/devs no matter what. They won't change unless they have to.

[@nickdentoom1173]

I mean... thats kinda true as well though.. Multiple use TM's are now replaced with the original TM system.

[@Dr_Hill_726]

Do be fair, it's easy to hate on scarlet and violet

[@mcihay246]

It's also reasonable to like Scarlet and Violet too yet also acknowledge it's a very flawed game. A nuanced take basically, and not the extremities most adopt. For example, I can say that I really like how I can make my competitive team much earlier in the game and be able to easily partake in the competitive aspect before reaching post-game. Whilst also acknowledging the performance is unacceptable.

[@jacobkohr7243]

"With Hms and ledges gone, it's like the world is too convenient to navigate". Absolute "old man yells at cloud" moment. I've been playing Pokemon since the 90s and I can't for the life of me fathom how anyone can miss those things. Hms and ledges can expire in a ditch somewhere. It never made any sense that you can't walk up a single step or around a tree and being able to just run around like you're on an adventure in the wilderness is one of if not the single greatest changes ever made to Pokemon.

[@Urthdigger]

As far as the item finder goes, we did have a recent-ish game that had an element of it: Riding Ursaluna in Legends Arceus worked a lot like the Stoutland ride pokemon. So there's some hope of seeing it return I feel.

[@digifreak90]

Yeah, I miss most of the features listed in this video (I will say, I personally never really used repels all that often, so I don't exactly miss them). I miss fishing. I miss berry farming. I miss having fun side activities like contests or pokestar studios. Heck, I'm probably in the minority of people who actually miss HMs. Also, I'm not a big fan of how open Scarlet and Violet are, because I like more linear stories when playing games. I felt the Wild Areas in Sword and Shield were a good balance between having open world areas and still having a generally linear plot

[@kidwilks]

Leaving work at 5pm on a Friday hearing "good morning everyone goooooood morning!"

[@mazharsiddiqi7288]

Idk if counts but I always liked the Fame Checker in FRLG Made me interact with the NPCs, signs and books to get the all the lore of a character for a personal message from them

[@robertm5110]

Yes I agree! :)

[@EvanFAF]

It seems increasingly that Pokemon is afraid to put any pressure on people to adjust their team to the environment. People want their pokemon journey to feel like an adventure, but without having to make any adjustments at all. Now HMs are gone, you can avoid battles with unwanted pokemon, the games are more convenient than ever, but they also feel way more bland. I'm glad so many people like them though.

[@ShadowXeldron]

Actually, I miss HMs. They added a resource management angle by making it so that you need to decide which Pokemon you're fine sacrificing a moveslot on. In FireRed at least you can access a Move Deleter by the time the moves stop being useful, although I do admit that for most games the Move Deleter is a bit too late in the game. Even then it wouldn't have hurt if they made it possible to delete HM moves after the removal of the bag limit. It made sense in the 8-bit games because being able to remove HMs would absolutely lead to a softlock if you didn't have them in your inventory, but starting from Gen 4 they removed the PC item storage so you would always have access to the HMs. You can just re-teach them if you screwed yourself over by learning a different move. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind having multiple moves have a HM effect. Slicing moves such as Slash or Sacred Sword could be usable like Cut for example.

[@youtube-kit9450]

I never liked HMs because I like freedom in my teambuilding. Can't do a fire type run because half the HMs always are water type moves.

[@OfficialAshArcher]

I’m very happy to see the back of HMs - they took away from being able to build a truly promising team. I do agree that, in Gen 6, they were probably at their best compromise. Trainer and gym rematches absolutely need to come back.

[@hd_rider_97]

I swear I just saw this on Emperor Cubone... Right?

[@mattguy1773]

Fishing having Gone fishin is unfortunate to say the least

[@kakalukio]

Honestly, by making the game more "open" they keep on making the world feel smaller. Those stupid blockades like a snorlax sleeping on the road, or ledges you can't jump over, do a lot to flesh out the world and add some charm. Yeah, sometimes its a bit silly like a bunch of random NPCs who are dancing for no reason. But it's far more interesting than gen 9's empty void of a world or gen 8 & 7 world of straight empty corridors. As for HM's, functionally they are important to design puzzles with and fill the overworld. Removing them completly was a mistake. The ride pokemon were honestly a fairly decent solution. You still get the puzzles, but you don't have to bring an HM slave just to get through a cave.

[@jasonstewart2948]

keeping hms limited, strong. and deletable would be perfect.

[@dylanshadowstar9779]

Forget rematching trainers, it feels like we are one game away from not having trainers. You dont have to fight a single non plot trainer in violet, dodge them all and forget they exist

[@vincent207]

If there’s one thing I’m absolutely glad they got rid of, it’s Hidden Machines. I’ll never understand why they lasted so long, at least as moves. Really wish the VS seeker came back though.

[@MercuryA2000]

It is my biggest hot take that HMs were a good mechanic used poorly. If HMs were all diverse types they would have taught newer players better team building, while making them optional, but helpful means they don't get in the way of experienced players. If they wanted to make HMs fun they should have taken inspiration from the ranger series. A wide variety of tasks that don't (often) overlap. Combine that with a few more categories of move (like slicing moves all working like the hm for cut) and pretty much all the issues people have with them are gone. Then they get to do the environmental world building of making optional places treacherous. You have to fight the terrain just as much as you do the wild Pokemon. So when you finally make it to the end of this dungeon and find the legendary Pokemon living here, you feel like you freaking earned it.

[@MLmaster135]

one of the weirder parts of Scarlet/Violet is specifically why they removed a series staple of how important enemy trainers were able to heal their mon. its one of the weirder decisions cuz thats been in there since the beginning of the series, and it actually does provide a challenge since the damage roll gets rerolled and/or it could be used on a dangerous, possibly fast mon. its weird cuz if S/V still had that enemy trainer healing their mon mechanic, then it deff would've been a bit more difficult in terms of nuzlocking to an extent

[@twangerrrrrr]

Looking back at it, one thing i liked in Alola thats gone is the route captains, where you have to defeat all trainers then can battle the captain. The only one i know of is on route 8. I cheesed it and went passed the route without battling him but i wish i didnt and faced the tougher challenge.

[@Rokkettdog]

No mention of set mode gone from SV? That seems like a very obvious removal that makes no sense and just slaps the fans in the face the most...

[@ivory7182]

I liked having non HM moves that I could use outside of battle. Like teleport, dig, or flash

[@emanonbackwards]

Most annying renoved feature in my opinion: the ability tot run battle effects off. I know they look cool but they make playthroughs so much slower and can get annoying when your using the same moves over and over at high level.

[@BruceBoyde]

You may be an old man yelling at clouds, but I'm an even older man yelling at clouds! So I'm totally on your side. Regarding HMs, I like the way they're handled in the romhack I'm playing; once you have them, any pokemon that can learn it can use it out of combat. Puzzles intact, and my movesets aren't clogged with crap moves.

[@raonair]

The HGSS hack? I forgot the name. Stopped playing cause it was still in development, without features that would have been basically a necessity

[@BruceBoyde]

@@raonair Seaglass Emerald. It's pretty fantastic all around.

[@johnnyknadler1157]

They could also have items.

[@youtube-kit9450]

Still wouldn't like it. What if I want to do a fire type mono-run? Can't do it because half the HMs always are water type moves. I loved that they used HMs because ride pokémon do literally the same thing except you're allowed to use your team.

[@senel1996]

I'm fine with HMs just don't make more than surf required and keep them optional for further exploration like gen5 and 6 did. And let's be real these games aren't so difficult that 3 or 4 of your 24 possible moves slots is run killer

[@fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771]

Pokemon is strange in that its simultaneously too stagnant but also changing too much at the same time. You have the same basic loop over and ovef but then you also have them abandoning some of the ambitious principles of the older games such as carrying over your team and the replayable side content

[@michaelnelson1127]

Why do I feel like I saw this video earlier this week?

[@afmf8700]

I think Emperor Cubone covered this topic a few days ago

[@michaelnelson1127]

@@afmf8700 Exactly

[@raonair]

​@@afmf8700I foresee another moment of EC calling someone out for supposedly stealing his idea

[@vaporterra]

@@raonairI think it won’t be as egregious because last time it was a much bigger account using a more specific idea. Both these creators are similar in size and do similar topics anyway, this was just a coincidence I’m sure.

[@raonair]

@@vaporterra the other one was also a coincidence

[@ZachaRicO]

I miss being able to rematch other trainers, specifically with the VS Seeker. That made revisiting previous areas more rewarding.

[@SJrad]

honestly with tms, they literally could have just made it so that they can be replaced at any time instead of having to go to a specific npc to get rid of them. there woudlnt even be any softlock issues because hms were always infinite use.

[@HackerDragon9999]

This happened. The move reminder is less than 10 clicks literally anywhere in the overworld.

[@trumpeterjen]

The X & Y berry fields have so much heart to them. Growing berries, fighting off bugs, making your own mulch from berries you don't need, and the biologist who sticks around after you get your first mutation and keeps track of which combinations do what. It was really rewarding, even though most people probably just forgot about it.

[@chainlinkwarden]

One thing they could do is give every pokemon a second ability that is only useful in the overworld. abilities like stench, illuminate, and pickup could just be moved over while other abilities are more tangible. -Pokemon like Ponyta and Mudbray and other similar pokemon could be able to ridden to get around the world faster. -Strong fight and psychic pokemon could be able to destroy/move large obstacles to reveal secret areas. -Large enough water type pokemon can be ridden into deep waters and you can add an item to allow them to bring you underwater to swim even more. -Large enough flying types can just let you fly through the sky. -Certain pokemon can climb up walls to get up to harder mountain areas faster. -A lot of grass types might be helpful collecting berries and other nature base items. -Blissey and Audino could passively heal your team slowly while in the overworld or restore 10% or 20% of everyones HP after every battle, keeping you healthy for the long run. This is just a very basic idea of what could be done but you could do a lot more with it too if you wanted. Pokemon needs to start making the games actually about the pokemon your catching rather than about you and whatever fancy gimmick/legendaries they chose to make for this generation.

[@darkcerabrate]

God's I miss berry farming. XY did it best. I also want XYs EV training system. I enjoyed the "soccer" mitigate and could bang it out real quick

[@hitkid2456]

I agree with that, I was glad they included it after what BW did.

[@TwistedDonners]

Battle Frontier is one feature I miss as all the different battle facilities actually gave the games a reason to be played after completing the main game. DLC doesn't have the same effect as you have to pay for it unlike the Battle Frontier which was there for everyone afterwards.

[@mvpfireant5188]

The most egregious road block is the power outage in kalos when the power is clearly still on

[@yukijudai9587]

I really do miss the VS seeker, all kind of rematches tbh. And the secret bases were fun, felt like my own living room in Hoenn. And I prefer Pokeride/HMs over Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds motorcycle-don.

[@nathanmcclung3564]

I like how in the first wave of dlc in the land of kitakami there is a snorlax partially blocking a cave in the timeless woods. I feel this is a reference to the road block snorlax.

[@jbcatz5]

I did appreciate ORAS incorporating berries into the PokéNav, by showing on the map where you had planted berries and which one were ready to pick.

[@PiNkSuGaRx2Alicia]

this video was so good. i appreciate you documenting pokémon history

[@luminaessence3077]

I'm just going to spitball, so sorry if the idea sin't thought out clearly. If I remember correctly, HM stood for Hidden Machine. So it should have been as long as you had a pokemon that had the capability of using the machine, you could do that move in the field without actually using up a move slot of the pokemon. As we advance in the game, we should have naturally started using a team with various typings. If they are worried about 'locks' in the game caused by you releasing all of your pokemon. What they can do is make sure there is at least 1 pokemon you can catch on the route that can use the necessary HM(s) to escape, and there is a way to find free pokeballs. Or heck, make it so the machine can be used without a pokemon, but can only be used only once that way before breaking, and just make it so the trainer can get a new one. Lots of warnings of course!

[@KidRunnerH]

I will never forgive the removal of the Vs. Recorder… Of all things you got rid of a battle replay function. Why?? That was how I learned from my mistakes!

[@Panda-gk6ip]

I think the feature I miss the most are the connectivity features. RSE with record swapping (expanded in ORAS), the GTS, gen v's dream world, QUESTIONAIRES, Join Avenue. XY had the cool PSS with pokemon Amie. Even Sun and Moon's Festival plaza was neat, although annoying to get different colored clothes? Idk I didn't play gen 8, but there's nothing in Gen 9 that lets you passively connect with other players and have them impact your game, only directly.

[@derrickmehok9465]

Im kinda hoping gen 10 backtracks a bit and goes to a more SwSh style of world. Have the 'wild area' basically be a massive Safari Zone that you can access whenever (like the Underground in bdsp)

[@Hynotama]

There’s no such thing as “getting HMs right” or “saving the HMs’ reputation”. Good riddance! HMs were ALWAYS an incredibly stupid idea and it’s honestly shocking that it took GameFreak so many years to finally get rid of those stupid things.

[@blues4509]

Two features removed for me that really suck. Unable to turn off exp share and unable to play the game on set. As for the accidentally hating on S/V bit, I do the same thing all the time. However you sort of touched on why. I think open world games are generally a transitional mistake since they necessitate the removal of many things that gave previously non-open world franchises their identity just to allow for more open space that is more quickly explorable.

[@castform7]

I personally don't miss the "you can't use that here" stuff cause it was kinda lame at times but I do agree that SV lacks a lot of the little charming mechanics from older Pokemon games since Game Freak likely didn't know how to implement them into an open world (or didn't have time considering this is SV we're talking about).

[@13AxelRoxas]

You can tell me Scarlet and Violet is open world is all you want, but I still strongly disagree. That game tells you it's an open world, but the game itself is still extremely linear, and his it's own road blocks in the form of what Koraidon and Miraidon can do because all of there abilities are locked behind main story events. I remember the first thing I did when I got Koraidon was jump in the water because I assumed I could go anywhere... I couldn't. On top of that, there's no level scaling, so you can't really do gyms, titan pokemon, or team star in whatever order you want. It's a linear game disguised as an open world game.

[@robertlupa8273]

It's a linear game that doesn't really tell you where to go.

[@AJ-ey5eh]

I’m just starting this, is a stable frame rate one of them?

[@DogOfWar64]

They leave features in old games so you have a reason to go back and play those but they don't sell those anywhere and refuse to give us to option to buy them on eShop like we used to and they get mad if we pirate old games.

[@JB-fp3fb]

I don't really see the dilemma. Just pirate, it's free, easy, and fun.

[@300kyuubi]

God I miss fishing. I always found it relaxing and used it as a way to grind my level one pokemon to pass the time.

[@asagothe_fander]

I noticed the moment both HM‘s and fishing got phased out. It hurts cause they were real fun. (and they brought back breakable TMS. If you’re gonna phase out the need for HMS keep the TM unbreakable. Let it be one or the other. 2:31 it’s kinda like how the bug catcher trainer class didn’t exist in Unova, though honestly with looking at some of the bug types in that region, it’s reasonable why they don’t exist there

[@stevenashley27]

A bit strange this came out after Emperor Cubone made an eerily similar video a week ago, gives off piggybacking vibes

[@PlatinumAltaria]

Be sure to pick up Generation 10, where catching, battling and trading have all been replaced with just inserting your credit card and giving Nintendo more money.

[@bradcarver8127]

My nuzlocke failed due to insufficient funds

[@RaynmanPlays]

JPR: "The first feature removed from Pokemon games was..." Me: "Gambling." JPR: "Fishing!"

[@Shinntoku]

In defense of the Alola roadblocks, those are *specifically* set up for island trial goers. Regular adults can go through at any time.

[@jbcatz5]

You still get points in the game where NPCs will prevent you from going to a certain route because you’ve not triggered the event flag that gains you entry yet.

[@talonitex6441]

I feel like fishing could have easily been implemented in scarlet and violet Deep sea Pokémon have to be fished out River/fresh water Pokémon appear on the surface

[@urkerab]

Moves with overworld effects? You did mention using Sweet Scent outside of battle at one point, but that's all.