Pokemon Types

[KatieMatey]

I have always wondered why some types are super effective against each other, and wondered if anyone can provide an explanation.
Psychic being super effective against Poison?
Bug being super effective against Psychic?
Ice being super effective against Dragon, but Electric isnt?

I don't know much about dragons so maybe there's something I'm missing about the last one. If anyone can explain the others to me that would be great.

 

[Voodoomancer]

I think it's mostly set up so everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and they had to do something after they finished all the logical ones.

 

[Simple Bluff]

I sorta assumed the wierder ones had some relevence to Japanese folklore. There's probobly some ancient fable about how a psychic was overcome by an insect, or something of the like.

 

[Sevre]

I think it's more for balance purposes rather to make sense. I mean dragons don't exist(then again neither do Pokemon) so yeah, it'd be tough to pinpoint their weakness.

That said, I hate Gyarados, damn thing is used by every Dragon trainer but is Water/Flying so you need an electric pokemon in your party. Of course that electric pokemon is useless against everything else the trainer has.

 

[Torrasque]

Balancing.
Every game needs it.

'Nuff said.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I think it's mostly for balance.

That's why they added/removed a few weaknesses in later games.

That said, I hate Gyarados, damn thing is used by every Dragon trainer but is Water/Flying so you need an electric pokemon in your party. Of course that electric pokemon is useless against everything else the trainer has.

Just toss Thunderbolt on anything that can learn it, and you're good to go. Or Thunderpunch. Lots of non-Elec pokemon can learn those.

I don't bother with electric types...Ice or Rock kill Flying types dead just as well.

 

[Blights]

Balancing.
Every game needs it.

'Nuff said.

Poison still gets owned though.

Tell that to Gengar, one of the most powerful Sp.Attackers in the game. Also hilariously fun to play.

 

[HeySeansOnline]

I was on Tv Tropes, and on the Fridge Brilliance page for Pokemon, a troper had a good explanation for Psychic.

They're all based on children's basic fears, Ghosts, the Dark, and Bugs. Which makes sense in a way with psychology and fears we keep from when we were kids.

 

[Sevre]

I think it's mostly for balance.

That's why they added/removed a few weaknesses in later games.

That said, I hate Gyarados, damn thing is used by every Dragon trainer but is Water/Flying so you need an electric pokemon in your party. Of course that electric pokemon is useless against everything else the trainer has.

Just toss Thunderbolt on anything that can learn it, and you're good to go. Or Thunderpunch. Lots of non-Elec pokemon can learn those.

I don't bother with electric types...Ice or Rock kill Flying types dead just as well.

Ice has no effect because of the Water type and Gyarados' ridiculously OP stats, Rock falls quickly to Hydro Pump. Back in the old days the plan was to use Articuno to beat everything but Gyarados for which Pikachu/Zapdos was reserved. Come to think of it you could wreck the majority of the Elite 4 with just Articuno.

 

[Leviathan_]

The idea of a Psychic type is that it works like a human mind, and thus has the most common fears humans have (Bugs, the dark and Ghosts) as its weaknesses.

As for the rest, balancing.


Edit: Felt like this had to be included.

 

[Torrasque]

Psychic was overpowered in gen 1, and they tried to balance that with bug types. Which worked really well *cough*
Season 2 has/had the best balancing out of all generations, since there were enough pokemon of the right types, and enough moves that enough pokemon that could learn, to balance everything out.

If you look at things how they are now, no type is completely invincible, but if you take the time to plan things out, you can have a team that is super effective against every type, while resisting every type (legendaries excluded).

For the most part, you just have to stretch your imagination a bit to see why X type is weak against Y type.
Ghost vs. Ghost : A mental construction weak against another mental construction. Also throw in the fact that NOTHING else is super effective against it, except Dark.
Ice vs. Dragon : Dragons get frozen all the time, and Ice needs to be good against something. Making it super effective against Dragon makes it very tempting to have in your party.
Psychic vs. Poison : An ailment of the body weak against power of the mind; many books/belief systems argue you can conquer poison with your willpower. Also makes Psychic very effective against alot of grass hybrids, and poison types (which typically don't have alot of sp. def)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I think it's mostly for balance.

That's why they added/removed a few weaknesses in later games.

That said, I hate Gyarados, damn thing is used by every Dragon trainer but is Water/Flying so you need an electric pokemon in your party. Of course that electric pokemon is useless against everything else the trainer has.

Just toss Thunderbolt on anything that can learn it, and you're good to go. Or Thunderpunch. Lots of non-Elec pokemon can learn those.

I don't bother with electric types...Ice or Rock kill Flying types dead just as well.

Ice has no effect because of the Water type and Gyarados' ridiculously OP stats, Rock falls quickly to Hydro Pump. Back in the old days the plan was to use Articuno to beat everything but Gyarados for which Pikachu/Zapdos was reserved. Come to think of it you could wreck the majority of the Elite 4 with just Articuno.

I wasn't suggesting using Ice or Rock on Gyarados. That'd just be fucking stupid.

I was saying that if you didn't want an electic type in your team, you didn't need one. They are mostly used as anti=Flying, since Flying types are so damn common.

And with Gyarados' 4x elec weakness, you don't need STAB to kill it.

If you don't know what STAB is, it's the Same Type Attack Bonus. If the pokemon is the same type as the move it used, the damage is raised to 150%. Dual types (electric/water) get 125% boost for moves of both types.

 

[tomtom94]

Balancing.
Every game needs it.

'Nuff said.

Poison still gets owned though.

But all Poison moves have a decent chance of creating the Poison effect.

...yeah, Poison was probably Game Freak's worst balancing act.

EDIT: Just had a thought - this is probably the reason why there are so many Bug/Poisons - to cover the Psychic weakness.

 

[LeonLethality]

poison just plain sucks, better hope your fighting a grass type.

Set up some toxic spikes and you can wreck a lot of non grass type Pokemon, trust me on that.

I think it's mostly for balance.

That's why they added/removed a few weaknesses in later games.

That said, I hate Gyarados, damn thing is used by every Dragon trainer but is Water/Flying so you need an electric pokemon in your party. Of course that electric pokemon is useless against everything else the trainer has.

Just toss Thunderbolt on anything that can learn it, and you're good to go. Or Thunderpunch. Lots of non-Elec pokemon can learn those.

I don't bother with electric types...Ice or Rock kill Flying types dead just as well.

Ice has no effect because of the Water type and Gyarados' ridiculously OP stats, Rock falls quickly to Hydro Pump. Back in the old days the plan was to use Articuno to beat everything but Gyarados for which Pikachu/Zapdos was reserved. Come to think of it you could wreck the majority of the Elite 4 with just Articuno.

Overpowered stats? The guy's special attack is horrid, his hydro pump is pretty bad, not to mention his physical defense is kinda low.

There are a lot more overpowered pokemon compared to Gyarados.

 

[Arkzism]

I have always wondered why some types are super effective against each other, and wondered if anyone can provide an explanation.
Psychic being super effective against Poison?
Bug being super effective against Psychic?
Ice being super effective against Dragon, but Electric isnt?

I don't know much about dragons so maybe there's something I'm missing about the last one. If anyone can explain the others to me that would be great.

well dunno the poison one but bug well psychics require concentration and bugs tend to ruin that plus bug tend not to have fully developed brains.. but i think its the first one. as for the ice dragon thing, think of them as dinosaurs.. afterwards we have an ice age

 

[Torrasque]

Pokemon is one of the more balanced games I've ever come across to be honest.

There are serious people who go all out to form the best parties, and from what I've seen the parties they create are still remarkably more diverse than a professional circuit would expect.

From my very basic understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong), but there are only about three non-legendary Pokemon that are frowned upon/banned for serious battles? Only about three out of 300+ is excellent.

Not that I've ever been a serious player, I enjoy my Eevee Squad lol, for playing against your Okay/slightly bad trainer it works pretty well.

Eevee
Flareon
Jolteon
Vaporean
Espeon
Umbreon

I am re-making my Soul Silver to have a team of -eon's ^_^
Then I'll transfer em over to White when I get it, and have the most badass team ever! >

~Aside : I wonder if they will introduce two new Eons to Gen 5... Ghost/Flying mebe?~

 

[ConnorTheRed]

Dragon Evee would be cooler, but "Drageon" makes me think of transvestites, so...