Top 5 Biggest Complaints About the Core Pokemon Games

[Arnoxthe1]

After going on a short two day Pokemon LeafGreen binge, I was inspired to make this list. All but one of these apply to all Pokemon games.

1. Unable to get all starter pokemon, no matter how late in the game it is

Look, I understand that you shouldn't be able to just get three super powerful rare pokemon right off the bat. Totally get that. But not even at the end of the game can you obtain even one other starter? Bullshit. Now, I know what you're going to say. Three starters would be way too OP'd in battles. Except... You can still trade to get all the starters. If you have two handhelds and two of the same pokemon games, you can completely abuse it and get all the starters on one game in, like, a day. So no, this argument isn't valid.

2. Game version exclusive Pokemon

I'm talking about how every time a new pokemon game comes out, there's always actually two versions of the same game but with some pokemon barred from the other game. Now, this is supposedly to encourage trading, but this is also bullshit because most of the time, there's nobody to trade with! Good luck trying to find anyone who plays the same Pokemon game you do if it's not the latest one. And even if you do find them, it doesn't mean they want to trade the same pokemon you do. So the only other solution if you wanna "catch 'em all" is to buy the other game AND another handheld. Fucking bullshit.

3. Nintendo event exclusive Pokemon

There's some legendaries out there that simply cannot be obtained without straight up cheating or going to a ONCE IN A LIFETIME Pokemon event. I don't think I need to tell you how wildly impractical that can be to drive ALL THE WAY out to one event just for one fucking pokemon they could have easily just put into the game upon release.

4. Badge level caps

Now, to be fair, I've never hit the level cap in at least 5 pokemon game playthroughs although I started getting really close in LeafGreen. Even worse too is, if you go past the cap, the pokemon is rendered practically unusable with no way to stop it besides getting the needed badge. What the hell is the point of this???

5. One-use TMs (old)

This was blessedly stripped out in B/W and beyond but it still plagues the old Pokemon games. What's fucking annoying too is that the Gym Leaders will often have multiple pokemon with the SAME TM MOVE, meaning they can use it multiple times but you can't. Again, what the hell is the point of this?

 

[Saelune]

These are complaints you DO have or think are flawed?

Most of these are not relevant anymore, or solved with online trading.

And pokemon only disobey you if you dont have the right badge AND are traded. If you train your starter to lvl 100, it will obey you, even if you have no badges.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

These are complaints you DO have or think are flawed?

Most of these are not relevant anymore, or solved with online trading.

And pokemon only disobey you if you dont have the right badge AND are traded. If you train your starter to lvl 100, it will obey you, even if you have no badges.

Complaints I do have.

GBA and below cannot be online-traded of course.

Ahhhhhhhh... Yeah, see, in the game, it just says pokemon up to level 30/50/etc. It never says TRADED pokemon. Such a good explanation of it in the game.

 

[Saelune]

These are complaints you DO have or think are flawed?

Most of these are not relevant anymore, or solved with online trading.

And pokemon only disobey you if you dont have the right badge AND are traded. If you train your starter to lvl 100, it will obey you, even if you have no badges.

Complaints I do have.

GBA and below cannot be online-traded of course.

Ahhhhhhhh... Yeah, see, in the game, it just says pokemon up to level 30/50/etc. It never says TRADED pokemon. Such a good explanation of it in the game.

Yeah, I used to worry about that too. I wont defend its poor explaining of it.

I play the old ones regularly, but I just trade them forward anyways. Honestly, I feel these complaints are as outdated as the causes for them, since it wasnt something they could really work around then.

And they did eventually fix TMs. Cause I never used TMs unless ABSOLTELY SURE I wanted a pokemon to learn a specific TM move.

I will say though, I am hardcore enough a fan that I have multiple old gameboys and games to not have these issues. Even bought an old GBA compatible DS just to transfer pokemon from GBA to DS, then through bank to my 3DS. It was like, $50 used.

I dunno how old but working GBA's go for though.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Yeah, I used to worry about that too. I wont defend its poor explaining of it.

I play the old ones regularly, but I just trade them forward anyways. Honestly, I feel these complaints are as outdated as the causes for them, since it wasnt something they could really work around then.

And they did eventually fix TMs. Cause I never used TMs unless ABSOLTELY SURE I wanted a pokemon to learn a specific TM move.

I will say though, I am hardcore enough a fan that I have multiple old gameboys and games to not have these issues. Even bought an old GBA compatible DS just to transfer pokemon from GBA to DS, then through bank to my 3DS. It was like, $50 used.

I dunno how old but working GBA's go for though.

How is not giving you all the starters for example something they couldn't work around? lol

And yes, they did fix TMs but it took them like four or five generations to do it.

GBAs are cheap, going for $20-30. The SP's however are twice as expensive, but it's the definitive and best edition of the gameboy by far so you get what you pay for.

 

[Saelune]

Yeah, I used to worry about that too. I wont defend its poor explaining of it.

I play the old ones regularly, but I just trade them forward anyways. Honestly, I feel these complaints are as outdated as the causes for them, since it wasnt something they could really work around then.

And they did eventually fix TMs. Cause I never used TMs unless ABSOLTELY SURE I wanted a pokemon to learn a specific TM move.

I will say though, I am hardcore enough a fan that I have multiple old gameboys and games to not have these issues. Even bought an old GBA compatible DS just to transfer pokemon from GBA to DS, then through bank to my 3DS. It was like, $50 used.

I dunno how old but working GBA's go for though.

How is not giving you all the starters for example something they couldn't work around? lol

And yes, they did fix TMs but it took them like four or five generations to do it.

GBAs are cheap, going for $20-30. The SP's however are twice as expensive, but it's the definitive and best edition of the gameboy by far so you get what you pay for.

I dunno, they wanted the trading aspect. And starters were supposed to feel more special, like a different kind of legendary, atleast thats how I felt about it. Yellow gave all the starters though. But really thats just the first game. After that, you could breed and trade the offspring.

Id definatly get an SP over a regular one. Backlighting is one of those "How did I ever live without this?" things.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I dunno, they wanted the trading aspect. And starters were supposed to feel more special, like a different kind of legendary, atleast thats how I felt about it. Yellow gave all the starters though. But really thats just the first game. After that, you could breed and trade the offspring.

Id definatly get an SP over a regular one. Backlighting is one of those "How did I ever live without this?" things.

I can kinda understand wanting to make the starters feel like a special kind of legendary, and they do feel special. Especially the gen one starters. But in the end, it just kinda ties in with the not-being-able-to-catch-them-all-without-spending-some-decent-money complaint.

I know, right? Even when the GBC first came out, I was STILL ticked off with how hard it was to see the bloody screen. And I heard the GBAs that had a third-party front or back light installed kinda sucked. The SP was pretty much a god-send. Even the AGS-001 model of the SP, the frontlit screen, although it has a slight blue cast when you turn the light on, more than gets the job done. Also, I have a very strong suspicion that the frontlit models are much easier on the battery than the backlit ones. Especially since you can turn the light off on the frontlit models and not the backlit ones.

 

[Asita]

I dunno, they wanted the trading aspect. And starters were supposed to feel more special, like a different kind of legendary, atleast thats how I felt about it. Yellow gave all the starters though. But really thats just the first game. After that, you could breed and trade the offspring.

Heh, despite being terrible players back in the day, my brother and I were quick to figure out a workaround to that. Long story short, I grabbed a starter, got to the point where I could trade, then traded it to him for one of those "Dear Arceus! Stop spawning already!" pokemon, reset my game and repeated the process another 3 times, then he traded me back 2 of the 4 starters I'd shuffled over to him. Et voila. Three starters apiece.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'd throw in what a non-story all of these games have but I think that's the last thing Pokegamers care about.

 

[meiam]

I have more or less the same complain, trading is just not interesting, I wanna be able to capture everything myself. Event, version exclusive and limited chance to get multiple pokemon (starter evee) just kill the game since trading for pokemon just does not make it interesting. So as a results it just remove the whole incentive about trying to catch them all, so all that's left is the story that's almost always the same and the fighting system, which is good but get repetitive after the 10+ games.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Granted, I've only played one game post-gen 3 (I think it was Black) and even then only once. But I have little doubt that the formula of "start the game at a zone where 2-3 normal pokemon and 1 bird pokemon spawn, move to zone where bug pokemon spawn etc." formula is still around. The little buggercunts number over 800 at this point, yet you're always guaranteed to meet only like 5 species in each zone, 1 of which spawns around once in a century.

Why In the hell is this formula still a thing? They could populate each zone with 20 species and still have leftovers. Why are bug pokemon always the early game shit pile? Why are metal and dragon pokemon always the end, or even post-end game stuff? Why is it always Tentacools you encounter when surfing? etc.

 

[immortalfrieza]

I'd throw in what a non-story all of these games have but I think that's the last thing Pokegamers care about.

If I was making this list the story would probably be my number 1 complaint. I basically stopped playing the games after Pokemon XD because that was the very very few Pokemon games with a plot actually DIFFERENT from what Red and Blue had and I just could not put up with same ol "beat 8 gyms, stop some criminal organization, beat the Elite Four" plot anymore. All of the issues the OP listed would be much easier to stomach if the games had very different plots from one another because then there would be something of actual value that was unique about each game. It doesn't help that the plots they DO have is something a 5 year old could have come up with either. Even Pokemon Black and White didn't change the actual formula of the series much.

Granted, I've only played one game post-gen 3 (I think it was Black) and even then only once. But I have little doubt that the formula of "start the game at a zone where 2-3 normal pokemon and 1 bird pokemon spawn, move to zone where bug pokemon spawn etc." formula is still around. The little buggercunts number over 800 at this point, yet you're always guaranteed to meet only like 5 species in each zone, 1 of which spawns around once in a century.

Why In the hell is this formula still a thing? They could populate each zone with 20 species and still have leftovers. Why are bug pokemon always the early game shit pile? Why are metal and dragon pokemon always the end, or even post-end game stuff? Why is it always Tentacools you encounter when surfing? etc.

Agreed, which is why I think two things should happen:

1. The games should start off in a large Safari Zone area with most of the game's Pokemon in it, let the player catch Pokemon there until they find one they want to use and then that will be their starter. Then drop the player off on some random town in the game as their starting location. Not only because then the player could probably catch their favorite Pokemon for use each game and could have an interesting start and play path, but it has a lot of roleplay and self imposed challenge potential. Imagine someone who tries to beat the entire game with their Magikarp as a starter for instance. At the very least there should be one Pokemon of every type available as a starter.

2. Pokemon catching should be much less tedious and grindy. In particular, there should be fluctuating spawning of Pokemon. If I've wasted 50 Pigeys I would expect the population to start to go down and the other Pokemon in the area to start showing up much more often.

Oh, and make the games into Action RPGs already! Turned Based combat especially with the Pokemon games is REALLY boring, the animations are stiff if not nonexistent, the effects are less than stellar, and the strategy that is supposed to be there is simple to crush through simple leveling, the very first strategy anyone who has ever touched an RPG in their lives comes up with. Pokemon becoming an Action RPG series would improve it in so many ways different ways just to begin with, not to mention the potential of it.

OT: This happens because Pokemon is a series targeted to children, particularly very young children. Gamefreak doesn't bother improving their games to allow for repeat customers and sticking with the same formula because their target audience doesn't really know the difference and keeps constantly getting replaced. Why should they bother? For every 1 like us who actually cares that the series isn't just throwing the same game with the same problems at us and drops it there's 100 more kids just picking Pokemon up for the first time to replace us. Gamefreak could just as easily make Pokemon something that all ages could enjoy and keep people coming back long into adulthood, they just don't care to put in the effort.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

If you can beat the game with your current roster, then anything else is superfluous. I would offer the following advice; If you are unable to catch them all, don't fret over it. I never have, and it hasn't spoiled my enjoyment of the game.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I don't like the Pokebank. Before then, your PC had over a dozen boxes which could hold a few hundred Pokemon but it seems like ever since X/Y you're limited to only 8 PC boxes no matter what which is kind of a pain when you consider there are currently 802 Pokemon. Sure a few dozen of those are Legendaries and of those a solid dozen or two are normally unobtainable but it still seems like it's impossible to have all obtainable Pokemon in your game unless you buy into this digital storage service.

Another issue I have is that there's only ever been one save-file on every Pokemon. I don't expect to be able to trade between save files but I hate the idea of deleting my progress or buying a new game for the sake of starting over from the beginning.

 

[Saelune]

I don't like the Pokebank. Before then, your PC had over a dozen boxes which could hold a few hundred Pokemon but it seems like ever since X/Y you're limited to only 8 PC boxes no matter what which is kind of a pain when you consider there are currently 802 Pokemon. Sure a few dozen of those are Legendaries and of those a solid dozen or two are normally unobtainable but it still seems like it's impossible to have all obtainable Pokemon in your game unless you buy into this digital storage service.

Another issue I have is that there's only ever been one save-file on every Pokemon. I don't expect to be able to trade between save files but I hate the idea of deleting my progress or buying a new game for the sake of starting over from the beginning.

I double checked to make sure, but you get more boxes. I dont know what unlocks more, but I have 31 boxes in my in-game PC for Pokemon storage. Thats 930 spots. Dont blame you for not knowing though, it could be clearer about it.

As for the single slot, I am fine with that. I always felt like your Pokemon game was personally yours. Plus its a handheld. If they made a console version, multiple slots would be appropriate I suppose.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

To be fair, half those complaints can be addressed with 'they're Japanese games, and Japan has a much denser player-base/population than everywhere else'. Like, there's a reason the Wi-fi mini-games in the later generations have something like a hundred player caps on 'em. Likewise with Events, which were run way more frequently in Japan than anywhere else (and are also a business thing, I think). The badge-thing is - albeit annoying for me since I like to trade in low-level teams of late-game pokemon - so you don't dump a level 100 Kyogre into the game and call it a day.

...TMs were stupid though. I think it was for competitive reasons, so that whomever you dumped that 1 Dragon Claw or Earthquake onto mattered? Was completely useless in the Meta since every 'serious' player has like, 18 copies of the cartridges and 12 systems to trade around with, so everyone had The Best Sets anyway.

Personally, my biggest complaint with the games - though remedied by EXP share and Pokemon Bank making trades easy - is the relegation of certain pokemon species to late-game only areas. Like that Jangmo-o - you only find it in the Very Final Ultimate Dungeon area of Sun and Moon, or Beldum from Ruby/Sapphire that you only get after you beat the whole game. Now, yes, they're powerful pokemon, but frankly you can beat the entire game with the starter anyway (seriously, Swampert solos the Elite Four better than Metagross does) so only getting them right at the end when the only things left to do are the Battle Tower and Dex Completion is frustrating.

Make 'em rare finds in areas or something, don't make me stumble across them just as I'm going to hit up the Elite Four while I've got the resident God-Mon chilling in my party. Hell given how most of the high-powered pokemon tend to have awful level-up pools and shitty pre-forms, it's not even going to be that big an advantage early in the game.

I double checked to make sure, but you get more boxes. I dont know what unlocks more, but I have 31 boxes in my in-game PC for Pokemon storage. Thats 930 spots. Dont blame you for not knowing though, it could be clearer about it.

As for the single slot, I am fine with that. I always felt like your Pokemon game was personally yours. Plus its a handheld. If they made a console version, multiple slots would be appropriate I suppose.

More bank-slots are unlocked when you fill up the first lot, or when you deposit something into the game from Pokemon Bank. Makes sense really, it gives you the extras when you actually need them so you're not left sorting through 31 boxes when you've barely got enough to fill 2.

...and no, I don't think it tells you this, except maybe from conversations with the resident Bill-Expy? I don't talk to many NPCs in Pokemon, so there's a solid chance I miss the random NPC who actually explains the newest mechanics.

 

[FakeSympathy]

My personal top 5 issues:

1. Forced Tutorial
Seriously, why do each pokemon games feels the need to educate us in how to catch pokemon? All you have to do is hurt it, get it to yellow, then throw the pokeballs. Can we please get an optional tutorial for thew newcomers (then again, who HASN'T played pokemon yet?)

2. Forced HMs
We are either forced to each these HMs to our favorite pokemons or forced to keep a "HM whore" in our roaster. I understand something like Fly or Surf are there for progression purposes, but don;t tell me a fucking flying-type pokemon WITH wings can't fly without the HM!

3.All these excessive minigames
Understand the vanilla gameplay can get stale, but how much minigames are being added? Pokemon Dress-up? Pokemon Petting? What's next, Pokemon Farming Simulator? Stop adding these useless minigames that most players will ignore anyways

4. Pokemon Designs are getting stupid
Being the franchise that is more than 20 years old, There has to be some stupid pokemon design. My picks for stupid designs are: Combee, Klefki, Timburr, and Garbador. Wonder how many shit designs are we gonna get in future?

5. Rare Console release
We rarely get a pokemon game releases on a console. Most of the time, this a battle game or a spin-off (pokemon stadium, Poke-Snap, etc.). The only two adventure pokemon game that i remember are pokemon coliseum and pokemon XD. They were fun games, and it goes to show main meta pokemon games can work on console

 

[Asita]

For me one of the more annoying things is simply that - at least in the games that I played - they did a terrible job of incorporating the nominal theme that "pokemon are friends not weapons", to the point of prattling about how that is the major difference between the player character and their rivals in the early installments. How did the rival in Gen II put it? "I'd never lose to fools who babble about being nice to pokemon. I only care about strong pokemon that can win. I really couldn't care less about weak pokemon"...remind me again what we do in a Pokemon game again? Oh, right, we constantly get into pokemon battles where we get a soft game over if we lose and cycle out our active roster based on what pokemon are stronger in our pursuit to become the strongest pokemon trainer. Way to hammer home that message about friendship trumping pursuit of power and how wrong that rival was, Gamefreak.

Why In the hell is this formula still a thing? They could populate each zone with 20 species and still have leftovers. Why are bug pokemon always the early game shit pile? Why are metal and dragon pokemon always the end, or even post-end game stuff? Why is it always Tentacools you encounter when surfing? etc.

Well to an extent that boils down to high concept for the types. Bugs tend to be early peakers, both with comparatively low exp to level ratios and early evolutions, which means that they tend to fall behind later in the game. Conversely, dragon types are supposed to be exceptionally rare and peak late (high exp to level ratio, late evolutions), so to compensate for the fact that they're weaker for longer they end up being more powerful late-game.

 

[Saelune]

For me one of the more annoying things is simply that - at least in the games that I played - they did a terrible job of incorporating the nominal theme that "pokemon are friends not weapons", to the point of prattling about how that is the major difference between the player character and their rivals in the early installments. How did the rival in Gen II put it? "I'd never lose to fools who babble about being nice to pokemon. I only care about strong pokemon that can win. I really couldn't care less about weak pokemon"...remind me again what we do in a Pokemon game again? Oh, right, we constantly get into pokemon battles where we get a soft game over if we lose and cycle out our active roster based on what pokemon are stronger in our pursuit to become the strongest pokemon trainer. Way to hammer home that message about friendship trumping pursuit of power and how wrong that rival was, Gamefreak.

Why In the hell is this formula still a thing? They could populate each zone with 20 species and still have leftovers. Why are bug pokemon always the early game shit pile? Why are metal and dragon pokemon always the end, or even post-end game stuff? Why is it always Tentacools you encounter when surfing? etc.

Well to an extent that boils down to high concept for the types. Bugs tend to be early peakers, both with comparatively low exp to level ratios and early evolutions, which means that they tend to fall behind later in the game. Conversely, dragon types are supposed to be exceptionally rare and peak late (high exp to level ratio, late evolutions), so to compensate for the fact that they're weaker for longer they end up being more powerful late-game.

Ironic that the jerky rivals are gone, yet the Amie/Grooming feature essentially is Love > Power since caring for your pokemon gives you bonuses and stuff to make the game easier.

 

[Joccaren]

Granted, I've only played one game post-gen 3 (I think it was Black) and even then only once. But I have little doubt that the formula of "start the game at a zone where 2-3 normal pokemon and 1 bird pokemon spawn, move to zone where bug pokemon spawn etc." formula is still around. The little buggercunts number over 800 at this point, yet you're always guaranteed to meet only like 5 species in each zone, 1 of which spawns around once in a century.

Why In the hell is this formula still a thing? They could populate each zone with 20 species and still have leftovers. Why are bug pokemon always the early game shit pile? Why are metal and dragon pokemon always the end, or even post-end game stuff? Why is it always Tentacools you encounter when surfing? etc.

Someone's already explained the bug/dragon thing, so I'll cover the rest.

Imagine you've never played a Pokemon game before. You walk through the grass on your way to the first town, and you encounter these 20 strange pokemon you know nothing about and have no idea what they do. Mix up the typings and you get even more confusion as you don't know what type does what or how counters work. It gets very confusing, very fast.

The reason normal pokemon are always in the first path area, is because their typing makes them neither super effective, nor not very effective, against any pokemon the player could start with. It removes the need to worry about typings for the start of the game while the player figures things out.

Additionally, cramming 20 pokemon into one area would make the game hell. Its hard enough trying to catch a rare pokemon ATM when it has a 5% appearance rate. Imagine that was dropped to <1%, and you would see people raging. The more pokemon, the less each will appear, making it harder to actually catch the pokemon you want. It'd also make it far harder to keep track of where to catch each pokemon.

Part of it is also an aesthetic choice. Mixing regions in the starting area would look a bit weird, as would a bunch of more incongruous pokemon. It just looks and feels weird when there's a huge variety of pokemon in such a small area.

The better option tends to be to have more regions, with fewer pokemon per region, and appropriately typed and themed pokemon for the level and geography of that region. Makes it easier to ease new players in, reduces information front loading, makes it easier to find and catch the pokemon you want, and is aesthetically simpler and more consistent.

Its the same reason why in RPGs you don't start off with 20 spells out of the 100 options as a mage, and why they're generally all of the "Throw a ball of something" type. It makes it easier to get into a game for many people.