What Happened to Starter Pokémon?
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Starter Pokémon are some of the most beloved Pocket Monsters across the entire franchise, but they don't feel quite like they used to. Have they changed? Have WE changed as players? Today I try to answer the question: What Happened to Starter Pokémon?
Alternative title: Why I hate the Galar starters.
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Rillaboom is a design that is so close to greatness but falls frustratingly short. Gorillas are known for beating their chest, so why not have the drums incorporated into the Pokémon itself and when he beats his chest he's hitting a drum. Its literally right there gamefreak cmon. Their need to give these pokes jobs ruined Rilla's design. Instead of being a gorilla monster that uses his beating chest to create sound waves as an attack we get, just a gorilla with a drum.
The theme of the Gen 8 starters is "British Entertainment" which is probably why they gave it an actual drum. It's really stupid that they seem to be prioritizing themes and gimmicks in the Pokémon over their core designs.
Sword and Shields starters were so lackluster and boring. Like, all of them were bipedal and looked odd.
I think a gorilla with two drums strapped to its chest would be... ...an image
@@nickchivers9029not two literal drums
@@fapplebees8925its frustrating to me as a brit, because I love so much of the galar dex. Overall, they did a really good job of intergrating british concepts into the designs (think Polteageist, Centiscorch, the applin line etc) so to see the starters miss the mark like that really stung. I chose not to use a starter for the first time ever in sword and shield and just boxed grookey in the end
i was overjoyed when i saw Skeledirge, finally a starter that puts the “Monster” in Pocket Monster… i love the modern starters, but they all feel like they could get a job as a barista, they’re too sentient and human like for my Personal taste
like you said; there’s 3 starters so they should give the people more shape diversity
Everyone has their icky starter gen. Gen 5 is mine, and surprisingly Emboar, which is widely hated, is my only favourite. Oshawott was okay until Dewott, and then it became this unrecognizable dog otter samurai hybrid. Snivy line is... bane of my existence. Get it out of my sight.
This ruined my day
I chose sobble in Galar. Why? because I would have been viscerally upset to have to see intelleon on my screen, even if it wasn't mine.
I've been more of a fan of the more recent starters more than the earlier ones since there's usually a lot less of a "best choice", I feel. Although I've usually only played with the starters once each before going onto other pokemon, there are so many fire/water/grass pokemon that I've just overlooked or not used, especially waters, boxing the starter early on usually just helps make the adventures feel like my own, and having another pokemon as the "powerful crutch you know you can rely on" that isn't a starter pokemon feels really great.
So I'd argue that more than the starters, I have changed as a player, wanting to have more options open to me in these games. I don't dislike the starters, far from it, and the gen 9 starters are some of my favourite yet with their separate roles and designs, I just prefer to not feel locked into an option I've made, especially when a lot of the side pokemon in a gen that share starter types are some of my favourite: jumpluff, magcargo, octillery, torkoal, coalossal, roserade, arboliva. I just like having options where I know I'd have to use them a little differently than just "switch in starter and outspeed and ohko" A decent few starters being on the frailer side with myself always playing in set mode is probably a little bit of an influence in that decision but still.
OMG I love your channel so much. I'd love to hear your opinion on Hoenn's "too much water" problem. I've never heard anyone giving their thoughts on diversifying water routes so each would feel more unique, like expanding mangroves near Mossdeep City into entire forest or creating an outpouring of pollution near Abandoned Ship that creates a new ecosystem for poisonous Pokemon.
In my opinion, the problem isn’t that the starters are based off of some sort of profession, it’s that they prioritize the profession first and what they actually are second, meowscarada is a performer first, and a cat second, decidueye is an archer first, and an owl second, Inteleon is a James Bond reference first, and a lizard second. I feel like skeledirge is the perfect fusion of the profession and the animal because they prioritize the animal first, skeledirge is a crocodile first, and a singer second.
You said it better than I usually describe it. 'they look more like individuals from a species than an entire species'
I feel part of that belief is because we rarely if ever see groups of starters just chilling or doing their gimmick in the wild.
Like, I remember seeing people think that about Intellion…..until they saw it made sense in nature. It sniped its prey from a high ground and then glided towards them.
Or Scorbunny playing with each other.
Because I’d argue the starters themselves are still solid
thats kind of the point though, no? they're fairly one-of a kind, and now with the hisuian starter evos, we're getting different examples of other individuals in the incredibly rare species
@@effluxi9587 They... those aren't the same species. Taxonomically, regional variants are different species from one another.
@@FraserSouris See _maybe_ but it still feels weird for an _entire species_ to go from shy little lizard to angsty teen lizard to badass sniper lizard. Their personality traits are universal and that's really weird.
@@Deadflower019
That has been consistent for many Pokemon species even since Since Gen 1.
The pokedex never talks about how we see Charizards with different temperaments. It always goes from cute little Charmander to angry Charizards. The pokedex talks about how every Primplup and Empoleon is as egostical as can be etc.
And this isn't exclusive to starters. Every Gyrados is an angry monster and they start out as cowardly Magikarp for example. You're not going to find a chill Gyarrados ever. All Munchlaxes are at least somewhat active while All Snorlaxs are typically very lazy. All Whismer are absolute cowards before going wild as Explouds etc.
Pokemon has always done this because it makes the individual species stand out from other similar Pokemon. Personality is often a key part of character design. Like, both Charizard and Dragonite are dragon like Pokemon but Charizards are typically angry and arrogant while Dragonites are typically chill. Both Eiscue and Empoleon are penguins but Eiscue are typically cowards while Empoleons are egotistical.
This personality has helped differentiate many Pokemon even back in Gen 1 and it would be odd to ignore it.
Even IRL, it's not uncommon for reptiles, amphibians and fish species to have relatively consistent personalities and temparments.
Even the concept of "job Pokemon" or Pokemon based on human occupations and activities isn't new. Mr. Mime was literally a Mime back in Gen 1. Kadabra and Alakazam are based on IRL spoon bending psychics. Hitmonlee is based on a kickboxer while Hitmonchan are based on boxers. Their pre-evolution, Tyrogue is based on a martial arts student. So you have an entire species choosing to specialize into different martial arts. Machop starts out simple and then becomes a professional wrestler.
So I'd argue in terms of design philosophy, it's not like the new starters are too whack. They could have been released as regular Pokemon back in earlier Gens and wouldn't have stood out as too weird. In fact, we do have analogues for many of them.
For example, Quaquaval's gimmick of a dancer was done by Ludicolo before (not to mention IRL peacocks do dance and show off).
Intelion's gimmick of an assassin/sniper has analogues with Greninja, Weavile and Sceptile.
Incinceror is a professional wrestler......just like Machoke, Machamp and Hawlucha. Albeit a heel one.
When a pokemon based on a gorilla is the least human like starter you know something is wrong.
Idk, he is far more animal than the two others. Also drumming isn’t as uncommon football in the wild
@@raph3699…that’s what he was saying
Gorillas aren't humans tho
I mean is it? The drums and everything says otherwise.
Rillaboom looks outta place
Like, for real, why couldn't Sprigatito just be a cat...
Water humanoid cat asap lol
litten and torracat too
Torterra's always been my favorite starter. It boasts this strong personality to me, of a Pokemon LITERALLY carrying the world on its back. That's a Pokemon that DOESN'T give in, no matter the odds.
its so true, my torterra has survived multiple hits that seems like they would ko, especially ice fangs.
best pick for cynthia´s garchomp, leech seed and giga drain destroyed that stupid shark
Even with its quad weakness to ice you can always give them a Yache Berry and give them Iron Head.
Torterra has always been a top-teir starter design, if not pokemon design in general. It really shows that a pokemon does not need to be humanoid to show personality. Staraptor is another great example.
Until it breaks with shell smash
In SV, I'm pretty sure nemona was suppose to feel thematic. She choice the one weak to yours because she wanted "give you a chance" because her whole story is that she's too good and no one wants to battle her. Her choice was the first time GF gave a good reason for why the rival chose the disadvantages starter
Old rivals taking the opposite to me was them basically saying "you suck ass" but without directly saying it. Then a couple change their team based on how much you suck ass. Gary for example and his squad.
I always assumed the rival picked the starter they preferred.
Aside from Shauna and Bianca, but that's because all three starters get picked.
Also, I think Hop does it because he already has a Wooloo and also wants to be fair?
@@herowither12354Nemona is already a Champion, she don't need a starter, she pick one because she was going kill your Lv.5 pokemon with her Champion team...
@@PauloHenrique-op9zw Honestly, I would love for Pokémon to give you the Inazuma Eleven early game experience once
I strongly disagree that picking an "easy, medium, or hard" run with your starter is a good thing. The three don't need to be perfectly equal, but you shouldn't be heavily punished for picking your favorite.
I started in gen 2 and Meganium was my favorite, and I was punished for that, as it was the "hard" option. That isn't satisfying, especially to a little kid.
As adults, of course we want a challenge, but our starter shouldn't be what sets it. Just give us a difficulty setting instead.
This "difficulty" headcanon was never true, Charmander's early game is easier than Bulbasaur's. If there was such an intent it wasn't put into practice.
Chikorita is surprisingly fine, just catch another Pokémon
@@Supahdenning yeah, quite. I see this mentioned quite often about how Charmander is the worst option early and how Bulbasaur is really good but people conveniently cherry-pick the gym leader fights to make these points.
in my last playthrough of leafgreen I picked Bulbasaur and I might have low-rolled stats or something, but I was actually finding it nearly impossible to do even some basic trainer fights on him without grinding a few levels. Pidgey, spearow are both problems, and then eventually you're dealing with the butterfrees and beedrills of the early game too, and none of these are easy for bulbasaur. Charmander deals with these fights way easier. But since they're not important trainers and they're not the Absolute peak of the challenge a game has to offer, they go by the wayside - sure, bulbasaur has an easier time with brock and misty, but Brock isn't particularly hard for any of the starters (in gen 1 he has no rock moves and low special stat means even charmander can win with burn and counterplaying Bide properly. In gen 3 he does have rock moves but charmander does have the option of grinding to level 16 for metal claw), so really the positive matchup vs misty is the only major upside bulbasaurs got.
There's a reason speedrunners use squirtle lol.
@@sirensoulegaming4158 Bulbasaur doesn't even have a good time with Brock because it doesn't get Vine Whip until level 13, which you will probably not reach playing normally(using something else to fight the bugs in Viridian Forest since Tacklespamming all the way through it with Bulba solo is miserable).
Meanwhile, Charmander has no real trouble with Brock because Special STAB Ember still destroys Onix; the only thing you have to do is not attack while it is using Bide/kill it before it unleashes Bide, which may be a big ask of a 6 year old, but besides that is trivial. Rock Tomb in FRLG does make it a lot harder but that game also has Mankey. Importantly, Charmander has absolutely no trouble oneshotting everything in Viridian Forest, assuring it will pick up a lot of exp and is much easier to grind if necessary(how the aforementioned 6 year olds probably did it).
@@Supahdenning honestly I disagree, bulbasaur is perfectly fine vs brock. In Gen 1 brick has no rock moves so no stab, and leech seed + growl when he's using bide works. It's a slow fight but bulbasaur is perfectly capable of winning it.
In Gen 3 frlg brocks pokemon have rock type stab but bulbasaur learns vine whip at level 10 instead so he gets both that AND leech seed as tools.
@@sirensoulegaming4158 It's capable of winning it but it is painful and boring. The matchup cannot be called "good".
I genuinely find it funny how many people, sometimes even myself included, will look at a game and say 'I hate all these starters I don't want this game' and will LITERALLY not play the game because the starters are all 'bad' in their eyes.
They are *that* impactful.
Yup. When I saw the Galar starters, my immediate thought was "Nope. Pass."
Never played through galar probably never will.
Dont get me wrong i love the character designs and a good handful of the pokemon introduced in gen 8 but the starters are so poorly designed it made me completely drop pokemon for about 2-3 years which for someone who loves the series as much as I do is a near impossible task.
Crazy how scarlet and violet despite the flaws revived my love for the series the moment I saw sprigatitos stupid face
A good pokemon design needs to be able to express multiple distinct personalities. A Butterfree can be mean, lazy, brave or drowsy. An incineroar must always be a wrestling heel. Also if it eats human food instead of pokemon food, that is a human in a costume.
Piplup is my favorite pokemon of all time. Everytime I see that little guy in my car, I think, I'm doing it for him 😭
Awww😭
I have an Piplup Squishmallow and it's soo cute🥰
25:11
I feel like one thing people don't think about is that the first rival battle is a tutorial at the end of the day. I've been playing every entry since Gen 3 and I don't understand why people are so against the rival counterpicking himself, Even if they pick the type that beats yours, you're both just going to scratch and tackle each other at that point, and when the rival gets stronger later in the game, I'd have caught other pokemon that beat his starter by then. It is very thematic for Gary and Silver to have a starter that counters yours (Though Silver did it unintentionally), but I don't see why it has to be a constant in every game. I also like that it encourages the player to fight the rival's ace starter with your own. Besides, in Gen 8, the champion takes the remaining starter anyway.
If anything, I believe Gen 8's first rival fight is a genius way of helping children new to the series learn about type matchups. Lets say you picked the grass starter, Grookey. you use scratch to beat Hop's Wooloo and level up to learn Branch Poke. Hop then sends out his starter, Sobble. A child new to the series would want to try his "cool new green move". So when he does and Hop says that the player is understanding type matchups after using a super effective move, it would obviously encourage kids to figure out the rest of the type chart. if it's to feel more like an underdog, I personally think that a 1v2 feels like more of an uphill battle than fighting another lvl 5 that's also spamming normal-type moves. Even if they're both functionally in the player's favor.
25:48
I don't think there needs to be a "bad option". The Meganium line is infamously an awful starter pick in the Johto games because on top of it's awkward stat spread, lack of coverage moves, and a type that is weak to 5 other types (which clashes with its more defensive stats), 5 of the 8 Johto gyms counter it. This includes the first two which are Flying and Bug. This especially hurts because you don't get to have as many Pokemon to make up for your starters' downsides that early on. And look at what that's done. It is waaaaaay less popular than Typhlosion and Feraligatr despite having a solid design of its own IMO. If anything, being bad can take away from other aspects of the pokemon. Alolan Decidueye is my favorite starter of all time off of its design and typing alone, so I find that it's a shame that it has no real niche in competitive. This is especially saddening since the other starters are phenominal. Incineroar is infamously the best mon in VGC history and Primarina is an OU staple in Singles.
19:32
I disagree on your take on the Paldea starters; they are distinct enough from each other in the way they play. Yes, their signature moves are damage moves, but the way they use it is drastically different.
-Meowscarada is a fast frail mon but lacks optimal set-up moves. Flower trick allows it to break through mons that have set up defensively since crits ignore defense boosts.
-Skeledirge is a slow, somewhat bulky wall breaker that can get really strong offensively but can never be fast enough to consistently sweep. It does, however, have good recovery moves in both slack off and Rest.
-Quaquaval is somewhere in between. It isn't as good out the gate as Meow, and can't become as strong an offensive powerhouse as Dirge, but can set up with Aquastep and is the most consistent sweeper.
They are all different without there being a "bad choice". I may be into the idea of playing the game with an awful starter now that I'm in my early twenties, but if I felt punished for picking my favorite starter as a 10-year-old, that might have turned me away from the series. You can still play the game with "bad" wild Pokemon if you want at the end of the day. And although this doesn't really affect a regular playthrough, the starters have been getting cool hidden abilities the last few years that make them stand out more from other starters.
I do agree with the rest of the video though. SW/SH starter mons not having a secondary typing is a huge hit to their individuality as starters. That and the fact that none of their final forms' designs clicked with me, made it the first and only game where I boxed them the first chance I had and had Rookiedie be my honorary starter. It's a huge shame because I actually really like their pre-evolved forms.
It much worse than Charizard in Kanto, while Charmader is "bad" against Brock even half damage Embers take his rock type down relatively quickly. Charizard only really worries about Misty and Lorelei. The balance between starters is better in Gen 1 than in gen 2. Heck Typlosion and Feraligatr have pokemon that potentially outclass them in GS. Magmar gets both Fire Punch and Thunder Punch, learns Flamethrower earlier that Cyndaquil much less Typlosion, and had better coverage later on. Gyrados could potentially overshadow Croconaw due to having a high starting level when you catch it, but the Feraligatr catches up to Gyrados with its higher special attack and wider movepool outside of Crystal.
Designwise, I don't mind when they try to make them more humanoid as long as it looks natural (Rillaboom, Decidueye), but when they straight up look like a man in a costume or a cartoon character (Inteleon looks so much like Mirage from The Incredibles), that's when I dislike them.
As for the mechanics, I agree, the more recent starters just feel like they are meant to be overpowered in some way. While the starter is usually the strongest member of the team and the one you rely on for the tougher enemies, there used to be some sense of strategy and team building around your starter in earlier games that I don't think is present anymore. It's not necessarily bad, it just takes away a lot of the challenge aspect that I think is important in a game like Pokémon.
bro pokemon never was challeging, ever since swampert in gen 3 you could always beat the game using your starter 80% of the time, it just feels more noticeable now because the games got even easier and power creep makes it so that the starters have to be stronger to be viable in comp
@@charlescalvin8680 didn't say it was challenging at all, only that now is even less challenging. I think we can agree on the rest.
I would never laugh at a 10 year old walking down the street with their Machamp. You read it’s dex entries? One arm alone can move mountains 😭
Laughing at a Machamp would probably result in it performing a Goro fatality on you.
I'm laughing at Machamp,cuz i have Machoke and Meganium.
I'm fine with Rillaboom cause like... its a gorilla, that plays the drums, not a human in a Gorrila suit playing the drums
Yea, like "My issue with gen 8 starters is they're all humanoid" How do you make a Monkey/ape starter not humanoid? Humans are Apes so of course they're gonna be close. Like don't get me wrong, I don't particularly care for the gen 8 starters either I just think this is a bad faith argument.
I'm not a fan of Rillaboom just because compared to the rest of it's line it doesn't feel stylized to be an actual pokemon at all, just kinda feels like a vaguely cartoony gorilla with drums. Still don't dislike it, just not particularly a fan
@@InsertFunnyThingHere my issue is that they don't really feel like starters that match. like I really like Inteleon... but it doesn't feel like a starter
I think it's his stance. He's standing like a man, not like a gorilla. the art of him without the drum is great, but in game he loses that classic gorilla pose and it gets a bit uncanny for me
@@InsertFunnyThingHere I like Rillaboom just because it is the least awfully designed of tbe starters. The Cinderace and Intellion lines are just people with animal features, not Pokémon.
I think something people don’t realize is that all the Johto starters have the same stat spread as their Kanto counterparts, except Meganium and Feraligatr have one stat swapped with another-Feraligatr swaps Blasoise’s attack with its special defense, and Meganium swaps Venusaur’s attack with its defense. I’m not lying, go check. Yet, people love Typhlosion and Feraligatr (I like Meganium, but I think I’m alone there). I don’t think people really care about the stat issue, they just use it as a fun trivia fact that Charizard and Typhlosion have the same stats.
my god...
It's not that people don't care, that's just flat out wrong. The reason why Typhlosion gets called out for having the same exact base stats as Charizard is because it does very little to differentiate itself other than not having the secondary flying type or dragon type moves that Charizard gets. Meganium is a more defensive version of Venusaur that isn't part poison, for better or for worse, and while Venusaur was a solid to debatably great pick for a playthrough, depending on perspective to a degree, Meganium is easily the worst starter choice in gen2 because of how badly it matches up against pretty much every major battle, and EVERYONE knows it. It's the opposite for Feraligatr, which is a more offensively leaning Pokemon than Blastoise, and is also notably the first starter Pokemon that is a more physical attacker than special (the only one out of the 6 from the first 2 generations, in fact), and both water types preform quite well in a playthrough of their respective games and bring a lot of utility to the table by virtue of learning HMs like surf and strength if you need those moves
No, I like Meganium too. But man, Johto screws it HARD, and I do believe that had an impact on its impression.
But because of that, I consider it to be the Charmander of the region. Y'know, the hard mode.
This "one stat swapped" analysis only works in retrospect, because gen I didn't have separate special stats. In reality, Blastoise had no Special Defense in Gen I, just a unified Special, serving both Attack and Defense, of 85.
For the same reason, I imagine the reason Typhlosion didn't ruffle many feathers in Gen II was because it wasn't a carbon copy of Charizard. Gen II Typhlosion had 109 Special Attack, compared to Gen I's Charizard's 85 Special (identical to Blastoise ironically Enough), which is a major step up.
Meganium is my favorite Pokémon. I hope that someday us Chikorita choosers will earn equal respect, just like Bulbasaur buds did
When they introduced natures to pokemon it was to give every pokemon more personality. The Whismur you just caught is very brave, which is diffrent from other Whismur who might by sassy, serious, bold or much more. I can not imagine a scorbunny who is not energetic or a drizzile who is not depressed.
Can you imagine a Slowpoke that's Hasty or a Mewtwo that is Docile?
what about a whismur that's brave or naughty instead of timid or docile lol
I want my Pokemon to be animal-like in a way that fulfills the role of a trainer. I am the ward, the one who nurtures and guides them, who bonds and grows with them. They depend on me to thrive like a pet.
When they're humanoid, they feel they should be independent and unique. You become a parent and want their independence. But they aren't. They're required to depend on you at every step. If they're forced to stay at your side, it leads to uncomfortable similarities to slavery.
Furthermore, as they become humanoid, individuality become expected. Any person could want to become any role they choose for themselves. An animal or species has certain traits that are similar between those in the same vein, with room to stand out and become themselves, something that the trainer can influence.
A turtle like Blastoise loves water as they need it to ro live. A Blastoise who wants to fight, to chill, to protect, to nurture, to be loyal, they're all possibilities.
A Quaquaval is...a dancer. A Brazilian dancer. They're all this, regardless of what you do. One role, no influence, no change. My role feels meaningless if nothing I do can influence their growth. They're not peacocks that can choose to dance to whatever they want, to grow however they want, to not even dance at all. *They* _must_ be Brazilian dancers.
Old starters can be themselves. New starters are fated to their design.
I've had this thought before though somewhat different. A Cinderace plays soccer and kicks. That's its purpose. A Blaziken could do all of those things (probably better) among many others things because his gimmick isn't funneled down to one single thing.
Rillaboom being humanoid isn't exactly its fault. The drum ok yeah that's a bit much, but a gorilla is already human-like being an ape.
I personally really like Incineroar; I think the blend of a wrestler with a Tiger/Jaguar-esque big cat makes for a really fun design. But I get why it’s offputting to some people, especially with how the rest of the line is just a mundane housecat. I think people would be less hesitant to Incineroar if Torracat was a more effective middle stage between it and Litten.
The worst part is Rillaboom could have kept the same gimmick by just beating its chest like a drum instead, something gorillas are well known to do. Combine this with keeping it on all fours most of the time like the art and you would have had a solid "beastly" starter.
That would be way more uninteresting… that would literally just be a gorilla. I think it’s ok to have SOME creativity lol
@@shrimpshufflr7745 You forget that it's still an improvement.
@@shrimpshufflr7745 Better than the fucking drum and being "just an animal" never stopped people from loving Sceptile or Serperior or any of the other bestial starters.
@@thenerdbeast7375 because they were bestial and not literal animals. People hate those look at the flamingo hate. Hell look at all of gen 5 people hated the ‘basic’ design. Also how is gorilla with drum worse than gorilla, how???
@@percher4824 downgrade 😭😭😭 y’all said the same thing in gen 5 and look at your sheeple asses now
I’m just glad there was no Chesnaught slander (my second favorite Mon ever).
Tbh I really didnt like his design over the years but recently I grew to not hate him and played through y with him and I really like his design now. Still wish delphox was four legged tho
@@UnworthyCretion There’s a heavy bias because Chespin was my first starter but even still, I think Chesnaught is badass. You can do some pretty fun stuff with him in battle too.
I'm not Chesnaught slander,but it's my favourite gen 6 starter mon.
Even though I oreffer Greninja by a Large Margin, I love Chestnaught. I have never understood the hate towards it and Chespin, Quilladin I can understand though.
Now that's a based take. Chesnaught and Delphox get hella overshadowed by the damn frog.
I prefer Typhlosion to 'Zard because it gets Eruption and doesn't lose half its health switching into stealth rocks. They're minute differences and Charizard is designed to be better and more liked in most of pokemon, but Typhlosion just happens to fit the microcosm of Pokemon I like most better than 'Zard.
Part of it also might be my subconscious spiting The Pokemon Company (who couldn't care less) by saying Charizard isn't my favorite Fire-Type starter with those stats, so there's that.
Typhlosion just looks better too
@@fifnaf7290 I disagree, I don’t really care about “cool” designs but typhlosion just looks like a naked sack compared to a dragon
Only hardcore fans know that Typhlosion and Charizards have the same base stats
Basic knowledge
Every member of both lines have the same corresponding stats
All the starters have the same BST
@@black7594 This video alone shows that's not true. Similar yes but not the same
@@black7594 I think they range from 520 to 535.
Starter Pokemon are no often to the Pokemon you often see in the wild, like sure Gardevoir is eerily a humanoid Pokemon but much of the community loves that Pokemon, would you say you'll like Gardevoir if she was a starter Pokemon. Also I find it funny you'll say you hate Gen 8 starters like sure Cinderace & Inteleon I can understand but Rillaboom is literally an gorilla size monkey and you just said you love Infernape right after that!
Also everyone has there preference when it comes to the latest fully evolve starters, for me it's Quaquaval for how expressive & fruity that Pokemon is and it's design is that of Carnival dancer that's fits in region Brazil which Paldea is base from.
Gamefreak despite their business practices have actually done well with designing the Pokemon/Starters on what region they're base on.
The fact is that modern starters are build with competitive in mind
An example, you said that skele could have been a bulky fire starter and in vgc early format he was used with bulky sets thanks to una unaware (for ignore buffes) and slack off to heal the damage he takes
Which I honestly lik, it feels weird having the starters of a generation feel way outclassed by everything else so them getting stronger I feel makes the starters more memorable. Because who really remembers Meganium.
@@andrewharris1344 kinda agree, they could also buff some of the old one like swampert has wide guard and a great type usefull for this meta but because he doesn't have a good ability he can't be used
@@dam777felover8 They should just replace its Hidden Ability with Swift Swim from its Mega and watch it do its old tricks again 🤣
@@andrewharris1344 Me, I remember Meganium. The Chikorita line are some of my absolute favorite pokemon.
Say what you will about modern starters, but I adore Primarina and Meowscarada with my entire heart.
primarina the light of my life my child my everything
Based opinion
Primarina is cool but Meowscarada? It’s offensively obvious furry-bait, no?!
@@dedbatt8869 but what if I like furry bait? :)
@@dedbatt8869 I’m a Persona fan, ok?
I think every game has had two bipedal starters and one quadruped. I think the swsh designers considered rillaboom to be "the quadruped" cause it's the only one that is positioned like the original animal. Bunnies aren't bipedal and neither are chameleons. I think it's a similar situation to swampert who is usually on two legs but hunched over. If you were to try to categorize the gen three starters swampert would be the "quadruped"
bunnies and chameleons are both quadrupeds, inteleon and cinderace arent, but their real life counterparts absolutely are
@@pixelturtle5041 yeah that's what I'm saying. Turtles are usually quadrupeds. Foxes are usually quadrupeds
@@pixelturtle5041 I saw the typo lol
I wish starter trios had one that was strictly bipedal (Meowscarada/Blaziken/Inteleon), One that was strictly quadrupedal (Venusaur/Skeledirge/Samurott), and one that could do both (Rillaboom/Typhlosion/Swampert). Also, mix in a mon once in a while that doesn't fit these other categories to shake things up (Serperior/Primarina).
They are characters first, and species of Pokemon second. They sell you a character, so they can sell merch of it later.
This video and the starter discourse in general give me very mixed feelings.
On one hand, I agree with a lot of the complaints about the humanoid designs, the samey playstyle and rivals picking the type weak to yours;
On the other hand, my favourite pokemon is Inteleon, a "carbon copy" of a previous starter (who happens to be my second favourite) with an extremely humanoid design, monotype and that same sweeper gameplay we've been fed for the past few gens. And my reasons for liking it are exactly the way they integrated a job into its design and gave it a definite personality that makes it feel more like a companion than a pet. (Also the Bidet Fingers thing was the funniest way I heard someone describe its expression, thanks for the laugh)
Saying I hate the modern approach would be hypocritical as there's multiple recent starters I like, but I do wish they could go back to the simpler "monster + element" without the secondary inspiration being immediately shoved in your face like many gen 6+ starters tend to do.
Same. My favorite starter is Incineroar, so I'm usually extremely hesitant to click on videos like this lol. I just trust that Zen Mode's content will be good.
As for simpler starters, I prefer the secondary inspirations cuz it gives them more depth, but I do think scaling them back would be a good idea. Hisuian Typhlosion nails this balance pretty perfectly imo because fits into modern starter conventions while staying true to Typhlosion's simple "monster+element" design.
Yall just have bad taste
Rillaboom is humanoid? But... It's just a gorilla
The drums make it feel too human like for me personally.
@@morphstarchangeling8024 he shoulda just had logs on their sides and he beats them like a chimp asserting dominance by making loud sounds instead of Guitar hero drums.
@@TheReZisTLust I'll never understand why they didn't just make the drums built into Rillaboom's chest/abdomen. I think its because the devs were too cowardly to give it belly drum + grassy surge + grassy glide. Then again, you could always have given it a more fitting ability than grassy surge to circumvent this (why they didnt give the punk drummer gorilla the ability punk rock makes little sense to me). Just goes to highlight Zen Mode's point of sacrificing well-made designs for desperately trying to get the player to pick a min-maxed starter.
I wouldn’t say it was gen 6 was the start of starters being humanoid and being given roles. There were starters like that all the way back in gen 3 4 and 5. Blaziken is incredibly humanoid. When you see the gen 8 starter final evolutions for example, while they are humanoid, you can still clearly see what animal they clearly are without knowing anything about the first stages. With Blaziken, i could not tell you it’s a chicken if I saw it. It has a full on human body, more than any other starter. Gen 4 gave us Infernape, a Pokémon that shares similarities to Goku, and Empoleon, a Pokémon that is literally based on Napoleon. Infernape is also very human-like similarly to Blaziken, which I can give it some more slack for because monkeys are very similar to humans anyway. They can also fill certain roles too. Gen 5 gave us Serperior, a Pokémon based on royalty, as well as Samurott, a samurai Pokémon, just like how Inteleon is a secret agent, Incineroar a wrestler or Meowscarada a magician. This argument doesn’t really make sense. Pokémon didn’t just magically change in gen 6. The only regions that fully had ‘old starter designs’ were Kanto and Johto, which were the first two regions. And they clearly changed because of how bland the Johto starters were. I don’t understand why everyone says ‘Pokémon was ruined when they made the the jump to 3d’, with poor arguments like this as proof.
To add to this, I don't think that starter Pokemon becoming more humanoid is a problem, and I for one agree that it makes them feel less bland. Sure, they aren't going to be for everyone, but they also don't HAVE to be: I'm pretty sure that everyone has a favorite and least favorite starter from each trio, and making them more anthropomorphic isn't going to change that. Also, I saw other commentors mentioning how your starter is meant to be your partner, or that the game is a fantasy experience first and foremost, so having them being relegated to strictly being pets feels dumb, ESPECIALLY when they are used to battle other trainers with their own Pokemon, or even the very fact that they actually might be popular as pets because they aren't just animals
Yeah the "pokemon are meant to resemble animals" shtick ppl with this complaint give has become eye rolling. Its Pocket MONSTERS, which can be literally anything as the ancient folklore from the country the series originates from and serves as inspiration for a good chunk of the 1000+ roster frequently shows. They don't have to be animalistic, in fact the ones that are just "uniquely colored animal" tend to be the most boring designs from early on in the series. Like if spearow and fearow came out today, everyone would be tearing them a new one. Hell, i dont think anybody likes them much to begin with despite them having og 151 tax. And its not like its hard to tell what animal say, Cinderace or Incineroar are to begin with. Its ok not like designs, but acting like its some new issue that needs to be fixed when its been in the series design philosophy from the start is just getting a little annoying from the community. I don't think its anyone's problem but yours you cant headcanon an uwu baby boi personality onto your Rillaboom as easily you could onto your Venasaur when you were 7 years old.
I think a problem is you are generalizing to much. The problem is not humanoid designs, is pokemon now feeling human first and pokemon second. The problem is not pokemon being based on human roles is them being that role first and a pokemon second. That's what changed after gen 6, pokemon are being designed as characters first and pokemon second.
@@matthewkuscienko4616of course everyone has a favorite and least favorite in every trio. That is not the same as liking any of the designs. The problem is that pokemon does not know what moderation is. Humanoid pokemon existing isn't the problem, but the designs are more difficult to get right without being in the uncanny valley. I like some of them but I like far more animalistic designs.
Its fine if you like humanoid pokemon. That still shouldn't blind you to the problem. The problem is the lack of variety of final Evo starters. There isn't something to appeal to everyone because they insist on making a lot of anthropomorphic pokemon that the internet is going to make NSFW content around.
I kind of like the SV starters, but only because skeledirge keeps its feet on the ground.
This video says nothing about only making them pets. That's your own extrapolation. It's almost like you know it's ridiculous that there are so many anthropomorphic starters, so are pre emptively assuming pokemon would go all in on pets if they decided to make more designs like that.
We just want some starter designs like that. I've wanted to do teams that are entirely quadrapedal and the starter often wrecks the idea or I can't use one.
We will see if they keep improving. I like SV dex more than the last 5 gens before it.
It’s not about them having humanoid designs, Zen said in the video that he’s fine with humanoid designs but as soon as they start behaving and collecting the roles of humans as wild animals *before* being Pokemon it feels uncanny and foreign.
Of course Blaziken vaguely has the body of a human, but at least its entire personality isn’t based off of a single skill. Not all Blaziken are the same, but all Cinderace are. I can’t bond with any of the new anthropomorphic starters because I feel like their personalities are being pre written into their designs and forced onto me before I can even characterize them myself. The journey is about me and my partner Pokémon, not me and my world championship soccer player friend.
Key difference here: doesn’t matter if they look humanoid, stop forcing Pokemon starters to be caricatures of a literal real life person because it’s just fuckin weird
you're so right about the signature moves, skeledirge just clicks torch song and destroys all of paldea lol
The recent starters are moving away from the original idea of Pokémon, but that doesn’t mean there are no bangers from this design philosophy. To me, the humanoid aspect doesn’t really factor into whether or not I like a design. Hell, if anything, they improve the design to me by default because it helps them stick out in my mind.
For example, Meowscarada is a charming cat that acts like a somewhat hoaxy magician (hence the Dark typing), and Cinderace is an awesome soccer rabbit that ignites pebbles into fireballs (plus I love rabbits). I love both of these for being cool animals with fun roles attached to them, and they act like companions, as starters should. Humanoid starters can work, it just depends on the execution
I respect your opinion on the matter, but to me, an essential part of a starter Pokemon design is making it feel like a companion, like a friend. To me it's easier to pass that feeling in a pokemon that has a character, than a pokemon that is very beastly in nature. Not saying that beastly Pokémon are bad, just saying that it shouldn't be a starter.
And no, I didn't start from the more recent games, my first Pokemon game was Fire Red, in the day I am writing this the only Pokemon games I have beaten are the GameBoy, GBA and NDS mainline ones.
Once again, big respect to you. And for anyone else that would like to argue otherwise, I would also like some respect.
very interesting, you're probably the first person I've seen to think this way.
So do you think all the starters suck until like gen 6?
I can respect it. I think a part of pokemon is feeling cool too though. Ordering a massive Crocodile to crush down your opponent with jaws of ice feels a lot cooler than telling my massive Gorilla to beat his drums so that the plants will hit my opponent. Asking my giant, world carrying turtle to shake the earth for me feels cooler than asking my furry wrestler to do the same. A starter is a friend, yeah, but also a beast with its own free will. The beast could turn on me at any moment but decides not too, like my real pets. I love my cat but theres nothing stopping him from running away or even off my lap at any moment, he decides to trust me, not me.
I think you should pick a different word other than ‘character’ since beastly Pokémon also have that.
‘Character’ implies personality and conduct, which is found in all Pokémon, from scenes in the anime to specific instances in Pokédex entries. It is also found in idle animations and poses in the games.
Perhaps you’re in favor of humanoid Pokémon because they can stand on your level as a literal partner. However, like someone else mentioned somewhere in the comments, I think Pokémon work better as pets that you help nurture and grow, and it’s easier to see them as pets when they look less like you.
@@Sequal1605 I have heard that many times in many different things, lol. But thanks
For me, pokemon like decidueye, primarina, and rillaboom don't feel that bad to me, because while they are humanlike, the animals they are based off of fit well with that humanlike theme? For example like yeah, Decidueye is standing on two-legs, but owls typically stand on two legs and I thought the idea of it using its feathers like arrows was like SO COOL! Rillaboom is a little offsetting still, but it is a gorilla and so it just kinda made sense for it to be humanlike, where as the other gen 8 starters make ZERO SENSE to be humanlike it's like ACTUALLY painful
The jobs in starter pokemon aren't to make them relatable. It's so they have a more creative concept then element plus animal. Even in hoenn blaziken was a kickboxer, and its one of the most popular starter pokemon. I do think the series isnt getting creative enough with their starters as they always seem to pick a profession as the additional concept instead of something like mythology. I do think starters like cinderace, inteleon, and quaquaval do seem to have their personalaty make them not very relatable.
Blaziken based off Cockfighting... Shamo chicken. It stands upright
While I definitely do think their new signature moves are a bit too strong, I dont think I can agree with making a starter who's main way of playing is stall. Especially seeing as it needs to be for kids too. I'd be absolutely be down for Skeledirge and the others having weaker (or even no) sig moves but waiting is mostly a very boring way to play to me and many others. I'd still like to see more slow and bulky starters but not one who's main strat is stall.
Also plenty people used to have their starter just carry the game. Its been a thing since the very beginning!
Yeah, defensive starters are kinda cool for more seasoned players, giving more variety and stuff, but newbies are going to be underwhelmed when their Blastoises, Meganiums or Serperiors just fail to beat most everything in one shot.
And I am saying this as someone whi loves stall. My favorite pokemon is toxic heal Gliscor. But it's just not the play style for casual play.
I don't get the claim that the gen 9 starters are mechanically similar. Skeledirge is slow, even with Torch Song it's not going to "sweep" through anything. It's a wallbreaker, it can raise its attack stat to insane heights, something Meowscarada can't easily do. Meowscarada is fast and frail, but has no reliable boosting moves (learns Nasty Plot and Hone Claws, but no Swords Dance), and a pretty limited support pool for a grass type, which is novel. It also gets some "tricky" moves like U-Turn and Trick. Quaquaval's speed is middling, so it's not going to be able to outspeed everything right away, but if you can leave it in for at least a turn or two, it can set up and pull of a sweep. It also has the strongest turn 1 with 120 base attack and Close Combat.
I really don't see many mechanical similarities between them except "they're all strong".
Yeah true. I feel he’s only looking at from the main story point of view which I don’t think is the best way to judge a Pokémon’s power and battle style.
Feel this^
He kept mentioning wanting a defensive fire starter when dirge is right there! Torch song existing doesnt take away its defensive stat spread, utility movepool, and hidden ability
@@jmcbango honestly I like they are making them more viable outside of the main game I mean the starters are important and if the power levels getting raised so should they to match.
I mean they may have more nuance in competitive but in-game they basically devolve to "click this one button 7 times and win instantly" so they end up playing the same. I think it's fair to judge a starter pokemon based on how it works in the main story mode, it's the literal first pokemon you're given in it (also because most of this channel is based on the actual main game too).
Doesn't help that most of gen 9s story mode is really easy too, in some of the harder encounters you at least have to think about switching out once in a while which basically isn't the case for a big chunk of the game.
@@InsertFunnyThingHere You can just press your strongest attack and win with almost every starter in every Pokemon game. But even when using them in game, if you're using Meowscarada, you know you can't switch it in on any hard hitting attack because it has paper defenses. In game, you can't expect Skeledirge to stay at full health while setting up Torch Songs because it's going to get outsped sometimes even if it oneshots everything. These nuances still exist in-game, and I'd argue they play more distinctly than, say, Feraligatr and Typhlosion.
Yeah honestly, it's so hard to believe that any modern starter is something that could exist within the world as a wild animal.
Like it's easy to believe that Pokemon like Bulbasaur, Totodile, or Torchic exist somewhere in the world, but they're just _really_ really rare.
There is no way I could believe that Inteleon is a wild animal that has to hunt for food. That guy drives to a grocery store and pays with a credit card.
That being said, I will forgive Incineroar because he's funny, and I like him as a meta joke about the oversaturation of Fire/Fighting mons by being a wrestling heel (you're _supposed_ to hate him).
Isn't that kind of the point? These are monsters, not animals. Pokémon were really never supposed to be "wild animals" , they can also be wild animals, but they aren't strictly that. Even in the older generations we see Pokémon that clearly aren't animals and are humanoid or that are objects
Also you took as example the first stages, but blaziken or empoleon don't really read as "wild animals" to me considering they are also humanoid with a "role"
@@meatchips4936
Early on in the series they were definitely _just_ monsters, but as time's gone on they outright replace real animals in the world of Pokemon.
I guess I could rephrase the point as "Inteleon doesn't feel like something that could exist out in the world of Pokemon on its own." I feel like design choices that are meant to give a Pokemon individuality don't make sense when it's part of a whole species. Every starter can breed; you can have an infinite army of them if you really want, and presumably they do exist _somewhere_ in the wild. This sort of thing would make more sense for legendary Pokemon, where in-universe there's usually only supposed to be one of them.
Finally, Blaziken and Empoleon are at least kind of plausible that they could exist in the wild. Blaziken is just an exaggerated version of a Shamo Chicken, and its fighting typing, and more "courageous" traits are reminiscent of how protective roosters can be. Empoleon I could definitely see existing in the Antarctic, ruling over a flock of Piplup, and its steel typing being perfect for breaking through ice.
I personally don’t mind a starter being beastly or humanoid sense you can’t find them in the base games anyway so them looking natural doesn’t really matter to me. For me it’s they’re personality that makes me choose my starter.
Gen 8 starters are by far the worst starters in the series in terms of character design.
Only the Grookey line actually looks good. The Scorbunny and Sobble lines look so bland and uninteresting although even the Grookey line suffers from an uninteresting design.
Besides if a monkey/ape/gorilla inspired design does NOT look humanoid then you did something horribly wrong. At the very least the Grookey line has that.
Gen 9 brought back the good starter designs and besides Meowscarada is just a very oversized clingy cat who can use magic tricks based on its pokedex entries.
SwSh and ScVi are the only games where I downright dislike EVERY single final form of the starters. I tolerate Rillaboom. Its the only one of the 6 that I think is a good design, but I wish it drummed on its chest and didnt have an accessory (I'm fine with the drumsticks, i just hate the drum itself).
The Gen 9 Starters are so unappealing to me that I chose Sprigatito, evolved it into Floragato (because I actually like those 2) then boxed it when it got to lvl 30 and, for the 1st time ever, played through a Pokemon game for the 1st time without a starter Pokemon.
I don't like every starter, hell some regions I only like 1 final form (Hoenn with Sceptile for example) but I at least LIKE ONE.
In ScVi I think Quaquaval and Skeledirge are better than Meowscarada. But I still dont even want to use them because they look so ugly to me. I don't think I'll ever use one of the starters in Paldea on purpose unless its a Nuzlocke or something. I hated alot of gen 9 designs, but enough grew on me that I could make a full team of 6, but the starters arent them.
Edit: And on a side note I LOVE Hop, Nemona, Barry, and Cheren. These guys are the best examples of "Not an asshole, but I want to be better than you no matter what" and the issue isnt in their characters. But it's in their fights.
Hop is honestly one of my favourite rivals in the series because of his personality, he gets really down in the dumps when you beat him over and over again, and even changes up his team completely out of desperation before realizing he would rather fight with the pokemon he's created a bond with. But he WANTS to be better than you. The issue is that most of his team members just fucking suck. Snorlax has already been used by Barry, and Pincurchin is really out of place (both of those 2 only have 3 moves too). Corviknight and Dubwool are fine options, and his team would be better if he had the stronger starter to yours. But his last 3 slots arent noteworthy. Hell he doesnt even HAVE a 6th Pokemon until he gets the Legendary. For a kid who looked up to his Champion brother, he is TERRIBLE at team building. Leon has 3 rotaters depending on the starter you dont pick, which are all strong options. Along with 4 VERY strong pokemon in Charizard, Haxorous, Aegislash, and Dragapult. If Hop had ANY strong (or at least SERVICEABLE pokemon) that work well together, Galar born or not, he would be a MUCH more liked character.
I would Personally have him use Orbeetle, Mudsdale, Golurk, Pangoro, Vespiquen, Perrserker, an Applin evo, Lanturn, Cursola, Heliolisk, G. Rapidash, Kommo-o, or Mantine. But those are just available pokemon during the main story, or at least in the wild area. It doesnt have to be ANY of those, just SOMETHING better than the team he already has.
I would LOVE to see you do "How I Would Fix" videos on the Rival teams you feel are lackluster, weak, or have non-memorable teams.
Side-note: Competitively Skeledirge actually utilizes Will-O-Wisp, Hex, and Slack Off, even if in conjunction with Torch Song
god bless chesnaught nation
Sorry, but... I'm GLAD that Typhlosion has the same base stats as Charizard. I think it's unique and has never been done again since.
This could just be me being a furry but I've never had an issue with humanoid starters, in fact I was kind of disappointed when my Fuecoco didn't turn into a cool big bipedal croc (though I still like the evo).
I think more of my pokemon as my teammates than my pets, though I wouldn't want them all to be humanoid either, for the sake of variety.
At least you know why the issue isnt an issue for you but others 🤣
It may be me being a furry too but I agree there
They're meant to be your companions, not pets, your friends
Skeledirge is still bipedal when it sings, which it apparently does frequently, so it still counts for me
💀
Eh, I dunno. You make a lot of valid points here, and I do agree with most of them. I guess I’m just a little surprised to see such a pessimistic video.
Your videos have always stood out to me for how compassionate and thoughtful they are towards “bad” aspects of Pokémon. Poketube is kinda overrun with ultra-negative wank videos about bad mons, bad games, bad characters. I’ve always respected how you are able to look at these flawed elements and see their potential.
If you need to make these sorts of “standard poketuber” critique videos to keep the channel alive, I totally get that. Just my opinion, I guess, as someone who’s been watching since the beginning.
My issue with all the discourse over starter pokemon is that not only has this been a trend since gen 3(except Torterra) that starter mons have more of a character type design, but the fact that while people complain that they aren't "just animals" in design, they also get mad at pokemon like Flamigo, who is literally just a flamingo
Pokemon are meant to be your friends, not just pets
Sssee, SsstarlightRossse getsss it.
There is a good medium between literally just a flamingo with no change and literally a soccer player in shorts.
@@Alex_Barbosa you misunderstand
They say they want starter mons that are literally just their animal, but get mad at mons like Flamigo
And as has been discussed time and time again in the pokemon fandom, the starters are meant to be characters with personality, literal animals are harder to put personality into
@@_StarlightRose_ false dichotomy
@@_StarlightRose_ this isn't a good comparison though, neither is it a new one. People have clowned pokemon like flamigo since gen 1 (remember pidgey?).
There's a difference between being JUST the real life animal, and being an intentionally designed pokemon that reflects its element. For example Litten and Torracat are clearly based off of housecats, yet it's apparent what element they are and that they are different from Garfield.
Really, all people want is for TPC to at least scale back a bit from the creepily humanoid furry designs, and have some more variety for people who like different types of pokemon, and to keep the power creep of the minmaxed stats and super strong signature moves under control, because that makes any other playstyle feel redundant.
I don't necessarily agree with everything said here, but you definitely have valid points
I hate the Gen VIII starters more than any other trio. Not only did I hate the concepts behind them, they felt undercooked, like they were missing some vital element. It’s the only game where I box them upon replay.
I like inteleon but I agree it is weak I feel these starters deserved that secondary typing they feel bland without that extra element.
Primarina, Meowscarada and Delphox are peak designs. I don't like assigning professions perse but I enjoy when the design mixes in mythological creatures/folklore. Prima is a mermaid, Delphox is the japanese Kitsune and Meowscarada is a classic Spanish folklore rogue like El Zorro and she's got some magician thing going on on top of it. It's way better than whatever Swampert is, at least in my eyes.
First, I want to start off by saying that I love all three of those Pokemon, but the problem lies with the fact that they are too individualistic. The fact that you used a gendered pronoun proves that fact, "...like El Zorro and she's got some magician..." All three of those are beautifully feminine, and it feels weird for them to be male, at least for me. That is especially problematic when the starter gender ratio, including them, is 87.5% Male. But I do agree, the folklore side that they took is really top notch.
@@pigglepix men can be feminine too, :)
Ideally imo starters should all be 50/50 ratio despite of their appearance, but it's not a perfect world.
@@Ghost.girI. Lol, true. But yeah, please give us more gender neutral starters, game freak!
@@pigglepixwhat do you count as “gender neutral”? None of the starters are explicitly gendered… Primarina can be male, it’s not a gendered thing, your just being weird. Or maybe you mean the gender ratio, which yeah, should probably always be 50/50
@@a_person5668 I mean like design wise. More animalistic pokemon are not easily seen as either or. I know Primarina can be male. I literally talked about how 87.5% of Primarinas are male, I'm just saying that when you look at them, they scream feminine. But, if you look at Charizard, while you could argue that they are more masculine leaning, it is eaiser to accept a female Charizard than a male Primarina, at least for me. But also yes, the gender ratio definitely should have been 50/50.
I have a lot of issues with this video.
1.The overusage of "Many." The truth is, the "Many" in this case are a vocal minority. Most people don't care if all three starters are bipedal or quadrapeds, as they wouldn't pick based on that. They base their choice on which suits their taste the most. It's only a certain part of the playerbase that cares about this topic and it's mainly because of a disatisfaction about other things.
2. Saying there should be bad choices giving you 'difficulties' because essentially, the pokemon games you picked had them. The first pokemon game was an RPG, something they walked back on HARD in gen 3 and onwards. The idea that one starter is worthless was a relic of that time, and not something that should be brought back. You shouldn't punish people based on their starting choice in a game about choice. In an RPG that is fine, but pokemon has set out to be more than that. Onix is a perfect example of the oldschool RPG thinking the original and to some extent, second gen had.
3. The rival picking your counter pokemon. Something that bothered a lot of people, especially new and young players was indeed that their first choice was wrong. It was not at all well explained that you were meant to get counter picked, something that made some restart in frustration, or always have that sour taste in their mouths. The only games where they managed to get it to work were also the games where both other pokemon were picked, like in B/W. So for the sake of quality of life, it is MUCH better that your first opponent to fight isn't someone that type counters you.
4. Signature moves. This is something that isn't starter based anymore. Pretty much whoever gets signature moves nowadays, most never to return again. I struggle to see the issue with this, it makes pokemon stand out. Without these moves, you'd have to flame thrower your way to victory with your fire starter just like in gen 1-4.
5. Pokemon being tied to human activities. I mean, a pokemon mimicking real life animals is still very similar to a pokemon mimicking real life activities. I love witches, so i love delphox too. You love foxes so you love ninetails. Saying these things alienate people is pretty wild to me. What if i don't like rats, does raticate alienate me? I don't like the drums but i really couldn't care if there is a grass monkey that plays the drums. It's just an uninteresting design, not an alienating design. The amount of wrestlers and bodybuilders we had in gen 1-4. Those are 9-5 jobs yet you didn't really bring them up. I just feel like it's nothing but excuses as to why some people felt like the designed failed for them. The reality is, not every design will appeal to you.
I have a lot more i would want to say, but the rest are just me having issues with your subjective opinions, so not something worth bringing up beyond this.
I'm pretty sure rivals pick the starter weak to you because starters begin with their basic STAB now instead of just like, tackle and growl. I played a hack of ORAS where they ~didn't~ remove the STAB from the first rival fight, and it means you outright need to grind multiple levels to beat them unless you get super lucky with crits. It'd be weird if you have your STAB and the rival doesn't, so they just give them the weak one now.
I do agree with most of the rest though. I really think the Kalos starters absolutely nailed it, even if I was a bit iffy on the designs when I first saw them. They're just natural enough that it doesn't take me out. I guess if you really like a specific form you could always eviolite it (I always run Ivysaur instead of Venusaur) but you miss out on the (busted) signature moves if a starter has one since they're all on-evo now. I think the one thing is I'm glad that starters aren't really a difficulty selection now. Meganium has such a bad rep from Johto being so aggresively anti-grass, if it was in Kanto it'd probably be as popular as Venusaur and nobody would call it outright ~bad~ for being more defensive. I'd rather have a real difficulty selection, or the difficulty come from teambuilding through the whole game, rather than being arbitrarily punished because I didn't know which starter would struggle type-wise against the early gyms. It feels like it goes against starters thematically being your reliable partner, which they've been from the start.
I think a cool way to add more varation would be to give us like, an eevee/pikachu choice instead. Two solid pokemon who aren't really super effective against eachother? They've typecast plenty of other pokemon as starters but we never see them in the role outside of spinoffs, and it would be interesting and formula breaking to see it in the main series.
19:55 No, just no. Flower Trick is by a thousand miles the best of the three signature moves of gen 9 starters, the ability to always crit, ignoring both the opponents defensive buffs and your own offensive debuffs is awfully broken, more than rising one stat while attacking, and that's the reason why it's a good thing Mewscararda has the worst typing of the three, bacuase it has the best combination of stats and signature moves out of the three.
I'm glad I am not the only one who hates the powr creep without brining up older gens and really hate the big push to the starters being soooo...human like
I like how Alola and Paldea handled their trios. An anthropomorphic Pokemon, an animal, and something in between. Adds to each one's identity, and you can gravitate towards what you're comfortable with. It also adds some player expression.
For a personal example, I'm a furry, so I love myself an anthropomorphic Pokemon. Having an anthro in the starter group is always welcome, letting me pick something close to home. Meanwhile, the pet lovers can get their digital pet to raise. And of course, there's that nice middle ground for those who don't like one of the extremes.
Also, I agree with the thing about giving starters a mechanical identity too. It'd make each starter stand out that much more. Do I want the hyper aggro, the tank, or the status ailment machine?
With all these together, there'd be a reason for each choice on personal, expression, and mechanic based levels. The same choice can say all kinds of things, but never the same thing for two options in the same generation.
I don't know where to even start with this shit.
I will give you this: Starters that all gravitate towards being humanoid and having a high-power signature move doesn't make for variating playstyles among them. It's basically the same bomb with different colors. Signature moves SHOULD be the most useful moves in that mon's kit, otherwise everyone would pick earthquake and U-turn every time. However, whatever signature move that starter may have should function vastly differently from its peers. Still, the fact that these signature moves exist at all shows that GameFreak came up with ways to differentiate them from past starters. They can't change type in a way that disrupts the type triangle, but they can move around everything else, and signature moves are very memorable and iconic to a Pokemon's design. They also tie well into their designs and origins, which I feel are becoming more creative with time. Charizard is literally just a dragon that's technically not even a dragon, but Quaquaval is a capoeira-using samba-dancing peacock. How is that not interesting and cool?
Also, starters being strong makes sense when you consider the fact that the other Pokemon in the same region are also getting stronger as well. It's not a "starters being strong" problem, even if the generation 9 starter's signature moves all basically function the same. It's always been a general "the bosses are too weak" problem. I WOULD be annoyed at starters being strong if it weren't for the fact that Pokemon like Garganacl, Espathra, and Kingambit are all ridiculously strong too. Power creep is a problem, but that's not solely Meowscarada's or Skeledirge's fault. The fault is on Gamefreak for making Paldea an easy region to pick up hundreds of potions and rare candies on the ground, as well as XP candies being far too good. The Pokemon in general are more powerful than ever, but the boss fights aren't hard enough and Paldea in particular has the illusion of choice and a hilariously scrambled level curve. You COULD do the gyms and titans in any order, but if you go to the wrong spot, you will get destroyed. "OOPS, better use all my XP candies to get through this hard boss fight! Huh! Why is my Meowscarada destroying EVERY SINGLE other boss with one hit??" Starter strength is not the problem. It's the balance of the game it's in that's the problem.
Furthermore, I disagree heavily with the notion that humanoid Pokemon don't belong. Do they make sense as animals? Hell no. Neither does Voltorb. Or Grimer. Or Mr. Mime. Your idea that Mr. Mime and Machamp were meant to be taken as jokes that don't belong in real-world nature falls apart when you look at literally any Pokemon based on a possessed object or magical fairy. It's a children's RPG about magic animals that can fit in tiny metal balls. It doesn't have to make sense to be cool. I believe Gamefreak's trend of humanoid starters - while monotonous - to be an interesting creative choice. I've noticed that GF doesn't make humanoid Pokemon as common in a general sense, but when they do work on a humanoid Pokemon, it's usually a starter. It drives home the point that Pokemon aren't just pets, they're our PARTNERS. This makes me think that GF wants the starter to stand out further from all the other members of your team by being relatable to you the player instead of making them look like any other magical pet on your team. As long as this balance is kept where the only humanoid Pokemon you are likely to have on your team that's not a joke is the starter you've had since the beginning and grew up with you the whole journey, I have no problems whatsoever.
What I do have an issue with is the idea of an "easy, medium, hard" mode when it comes to starters. I can't possibly comprehend how choosing a starter that's straight-up an inferior choice based on the challenges ahead is good game design. If your starter is weak to the next 3 gyms in a row, that's not "hard mode." That's bad game design. All 3 starters should be decent in their OWN way, not strictly worse than its peers for an in-game playthrough. As easy as Paldea is, it did that part well. Every type has a specialist to battle, and any bad matchup for your starter can be fixed with the sheer amount of other mons available to you in an open world. I understand that having an underdog story where your starter clutches a win is compelling, but that's because the boss fight you barely beat had a great strategy or moveset you had to work around, NOT because they had the type you're weak against. A loss that was decided solely by the type matchup feels incredibly cheap when compared to a loss that was decided because your strategy wasn't as good. The gym leaders don't have to be smart, but... give them a coverage move I didn't expect. More held items. Hidden abilities maybe. Even have them hard switch sometimes for a more favorable matchup. Just something that makes them not brainless. Oh, and definitely give the rival the starter strong against yours. That NEEDS to return, along with Set Mode being on by default. I'm so mad they took Set Mode out.
TLDR, I love the way the modern starters are being designed, even if I wish there was more variety in their body type and playstyle.
Zen Mode, If you have decided to Volt Switch from making cool ROM hack videos that try to rebalance a Pokemon in a way that fits their personality and design to doomposting about modern Pokemon games and saying that GameFreak is ruining Pokemon by not doing things the way YOU want them to, then I will unsubscribe. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life, especially slander on my favorite videogame franchise coming out of the mouth of someone who I presumed to be a fan just like me.
Honestly, I agree with more with you than with Zen here
This video just reads out as bitter instead of constructive criticism imo
Voltorb, Grimer and Mr Mime fucking sucks and shouldnt have existed
I feel that when signature moves are too good, playing with any other moveset feels awful, since you're throwing away a lot of potential. This is why I liked a lot earlier starter trios, before gen 7-9. For example Meganium, my favourite starter, can play as a bulky tank with leech seed, synthesis, poison powder, protect. Or it can have some of these support moves + giga drain and ancient power, as a bulky special attacker with a chance to omni boost. Maybe you want to set screens, since they learn both. Or you can also go another way, learning swords dance and earthquake, becoming a sturdy physical attacker. This is what I want when I have a Pokemon, customization. Most starters felt like this since there weren't a lot of auto include moves besides good stab attacks, so you had a lot of space to create different strategies. Now the signature moves themselves do everything for you during a playthrough and that's a bit of a shame.
Aside from clearly broken signature moves, I think a lot of what's going on is just nostalgia talking. Like if they introduced Torterra in a modern game, everyone would clown on it for being ugly, but because they used it as a kid, it gets a pass for having a bunch of construction paper shapes glued onto it. The Unova starters were also famously disliked when Gen 5 first rolled around too, they ranged from being uglyish to needing Contrary to actually function as a Pokemon. The Johto starters aren't exactly hitting any homeruns either by being as blands as saltines. I'd even say that for something like Blastoise, why does it have real metal cannons coming out of its shell? How is something like that a natural design? Now yeah, the Galar starters should've gone through a redesign or two, but ugly or unnatural starters have been a thing since forever. At least with newer starters, they reference various parts of the real world regions. Like the Galar starters being based on British culture, or the Paldea starters being based on parts of the world that were once under Spanish rule. Nostalgia-talk is hardly a new thing when it comes to Pokemon online. What's new is bad and what you recall in your head is magical. I just wish more people realized that nostalgia plays a huge role in how you view the entire series
If they made Charizard now, people would absolutely hate it too for being an objectively lazy design for a starter
At least Venusaur and Blastoise have something to make them unique
Nope! Started playing Pokemon in gen 6 but I SINCERELY agree with this video! It's not nostalgia
@@Hydrainaopinions can come from different places. Its not a binary of "you started in gen 1, so you mist like old designs, and you started in gen 6, so you mist like new designs." However, nostalgia will color one's opinion at least slightly; its unavoidable.
Nostalgia is a cheap excuse people like to throw out. Their are plenty of old designs im not fond of and their plenty of new designs outside of starters that are liked. Theirs fakemon designs for starters the look great too.
While im sure that nostalgia is a primary factor for some people their deffinitely a difference in recent gens st
@@_StarlightRose_ That's funny. You think Charizard is the worst of the gen 1 starters, op thinks it's Blastoise and i think it's Venusaur 😅
When i look at the gen 1 starters and their evolutions, Bulbasaur is by far the most boring to me. Charmander is a lizard with a small flame on its tail (that's neat), but it eventually grows into a dragon with wings. Dragons are almost _defined_ as lizards with wings, so it feels like a natural and obvious upgrade to the cool factor.
Squirtle starts as just a turtle, but then it turns into a turtle with swanky fluff, and finally a really fat turtle with built in cannons! I am down for that, but i'm probably biased because i think all turtle designs are really cool.
Bulbasaur starts out as a frog-like creature with a flower bud on its back. Alright, that's cool. But when it evolves the flower just blooms a little bit, and in its final evolution the flower blooms more. That just doesn't impress me. The other starters had new parts added (wings and cannons) but this guy just unfolds something he started with. There's not enough of a transformation to leave a big impact.
Though it's worth noting that Bulbasaur is far from the worst offender of uninspiring evolutions. Voltorb is so dumb. He just flips upsidedown. And then you got shit like Klinklang. Seriously, what the hell.
I will love the Fennekin line until I die
I kinda wish they would give us a starter trio with an inverted type triangle... Like if they had Fire/Dark, Grass/Fighting, and Water/Psychic instead of the usual type triangle. Then the Fire starter would be weak to the water typing of its rival, but super effective against the psychic typing, so both starters would be evenly matched.
Starting my work day with a Zen upload, you love to see it
You hit the nail on the head when talking about the Paldean signature moves
There's nothing inherently wrong with humanoid Pokemon... But there is something wrong when you choose a cute little cat as your pet, and it turns into a Furry that's taller than your own character.
I also genuinely do not like any gen 8 starters they’re all AWFUL. Thankfully Gen 9 was a step back in the right direction.
See the way I feel about starters is that they're at their best when they're more intelligent seeming, and often that means more humanlike. In my eyes, they're friends first, pets second. They've been leaning FURTHER in that direction, true, but still
I think I get where you're coming from, but for me, it gets a little weird when I think about the fact that it OWN this creature that is intelligent and humanlike. Like it ain't gonna run away or disobey me, even if I get it hurt a lot or feed it stuff it doesn't like.
For me, that's a bit off-putting, and prefer Pokemon looking more like pets since it draws less attention to the more questionable aspects of the games.
yeah these days it feels more like a regular party in an rpg then a bunch of animals, witch i vastly prefer
@@markyjoe1990 and having your pets fighting until they faint without their consent (witch they cant give) dozens to hundreds of times because you want to become champion isnt bad? If you can suspend your disbelief that far i think human like pokemon should be doable
@@charlescalvin8680 Ehh. Fair enough.
I enjoy Incineroar a lot, he's a lil wrestler and I enjoy wrestling :)
Okay, so, you said you have insight beyond "Pokemon shouldn't have human designs" and only succeeded in repeating that very phrase over and over and over again in so many ways over the course of 30 minutes. Even then, we can see how you don't actually believe this, since you seemingly don't have this issue with Infernape and Empoleon. So you aren't even consistent on the one opinion you claim to have. This could have been a tweet.
Infernape isn’t human-like except for the fact that humans are also apes. Empoleon isn’t human-like at all, what are you on? It’s literally an emperor penguin made of steel…
@@dedbatt8869Empoleon is literally Napoleon.
Bro called all humans monkeys
@@deantrail6789 How is it literally Napoleon? Sure it's referenced in the name and the height but it looks nothing like a man lol
@spinceiling7442 Empoleon looks like a man with cartoonish proportions. Almost every bipedal mon looks like a cartoon human to me.
For me starters being humanoid are more interesting & relatable than being just animals 🤷♂️ I definitely love how, for example gen 9 starters have references to Spanish,mexican, french & Brazilian culture in them. Also, pokemon aren't just animals they are pocket MONSTERS so i don't see why not they can be anything 🤷♂️ I actually like both types of design so yeah as long as they're good I'm down 😂
I feel like the answer to all of your issues is "so what?" none of these issues are actual issues, just personal gripes you have with starters because you made rules in your own head about how these starters should behave lol
While I don’t have an issue with people not liking some of the newer designs. It does getting annoying hear people treat their preferences as fact or a “problem” rather then their subjective taste.
Not every issue people have with games is a "so what"
i think this a example of a "making mountains out of hills" situation.
It's an opinion video, what did you expect lmao?
A significant number of people dislike the shift in design philosophy, its effect on the gameplay, and their enjoyment of the games.
This is just putting that into words. It's quite a cursory takeaway that every issue is a "so what" 😂
Personally, I'm one of the 12 Serperior fans, I love that smug ass snake
I really dislike humanoid pokemon. I almost never use them. They weird me out, especially when they WEAR CLOTHING.
the idea that the starters have become more bipedal is nonsense. Charizard, Blastoise, Typhlosian, Feraligatr, Sceptile, Blaziken, Infernape and Empoleon are all bipedal with two arms and stand in "human-like" poses and to this day we get things like Skeledirge that are on all fours
I think there’s a difference between bipedal but animalistic pokemon (eg. Typhlosian’s stubby legs and sausage body or Empoleon’s penguin body) and Pokémon that look like a fursona with human proportions (eg. the cat ones, Cinderace, Quaquaval, etc.)
Though I will say Blaziken belongs in the weirdo humanoid group.
At least Rillaboom is based on something that is closer to a human.
I think fantasy jobs are at least something more fun because it's something no one should relate to, and if you're playing Pokemon, you're probably okay with fantasy. Gen 6's job classes have more inherent appeal than the Galar workers.
The reason they always have a job or hobby isn't to be relateable, it's because they've been overdesigning the Pokémon for a while now. Instead of actually having story bits or a location or an event inspired by Dia De Los Muertos, they give us Skeledirge, one single pokemon, who's expected to shoulder that weight entirely without any assistance from any other aspects of the game. That's a big--no, a huge issue with Pokémon right now: they don't know how to integrate surface level story, and instead want to lock all the lore and inspiration behind design, like Bloodborne and Dark Souls. The game will hold your hand for battles, but the game refuses to highlight any of the culture they've painstakingly threaded into every other aspect. Really take a look, there's so much love poured into these designs, and they just refuse to find a way to make it story-relevant. So yeah, that's why they're "not just animals" anymore, because they're cultural ambassadors
Incineroar is technically a defensive fire type starter
Only in VGC, but you right.
And objectively a support Pokémon
There's a difference between defense and support. Inceneroar is a support Pokemon.
@@shiruotakuno28 yes.
My favourite support Pokémon is Cherim in duo with Groudon (it's death duo,what destroyed all in they road)
really glad you touched on signature moves here, you kinda took the words right out of my mouth on that! i feel like it's become a problem not just for starters, but almost _every_ new pokemon. it's like they can't just BE a pokemon anymore, everything has to have some sort of new signature move or unique, niche ability. like, they've been doing this to such an overwhelming amount of pokemon that there have been so many new moves and abilities i didn't even know existed bc they just gave it to one random thing. it also sort of feels like they do this to try and cater to the competitive scene, and i feel like things have been leaning that way more and more each gen. acknowledging your competitive players and making some mechanics for them isn't a bad thing inherently (i think it's great how accessible they've made it over the years!), but it feels like they're honing in so much on crafting pokemon JUST for those purposes that we're losing a lot of the charm of pokemon that just... exist
Oooohhh controversial video for a lot of people I'm sure. But inject this straight into my veins. I don't want a fucking man in a fursuit running behind me like Quaquaval my entire journey.
It all boils down to TPC being incredibly tryhard and EVEN MORE formulaic than before in starter designs, to try and get you to like them. This in conjunction with the unprecedented levels of power creep that starters are usually at the forefront of nowadays, just makes these pokemon feel fake and sterile in a very calculated sort of way.
Skeledirge is fucking awesome though
My stance is probably pretty controversial, but I think it's a case of "the best time to do it was 25 years ago; the second best time is now”, in abandoning the Fire-Water-Grass trio for starters. It doesn't mean we'd never see another Fire-Water-Grass trio, but it would be one of many options.
The key thing is you want to form a Rock-Paper-Scissors type triangle, which no one but Fire-Water-Grass, and Fighting-Flying-Rock do as well as each other as monotypes, but with dual types, and relaxing the NVE requirements (since even without a second type, you likely still have coverage moves), it opens options significantly.
With this change, now starters can still stand out, even if they have similar stat spreads to starter pokemon that came before, because they might not even share a single type, rather than just relying on secondary types to do the heavy lifting.
To me they clash with the worldbuilding aspect of Pokémon being the ecosystem of their world
Other monster catching franchises have the excuse of their monsters being an alien concept (Digimon are computer programs incarnated into physical beings, SMT demons being demons based on religious concepts and mythos) so seeing an animal looking like a fursuit and expecting to be natural happenstance is extremely awkward
A trio with Grass/Ice, Fire/Ground & Pure Water could be interesting
Personally I LOVE the designs that brim with personality. But yeah, I cab see how it can be offputimg to others with making them more human like and giving the personality to the whole species (I dislike Incineroar and Innciderace myself), but god I LOVE decidueye, quaquaval, meowscarada, inteleon, greninja.I feel like pokemon has shifted from the pet aspect to a friend and partner. So while I understand your point I disagree heavily with you in plenty of your points, cuz I love this new direction, but I do agree that pokemon should balance it out, and they are doing that! Skeledirge is proof that animalistic designs still will be used as you pointed out. And gameplay wise I personally feel like the designs far outweigh the stats, idfc that thyplosion has the same stats as charizard, theor designs are so different that gameplay barely affects my view of them
I definitely agree with this-- both the fact that we don't need more "third gen is humanoid/bipedal + gimmick" style starters and the fact that there's a difference between a good, thoughtful signature move and A Can of Unmitigated Game-Breaking Whoop-Ass.
It's easy to see people complain about the too human like jobs of modern starters, and to go right to thinking about meowscarada, my beloved little magician that i only like so much because of its fun personality, and to think to myself "no youre wrong".
But it is also true that I was so excited for litten, a cute little black cat, yet I never evolved my torracat into incineroar because I disliked the wrestler gimmick so much. And it is true that the starter I picked in gen 8 is not a starter I would have picked if the competition weren't so bad that gen.
I think this is greninja's fault. You give a guy a unique fighting style and personality so he'll fit in smash bros, and suddenly the guy ranks number 1 in a bunch of popularity polls, and now every starter looks more like theyd be a unique fighter in smash than a pet I go adventuring with.
One thing about Leaf Blade is that in Gen 3 it had a base power of 70, before being buffed to 95 in later gens. And it has an increased crit rate
Flower Trick being 70 power and guaranteed crit means it's just a better version of Gen 3 Leaf Blade. Kinda tells you how far power creep has gone
I've never understood the backlash against anthropomorphic designs. It's something humans have been doing in fiction since we literally were drawing on cave walls. and all the anthropomorphic designs are directly drawn from the regions theme:
galar is England and the three starters are obviously based off punk drummers, football players, and James Bond, and I've never seen a nonhuman play the drums in a band. also, Rillaboom just kinda looks like a gorilla. they're already half-anthropomhized because humans and gorillas are both primates and great apes. i don't really like any of the galar starters that much, and honestly hate rillaboom and think cinderace is a downgrade from raboot but criticizing them for being anthropomorphic is silly.
idk you make a good point about the power creep but your entire first two third here sounds like unhinged whining
I personally find quadruped-obsession more weird. The bipedal thing wasn't even a thing I noticed until I saw ppl weirdly complaining about em. Always comes off as if ppl have a weird closeted furry complex when ppl make it an issue personally.
Personally, the only gen I didn't like any of the starters was Gen 5. Dewott got ruined by Samurott imo.
I agree about the complaints about same-iness or power creep, tho.
Was disappointed that Skeledurge wasn't a defensive Mon as well.
I miss when rivals also beat you, and choosing the starter felt like it meaningfully affected the playthrough.
Sobble is so wonderful, but Inteleon is such a disgrace to what it could have been. I hate its design with a passion. Primarina is my favorite starter in Alola, but I just always reset for a female Popplio.
Gen 8 starters are the worst starter options in my opinion. Closely followed by Gen 5.
Ok, fair points, but I have a problem with you calling Flower Trick the weakest out of the 3 signature moves of the Paldean Starters. Aqua Step is inferior, it's just raising the speed stat of an already fast pokemon, what is going to do, take 3 turns before I take one?
My counterpoint is that Aqua Step is designed with Quaquaval in mind who has Moxie as a hidden ability along 120 base attack and a middling base 85 speed. It wants Aqua Step to outspeed anything and get the snowball rolling
>already fast
>85 base speed
then again I have a rather skewed interpretation of what I think is fast, cause I usually think of the 110 speed benchmark.
I think that gf is trying too hard to make the starter pokemon look like main character pokemon for the series. Yes all starters have a certain feel to them that give you a sense that they are important, but I think many would agree with me when I say that a less crowded and more grounded design like blastoise or swampert looks way better than a flashy and edgy water starter like quakquaval or however u spell it
Serious unpopular opinion: I don't like the starter Pokémon in any of the games. The first thing I do when I get pokeballs is catch a random pokemon on the first route and then release my starter. I think it's a lot more fun to play like this because it makes me feel like a normal trainer in the world
i feel like starters being "foundations to your team" was always wrong. sure the pokemon should look cohesive as a species as well as looking cool or cute or something to grab the player and make them want to play with that starter, but I think a lot of Playthrough are actually handicapped because everyone feels the need to put their starter on their team because of how powerful and cool they are compared to the rest of the pokemon in the games.
The only rival I can defend picking the one weak to yours is Nemona in gen 9. Her entire story comes down to her being this unsurmountable wall of a trainer who breezed through her region before we even got our first pokemon and now she's starting fresh and giving us a chance to give her the battle she's always wanted.
Also you are 100% correct that these signature moves are broken. I lost to the final nemona fight 3 times because of Aqua step making her starter just sweep through my team. They are so broken that they actually hinder the final battle against Nemona because you can have this close fight where you barely out play her and then her starter clicks Flower trick 3 times and kills the rest of your team.
The hidden abilities of the start and a should become the heir main abilities and the basic type boosting abilities should become hidden. This would make each choice more unique and still keep the original abilities around. Also it seems like since gen 6 one of the three starters gets pandered too more than the other which is complete bs. Greninja and cinderace got TWO signature moves instead of one, incineroar got one of the best abilities of all time; and meowscarada is disproportionately promoted in other pokemon games and media.