Unpopular opinions

[thdhted]

Yes, but would you use Mega Beedrill over say Mega Scizor (for Bug-type), Mega Gengar (for Poison-type), or the other Megas for Pseudo Legendaries, Starters, or some of the other more popular Megas? Even in LGPE you still had the Mega Starters, Gengar, & Aerodactyl.

I think the Megas do need some fixing, specifically with how much stats are increased. The +100 BST isn't enough to help the Pokemon who didn't have that high of stats to start with catch-up. Not to mention a Pokemon who has a Mega you'd want to have it go Mega over holding a Life Orb or Choice Item. To start with I think they should make the stat increases percentage base instead of a flat number, I don't think we'd have such huge numbers as we have now so a bit more balanced and easier for the lower BST Pokemon to catch-up (especially with the right Ability). Also would get rid of the need to decrease a stat in order to increase another stat unless the decrease would benefit the Pokemon (like making a slow the Pokemon even slower to take advantage of Trick Room).

I disagree with the issue being the base stats.
Several Megas have very solid base stats, but a mediocre abilities. Most currently existing megas are OU/UU already, or viable in both tiers. I think the real issue is said Mega Evolutions not fixing a problem with the base pokemon, poor allocation of the stats, or a mixture of the two, alongside a mediocre ability.
Looking at the Mega Evolutions currently tiered under UU, we have our selection of:

Abomasnow: Its Mega takes a slow, frailish Ice-Type with even worse than usual typing; and turns it into an even slower Ice-Type with worse than usual typing with added bulk and offenses. The only real difference between pre and post-mega Abomasnow is that Abomasnow can take neutral hits better and hits slightly harder than an Abomasnow with a Life Orb. This combined with a lack of reliable recovery and an unchanged ability makes for a pokemon that constantly has to take hits before dishing them out, and simply cannot keep up. If it had gotten instead, a unique weather that didn't hinder one of its only recovery moves(synthesis) or a speed boosting ability instead of going down the typical immovable glacier path it might be better.

Ampharos: Ampharos' Mega Evolution is similar to Abomasnow in that it takes speed and adds defenses/offenses, though it also adds the useful Dragon Typing to go along with it. This time however some of that lost speed is for whatever reason donated to Ampharos' Attack for it to use some of its near nonexistent physical coverage(Ampharos has a grand total of 8 physical moves with a BP over 60 that are not normal type moves, 2 of those are STAB, and 2 of them are Focus Punch and Dynamic Punch). Once again, a lack of recovery makes for a slow moving (though significantly harder hitting) Pokemon that has to take hits before responding. Mold Breaker is the real punch in the stomach for Mega Ampharos, as it does nearly nothing for it at all(at the very minimum, Snow Warning gives Abomasnow perfect blizzard accuracy and chip damage), as opposed to an ability that compliments its new bulk or sky-high attack.

Banette: Banette's Mega dumps most of its stats into Attack, then spreads the rest semi-evenly to the other stats. This results in a hard hitting, slow Pokemon with no appreciable bulk. Prankster is an amazing ability, and is essentially the only saving grace Mega Banette has, allowing it to spread status and taunt foes with impunity. Unfortunately, the lack of speed and bulk prevent it from being anything other than a frail wallbreaker with support capabilities. Not putting stats into its frankly useless special attack and shaving off some of its defenses would have resulted in a faster Pokemon capable of handling itself just fine offensively while being able to patch up its poor defense with priority Wil O Wisp.

Blastoise: Mega Blastoise is a slow(noticing a pattern here?), hard-hitting water type with solid defenses and good coverage. It's faster than the previously mentioned Megas, but is also held back by a lack of recovery. Once again, stats have been dumped into an attack stat that it will never be using as a special attacker instead of putting it into speed or its defenses. Otherwise decent.

Glalie: Glalie is just simply an awful pokemon and Mega Glalie is only slightly better. Instead of pumping the Attack stat it wants to use with Refrigerate(Glalie does not get any special normal moves over 60 BP other than Hyper Beam) or even its speed; a whole 40 points were dumped into its comparatively useless special attack. Mega Glalie would almost absolutely be better with 20 more points in speed and attack.

Audino: Audino is the victim of being stuck with a doubles-specific ability when it would have really appreciated being allowed to have Regenerator, or really any other ability that was actually useful. 106/126/126 defenses are quite good when backed up by a pretty solid typing, and even base 80 sp. attack is usable, but once again, it's slow and effectively has no ability to use in a game where most battles are 1v1.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Speaking of Mega Magcargo...

Oh snap, Pokemon Insurgence fangame gave us this

Its stats don't seem anywhere near as broken as I want it though (pretty slow, but its new ability grants it immunity to water type and hurts water types over time)... even though it appears literally broken.

 

[cityscapes]

Yes, but would you use Mega Beedrill over say Mega Scizor (for Bug-type), Mega Gengar (for Poison-type), or the other Megas for Pseudo Legendaries, Starters, or some of the other more popular Megas? Even in LGPE you still had the Mega Starters, Gengar, & Aerodactyl.

what kind of wack question is this? it's like asking why you'd want to use blaziken over like primal groudon or something. mega bee has a very clear and defined niche over both these mons: it's fast, notably stronger on its stab moves thanks to adapt, and capable of running multiple utility moves in its last slot like sd/toxic spikes/knock. there are many teams that would do better with bee than another mega. sure, it's not in ou, but that's more because of the meta (lando t/gliscor) being unfriendly to it than because of flaws in its design.

Not to mention a Pokemon who has a Mega you'd want to have it go Mega over holding a Life Orb or Choice Item.

mega latios and chomp, two of the mons that get hit hardest by this, still see use so i don't think it's an issue

They can give each fully evolved Pokemon a Mega Evolution, however the ones people are going to use are most likely the ones who were already good in their base form.

not if they execute it well. they made mawile good. they made beedrill and pidgeot at least usable. this is different from z moves, which affect all mons equally so they can't be "executed well" unless you get fancy with status z moves.

mega abomasnow actually sucks though. like let me complain about this for a minute. you have a slow ice type, sure, and all these people are complaining about slow defensive ice types, so why don't we add offenses? the thing is that aboma does not actually hit that hard. it has a great offensive typing factoring in eq/focus blast, but compared to other megas its attacking stats are just mediocre and it has no ability to back it up. and its bulk is honestly pretty mediocre too, it's like mega venusaur level. so basically you have a mon with horrible defensive typing, decent offense, low speed, not even that much bulk, and stealth rock weakness. they really didn't do enough to patch up all its flaws; imo the nail in the coffin was keeping snow warning and not getting a new ability.

 

[DreamPrince]

I think the main problem with Megas and Z-Moves are the same: you can only use one of each. They can give each fully evolved Pokemon a Mega Evolution, however the ones people are going to use are most likely the ones who were already good in their base form. Same issue with Z-Move, why give it to any other Pokemon besides the one that can hit the strongest?

Now am I suggesting they should allow multiple Pokemon to Mega Evolve or use Z-Moves? Actually yes... but with a catch. While I myself have thought how it could work, it's all wishlisting so I'll keep my thoughts simple: you can Mega Evolve as many Pokemon as you want but only one of your Pokemon can be Mega Evolved at a time and each Mega Evolution has diminishing value (until the only change would be any Type and Ability changes with nothing changed about the stats). Same with Z-Moves, the more of them you use the weaker they become.

I also think maybe they should find a way to combine Mega Evolution and Z-Moves but once again that's going into wishlisting territory so I'll just stop right here.

Well Ultra Necrozma kinda has that, since Ultra Burst is its special variation of Mega Evolution, and then Z-Move next turn. I'm guessing it doesn't get a 100 point increase like Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion is because of that Z-Move. An Opportunity cost could balance it out. Instead of being able to Mega Evolve right away, you have to wait a few turns as in building energy for Mega Evolution? Pokemon with a higher BST will have to wait longer than Pokemon with a lower BST. That way, there's a higher opportunity cost for using the stronger Megas like Salamence.

I disagree with the issue being the base stats.
Several Megas have very solid base stats, but a mediocre abilities. Most currently existing megas are OU/UU already, or viable in both tiers. I think the real issue is said Mega Evolutions not fixing a problem with the base pokemon, poor allocation of the stats, or a mixture of the two, alongside a mediocre ability.
Looking at the Mega Evolutions currently tiered under UU, we have our selection of:

Abomasnow: Its Mega takes a slow, frailish Ice-Type with even worse than usual typing; and turns it into an even slower Ice-Type with worse than usual typing with added bulk and offenses. The only real difference between pre and post-mega Abomasnow is that Abomasnow can take neutral hits better and hits slightly harder than an Abomasnow with a Life Orb. This combined with a lack of reliable recovery and an unchanged ability makes for a pokemon that constantly has to take hits before dishing them out, and simply cannot keep up. If it had gotten instead, a unique weather that didn't hinder one of its only recovery moves(synthesis) or a speed boosting ability instead of going down the typical immovable glacier path it might be better.

Ampharos: Ampharos' Mega Evolution is similar to Abomasnow in that it takes speed and adds defenses/offenses, though it also adds the useful Dragon Typing to go along with it. This time however some of that lost speed is for whatever reason donated to Ampharos' Attack for it to use some of its near nonexistent physical coverage(Ampharos has a grand total of 8 physical moves with a BP over 60 that are not normal type moves, 2 of those are STAB, and 2 of them are Focus Punch and Dynamic Punch). Once again, a lack of recovery makes for a slow moving (though significantly harder hitting) Pokemon that has to take hits before responding. Mold Breaker is the real punch in the stomach for Mega Ampharos, as it does nearly nothing for it at all(at the very minimum, Snow Warning gives Abomasnow perfect blizzard accuracy and chip damage), as opposed to an ability that compliments its new bulk or sky-high attack.

I second that an ability plays a crucial role in a Mega's Viability, looking at the top Mega's in VGC, Charizard, Salamence, Kangaskhan, Gardevoir, and Gengar, all of them have an ability that increase their damage output or enhances their offensive capabilities in some way to make up for the lack of an item.

Well the analyses for Abomasnow and Ampharos might be true for Singles, keep in mind that Pokemon Company GF only care about VGC. In VGC, the speed drop is great for TR for both Megas, while Snow Warning compliments weather control and allows perfectly Accurate Blizzards to hit both opponents. In addition is immune to Amoonguss's Spore, a common threat to TR teams. Mold Breaker is useful for ignoring the omnipresent Lightning Rod.

what kind of wack question is this? it's like asking why you'd want to use blaziken over like primal groudon or something. mega bee has a very clear and defined niche over both these mons: it's fast, notably stronger on its stab moves thanks to adapt, and capable of running multiple utility moves in its last slot like sd/toxic spikes/knock. there are many teams that would do better with bee than another mega. sure, it's not in ou, but that's more because of the meta (lando t/gliscor) being unfriendly to it than because of flaws in its design.

mega latios and chomp, two of the mons that get hit hardest by this, still see use so i don't think it's an issue

I think Beedrill-Gengar comparison is acceptable, since they both fill the niche fast Poison type.

Mega Latios and Garchomp, while having an heavy opportunity cost, are still decent mixed attackers, especially for Monotype, something that their base forms struggle to do.

 

[DreamPrince]

Sorry for the double post, but its been a couple of days since my last post.

While were on the topic of bad habits that translate to badly to the competitive side, I have one.: The use of Potions, Revives, etc. in battle. My big complaint is that it ruins the value of playing conservatively and making predictions less important. What I'm trying to say is this: Let's just say that you need Giratina-O to beat your opponent's Primal Groudon, and right now your opponent has Xerneas in the front. While it might be tempting to stay in and Go for Thunder Wave to cripple it, but the oppourtunity cost being hit by Moonblast is to risky that you use to refuse to risk Giratina and switch.

But the casual games never have this kind of prediction. It doesn't matter if the Xerneas KOES you with Moonblast or Critically KOES it doesn't matter. All you can do is use a revive for the former or a full Restore for the latter. Now you can check that Primal Groudon when that Xerneas is gone. That kind of privilege rots any desire to play conservatively, making predictions without any caution, and respond to RNG and that badly prepares someone for the competitive scene.

And that's another reason why the battle facilities are a poor thing for the casual players. The game suddenly transitions from use potions when in trouble to now you need to conserve. If there's a mishap, too bad you can't use the potions we taught you so far. This is why battle facilities are a problem and discouraging for the casual player, since it takes everything from the casual side and throws it out the window.

And the potion problem isn't that hard to fix. Simply make it that Potions and healing items can't be used in-battle: Only outside of battle. I'm guessing in GF eye's, its balanced since it takes a turn and the AI use it. But being able to revive a Pokemon is a small opportunity cost for a turn. Not to mention the AI only hits certain threshold and then they use it, this can be played around. The AI only has two Potions and 0 revives as well, so its very weighted in the player's balance.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Potions and healing items do teach bad habits, and they render moves like recover pretty irrelevant as well as not making status moves being as devastating. But there's probably one case where you should be able to heal in-battle, and that should be wild Pokemon, IMO, especially the strong ones.

 

[adman2]

In my older solo playthroughs, I tended to use healing items and X item buffs a lot. The games become more interesting when you abstain from those and put recovery and buffs in your moveset. Pokemon Moon is the exception to the "no Full Restore" rule, however, because Alola is much harder for solos than other regions due to the experience formula and Totem boss battles. (Unova's experience curve can be worked around with Audinos in the early game and the Lucky Egg after the 5th badge.)

 

[DreamPrince]

In my older solo playthroughs, I tended to use healing items and X item buffs a lot. The games become more interesting when you abstain from those and put recovery and buffs in your moveset. Pokemon Moon is the exception to the "no Full Restore" rule, however, because Alola is much harder for solos than other regions due to the experience formula and Totem boss battles. (Unova's experience curve can be worked around with Audinos in the early game and the Lucky Egg after the 5th badge.)

Only Totem Pokemon that gave me trouble Lurantis and Salazzle, interestingly enough. What was wrong with the experience curve in Alola? Wasn't a problem for me.

 

[adman2]

Only Totem Pokemon that gave me trouble Lurantis and Salazzle, interestingly enough. What was wrong with the experience curve in Alola? Wasn't a problem for me.

In a solo run, even Pokemon ranked as high as S in the Moon ingame tier thread have trouble. The level curve is difficult because it has the diminishing returns of White without the Lucky Egg or easy Audinos for mitigation. You probably won't be more than 11 levels or so above your opponents in Moon unless you have a Fast experience group monster or something. Enemies in Moon have pretty good stats compared to earlier Pokemon games too, especially Speed. In Crystal, you can outrun most enemy trainers with a Slowbro. In Moon, my solo Magneton often attacked after the enemies despite being base 70 Speed.

 

[morty123]

You know, i have never understood why so many people like grass/poison types, or even consider them good, especially in the early gens.
I hated that so many grass types had a poison typing, weakness to psychic(mostly a gen 1 thing) and no free switch in on ground moves(all gens)? No thanks.
Especially the latter one, it compromises what a grass type should be, a wall to ground types.

Ofc, im one of those who rates meganium in gen 2 highly for that reason, while hardly anyone else did, they prefered Venosaur for whatever reason.
Okay, so you wall fighting types instead, and get stab on sludge bomb, i still dont like it.

 

[Detective Barricade]

You know, i have never understood why so many people like grass/poison types, or even consider them good, especially in the early gens.
I hated that so many grass types had a poison typing, weakness to psychic(mostly a gen 1 thing) and no free switch in on ground moves(all gens)? No thanks.
Especially the latter one, it compromises what a grass type should be, a wall to ground types.

Ofc, im one of those who rates meganium in gen 2 highly for that reason, while hardly anyone else did, they prefered Venosaur for whatever reason.
Okay, so you wall fighting types instead, and get stab on sludge bomb, i still dont like it.

Venusaur just hits harder, and at least isn't as bothered by Poison or Bug moves. Meganium tends to be too passive even in-game. Plus the free switch in on Ground moves is granted by the Flying type, which are immune to all that cause damage save for Zygarde's Thousand Arrows. (which also grounds them so they can be hit by other Ground moves)

 

[adman2]

Grass types in general have problems, mostly due to so many other types resisting it and coming with a lot of weaknesses. The best single turn Grass attacks in the first two generations had 60 base power at best, and Leaf Blade was exclusive to the Treecko line in the GBA games. Grass types are supposed to counter Water, but Water types can have Ice moves, and some common ones have a secondary Flying or Poison type to make Grass attacks neutral.

Even with the improvements like Energy Ball and Grass Knot in the later games, my solo Roserade still had trouble with all the Flying, Poison, and Bug types in Pearl.

 

[Hyper Cutter]

3D sprites hail in comparison to 2D sprites. Just look up a picture of Typlosion’s gen 5 sprite, and then his 3D counterpart. He goes from cool armadillo dude to a slimy rodent ad he just looks sooo awkward.

Typhlosion was always kind of bland and awkward without the fire. The whole Cyndaquil line are canonically not on fire most of the time, and the way the 3D models work lets the games actually reflect that for the first time.

Yeah, the XY models and animations were for the most part pretty damn bad and it's extremely disappointing that they're being used three gens on.

They're really not, though. Aside from being slightly washed out for what I assume are dumb technical reasons, their cardinal sin is that a lot of Pokemon designs really don't work that well in 3D (and can't hide behind positioning tricks or outright cheating like sprites often did).

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Washed out is an art choice, especially in within the 3DS generation that also gave us Super Mystery Dungeon with better texture colors. I can't imagine any reason washed out diffuse is any technical reason especially for a game that's not graphically intensive in the first place.

Not sure about that "they don't work well in 3D", since character concept artists usually design characters from multiple angles, even if the character ends up 2D. I really don't know if some bad 3D stuff are attributed to the angling and pose more than bad design.

 

[earl]

Washed out is an art choice, especially in within the 3DS generation that also gave us Super Mystery Dungeon with better texture colors. I can't imagine any reason washed out diffuse is any technical reason especially for a game that's not graphically intensive in the first place.

Not sure about that "they don't work well in 3D", since character concept artists usually design characters from multiple angles, even if the character ends up 2D. I really don't know if some bad 3D stuff are attributed to the angling and pose more than bad design.

Golem does not work in 3D

 

[morty123]

Venusaur just hits harder, and at least isn't as bothered by Poison or Bug moves. Meganium tends to be too passive even in-game. Plus the free switch in on Ground moves is granted by the Flying type, which are immune to all that cause damage save for Zygarde's Thousand Arrows. (which also grounds them so they can be hit by other Ground moves)

Since i was speaking about gen 2 here, the only thing running a "real" bug attack is Heracross, though i guess HP bug from things such as Scizor does hurt as well, point is, its not very common.

Meganium was a great tank, setting up screens, leech seed and synthesis/rest, that was its niche.

At least back in those days, i'd take that free switch in on ground moves.


Flying types could switch in on ground moves as well ofc, i really love Zapdos for that, amazing typing.
However, most of them dont enjoy rock moves though, which most ground types tend to run, many of them with STAB.
Grass types dont particulary care about rock moves, and the pure grass type doesnt care one bit about ground moves either.

Each have their pro and cons though, some may like neutrality to bug, or fighting resistance, i prefer my grass types as walls for ground types.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Golem does not work in 3D

Why not?

 

[earl]

Why not?

It was covered in the bad sprite thread I think. He’s just not anatomically suited for it

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I mean, why isn't it? Sure, it looks like a soccer ball, but this is more pinned on poor model quality rather than a limitation of the model. I think it's a little trickier to model something that's all uneven, but since the ball part isn't animated, I think you can go crazy on the mesh work, extrude all the irregular stuff (and make those extrusions irregular through different elevations and angling, it won't affect model size), triangulate all those n-gons you make from cutting all those edges, and there, you have something that's rocky and convincing. Current Golem is just lazy modeling work, with all even extrusions, if the pattern is even extruded, as I can't tell myself.

I'm heavy on the 3d jargon, hahah

 

[Merritt]

I mean, why isn't it? Sure, it looks like a soccer ball, but this is more pinned on poor model quality rather than a limitation of the model. I think it's a little trickier to model something that's all uneven, but since the ball part isn't animated, I think you can go crazy on the mesh work, extrude all the irregular stuff (and make those extrusions irregular through different elevations and angling, it won't affect model size), triangulate all those n-gons you make from cutting all those edges, and there, you have something that's rocky and convincing. Current Golem is just lazy modeling work, with all even extrusions, if the pattern is even extruded, as I can't tell myself.

I'm heavy on the 3d jargon, hahah

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...were-ruined-by-3d-models.3610656/post-7468181
This post briefly addresses it - it can be quickly summed up as Golem's body being something that only works well from a fixed angle where the arms and legs and head are specifically posed.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I read it, but I think it's more of the fault of the placement of the head and arms relative to the rest of the body. They clearly cut corners on the design of the rocks though, but it could be more easily resolved in the later games if they're willing to take advantage of normal maps. But anyhow, Golem is just bad design overall, as I've read that even in 2D animation, Golem suffers. Hell, I don't think Golem looks all that good in the BW iteration, but I repeat, most sprites from BW are just not good.

 

[Sondero]

Seeing as how there's talk in the little things that annoy you thread about Super Mystery Dungeon's "out for lunch" feature, I figure this is quite an unpopular opinion.
I honestly love that feature, while it may feel a bit annoying from a gameplay standpoint, even if it encourages experimentation with different Pokemon, there's still a massive selection of Pokemon to choose from overall, so you can most likely find a decent selection of Pokemon from your selection. Like after a while you'll have the almost the entire selection of Pokemon from gens 1-6.

But hey, that's just a justification or an excuse for the feature, it's not a reason to actually like it. The reason I love it, is because it gives the impression that the Pokemon in the world have their own lives, go on their own adventures and are busy with their own stuff often. Even if someone applies to join your team of 500+ adventurers, it doesn't make sense that they'd always have time to help you out, especially considering they're not even getting paid. It's such a simple feature, but it makes the world of the game feel a hell of a lot more convincing and immersive.

 

[Wishy]

I really think they could expand on the distribution of quite a few signature abilities. It feels like every other Gen 7 mon was getting some novel ability. Things like Dazzling, Berserk, Water Compaction, Stamina, Stakeout, Aroma Veil, etc. I get why they've gone down this road as its hard to make new Pokemon standout when there are 800 total and 300ish? fully evolved Pokemon currently. It wouldn't hurt to toss a few of these signature moves onto a few other Pokemon. Frankly a lot of older Pokemon could do with an overhaul of their 2-3 available abilities.

 

[Codraroll]

I really think they could expand on the distribution of quite a few signature abilities. It feels like every other Gen 7 mon was getting some novel ability. Things like Dazzling, Berserk, Water Compaction, Stamina, Stakeout, Aroma Veil, etc. I get why they've gone down this road as its hard to make new Pokemon standout when there are 800 total and 300ish? fully evolved Pokemon currently. It wouldn't hurt to toss a few of these signature moves onto a few other Pokemon. Frankly a lot of older Pokemon could do with an overhaul of their 2-3 available abilities.

It's the content inflation problem once again. So many aspects in Pokémon follow a system of "Use X things out of a pool of Y", and Y keeps increasing every game while X remains constant. This includes things like building a team, picking moves, held items, abilities, and so on. Game Freak keeps trying to come up with ways to make each new Pokémon unique, making more moves, more abilities, more gimmick items etc., which keeps increasing the value of Y. But most Pokémon have long since filled their available ability slots, a Pokémon can only carry four moves, and a trainer can only carry six Pokémon at a time. X remains constant. Worse, sometimes the existing content is more likely to fill those slots than the new content is. Take for instance Ground-type Pokémon, most players will probably reserve a move slot for Earthquake, since it's just such a darn great move. Any new Ground moves worse than Earthquake would probably lose out to it, and making better ones would only exacerbate the power creep problem. It's a tricky situation to be in for a game designer.

Luckily, Game Freak tends to become more generous with signature moves for non-legendary Pokémon as the generations go by. Many signature moves only remain so for a generation or two, before becoming more widespread. See the signature moves of the Kalos starters, for instance. They were given to other Pokémon as early as ORAS. The same has been true for many signature abilities as well. The problem is that former signature abilities tend to be given to Pokémon with free ability slots, which is almost always new Pokémon, or at best new forms of old Pokémon. Hopefully, there will be some sort of overhaul one day. It was so great in Gen V when a new ability slot was added and tons of old Pokémon could function in new and interesting ways.

 

[Wishy]

It's the content inflation problem once again. So many aspects in Pokémon follow a system of "Use X things out of a pool of Y", and Y keeps increasing every game while X remains constant. This includes things like building a team, picking moves, held items, abilities, and so on. Game Freak keeps trying to come up with ways to make each new Pokémon unique, making more moves, more abilities, more gimmick items etc., which keeps increasing the value of Y. But most Pokémon have long since filled their available ability slots, a Pokémon can only carry four moves, and a trainer can only carry six Pokémon at a time. X remains constant. Worse, sometimes the existing content is more likely to fill those slots than the new content is. Take for instance Ground-type Pokémon, most players will probably reserve a move slot for Earthquake, since it's just such a darn great move. Any new Ground moves worse than Earthquake would probably lose out to it, and making better ones would only exacerbate the power creep problem. It's a tricky situation to be in for a game designer.

Luckily, Game Freak tends to become more generous with signature moves for non-legendary Pokémon as the generations go by. Many signature moves only remain so for a generation or two, before becoming more widespread. See the signature moves of the Kalos starters, for instance. They were given to other Pokémon as early as ORAS. The same has been true for many signature abilities as well. The problem is that former signature abilities tend to be given to Pokémon with free ability slots, which is almost always new Pokémon, or at best new forms of old Pokémon. Hopefully, there will be some sort of overhaul one day. It was so great in Gen V when a new ability slot was added and tons of old Pokémon could function in new and interesting ways.

Absolutely. I don't even necessarily think that upping the maximum to 4 is necessarily the way to go (albeit I'm not against it), but boosting all FE Pokemon to 3 and making hidden abilities less restrictive to get. Some Pokemon could use an overhaul, especially ones stuck with field abilities like Illuminate and Pickup that serve no purpose in battle (or at least give them a battle mechanic along with the field mechanic).

I also think it's time for GameFreak to break their Levitate and nothing else clause officially. It's a great ability but good grief, give Flygon something else. Bronzor/Bronzong being the only Pokemon to break the trend after all this time is so weird.