Gen VI metagame speculation

[wraith89]

Mega Stone is anything but gimmicky. Lucario with 240 BP STAB attack? Mawile that outpowers a Thick Club Marowak? It's like creating a "Champion monster" for a team. I suppose one can create a "Megas allowed" metagame and a standard that bans all Megas. And the metagame that allows Megas... I don't know how one would tier MegaPokes though but that will reveal itself in the end when all Megas are unveiled.

Ampharos's Mega adds 3 extra weaknesses (Ice, Dragon, Fairy), but it does give it 3 more resistances (Fire, Water, Grass)... and one overkill 4x resist to Electric. Meh. It's basically a special attacking version of Zekrom, from what I'm seeing. Same type, same abilities (it can finally fry Lightningrod Seaking!)... Ampharos's power isn't a pushover either and is most likely going to be boosted through MegaEvolution. My question is how Megas would work if their typings change with the Mega Stone. Is Ampharos gaining extra Dragon moves? It doesn't seem right because these Pokemon transform during battle, and Ampharos is unable to use Draco Meteor and the likes normally. It seems very confusing, and if that's the case here, I do not see how it will work if it cannot take advantage of its gained dual typing.

Kangaskhan with Parental Bond sounds incredibly broken. Just imagine two STAB Returns headed your way: guaranteed 2HKO or less on most opponents that isn't Ghost (it loses Scrappy unfortunately). That is, unless the baby has a set base stat that is much lower than that of its mother's (which would make sense).

[Tbird]

See I'm thinking, maybe these Pokemon are already gaining the typing, the MegaEvolution is just the added ability and stat boost. In the case of Mawile it makes sense that its a Fairy/ Steel type. However I never would have seen Amphoros as part dragon. But all they've revealed is that the MegaEvo gains the typing. The only workable way for it to be truly beneficial is of the typinga were added before hand so's that Amphoros can learn Draco meteor/ pulse etc before hand.

As for kanga, I certainly think it'll be a separate set of base stats for the baby. It would make any sense otherwise. I mean return should never have 153 x2 BP. That's stronger than V-Create... He'll its stronger than explosion with literally no drawback.

I just can't wait to see what else gets the Evolution! It's like Dream World Abolities all over again except much cooler! I dare say we're going to see a fair few banned Pokemon.

[wraith89]

The Korean name for Ampharos is 전룡 (電龍), which means electric dragon. I think Japanese "Denryuu" is the same. In fact ryu does mean dragon. So I did somewhat see it coming, but I don't think normal Ampharos was revealed to gain a Dragon typing. I hope Gamefreak surprises us later.

To me, most of these MegaEvos look like deity power bestowed on Pokemon. I somewhat did expect this kind of thing. There is too much resemblance to such, because Absol has that Fortuna or any god of chance look to me (RNG... random number goddess). Mhh, new Mewtwo has Insomnia. I guess it is better than nothing though. Watch as only Fire starters get a MegaEvo.

Post will be edited as I hate typing on mobile touchpad.

[Tbird]

Alls I have is my mobile these days. Hence the stupid auto corrected words in my posts and mass misspellings of others

Also I didn't know that Ryuu meant dragon. Thanks for clearing that up! Seriously, though, I think we're simply going to see a lot new typings thrown in to rehash old Pokemon, I don't think the Megastones will e addin the typing. Especially now knowing that Amphoros is all but called ElectricDragon. I hope this is the case because there are mons out there (think Gyarados) that could do with their typing being reviewed.

[wraith89]

Mobile AIDS. Fun huh? It pays to know your Asian languages, particularly Chinese characters. Kind of a blessing for me because I know quite a bit of Chinese characters to know what they represent, even though I may not know their pronunciation in Japanese. I did know ryu meant Dragon in this case, however. I'm assuming den will be the pronunciation for "electric" (as it is present in "Dentula" Galvantula as well).

I am only skeptical because Dragon is not a new type, unlike Fairy, so they had many opportunities in the past to make such a typing modification, if they wished to. There was absolutely NO sort of indication for Dragon typing (not even access to Dragonbreath, which is something even Onix can access) asides from nomenclature, however. However, any sort of change can occur. So yeah, that bothers me. But however way they wish to implement it: make way for Draco Meteor + ferocious combination of other moves. Ampharos's movepool isn't all that scarce: it does have Focus Blast, Signal Beam, Power Gem, and some stuff. Though they seem generally unhelpful. There's also Agility and Cotton Guard.

Is it safe to say that many of those non-evolving Pokemon will get a Mega form? I'd like to see a Mega Druddigon become an actual gargoyle... or Mega Carnivine and such to bring them out of obscurity. Oh, and Mega Tropius, because it's supposed to be a ferocious dinosaur from the gods. It's a dragon too, and gets Dragon moves such as Dragon Pulse and Dragon Dance. Its stats do not represent anything ferocious, unfortunately. And good Lord: Mega Pidgeot... perhaps it will actually become useful after all and specialise in Gale power like it should! Can't wait to see these new changes.

But... on the flip side... we can also get... Mega Garchomp, Mega Conkeldurr, Mega Excadrill, Mega Haxorus, Mega KimIlSung Volcarona, Mega Blissey... think of the scariness of it all! However, I think Mega Stone generally favours offensive Pokemon, as a lack of Leftovers really hurt defensive ones.

EDIT: Oh. Ampharos does learn Outrage via Move Tutor. But then again, that move is given to a bunch of irrelevant Pokemon as well, particularly random starters and angry guys like Primeape and such.

[Tbird]

Well you see this is the worry, things like Garchomp and Salamence certainly don't need MegaEvolution. We don't want their presence as MegaMons to be massively detrimental to the game, we want those lost in obscurity to be able to compete at the same level.

This thing could go either way.

[wraith89]

MegaKabuterimon Heracross. I can see Mega Aggron and all sorts of others, especially Pokemon that are popular. Eww this is Digimon. And I'm almost certain Pokemon isn't a socialist game where they try to make Pokemon equal. In fact, I'd hate that. But I also don't like that huge disproportionate imbalance amongst some things. Some legendaries don't work as promised (Entei without Earthquake, Moltres without Brave Bird or any usable physical attacks, Articuno 'nuff said), and some typings don't have the right adjustments (Ice only resisting Ice really?). Hey it's not like we needed a Mega Mewtwo did we? I'd like obscures to get Mega forms as well. I'd be upset if Staraptor got a Mega form and Pidgeot didn't. But I'd like them both to have one... though Staraptor is fine as it is. Mega Braviary would be cool. But above all, I want a Mega Magikarp!

I still think it's wise to have a metagame where Megas are entirely banned vs a metagame with Megas allowed, and from there, it's like the regular metagames, except with Megas ranked by tiers, if that is applicable. I'm so scared of MegaScizor or something. You see, it seems like Fairies will create a sharp rise of Steels (should Steel be effective vs Fairy, which is most likely), as if they weren't already popular enough. I know Fires resisting Fairy was an effort to counteract it a bit, but Fires were never a durable type enough to be used a lot in the standard metagame, and a Pokemon called Heatran exists. Eep. I don't know how well Fairies will balance the metagame out, but only time will tell. I just don't like how it seems to raise Steel type presence, while Fighting types MAY (and I don't even know if it's true) be weak to Fairy and ineffective. Not that Fighting type needed and more boost than what they have now... of course.

Don't you want a Mega Charizard? Not that it isn't strong (it's very powerful, especially with Solar Power), but everybody and their mothers yelling "lol SR weakness" puts it to obscurity. Now imagine a Mega Form. Possibly Levitating Fire/Dragon (although I'd still like some power boosting ability still).

[Find__Tab]

I'm wondering how you activate it, actually. If you can transform AND use a different move, is it an automatic thing like Ditto's ability? It just automatically transforms when you send it in? Or does it take up a moveslot? Will we get given an extra moveslot? Will Pokémon in general get given an extra moveslot? I've heard they wanted to before. That's the kind of thing I'm questioning in my head.

And alright, I didn't know you could transform AND use a move in the same turn. I guess it isn't as gimmicky as I thought. If that's the case though, I'm pretty sure Mega Stone in general will be banned. How will it affect Ubers, though? Blaziken was already pretty good in Ubers, and so was Mewtwo. What are their Mega Forms going to do? Blaziken will still be walled by Giratina of course, and Mewtwo by Lugia/Dialga, but they aren't invincible, and can be taken down pretty easily by other Uber Pokémon, so...

I think the saddest part of this is wondering what is going to happen to NU. Kanghaskan and Ampharos are two of the best and most iconic Pokémon of that tier, so I'm wondering where the tier will end up now.

[Tbird]

I don't think we'll see any extra moveslots being dolled out any time soon. It's near impossibility since the demo didn't have 5 moveslots, either. Shit, just imagine the tanking and boostin one could do with 5 moveslots. Sub / protect / recover / toxic / anti-taunt-bait move. Jesus that'd be scary!

As for your ponderings on NU, either one of two things will happen. We'll either see massive power creep throughout all tiers, and little will change other than a few Pokemon moving up or down due to new or lost niches. OR everything will turn on its head, whole new tiers to get used to. I'm more open for the latter, even if Gen V did stir the tiers up somewhat you still had the same top dogs on top and the same bottom dwellers... Dwelling.

[Find__Tab]

Maybe no to the moveslots then. But hey, I didn't see Mega Pokémon coming either, so who knows?

Speaking of, will it take up a moveslot? I don't see it being used any other way unless they add a button somewhere for it.

[Tbird]

It won't take up a move slot, it'll happen at the same time with an addition button. For instance Absol could use sucker punch to Revenge KO and evolve all at once. Amphoros could use agility and Evolve all at once, giving it a potential specially based dragon dance.

A whole new dynamic!

[wraith89]

Has anyone seen this? From just a few observations from this battle:

• Noivern is certainly faster than Marowak, and possibly faster than Gallade and Malamar, depending on the EVs and all. I'm sure it is above 80 and whatever Malamar's speed is, however.
  
• Malamar, typical of Psychic types, seems to have low or average defence. Keep in mind, however, Marowak hits like a nuke with Thick Club. We didn't see it attack, unfortunately, so I'm unsure how it works. It is slower than Noivern but faster than either Marowak or Gallade (though Gallade may have been purposely tweaked to have low speed for Trick Room purposes). They do say this guy is all about being upside down... evolve Inkay by turning DS upside down while leveling up, Contrary, Topsy Turvy...
  
• Noivern's Draco Meteor isn't too powerful it seems, while its Boomburst OHKOd Marowak. Seriously? We also see it target two Pokemon at once. I wonder what its actual target scope is: does it affect allies as well?
  
• I just completely forgot Malamar Topsy Turvy'd Noivern, so that - 2 SpA became + 2 SpA on Noivern. I guess Boomburst may have been able to OHKO Marowak at + 2, possibly, as Marowak's SpDef is low, while its physical Def is high at 110.
  
• Noivern took a STAB Psycho Cut from Gallade pretty well, meaning it should have some decent defence.
  
• Some of the above may be negated for the fact Gallade has high SpDef (110), and may have been running a bulky spread with max HP and SpDef or something and little to no Attack investment for a dedicated Trick Room lead.
  
• Pangoro isn't too fast, as it became faster than Ferrothorn in Trick Room after one Hammer Arm. Its attack is a little modest as it didn't outright OHKO Ferrothorn, but then again Ferrothorn is hard to OHKO with non-Fire moves anyways. I forgot if Power Whip was Critical Hit on Pangoro or not, but if it is, then that is quite bulky.
  
• Sylveon kind of looks broken. It took a rain boosted Life Orb Hydro Pump critical hit... with just a little over 50%. Its attack power isn't half bad either. It makes me wonder if the 130 stat went to its SpDef... much like Umbreon, and its HP is high as well. I think it is, and the 95 or 110 went to HP and SpA, although I'm unsure where the order is. I'm not sure if Trick Room ended or not, but it probably has, making Politoed faster than Sylveon. 70 would beat anything in the 60s... which I think is Sylveon's speed stat. Great: yet another slow Eeveelution. But that also means low physical defence, which means Scizor will have a hayday and at least 2HKO that thing with Bullet Punch.
  

[Guested]

Yeah, if your Pokemon is holding its stone, a Mega Evolution appears on the move selection screen. You can choose it, then choose a move for the same turn.

Source: I've done it.

The Japanese site said Mega Evolutions are limited to one per battle, but it wasn't clear on whether than was one per trainer or one between BOTH trainers (ie, you evolve and then your opponent cannot). I'm guessing it's one per trainer.

Edit: thanks for that link, wraith! I was waiting fr someone to upload a video of that because I couldn't stay at the show that long. I'll have to watch it after work.

[Tbird]

I like that vid a lot, wraithy baby! Will have to watch properly later, long old day today.

Nice to see you getting involved, Guested . I was of the belief it was one per trainer. Would one per battle sort of be a first to the trigger sort of thing? And if you don't get there first tough luck, try again next time? A potentially worrying concept, and outside of that new as of yet unreleased game (what appears to be pokken fighters) we haven't seen any footage of two Megas facing off.

[Guested]

Yeah, it would make things horribly skewed if it were only one per battle. First to trigger gets it and the other trainer is SOL.

So I HOPE it's one per trainer. Haven't looked at the English descriptions yet, though.

Although we still don't know how much of a stat boost any Mega Evolution even gets, do we?

[Find__Tab]

Ah, that clears some things up, thanks.

We don't know how much of a stat boost mega evolution gives you, but then again I don't think we need to. Mewtwo has 154 base SpAtk. Mewthree supposedly has boosted SpAtk? Wow. That thing is definitely going Uber, no matter how big or small the increase might be. Blaziken is pretty much confirmed to go to Uber if it still retains Speed Boost upon Mega Evolution.

The others? Dunno. If Absol gets boosted attack then Sucker Punch will really hurt, although I don't think it'd put it in Uber. I don't think Ampharos will either. Lucario is debatable.

Oh, and apparently Mewtwo doesn't get a health boost upon mega evolution, so it's not all bad.

Actually, screw everything I just said. It's too early to theorise what Pokémon will go to what tier. Who knows, we might get some badass Fire/Dark type that puts Mewtwo and the steels away forever. When there's only been a dozen or so Pokémon shown you can't really do anything. I'm just going to wait for more info before making wild guesses.

[wraith89]

I don't think the HP stat can ever get boosted from form changes and the like: HP always remained static, probably due to mechanics limitations and all. Too soon to tell tiers, as we don't even know if they'll do Mega separate metagame or not (which I hope they do), but knowing people like Smogon, they're all too sensitive to "complex bans", which is why they completely banned Blaziken as a whole and not just Speed Boost versions. I still don't understand that, and it prevents regular people from even placing their favourite starter on their team without whiny people complaining about "IT'S UBER" and the likes. Yeah, sorry... ranting a little bit there.

About that video, somebody commented and I knew something was amiss:

About Sylveon and that Hydro Pump...

I did some calculations yesterday: assuming Sylveon has 110 HP and 130 Sp.Def, a Calm nature and max out both HP and Sp. Def, and that Politoed had maximum Sp. Atk, a critical LO-boosted Hydro Pump in the rain would have done over 90% damage to it, with a chance of OHKO. I do think the whole damage formula changing MAY have a sound reasoning, probably to address people yelling in Gen V that everything hits so hard... what? Why are you all staring at me for?

There's no way Sylveon would have survived with almost 50% of its health.

Therefore, one of these must be true:

-Politoed wasn't properly EV trained and didn't have max Sp. Atk (unlikely, IMO, especially because it had a Life Orb);

-Sylveon has a different base stat distribution than that of the other Eeveelutions (possible, but I don't think that's the case);

-They changed the damage formula and Pokémon's attacks now deal less damage.

Or... the whole battle was orchestrated just to show off the new Pokemon and how powerful they are. Yeah, none of this really adds up... unless it's a "Dream World Sylveon" with Multiscale-esque ability or something (normal Sylveons have Cute Charm). Or it may be holding an item that has that effect... I'm uncertain.

About damage formula being changed... it does sound possible. It probably could happen to address all those people complaining about how everything in Gen V hit so hard... what? Why are you all staring at me like that for?

[Lorshinator]

Malamar

Type: Dark/Psychic

Abilities: Suction Cup and Contrary

Known Moves: Hypnosis, Topsy Turvy

Theories:

Watch this video before reading:

Malamar is an interesting specimen. In one of the more recent videos shown, a double battle began with Noivern and Malamar on one end, and Gallade and Marowak on the other. Noivern used Draco Meteor on a Gallade, and it's special attack sharply fell. However, shortly after, Malamar used Topsy Turvy, a move which reverses stat changes. I was a bit unsure how this move would work. However, despite not OHKOing Gallade, it did decent damage. When Noivern was hit by Topsy Turvy, it then KOed both with it's signature move, Boom Burst, a normal type move which hits all enemies at once, much like Earthquake. What I find interesting is that this move doesn't require specific timing: all that needs to be done for it is to hit the enemy with stat changes.

This move would be a very useful move to hit those Pokemon that are setting up, like Bulk Up fighters or swords dance users, Pokemon that rely on powering themselves up before going in for the strike. It could then make them easy prey, and then Malamar could easily use Hypnosis to lull it's enemies to sleep so that it can slowly pick them off.

This makes Malamar an interesting specimen as a utility Pokemon that sabotages it's opponents. In the video, it moved right after Noivern, who definitely has a higher base speed than 80, and it moved faster than Gallade, who had a base speed of 80. This means that if some pokemon like Crawdaunt are setting up, or even Umbreon, it could trick them and either case them to run away or become frail. It also clearly has a use in double battles, as shown here. Another thing to note is it's abilities, Suction Cups and Contrary. This makes it rather unpredictable as it has a few uses - one, Suction Cups would enable it to switch into phasers such as Skarmory, Hippowdon, and the like, and it would not be thrown out. Furthermore, it could induce status of some kind. Furthermore, if it has boosting moves like calm mind or nasty plot (the latter of which would make sense for an evil pokemon such as this), and it would not be able to be thrown out. I also assume it boasts moves like Taunt and Torment, which can further affect sweepers or even tanks. It's other ability, Contrary, would prove useful on attackers with intimidate, as it would bolster it's attack to higher levels and it would actually be capable of taking advantage of it, either to attack it's foes with something akin to Psycho Cut or the latter. In all honesty, I don't see Contrary as being that useful to it, because it is very situational, unless it gains moves which lowers it's stats, like a dark type overheat or the like. But what is known is that it's not very durable but it is fast, and it has tricky moves up its sleeves, making it an effective way to counter those Pokemon that like to set up or to mess up tanks.

Everything everyone says is unimportant. Here's an analysis of a not too-new new Pokemon.

[wraith89]

Malamar would break Baton Pass chains and the likes, particularly something like Vaporeon with Baton Pass/Acid Armour/Roar. Not only can it not be phazed thanks to Suction Cups, but also mess up Acid Armour boosts by turning the foe into a plushie. We're not sure if it does affect opponents behind a Substitute, however. Not to mention Taunt would stop such a move from happening, but this move, along with its strange typing, makes Malamar an interesting Pokemon. Unfortunately, I don't see Contrary being too useful, unless an equivalent of Psycho Boost or Superpower or the likes was made for it or something. Superpower Spinda is still better, of course.

It would be incredibly broken if it was paired with a Prankster user. Could you imagine a Hidden Ability version of Malamar with Prankster? That thing would go straight to OU for being a very potent buffer against guys who set up +6/+6 or something. It could nullify the threat of Shell Smash Cloyster (although it would make it incredibly bulky). However, an adequately buffed Lucario using Extremespeed would still overpower it thanks to the + 2 priority of Extremespeed.

[Tbird]

I do very much like the idea of a reconfigured damage calculation. Though, I don't know of what purpose it would serve. Surely it would just essentially be like giving every Pokemon a boost in defence and thus nullify the changes it would be made for.

I'm all for a rethink on-mass of pokemons stats typings and abilities. The games been around for a long time now and it isn't what it once was. Along the way Gamefreak have made massive changes to their Pokemon, think the inclusion of steel typing for Pokemon that were clearly made of metal (the magne's), the introduction of abilities to further individualise pokemon within certain types and the physical special split so that things like Gyarados and Flareon could actually use the strongest stats.

I hope to see some big changes. We're due some.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Tbird
God damned iPhone. @(@;£4&)@)(&(&;&4!!,

[Lorshinator]

I do believe X/Y has already made far more changes to the gameplay than Black/White, as Black/White mostly just expanded on what was good about Gen 4 and made a ton of really powerful pokes, coupled with dream world abilities to bring some Pokemon overpowered abilities where they were already good, and also to bring some Pokemon out of obscurity.

I think Tbird is right on the whole damage recalculation though. It would essentially be giving all Pokemon a defence boost, which in the end only slows it down. I personally don't mind this entirely, but it would be annoying to have a swords dance Garchomp not OHKO most fragile opponents with Earthquake.

I don't believe by any means though that they will recalculate the stats for many mons, though. That seems like a bit too big, but who knows, Gamefreak has already trolled lots of fanboys by making them believe they couldn't possibly add another type... and they did. So it's possible, but I think it's incredibly unlikely.

Because I'd rather write what I want to write, here's an analysis of Helioptile.

Ability: Dry Skin (Not shown on official site, but confirmed through Demo play. If I'm wrong, those playing the demo were lying)

Known Moves: Parabolic Charge (Electric type Giga Drain, however it has the ability to hit all enemies in battle). Either very weak, or powerful, but exclusive to Helioptile's family line. It also can learn Rock Slide and quick attack.

Type: Electric/Normal. <===== (Will we see it evolve into Electric/Dragon or Electric/Ground? I saw this thing appear in a canyon area, which seems fitting)

Meet Helioptile, a pokemon which I will add to my list simply because it has Dry Skin. This makes it immune to water types and it also has STAB on them, potentially making it a perfect counter to Suicune rest-talk sets (coupled with the added damage of STAB, of course). It in fact would be very dangerous against threats like Milotic as well, or anything with water stab for that matter - look out Gyarados! However, this does come with the unfortunate bonus of being weaker to fire, but there are a few interesting things to note.

Helioptile would be incredibly effective on Rain Teams - it boasts an immunity to water and it also gains a leftovers like bonus from rain. This is also useful when it is coupled with Thunder (which I see no reason for it NOT to have this move), as well as being a potential counter to Skarmory as well, as it resists both of it's STABS. It would also make a lovely companion for ghost types, due to it's normal typing (which is subject to change via evolution, I assume).

That's not all our friend has got going for it. It also has access to some nice physical moves like Rock Slide (potentially stone edge too), giving it extra coverage on pesky fire types on the switch in, if it needs to. It also has quick attack, allowing it to finish off weakened foes, and it gets stab with it as well, funnily enough.

Helioptile would have utterly perfect synergy with the likes of Jellicent, in my opinion. While both are immune to water, of course (with water absorb and dry skin, particularly), Helioptile's normal typing would give it an immunity to Jellicent's ghost type foes. Similarly, Jellicent's ghost typing would give it a benefit to cover Helioptile's weakness to fighting.

Just image this thing spamming Thunder and having it's health restored while in the rain? Ouch.

If it's speed and one of it's attack stats exceed 100, this thing could easily come up to OU for the rain team usage. I can see it happening.

However, there are a few things to note:

I find it very peculiar that it has a normal typing on the side. It makes me wonder if it's subject to change - but to what?

Helioptile is based on one of three things, most likely: A frilled lizard, for it's weird frills going on that expand when it attacks, a type of salamander that can feed off the sun, or a thorny devil because of it's ability to absorb water (thorny devil's literally absorb it, which is cool). I doubt it's the later, but it wouldn't be too unfitting in my opinion. It's likely based off the former two.

It is also located in a canyon, most likely, as in one of the trailers it showed Pancham in a field and Helioptile in a canyon - could this imply it gains a secondary type to Rock or ground? we already saw that happen with Fletchling, for upon evolution it loses it's normal typing and becomes Fire/Flying. Also, it's based on a lizard, which may mark it as one of the few, if not the only non-mammal or bird like normal type. Oh wait, Kecleon, my bad. Well, this thing will probably change it's type. It could even shift to Dragon, being the third electric dragon aside from Mega Ampharos and Zekrom. I can see it happening. however, aside from it's ability, it may be along the lines of Toxicroak: gorgeous movepool, great ability, and decent typing to go along with it, but not an overpoweredly high BST.

In lower tiers without rain, if it even is in there, Helioptile would serve as something immune to water if a team is vulnerable to it. This would be great with pokemon with flash fire to resist and absorb fire damage targeted towards Helioptile. Helioptile could assist as a paralysis spreader or as a generic attacker - but we don't know it's stats just yet. It looks agile and lightweight though, so it's likely a sweeper or something of the like.

[Tbird]

Just been looking trough the In-Battle effects of Pokemon Amie. Apparently there are ways to increase a pokemon's critical hit ratio, survivability (random Sturdy effect), evasion and the ability to heal paralysis.

This seems crazy. These effects will be sort of like the happiness stat which the player can increase via interactions with their Pokemon over time. What we'll essentially have in simulators is a slide bar for critical ratio, survivability, natural evasion and heal-ability.

Pokemon with super luck are going to have a field day. I imagine the increase wit be massive for critical hit ratio, but when you think of moves like night slash having a one in 8 chance to critical hit, furthered to 1 in 4 with super luck (I believe) any small boost could turn that into a 50% chance.

Think of a simple 3.5% increase to critical hits with super luck and slash.

1/10 (6.5% [standard] + 3.5 [elevated critical 'stat')] chance for a critical, basic.

1/5 chance with night slash

1/2.5 chance with super luck.

But then again, these stats could be more of an individual thing. For instance I'd imagine Scyther to have a higher evasion rate than, say, Snorlax but also have a lower survival chance.

And then there's the evasion chance. We can't blanket ban a majority of the game because they are naturally more prone to dodging moves. But what would that then say about evasion raising moves and items? Surely they should then be allowed on the basis that evasion is something that is naturally occurring any way. Or maybe this will be the final nail in the coffin for bright powder and double team.

You thought hax sucked before? You've seen nothing yet!

[Guested]

They call it hax. But the developers put those things in the games intentionally. And the reason was to have a factor of variability and unpredictability.

I actually think changes like this could be a good thing, overall. I hate the whole mentality of trying to introduce order and predictability to a game that was clearly designed to not be that way.

My guess is that these extra stats will probably have a capped, overall limit, similar to EVs or Contest Stats.

Having evasion and crit stats is a good thing from my point of view as well. The RPGs I grew up playing had stats like that. It's gonna make the game a lot deeper, overall, and I think it could make a lot Pokemon more usable in the "metagame." Or... these extra stats could be ignored during multiplayer and/or only available in certain battle modes (like Miracle Shooter).

[Tbird]

I'm also a fan of further diversification of Pokemon. I just know that a lot of madbros that are already prone to rage quittin are probably gunna have a heart attack when they see this.

I like the hax factor, more the better! Throughout all of gen V I've stuck but SpD HaxRachi. In games like fallout I'm forever raising luck to its max and abusing weapons with massive critical hit ratios.

Anywhom, after thinking further into this, I'm thinking that this heal chance might work across the board for all statuses, but giving that paralysis is all that we actually know of means that its the only status to be reported.

The other thing that came to mind last night was that maybe I've been thinking about these stats all wrong. Instead of say critical chance starting at 6.5%, maybe it gets nerfed down to like 2% and you have to work your way back up. I'm jut thinking about evasion as so far as we know, it starts at 0% an we have to build on it. Maybe all of these stats will work in a similar fashion. This'll mean that for the most part hax will remain unchanged with the inclusion of rare in battle effects. This could explain the whole Sylveon thing surviving that hydro pump, maybe the new Survivability kicked in?

I can't wait for more to be found out about these, like you said Guested, it'll certainly add an extra level of depth and strategical thinking to the game and open doors to all new faucets of game plays.

[Lorshinator]

I was worried about the whole Hax thing that Amie will bring up - but when you bring it up in that light, it sounds more welcoming than not.

While I do not like the fact that it creates a free sturdy if you are super lucky, but it adds a new dimension to happiness, as well as unpredictability. Gen 5 was largely predictable to me, as I get burned all the time by scald and the like, and getting critted while setting up.

I think it's reasonable to assume that the crit chance will be lowered but Amie will bring it back up to where it was, or make it a little higher (which is fine). The random chance for curing status ailments is also highly welcome as status effects are annoying and since they last forever they are, dare I say, too effective. I hate having my Fighters get hit by one scald and then get burned and are forever useless without a cleric. Amie should definitely spread it to all status...Except for Freeze. Possibly. I think Freeze should actually get it's own inducing move, since it's largely underpowered.

I hope it's not only for paralysis as that would suck, although it is, typically, the easiest status to spread (Thunder wave?). Status shuts down Pokemon entirely in previous gens but hopefully in Gen 6 there's a chance they can make a comeback, rather than being hit by it once and then being doomed. But it could be a problem sometimes.

As for the evasion, I think it should be kept to a minimum, although accuracy raising moves will have more prominence, and finally, Evasion is not JUST the same as accuracy n' such, it is it's own field. I wonder if abilities like Keen Eye will get buffed? Keen Eye would be utterly amazing if it was unaffected by accuracy modifiers that detriment your Pokemon's chance to land a hit... Meaning that if they mud slap you, it fails, and if they raise evasion (even with amie's bonuses!) they don't mean jack. I think that would be excellent... But I doubt they'll do that. Then, Keen Eye would be a cool ability.

Also I wonder if abilities or sets that focus on crits will be more prominent as well, and focus energy may be viable? Who knows. *Crosses fingers for Keen Eye to be buffed*

Also Sniper should make moves slightly more accurate as well. I think that if they're going to make it so moves are less likely to hit overall then they should have abilities which boost accuracy and boost critical hit power, although more so the former.

I thought Amie would just raise the potential of their stats, meaning that the happier they are, the higher their stats will be... But that's not the case. At least GF is trying to change it up.