Erick and Florin’s Battles Redeem Field effects

[Malfeasance]

Long post TL;DR at the bottom

 

I have very strong feelings about the buffs some of the Gym Leaders get, but Erick and Florin/Flora do it right. 

 

In other battles the field effects were practically static debuffs. Unless you had a very specific Pokémon or move those fields were there to stay. And it could get frustrating being lectured about using Sunny Day when the TM was miles away. The main problem with these effects was there inaccessibility without bending over backwards. This left the battles feeling unfair and stacked.

 

Erick changes everything. This Weaboo made me love field effects because I could finally so something about them. The blizzard TM made it so I could finally change the terrain with some ease. Not only that but I could also break it to change the flow of battle. The battle was a blast and actually strategic instead of a merciless slugfest. Using the ice to buff my Pokémon with priority and deny his electric types by breaking it with a bulldoze. For the first time I was having fun losing. It was a fair fight each of our teams evenly matched and I achieved a narrow victory. It was far one of the best fights in the game.

 

Florin expands on this in a subtle way. Like a lot of fights where fire hits super effectively it starts raining for no reason. But unlike the other times where it was practically just a permanent debuff we have the hail TM. This let me fake out the opposing Ludicolo and bring the hail. Knocking out Swift Swim and leveling the playing field. The field was also beneficial to types other then the Leader’s type. It was still very difficult but in this battle losing was always just another step closer to victory. I continued to lose up until I finally managed to finally get past the monster of a sawbuck only to have my last Pokémon face to face with Mega Sceptile. Nosferatu my Crobat proceeded to one shot it with a Brave Bird. I actually jumped for joy after this battle. It wasn’t an even fight like with Erick but the important bit was that I had some control. 

 

Overall these fights redeemed the so far pretty lackluster gym battles this game offered. They used the field to its fullest and actually got me strategizing instead of using brute force. I wish in the early game the weather TMs were available. Even the limited use flash is stuffed behind the casino. I feel the early game would be a lot better if these TMs were available. Also not having to dig through the outdated system files would be nice to find out what moves change fields. Those moves are also often in frustratingly short supply. These fights really illustrate how well the field effects can be used and I wish other fights mirrored them. And I hope further fights have more instances like it.

 

TL;DR: Erick and Florin has amazing battles that made me love Field effects. For the first time I could easily effect the field and level the playing field unlike in previous battles.

[kithas]

Lol, I felt the opposite with Florin, the field gave him an unfair advantage by powering up his strenghts healing him and taking down his weaknesses. But I know your feeling, because that's what I felt with Amber's battle: After having already suffered hell with the Volcanic Top field in the battle vs Zetta & Geara, I could already think around the field, and it was easy for me to change the volcano into a cave and the cave into a frozen cave, and the frozen field into a water field, if I remember right. I don't remember if I got it done in the first try and if it saved me easily or not, but it was fun nonetheless because I also had an strategy.