[E17 Spoilers] Let's talk Starters.

[Azeria]

So E17 came out with a plethora of additions, good and bad. Boss teams changed, an entirely new generation of Pokemon was added, AI additions, the desert...

 

Spoiler

 

The thing I want to discuss in detail today is the fact that all 3 rivals had their Gen 5 starter changed to a Gen 7 starters. Cain got Primarina, Victoria got Incineroar and Fern got Decidueye.

 

Now people can easily notice that Fern and Serperior are practically made for one another, they're a perfect fit. Incineroar and Emboar are pretty similar both in design and in their usage; slow, bulky and hard hitting physical fire types. And then there's Cain, the only actual net gain from all of this(Heck his entire team got reworked to include Alola Marowak and Mimikyu???  I don't get that last one at all, especially when Ame seems to have put enough emphasis on Aces to remove Shade's Chandelure.)Primarina fits Cain pretty well.

 

But it frankly doesn't fit him more than Serperior fits Fern. Not. even. close. Not only was Serperior a literal reflection of Fern as a character, it was a big part of his team too. I don't particularly get why they have to stick to a -set- of starters either; none of these characters interact often, they don't share any themes and are frankly entirely seperate. Having them HAVE to have a set of starters seems arbitrary and archaic in this regard.

 

 

I doubt I'm the only one who thinks this way, so I wanted to see what others thought about it in a more concise area.

[Zane0144]

Somehow, i never noticed all 3 of them use gen 5 starters.

 

It is weird to me that Kiki isn't keeping her mono team for the first part of the game anymore. And Serperior's troll tactics fit fern very well. Cain is fine 

[Azodian]

It's telling that this is the first time some of us are realizing that they were all using gen 5 starters.

[Hycrox]

Spoiler

wait, I thought Emboar/Serperior were Victoria/Fern's aces, even in league times. Primarina is pretty fitting tho. And there's alwats that tendency of wanting to showcase the new gen's content. Imo that's part of the reason why Smart Strike was so ridiculous (unboosted exca koing swampert with it). Frankly, aces aren't that important, but it's preferrable to have fitting teams for each character.

 

[Azeria]

1 hour ago, Hycrox said:

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wait, I thought Emboar/Serperior were Victoria/Fern's aces, even in league times. Primarina is pretty fitting tho. And there's alwats that tendency of wanting to showcase the new gen's content. Imo that's part of the reason why Smart Strike was so ridiculous (unboosted exca koing swampert with it). Frankly, aces aren't that important, but it's preferrable to have fitting teams for each character.

 

Spoiler

Emboar was Victoria's ace, but for Fern it was seemingly Roserade AND Serperior. While I do understand you wanna show new content; removing fitting stuff to adhere to an arbitrary theme that the rest of their characters nor their portrayals link to seems just :/ Especially when you start changing teams out of Monotypes for non leaders.

 

[iDunno]

[E17 SPOILERS]

 

I haven't started a new run yet, so I haven't actually seen the roster changes yet, but from what I have heard, I really don't like them, at least regarding the rivals. The Gym Leaders changes make sense to me, but the rivals seem to have suffered from it, at least thematically. Alola-Muk and Primarina makes sense with Cain, and the other changes seens to have benefitted him, at least from a challenge perspective, but I hate the changes they made to Victoria's and Fern's teams.

 

- Victoria: the reason she chose Tepig as a starter is because Cal doesn't have an Emboar in his team (and I think it was her ace in the old league). Also, this might be more subjective than in Fern's case, but I think Emboar is more threatening than Incineroar.

- Fern: not only Serperior fits him much more than Decidueye, Serperior is overall a MUCH more threatening Pokemon. Decidueye is a very underwhelming Pokemon, stats-wise. Also, from what I've seen, now, from the very first fight he has a mixed team (Budew, Rowlett and Sandile). I liked that he started as a type-specialist, but starts ditching most of his Grass mons as the story goes on to try to beat the protagonist.

 

Does anyone know what their final teams look like in this new version?

[Azeria]

3 minutes ago, iDunno said:

[E17 SPOILERS]

 

I haven't started a new run yet, so I haven't actually seen the roster changes yet, but from what I have heard, I really don't like them, at least regarding the rivals. The Gym Leaders changes make sense to me, but the rivals seem to have suffered from it, at least thematically. Alola-Muk and Primarina makes sense with Cain, and the other changes seens to have benefitted him, at least from a challenge perspective, but I hate the changes they made to Victoria's and Fern's teams.

 

- Victoria: the reason she chose Tepig as a starter is because Cal doesn't have an Emboar in his team (and I think it was her ace in the old league). Also, this might be more subjective than in Fern's case, but I think Emboar is more threatening than Incineroar.

- Fern: not only Serperior fits him much more than Decidueye, Serperior is overall a MUCH more threatening Pokemon. Decidueye is a very underwhelming Pokemon, stats-wise. Also, from what I've seen, now, from the very first fight he has a mixed team (Budew, Rowlett and Sandile). I liked that he started as a type-specialist, but starts ditching most of his Grass mons as the story goes on to try to beat the protagonist.

 

Does anyone know what their final teams look like in this new version?

Spoiler

 

- Currently using a Dartrix and I -really- underestimated just how useful this thing is. Unfortunately it's not the same way with the AI for that regard and Serperior outright better. This IS coming from someone who likes Decidueye a lot mind you.

 

Their final teams are as follows:

Cain: Nidoking/Primarina/A-Muk/A-Marowak/Mimikyu/Meowstic(F)

Victoria: Incineroar/Gallade/Raichu-A/Lucario/Togekiss/Mienshao

Fern: Decidueye/Roserade/Krookodile/Rhyperior/Scizor/Haxorus