"The more I looked into trying to play seriously in my teenage years, the more I encountered this sort of mindset. It felt mind-boggling that a series that spends hundreds of in-game hours and anime episodes preaching that Pokémon are more than their capabilities in battle h"
A first competitive experience in high school involved a team built from favorite Pokémon and strong knowledge of type matchups. Despite memorizing weaknesses, important nuances were missed, including optimizing stat spreads, distinguishing physical versus special moves, and using attacks beyond pure damage. Repeated attempts to use Palkia’s Aura Sphere against a Blissey failed because Blissey’s special defense was extremely high. The realization showed that type coverage alone was insufficient without the right move categories and damage profiles. A later competitive attempt against another friend included criticism that some favorites were “useless” or “not viable,” reflecting a mindset focused narrowly on battle effectiveness.
Read at Kotaku
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