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I wanted to stay out of the Pokemon mess, but there are somethings that just bother me.
So me and Ever were discussing this outside of VSBW and came to the conclusion that how we treat some Pokemon types are, to put it nicely, not the best. I will explain each.
Psychic Types
The biggest one. Basically Psychic Types is universally defined as Telekinesis and Mind Manipulation. At first glance this would make sense. A lot of Psychic types are able to manipulate the minds of others...but not all have shown to do so, or given some reason to why they should. Not all Psychic types should have Mind Manipulation unless shown or implied through Dex entries.
Not only that, but we have Dark types, Steel types and other Psychic Types have a resistance to Mind Manipulation. This should not be so. The reason is because they can resist the Psychic typing and its attacks, however there are some issues.
Confusion: Telekinesis.
Dream Eater: Dream Manipulation. Even then, someone with Liquid Ooze causes it to hurt the user. This means that is also has some type of Physical Attribute.
Extrasensory: This is an invisible projectile.
Future Sight: Precog + Invisible projectile.
Gravity: Gravity Manipulation.
Guard Swap and Split: This is simply trading Durability with the opponent.
Heal Block: Regen Negation.
Heal Pulse: Healing.
Healing Wish: Healing.
Heart Stamp: And attack launched after you have your opponent let their guard down.
Heart Swap: Swaps stats with the opponent.
Hyperspace Hole: Portal Creation and an attack.
Hypnosis: The only Psychic move that can be argued as Mind Manipulation. "Then that means Dark types resist it". Sorry, but no dice as Hypnosis still works on Dark types.
Imprison: Power Nullification, if you share the same move as the user.
Instruct: Game Mechanics ridden. Allows you ally to use their previous attack a second time in said turn.
Kinesis: Literally using telekinesis to bend a spoon and lowers accuracy.
Light Screen: Portrayed as Forcefield Creation.
Lunar Dance: Healing.
Luster Purge: A burst of light. (Have we accepted that or just energy?)
Mist Ball: A projectile.
Photon Geyser: A projectile.
Magic Coat: Status reflection.
Magic Room: Nullifies the power of items, i.e Link's worst enemy.
Miracle Eye: Biological or Information Manipulation. Specifically allows Psychic moves to harm Dark types.
Mirror Coat: Attack Reflection.
Power Split and Swap: Attack Potency swapping.
Psybeam: Projectile.
Psychic: Telekinesis....or that odd rainbow colored wave Metagross used in Gen 3....Telekinesis.
Psychic Fang: A bite that destroys barriers.
Psychic Terrain: Game Mechanics.
Psycho Boost: Telekinetic blast.
Psycho Shift: Status reflection.
Psyshock and Psystrike: Telekinetic blast that pierces through defenses.
Psywave: A psychic energy wave.
Reflect: Forcefield Creation.
Role Play: Power Mimicry.
Skill and Speed Swap: Swaps abilities and speed with the opponent.
Stored Power: Energy blast.
Synchronoise: Shockwave.
Telekinesis: Self explanatory.
Teleport: Self explanatory.
Trick: Swaps Equipment.
Trick Room: A field that causes the slower opponent to be faster at all times.
Wonder Room: A field that swaps durability.
Zen Headbutt: Willpower focused into a powerful headbutt.
So based upon all the moves shown in series, psychic type moves are not Mind Manipulation, but in fact Telekinesis and Psychic blasts. The only one that can be Mind Manipulation is Hypnosis, and it still works on those resistant, and even the one type that is supposed to be "immune" to it.
Ghost Types
This is another problematic one. To put it simply, we should not grant those resistant to Ghost moves to be resistant to Soul Manipulation. This is because while a lot of Ghost Pokemon are souls and some can in fact manipulate souls, none of these attacks are actually ever resisted by any Pokemon.
I don't need to list all the Ghost moves for this one. None affect the soul. The other one is Curse Manipulation. But the move Curse is not resisted by any type that is resistant to Ghost moves. Same with Destiny Bond and Grudge. Most Ghost moves are a for of Shadow/Darkness Manipulation.
Fighting, Normal, Bug, Flying and Dragon Types
What to do here? I believe it is quite simple. These types should not be considered outside of Pokemon v Pokemon matches. Types like Fighting are often considered Martial Arts, however when we have moves like Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Comet Punch, etc being Normal Type and not being any different from moves considered Fighting types, we start getting contradictions. We end up with thing like "Rayquaza is resistant to Saitama's punches because they are fighting type", despite them reasonably being able to be Normal type as well.
Bug Type is just weak to Bug Type moves. What is this? A weakness to Bug/insectoid enemies? So if I put Mewtwo against a a 5-B version of this thing does Mewtwo have a disadvantage due to the fact that it's a giant spider/bug?
I knew this would become useful.
That doesn't make sense. And it is idiotic. As it isn't the appearance of the enemy, but the attack.
Flying types projectiles are more or less Air Manipulation, but what of the physical blows? Well, I doubt is we put Virizion against a giant bird, she would be weak to it's every move. The same follows with Dragon.
This gets rid of arbitrary Resistances and Weaknesses.
Rock and Ground Types
How do we handle this? Like both fit into Earth Manipulation. However, A Pidgeot is indeed weak to Rock based moves, but not ground moves, despite that. So I need help on how to handle this.
Links for List of Moves
Psychic- https://pokemondb.net/move/type/psychic
Ghost- https://pokemondb.net/move/type/ghost
That's really all from me.
Conclusion
Psychic Types: Not all Psychic Pokemon should have Mind Manipulation and Dark types should not have Mind Resistance due to this.
Ghost Type: Same as above, only with Soul Manipulation.
Normal, Fighting, Bug, Flying and Dragon Types: Weaknesses and resistances are to only be used in Pokemon vs Pokemon matches, otherwise they end up as arbitrary.
Rock and Ground:
So me and Ever were discussing this outside of VSBW and came to the conclusion that how we treat some Pokemon types are, to put it nicely, not the best. I will explain each.
Psychic Types
The biggest one. Basically Psychic Types is universally defined as Telekinesis and Mind Manipulation. At first glance this would make sense. A lot of Psychic types are able to manipulate the minds of others...but not all have shown to do so, or given some reason to why they should. Not all Psychic types should have Mind Manipulation unless shown or implied through Dex entries.
Not only that, but we have Dark types, Steel types and other Psychic Types have a resistance to Mind Manipulation. This should not be so. The reason is because they can resist the Psychic typing and its attacks, however there are some issues.
- Psychic Types aren't the only Pokemon to be able to manipulation minds. Some Ghost and Dark types are able to do so as well. Even some Pokemon of other types can. It is not Psychic type exclusive.
- Psychic Type moves are not Mind Manipulation. In order to prove said point, let me go over every single offensive Psychic type move (and those that target other Pokemon).
Confusion: Telekinesis.
Dream Eater: Dream Manipulation. Even then, someone with Liquid Ooze causes it to hurt the user. This means that is also has some type of Physical Attribute.
Extrasensory: This is an invisible projectile.
Future Sight: Precog + Invisible projectile.
Gravity: Gravity Manipulation.
Guard Swap and Split: This is simply trading Durability with the opponent.
Heal Block: Regen Negation.
Heal Pulse: Healing.
Healing Wish: Healing.
Heart Stamp: And attack launched after you have your opponent let their guard down.
Heart Swap: Swaps stats with the opponent.
Hyperspace Hole: Portal Creation and an attack.
Hypnosis: The only Psychic move that can be argued as Mind Manipulation. "Then that means Dark types resist it". Sorry, but no dice as Hypnosis still works on Dark types.
Imprison: Power Nullification, if you share the same move as the user.
Instruct: Game Mechanics ridden. Allows you ally to use their previous attack a second time in said turn.
Kinesis: Literally using telekinesis to bend a spoon and lowers accuracy.
Light Screen: Portrayed as Forcefield Creation.
Lunar Dance: Healing.
Luster Purge: A burst of light. (Have we accepted that or just energy?)
Mist Ball: A projectile.
Photon Geyser: A projectile.
Magic Coat: Status reflection.
Magic Room: Nullifies the power of items, i.e Link's worst enemy.
Miracle Eye: Biological or Information Manipulation. Specifically allows Psychic moves to harm Dark types.
Mirror Coat: Attack Reflection.
Power Split and Swap: Attack Potency swapping.
Psybeam: Projectile.
Psychic: Telekinesis....or that odd rainbow colored wave Metagross used in Gen 3....Telekinesis.
Psychic Fang: A bite that destroys barriers.
Psychic Terrain: Game Mechanics.
Psycho Boost: Telekinetic blast.
Psycho Shift: Status reflection.
Psyshock and Psystrike: Telekinetic blast that pierces through defenses.
Psywave: A psychic energy wave.
Reflect: Forcefield Creation.
Role Play: Power Mimicry.
Skill and Speed Swap: Swaps abilities and speed with the opponent.
Stored Power: Energy blast.
Synchronoise: Shockwave.
Telekinesis: Self explanatory.
Teleport: Self explanatory.
Trick: Swaps Equipment.
Trick Room: A field that causes the slower opponent to be faster at all times.
Wonder Room: A field that swaps durability.
Zen Headbutt: Willpower focused into a powerful headbutt.
So based upon all the moves shown in series, psychic type moves are not Mind Manipulation, but in fact Telekinesis and Psychic blasts. The only one that can be Mind Manipulation is Hypnosis, and it still works on those resistant, and even the one type that is supposed to be "immune" to it.
Ghost Types
This is another problematic one. To put it simply, we should not grant those resistant to Ghost moves to be resistant to Soul Manipulation. This is because while a lot of Ghost Pokemon are souls and some can in fact manipulate souls, none of these attacks are actually ever resisted by any Pokemon.
I don't need to list all the Ghost moves for this one. None affect the soul. The other one is Curse Manipulation. But the move Curse is not resisted by any type that is resistant to Ghost moves. Same with Destiny Bond and Grudge. Most Ghost moves are a for of Shadow/Darkness Manipulation.
Fighting, Normal, Bug, Flying and Dragon Types
What to do here? I believe it is quite simple. These types should not be considered outside of Pokemon v Pokemon matches. Types like Fighting are often considered Martial Arts, however when we have moves like Mega Punch, Mega Kick, Comet Punch, etc being Normal Type and not being any different from moves considered Fighting types, we start getting contradictions. We end up with thing like "Rayquaza is resistant to Saitama's punches because they are fighting type", despite them reasonably being able to be Normal type as well.
Bug Type is just weak to Bug Type moves. What is this? A weakness to Bug/insectoid enemies? So if I put Mewtwo against a a 5-B version of this thing does Mewtwo have a disadvantage due to the fact that it's a giant spider/bug?
I knew this would become useful.
That doesn't make sense. And it is idiotic. As it isn't the appearance of the enemy, but the attack.
Flying types projectiles are more or less Air Manipulation, but what of the physical blows? Well, I doubt is we put Virizion against a giant bird, she would be weak to it's every move. The same follows with Dragon.
This gets rid of arbitrary Resistances and Weaknesses.
Rock and Ground Types
How do we handle this? Like both fit into Earth Manipulation. However, A Pidgeot is indeed weak to Rock based moves, but not ground moves, despite that. So I need help on how to handle this.
Links for List of Moves
Psychic- https://pokemondb.net/move/type/psychic
Ghost- https://pokemondb.net/move/type/ghost
That's really all from me.
Conclusion
Psychic Types: Not all Psychic Pokemon should have Mind Manipulation and Dark types should not have Mind Resistance due to this.
Ghost Type: Same as above, only with Soul Manipulation.
Normal, Fighting, Bug, Flying and Dragon Types: Weaknesses and resistances are to only be used in Pokemon vs Pokemon matches, otherwise they end up as arbitrary.
Rock and Ground: