You didn't think I'd leave you again, did you? Just a week break, and we're back at it.
First off, let's talk about the entire concept of Gigantamax and Dynamax as a whole. In a word, it sucks. In more words, it's yet another attempt to breathe life into a fossilized battle system by introducing huge once-per-battle power-ups, replacing Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves. But each of these make a crucial error - the battle system is, actually, fine. It doesn't need to be spiced up with big ugly dipshits that slow down the pace with lengthy cinematic attacks, because the main game is ALREADY easy enough.
And from a competitive perspective, although I can't really speak for that crowd, as I understand there's plenty of depth to the meta. And each game builds on this by introducing new Pokemon with type combinations, moves, and abilities. It's like Yugioh trying to sustain itself by making up new Extra Deck summoning mechanics - except Pokemon, mercifully, doesn't stack Gigantamax on top of the previous systems. On the other hand, since it replaces them, that kinda reveals how extraneous they were, doesn't it?
As for the designs themselves, it's tough to compare them on the same scale as normal Pokemon. A huge component to all these designs is just "him big" and as a result the artwork is set at this upwards perspective, making Charizard's head appear comically tiny here.
with all that said, If you're going to turn Pokemon into kaiju, Charizard is a logical choice. I like the flaming wings. The design is fine, but once you see it in-game, it gets a whole lot worse. The model makes the baffling decision to have a plume of fire constantly sticking out of Charizard's mouth - which doesn't billow like flame, but waves in the wind like a tongue.
And can we talk about that little circle of clouds? With most of the Pokemon, it appears like a halo around their highest point (usually the head). Obviously this is intended to imitate a gathering storm, just some epic clouds. The problem is that the clouds aren't actual particle effects, they're a static object that's parented to the Pokemon's limb - meaning it shakes around when that body part moves, defying physics and ruining the entire effect. With Charizard, it's on his tail, and constantly moving.
Overall: 300/1000 (gotta use a bigger scale)
Wait, what about Darumaka and Stunfisk?
ReplyDeleteAs well as Venusaur actually, my man went straight to the 'zard
DeleteMy man skipped four entire Pokemon
DeleteFun fact relating to your gripe about Charizard's tiny head:
ReplyDeleteMichelangelo's statue of David is pretty big, and also usually set on top of a pillar. I think it was meant to be put on a building. In any case, it's meant to be looked at from below. To compensate for this, it's pretty out of proportion. He has a way bigger head than would be normal for a boy his age, because otherwise his head would look super small from down below, like with Charizard.
I went into this game more or less blind, and I didn't notice Charizard changed when going dynamax. So for a while I just thought all dynamax was just an upscale and a buff. And my first thought was actually that that was really good, since it makes for an interesting battle mechanic like mega evolution, but without forcing you to pick one of the mega pokemons, which I think makes for boring teams. But then it turned out that's exactly what it is, plus the added grind of having to find a specific dude with the g-max gene. Dumb shit.
ReplyDelete