Pokémon games are getting less weird

It was a data miner who discovered Pokerus didn’t exist. pokemon scarlet When violetAs such, it’s a small detail.But it’s part of the trend Pokemon Game as a whole: As time goes on, they’re just getting less weird.

This strange virus needs an explanation. Introduced in Generation II, Pokerus had less than a 1 in 20,000 chance of infecting a Pokémon. (By comparison, shiny Pokémon, which are particularly notorious for being rare, appear basically 1 in 4,000 chances.) And despite being presented as an infectious disease, Pokerus is actually beneficial. was.

But to understand how to do that, you also need to understand effort value (EV). Defeating an opponent rewards him with 1-3 EV on certain stats. However, EVs are never properly explained in-game and are rarely mentioned. That’s because they don’t really affect casual players. Fighting different Pokémon will help your Pokémon grow in a balanced way.

But when competition heats up, EVs become a useful tool. For example, all Pokémon have stats for both physical and special attacks. However, their moves can only fall into one of these categories, and individual Pokémon usually have a natural affinity for one or the other. A Pokémon cannot maximize EV across all stats, so competitive trainers focus on gaining EV in only one form of attack to avoid splitting EV unnecessarily.

Pokémon infected with Pokérus previously had double their EV, making the process much faster. Players who wanted to legally obtain the strongest Pokémon possible would deliberately infect their combat companions with Pokérus before training them. has become part of the job.

Its removal doesn’t really affect the game much. Pokérus was a niche mechanic affecting a niche group of players. A casual player probably won’t come across this, and even if he hits 1 in 20,000 chances, he probably won’t notice any benefit. However, for competitive players, the game has steadily introduced more ways to acquire strong teams, such as easier EV training. And players who want top-end battles don’t even have to spend the time and effort breeding and training powerful monsters in the first place. simulate.

But Pokerus’ now-concluded story reflects a changing world. Pokemon General game. When I first came out Pokemon It was strange and mysterious.rumors spread Red When blue, from the claim that Mew may be hidden under a truck, to the idea that anyone who hears Lavender Town’s music will die. And behind the rumours, there were some genuinely bizarre moments. A certain Pokemon can appear in the cartridge.

when Money When Silver Pokérus came in, Pokérus was introduced, but fell into this same category. This is a bizarre, almost impossible to reproduce, and potentially terrifying thing that can happen without warning or real explanation. It eventually became famous. The exact percentage of its occurrence has been revealed along with its mechanism and uses. It’s a sophisticated technique for those who want it, and a bit of trivia for others.

The same is true in many cases PokemonThe long-running oddity of. The aforementioned gloss, for example, was once a rare and mysterious color change that, again, most players never saw during casual playthroughs. You may not know what’s going on. Today there are several methods and tricks to get Shinies, as well as farming techniques. It is most often replaced by perseverance and brute force.

The existence of these grinds and those who devote themselves to them, in turn, have led to quality of life changes to reduce them. It was a strange surprise.However, as they become central to various high-end mechanics such as competitive Pokémon breeding and Shiny acquisition, eggs have become increasingly easier to obtain. scarlet When violetif you have the right sandwich strength and can do it straight from your picnic, it takes minutes to breed and hatch an egg.

The same goes for Friendship, the mechanic that evolves certain Pokémon.Luck doesn’t matter, but it’s only vaguely hinted at in most games, with a single NPC somewhere in the world giving a wide range of responses as hints. It’s a nice surprise that a Pokemon suddenly evolves after having it for a while and using it a lot, even if you don’t understand it. how To increase your friendship PokemonThe authors of scarlet When violet, just a few sandwiches might do the trick. It may come as a surprise, but only because of how quickly it happened. No more waiting, moving, battling, or getting really close to your Pokémon.

was fun scarlet When violet There’s a lot, but the loss of sheer weirdness and pleasant surprises in the game is disappointing, and I don’t think the Pokémon Company could easily avoid it. was. pokemon scarlet When violetAll of the game’s secrets are leaked within days of its release, and people start optimizing to get anything that’s unlikely to spawn, from eggs to Shinies.

But that’s no longer the case with Pokerus.It’s not clear exactly why it was removed, but it was already completely changed from the first iteration — socially rather than mechanically. , and many others Pokemonhas become understood, common, and easily exploited.