m0s3pH Wrote:
Yea, it's been a long long time since I've seriously played Pokemon. I sort of stopped after G/S/C because the newer games just didn't hold my interest.
However, going by your (tgrant) type weakness argument, Electrics are also stopped by Grassers and Dragons, who have Electric resistance. Normal attacks are cut in half by Rock and Steel Pokemon, not that those are used much in battle anyway. Psychics can effectively hit anything except for Dark (nothing) and Steel (1/2). Also, Psychics can take down most Bugs easily as many of them have Poison as a second type. I mean, we could really break this down if you wanted, but at the end of the day with proper stat building, leveling, and TMs you can make nearly any Pokemon a powerhouse.
All of what you said is basic knowledge. All Pokemon can be countered. Some are just harder to take down than others and luck comes into play with some things.
Psychics may be able to hit most things for neutral damage, but the majority aren't used because they cannot survive due to weak stats and slow speeds.
Given Hidden Power and other moves, Electrics and other Pokemon aren't necessarily stopped by opposing types. Remember, if you have a versatile Pokemon, you can easily screw other those that would normally counter you.
If you don't have a proper counter to some Pokemon, they can own you.
In the new games you need to take in account EV distribution as well as natures and the intended moveset as well as what you wish to kill.
Another major factor is prediction. If you're no good at this, then you will lose. Knowing resistances and the rest is useless if you cannot predict.
Case in point, lets assume you have a Jolteon with Hidden Power (HP) Grass to take down Swampert and you know your opponent has one and it's at full health. Your HP Grass won't KO it in one hit if they use it to counter you, but it will OHKO you with Earthquake.
You send out Jolteon to counter the opponents Pokemon and you can either try and kill the opponent Pokemon, or predict the switch to Swampert and use HP Grass. If they switch to Swampert, it takes big damage and as Jolteon is faster, another HP Grass will kill it. Using Substitute here would give you time to kill Swampert too.
Or, the opponent out predicts you and keeps the Pokemon in and your HP Grass may be useless versus it or might still be effective, but your Thunderbolt would have been better and you get hit back. Or, they may switch to something else that is immune to HP Grass in order to absorb the hit and perhaps even scout the HP type you have.
From the above you can see the whole prediction and risk and reward system.
It's because of stuff like that why the games are fun and why I wish people would try playing them before putting them down.
