Set or Shift?

[Gabriel1]

To those who do not know what "Set" and "Shift" are, these are settings in the Options menu. "Set" forces you to keep the pokémon you used in the fight after defeating an opponent, while "Shift" warns you of the enemy's next pokémon and allows you to switch.

 

I wanted to know what do you people think is the better option?

Personnally, I use "Set". While I'm fine with abusing fields, items, and abilities all the like, these are things that your foes can do as well, while "Shift" gives you a colossal tactical advantage. It just seems kind of unfair and unsportsmanlike to me.

[CrossImpact]

if you can be 'unsportsmanlike' against an AI, that is.

personally I use 'set', cuz well, that's realistic.
though not having compared to 'shift' within Reborn, which is also the standard setting in the official games (no?), 'set' should naturally make it a bunch harder.

not everyone enjoys difficulty the same way, players will range from "let me A+B button through the game" to "story mode please" to "real challenge please".

[Dreamy]

Kinda just echoing what's already said; it's fine for people to play however they prefer, so either is ok. 

 

However, shift is undeniably a large player-only advantage that cannot really be compensated for by anything else, so I personally prefer set because it makes the battle more 'symmetrical' if that makes sense. like, compared to most RPGs, with pokemon the player and the enemy are more or less mechanically identical, and I like that.

[DemICE]

What is this Shift you're talking about.

 

[Sayaman]

Shift would be kinda balanced if it just gave you time to switch. The fact that you somehow know whats coming makes it a little too unfair of a mechanic. It also doesnt make any sense, is the opponent screaming to the top of his lungs what he is going to choose or something? How do we get that information?

[Azeria]

Always Set. Shift is just kinda boring.

[ProjectIceman]

I tend to use both. Depends on the game I'm playing (Reborn - shift, Desolation - set). It might seem unfair, but so is having to fight two opponents pokemon 6 v 12 lol

[ZEL]

I've always used set, though not actually for any difficulty-related reasons or whatever - it's just that when I was a kid I always found it super annoying to be asked if I wanted to switch out my Pokémon, and so made sure to always stay on set.
It was just a silly preference over saving time, and I didn't realize until many years later that there could be tactical reasons.
Simply never changed my habits. I do think I'd find it a bit boring to be able to switch out my 'mons with no consequences, though.

 

Both make perfect sense to me gameplay-wise; if the opponent has to select a new 'mon after one got knocked out, there's reasonable time for the player to switch their own out as well. Solid reward for defeating something.

I don't think of it as an unfair advantage, rather I'd say it's the other way round, with set just being a slight increased difficulty setting.

[Autumn Zephyr]

I'm personally a Shift user, for a couple reasons. First and foremost, I'm just too lazy to go into the Options Menu every time I start a new file. Why bother hiding that?

 

The second thing is that I don't like complete surprise- so if the game's going to give me part of the puzzle for free, then I'm gonna take that! It's important to note that in most cases, just knowing what species the opponent is packing isn't always enough to hold an advantage- they could always be running a bizarre but effective set, or outspeed your sweeper with a Choice Scarf, or something else along the lines. And that's to say nothing of pokemon with multiple forms: if the game says you're about to face a rotom, and your opponent isn't a Monotype Specialist, then you have to decide whether you should risk your Water 'mon in case it's a rotom-H, leave your already set up Ground Type out and hope you can coverage it to death fast enough, or possibly pull some other trick entirely!

 

Yes, Shift helps a bit, but it can easily catch you offguard anyway.

[Sayaman]

What i would like would be a challenging pokemon fan game that has a cannon explanation about the shift mechanic. Make the main character to have the power to read minds or something and that makes him able to fight trainers stronger than him. Something of that nature. And make the AI to change pokemon after a certain amount of health so we dont get easy knockouts.

[Maddin]

I use shift. Game is hard enough for me as it is. I always have to prepare a bunch before all the big fights and draw out a plan to somehow manage them. If I then couldn't even shift anymore I would have some big problem.

[Guest Relinquished]

Shift. Wherever i can have it. Against double battles, live opponents, or in canon games like Stadium 1/2, you can't have it, so that's that. Always use something, whenever you can afford having it.