I'd Like to talk about Game Balance in V13 Normal Mode

[SoraBell]

Before explaining, I want to prefacing by stating that none of my problems with this game are specifically connected to the dev's or are indicators of them being poor at their job, V13 is so far is a fantastic game and I enjoy it very much but I'm noticing a very huge problem when it comes to Boss Encounters and Gym Battles that's really destroying the fundamental design of Pokémon for a lot of players. I should say that this is a reflection of Normal mode, not intense or Casual mode. 

A huge part of playing Pokémon comes from ones desire to use their favorites, it's never really about playing the most optimal Pokémon and training them in the best way possible, but you can argue that those that play intense mode commit to the grind that comes with solving the puzzle which is largely a tedious grind of searching for counters via, exploiting the field, the movepool, the stats etc.. but Normal mode is generally designed with a bumpy but enjoyable experience proportional to the amount of power needed to overcome specific challenges. The issue is Field Effects

 

Lets get to the battle at hand Geara & Zetta on valor mountain is probably one of the worst designed fights in the game up until this point and I mean this with great respect for the games prior challenges. 

the reasons are as follows:

1. Volcano Top Field is designed to punish Rock, Ice, and water but those types. Alolan ninetales for example should be able to change the field to snow top with using blizzard, but that requires 2 turns, and Typhlosion can change it back with one single eruption from snow top. 
2. Their Pokémon have all possible coverage options needed for them to survive, and the nature of a double battle reduces the effective options of defensive pokemon as they'll either steal turns with rock slide flinches, or just double up on a defensive Pokémon's slot and subsequently killing it. 
3. Melia's movepool and stat spread make no sense. according to the wiki  https://rejuvenation.fandom.com/wiki/Melia/Act_1_Normal_Difficulty None of her pokemon have any electric type coverage making the field harder for her to battle on, and her Hydreigon has no Dragon stab or comparable coverage to deal with opposing threats like dragonite. her gardevoir is also carrying 100 Def, 252 HP, and 52 DF eves with focus blast as opposed to thunderbolt. Her meganium has dual screens but her AI seems to be position it in such a way that it's one of the LAST few Pokémon to ever be used from her which makes it basically worthless from a contribution stand point, meanwhile Geara's Prankster Grimmsnarl is 100% guaranteed to get at least one of the light screen or reflect up which only makes the gyrados (who's set isn't on the wiki for some reason) even harder to kill. This feels like a incredibly punishing spread for her in normal mode
4. Bugs, Gengar actually out sped my Talonflame on the sky field after having used cinderace to bounce us their even though Gale Wings should always be active This did cost me an attempt since the gengar has proper stat spreads and is capable of 1 shotting just about anything available

 

That's just a few of the issues but generally speaking, I think the balance here wasn't handled very well. while having to compare this to older versions, the writing feels so much better and the story and presentation are amazing but it feels like the game balance is a bit undercooked which leads to very feast or famine boss encounters. either you're one sided stomping your opponent by going out of your way to develop the perfect counter with properly ev trained party members or you're getting curbed stomped as a result of field effects making Pokémon way stronger than they otherwise should be. Toxapex for example is one of the best walls in the competitive scene for Pokémon and it feels super difficult to use in boss encounters because field effects give free damage to the opponent. this leads to lopsided speed arms race where Pokémon like Talonflame with priority tailwind feel like a perquisite to play the game because speed is far and away too strong. Trick room likewise is just another method of ensuring you win the speed war and the defensive capabilities of a Pokémon just don't feel viable in this game.

 

Personally, I think Field effects should just be removed from the game, but that's apart of the identity so I don't see such a thing happening and I do find them to charming in some cases, but as it stands. it feels like the balance is skewed a bit too far in favor of the opponent in every single fight. I think the geara & zetta fight is over tuned for normal mode to an absurd degree. I'm also personally just not a fan of having to retrain and relevel Pokémon to beat specific encounters because this game has a lot to offer and that feels time consuming after awhile. I'm currently doing a playthrough of the game and it feels like I've hit a brick wall with every boss encounter that forces me to cut away to go catch train, and level a silver bullet Pokémon and that doesn't feel fun for someone looking to have a tense but smooth experience. This is just my suggestion, I don't claim to be a brilliant game designer and I'm sure someone believes that if I catch X mon I'd be able to win. Maybe that is true, but I still feel that the game currently has a very feast or famine structure with it's notable encounters leading to very grindy sections that just kill the pacing. If the solution is drop down to casual mode, I feel like that isn't necessarily my fault since I'm already committed to ev training and searching for these mons but perhaps I just need to get better. 

 

At the time of posting this, i was unware that v13.0.3 was released which did indeed balance re-balance the mt.Valor fight. I want to apologize to the devs for this error

Edited August 9, 2021 by SoraBell
Already balanced