Why aren't all fully evolved Pokemon equally viable and strong?

>>31417041
The same reason why some animals and people are stronger than others. That's just how it goes.

I don't think a meerkat with stripes would be as strong as a dragon

Should've No Guard or buff Illuminate to have a same effect as Bright Powder

>>31417041
imagine if all pokemon had the same base stats, equally viable abilities, a completely balanced spread of weaknesses and strengths, and useful movesets. that would be boring as shit.

>>31417148
But clearly a stripeless meerkat could wreck shop on a dragon

Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.

To explain game mechanics early on.

>>31417041
there'd be no point to competitive battling or team making if every pokemon had the same strength.

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>>31419404
>try

I think maybe op is wondering why some Pokemon are busted in terms of BST + ability and others are gutter tier.

>tropius vs azumarill
>steelix vs talonflame (gen 6)
I don't really know what governs this imbalance but greninja in all forms can fuck off because it's a shitty franchise poster child

>>31417041

To get youth to realise that it's not your strength or ability that matters.. Only that you get to go on the adventure

>>31417041
>Why are some animals stronger than others capabilities-wise? What is the purpose of weak animals?

>>31417041
I don't think everything should have the same BST, but I do think some BSTs should be reworked a bit: why would togekiss have a higher BST than any starter? why would golurk have less BST than pansage?

Whatever the case, BST alone doesn't make the mon, but all mons deserve at least a gimmick.

There are mons that have literally nothing going on for them, even in the spectrum of shitmons. Pic related could easily have a no guard + hypnosis gimmick like >>31417219 implies, and that alone is better than what it is now. It would still be a shitmon, but there would be cases where it outspeeds your entire party and puts everything without insomnia to sleep.

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>>31419404
>tfw favorites are strong Pokemon

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>>31419629
come on, no, it's not the real world
they can make their own rules

some pokemon are always "stronger/weaker" than others, sure, but it could be at least kinda "balanced"
there is always pokemon with potential, but they need often more bst/moves or others abilities

Obtainability

Gengar
>have to find a gastly [varying difficulty]
>evolve it to haunter [takes an amount of effort unless post-game]
>trade it to someone else, if they're a good friend you'll get it back [pretty hard back in the day]
>once you finally have one somehow, it's one of the strongest regular 'mons in the game and it has a huge movepool

>Butterfree
>catch a caterpie [ezpz]
>bring it to level 10 [also really easy]
>when you have it it'll wreck in the early game with confusion, but other than that it's meh or at worst shit

>>31419754
meant for >>31419642

Because imbalance is interesting and perfect balance is boring.
You want a perfectly balanced game? Tic tac toe; if both sides are playing it perfectly, the result is always the same.

>>31419776
Chess isn't imbal and tons of people play that. In fact as far as games go it's often cited as one of the most complex forms of competition

>>31419762
>get little frog for absolutely nothing
>just level the thing
>greninja
>uber tier, top of OU
huh

>>31419799
>Chess isn't imbal
First move has significant advantage over second move. So much so that if the better player is allowed to move first he will win almost 100% of the time, but if he moves second it drops his chances significantly due to the setback. This is an imbalance chess shares with other classic strategy games like Go.

Not everybody is an autistic minmaxer. Some people just like using pokemon based on aesthetics.

>>31419876
> Uber
> OU

Terms GF literally doesn't give two shits about. People need to remember that GF wants to make a RPG about catching and raising monsters first, and competitiveness second. Even then they only care about VGC. Look at mons like Oranguru amd Passimian. They were made for doubles.

>>31419876
OP asked for the thought process behind the inclusion of shitmons, I gave it
Game Freak's mistakes are unrelated.
Also, it's only HA Greninja that's bork.

>>31417257
Yeah, every pokemon being viable and allowing for wider teambuilding is definitely more boring than seeing the same 10-20 pokemon and movesets everywhere in competitive.

>>31419917
which still avoids my point
they have Pokemon they favor. this isn't based on any biological implications, literally random favor or maybe fandom

tier garbage aside, greninja is better than serperior, blastoise, typhlosion, etc
why is this?

>Weedle can be obtained on route 1 and evolves into beedrill at level 10
>Deino is obtained on victory road and evolves into hydreigon at level 64
>they should be equal in strength

>>31419950
Part of it is favouritism, sure. But it's also part them being shit at developing imo. They just know how to make strong shit. The rest they just give stats on what feels right for the monster.

>>31419969
it is virtually all favoritism. legendary birds? borderline deities crippled by tiny rocks and somewhat mediocre stats

>>31419950
It's because Game Freak can't design games
Also obnoxious power creep, Narutoad has to be able to fight MEGAS
Also favoritism because
>Smash
>Ashnime
>general popularity

Greninja was a mistake

>>31419969
also its not just stats and abilities, so many decent mons are neutered by gamefreak giving them awful move pools.
>flareon, luxray, most of smogon's PU tier
this usually isn't even a game breaking change, they're just lazy and don't want they're poster child mons seeing less use

>>31419957
>Ralts, Wurmple and Zigzagoon are found in the same early game route
>One of them becomes a goodmon, the other 2 become shitmons
>The difference of levels between their evolutions is 10

Not all pokemon should be equal, but the obtainability argument doesn't work. If it was that way, all mons obtained by trade holding a specific item should be god-like, when in reality just a few of them are.

Equality among pokemon comes from a bizarre mix of favoritism and randomness: GF can create a mon they'll push and boost all they can the same they create something that will never again be brought up.

there is no conceivable reason why rapidash has such god awful stats. it's a fucking unicorn that's on fire. why is its offensive presence virtually nonexistent? gamefreak forgot about it and assumes everyone else did too. these would be such simple issues to fix

>>31417041

RULES OF NATURE

>>31417041
Became kangaroos are stronger than dogs

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>>31419776
>Because imbalance is interesting and perfect balance is boring.
WRONG
R
O
N
G

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>>31419404
>Try
Key word there

>>31419776
You can create a game that is both balanced and abstract so that the winner isn't immediately calculable.

>>31419776
Ever seen/play a ditto in a fighting game?
protip: not boring

>>31419876
Protean Froakie isn't a starter, dumbass.

>>31419940
It is though, because the people who are clever enough to be able to use "weaker" pokemon on their team to an advantage is more interesting than all m-fug's

>>31420133
Depends on the char tho. I'd rather watch paint dry than watch two Giefs duke it out. Two Ryus can actually make for a fucking awesome match despite them being the most "simple" chars.

>>31420147
Fair

>>31420139
Those "clever" people will still lose over half of their matches because of their teambuilding choices.

>competitive play
>in a child's game
?????????????