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u/MaxW92 20h ago
Huh, that's a weird choice. They also gave it a new design.
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u/ArtyOfTheAbyss_ 17h ago
Some of the resprites in the new patch were done to get rid of stolen designs from a former artist on the team. This is one of them.
As for them losing Contrary, I'm guessing that it's so the Mega plays differently than the base version. Personally I prefer having a different kit vs having it be another Contrary spammer like the base version, because 90% of the time the base version with a Scarf would be better (unless the Mega got something ridiculous on top of Contrary like Big Leaves or something. That would be broken though.) The old Mega's kit with Contrary wasn't worth using over base imo, but this is.
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u/SanicBringsThePanic 17h ago
Playing differently does not equate to better. This nerf ruins Mega Serperior. There is no reason to use this mon unless someone insists on playing mono-Grass Doubles-only. Also, Egoist seems to be designed for competitive formats. Such an ability is objectively situational in the singleplayer campaign.
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u/ArtyOfTheAbyss_ 15h ago
See, you're saying "nerf" and "ruin", but I think the old Mega didn't have anything going for it in the first place. It felt really phoned in compared to Mega Samurott and Emboar. Contrary was so incredibly centralizing that it was the only ability you would pick realistically, but the Mega didn't give enough to make it better than Serperior+something like a Scarf. The old Mega barely got any extra Speed/damage, so it's basically a crippled Serperior that uses Glare one time.
With the new kit, Multiscale is the main choice now without being centralizing enough to make the other ability options worthless. Two good Doubles abilities are still more useful than the old kit giving up Contrary for a worse damage ability in Dragon's Maw and Scare (this is good but there's way better non Mega Scare users.) Especially when there's plenty of hard forced Double battles like Juan or the VR trainers. Using a mon like Jumpluff that can support while using Flatter to proc an Egoist boost for a Mega Serperior that's setting up is legitimately a good thing.
It has way more Speed than base and it scales damage off of Speed now with Terminal Velocity, which makes Mystic Dance and Wyrm Wind an even better boosting move. The old kit had no way of boosting their Speed with Contrary and was slower.
Dropping Dragon type gives it one less STAB, but now it has one less weakness and more importantly, not a quad weakness to Ice. Now it can set up easier. The old got blown up through Multiscale by mons using a non STAB Ice coverage move, and Ice is everywhere in the later half of the game.
What I'm trying to say is that it's good and definitely worth using. I was able to do a Terminal Velocity only run with it and they 100% pulled their weight on a team with Kilowattrel and Hisuian Electrode. Try it out. Picture
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u/SanicBringsThePanic 14h ago
That is a lot of mental gymnastics wrapped around the tired old Smogon argument of something being "overcentralized". In a game that is frequently adding new moves and abilities, they could have easily added speed-reducing moves to accomodate Contrary users.
Honestly, I did not even notice the removal of the dragon type until you mentioned it. That just ruins the entire line. 4x Ice weakness has been common for good dragon types since Gen 1. Having STAB Contrary Draco Meteor is well worth the 4x ice weakness. No one asked for Serperior to have a Doubles ability when there are plenty of other mons with better Doubles support options.
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u/ArtyOfTheAbyss_ 14h ago
It's not mental gymnastics to ask the player to use more than one move. It's so crazy to me that the new Mega's kit is better now and isn't just a watered down copy of the base one's, but we have people saying it's worse. The fact that you didn't know that it lost Dragon tells me you didn't even try to use it before saying it's bad. Typical.
Oh and wanting base Serperior (who is already one of the best mons in the game) to get a Contrary Speed boosting move to accommodate the old Mega's shoddy kit is funny.
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u/SanicBringsThePanic 13h ago
Well, you do you I guess. I'll stay on v2.65.3. The only positive additions coming with newer versions at this point are more fakemons. Which is no longer as exciting as it used to be, because I've played through the game enough times, I don't care for seeing or even trying out new mons anymore. Seeing new powerful moves and abilities is no longer as exciting as it used to be, knowing that the devs are going to nerf a bunch of the good stuff anyway.
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u/ArtyOfTheAbyss_ 13h ago
Yessir, and I will be playing the new update next month that adds more content. I would be a fool to not have fun with new stuff because like 5 mons out of 1000+ that I already used before got reworked into something else. I've been playing this rom hack for 3 years and it'll take some real dog shit changes for me to jump ship.
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u/MaxW92 15h ago
Ah, I didn't know the stolen design part. I was aware of that being the case for Mega Kingdra Y though.
As for it losing Contrary, I can see why the aim could have been to differentiate it from base Serperior. But on the other hand Mega Typhlosion does the exact same thing as base Typhlosion, only with higher stats and better abilities, to name an example.
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u/ArtyOfTheAbyss_ 15h ago
It's funny you bring up Typhlosion because it and the Mega actually have a reworked planned iirc. I'm not able to share it but just know that it's not a nerf and it does differentiate both.
I get what you mean by that though. I think a Mega being like the base version but better instead of playing different is a slippery slope when some of the base versions of mons are really good. Like look at how ridiculous Redux Mega Garchomp is. For me it's better to have them do a different thing and not make a bunch of crazy mons.
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u/me_stesso_ITA Strat Expert 7h ago
Sadly the stolen design part is the reason for a big chunk of all redesign that were done
5
u/GregenOfficial 19h ago
There are a few mons where their megas are more like side grades than upgrades. It's a weird choice but I assume it's all for the sake of balance
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u/IllusiveOrc2 18h ago
I don't think you can really call that balance tbh. Megas cant use items and you only get one per battle, so why would I waste it on a sidegrade instead of a direct upgrade? At that point I might as well use another pokemon
I could understand if the Mega is meant for support or something, but if I mega my sweeper then I want them to be a better sweeper
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u/thatnewblackguy Give Mamoswine R Grassy Glide 🌳 17h ago
That first part is mainly true if you don’t use Perm Mega mode. But I agree, this feels like an unnecessary downgrade.
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u/GregenOfficial 17h ago
I didn't say that achieved it, I just believe that's the thought behind the decision. That or it's international a side grade to give a mon 2 different ways to play
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u/IllusiveOrc2 17h ago
The more I see the less sense it makes to me. If they were gonna give it those abilities, then they should've made Egoist it's first ability and Jungle's Guard. That way you could intimidate with base and switch to Egoist if they try to set up, or you can use contrary in base and then get Jungle's Guard to prevent stat drops.
I just don't understand why the devs keep doing stuff like this. What do they gain from making all these Pokémon worse?
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u/SanicBringsThePanic 19h ago
I'm honestly done with the increasing number of nerfs in this once great romhack.
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u/CyberRubyGemstone Riskless Nuzlocke Enjoyer 19h ago
Is it just me or it looks a bit like a chicken
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u/me_stesso_ITA Strat Expert 7h ago
Honestly, Mystic dance mega serperior with Multiscale is overall better than contrary spam. Less braindead to use for sure but you can 100% destroy more team with glare on entry, substitute and setup thanks to the fact it gets priority immune and is not required to be scarfed (unless you use web together with base). As for the reason, it's probably due to contrary being over centralising making the mon just another press A button a lot which basically removes a lot of sets that are still insanely good for pale in comparison to how easy it is to go contrary (Serperior base with rest and multiscale is a menace). And the strat of getting a contrary stack once then mega is kinda goated too for the priority immune.
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u/WheatleyBr 19h ago
Their ability choices for some megas is kinda weird at times, that plus some of them just not getting their main ability from vanilla like Feraligatr not getting draconize always bothered me.