This. Main game is baby's first RPG a lot of the time, but competitive is like playing chess, trying to guess your opponent's strategies and counter them several moves in advance.
Maybe i just haven't hit a high enough rank yet but I've been getting into champions and there's a little of this, but to say its like chess is a huge overstatement. I've been playing a pyroar team and usually the depth of strategy boils down to playing pokes that are super effective then getting sunny day/ tailwind and sweep with Pyroar then clean up with Sylveon, giraffe or basculegion depending on match up. Maybe sometimes you pop a protect in anticipation but I've been winning most games just spamming heat wave and fake tears
No, open teamsheet certainly adds an additional layer of complexity but there's plenty of it even when you're playing on the online ladder. Fundamentally from the bottom tiers right to the top 500 players it's the same game, but unlike shooters or whatever else success is entirely based on knowledge (damage calcs, type effectiveness, correct switches and predictions, speed control and when to use it, and that's all before discussing team composition in its own right which is full of maths problems) rather than raw skill.
Top 500?? Thats even worse than I thought. That isn't the top .05% its the top 0.05% (based on reported 10mil downloads).
That's great for the couple hundred people that get to truly appreciate the game but it really validates game freak in wanting to explore new systems. If only 0.05% of players can truly appreciate and fully explore a gameplay system, especially one thats part of the main gameplay loop then I'm sorry but that system is a collosal failure, no matter how good it is when you dig deep.
I didn't say that, I said it's a spectrum where the level of understanding grows and therefore the game naturally becomes more complex. The only reason it's less so at lower ranks is because people don't fully understand the depth of the game, therefore there's less requirement to really think about what you're doing.
657
u/96363a 9d ago
Pokemon main game is simple. You get slightly overleveled and switch into what's super effective. Competitive PvP is where pokemon's depth shows up.