My favorite thing about Normal types is how whenever there is a Pokemon that is meant to represent multiple/all types, they are Normal by default. Eevee: Can evolve into many other types Ditto: Can turn into other Pokemon Smeargle: Learns all moves Keckleon/Arceus/Silvally: Can be any type Terapagos: Has the power of all types
Yup, normal.... he has 2 of the most prestigious jobs in the world.... and does both of them, while most people do one or the other.... And he uses a mythical creatures that are synonymous with not existing in Japanese folklore... And he has an abnormal obsession with being normal..... Dude is literally the opposite of normal.... He's a freaking elite of the elite who is desperate to seem normal....
Its still horrific to see the early gens, where half the dex is stuck with nothing but Normal type moves until, level 40 or so. It seems like an encouragement to just use your starter.
It’s certainly very interesting to look back on early Gen design with hindsight and knowledge of the modern era. Really puts into perspective just how DIFFERENTLY the game was being designed back then
And meanwhile bug and ghost had basically NO good damaging moves. Especially insulting as Ghost was the only type strong against psychic, and thanks to the special stat psychic type was by far the most overpowered typing. At least with Dragon types you could use icebeam or blizzard. Against psychic you just had to hit it with a heavy hitting nuetral physical damage attack. Oh wait, pretty much every psychic type in gen 1 could learn reflect...
I love how in one single Generation, Larry became the representative of a type..... Also, Vanilla seems basic cause almost every Ice Cream flavor adds vanilla or vanilla flavoring.... But that said.... is Larry really normal??? Yup, normal.... he has 2 of the most prestigious jobs in the world.... and does both of them, while most people do one or the other.... And he uses a mythical creatures that are synonymous with not existing in Japanese folklore... And he has an abnormal obsession with being normal..... Dude is literally the opposite of normal.... He's a freaking elite of the elite who is desperate to seem normal.... Just being a gym leader OR an Elite 4 would make him top of the pack... and he's doing both..... Larry probably isn't even close to normal.... and that's why he's so desperate to seem normal....
In a world where people specialize in types, not being a specialist is weird. Out of the 18 types, the normal type is anything but normal when examined closely, just like Larry himself.
honestly I feel like that serves the vibe of why Larry represents the normal type so well, normal is objectively the weirdest type in all of pokemon that consistently breaks and shifts the norm of how types are supposed to be limited and what abilities a specific type has in its moveset. In any system, being the "most normal" makes you objectively abnormal, and Larry's abnormality in extreme normalcy makes him a great candidate to represent the weirdest most plain abnormally normal type ever.
Typeless is always one of my favorite elements in RPGs Just like how Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts is basically Normal type (his element is Nothingness) and gets such a cool array of powers without any immediate downsides unlike his Organization XIII cohorts
Without having watched yet, I honestly love the Normal type. I like the fact that designers don’t have to stretch to fit a move into another type, the type chart feels more balanced-it’s such a comfortable pillar of the battle design!
I like the Normal type. In being this "jack of all trades, master of none" type, it feels special on its own. It's also reflected in the Pokemon TCG as the Colorless type (regrouping Normal and Flying Pokemons from the videogame, as well as Dragons before Dragon became its own type). It's the only type that doesn't need a specific color of energy, so you can splash them in any deck. I loved building normal type decks, you could put all colors of energies in the deck and it wouldn't even be weird!
I can't believe Perish Song wasn't mentioned, the somehow normal-type move that inflicts fainting guaranteed, provided a Pokemon isn't switched out in 3 turns
There's also Tri-attack, which was sussed to be 3 beams of Fire, Electricity, and Ice all at once, and had a chance to either burn, paralyze, or freeze... and was somehow a normal type move, because Arceus forbid they have a move with more than 1 type other than Flying Press, and even that took forever to happen.
In Gen 1, Normal types also couldn't get paralyzed by Body Slam, a reliably spammed attack from the best Normal type mons. So Normal was countered by itself making it slightly more important to have Normal type mons
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that Normal seems to be the de facto “mammal” type with most early route mammals taking it on plus Pokémon like Ursaring, Snorlax, Miltank, Kanghaskan, Persian, and Tauros all taking it on. Even Pokémon who have an elemental type are often stuck with Normal when they’re based on Mammals as is the case for Bewear, Pyroar, and Sawsbuck. I guess having nipples in the most Normal thing imaginable
Not even finished with the video, but I just realized that I relate to Kira's monologue way more nowadays than when I first watched part 4. We all turn into Larry y'all 😭
I remember in the pokemon origins special Giovanni praising Red for using a normal type (Snorlax) against him, as it being a good choice, then scolding him when it was easily defeated, like "how the heck you manage to lose using a normal type"
@@unwithering5313They basically were. The Origins anime followed the idea that gym leaders have seperate teams they use based on how many badges the challenger has, rather than the idea that you are supposed to challenge the gyms in a certain order based on level. When Red challenges Giovonni to the gym battle Giovanni uses his max level pokemon instead of the appropriate level gym team. He even references the level difference being the reason Red's team is getting whupped by a single pokemon.
Normal is my favorite type, because, as you've noted in the video, it is the most varied pokemon type. I think one thing you missed about it's identity is that it is the "literal" type, together with Flying type - both of these types' pokemon designs are often described as "literally just a dog" or "literally just a bird" etc (even if there are many examples of "literal" desgins from other types, this is the general sentiment I've seen). Another thing you didn't really talk much about is it's role as the main early game type, together with bug, flying and grass. When you consider the previous point, you realize all 3 are "things you will encounter on the outskirts of a rural japanese village". I guess the idea is to start with a familiar environment and slowly go into more fantastic environments? Though I'm not sure what benefit that brings over a more fantastic start.
It makes the later stuff more interesting! If you need to fit in, say, 10 locations, the first 5 being basically, regular feild, village, city, mountain, etc. will make the later ones (fire, ice, dragons, fairies) feel more special. Whereas if you start off with dragons, everything else is either on the same level or downhill, so the player can get tired more easily.
This is why normal type trainers/gym leaders tend to be pretty strong to beat. Whitney, Norman (if u didn’t know slakings weakness), Lenora (her watching has a really good move set for a watchog), cheren, the pretty boy from alola (I honestly don’t remember his name right now but I do remember his character design), and maybe Larry (I lost to him as I played myself. I burned his staraptor activating guts). Whitney and Lenora tend to be regarded as the toughest normal type gym leaders and cheren is considered the hardest 1st gym leader (from wat I hear atleast) as that Lillipup is dangerous without a fighting type. Consider a normal type to fill in the slot. Due to a lot of normal types move pools, they can end up being some of the most versatile battlers around. They can learn so many moves (especially psychic type moves) to cover so many different weakness’. So if u have an open slot and need a pokemon to cover ur other teams weakness,
You can't really describe _what_ normal type is... Its just a _feeling,_ y'know? Like how Hisuian Zoroark is Normal/Ghost, despite very little about it being "normal." _It just works_ and there isn't a clear reason why. Why is Pyroar a Fire/Normal type? I dunno, it just works, that's why.
It is normal ghost because the Zorua before them was a normal type in the process of becoming dark type due to pressure from psychic types, H-Zorua were killed off because of the personality habits they expressed and their growing usage of dark moves, while U-Zorua were able to complete the transition Dark type.
The way I see the normal type is as pokemon that fall into these categories: "Pokemon that are normal type because they're extremely common in many parts of the world" (like rats, birds, horses, bears, cows, rabbits, cats and dogs). "Pokemon that are normal type because of the things they do are extremely common" . Like eating and sleeping (Snorlax and Komala for example), dancing and singing (meloetta and jigglypuff), being unable to swim (azurril, because it's a baby pokemon and babies can't swim), cleaning (cinccino), motherhood (kanghaskan), being a grandfather (drampa), taking care of people (chansey's line), etc. "Pokemon that are normal type because they're based on things very commonly used by humans". Like toys, costumes, things to sleep well, solar panels (stufful, bewear, skitty, delcatty, helioptile, minccino, etc). "Pokemon that are normal type because they represent something commonly accepted by humans as a truth or things that are related to the world itself". Like weather (castform), metamorphosis (ditto), evolution (eevee), gods/religion (arceus), terraformation/movement of the continents (regigigas), year seasons (deerling line), aging (slakoth line), technological advancements (porygon line), etc. If you look well, basically all normal type pokemon fit in one or more of these four categories.
There's Hisuian Zoroark, Terapagos, Indeedee But anyways, that describes like... most pokemon. Rookidee is also a bird, Noibat ought to count as well...
Normal is good to represent multi elemental Pokémon gimmicks too. Eevee is normal, it's evolutions not, Arceus, Terapagos and Silvally are all the types with their gimmicks, but normal it's their default state, and as you said, Castform covers different climates, normal it's good in that too. In that sense, some Pokémon with "Red mage archetype" goes to normal type to represent that concept.
@@byeguyssry Foxes, turtles and goats/sheeps are very common animals. Domestic helper is also a very common human activity/job. And pokemon that don't get the normal type is because they could easily fit in some of the other types just as well. Like rookidee and noibat.
Normal is also kinda good as a "Sound Type", a lot of Normal special moves relate to sound probably because it's the closest thing to a "magic-adjacent" thing that still adheres to "normal", sound waves aren't visible and they can do weird shit at loud enough frequencies but they're still a "normal" thing. It's also partially why I find it annoying when people put the Sound Type in their fangames lol
@muf1nl0rd the general annoyance I have with a Sound type is that people always propose it for flavor reasons, but never justify WHY the game needs it If you look at Steel, Dark, Fairy and even Stellar, all were added to serve intentional purposes, adding new mechanics or addressing major imbalances in the type chart. But people who propose Sound never consider it from a design standpoint
I get the origins of the type back in Gen 1 with how lacking movesets where back there, but now in gen 9 Normal is exclusively the "none of the above" type, as i would find hard any player choosing a normal type over an actual elemental coverage, because aside of the raw damage and utility that something like tera normal Extreme speed brings, some support move or a ghost inmunity as a defensive type you will always chose have a super effective type.
When you are endgame minmaxing to such an extent, then yes, there is no reason to use Normal moves - by that stage of the game, you have more than enough resources to run full elemental coverage. But that's only at that stage of the game. Think back to Persona. You'll be using regular attacks often in the early and mid game, but by the lategame, you can enough Personas, party members, SP and SP recovery to constantly be using all sorts of elemental magic. Normal shines the fewer resources you have. When you NEED that emergency fallback. Normal fills that function.
It's funny because arguably the best type combo in the game is Normal/Ghost but usually Normal is a detriment to other defensive types because it makes them less good against Fighting moves. The few pure Normals that are good are either blobs with fat HP stats (Chansey/Blissey) where attacking is less important, a huge gimmick where the type is somewhat irrelevant (Ditto/Smeargle) or God (Arceus). I think Snorlax is the only offensive pure Normal worth a damn and that's more because it's also a fat wall that just happens to hit hard.
@@GoldenOwl_Game my physical build says the Pierce is the only thing i need...but speaking seriously, the existence of STAB and supereffective type really warps game. The show of raw damage still on the early game will teach the player, as a 40 power move becomes 120 after STAB and supereffective, how important supereffective moves are. Its the more advance player who see the advantage in something like Guts-Facade or Extreme speed, but if you are having a casual playthough and your pokemon is no normal type, there is no incentive to running a normal move.
I think there's a lot of potential narrative baked into the normal type, it truly gets gimmicky but if we see the best or most interesting normal types, theyre pokemon like Snorlax, Porygon Z, Blissey or Slaking which have extreme stats , or flexible pokemon with wide potential like Ditto, Eevee or Smeargle, so the way I see it , the normal type aside from being the basic attack mechanic, can have a narrative in which "they can become anything".
Your thumbnail activated something in me and made me realize that “Almighty” is Persona’s equivalent of the normal type. Both are (supposed) to hit all targets for neutral damage. Granted, Almighty is typically stronger than normal as (unless you’re playing Persona 4) nothing resists or is immune to it. Kind of funny how two different companies took the same general premise of “being able to hurt everything without doing super effective damage” and went in two completely opposite directions. Game Freak said “perfectly ordinary” and Atlus said “the unrivaled power of divinity.”
I would characterize the Normal-Type as the Generalist class of Pokémon. Each needs to be looked at as an individual to see what their unique strengths are, but overall you know there's a Normal-Type to fill whatever missing niche you might have on your competitive team, or as the fodder in game until you get a more specialized team member. The most successful Normal-types are able to move past this Generalist label to truly become great, most commonly through some combination of bulk, high attacking stat, speed and a unique move pool. In many ways this makes them the chameleons of the Pokémon world, able to fill in as the Fire-type Blaster, the Bulky Water-Type, or the Supportive Grass-Type, however over the years all of the Types Normal would like to pretend to be have gotten buffs through other mechanics which make them more viable. Fire, Water, Grass? All have moves and abilities that tie directly into the weather mechanics introduced in Gen 2. But what has Normal gotten? The introduction of the Steel-type to help tone down their offensive pressure in Gen 2, Scrappy in Gen 4 so a select few can ignore the Ghost-Type's immunity to their attacks, and... That's really about it. Even in-game it's obvious that the Normal-type has been left behind. Pokemon's resident chameleon, Kecleon, has two different abilities so that it can shed it's Normal-typing with Color Change and Protean, and that's not even the half of it. Porygon's Conversion (& Conversion 2), Castform's Forecast, Arceus' Multitype, Silvally's RKS System, and even Ditto's Imposter, are all ways to take a Normal-Type, and as the games imply, make them better. If we look at VGC (and since Worlds just finished, we'll use Victory Road's team repots) there were... 7 Dual-Types (Indeedee-F, Farigiraf), and 3 pure Normal-Types (Terrapagos, Ditto) were used in the Top Cut 24. An additional 43 dual types (+Ursaluna/BM) and 25 pure Normals (+Smeargle, Maushold) in Top 100 So out of 100 of the best Players in the world (and their 600 Pokemon choices), they used a total of 28 pure Normal-types, and 50 dual Normal-types, but when all is said and done that was only 8 Pokémon; 2 of which share the same Dex number (Ursalunas), 1 of which would immediately transform to a different type (Ditto), 2 who were used for their anti-priority/Trick Room functionality which arguably comes from their Psychic-typing/theming (Inddeedee-F, Farigiraf), the newest legendary (Terrapagos), and the most annoying Pokémon to ever exist because they learn every move in the game (Smeargle). If anything we should be discussing the success of Maushold here, who I would argue is the poster child for what a Generalist Norma-type can be in modern Pokémon. In design, they're reminiscent of the original Normal-types, just a slightly cartoony version of a regular animal, but when we look at their mechanical design we can see their true brilliance. Maushold's stats sit at a pedestrian 75 or lower, but their Speed hits a unique speed tier at 111, which allows them to act before most of the significant threats in the game. But if they're so weak, what do they do with all that speed? Honestly, whatever they want. From offensive sets using Wide Lens + Technician Population Bomb (their signature move), to disruptive sets using Super Fang, Thunder Wave and Encore, to supportive sets using Follow Me + Friend Guard in Doubles, you never know what sort of Maushold you'll be facing until it's too late. In my opinion, this unpredictability is exactly what a Generalist Normal-type should bring to the table, and is what they tried to do with Smeargle, but left too open ended and was only exasperated by giving them the Moody ability (which is a whole other essay to get into). Thank you for reading my corollary about Normal-types. P.S. Something that I wish you had touched on here, considering all of the Larry usage, is the common dual-typing of Normal/Flying, which sits at the 8th most used Typing, according to Bulbapedia, the bulk of which comes from their 1st Gen introduction. It will probably fit better in the introduction of the Flying-type video, as that type's lack of individual identity is closely tied to their dual-type abundance. Also, if isn't clear by the amount of time I put into this response, it was a lovely video and thank you for sharing your perspective with the rest of us.
Normal in pokemon isn't like a basic attack in any other JRPG. You can run a full normal set with a dark move to deal with ghost types in pokemon, but in other JRPGs you can. You have stuff like body slam which can para, you have broken moves like baton pass or sleep talk which can change the tides of battle in a second.
i remember a twitter discusion once of which type could go and well.. and i thought for myself... bug type feels like something that actualy could go and not much would change.. ok, we could even argue that the currently existing bugtypes would even get buffed if they had to change that bug type.
bug definitely feels like the weakest link, but i think its great it exists, i do think there should be a type that replaces it but usually it already has a similar type to it or way too broad, i think Arthropod type would be a better name if they ever redesigned bug.
@@rubengoldman5830 Some consequences of that are (if just changing rock to ground): - Flying loses a weakness - Rock moves now become ground meaning they don't hit flying types - A lot of Pokémon lose their weakness to fighting and become immune to electric - Moves that were super-effective against flying now don't hit - Some Pokémon lose 4x weakness For other things look up a type chart and realize the changes that would happen are very complex.
And a Moriarty simp too, judging by that profile pic Unfortunately, I've no idea where the original source was. Just stumbled onto it from Google www.reddit.com/r/DigitalArt/comments/13g0lnk/kira_yoshikage_larry_the_normal_type_gym_leader/?rdt=60791
Normal is my favorite because of it's adaptiveness and versatility, but I feel like it's made possible over the years because of one common trait a lot of the better normal types share: Resilience. Normal's identity has somewhat become "being pretty healthy" with a lot of iconic pokemons having good HP and decent defensive stats that doesn't allow them to outright stall people indiscriminately but take a few hits and be of use. Hell, the all-time defensive move Protect is Normal-type. Thematically, I feel like it's the perfect niche to have for a type who's supposed to "just be there"
It could be an interesting mental exercise to try and think about what typing Pokemon would have if Normal doesn't exist... Like, what typing could pokemon like Rattatta have if it wasn't normal type? Its a really interesting thing to think about. A "what if" scenario if you will.
Looking through my final teams for each region (I'm a "only use pokemon new to the region" kind of player), there are a total of 5 Normal type pokemon; Partner eevee (no normal STAB) Staraptor (no normal STAB) Ursaluna (Slash) Obstagoon (Facade) Arboliva (no normal STAB) Unless I'm dealing with a ghost-specialist, it is extremely rare that I am glad that my pokemon is a normal type by the time I'm figuring out final teams, and frankly Obstagoon might be the only actual data point here since Ursaluna was part of the blurry haze that was fighting Volo with only hisuian pokemon, so I don't even remember if slash was used. I think part of the problem for me is that most of the time the Normal moves I'm using are status moves, which gain no benefit from STAB and therefore aren't really something normal types can capitalise on.
Normal is, essentially, a necessary filler in the type system, both for moves and for species. Concerning the former, I think it's very similar to * code in MegaMan Battle Network. The first game didn't have * code, and this shows most clearly in the utility chips being extremely restricted; adding * code allowed for some welcome flexibility in foldercrafting, if perhaps a bit too much in some instances. The wide distribution of Normal moves in Pokemon achieves a similar effect, allowing for moves that don't need to be STAB or coverage but just "good enough" options, especially in the hands of NPCs to make them less annoying.
I was just listening to the video, but the moment you started with "I solve problems" I began reciting "meet the engineer" in my head. Big shock when you said the same and when I turned my head... there he was.
It's interesting to me how, due to the importance of the type chart, Pokémon is one of the few RPGs that feels the need to differentiate "normal" from "typeless" when it comes to non-elemental moves. I can only think of Megami Tensei/Persona as another example, where standard attacks have their own attribute (if not having a separate set of physical types) but then there's also the Almighty attribute as their equivalent of typeless, moves designed to ignore the elemental affinity system.
This, alongside the Starter Type video, have been very enjoyable to watch! Seeing as we've gone from Starters to Route 1 normal type, maybe you should cover the Bug type next? It's a very strange "elemental" type for JRPG games, but bug collection is also what prompted the creation of Pokemon as a franchise in the first place! Would love to see how you tackle the Bug type.
Haha I could recognise the Singapore accent even through your attempts to make it sound more american. I checked your channel and turns out I was right! In all honesty this was a well put together video that is informative yet engaging. Keep up the good work!
I really like the "normal" type, its just so versatile! It also has one of my favourite moves that being Return, I just love its concept of being stronger the more care you put into your 'mon, sadly ever since Sword/Shield it got retired and didn't even reappear in the annoyingly faithful BDSP 😢. It also (as a dog lover) has one of my beloved Pokémon family in Lillipup. It was my MVP in both Pokémon BW and BW2.
I am tired of hiding it. I LOVE the normal type. Snorlax, Blissey, Slaking, porygon-Z, Bewear, Ursaring & Ursaluna, Braviary Staraptor, Stoutland, I could go on
That style of content isn’t quite up my alley. In my opinion, anybody can play, enjoy, and joke about a game. But very few people have the ability to seriously break down, examine, and create games themselves. I have both the education and work experience which provide me with that knowledge. So I’ll use it. I do enjoy silly editing and shenanigans. But they are always secondary to a proper design discussion
Great video! I mean - a perfectly average, normal video which left me feeling rather neutral about the Normal type. Pedantic nitpick about Hyper Beam - the recharge after KO was actually implemented in Stadium, not the Gen 2 games. Stadium also made several changes to the battle system (Focus Energy doing its intended job, the Speed reduction of Paralysis no longer going away after a stat change, things like that). There's not enough info to glean whether this was a balance change or a bug fix, but my understanding of Gen 1 is that there was already a vibrant competitive scene before Stadium released, so I think either reason makes sense.
cassette beasts has a normal type, but its just a placeholder - no monster is normal type, and normal type moves match the type of the user, which does pigeon hole monsters into only attacking with their stab type, but also minimises the number of attacks they need to make, since everyone gets either smack or spit, the difference being if its melee or ranged
The term bug predates it being coopted by certain scientists as a very specific type of insect and should apply to any creepy crawly insect, spider, etc. I will die on this hill.
I usually try to have at least one normal type on my team (granted this is usually, though not always fulfilled by the regional bird, either because the regional bird isn't normal/flying or because I want a different Flyer), for two reasons: 1) STAB return (or in gen 1 Body Slam serves a similar function, with a 30% paralysis chance making up for the damage loss), which is the strongest no-downsides attack in the game, barring some legendary's signature that I'm forgetting, and 2) 1 weakness (balanced out by 1 immunity), and hitting most of the type chart for neutral damage makes it a solid monotype, and as a secondary type, you're not really giving up anything, in exchange for reason 1, and so it can be an all around good choice for nearly any situation, especially if it can also get the holy trinity of Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam (or alternatively punches for physical attackers in gen IV+), which many can at least get 2 if not all 3.
Loved this video! My favorite Pokémon is a normal type, Skitty. :) I still think it should have had the fairy type tacked on as a secondary type in generation 6 (why is a basic run-of-the-mill kitten evolving with a moonstone like Clefairy and Jigglypuff otherwise?) but this video's depiction of normal type is well-suited for it. P.s. There are multiple types of vanilla - for my money, Vanilla Bean is the superior choice. French vanilla has a sort of eggy flavor? not like scrambled eggs... it's hard to pin point - it's just what comes to mind. Basic vanilla ice cream here in the US tends to just taste like cream - this could be because of the producing cutting costs? But Vanilla Bean.... Vanilla Bean never misses. It has a refreshing flavor that aligns with the smell of vanilla extract. It's perfect for root beer floats. The flavor is soothing. It doesn't just taste like milk or cream - VB is what all vanilla should aspire be.
Tauros being the best gen 1 pokemon isn’t due to hyper beam only, rather due to that on top of it’s remarkable speed and the fact that crits were speed dependant on gen 1
Normal type could be better described as a “default type.” Through the lens of a conventional RPG, it could be argued there are two Pokémon types: Normal and everything else
I'm surprised you didn't covered Normal-Ghost immunity relationship (although i suppose you'll cover this on Ghost type video) In competitive scene, Normal types are often equipped with Ghost/Dark type attack to counter Ghost type Pokemons. Or how every generation must have an obligatory Flying/Normal generic bird (again, I suppose you'll cover this on Flying type video) It's almost like Game Freak except us to catch generic bird as a first pokemon and carry him through the entire game. You can notice that many rivals do this. For example, Blue have Pidgeot and Barry have Staraptor.
I feel that has more to do with Ghost itself rather than Normal’s base design. At the end, there’s not a lot to say about Normal itself. Most of these interesting elements are interesting because of the secondary types
Vanilla is only "Vanilla" because someone assigned that to be the default flavor of ice cream. In actuality, Chocolate and Strawberry are just as Vanilla as Vanilla because they're right beside it as the most commonly chosen flavors. I work at an ice cream store and the most commonly chosen flavors are Chocolate and Cookies and Cream, so those flavors end up being the "Vanilla" of the store, and yet people always call others out for choosing Vanilla. Anyway I really like all rounders in games, so I tend to gravitate towards "Vanilla" styles of play anyway. My logic has always been that individual skill shines the brightest when the key factor is the player's ability to utilize the fundamental aspects of a game's mechanics without needing to rely on trump cards and special gimmicks. Though Normal type has never felt like that to me personally due to its vast variety of moves and effects.
Maybe you can talk about how dragon and ghost types in gen 1 were imbalanced because they were more similar to modern unique abilities rather than types
Normal hasn't been touch since gen 2 concerning the type chart. I hope for gen 10 they add something like a fairy resistance. It'd be also interesting to add a type particularity (ghost type can't be trapped, electric types can't be poisoned) like halves the status effects (a burn makes loose 1/32 HP and cut 1/4 of physical damages).
Your point on Normal being necessary is definitely true for earlier generations, like yoi explained. But in today's game I personally don't feel like Normal in impactful as a Type neither in story or competitive mode: with the amount of types we have today and how boring most normal pokemon/moves are anyway, the whole game could technically be rebakanced to allow a story mode without that type. As for competitive... Normal TYPE is almost irrelevant: almost all status normal moves can reflavoured, keeping their function, alonside the really low amount of Normal attacks that actually see play like Fake Out. The only real reason I like Normal as a Type is... the other types: it allows pokemons like Eevee and Genesect to exist as they are now, using Normal just as a placeholder to provide variety and similar. And yet, this is mostly a flavour thing.
Maybe they can finally just make Normal completely "neutral" offensively and defensively? Hits everything for neutral damage and also get hit by everything for neutral.
@@TaLeng2023 But that's the problem I have with it right now: it has no use for a veteran, for the reasons explained in the video. Normal isn't reliable anymore since it's just weak: there is no necessity to have a Normal Type pokemon or use a Normal Attack unless you lack options! And lacking options is not a choice, it is temporary. Nowadays pokemon learn coverage moves of a lot of types... and I like that. These moves are just better than Normal moves since they can work both as neutral hits AND supereffective ones. Even when I play a Normal Type pokemon I play it for variety but I don't find the Type fun. It's not interesting to always hit for neutral or always hitting without STAB.
If ya don't mind, I'll defend normal type in modern pokemon real quick. Defensively, normal is seen as one of the BEST dual types out there for Psychic and Ghost. Having that ghost immunity makes pokemon like indeedee and farigiraf far more useful than they usually would be as a pure psychic. Its neutral relationship to most other types also makes attackers that are "strong enough" super threating with few resists. This pertains to ursaluna (both forms) especially, but don't forget other users of facade/hyper voice, as well as explosion, boomburst being able to be strategized around with a ghost type partner. There's actually a decent amount of good normal type attacks out there.
@@hentloll1370 You are completely right, but as you can see the examples you made feel like the exception, not the rule. The type doesn't need to go anywhere, I just think it is not as important as the video suggests.
@@n-icebeam Ah I see what you're getting at now. That said, it still is very useful for there to be a miscallious typing for stuff like protect, which is basically universally learned
You know, you made me think about gen 1 similitudes between Normal and Dragon in type interacion. In ofense, Dragon hits everything for neutral (even dragon, because of dragon rage being the only attack), upgrading normal ofensive profile, keeping the non-interaction nature of the time. At the same time, defensively, it recieves normal damage from most type, but resists the more natural basic magical types, also a really simple type interaction. By that metric, in Gen 1 dragon seem to serve as an evolved generalist, with varied movepool, limited type interaction even though that role is long gone by now. It funny because it also servers as some kind of non-elemental magic, weaker that the others, not able to do superefective, but also imposible to resist. Like Ruin in Final Fantasy, or the weaker almighty attacks of persona. But same as before, that role is also gone now.
I believe, just like the idea of normality varying from person to person, Normal is the generic, the base but with infinite potential. The general base, being nothing special. And the infinite potential, being no true description of, well, normal.
A point about Gen 1 competitive, everything he says is 100% true in the context of Smogon's OU. Take the breaks off and Toros is now the third best sweeper in the game because Mew and Mewtwo exist.
Many RPGs in the late game actually end up having not Elemental attack being the most optimal in the endgame. Especially the further back you go. As far as games i've played Mainly Pokemon and Megaten care the most about elemental attack throughout the entire playtime. The Fight Command especially in older games is often becomes the best option in dealing single target damage. Final Fantasy I and II bosses mostly crumple against a Tempered or Saber/Berserked and hasted up phsysical attacker. III and IV Squaresoft still is a good idea for physical attacker to attack in fact casting berserk so that your physcial attackers can hit harder against the final boss in IV is advised in some guides. V is has the infamous Spellblade Dual Wield Rapidfire combo. VI's endgame most character stop using their commands in lieu of either spamming non elemental Magic, Physcial attacks or Jumping. VIII has Limit Spam. SMT III Nocturnes Original Release it's better spam Special Physical attack that cost a percentage HP or Almighty Attacks due to most late game bosses lacking and elemental weakness and Magic Scaling poorly in spite of the Press Turn System. Mainly Magic is used for buffs and debuffs or healing. Elemental attacks matter more in Persona 3 and afterwards especially, not sure about the Digital Devil Saga games. Many Dragon Quest games have elemental magic attacks for mobs rather than bosses, often the character who have attack spells also have buff and/or Debuffs to use against bosses which your physical attackers can use to take down bosses quicker. Also Boomerangs and Whips exist in most dragon quest games which hit groups and/or the entire enemy party. Normal Types can be considered the best type in the game by some even over psychic and is definitely top 2. The top three pokemon which are considered mandatory are all normal types.
If a Pokémon would be typeless, it should just become a normal type instead. Mostly to buff regular Arcanine so it gets STAB Extreme Speed after using Burn Up.
Hey hey, I have a thought. Vanilla is considered the most basic and normal flavor, but if you have even the slightest clue about what it actually is and ho it is made, you'd proclaim it to be the most exotic thing on this planet.
![[Game Designer Explains] What makes Blue a Great Videogame Rival](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CeTSMuOUfBA/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Game Designer Explains] What makes Blue a Great Videogame Rival](/img/tr.png)
![[Game Designer Explains] Instant Kill Mechanics and why they tend to suck](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fV2Pz-8BEJU/mqdefault.jpg)
If Delcatty's signature move was violence, we could finally normalize violence.
This implies that Violence can not affect dead things. Which makes sense.
I am not married, thank God.
Iono: "B-but you told my chat that you missed your wife!"
Well, he technically isn't married but misses marriage. Or not. Probably the latter.
The wonders of being single
@@shinigamimiroku3723 "I thought that you would recognized the meme."
My favorite thing about Normal types is how whenever there is a Pokemon that is meant to represent multiple/all types, they are Normal by default.
Eevee: Can evolve into many other types
Ditto: Can turn into other Pokemon
Smeargle: Learns all moves
Keckleon/Arceus/Silvally: Can be any type
Terapagos: Has the power of all types
Don't forget conversion in the porygons
It's like how every color mixed together (equally) creates White
A perfectly normal video on a perfectly normal topic
Strange not to mention the most important move of all time:
Protect
Larry is the most normal character in video game history
Which is what also makes him the most fascinating character in all of video game history.
Yup, normal.... he has 2 of the most prestigious jobs in the world.... and does both of them, while most people do one or the other....
And he uses a mythical creatures that are synonymous with not existing in Japanese folklore...
And he has an abnormal obsession with being normal.....
Dude is literally the opposite of normal....
He's a freaking elite of the elite who is desperate to seem normal....
what about that guy that uses repels to shoo away wild pokemon from his garden in pewter city, he's pretty normal
Its still horrific to see the early gens, where half the dex is stuck with nothing but Normal type moves until, level 40 or so.
It seems like an encouragement to just use your starter.
Correct the game designers don’t want you to pc your starter no matter what. Oak even comments on your starting coming of age when you become champion
It’s certainly very interesting to look back on early Gen design with hindsight and knowledge of the modern era.
Really puts into perspective just how DIFFERENTLY the game was being designed back then
@@GoldenOwl_Game you have to wonder what the point of making a team is when just using your starter is easier.
And meanwhile bug and ghost had basically NO good damaging moves. Especially insulting as Ghost was the only type strong against psychic, and thanks to the special stat psychic type was by far the most overpowered typing. At least with Dragon types you could use icebeam or blizzard. Against psychic you just had to hit it with a heavy hitting nuetral physical damage attack. Oh wait, pretty much every psychic type in gen 1 could learn reflect...
@@rwberger6 and it wasn't even strong against psychic for... reasons.
like, are you supposed to just use your starter, or...? Makes you wonder.
I love how in one single Generation, Larry became the representative of a type.....
Also, Vanilla seems basic cause almost every Ice Cream flavor adds vanilla or vanilla flavoring....
But that said.... is Larry really normal???
Yup, normal.... he has 2 of the most prestigious jobs in the world.... and does both of them, while most people do one or the other....
And he uses a mythical creatures that are synonymous with not existing in Japanese folklore...
And he has an abnormal obsession with being normal.....
Dude is literally the opposite of normal....
He's a freaking elite of the elite who is desperate to seem normal....
Just being a gym leader OR an Elite 4 would make him top of the pack... and he's doing both.....
Larry probably isn't even close to normal.... and that's why he's so desperate to seem normal....
In a world where people specialize in types, not being a specialist is weird.
Out of the 18 types, the normal type is anything but normal when examined closely, just like Larry himself.
honestly I feel like that serves the vibe of why Larry represents the normal type so well, normal is objectively the weirdest type in all of pokemon that consistently breaks and shifts the norm of how types are supposed to be limited and what abilities a specific type has in its moveset.
In any system, being the "most normal" makes you objectively abnormal, and Larry's abnormality in extreme normalcy makes him a great candidate to represent the weirdest most plain abnormally normal type ever.
Typeless is always one of my favorite elements in RPGs
Just like how Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts is basically Normal type (his element is Nothingness) and gets such a cool array of powers without any immediate downsides unlike his Organization XIII cohorts
Without having watched yet, I honestly love the Normal type. I like the fact that designers don’t have to stretch to fit a move into another type, the type chart feels more balanced-it’s such a comfortable pillar of the battle design!
I like the Normal type. In being this "jack of all trades, master of none" type, it feels special on its own. It's also reflected in the Pokemon TCG as the Colorless type (regrouping Normal and Flying Pokemons from the videogame, as well as Dragons before Dragon became its own type). It's the only type that doesn't need a specific color of energy, so you can splash them in any deck. I loved building normal type decks, you could put all colors of energies in the deck and it wouldn't even be weird!
I can't believe Perish Song wasn't mentioned, the somehow normal-type move that inflicts fainting guaranteed, provided a Pokemon isn't switched out in 3 turns
The list was already long enough as is. There’s no shortage of weird normal moves
There's also Tri-attack, which was sussed to be 3 beams of Fire, Electricity, and Ice all at once, and had a chance to either burn, paralyze, or freeze... and was somehow a normal type move, because Arceus forbid they have a move with more than 1 type other than Flying Press, and even that took forever to happen.
In Gen 1, Normal types also couldn't get paralyzed by Body Slam, a reliably spammed attack from the best Normal type mons. So Normal was countered by itself making it slightly more important to have Normal type mons
That’s a pretty well known bug. However, since it was clearly a bug, I never bothered to mention it. It was never intended as per the Type’s design
I’m surprised you didn’t mention that Normal seems to be the de facto “mammal” type with most early route mammals taking it on plus Pokémon like Ursaring, Snorlax, Miltank, Kanghaskan, Persian, and Tauros all taking it on. Even Pokémon who have an elemental type are often stuck with Normal when they’re based on Mammals as is the case for Bewear, Pyroar, and Sawsbuck. I guess having nipples in the most Normal thing imaginable
Kira is my favourite Jojo villain, and Larry is my favourite Gen 9 character, so that opening was simply perfection.
Not even finished with the video, but I just realized that I relate to Kira's monologue way more nowadays than when I first watched part 4.
We all turn into Larry y'all 😭
I remember in the pokemon origins special Giovanni praising Red for using a normal type (Snorlax) against him, as it being a good choice, then scolding him when it was easily defeated, like "how the heck you manage to lose using a normal type"
I swear Giovanni's mons were built different in that show.
@@unwithering5313They basically were. The Origins anime followed the idea that gym leaders have seperate teams they use based on how many badges the challenger has, rather than the idea that you are supposed to challenge the gyms in a certain order based on level. When Red challenges Giovonni to the gym battle Giovanni uses his max level pokemon instead of the appropriate level gym team. He even references the level difference being the reason Red's team is getting whupped by a single pokemon.
Especially considering how op snorlax is in gen 1
Normal is my favorite type, because, as you've noted in the video, it is the most varied pokemon type.
I think one thing you missed about it's identity is that it is the "literal" type, together with Flying type - both of these types' pokemon designs are often described as "literally just a dog" or "literally just a bird" etc (even if there are many examples of "literal" desgins from other types, this is the general sentiment I've seen).
Another thing you didn't really talk much about is it's role as the main early game type, together with bug, flying and grass. When you consider the previous point, you realize all 3 are "things you will encounter on the outskirts of a rural japanese village". I guess the idea is to start with a familiar environment and slowly go into more fantastic environments? Though I'm not sure what benefit that brings over a more fantastic start.
It makes the later stuff more interesting!
If you need to fit in, say, 10 locations, the first 5 being basically, regular feild, village, city, mountain, etc. will make the later ones (fire, ice, dragons, fairies) feel more special. Whereas if you start off with dragons, everything else is either on the same level or downhill, so the player can get tired more easily.
This is why normal type trainers/gym leaders tend to be pretty strong to beat. Whitney, Norman (if u didn’t know slakings weakness), Lenora (her watching has a really good move set for a watchog), cheren, the pretty boy from alola (I honestly don’t remember his name right now but I do remember his character design), and maybe Larry (I lost to him as I played myself. I burned his staraptor activating guts). Whitney and Lenora tend to be regarded as the toughest normal type gym leaders and cheren is considered the hardest 1st gym leader (from wat I hear atleast) as that Lillipup is dangerous without a fighting type. Consider a normal type to fill in the slot.
Due to a lot of normal types move pools, they can end up being some of the most versatile battlers around. They can learn so many moves (especially psychic type moves) to cover so many different weakness’. So if u have an open slot and need a pokemon to cover ur other teams weakness,
You can't really describe _what_ normal type is... Its just a _feeling,_ y'know? Like how Hisuian Zoroark is Normal/Ghost, despite very little about it being "normal." _It just works_ and there isn't a clear reason why. Why is Pyroar a Fire/Normal type? I dunno, it just works, that's why.
It is normal ghost because the Zorua before them was a normal type in the process of becoming dark type due to pressure from psychic types, H-Zorua were killed off because of the personality habits they expressed and their growing usage of dark moves, while U-Zorua were able to complete the transition Dark type.
Thanks for the subtitles! Always to be appreciated when a UA-camr takes accessibility seriously!
The way I see the normal type is as pokemon that fall into these categories:
"Pokemon that are normal type because they're extremely common in many parts of the world" (like rats, birds, horses, bears, cows, rabbits, cats and dogs).
"Pokemon that are normal type because of the things they do are extremely common" . Like eating and sleeping (Snorlax and Komala for example), dancing and singing (meloetta and jigglypuff), being unable to swim (azurril, because it's a baby pokemon and babies can't swim), cleaning (cinccino), motherhood (kanghaskan), being a grandfather (drampa), taking care of people (chansey's line), etc.
"Pokemon that are normal type because they're based on things very commonly used by humans". Like toys, costumes, things to sleep well, solar panels (stufful, bewear, skitty, delcatty, helioptile, minccino, etc).
"Pokemon that are normal type because they represent something commonly accepted by humans as a truth or things that are related to the world itself". Like weather (castform), metamorphosis (ditto), evolution (eevee), gods/religion (arceus), terraformation/movement of the continents (regigigas), year seasons (deerling line), aging (slakoth line), technological advancements (porygon line), etc.
If you look well, basically all normal type pokemon fit in one or more of these four categories.
There's Hisuian Zoroark, Terapagos, Indeedee
But anyways, that describes like... most pokemon. Rookidee is also a bird, Noibat ought to count as well...
Normal is good to represent multi elemental Pokémon gimmicks too. Eevee is normal, it's evolutions not, Arceus, Terapagos and Silvally are all the types with their gimmicks, but normal it's their default state, and as you said, Castform covers different climates, normal it's good in that too. In that sense, some Pokémon with "Red mage archetype" goes to normal type to represent that concept.
@@byeguyssry
Foxes, turtles and goats/sheeps are very common animals. Domestic helper is also a very common human activity/job.
And pokemon that don't get the normal type is because they could easily fit in some of the other types just as well. Like rookidee and noibat.
Normal is also kinda good as a "Sound Type", a lot of Normal special moves relate to sound probably because it's the closest thing to a "magic-adjacent" thing that still adheres to "normal", sound waves aren't visible and they can do weird shit at loud enough frequencies but they're still a "normal" thing. It's also partially why I find it annoying when people put the Sound Type in their fangames lol
@muf1nl0rd the general annoyance I have with a Sound type is that people always propose it for flavor reasons, but never justify WHY the game needs it
If you look at Steel, Dark, Fairy and even Stellar, all were added to serve intentional purposes, adding new mechanics or addressing major imbalances in the type chart. But people who propose Sound never consider it from a design standpoint
I get the origins of the type back in Gen 1 with how lacking movesets where back there, but now in gen 9 Normal is exclusively the "none of the above" type, as i would find hard any player choosing a normal type over an actual elemental coverage, because aside of the raw damage and utility that something like tera normal Extreme speed brings, some support move or a ghost inmunity as a defensive type you will always chose have a super effective type.
When you are endgame minmaxing to such an extent, then yes, there is no reason to use Normal moves - by that stage of the game, you have more than enough resources to run full elemental coverage. But that's only at that stage of the game.
Think back to Persona. You'll be using regular attacks often in the early and mid game, but by the lategame, you can enough Personas, party members, SP and SP recovery to constantly be using all sorts of elemental magic.
Normal shines the fewer resources you have. When you NEED that emergency fallback. Normal fills that function.
It's funny because arguably the best type combo in the game is Normal/Ghost but usually Normal is a detriment to other defensive types because it makes them less good against Fighting moves.
The few pure Normals that are good are either blobs with fat HP stats (Chansey/Blissey) where attacking is less important, a huge gimmick where the type is somewhat irrelevant (Ditto/Smeargle) or God (Arceus).
I think Snorlax is the only offensive pure Normal worth a damn and that's more because it's also a fat wall that just happens to hit hard.
@@GoldenOwl_Game my physical build says the Pierce is the only thing i need...but speaking seriously, the existence of STAB and supereffective type really warps game. The show of raw damage still on the early game will teach the player, as a 40 power move becomes 120 after STAB and supereffective, how important supereffective moves are.
Its the more advance player who see the advantage in something like Guts-Facade or Extreme speed, but if you are having a casual playthough and your pokemon is no normal type, there is no incentive to running a normal move.
I think there's a lot of potential narrative baked into the normal type, it truly gets gimmicky but if we see the best or most interesting normal types, theyre pokemon like Snorlax, Porygon Z, Blissey or Slaking which have extreme stats , or flexible pokemon with wide potential like Ditto, Eevee or Smeargle, so the way I see it , the normal type aside from being the basic attack mechanic, can have a narrative in which "they can become anything".
Your thumbnail activated something in me and made me realize that “Almighty” is Persona’s equivalent of the normal type. Both are (supposed) to hit all targets for neutral damage. Granted, Almighty is typically stronger than normal as (unless you’re playing Persona 4) nothing resists or is immune to it.
Kind of funny how two different companies took the same general premise of “being able to hurt everything without doing super effective damage” and went in two completely opposite directions. Game Freak said “perfectly ordinary” and Atlus said “the unrivaled power of divinity.”
I’d say that’s closer to Dragon, since Dragon is also all about dealing gigantic neutral damage
I would characterize the Normal-Type as the Generalist class of Pokémon. Each needs to be looked at as an individual to see what their unique strengths are, but overall you know there's a Normal-Type to fill whatever missing niche you might have on your competitive team, or as the fodder in game until you get a more specialized team member. The most successful Normal-types are able to move past this Generalist label to truly become great, most commonly through some combination of bulk, high attacking stat, speed and a unique move pool.
In many ways this makes them the chameleons of the Pokémon world, able to fill in as the Fire-type Blaster, the Bulky Water-Type, or the Supportive Grass-Type, however over the years all of the Types Normal would like to pretend to be have gotten buffs through other mechanics which make them more viable. Fire, Water, Grass? All have moves and abilities that tie directly into the weather mechanics introduced in Gen 2. But what has Normal gotten? The introduction of the Steel-type to help tone down their offensive pressure in Gen 2, Scrappy in Gen 4 so a select few can ignore the Ghost-Type's immunity to their attacks, and... That's really about it.
Even in-game it's obvious that the Normal-type has been left behind. Pokemon's resident chameleon, Kecleon, has two different abilities so that it can shed it's Normal-typing with Color Change and Protean, and that's not even the half of it. Porygon's Conversion (& Conversion 2), Castform's Forecast, Arceus' Multitype, Silvally's RKS System, and even Ditto's Imposter, are all ways to take a Normal-Type, and as the games imply, make them better.
If we look at VGC (and since Worlds just finished, we'll use Victory Road's team repots) there were...
7 Dual-Types (Indeedee-F, Farigiraf), and 3 pure Normal-Types (Terrapagos, Ditto) were used in the Top Cut 24.
An additional 43 dual types (+Ursaluna/BM) and 25 pure Normals (+Smeargle, Maushold) in Top 100
So out of 100 of the best Players in the world (and their 600 Pokemon choices), they used a total of 28 pure Normal-types, and 50 dual Normal-types, but when all is said and done that was only 8 Pokémon; 2 of which share the same Dex number (Ursalunas), 1 of which would immediately transform to a different type (Ditto), 2 who were used for their anti-priority/Trick Room functionality which arguably comes from their Psychic-typing/theming (Inddeedee-F, Farigiraf), the newest legendary (Terrapagos), and the most annoying Pokémon to ever exist because they learn every move in the game (Smeargle).
If anything we should be discussing the success of Maushold here, who I would argue is the poster child for what a Generalist Norma-type can be in modern Pokémon. In design, they're reminiscent of the original Normal-types, just a slightly cartoony version of a regular animal, but when we look at their mechanical design we can see their true brilliance. Maushold's stats sit at a pedestrian 75 or lower, but their Speed hits a unique speed tier at 111, which allows them to act before most of the significant threats in the game. But if they're so weak, what do they do with all that speed? Honestly, whatever they want. From offensive sets using Wide Lens + Technician Population Bomb (their signature move), to disruptive sets using Super Fang, Thunder Wave and Encore, to supportive sets using Follow Me + Friend Guard in Doubles, you never know what sort of Maushold you'll be facing until it's too late.
In my opinion, this unpredictability is exactly what a Generalist Normal-type should bring to the table, and is what they tried to do with Smeargle, but left too open ended and was only exasperated by giving them the Moody ability (which is a whole other essay to get into).
Thank you for reading my corollary about Normal-types.
P.S. Something that I wish you had touched on here, considering all of the Larry usage, is the common dual-typing of Normal/Flying, which sits at the 8th most used Typing, according to Bulbapedia, the bulk of which comes from their 1st Gen introduction. It will probably fit better in the introduction of the Flying-type video, as that type's lack of individual identity is closely tied to their dual-type abundance. Also, if isn't clear by the amount of time I put into this response, it was a lovely video and thank you for sharing your perspective with the rest of us.
Normal in pokemon isn't like a basic attack in any other JRPG. You can run a full normal set with a dark move to deal with ghost types in pokemon, but in other JRPGs you can. You have stuff like body slam which can para, you have broken moves like baton pass or sleep talk which can change the tides of battle in a second.
i remember a twitter discusion once of which type could go and well..
and i thought for myself... bug type feels like something that actualy could go and not much would change.. ok, we could even argue that the currently existing bugtypes would even get buffed if they had to change that bug type.
bug definitely feels like the weakest link, but i think its great it exists, i do think there should be a type that replaces it but usually it already has a similar type to it or way too broad, i think Arthropod type would be a better name if they ever redesigned bug.
Rock! Just change them to ground type ffs
Heracross fans know where you sleep
@@rubengoldman5830 Some consequences of that are (if just changing rock to ground):
- Flying loses a weakness
- Rock moves now become ground meaning they don't hit flying types
- A lot of Pokémon lose their weakness to fighting and become immune to electric
- Moves that were super-effective against flying now don't hit
- Some Pokémon lose 4x weakness
For other things look up a type chart and realize the changes that would happen are very complex.
Guys rock and ground exist. You could combije those 2 and while im not sayibg itd cause 0 issues it might help just as much as it hurts
The meme game is on fire in this video.
It’s a perfectly normal use of memes.
Which was your favorite?
@@GoldenOwl_Game The substitute strats during an exam. Tho... does the entire VTuber section count? lol
Now time for an Ice-Type video.
Dude I need that thumbnail sauce for Larry - A die hard Larry simp
And a Moriarty simp too, judging by that profile pic
Unfortunately, I've no idea where the original source was. Just stumbled onto it from Google
www.reddit.com/r/DigitalArt/comments/13g0lnk/kira_yoshikage_larry_the_normal_type_gym_leader/?rdt=60791
@@GoldenOwl_Game thanks for the sauce! that’s good enough for my collection 🤣 And yeap a moriarty simp as well haha
I love how you used Persona as an example of a standard RPG, where the basic attack has an offensive Affinity and can target weaknesses
Eh… probably should’ve used P3 or P4, which didn’t have the slash or gun affinities. A lot of people played 5
@GoldenOwl_Game p4 probably would have been the best example. P3 is the one with three different physical Affinities, and p5 has Gun
that intro is awesome! it's so normal!
Normal is my favorite because of it's adaptiveness and versatility, but I feel like it's made possible over the years because of one common trait a lot of the better normal types share: Resilience. Normal's identity has somewhat become "being pretty healthy" with a lot of iconic pokemons having good HP and decent defensive stats that doesn't allow them to outright stall people indiscriminately but take a few hits and be of use. Hell, the all-time defensive move Protect is Normal-type. Thematically, I feel like it's the perfect niche to have for a type who's supposed to "just be there"
I impressed you manged to make a whole video on a type who's whole identity is a lack of identity
A lack of identity is, in and of itself, an identity.
By design, SOMETHING needs to fill that role.
@@GoldenOwl_Gamejack of all trade is a master of none but can still be better than a master of one
That's "typeless"
It could be an interesting mental exercise to try and think about what typing Pokemon would have if Normal doesn't exist... Like, what typing could pokemon like Rattatta have if it wasn't normal type? Its a really interesting thing to think about. A "what if" scenario if you will.
Looking through my final teams for each region (I'm a "only use pokemon new to the region" kind of player), there are a total of 5 Normal type pokemon;
Partner eevee (no normal STAB)
Staraptor (no normal STAB)
Ursaluna (Slash)
Obstagoon (Facade)
Arboliva (no normal STAB)
Unless I'm dealing with a ghost-specialist, it is extremely rare that I am glad that my pokemon is a normal type by the time I'm figuring out final teams, and frankly Obstagoon might be the only actual data point here since Ursaluna was part of the blurry haze that was fighting Volo with only hisuian pokemon, so I don't even remember if slash was used. I think part of the problem for me is that most of the time the Normal moves I'm using are status moves, which gain no benefit from STAB and therefore aren't really something normal types can capitalise on.
Perfekt use of TF2!
Normal is, essentially, a necessary filler in the type system, both for moves and for species. Concerning the former, I think it's very similar to * code in MegaMan Battle Network. The first game didn't have * code, and this shows most clearly in the utility chips being extremely restricted; adding * code allowed for some welcome flexibility in foldercrafting, if perhaps a bit too much in some instances. The wide distribution of Normal moves in Pokemon achieves a similar effect, allowing for moves that don't need to be STAB or coverage but just "good enough" options, especially in the hands of NPCs to make them less annoying.
I was just listening to the video, but the moment you started with "I solve problems" I began reciting "meet the engineer" in my head. Big shock when you said the same and when I turned my head... there he was.
It's interesting to me how, due to the importance of the type chart, Pokémon is one of the few RPGs that feels the need to differentiate "normal" from "typeless" when it comes to non-elemental moves. I can only think of Megami Tensei/Persona as another example, where standard attacks have their own attribute (if not having a separate set of physical types) but then there's also the Almighty attribute as their equivalent of typeless, moves designed to ignore the elemental affinity system.
Ayo your friends got great taste in streamers, good to see other Raora enjoyers in the wild
So the beginning was basically Sakamata Chloe's experience with Larry.
Straight up called him a killer.
I've always really liked Normal types, but your video finally got me to appreciate it in a game mechanic context, so cheers mate 👍
This, alongside the Starter Type video, have been very enjoyable to watch!
Seeing as we've gone from Starters to Route 1 normal type, maybe you should cover the Bug type next? It's a very strange "elemental" type for JRPG games, but bug collection is also what prompted the creation of Pokemon as a franchise in the first place! Would love to see how you tackle the Bug type.
Restore the normal type to its former glory! Rise up, Law of Normal!
Haha I could recognise the Singapore accent even through your attempts to make it sound more american. I checked your channel and turns out I was right! In all honesty this was a well put together video that is informative yet engaging. Keep up the good work!
i would love a video about Bug Type and why its exists: it evolves faster, but its starts to get weaker as it levels up.
I'd love to see the ground/flying/electric triad elaborated on, especially given the electric type's simplicity and starring mascot role.
I really like the "normal" type, its just so versatile! It also has one of my favourite moves that being Return, I just love its concept of being stronger the more care you put into your 'mon, sadly ever since Sword/Shield it got retired and didn't even reappear in the annoyingly faithful BDSP 😢.
It also (as a dog lover) has one of my beloved Pokémon family in Lillipup. It was my MVP in both Pokémon BW and BW2.
I am tired of hiding it. I LOVE the normal type. Snorlax, Blissey, Slaking, porygon-Z, Bewear, Ursaring & Ursaluna, Braviary Staraptor, Stoutland, I could go on
I heard the little piano at the beginning and knew exactly what was going on 😭😭
Because of the title I expected something like what Omni Voice does. This is a lot more informative with less shenanigans and less faffing around.
That style of content isn’t quite up my alley. In my opinion, anybody can play, enjoy, and joke about a game. But very few people have the ability to seriously break down, examine, and create games themselves.
I have both the education and work experience which provide me with that knowledge. So I’ll use it.
I do enjoy silly editing and shenanigans. But they are always secondary to a proper design discussion
I did not know the alchemy between Leech Seeds and Toxic... Brilliant!
I like how Larry is versatile with flying types because normal is also a very versatile typing. Also 10/10 on using Ghost Trick ost
Normal is my favorite type, because most of my favorite mons have it, so this was fun to watch 👍🏾
Imo ground so deserves a mention
It’s just as versatile and diverse as normal despite being basically THE attacking type
Great video! I mean - a perfectly average, normal video which left me feeling rather neutral about the Normal type.
Pedantic nitpick about Hyper Beam - the recharge after KO was actually implemented in Stadium, not the Gen 2 games. Stadium also made several changes to the battle system (Focus Energy doing its intended job, the Speed reduction of Paralysis no longer going away after a stat change, things like that). There's not enough info to glean whether this was a balance change or a bug fix, but my understanding of Gen 1 is that there was already a vibrant competitive scene before Stadium released, so I think either reason makes sense.
A normal video from Owl. Aka peak content for me to enjoy.
cassette beasts has a normal type, but its just a placeholder - no monster is normal type, and normal type moves match the type of the user, which does pigeon hole monsters into only attacking with their stab type, but also minimises the number of attacks they need to make, since everyone gets either smack or spit, the difference being if its melee or ranged
The term bug predates it being coopted by certain scientists as a very specific type of insect and should apply to any creepy crawly insect, spider, etc. I will die on this hill.
I usually try to have at least one normal type on my team (granted this is usually, though not always fulfilled by the regional bird, either because the regional bird isn't normal/flying or because I want a different Flyer), for two reasons: 1) STAB return (or in gen 1 Body Slam serves a similar function, with a 30% paralysis chance making up for the damage loss), which is the strongest no-downsides attack in the game, barring some legendary's signature that I'm forgetting, and 2) 1 weakness (balanced out by 1 immunity), and hitting most of the type chart for neutral damage makes it a solid monotype, and as a secondary type, you're not really giving up anything, in exchange for reason 1, and so it can be an all around good choice for nearly any situation, especially if it can also get the holy trinity of Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam (or alternatively punches for physical attackers in gen IV+), which many can at least get 2 if not all 3.
I like that Normal types are generic "crittters". It's a bird! It's a rat! It's a kangaroo! It's a cow!
Ik that's true and I also love this but my mind immediately thought It's a *Regigig-gig-gig-as*
i love this series can't wait to see more
I actually watch your videos since the start of your journey, you definitely deserve more attention
Loved this video! My favorite Pokémon is a normal type, Skitty. :) I still think it should have had the fairy type tacked on as a secondary type in generation 6 (why is a basic run-of-the-mill kitten evolving with a moonstone like Clefairy and Jigglypuff otherwise?) but this video's depiction of normal type is well-suited for it.
P.s. There are multiple types of vanilla - for my money, Vanilla Bean is the superior choice. French vanilla has a sort of eggy flavor? not like scrambled eggs... it's hard to pin point - it's just what comes to mind. Basic vanilla ice cream here in the US tends to just taste like cream - this could be because of the producing cutting costs?
But Vanilla Bean.... Vanilla Bean never misses. It has a refreshing flavor that aligns with the smell of vanilla extract. It's perfect for root beer floats. The flavor is soothing. It doesn't just taste like milk or cream - VB is what all vanilla should aspire be.
5:30 - My friends... Indulge yourselves.
Kind of strange when in mystery dungeon you sometimes have the default attack AND normal typing.
Man i didn't expect to come from the kira skit almost immediately into the engineer skit
And that's why Normal-tera Dragonite is so good. 😂
Anyway, love the video!
This video feels relevant to my interests.
Tauros being the best gen 1 pokemon isn’t due to hyper beam only, rather due to that on top of it’s remarkable speed and the fact that crits were speed dependant on gen 1
Normal type could be better described as a “default type.” Through the lens of a conventional RPG, it could be argued there are two Pokémon types: Normal and everything else
Oooh! For the types, you could go through them in the rough order that they appear in game!
That’s the general plan so far. Otherwise the types would be all over the place
I'm surprised you didn't covered Normal-Ghost immunity relationship (although i suppose you'll cover this on Ghost type video) In competitive scene, Normal types are often equipped with Ghost/Dark type attack to counter Ghost type Pokemons.
Or how every generation must have an obligatory Flying/Normal generic bird (again, I suppose you'll cover this on Flying type video) It's almost like Game Freak except us to catch generic bird as a first pokemon and carry him through the entire game. You can notice that many rivals do this. For example, Blue have Pidgeot and Barry have Staraptor.
I feel that has more to do with Ghost itself rather than Normal’s base design.
At the end, there’s not a lot to say about Normal itself. Most of these interesting elements are interesting because of the secondary types
Vanilla is only "Vanilla" because someone assigned that to be the default flavor of ice cream. In actuality, Chocolate and Strawberry are just as Vanilla as Vanilla because they're right beside it as the most commonly chosen flavors. I work at an ice cream store and the most commonly chosen flavors are Chocolate and Cookies and Cream, so those flavors end up being the "Vanilla" of the store, and yet people always call others out for choosing Vanilla.
Anyway I really like all rounders in games, so I tend to gravitate towards "Vanilla" styles of play anyway. My logic has always been that individual skill shines the brightest when the key factor is the player's ability to utilize the fundamental aspects of a game's mechanics without needing to rely on trump cards and special gimmicks. Though Normal type has never felt like that to me personally due to its vast variety of moves and effects.
7:33 not only if they find no type if they fit multiple types like tri attack they are either normal or flying press
Maybe you can talk about how dragon and ghost types in gen 1 were imbalanced because they were more similar to modern unique abilities rather than types
Normalize should have had the additional effect of making Normal moves always hit for neutral damage (even against Ghost).
10:46 at first i didn’t understand why Polnareff was a terapagos then it hit me
Normal hasn't been touch since gen 2 concerning the type chart. I hope for gen 10 they add something like a fairy resistance. It'd be also interesting to add a type particularity (ghost type can't be trapped, electric types can't be poisoned) like halves the status effects (a burn makes loose 1/32 HP and cut 1/4 of physical damages).
Your point on Normal being necessary is definitely true for earlier generations, like yoi explained. But in today's game I personally don't feel like Normal in impactful as a Type neither in story or competitive mode: with the amount of types we have today and how boring most normal pokemon/moves are anyway, the whole game could technically be rebakanced to allow a story mode without that type. As for competitive... Normal TYPE is almost irrelevant: almost all status normal moves can reflavoured, keeping their function, alonside the really low amount of Normal attacks that actually see play like Fake Out.
The only real reason I like Normal as a Type is... the other types: it allows pokemons like Eevee and Genesect to exist as they are now, using Normal just as a placeholder to provide variety and similar. And yet, this is mostly a flavour thing.
Maybe they can finally just make Normal completely "neutral" offensively and defensively? Hits everything for neutral damage and also get hit by everything for neutral.
@@TaLeng2023 But that's the problem I have with it right now: it has no use for a veteran, for the reasons explained in the video. Normal isn't reliable anymore since it's just weak: there is no necessity to have a Normal Type pokemon or use a Normal Attack unless you lack options! And lacking options is not a choice, it is temporary. Nowadays pokemon learn coverage moves of a lot of types... and I like that. These moves are just better than Normal moves since they can work both as neutral hits AND supereffective ones.
Even when I play a Normal Type pokemon I play it for variety but I don't find the Type fun. It's not interesting to always hit for neutral or always hitting without STAB.
If ya don't mind, I'll defend normal type in modern pokemon real quick.
Defensively, normal is seen as one of the BEST dual types out there for Psychic and Ghost.
Having that ghost immunity makes pokemon like indeedee and farigiraf far more useful than they usually would be as a pure psychic.
Its neutral relationship to most other types also makes attackers that are "strong enough" super threating with few resists.
This pertains to ursaluna (both forms) especially, but don't forget other users of facade/hyper voice, as well as explosion, boomburst being able to be strategized around with a ghost type partner. There's actually a decent amount of good normal type attacks out there.
@@hentloll1370 You are completely right, but as you can see the examples you made feel like the exception, not the rule.
The type doesn't need to go anywhere, I just think it is not as important as the video suggests.
@@n-icebeam Ah I see what you're getting at now. That said, it still is very useful for there to be a miscallious typing for stuff like protect, which is basically universally learned
You know, you made me think about gen 1 similitudes between Normal and Dragon in type interacion. In ofense, Dragon hits everything for neutral (even dragon, because of dragon rage being the only attack), upgrading normal ofensive profile, keeping the non-interaction nature of the time. At the same time, defensively, it recieves normal damage from most type, but resists the more natural basic magical types, also a really simple type interaction.
By that metric, in Gen 1 dragon seem to serve as an evolved generalist, with varied movepool, limited type interaction even though that role is long gone by now.
It funny because it also servers as some kind of non-elemental magic, weaker that the others, not able to do superefective, but also imposible to resist. Like Ruin in Final Fantasy, or the weaker almighty attacks of persona. But same as before, that role is also gone now.
Being normal made them unique
I believe, just like the idea of normality varying from person to person, Normal is the generic, the base but with infinite potential.
The general base, being nothing special.
And the infinite potential, being no true description of, well, normal.
Dundunsparce already planted that bomb.
A point about Gen 1 competitive, everything he says is 100% true in the context of Smogon's OU. Take the breaks off and Toros is now the third best sweeper in the game because Mew and Mewtwo exist.
Cassette Beasts doesn't have a normal type, and instead has "typeless" moves that just inherit the type of the user
Many RPGs in the late game actually end up having not Elemental attack being the most optimal in the endgame. Especially the further back you go. As far as games i've played Mainly Pokemon and Megaten care the most about elemental attack throughout the entire playtime.
The Fight Command especially in older games is often becomes the best option in dealing single target damage. Final Fantasy I and II bosses mostly crumple against a Tempered or Saber/Berserked and hasted up phsysical attacker. III and IV Squaresoft still is a good idea for physical attacker to attack in fact casting berserk so that your physcial attackers can hit harder against the final boss in IV is advised in some guides. V is has the infamous Spellblade Dual Wield Rapidfire combo. VI's endgame most character stop using their commands in lieu of either spamming non elemental Magic, Physcial attacks or Jumping. VIII has Limit Spam.
SMT III Nocturnes Original Release it's better spam Special Physical attack that cost a percentage HP or Almighty Attacks due to most late game bosses lacking and elemental weakness and Magic Scaling poorly in spite of the Press Turn System. Mainly Magic is used for buffs and debuffs or healing. Elemental attacks matter more in Persona 3 and afterwards especially, not sure about the Digital Devil Saga games.
Many Dragon Quest games have elemental magic attacks for mobs rather than bosses, often the character who have attack spells also have buff and/or Debuffs to use against bosses which your physical attackers can use to take down bosses quicker. Also Boomerangs and Whips exist in most dragon quest games which hit groups and/or the entire enemy party.
Normal Types can be considered the best type in the game by some even over psychic and is definitely top 2. The top three pokemon which are considered mandatory are all normal types.
Larry is so normal that it reaches all the way around to being camp.
Honestly normal is one of my favorite types
Stoutland and Furfrou: 🐕🦺 🐩
You can't spell Dog without God.
How about a video on the Dark and Steel types since they were the first new types added to the series?
My favourite type :)
Larry kinda looks like Kira
He could use fire type Pokémon too
Or a persian with explosion
If a Pokémon would be typeless, it should just become a normal type instead.
Mostly to buff regular Arcanine so it gets STAB Extreme Speed after using Burn Up.
Hey hey, I have a thought.
Vanilla is considered the most basic and normal flavor, but if you have even the slightest clue about what it actually is and ho it is made, you'd proclaim it to be the most exotic thing on this planet.
Normal is the lords type, arceus bless us everyone
surprised how you didnt mention eevee as a baseline considering the gimmick of eeveelutions
Gen 2 has swift headbutt and return as increase in power to get