Thread 58493334

What are the consensus on the ZA friend group?

ZA friend trio is easily the best and most fleshed out friend group in a mainline Pokemon Game. Scarlet/ Violet group is second as they arent as fleshed out compared to ZA. I hope going forward GameFreak continues to flesh out the characters more because I absolutely adore the ZA trio very much, they're all such a well rounded group of friends with actual personalities. I havent laughed from dialogue in a Pokemon game till now and the way each character treats each other is refreshing.

I like Naveen a lot, he's probably the best written character Game Freak have made in a good while
Lida felt underutilised, it feels like her goals end up being sidelined a lot for the sake of the plot
Taunie/Urbain cause about 80% of the problems Team MZ have to resolve and they never show any remorse for it, the part at the end where you battle them to decide who goes into Prism Tower only for them to decide to do it anyway even though they lost pissed me off, its an apocalypse situation we don't have time for this

I like them but I still think they got overshadowed by the not-gym leaders. Probably my favorite overall cast in a Pokémon game though, almost everyone is entertaining.

>>58493334 (OP)
They're fine. They would've been great if they didn't make Taunie/Urbain a sacrificial lamb for the sake of starting the Rust Syndicate "arc". Would've been pretty easy to do that in a way that didn't mean making your supposed friend completely retarded. There was a brief moment where it actually seemed like Taunie had fled/gone into hiding and left you to deal with the debt, which would've been an extremely alarming development. But then it just turns out she was out doing random acts of kindness while you were being threatened by the yakuza. Her character never really recovered from that in my eyes.

>>58493334 (OP)
Taunie is sex on legs.

>>58493334 (OP)
Dancing girl is a cutie, would wife and impregnate. Taunie had a cute tummy but she’s annoying and it didn’t really make sense that she made it to A because she sucked ass. The nigger obviously shouldn’t exist. Slouching ugly ass grumpy motherfucker. Of course he got the hood gangsta Pokémon.

>>58493334 (OP)
They're so boring

>>58493334 (OP)
>easily the best and most fleshed out friend group
you niggas have literally said this every generation since gen 7

>>58493429
>almost everyone is entertaining
I love how every important character you meet remains relevant throughout the whole game. I was concerned since the game is condensed to only Lumiose the characters wouldn't matter but to my surprise its because the story revolves towards 1 city all the characters remains prevalent from beginning to end which is fantastic. GameFreak could easily ignore the characters once their debut ends but they chose to have everyone continue to appear in the main story. Even the NPC side missions have reoccurring NPCs you once did missions for early game and later you do more missions for them.

>>58493519
that's because they're getting better each new game

We don't need to go into a separate room just to hold a "team meeting" instead of just talking it over at the dinner table. This is not something that needs to happen

>>58493334 (OP)
4/10

>>58493554
its called professionalism

I wanted to like them but they didn't click with me for some reason

>>58493554
Shhh, let them larp.

>>58493334 (OP)
Lida should have done more. It's weird that you never even fight her evolved Pokemon until the postgame.

Otherwise they're fine.

>>58493334 (OP)
Very forgettable

For a Pokemon game, I liked them more than usual. Naveen sort of grows up, but Lida never really does anything and Taunie just gets nuked from orbit after all the rust syndicate stuff and never really recovers but it's okay, she's still hot. The whole game is like this, good/fun ideas endlessly held down by how cheaply made it was.

the sv crew mogs desu

>>58493334 (OP)
As someone who generally doesn’t give a fuck about Pokémon’s supporting cast, I thought they were fine. They finally made a decent friend group.

>>58493334 (OP)
Taunie is great, happy she makes grown men seethe just because she took floette away
Naveen is fine, don’t care for him.
Lida is great, cool expressions and is basically a better written teirno

>>58493334 (OP)
I usually hate the friends in the games (SwSh) or just feel ok about them (XY, SM, SV) but here I really like the supporting cast. They bounce off each other and are genuinely quite funny at times. Lots of personality too without feeling rote or stereotypical

>>58493334 (OP)
Mogged hard by the SV crew, specially post DLC. Other than that I agree they are the best, gen 9 actually tried with character writing

>>58493519
>>58493532
Nobody has ever defended galar "characters".

I didn't care for them, especially Taunie

>>58493334 (OP)
Miles more enjoyable than anything we’ve ever had. It’s nice that they’re not as fast to act like you’re god or having some sob story. They’re made even better by the other characters.

>>58494124
Rude, she might be really dumb but she tries her best.

>>58493334 (OP)
They were boring

>>58494210
I dunno I guess she never clicked with me. Her dialogue didn't feel genuine... I can't really explain it. I might just be too hard on her for taking my spot even when I beat her at the end!

>>58493334 (OP)
Naveen and Taunie carry Lida but yeah overall best friend group in a long time

>>58493684
I love them but the fact that they don’t become an actual group until the very end of the game drags them down a bit.

>>58493520
>>58493429
Yes for me this is easily the best cast of a pokemon game by a country mile. Really hope the dlc gives us more of their antics instead of adding a bunch of brand new characters.

>>58494106
Galar had an amazing cast in its hands that was ruined by its dogshit story.

Naveen is great. He's got a sympathetic background, personal interests, fun interactions. Everything you want a Pokemon character to be, nothing complex but there's SOME meat on the bone.

Taunie/Urbain could have been good, they come across as a little misguided but well intentioned initially, but the things they get involved in and do become increasingly frustrating. How stupid do you have to be to take a loan from a publicly recognised as shady firm, especially for something like filming a promo video which they have no way of ensuring would make the money back. Even in the finale, their involvement feels weird. "Hey btw all your shit you did to reach rank A after that tournament I lost in the first round of? I reached Rank A too L O L" and "battle me to decide who saves the city" then losing and going ACTUALLY I WANT TO DO IT ANYWAY both come across as weird.

Lida is extremely cute, very adorable design, cute animations, generally likable personality, but she... kind of doesn't really have shit going on. Her motivation is to be a dancer which is a fine baseline, but that doesn't go anywhere other than making you assume the connection she has to Tierno which she confirms early on. After that she has no development or conflict. The literal only conflict she has is her indecision on deciding to evolve her Staryu, but there's absolutely nothing to that conflict as it's brought up and then instantly resolved by you saying "yeah go for it" and she does it.

tl;dr Naveen is great, fun, likable, endearing. Taunie/Urbain started strong but quickly became frustratingly stupid. Lida is a top tier visually (design and animations) but a nothingburger character

>>58494246
>Hey let's battle to see who gets to use Floette
>Oh you beat me but I want to do it anyway!
Dialogue is one thing but this is just downright insulting
Screw Taunie and her ugly ass hotel I want to join Rust Syndicate

>>58493334 (OP)
Straight up upgrade from SV

>>58494246
To be fair the game needed an excuse for Chekov's Dog to be a thing and as the point was made repeatedly that only the best Mega Evolution trainer could handle things, having Taunie go up there was guaranteed to cause disaster which is what the plot needed

>>58494263
The DLC addresses that at least. The main game would definitely have benefitted from them crossing paths a little more though.

>>58493554
The table had plans of the city with positions pointed out on it. Safe to assume that they were making the positions of rogue mega evolutions and deciding who should go where partially off of that. Seems fine to me. Also it's fun.

>>58494270
A few galar characters were nice (like Piers or Peony) but the main cast, the protagonist's group was absolutely abysmal, Hop is Hau2 but worse because he can't EVER stop smilling and sucking your cock as you destroy his lifelong dreams, unironically feels like fetish shit, and Bede is pretty damn nice until he's groomed and brainwashed into changing his specialization, clothes and career, and the game has the audacity to try to put as a good thing because "he's finally making his own decisions instead of being used by Rose!" when Rose discarded him precisely because he already made his own decisions and Opal groomed him hard into a fairy boy and the only genuine thing he feels for himself is that he doesn't like you.
And Marnie isn't even a character, honestly. They didn't even incluye her in the postgame story.

>>58494285
I think Taunie did the battle mostly to try and convince herself against doing it but her desire for settling things herself ended up overriding her common sense. She clearly has some personal hang ups and a frustration over her own inability to really do much despite being Team MZ's self-proclaimed leader. The difference is that she doesn't really let it bleed out the same way Hop did for example. Hop's arc was interesting to me in Sw/Sh because he started out like a lot of the newer rival characters but got more frustrated and more jaded every time you beat him until he realized he just kind of hates Pokemon battles. Taunie feels like she shares certain insecurities about her own capabilities but as a grown adult isn't lashing out about them.

>>58494263
Seeing them get to become friends is the best part, and you can see them as stablished friends in Mochi Mayhem. The league club also has great interactions for all characters so there's spice for everyone

>>58494321
>Hop is Hau2 but worse because he can't EVER stop smilling and sucking your cock as you destroy his lifelong dreams
This is just untrue. There are several moments early on where he’s confused or frustrated. Hau literally smiles as Gladion & Guzma indirectly talk down to him. Hop also has actual character development where Hau is just “oh I guess battles have to be won huh”. If Hop is glazing anyone it’s Leon.
>>58494327
>until he realized he just kind of hates Pokemon battles.
No? He literally says he wants to continue battling despite not having Champion as his goal. Bianca is the one who ultimately doesn’t like battling.

>>58493334 (OP)
Could have done without the yeet/negro

>>58493413
>>58494285
Lida is just like her brother huh: Le goofy "haha i like dancing" character.

>>58494406
>This is just untrue
I beat ShSw postgame literally one week before ZA came out, it's true, Hop is a genuine cuck. Hau does get those moments of frustration and gets over his insecurieis about his grandpa, Hop doesn't, he jobs hard, changes the team, jobs hard but is cool with it now, is nothing but your sidekick, jobs hard, gets a fucking legendary and somehow gets smiling while you beat the crap out of him until he accepts the lifelong dream he lost to you is gone and randomly decides to be Sonia's sidekick instead just because he "helped" like 6 pokemon in the postgame, and by helped I mean they were dynamaxed and we all beat their asses until they calmed down, nothing else.
Hop's character doesn't have a single thing above Hau's, it's the same but worse and it's pretty evident

Poor taunie

>>58494487
She's a bimbo slut.

>>58494293
Nah, Arven alone mogs all of them

>>58494486
>Hop doesn't
Yeah no it’s not true. Half of his time on screen is having doubts about living up to Leon’s reputation. Hop is Hau if he had an actual character instead of just dude Malasadas are awesome. The only time he’s your “sidekick” is during the obligatory evil team/legendary stuff and finding the Max Vespiquen. The former makes sense as you both went into the Slumbering Wield and his brother is being held up by Rose. The latter is him using his knowledge as an assistant to help. He wasn’t even on the IoA for you.

>>58494544
Arven alone being good doesn't make the SV party good
The MZ group was the best protagonist party in a long time

>>58494577
The MZ group and it's writing, the new combat system, and the potential of it that I felt in those instances of engaging with battles alongside the other members of the cast in the finale makes me contemplate the potential in a game within this combat system featuring an actual party system with other trainers as allies. Between this game and how the finale of SV played out I wonder if it's a concept that Game Freak is having the itch for.

>>58494557
>Leon
Hop being a beta towards Leon and being a genuine submissive cuck towards you aren't contradictory statements.
And no he's not your sidekick just in those cases, the entirety of the postgame is him being your pathetic sidekick that got even more pathetic lately until he gets the other wolf, and then he's still your submissive brown boy. Hau's malasadas shit was tiring for sure but he had more character, he had clashes with Gladion about the way he took pokemon battles, he was more visibly annoyed at you beating him than Hop and his family issues also made more sense because it wasn't just "gosh I wanna be as cool as big bro :( but I'm not as strong " but "my family has a very traditional and important role in this region and I'm supposed to fit there as well regardless of my skills, I wonder if I will be a disgrace and disappointment to him"
Hau isn't the greatest rival at all but it's better than Hop, Hop just worse Hau and again I just beat that shit, you aren't changing my mind, I know what I played less than a month ago.

>>58494263
For me that’s why I don’t care for them. That and half of their conversations being about how ultra super cool you are. Seeing the end game be like “hey we need a smart one and a battler” and they awkwardly make Penny/Nemona tag along. MZ having prior connections really helps

>>58493334 (OP)
Lida is great but doesn't really do much aside from basically being the Straight Man but she has a bit of innate charisma with her animations at least and i honestly associate the Rival theme the most with her I feel she was usually the most useful "Helper" in the Mega Battles. Naveen was much better then i expected and continually brings his stonks up over the course of the game. Taunie was okay at first but Debt Arc and beyond burns her goodwill and bu the end i kinda feel like she sucks. Dunno how Urbain compares and then crashes and burns.

>>58494653
They’re not contradictory but I never claimed it to be. It’s still wrong though.
>the entirety of the postgame is him being your pathetic sidekick that got even more pathetic lately until he gets the other wolf,
Him taking his own initiative for Sonia and the wolves is not being a sidekick. His entire motivation has nothing to do with you. It’s him wanting to make up for losing to them and them calling Sonia a fraud. Him chasing after the opposite wolf is on his merit. Makes sense for him to be with you in the Gyms considering you both fought Eternatus. If anyone’s a sidekick it’s Hau. He doesn’t do much of anything on his own. He’s also the reason Lillie got kidnapped.
>I just beat that shit, you aren't changing my mind, I know what I played less than a month ago
Cool story bro but no one’s looking to change your mind. Clearly you don’t if you think Hop is your sidekick considering most of his motivation has little to do with you.

>>58493334 (OP)
naveen definitely feels like he has autism without being stereotypical about it the way explicitly autistic characters tend to be

>>58494750
>Him taking his own initiative
His initiative is just following the wolf and that's... when he gets the wolf like I said. Before that he's just your loser sidekick.
>His entire motivation has nothing to do with you.
False, the postgame plot begins with him admiting he doesn't know what to do with his life because you achieved his dream, then he also projects his insecurities on Sonia because she also achieved her dream. He spends the whole postgame following you, being your inferior counterpart and coping with how he lost the only thing that made him a character, he literally lost his only motivation and is just going with the flow until he thinks "hey these 6 pokemon calmed when I beat them and Sonia needs a new assistant maybe I could be a pokemon professor assistant!
I'm sorry but you clearly don't remember jackshit. Hau is somewhat decent character with an annoying malasadas joke, Hop is a joke character with a dream you utterly destroy and then he randomly switches goals entirely because he has nothing left for himself. If you can't see something this obvious I can only tell you to play them game and see how submissive Hop is, but honeslty why would anyone want to play galarshit so I get why you won't.

>>58494798
>His initiative is just following the wolf
No. The brothers and their sleeper agent insulting Sonia’s book was also his initiative.
>Hau is somewhat decent character with an annoying malasadas joke,
No. Hau is a nothing character who had 2 chances to be something and was ultimately nothing. He is the poster boy of the annoying friendly rival for a reason. Hau tells you after battling him “Oh well at least I had fun :)”
> I can only tell you to play them game and see how submissive Hop is
Luckily for you I played the game and know he’s not submissive. A submissive person wouldn’t keep striving to do better. You should take your own advice though.

I want to cuddle Taunie and kiss her cheek.

>>58493334 (OP)
Taunie/Urbain are the worst
>Narcissist with main character syndrome
>Actively fucked the group over with the loans
>Never takes accountability for it
>Middle of a fucking city disaster wants to battle to be muh hero
Fuck asswipes. Even get nepobaby'd into being the next CEO.

>>58493520
Battle network anime coded as fuck. If we gotten BN7 we possibly could have some mavericks as netnavis too.

>>58493334 (OP)
I'd flesh out those characters if you know what I mean

>>58494294
All the strongest Mega Evolution user had to do was Mega Evolve Floette. That's it. The tower would have went out of control no matter who went up there.

>>58493334 (OP)
I love Lida, her enthusiasm is infectious, Naveen is a boring overdone trope without any character development. Taunie is for tummy rubs and cuddling and I’m going to irresponsibly impregnate her while we’re still both young and dumb even though I’m only on vacation.

>>58495376
>Naveen is a boring overdone trope
Which is

>>58495386
Dismal introvert

>>58495394
Being introverted doesn't mean you are short and irritable like Naveen is at times.

>>58493334 (OP)
Too try hard and overdesigned. BW is still the only pokemon game that managed to make the "group of friends" works for me.

>>58495486
LMAO

>>58495490
Not an argument. BW group at least get somewhere in their journey alongside you and don't yap as much. AZ group just make me wish I could skip the cutscenes so far.

>>58495486
Cheren and especially Bianca are both shit characters. You just battle them every route, they never hang out with you or mention anything outside of Pokemon, you all grew up together but your childhoods are just straight up never mentioned. BW is a game that keeps trying to sell you on things without any of the follow-through required.

>>58495486
holy shit if you think those qualify as good friends I'm sorry for your interpersonal relationships

>>58495545
L
M
A
O

>>58493334 (OP)
They are insanely one note characters with zero narrative weight or depth and one or two personality traits slapped on. If this is the standards for the most "fleshed out" friend group, I feel really bad for the taste a lot of you have.

>>58495994
which friend group is more fleshed out in pokemon then

>>58495994
no one is saying they're the most fleshed out friend group in gaming, just for mainline Pokemon games

>>58493334 (OP)
Least obvious honeymoon phase

>>58493413
If naveen is the best character gamfreak has written, the bar is in hell

>>58496051
Yes. Keep in mind that Nemona is the first rival people actually generally liked in decades and her only qualification for that was "girl"

>>58496208
I remember Gladion being fairly well liked

>>58496230
>Gladion being fairly well liked
People didnt like him for being an edgelord

>>58493488
Scraggy is brown, not black. Nopeen getting him doesn't make any sense

>>58493334 (OP)
Urbane/Towny (idc spelling) are overly cocky, hotshots, but also clumsy and gullible.
Naveen is an annoying cold-hearted cunt, but he got better over time as he warmed up to his friends.
Deuro (Lida) is a cute sweet-heart, but also kind of useless.

>>58493334 (OP)
Lida - 10/10 cutie
Taunie - retard/10
Naveen - boring/10

>>58494210
I CAST ANIMATE INTRUSIVE THOUGHT!

>>58498007
>>58498013
Wtf I love AI now

>>58493334 (OP)
They are an obvious step down from the SV friends but still good.

>>58498983
I dunno about that, Penny and Nemona are utterly unbearable.

>>58498983
>step down from the SV friends
weak bait

The dancing girl is okay I guess. Taunie is a retard, in a way that seems to be presented as if it's supposed to be endearing, but in reality is just annoying. And the black guy is an embarrassing parasocial simp.
I'm genuinely puzzled at what you guys are in this trio. They don't have much going on. Their story involvement is minimal and their character traits are shallow. They are mostly just talking heads between quests.

>>58496252
People specifically liked him for being an edgelord

They were bland and bloated the game with undercooked dialogue that didn't feel important to the story, outside of Naveen helping you with the Canari stuff (which in itself just made him look like whipped fanboy).
I know people find characters like Lillie, Hop, Arven etc. annoying and overbearing. And I get why. But they at least had stuff going on. These characters are like 90% exposition.

>>58499048
>Their story involvement is minimal
What characters in other Pokemon games are more actively involved than them?

>>58493334 (OP)
Consensus is that the new men are all sexy, and made my wife a dirty fujo.

>>58493334 (OP)
They're pretty good. They've got good dynamics with each other. But I do think they lack some background story and such. I feel like we don't know much about them since we don't get many 1 on 1 moments where we get to talk with them about things that aren't the current mission. DLC might fix that though, we'll see.
I also think their designs are kinda too samey - they all have roughly the same height and stature. A bit more variety would've been nice, just visually.

SV group still clears them easily though. It's gonna be really hard to top them. Dunno why you think they aren't as fleshed out, I don't feel like that at all. We know so much about them.

>>58493334 (OP)
While I appreciate that there's more time put towards them compared to other rival groups, the writing makes me dislike all three of them, somehow Naveen is the least bad of the three.

Non-stop sloppy sex with Lida