Preferred TM System

Devalue

Devalue

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    Which system of Technical Machines (TMs) do you prefer?

    - One-use TMs (Generations 1-4 and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl)
    - Unlimited use TMs (Generations 5-7)
    - Unlimited use TMs with one-use Technical Records (TRs) (Sword/Shield)

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    Actually liked Sword/Shield's system, at least for repeat playthroughs. Essentially split moves into two categories: universally strong moves and status + niche moves. Made most of the powerful moves into TRs. Treats them as large, one-time rewards (despite being farmable). Limits each Pokemon to one unique TR each. Creates an interesting decision of which to choose.

    Could do that with old TMs, yes. Retains the handiness of unlimited use TMs for less amazing moves as well, though. Provides a few off-type offensive moves and support moves for Pokemon without being overpowered (usually). Allows you to try them out without expending resources.

    Understands this being a hassle in postgame. Faults no one who dislikes this system because of it. Who wants to farm watts to teach crucial moves?

    Edit: Fixed generation information.
     
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    I often wanting to teach some moves and I enjoy TM being farmable as TR and reusable many times because its really hard decision when you want to teach a pokemon a powerful moves and regret teaching the ones that is hardly suited due to nature.
     
    At first I thought I'd go with the gens 6-7 system with unlimited TMs, but thinking more I probably prefer SwSh's system since having both TMs and TRs allows for a bigger range of obtainable moves. So put me down for that one! But absolutely not one-time use TMs please - that's something we shouldn't go back to, unless we can get copies of desirable moves more easily (like BDSP).
     
    I didn't play SwSh but, from the info I gathered on TRs, I find the system to be quite good. Some moves being TMs would be way overpowered especially if they appeared early in the game, but TRs that can be found in max raid battes can really add this little booster a team may need.
     
    Unlimited use TMs. There was never any reason to go back to limited use or even SwSh's TR+TM system once that happened.
     
    I prefer unlimited use TMs but I'm also OK with the very grindable TM + TR system, even if I do think it's a bit less optimal.

    I guess it was supposed to be a game balance measure but if you want the game to be harder, you do it messing with the trainer teams. Restricting move usage is just creating artificial difficulty - don't make the player worse, make the opponents better.
     
    USUM.

    All TMs infinite, and with great pre-E4 availability.
    No HMs.
    Easy access move tutors and BP can be earned through Mantine Surf.

    I don't hate TRs but it depends on what are the methods for obtaining them. When I wanted to teach Heat Wave / Fire Blast to Noivern and Energy Ball to Eldegoss in Shield (because for some reason Giga Drain is locked behind post-game, congratulations Game Freak), I had to farm Watt for Wishing Stars. Energy Ball came at first try but I had to do five Fire Dens for Heat Wave / Fire Blast because the game just kept giving me Heat Crash and Flare Blitz. It's just pointless RNG and grinding.
     
    Unlimited TM's.
    I don't mind the TM + TR system from SwSh, but I think that's mainly because I did a LOT of HA Den Hunting, which resulted in me having more TR's than I'll ever use up rofl.

    I don't spend all that much time at Battle Towers, so I think I'd prefer the TM + TR system over having to grind for BP's.
     
    Infinite use. Aside from the fact that there was, IMO, no good reason whatsoever to bring limited use TMs back in any fashion, most of the moves I personally use were relegated to TRs in SwSh, which limited experimentation because you can't just use them as much as you please. Even farming them from dens isn't an ideal solution because there's no guarantee you'll get the TR you need if you win, even after hours of battling the Pokemon inside each den.
     
    Another one the unlimited TM camp. Just felt so comfortable not having to worry if I end up regretting putting a move on a 'mon and switching to smth else. I've no experience with TRs yet, so I have no opinion on that.
     
    Infinite use by far. I have Gen III-V. In the former I can't trade between games, whereas in Gen IV I have a stockpile in a damaged Diamond cartridge and Gen V is obviously unlimited. I find in Gen III in particular I'm just incredibly restricted, as with a few exceptions like Bullet Seed that have little use in battle facilities, I need to hoard them for the post-game. Whereas in Gen V I actually get to use a wide variety of moves.

    I sometimes set myself what I call the 'DayCare Moveset Challenge' where-in I train every move that a pokémon learns via level up, deleting them in the order they were learned like in DayCare, and by using Gen V's flexibility and adding a rule where I had to teach a new TM to at least one pokémon in my party, it made things a lot more interesting. I ended up with a Pignite with no STAB for most of the Black 2 story between getting on the plane and fighting Kyurem, which helps when you're constantly overlevelled.
     
    ReKoil said:
    Unlimited TM's.
    I don't mind the TM + TR system from SwSh, but I think that's mainly because I did a LOT of HA Den Hunting, which resulted in me having more TR's than I'll ever use up rofl.

    I don't spend all that much time at Battle Towers, so I think I'd prefer the TM + TR system over having to grind for BP's.
    Click to expand...

    This pretty much sums up my opinion as well. Obviously unlimited TMs are by far the biggest preference, and I really didn't mind TRs because I fought in so many dens anyway, that I was always sitting on 20 or 30 of each lol.
     
    I definitely prefer the one-time use TM system. The TR system was nothing more than a poor excuse to keep grinding for more TRs, which got too repetitive. In addition, you're not always able to obtain the specific TR you want whenever you want it, which is frustrating. The TR rewards for defeating/catching a Pokémon in a Max Raid are mostly random and the Watt traders don't always sell the TR that you want. Because of this system, most of my main Pokémon that I started the game with (by breeding) were unable to learn any good powerful moves for much of my playthrough. When I did obtain the TRs I wanted, I only got to teach them to certain Pokémon when I could have taught them to every Pokémon I owned that could have benefitted from the move. Instead, I had to wait until well after the post-game to obtain all the moves that I wanted for my Pokémon, which was absurd. I never had that problem in any other Pokémon game before. Don't get me wrong, I love Sword and Shield and consider it possibly the Christmas present I've ever gotten, but that particular aspect of the game had me frustrated.
     
    Another vote for unlimited-use TMs! That was one of the best quality-of-life updates they could have introduced. During Gen VII, it let me experiment with different moveset configurations for my Mons without having to worry about the TMs breaking. I don't mind the TM + TR system if Game Freak was aiming to widen the range of moves and encourage players to manage resources, but as it stands, it's... not very practical.

    I think it's about time we have around 150 (151?) base unlimited-use TMs, and make the "powerful" ones available during the mid-to-late game or post-game to prevent the game from being too easy otherwise.
     
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