4th Gen The physical/special/status split.

Trainer 781

Guest
    • 0
    Posts
    In the fourth generation, the physical/special split was introduced. The moves were not classified physical or special according to their type as they did in the previous generations, but instead were dependent on the move id only. Various moves like fire punch, crunch became physical while the moves like shadow ball and sludge bomb became special. The viably of the older gen mons also changed.

    What did you feel about the change? Did you like it or not?
    I really liked it. Some moves like fire punch started to make sense.
     
    I wouldn't have minded if they hadn't done this split, but glad that they have. It make sense to have moves categorized as either physical or special. Plus, it also makes better use of Pokémon's offensive and defensive stats, since they also were separated physically and specially beforehand. :]
     
    I think it was great. I think I assumed it was like this before hand anyways. It's something they really needed because it's weird to make a punch of fire a non-physical attack.

    Perfect addition and it really made competitive battling a lot better.
     
    I'm glad that the metagame received an overhaul in Generation 4. The idea to switch depending on specific id made the game more realistic, and the change made more sense to me overall (especially as a new battler). I liked it, it especially came in handy when using Electivire to sweep a team. His super powerful physical attacks tended to dominate the generation. I also thought that the new ways the type of moves were determined, also helped with which nature to pick, and how to do EV values for each pokemon. Now you could focus more on creating a Pokemon strictly defensive, or offensive.
     
    I loved spilt there is many moves like draco meteor which is best in latios makes it more powerfull
     
    Physical/Special split basically saved Pokémon like Gyarados's lives. I feel they should have done it from the start, as I always thought it was there already. Only recently did I realise I played in Hoenn all this time without knowledge of the split.

    Thus this split has a great effect on dual types, who have only attack/special attack base stat as high, so that both inherent types can utilise it.
     
    The physical/special split was one of the best blessings we got out of the 4th Generation, because it made some once-useless Pokemon finally able to make use of their better attacking stat, like Gyarados and Gengar. Even Azumarill's Huge Power benefitted from now finally having usable physical Water STAB.

    Having physical or special categorization based on types didn't really make sense at all to me.
     
    The one thing I could never understand was the fact they had moves which were special and would make physical contact like Dragon Claw, Spark ect. I never understood why they just didn't make the moves physical/special.

    I agree a lot of pokemon were saved such as Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, Swampert, Kingler then you have pokemon like hitmonchan which now makes great use of the Elemental punches, It's surprising how many water types benefited from the special/physical split,
     
    To me this is, without a doubt, one of the best things to happen to Pokémon. Having this made so many previous Pokémon that weren't very good more usable. For one, stuff like Dragonite and Salamence were able to use both their STAB types with Dragon Dance and Choice Band. Secondly, it made moves like Waterfall not completely useless. It did rob Alakazam of its elemental punches though, so not everything benefited from it.

    Kinda makes you wonder what Garchomp would have been like if it was introduced in Gen III...
     
    In reality, there wasn't much of a difference, especially in-game. Sure, with some pokemon, there's an obvious change, especially ones with drastically contrasting Attack and Special Attack. Besides those, it's hard to tell if your Pokemon is doing any more damage because it's a 'special' attack. I know when I first played Diamond, I didn't even realize the split until my friend explained it to me after I already defeated Cynthia.

    Now, the competitive scene, of course, is another story. This split made a world of difference, giving certain Pokemon huge advantages and others crippling weaknesses. Some Pokemon found their niche, and more strategy became necessary to properly prepare for two different types of attackers and defenders. Really a revolutionary change to the Pokemon games, and one of the biggest ones to date. Not sure how prominent competitive battling would be without it.
     
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top