Well, that Mega (Primal?) Rayquaza reveal was quite awesome to witness live (although that particular form was rather predictable/expected to exist at some point) during the
Pokemon-dedicated NicoNico stream! It reminded me of Elite Four Drake from Hoenn and Dragon Tamer Nicholas who emphasize the concept of "WITNESS THE RAW POWER OF
DRAGONS!" :t384: Admittedly, I got exasperated that it took a while for the NicoNico presenters to show it... I tuned in during the last 1-1.5 hours of the NicoNico stream (probably would have forgotten about it if it weren't for the Pokemon subreddit) and was trying to multi-task by getting an assignment done, but my eyes kept getting diverted to see if I could glimpse any announcement. >_> After Junichi Masuda (randomly?) showed up and talked for a while, people in the chat were saying "MEGA RAYQUAZA", yet it took a few minutes for the scenes to actually play out. Kudos to the people who actually watched the whole 7-hour stream - Rayquaza's new form is awesome and all, but the relevant OR/AS news was a really tiny portion of it (with most of the stream just being a playthrough of
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire).. >_>
Opinions on Mega/Primal Rayquaza:
- The design is awesome; much better than every single hypothetical "Primal Rayquaza" design that I've seen so far... I was worried that the design would go awry (a path that most Mega Evolutions seem to be prone to), but "design gone wrong" was thankfully averted so much! Seems like the "mandibles/side-fangs" are the major point of contention so far.. The major gripe I have about the design (which isn't too bad) revolves around those reddish "beads/orbs" that run across Rayquaza's skin on the side - red is more associated with Groudon, so there should be some blue beads on half of Rayquaza's body to balance it out! And as if the pulsing prominent volcanic Tron Lines/Volcanic Veins of Groudon weren't cool enough, the Volcanic Veins of Rayquaza terrifically "escape" Rayquaza's body - I love that design feature!
- As little as it may be, I'm a bit irked that Rayquaza's new Super Mode is a Mega Evolution rather than a proper Primal Reversion.. It just makes it seem weaker somehow (not to mention the inconsistency with the nomenclature for the new forms of Groudon and Kyogre).. I'm hoping that the reason for this "discrepancy" is a satisfactory one in-game; regardless, I'm probably going to be calling Mega Rayquaza by the term of Primal Rayquaza instead (primarily due to Rule of Cool, with consistency being another factor). Sigh...I'm probably going to lump everything as a Mega Evolution regardless (I was initially opposed to Legendary Pokemon getting them, but that ship has long since sailed..), with Primal Reversion being a sub-type of it (with the method of energy obtainment being somewhat different).
- As for Primal Rayquaza's Ability ("Delta Stream"), I was hoping for a name along the lines of "Limitless Sky/Winds" (with the field of science commonly equating the Delta symbol, Δ, with the concept of "change", roughly representing an infinite amount of possibilities. You also have the phrases of "The sky's the limit", "reach for the sky", "(outer) space is infinite", etc., so there's that..) Once again, the inconsistency with the Ability names for Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre (Desolate Land and Primordial Sea, respectively) bugs me... If we're going to have "Delta Stream" incorporate Rayquaza's associative Greek letter, we should have had things like "Omega Earth/Terrain" and/or "Alpha Sea/Ocean".. Personally, I dislike the blatantness of the Greek lettering nomenclature (we already have them in the game titles and as design motifs of the Super-Ancient Pokemon; I think that's sufficient), so I would have preferred the set of "Desolate Land/Primordial Sea/'Limitless Sky'" for the Primal Pokemons' Abilities. Nevertheless, I'm glad that Rayquaza's association with "Delta" was thought through and was not just done for the "Pokemon Delta Emerald" just-in-case trademark thing.
- Regarding the effect for Primal Rayquaza's Ability, that seems like "overpowered" done right.
An enhanced Air Lock fits Primal Rayquaza perfectly... My initial guess was that Primal Rayquaza's Ability would manifest as "Air Lock + Tailwind lengthened in number of active turns", but the negation of the Flying type's weaknesses works too, I guess. It's going to be quite a spectacle in doubles when Primal Rayquaza partners up with Talonflame and Tornadus.. To think that Kyogre was arguably once the most competitively dominant member of the trio, soon to be outclassed even in Primal form thanks to the existence of Primal Groudon and Primal Rayquaza..
- I'm ecstatic that Rayquaza finally receives a legitimate Flying-type Signature Move, Dragon Ascent! It's gotten unnecessarily shafted of powerful Flying-type moves like Sky Attack and Hurricane (admittedly, I think Aeroblast would've fit better thematically with Rayquaza rather than Lugia), so this turn of events is a much welcome change. As others have noted, the sole mention of "Dragon" despite the move being Flying-type is odd, so I'm hoping that the move is at least Flying/Dragon to compensate (in the vein of the Flying Press move being dual-typed). I've personally considered "Outrage" as Rayquaza's signature move despite the move's commonness and predating Rayquaza's existence, because I felt that the first Dragon-type Legendary Pokemon version mascot (with a 680 Base Stat Total, of that!) should at least get something befitting of its powerful status. Also, Rayquaza repeatedly using Outrage at Sky Pillar in Pokemon Sapphire is ingrained in my mind after all that time spent catching it. XD As for the name, I can't help but feel like it should have been "Dragon's Ascent", "Draco Ascent", or "Draconic Ascent"...it feels like "Dragon" needs to be more adjectival.
- I'm unsure on whether I prefer the English name of "Dragon Ascent" or the Japanese name of "Finishing Blow/Touch". While "Finishing Blow" sounds horrendously uncreative/generic at first glance (with "Finishing Touch" being just odd-sounding for a mighty Pokemon), someone on Reddit pointed out that the Japanese name of "Finishing Blow" (画龙点睛) stems from an old Chinese idiom that literally translates to "finish drawing the dragon by drawing its eye", and someone else on Reddit pointed out that the "blow" term could be considered a pun for Rayquaza's windy attributes. I thought all of those tidbits were quite cool for the move as a whole.
As for Rayquaza's "Jade Orb" (I kind of wish it didn't exist because the duality of the Red Orb and Blue Orb worked just fine amidst the numerous other "ruby/sapphire/emerald" and "red/blue/green" references, but it's too late now.. :/), I'm hoping that it gets split into 7 pieces that the player has to find as part of a (fun-filled)
Fetch Quest in a veiled reference to Shenron of
Dragon Ball Z. :P
I guess I'll comment a little more about
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre (with comments about some other
Pokemon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire-introduced Mega Evolutions coming later):
I
love the English localized names of
"Desolate Land" and "Primordial Sea" gaining inspiration from the whole "land of endings; sea of beginnings" concept. Although I feel like things can kind of be "desolate" to begin with, it's not too big of a deal. I was a bit stunned at the effect for Desolate Land completely neutralizing Groudon's Water weakness (although he kind of deserves it after falling prey to Kyogre's unrelenting torrents all these years XD) in addition to temporarily negating standard weather changes while Primal Groudon is on the battlefield.. I'm hoping that Primal Kyogre isn't outclassed by "normal Kyogre+item", though...
Additionally, I'm also glad that Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre get proper legitimate moves after having lost exclusivity to their respective Signature Abilities of Drought and Drizzle (despite being shared by a number of other Pokemon, I personally considered Eruption and Water Spout as their respective Signature Moves, for thematic purposes). Precipice Blades (
instantly reminded me of the equally epic
"On The Precipice of Defeat" song from the
Bleach anime
) is a very cool name for Primal Groudon's attack (great
Woolseyism of the "Cliff Sword" name), although it visually and conceptually made me think more of the Rock type rather than the Ground type... Origin Pulse, on the other hand, didn't resonate with me too well, particularly because while "Origin" is so blatant, "Precipice" doesn't really imply "ending" to me in contrast.. (I guess you could kind of say that a
cliff/precipice is an "end of a rocky protrusion"...sort of...? >_>) I feel like we should have just gotten a powerful Water-type move named
"Tidal Wave" (affiliated with fictional whales...(well at least Whamon from
Digimon?) and as generic as it may be) and be done with it. There's even
precedence for Kyogre having an attack called Tidal Wave!
I think that's all I have to say regarding Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre at the moment. Their "crystalline" transformation scene looked odd, but maybe I'll get accustomed to it.. Also, still
loving Primal Groudon's Volcanic Veins that just exude a sense of magma/lava/raw earth power!
For those who may be wondering how they'll explain Rayquaza getting a Mega instead of a Primal, look at the story of the trio. Groudon and Kyogre both sought control of the world. They became greedy for natural energy according to ORAS official site. This desire for Power may be what caused those two to get Primals. Rayquaza who seems to lack that didn't get one, but likely absorbed natural energy like the Mega stones did. Actually perhaps the reason Mega Rayquaza is unique in the way it goes Mega could perhaps be that it shares aspects with normal Megas, and aspects with the Primal's it's fellow trio members did.
This explanation could work..
EDIT: This occurence is coincidental, but I like how Rayquaza was affiliated with "DELTA" in the
Pokemon Trading Card Game years ago!
Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/2i3kzk/not_sure_if_wicked_foreshadowing_or_crazy/
