#theorymon

In this game, Jirachi would be a kind of invisible "questmaster", giving an in-game reason for path markers, quest markers, and points of interest marked in stardust and sparkles. Once the main plot is completed, Jirachi would be able to join your party.

Core combat

The gameplay would be souls-like or Monster Hunter like, but with direct parallels to mainline pokemon mechanics. The six stats would be the same, and the four moves your pokemon can learn would be equivalent to the attack interface of a soulslike game- four trigger buttons. You would take direct control of one "primary" pokemon at a time, and use it as a souls-like character.

HP, Def, and SpDef would be largely the same, with the added benefit that less damage taken means more resistance to trips and staggers.

Atk and SpAtk are also pretty clear cut, scales your damage output per move.

Speed would be analogous to stamina or endurance. Dodging would work as in soulsborne games, and consume stamina. Most pokemon walking, running, attack speed, and dodging speed would be largely equivalent, but high speed pokemon would be able to sustain rapidfire attacking, frequent dodging, and continuous sprinting for longer.

Accuracy would be reworked into lock-on or charge up time- eg, a low accuracy move requires you to stay in one place for a longer amount of time before releasing, to charge up or lock on (imagine how swag ass this would look with focus blast).

PP would correspond to cooldown time. Each move would be infinite use, but have a cool-down after its used. So a move with high accuracy, but low PP, could be used instantly, but not spammed. High PP, weaker moves would then see an increased niche as a "default" light attack that can be spammed.

Attacks could also be ranged, up close, AoE, and have other features that would need to be tweaked and balanced in implementation. They wouldn't one to one map onto their in game counterparts, but this would at least provide a vague guide for how these moves work that builds on players assumed existing knowledge of pokemon games.

Special attributes, like never-miss moves and priority moves, would have features that play into this- eg, priority moves could be spammed with no cooldown, and never-miss moves would be immune to inhibiting effects.

Stat changes could be temporary effects applied to yourself when using the move, like a buffing spell in soulsborne games.

Nonvolatile status effects (paralysis, burn, sleep, etc) would work similar to monster hunter- invisibly accumulating triggers that occur as a side effect to to moves, or in the case of moves that directly trigger status like Spore or Thunder Wave, they would not do direct damage, but instead add massive amounts to the accumulated status trigger.

Field effects (weather, terrain, and special effects like wind, gravity, etc) could be set by regular pokemon moves in small areas, but would also be frequently encountered in the overworld.

Examples: the vibes of potential starter pokemon.

This is all just for the purpose of giving examples of how I envision some of this stuff working. Assume each pokemon would have regional variants that scaled their stats appropriately. This is just to show how different playstyles from the mainline games would translate to this format.

Lucario: example mixed offensive pokemon

Moves like aura sphere could be used with no lock on time, and little to no cooldown, forming the basis of a normal, light, ranged attack.

Moves like Close Combat would have no lock on, but give a temporary debuff and have a long cooldown time before they could be initiated again, making for a quick to use but infrequent heavy attack.

Swords dance and/or nasty plot could be used to provide a temporary buff for a period of time.

Focus blast would take a long time to charge and lock on, making you a sitting duck.

Reuniclus: example tanky pokemon

Light Screen and Barrier could lay down static areas on the ground. When an ally pokemon is located within them, they provide their corresponding defensive buffs. Cooldown for reusing them starts when these floor areas disappear.

Recover could be used to heal, but would have a long cooldown.

Liepard: example technical pokemon

Yawn would inflict direct sleep "buildup", but over time as opposed to instantly.

Fake out would instantly proc a stagger from the enemy, but could only be used in a certain time range upon being sent out.

Moves like taunt and torment function as usual.

The trainer and overworld traversal

Even though the player has direct control over pokemon, the MC is still a trainer, and pokemon are still capture in balls.

The trainer would be on the sidelines, with idle animations ordering the pokemon to do stuff.

Only one "controllable" pokemon could be outside of a pokeball at a time, or all of them could be stowed in pokeballs to directly control the trainer. The trainer can interact with NPCs, gather items, etc.

The trainer would also order "helper" pokemon. One or two "helpers" could be added independent of the party that would follow the trainer around constantly. Each pokemon has a list of field "helper" abilities they're capable of doing, independent of what moves they know. By targeting something that a helper pokemon can interact with in the world, the trainer would order that pokemon to zip out and interact with it. Think Republic commando. This takes the role of HMs and other field moves. For areas that require things like Surf of dive, the helper pokemon would exert a field of influence that essentially allowed the primary pokemon to act normally- eg, a surf helper would cause an area of surging upwards surface chop that lets the primary pokemon walk on water, or a dive helper would create small air bubbles centered around wherever the primary pokemon breathes from.

The trainer can also provide small support in the form of items, but this would be limited to encourage sensible use of stat boosting moves.

Pokemon would still be captured in pokeballs, but after they are fainted by the primary pokemon. Fainted pokemon could either be captured in a pokeball, or "relieved" of unique held items and resources before releasing them.

Pokemon would not gain experience by defeating opponents. Instead, each one would have material requirements to both level up and "customize" them. Like upgrading a weapon in Monster Hunter, every pokemon would have unique material requirements to level up, change nature, upgrade IVs, allocate EVs, or learn and relearn certain moves. This incentivizes a postgame loop, but could be curved to make the main game give you adequate materials to avoid excessive grinding.

The gameplay and story structure

The gameplay loop is basically monster hunter.

There would be a large number of normal-sized pokemon out in the world, that could be easily defeated and either captured and looted. But, frequently, a "Titan" would appear- a large, boss variant of a particular pokemon. Some pokemon can only be captured from their defeated titan forms, even if they appear in their regular forms.

These titan forms would appear semi-randomly, and requests to "quiet" them by defeating them would take the form of quests posted in the hub regions. These quests would then essentially be a monster hunter hunt- going out and fighting a particular titan.

Titan forms could be unique, or vaguely modeled after existing megas.

The world is divided into 8 main regions, and at least one "bonus" region. There would be 4 ocean regions, and 4 land regions. Each region would be seperate, but open to explore within that region (damn you can really see how much I've played MH:W)

Each region would have a drop table of pokemon that could potentially appear as titans.

Each region would also have one, single titan pokemon that gives the region its character. These 9 titans would be new, unique regional variants.

Each region, and by extension, each boss titan, would be directly associated with a different regional effect. So essentially, the boss titan and the field effect of a region would be reflective of its character.

The plot, like monster hunter, would be a gameplay loop of increasingly powerful titans within a region, building to the boss titans of each region. Once the 8 primary titans are defeated, it triggers the endgame main plotline.

The world

As mentioned previously, the bulk of the gameplay loop and storyline would be defeating increasingly more powerful "titan" pokemon, until you encounter a particular individual pokemon that is actively shaping that region and has ultimately caused the other titans along the way to be empowered.

Each region would have a dominant type, several field effects that come and go within certain parts of the area, and a unique boss titan. Each boss titan is about equivalent difficulty, and the player is encouraged to spread their efforts around to proceed through the "tiers" of titans evenly across the world before making it to the boss.

Hubs: Slateport, Lilycove.

Self explanatory, these would be the hub towns. Like in PLA, no other cities would be founded yet. Mt. Pyre would be integrated as part of Lilycove, and important characters and exposition could happen there. It would be an active cathedral. Kyogre and Groudon wouldn't be "known", but vague, amorphous titans of earth, sea, and sky would be referenced.

Land Regions

Meteor Cliffs and the Tranquil Plain

A gentle, grassy plain south of Mt. Chimney gives way to its southern slope. The slope, pockmarked with craters, has not been extensively explored, but is thought to hold deep caverns.

Regional effect: Pyschic Terrain

Regional Titan boss: Metagross (Steel/Pyschic)

Main game route equivalents: Meteor Falls, Rustboro City, Petalburg Woods, Petalburg City, Oldale Town, Littleroot town, 101, 102, 103, 104, 116, 115

Towering Forest

A deep, lush forest, sometimes so dense that you can't see the sky, fed by the crystal clear river cutting through it. The tangle of the canopy shudders under the weight of unseen pokemon above.

Regional effect: Grassy Terrain

Regional Titan boss: Tropius (Grass/Steel)

Main game route equivalents: Fortree city, Safari Zone, 119, 120, 121, 123

Jagged Stones

Deep, rugged canyons hide a basin-like desert, where a raging sandstorm elicits mirage-like visions.

Regional effect: sandstorm

Regional Titan boss: Tyranitar (Rock/Dragon)

Main game route equivalents: Verdanturf town, 117, 111, 112, all desert subregions

Volcanic Slopes

The peaks, caverns, and North slope of Mt. Chimney know no peace from the continuous onslaught of lava.

Regional effect: harsh sunlight

Regional Titan boss: Camerupt (Fire/Ground)

Main game route equivalents: Mt. Chimney, Jagged Pass, Fiery Path, Lavaridge, Fallarbor, 113, 114

Oceanic regions

Thunder Bay

An unrelenting, static haze hovers over the inlets of of Thunder Bay, impeding exploration of its deep subterranean caverns.

Regional effect: electric terrain

Regional Titan boss: Manectric (Electric/Dark)

Main game route equivalents: Mauville, New Mauville (replaced by a cave entrance), Cycling Road, 118, 110, 134, 133

Shifting Floes

A chill falls over the NorthEast seas of Hoenn, a climatic anomaly. Scattered islands and shifting ice platforms are continually coated with a snowstorm.

Regional effect: snowstorm

Regional Titan boss: Froslass (ice/ghost)

Main game region equivalents: Mossdeep, Shoal cave, 124, 125, parts of 126 and 127

Misted islands

A mysterious area of the ocean in which islands seem to shift locations as they phase in and out of sight.

Primary Area effect: Misty Terrain

Regional Titan Boss: Altaria (Dragon/fairy)

Main game route equivalents: Dewford Town, Granite Cave, Southern Island, Mirage Island (location changed), 105, 106, 107, 108, 109

Deep Blue

The open expanse of the ocean, and the islands within it, hold secrets beyond comprehension in their depths and constant storms. It is said that there is as much below as there is above.

Primary Area effect: rain/underwater (same effects as rain)

Regional Titan Boss: Wailord (water)

Main game route equivalents: Sootopolis city, Cave of Origin, Sky Pillar, Ever Grande City, Pacifidlog, Seafloor cavern, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, parts of 126 and 127

Special Area: the Delta Stream

Ripping across Hoenn's skies is an air current known as the Delta Stream, which powerful pokemon use as a causeway between regions and across the world.

Only accessible in the postgame, and with a "helper" pokemon that can fly. This entire region is above the clouds, and the only points that poke up are the peak of Mt. Chimney, Sky Pillar, and an updraft over Mt. Pyre.

Primary area effect: tailwind

Regional Titan Boss: Salamence (Flying/Dragon)

The Endgame Plot: after the titans are quieted

Once every boss has been defeated, the endgame storyline starts. Despite every titan being quieted, the land still quakes, and the seas still swell. The elders of Mt. Pyre urge you to investigate these at their source: the inner lava chamber of Mt. Chimney (subregion of Volcanic Slopes), and the depths of the seafloor (subregion of Deep Blue).

As you can probably guess, this is the introduction to Kyogre and Groudon.

The first fight with each of them uses your own pokemon, and gives you a "false" win- after you "faint" them in a suspiciously easy battle, they each revive into their primal forms, and head to the mountain island that would become Sootopolis. Hear, they battle on a kaiju-like scale. The MC watches the destruction from Mt. Pyre.

For the second time in the game's story, the MC makes a wish: this is beyond me. I wish a savior would come. Jirachi directly unveils itself for the first time to answer the call, touches the MC, and speeds off into the distance. A cutscene follows Jirachi to Sky Pillar (only a raw, uncarved spike of rock at this point), where Rayquaza is seen coiled around the top. Jirachi leads Rayquaza into the upper atmosphere, where it undergoes a primal/mega evolution. It pivots, shooting down towards earth, building speed.

The player takes control of M-Rayquaza as it slams down to earth, staggering Kyogre and Groudon away from each other, and engages in a special fight where they have to defeat both of them.

After this, Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza may each be found at Seafloor cavern, Mt. Chimney, and sky pillar respectively, and may be defeated and captured. But its highly implied that they only go along with this willingly, and will freely resume their duties as the lords of the land once the MC passes on.

After the plot is completed, steps and murals start being carved into Sky Pillar, allowing access to the Delta Stream.

The post game would allow for infinitely generating Titans, rematches with previously captured Boss Titans as "enrichment" for them, and general gameplay loop grinding for items to train pokemon.

Import

First thing I want to bring up when importing this Pokemon to the main games is the problem of its signature move. The issue is that it has a 30% chance of inflicting Frostbite, which has freeze as its counterpart. A Pokemon with that high of a chance of freezing an opponent would be broken, but incorporating Frostbite into the main series games would also be a bag of worms. Not because the status effect is inherently broken, but because it would be introducing a special burn-like effect to the game, which fundamentally alters the benefits/drawbacks to a physical vs special attacker. The way I’d probably implement it without causing systemic overhauls to the way the game is structured is to increase the base power to 65, make it always drop the target’s Atk and SpA by 1, and double that if they have a status condition. This would move would be great for shutting down one Pokemon in specific around mid to late game. 

Stats

While I gave regular Zoroark extra bulk to allow it to stay in, I’d want to give Hisuian Zoroark extra ATK and SpA while being rather frail. In this case, I’d give it 55 DEF and SpD while raising its ATK to 135 and SpA to 130. It would retain its 110 SPD. The idea here is to make it so that H-Zoruark wants to either use its three immunities to predict a switch or it wants to set up a scenario where it can use its illusion to hide the incoming nuke. The stats here are meant to trade Zoroark’s versatility for raw power. 

Moves

I think Hisuian Zoroark should have extremely powerful STAB attacks as well as powerful coverage moves. Consider that it already would have access to moves like Hyper Voice and Facade, which are more powerful than Base Zoroark’s Dark Pulse and Throat Chop. So, like last time, here’s a list of moves I’d add to Hisuian Zoroark’s movepool. A more thorough explanation for some decisions can be found in the Zoroark post.

Double Edge and Poltergeist

Meant to give Zoroark strong STAB options

Since Ghost and Normal are both strong neutral coverage options, I’d distinguish physical and special Zoroark sets by the SpA sets having wider coverage while physical has better neutral attacks. Especially since there isn’t much in the way of normal or ghost special attacks with a higher base power than 90. 

Punishment

This is a more aggressive punishment for the target having stat boosts than I gave regular Zoroark, but I still want Hisuian Zoroark to be able to act as an offensive disrupter.

Triple Axel

Considering that Hisuian Zoroark already has a chilly theming, I think giving it a strong ice type physical attack wouldn’t be unreasonable. 

Triple Axel would be extremely valuable for physical sets due to ice moves being very good for coverage. Especially since most of the physical attacking moves I’m choosing to give it aren’t from types known for being super effective against a lot of common typings. So Triple Axel is a big maybe. It really depends on how valuable it is compared to the rest of the physical kit. 

Fake Out

A useful normal move, especially in double battles. And it’s STAB this time. 

Psycho Cut

I just think this one fits thematically. It also gives Hisuian Zoroark a way to clap back against Fighting types, which gives it a reason to make the switch in.

Darkest Lariat, False Surrender, or Crunch

These are all similar power dark type physical attacks and its weird that Zoroark doesn’t have them, especially Crunch.

Outrage

Dragon is another good neutral move. It would also compliment the idea of Zoroark offensively struggling against fairy types. This is also why I don’t want to give it physical poison or steel moves. Tho I don’t know how much that matters since Zoroark already has a poison special move and I think giving it Flash Canon wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Close Combat

The reason I didn’t want Close Combat on regular Zoroark was that I felt the move would be too offensive for the Pokemon I wanted to design. But it works for this version of Hisuian Zoroark because I want it to be offensively threatening while being defensively frail.

Explosion

It would be funny. Also a good dick move for the opposing Slowbro to just outspeed and explode on you.

It’s a good offensive tool and a good way for Zoroark to reset momentum if that gets out of its favor. 

Thunder, Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, and Blizzard

These are all strong coverage moves for SpA Zoroark that exchange power for accuracy. The main issues with these moves on Zoroark are that if they miss the KO they’re likely to reveal Zoroark either due to the opponent figuring the moveset is wrong or the opponent’s Pokemon getting in an attack.

It would be pretty funny tho. 

Moonblast 

Moonblast seems thematically appropriate. It also gives SpA Zoroark the ability to threaten Dragon and Dark Types. 

Glare

For spreading paralysis. It’s a funny ability and good for a utility focused Zoroark.

Defog

Same reasoning as regular Zoroark.

Destiny Bond

Same reasoning as regular Zoroark, but I feel like Hisuian Zoroark would be enough of a dick to pull that stunt.

Bounce

Idk I just think it’s funny. :)

Air Slash

More coverage moves for SpA Zoroark

Force Palm

Shadow Sneak

I want to give it a weak priority move. It’s already a fast Pokemon that relies on the idea of “kill before being found out” or “get in a favorable position before being discovered” so I don’t think giving it a ton of priority moves is a great idea, but I do like Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch on it.

Sneaky Bitch gotta smack you.

Spirit Shackle

While I gave regular Zoroark mean look as its trapping move, I really like Spirit Shackle as a potential move for Hisuian Zoroark.

This move is balanced out by Hisuian Zoroark being very squishy and Spirit Shackle not affecting normal types. 

This move has the potential of being oppressive against fighting types that like to run choice items such as Galarian Zapdos. I’m sure the meta can evolve around this development tho.

It’s also important to note that this move + toxic could be quite powerful since Zoroark’s ghost typing makes it immune to Facade, and it can trap you with a damage over time move. Considering the pokemon’s frailty, this won’t let it become an unmanageable tank, but it’s still worth noting.

Ominous Wind and Hex

Admittedly Hex is more useful, but it deserves some ghost type special STAB moves.

Giving it conditional moves like Hex is interesting since those moves are balanced by them being both conditional and telegraphed, while Zoroark fucks with the telegraph. So there should probably be some testing before actually giving it Hex. It’s probably fine tho.

Flash Canon

Another way to hit fairy types on a special set. Since Sludge Bomb and Flash Canon aren’t particularly high base powers, it’s not like a physical Zoroark set can just slap them on to destroy fairy types. But their existences alone might be a problem. 

I mostly want to replace Sludge Bomb with Flash Canon rather than give it both since Zoroark really doesn’t need both.

Snatch

It’s funny but also kinda useless 

Howl

Another not very useful move but I could see it being okay in some scenarios and I don’t see a problem with giving this to Zoroark

Stealth Rocks

As a counterpart to regular Zoroark being given Spikes 

It also would enable this version of Zoroark to be used as a lead Pokemon, which is important to Zoroark’s versatility. That said, it could also be a bad idea since the point of this version of Hisuian Zoroark is that it sacrifices its ability to act as a support in favor of raw power.

However, making it an anti-lead could be interesting. Especially since it’s currently built as a late game cleaner, running it like this could be a good way to throw the opponent off. But at the same time, giving it Stealth Rocks might give Zoroark too much versatility for its stats and coverage.

One thing I don’t want to give Zoroark is a grass move. The reason for that is it would give Zoroark too much power over Water/Ground types like Gastrodon. I don’t want this Pokemon to potentially bully Happy Slug out of the meta. I’m also iffy about giving Zoroark fairy coverage on its special sets because I don’t know how much that would translate to its physical sets or how much the threat of it running a special or hybrid set would interfere with the idea of physical Zoroark being countered by bulky Fairy types. Honestly, the best option would probably just be to remove Flash Canon and Sludge Bomb given my intentions. The fairy weakness is mostly meant to keep this Pokemon in check. 

Signature Stuff

Same signature item and move as regular Zoroark. For the sake of not forcing anyone to read two things. This includes a signature item and move. The item gives it a x1.3 damage boost while illusion is up while the move is a base 75 dark type special attack that does double damage if illusion is up but it removes the illusion. I don’t think either of these additions get in the way with what Hisuian Zoroark is supposed to be. Both of this stuff is definitely stronger for special Zoroark than physical due to special Zoroark being more about coverage while I imagine physical Zoroark probably would prefer to run a choice item. 

Conclusion