#like. it's a gradient btwn the two. they're defined but they're flexible? if that makes sense?

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

I think not using canon movesets, but still using moves the Pokémon can theoretically learn, is 100% valid. One reason I liked that in pla you can rotate your move pool at any given time (except for in battle) is because your Pokémon learned the move, they should still know how to use that move, you know? Maybe it could be explained as there being modern battle culture norms that limit a person to using only 4 moves per battle or something, to make things more fair or to make competitive scenes more challenging by locking trainers into a single moveset, but theoretically they should just be able to use whatever they've been taught

YES the ease of switching out in pla is also why i feel it is mostly defensible as a choice for narrative. like. the -eons can learn these moves, they just happen to not be using them in battle against you the player in-game. it's legal. you'll never catch me

the question of "why only 4 moves per pokemon and why can't you rotate them in modern games" IS REALLY INTERESTING THOUGH. moves almost feel like more of a contrivance inworld, like, they're just the names people give to these certain applications of a pokemon's power. they're more like certain techniques or strategies, i guess? and maybe the list of usable moves is more a representation of, like, how many of these techniques the pokemon can hold in their head at once. (maybe that's why early pla battles only have 3 moves per pokemon lol: the pokemon aren't the stopgap but the trainers are, they can't remember more than 3 at once very well.) it does seem like limiting yourselves to a small number of all the strategies you know per battle would make it easier to plan and adapt on the fly, since you're choosing from a much smaller pool of available options. 4 just happens to be the generally agreed-upon number.

but then you've got the move reminders who's sort of a wrench in this idea? maybe they're more of a gameplay shortcut themselves, cutting out the process of yourself reminding/remembering all these moves. but then re: modern games and move reminding/moveset limitations: scarvi uses PLA's system! you can just switch them out all willy nilly! i wonder if that's explained by the fact that you're a student on a student track, so the regulations around remembering are a little softer? or is it a cultural thing, where some regions have deleters/reminders and others don't? or is this just, like i said, a thing that's always existed in universe, but the deleters are a shortcut. maybe the reason the scarvi protag can do it is because they're actually a student in a pokemon school so they learned how to retrain old moves and the other protags didn't lmao

#the nemesis speaks #the nemesis answers #anonymous #pla analysis #AUGH NOW YOU'VE GOT ME THINKING #i think it's somewhere between ''this is just a contrived strategy name'' and ''moves are actually physically distinct concepts'' #like. it's a gradient btwn the two. they're defined but they're flexible? if that makes sense? #since in the anime battles you CAN use the moves under the same name for a variety of applications. like prehensile vine whip etc #ALSO this opens up in my mind the possibility of trainers and partners coming up with new strategies -> *new moves* #which... really i think ingo and emmet in a couple of my fics have already done. actually. depending on how you want to look at it