With nine Pokemon games, eight gyms per region, and the fact some gyms are run by multiple trainers, some gyms are unique to the anime, and some gyms change hands across the story, we're coming up on 100 gym leaders in Pokemon. Some are memorable, some are definitely not, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:quite a few of them are huge losers. Sorry, but it's true. However, they remain a crucial part of Pokemon's overall worldbuilding, and that's unlikely to change when we get Gen 10 in a couple of years’ time. Still, they need to develop more, and if we want a clue as to how, Grusha might have the answer.
For all 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Scarlet & Violet's faults, the fact we could tackle gyms in any order was of huge credit to it. Unfortunately, the lack of level scaling made this a little pointless, and the fact the towns were soulless and had no real trace of their gym leader's impact was also a let down. Still, it shows the series is attempting to freshen up, it just needs the time to capture this added depth. While I think the lack of level scaling is a silly idea that undercuts the whole ethos of exploration, I do understand it when I look at Grusha. If you play them in the optimal order, Grusha is the last challenger you face, and he's well equipped to deal with a high level trainer like yourself.
Gym leaders don't usually cause much trouble in Pokemon. Their reliance on a single type means they can usually be outwitted fairly easily. Even Whitney, well-known for her difficulty spike, can be easily tossed aside if you trade for the Machop just north of her gym. The gym leaders we tend to think of 🌱the toughest, like Clair, often have a type advantage over us. She's a Dragon-type trainer, and given Ice-types and Steel-types are very rare before you face her (you pass through the Ice Path, but most trainers are loyal to their team by then) and are the only types who can help turn the tide, it means you're relying on brute force while she can absorb your attacks.
Pokemon follows a fairly simple levelling system where you just need to train your party to be on the same level as your opponent, and you'll almost always win. The reward is the friends we made along the way, et cetera - there's a sense of growth and accomplishment with each step, but the gym leaders themselves don't put up too much of a fight. In the Elite Four, there's sometimes a little more variety, with Cynthia bringing a range of types, attacks, and strategies to the table - something Grusha has learned from.
Grusha has four Pokemon - three Ice-types and a fourth who Terastalises into an Ice-type, in-keeping with how Scarlet & Violet's gyms work. But more than that, there's a two to two split on Physical and Special attackers, and some fierce attacks behind a decent bulk of HP. Grusha has a well designed team, and though it falls into the usual Pokemon shortcoming (not all have full movesets and he only has four of them), it makes sense that the further you get through the game, the more a gym leader thinks about the Pokemon they're putting out.
This could be what we see in the future, if the gym leaders can be made more malleable. The same leader could run different versions of the same team, changing depending on how many badges you have. The fu🍨rther you are through the game, the higher level they are, and the more thoughtfully their teams are arranged with abilities, attacks, and even IV training. Pokemon is never going to make itself into the most challenging turn-based RPG around, but these little tweaks that make it feel as though it reacts to your presence is exactly what it needs.
Grusha isn't one of the hardest gym leaders in history - especially not if you face him in order - but he is one of the few who seems to have considered making himself difficult to beat in ways that go beyond being overlevelled for his area or having a rare type most trainers won't have a lot of easy counters to. More type coverage in his moves would be dandy (especially since three of them have a move slot open), but it's clear to see Grusha could be an archetype of gym leaders to come. Gen 10's final gym leader will be running Stealth Rock, Wish, Toxic, and Protect.