Thoughts on getting a notification to tell you the starters abilities are active?

[Alola]

Currently, the starters primary abilities (Overgrow, Torrent, and Blaze) increase the power of their respective types by 50% when at lower than 1/3 health. Since the game doesn’t tell you that the abilities are active, you just have to remember or assume. Personally, I would like to see the notification-especially when my starter's health gets down to a questionable range for activation. Did it activate? Should I stay in? I never really know unless their health is blatantly red.

I think Game Freak should have a message pop up to tell you the abilities are now active, such as the one that comes up when an ability like Intimidate is used, except in this case it would say something akin to “Decidueye’s Overgrow activated/awakened/radiates.” This would make the abilities have more impact and would increase the personal value you get from them. If you fall to 1/3 health, instead of switching out, you would see that the starters ability is active, and may stay in to try and KO your opponent with a powered up move.

I was thinking this could apply for other abilities like Guts or Quick Feet. If we get vague updates every time Mold Breaker/Terravolt/Turboblaze/etc. is in effect, the LEAST we could get are Blaze/Torrent/Overgrow notifications.

 

[Matleo]

I would ad to the games animation style like in the anime when the abilities activate.
That should have hapened long time ago.

 

[FroyoDragon]

I'm surprised this is not already a thing 0_o Weird, GF.

 

[Sunsette]

It is a bit odd that some HP-activated abilities get a notification and these don't. They're common enough since in addition to Overgrow/Torrent/Blaze, there's Swarm and Berserk, and possibly others that I'm forgetting.

 

[Zexy]

I agree the notifications would be a nice addition. When I was young I didn't even realize what these Abilities were doing, and even after I asked my parents to even figure out what "in a pinch" meant I still had no clue about how it all really worked. These are the Abilities of the starter Pokemon, they really should make it more obvious when they activate.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It's ironic given how much the games insist on giving you instructions you don't need, that this is one bit of information you don't get

 

[Stratelier]

Even the spinoffs (Mystery Dungeon and Conquest) notify you when the ability is active.

I get that Abilities which are "always on" (like Rivalry) don't need a notification, but conditional abilities generally should. And the "in a pinch" text is not particularly clear, either (compare Guts, which only activates under status ailments).

 

[Bob Fizzle]

It is a bit odd that some HP-activated abilities get a notification and these don't. They're common enough since in addition to Overgrow/Torrent/Blaze, there's Swarm and Berserk, and possibly others that I'm forgetting.

Berserk is a little different in that it actually boosts the user's special attack by 1 stage, and this boost doesn't go away if the user's HP is restored. It also displays a message when it happens, since it is increasing a stat by one stage instead of just the power of certain moves.

But I agree that it needs a displayed message. It doesn't even need to be too detailed. Just something like:

Decidueye's Overgrow
Its Grass-type moves became stronger!

And for when it gets deactivated:

Deicdueye's Overgrow
Its Grass-type moves returned to normal power!

 

[TechSkylander1518]

These abilities almost seem designed to be hard to understand. "In a pinch" is so ill-defined, and even if you do know that it activates when the bearer is as 1/3 HP (a fact which I don't think is ever said in-game), 1/3 HP isn't a very easy point to find. 1/2 is where it turns yellow, and 1/5 red-1/3 needs to be measured by the player.

 

[Alola]

These abilities almost seem designed to be hard to understand. "In a pinch" is so ill-defined, and even if you do know that it activates when the bearer is as 1/3 HP (a fact which I don't think is ever said in-game), 1/3 HP isn't a very easy point to find. 1/2 is where it turns yellow, and 1/5 red-1/3 needs to be measured by the player.

Thank you!