weaknesses and resistances

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deja0entendu

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Why are grass attacks super effective on rock Pokemon?
and why are rock attacks weak against grass Pokemon?

Why are Fighting types weak against flying types, and why don't their attacks work well on flying types?

Why are dark attacks effective against ghost attacks, yet ghost attacks don't really hurt dark types?

Why are ice attacks good against dragon types?
and why are dragon attacks good against dragon types?

why is psychic effective against Poison?
why is ground effective against poison?
 
There are many weird type interactions, but these aren't that strange.

Why are grass attacks super effective on rock Pokemon?
and why are rock attacks weak against grass Pokemon?
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I believe the idea here is how roots left lying around rocks tend to crack or strangle said rocks.

Why are Fighting types weak against flying types, and why don't their attacks work well on flying types?
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I guess because Fighting-types are almost all bipedal, walking creatures who rely on hand to hand combat while something that flies can dodge those sort of attacks.

Why are ice attacks good against dragon types?
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Reptiles don't like the cold.

and why are dragon attacks good against dragon types?
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This is basic stuff, tpyically some fantasy creatures can only be defeated with their own weapons. Beowulf, anybody?

why is psychic effective against Poison?
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I would guess because poison weakens the body, which Psychic abilities are beyond.

why is ground effective against poison?
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Ever see sick dirt? XD


The one that really always confused me: Why are bugs strong against psychics?
 
your explanations do make sense
I can't believe I didn't mention the bug one, that one baffled me too

I've never seen sick dirt...
 
I've always figured the Psychic weakness to Bug was because of the fear a lot of people have toward bugs.
 
Pokémon has been described as an advanced version of 'rock, paper, scissors.' Out of the 15 elements that Pokémon have, one element works better against another (Water dampens Fire, and Fire scorches Grass, for example).
 
That would be the "high-level" explanation, but I think the thread is looking for something a bit lower.

On the dragon thing - somebody has a thing on TPM about why dragons resist the four natural elements (Earth, Fire, Wind, Water), and why they're weak to Ice and Dragon. Of course, this was 4 years ago, so I have absolutely zero recollection of what was actually said. It was very convincing, though.
 
Ever tried to concentrate on working on something with a frigging fly buzzing about your head?

Yeah.

That's why bugs owns psychic types. Psychic relies on concentration and focus; stuff that prevent them from concentrating means upper hand against them.
 
why are grass attacks effective on water pokemon?

I understand why water attacks don't really affect grass types, it's like you're feeding them haha
 
^ I have always wondered that too. The only thing I could come up with was "they had to give them something else to be weak against, and since nothing else really made sense, choose grass since water doesn't affect it."
 
Yes, but that would be in the case of a water Pokemon attacking a grass Pokemon, thus meaning resistance. It still doesn't tell us why water Pokemon are weak to grass types - why grass HURTS them.

EDIT: They could had just made it that way so that each of the starters are weak to one of the others and strong against one of the others.

Squirtle beats Charmander. Squirtle is hurt by Bulbasaur.
Charmander beats Bulbasaur. Charmander is hurt by Squirtle.
Bulbasaur beats Squirtle. Bulbasaur is weak to Charmander.
 
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Grass sucks the energy out of Water-types. They dehydrate them. With attacks like Absorb and Giga Drain. Of course, all Grass-attacks have the same effect - but it's still the same principle.
 
There's clearly more to an attack than just the physical component. I think this is one of the aspects of the Pokemon World where any workable explanation will have to invoke magic (or some functional equivalent).
 
Or alternatively "game reasoning".

The anime has demonstrated more than once that the elemental table is more a set of guidelines than actual law (ie, electric attacks used on ground types, etc). More realistically put, the whole hard-set type system used in the game seems to be mostly just that : a game convenience.

In reality, each pokémon would probably have their own strengths and weaknesses, and not every grass-related attack would benefit equally from being used against water pokémon. Conversedly, attacks would in turn have their own strenghts and weakness - vine whip and razor leaf would probably show their strengths against rock where absorb and giga-drain are more the anti-water type of attack.
 
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In reality, each pokémon would probably have their own strengths and weaknesses, and not every grass-related attack would benefit equally from being used against water pokémon
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Actually, this could work fairly well in-game, without putting in ridiculous crap like the "Ground types are only SOMETIMES immune to electricity" that the anime has polluted all the poor kids' minds with.

Simply detach the "physical" or "special" tags from the individual types--though it would pretty much double the number of types in the game, it WOULD make more sense as far as "this is how it works in real life" goes.

For example, the Drain attacks, Solar Beam, etc. would be special, since they involve some non-material force attacking an enemy (either weird life-draining stuff, or charged solar energy).
Razor Leaf, Vine Whip, etc. would be physical (as they cause damage by physically hitting their enemy, either with sharp leaves or with a vine).

Rock-type things would be weak to "special Grass", but resistant to "physical Grass". Ground-type would be weak to "special Grass" but take normal damage from "physical Grass". Water-type would be weak to "special Grass" and take normal damage from "physical Grass". Bug-type would be resistant to both "special Grass" and "physical Grass".

Grass-type creatures would still get STAB and all that from both special and physical Grass attacks, since there wouldn't be any reason to split the types as far as Pokémon types go--it's an attacks-only thing.

That way some of the ridiculous things (Bite, Leaf Blade, and Dragon Claw are special attacks? Shadow Ball, Aeroblast, and Hyper Beam are physical attacks?) would be removed, and another level of strategy would be added to the game (choose a physical attack of that type, or a special one? could be a big choice for some critters... and it might make Hitmonchan's elemental punches actually USEFUL for once, wow!).

Some attacks could even be variable physical/special depending on who/what is using it. A Pidgey's Gust is physical since it's made by rapid wing flapping, but maybe some others could do a "magically create a tornado" type thing and have a special version, all without making any new attacks.
 
MistyIRC said:
Aim for the horn! :O
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hahaha, I had a good laugh out of that one...

so apparently in Ru/Sa Rhydon uses his horn to ABSORB the electric attack
 
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