Official Pokémon Discussion Thread

[Jordan]

I agree with Shoemaker that they could improve the Pokemon mainline series a lot along these lines.

The problem is that Gamefreak can continue to get away with half-assed improvements or releasing games with multiple problems, ala GO (connectivity, etc.), because the Pokemon games sell no matter what. With no incentive to do more than the bare minimum, Gamefreak doesn't bother fixing a lot of the issues with each game.

[Kong Wen]

Current Pokemon battles take way too long between turns, health drops at a very slow rate, delays between menu's, there's no quick results screen (you have to press A through every Pokemon leveling up). It's a lot of minor annoyances. Yeah Pokemon Go avoids a lot of that because it's a simplistic battle, but the point is the experience is quick. I think smartphone players are going to expect that going forward. That doesn't mean simplifying, just speeding the whole process up.

I thought all that slow shit was just technical limitations. I barely played a game later than Pearl/Platinum, and it was unbearably slow, but I figured they would have had to have fixed it since then. The fact that they haven't is startling. That's a Pokémon problem, not an RPG problem in general. Many others have at least figured out how to make their menus work.

[The Shoemaker]

Current Pokemon battles take way too long between turns, health drops at a very slow rate, delays between menu's, there's no quick results screen (you have to press A through every Pokemon leveling up). It's a lot of minor annoyances. Yeah Pokemon Go avoids a lot of that because it's a simplistic battle, but the point is the experience is quick. I think smartphone players are going to expect that going forward. That doesn't mean simplifying, just speeding the whole process up.

I thought all that slow shit was just technical limitations. I barely played a game later than Pearl/Platinum, and it was unbearably slow, but I figured they would have had to have fixed it since then. The fact that they haven't is startling. That's a Pokémon problem, not an RPG problem in general. Many others have at least figured out how to make their menus work.

It's 100% a Pokemon problem. The 3DS games clearly hit some sort technical limitation since it can only have 3D on during battles. Certain sections could certainly go faster regardless of frame rate.

[The Shoemaker]

Been quite a bit of Pokemon sun moon info lately. They showed off new Alola forms of previous Pokemon which is neat. On one hand they could have just been new Pokemon in the case of ice nine tails, but I like the idea of genetic variation among Pokemon. Will be interesting to see how these Pokemon are recorded in the pokedex. This fact along with Z moves have people wondering if there will be mega evolutions in the game this time around. I think mega's will return, might see less new mega's this time though.

They also showed that you can ride Pokemon, which could possibly switch around how HM's are used since we saw some smash boulders. Looks like soar is likely to return as well.

[Jordan]

I like almost all of the new Pokemon, Alola forms included.

However, little has been said about fixing some of the other issues which plague this series. At least some videos have confirmed the status quo as well. For example, I saw in one video that a gym leader had three Pokemon (again) and groaned at that. It seems like they're still keeping the game's single player easy.

The only remarkable change that I've seen to the gameplay is that there are no longer IVs (or EVs?). That's definitely a welcome change from my perspective, but I'd like to see more as well.

[The Shoemaker]

I like almost all of the new Pokemon, Alola forms included.

However, little has been said about fixing some of the other issues which plague this series. At least some videos have confirmed the status quo as well. For example, I saw in one video that a gym leader had three Pokemon (again) and groaned at that. It seems like they're still keeping the game's single player easy.

The only remarkable change that I've seen to the gameplay is that there are no longer IVs (or EVs?). That's definitely a welcome change from my perspective, but I'd like to see more as well.

Did they get rid of IV's or just make it so you can edit them at level 100?

I also like that they made the battle menu more user friendly and informative. Also love the possibility that HM's might be replaced by riding Pokémon.

I like that the structure of the game might be a little different with gyms being replaced. I want to see more, but happy to see some change.

I would also like a more challenging single player. From my experience with X and OR, there's never a need to do anything other than use a super effective move. I want situations where I need to use status effects, or need to be able to attack first. Not a super challenging game, but something that requires a deeper strategy.

[Jordan]

Did they get rid of IV's or just make it so you can edit them at level 100?

I've come to learn that it is actually the latter. To me, that's very unfortunate. I feel like they should patch it and edit the level requirement down to 50 tops, or perhaps make it so you can edit them at any time.

That revelation might have actually killed my interest in the game.

I think Digimon Cyber Sleuth provides a good model for how you can make a challenging single player game while keeping mechanics suited for multiplayer. Cyber Sleuth resolved the issue by making single player bosses operate in a mechanically different way from ordinary monsters. They essentially worked like traditional bosses in RPGs such as SMT, Final Fantasy, etc. I've heard that some Pokemon romhacks do something similar, and imo it's the way to go.

I think I'll be skipping sun/moon and waiting for a hopefully improved third version or sinnoh remake. That having been said, I do like a lot of the new Pokemon they revealed. King Kongming and grandpa Dragon are amazing.

[Kong Wen]

King Kongming and grandpa Dragon are amazing.

King Kongming the Pokémon?

[Jordan]

King Kongming and grandpa Dragon are amazing.

King Kongming the Pokémon?

[Kong Wen]

King Kongming and grandpa Dragon are amazing.

King Kongming the Pokémon?

This is amazing.