The ever changing mechanics of Pokemon

[Julius]

39 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Oh you’re gonna LOVE B/W2! I can’t believe you’ve never played them!  They’re great sequels that do a lot to answer the questions left by B/W... (perhaps not all though  )

 

And if you like the moral ambiguity that B/W present regarding the ethics of the Pokemon series... whoo boy! There is some great stuff that gets really dark in the sequel... Let’s just say that the writers were very brave and didn’t really try to hammer home an unbalanced justification in their favour... They very much leave it to your interpretation, especially if you explore some of the side stories...

I think I was just going through that phase of “I’m too old for Pokémon now” and tried to put it down, which ironically only lasted half a generation until X and Y, but I actually helped my younger brother with pretty much everything related to the main story from the 5th or 6th badge onwards.

I don’t count it as having played it for myself, though  I’ve been meaning to pick it up ever since X but just haven’t got around to it. It’s definitely one of the games from my back log that I want to get to first, and I’m glad that it sounds like they took some risks with the story and characters with BW2 too.

X and Y just felt a bit paint-by-numbers in terms of storytelling for me, and it really feels like they’ve dialled back the risks they’ve taken from those games onwards, really. 

It’s a shame, too, because I think that Pokémon probably has the most storytelling potential of any of Nintendo’s first/second party franchises. It’s going to sell well regardless of how objectively good or different the game is from the last, so long as the core of the game - it’s simplicity - remains, so I think they’d be best served to take some risks.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that, at least from my perspective, Kalos and Alola just felt like France and Hawaii in Pokémon, as opposed to simply being influenced by them. I mean, Unova in its entirety is based on New York, yet many fans never notice that the inspiration goes beyond Castelia City. Likewise for the first four main series regions: apart from perhaps Johto, I wouldn’t have been aware that they were all based on regions in Japan if I didn’t read around about it. 

From a storytelling perspective, I imagine that has to be fairly restrictive to them, as the more like-for-like representations of these areas means it’s much easier to offend a particular group of players, which could perhaps be one reason why they’ve taken less risks in terms of storytelling as of late. 

[Glen-i]

Man, @Julius Caesar you are making me really want to play through White again.

Great post about the structure of Black and White's plot there. It really exentuates why I enjoy the plot so much.

There's a lot of little details in the characters that the game doesn't state through dialogue. The one that comes to mind is that N never uses the same Pokémon twice. Not wanting to imprison for Pokémon for too long, I can picture him convincing the local wild Pokémon to accompany him in order to liberate their kind.

I also remember how the game slaps some backstory straight away with that awesome opening cutscene of N's  coronation as King of Team Plasma. No dialogue, so it's not entirely clear what's going there. But damn, did it make me want to find out. I miss that kind of stuff.

I can only guess at this, but I imagine Gen 6 and, to a lesser extent, 7 went back on itself because Black and White didn't sell as much as other games. I can imagine that frightening Game Freak into taking less risks.

Screw it, I just finished Crystal and Xenoblade 2, I'm gonna grab a Tepig and play White again.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Glen-i

[Fused King]

Tepig, heh, always felt like a meme turned into a Pokémon name: Teh Pig (lolz)

Anyways, I was wondering what your thoughts are on the Ultra Beasts introduced in Sun/Moon, because once I got to the post game of said games I had no idea how to feel about it. Once I discovered they were actually added to your Pokédex, thus making these beasts Pokémon I guess, I didn't know what to think. These ugly ass designs felt so out of place with my concept of what Pokémon are I really hope they don't double down on these things and keep this whole 'Ultra Realm' or whatever they call it contained to these games. 

Also, do you reckon we might be getting a remake of Gen 4 on Switch or perhaps as a swan song for the 3DS?

Edit: I just started Alpa Sapphire, and I gotta say, I am very much looking forward to this adventure of nostalgia.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Fused King

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Fused King said:

Anyways, I was wondering what your thoughts are on the Ultra Beasts introduced in Sun/Moon, because once I got to the post game of said games I had no idea how to feel about it. Once I discovered they were actually added to your Pokédex, thus making these beasts Pokémon I guess, I didn't know what to think. These ugly ass designs felt so out of place with my concept of what Pokémon are I really hope they don't double down on these things and keep this whole 'Ultra Realm' or whatever they call it contained to these games. 

Also, do you reckon we might be getting a remake of Gen 4 on Switch or perhaps as a swan song for the 3DS?

I kinda have mixed feelings on them. On one hand, I think it was yet another missed opportunity on Sun and Moon's part. Making them catchable takes away anything special about them.

If I had my way, I would have had the Ultra Beasts serve as traditional RPG Boss Fights that you'd have to do throughout the game. Kinda like they did with Nihilego. And because they would purely be used for boss fights, it'd be fine to triple their HP stat so that the fight wouldn't be over in a few turns.

On the other hand, the fact that they look weird and unappealing (Buzzwole excluded, that thing just looks hilarious) means that the designs do what they were intended to. They are basically aliens, after all.

I do hope they're done with Ultra Beasts in Gen 8. It was a neat concept, but there's no need to add more. It'll just make them even less unique.

My bet would be that the remake of Gen 4 will be on Switch. Considering that the next mainline game will be on Switch, why go back? 

EDIT: BTW, while we're talking about Ultra Beast designs. What about Poipole? That's an Ultra Beast. Is that ugly?

Personally, I don't think it's ugly enough. Just looks like a normal Pokemon, which misses the point in my opinion.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Glen-i

[Fused King]

Oh, I hadn't even seen that one yet, haha. 

Yeah, that one looks quite nice compared to some other monstrosities.

I concur with your view on that they should've been bosses. I do hope they leave the Ultra stuff to the Alola world.

Reading about B/W2 I am actually tempted to buy it and see how the story progresses. I never did buy any 'sequels' so to speak, but from what I remember, and your write-up confirms this, the story is quite deep and enthralling. All in good time though, all in good time. I've got a Torchic to look after now.

Also, are you saying that the Gen I and II downloadables on the 3DS require Pokétransporter to get them to the bank?

Furthermore, I will require some help evolving some Pokémon through trade. I will ket you know when the time is nigh. It's good to be part of a forum

Another question I've been meaning to ask: What is everyone's favourite (or top 3) Pokémon?

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Fused King said:

Oh, I hadn't even seen that one yet, haha. 

Yeah, that one looks quite nice compared to some other monstrosities.

It's exclusive to Ultra Sun and Moon, and it can actually evolve. Which is weird for a legendary Pokémon.

6 hours ago, Fused King said:

Also, are you saying that the Gen I and II downloadables on the 3DS require Pokétransporter to get them to the bank?

Yep, if I remember right, downloading Transporter is done from inside Bank.

6 hours ago, Fused King said:

Another question I've been meaning to ask: What is everyone's favourite (or top 3) Pokémon?

Hoo boy! That's a toughie. Well, except for my absolute favourite. That hasn't changed for 15 years. I suppose right now, it'd be...

3. Kecleon

Chameleons are the best animal, so the Chameleon Pokémon is just a no-brainer to me. Known for being absolutely hopeless in battle, unless the game has the word "dungeon" in the title. Then it's stronger than Arceus, Mewtwo and Rayquaza put together for some reason.

It's also the Pokémon that the Link's Awakening Shopkeeper would most likely train. True fact. They both become utterly murderous when they're jacked from.

2. Totodile

You'd have to have a heart of stone to not choose this hyperactive Crocodile as your Johto Starter. What's That? You prefer Cyndaquil. Well then, you're nothing short of pure evil incarnate and I'll be coming to you next time someone gets killed.

1. Groudon

Is it a lobster? Is it a Dinosaur? No! It's some weird mash up of the two! A Lobsaur, if you would. Thankfully, they called it Groudon, which is a better name.

To me, this Pokémon is both super cool and utterly adorable. I'd have one as a pet, I don't care if it would utterly ruin my life. Which it most definitely would.

Also, ever since Soul Silver, I've managed to bait every single person who used Kyogre to send it out only to get Thunder Punched in the face. Works every time. And it never stops being funny.

Honourable mentions would be Krookodile, Hydreigon, Greninja, Alola Marowak and Grumpig.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Glen-i

[Fused King]

@Glen-i

Groudon!?! You my friend, have an interesting taste, haha.

I once dated a girl who was totally into:

for some reason...

I really like Ghost and Dark Pokémon, but this is just some floating gas... (then again so are Gastly and Haunter, but they are bad ass)

 

From what I can remember one of my big favourites has always been Manectric

 

and as far as evolutions of starters go I have a huge soft spot for Empoleon since I trained him up pretty high back in the day.

I've been going through all the anime in Japanese over the years to aid in my studies, and I am now finally at the end of The Battle Frontier.

I can't wait to see Empoleon in action in the next season!

I also do really like the Alolan forms of some classics. Diglet and Dugtrio in particular are hilarious  I expect them to do more of these in the future, and maybe also from the Johto region. Having started Alpha Sapphire I came to realize that your character is actually from Johto It's all CONNECTED! How I long for a game with all the regions in it. Or maybe they could fuse Gen 4 and 5 into one game and connect those regions just to get things going.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Fused King

[Jonnas]

Top 3 Pokémon? I'll give you boring answers:

Blastoise was my starter Pokémon all the way back in Blue, and remains still my favourite. Its not all nostalgia, as I love the tank aesthetic she's got going for her. And turtles are just great. Hope she turns out good in Pokkén.

Machamp was my Metronome user back in the day, and while he looked super dumb at the time (especially in Stadium, sheesh), I still liked my muscled powerhouse. I was ecstatic to see him in Pokkén, he looks way fiercer now. Still a bit dumb, but that's the way I like it.

Starmie was always one of my favourites to use in battle, and looks really cool. Not even conventionally cool, it just alternates between mysterious and spinning like crazy. It's just a really slick design and my childhood crush on Misty has nothing to do with it.

And just to not be too predictable, I'll also say that I've always liked Poliwrath (small and ridiculous, but tough and scrappy. I like that spirit) and Lanturn (friendly fish with awesome typing, I love this guy, and I loved using him on Smogon, from my brief time there)

[Glen-i]

Someone likes their Water types, huh? I'm more of a Ground man, myself.

I do like Machamp, it's so ridiculous, I can't help but raise a smile. It's one of the few Pokémon I think Pokken actually made look good. (Probably because it didn't have fur and already had pecs, Looking at you, Charizard) It was even funnier when The Pokémon Company tried to suggest that those Speedos were actually part of it's skin.

No-one believed them.

[markderoos]

Politoed, Pyroar and Mimikyu

or for Battle: Golisopod, Alolan Ninetales and Garchomp

[Dufniall]

Just looked through my collection of Pokémon games for Pokémon day. Man, instantly want to play Sapphire again. Or go and buy Ultra Moon just to have at least played one game of every generation (I stopped after X).

[Julius]

On 20/02/2018 at 1:50 AM, Fused King said:

Another question I've been meaning to ask: What is everyone's favourite (or top 3) Pokémon?

Man...at face value, this is such a hard question. There are so many Pokémon that have great designs and that I have an emotional attachment to, and I think that’s a testament to just how consistent this series is. 

However, for my favourite three Pokémon...I don’t think it’s even close. I have so many memories and stories attached to the following Pokémon in particular that it’s no surprise that this franchise has found a way to bring me back in from my attempt/s at walking away from it. So, in no particular order:

Bulbasaur

Bulbasaur was my first starter Pokémon,  on a game and system that I didn’t own - my friend was kind enough to let me dabble around for a few hours on the game around his house. My first Pokémon card? Bulbasaur. The Pokémon that I drew the most when I was younger — that I used to try to wish into existence? Bulbasaur.

It might not be a particularly strong Pokémon, but I love it’s simple but effective design. And then, in the anime, I remember Ash getting a Bulbasaur, and it being full of conviction, but pretty quiet otherwise. Being a shy and quiet child myself, looking back, it’s no surprise that this was the Pokémon that I gravitated most towards. 

Sceptile

Whilst Bulbasaur was my first starter Pokémon, I think it’s important to mention that the first Pokémon game that I owned was actually Pokémon Ruby — a game that I originally started with a Mudkip. 

I still remember my time with Mudkip. I played up to Mauville City and getting pretty stuck against Wattson; if I recall, I must have accidentally decided to not teach it to my now Marshtomp, and it not being tooled with a particularly great moveset. After some grinding and running around everywhere in the early parts of the game, I ventured back to Slateport with Mr. Briney and Peeko. I went up to the Trick House not too far north of Slateport, just past the entrance to Cycling Road, and continued my grind. One of my Pokémon must have been poisoned, because I ended up hobbling back to Slateport’s Pokémon Centre with a wobbling screen. Dashing to Nurse Joy, she healed my Pokémon, and revealed that Marshtomp had Pokérus. I was already confused and frustrated about what I should do at this point in the game, and so I exited the Pokémon Centre and saved my game. This was the tipping point.

So, I decided to start the game again, but planned to not save it. I’d made loads of progress with Marshtomp, so maybe I just needed a new perspective, and so I thought I’d try out a different starter Pokémon.

Not being a fan of Torchic’s design, I decided to go with Treecko, and yep, you probably guessed it: I accidentally saved over my old save file. What ensued was my most difficult but rewarding time with a Pokémon game.

I say that because I remember battling May’s Blaziken and Flannery’s Slugma to be particularly hard. Sure, I understood type weaknesses, but my other Pokémon were all so weak when compared to the might of my starter Pokémon that I just stuck with Treecko, then Grovyle, and then Sceptile.

Going to the Pokémon League, Sceptile must have been somewhere around Lv. 70, compared to a real pick-and-mix team of Lv. 40 - Lv. 47 Pokémon (I recall having Groudon, Pelipper, Gyarados, and a Castform). I would use the other Pokémon only on occasion, such as an obvious type mismatch or when I needed to revive or heal Sceptile. 

I must have tried tens of times, but I just could not beat Drake with Sceptile for the life of me, and so I went around the region training as hard as I could, battling every single trainer that I could find, and grinding a whole lot at the aforementioned Trick House. During my travels, I stumbled upon TM02 Dragon Claw at the top of a waterfall in Meteor Falls, and decided a while later to see if any of my Pokémon could learn the move.

Oh, Sceptile can learn it? 

And with that, Drake’s Salamence, unbeknownst to me at the time, was now all but doomed. And Steven, in comparison, was an absolute cake walk.

My Sceptile was Lv. 93 when I beat Drake, but might have been Lv. 94 when I beat the League. Regardless, I’d done it, but my completely underlevelled and unbalanced team would later go on to be annihilated at the Battle Tower, and accidentally deleted by a friend a short while later.

I think that I have such affectionate memories of my journey in Hoenn because I made that journey during my six months living in Australia, on my first Nintendo console (only my second console and my first handheld: a Nintendo DS) with no friends interested in Pokémon at my school, and having to write back home (here, in England) for some advice from a friend (I’d always get around whatever obstacle was in my way by the time that I received his response).

This was my way of maturing, and I feel like I owe it to this game that I adjusted so quickly to life on the other side of the world. I was just experiencing change, wonder, and unexpected challenges, just like my in-game counterpart.

And that’s why I love Sceptile. 

Staraptor

While I was over in Australia, early on, I was privy to something my friends over in England weren’t yet: the marketing of Diamond and Pearl. I remember seeing Turtwig, Piplup and Chimchar designs featured as the main Pokémon card in some card tins. Well...I wrote them off as fake, because I had no actual way of knowing that these games were coming. I mean, some late Hoenn region stuff was only just being aired over there on TV.

So, when I returned to England in August, I ended up down in Bournemouth, where my aunts worked. They’ve always been especially kind to me and my siblings, often showering us with gifts when we visit, and this time was no different.

First, in the WHSmith in Boscombe, they picked up a copy of Pokémon World, which of course had a spread on Diamond and Pearl, as they’d been released only a few weeks prior. It dawned on me that those Pokémon I saw over in Australia actually were real, and that a DS exclusive Pokémon game was available, and later that day, they lovingly bought me a copy of Diamond, and my little sister a copy of Pearl. This was the last day of our holiday in Bournemouth, but we hadn’t brought our DSs with us — my mother didn’t want us to just laze around, I guess — and so I had to wait until the next day to start experiencing Sinnoh.

Turtwig reminded me of Bulbasaur, so I chose it as my starter. Once in Sandgem Town, though, I accidentally spent all of my money on Poké Balls, and received a promotional Premier Ball (as you do for purchasing 10 or more Poké Balls). Well, I backtracked from there to the first route, and the first Pokémon that I found was a Lv. 2 Starly.

After defeating the first gym leader, Roark (?), in Oreburgh City, it quickly became apparent during a scrap with Team Galactic to the east of Floaroma Town that Starly, not Turtwig, was to become the Pokémon that I had the greater bond with (in stark contrast to my Ruby experience with Sceptile). And my Starly, then Staravia, then Staraptor, ripped apart the gym leaders of Sinnoh, the Elite Four, Cynthia’s Lucario in particular, and then many of my friends’ legendary Pokémon in local wireless battles. 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Emerald Emblem]

Top 3 Pokemon huh? Special mentions to Quilava and Mawile but my personal top 3 are...

3. Glaceon

 

2. Misdreavous

1. Gardevoir

 

[bob]

Maybe this requires a Thrrrrrriiiiiiiiiip?

[Glen-i]

Back from the dead! It's time for Gen 7: Part 2.

It's no secret that I'm no fan of the latest Pokémon games. But I should at least give them a fair bash and a more subjective view. So one more go around, until next year, I guess.

BTW, Unmarked Spoilers Warning. I mean, it's a remake of a 20 year old game, so spoilers will be purely subjective. Just being safe.

Gen 7 Part 2: Let's GO! Pikachu/Let's GO! Eevee

Released 2 days ago, Let's GO! Pikachu and Let's GO! Eevee continue Generation 7 on the Nintendo Switch. They're the second remakes of a Generation 1 game, this time focusing on the third version, Pokémon Yellow. In what is probably a controversial move among long time Pokémon fans, every Pokémon from a later generation than 1 is completely unavailable in this game (With a couple of exceptions)

And like everything else, I'm gonna start with what this game dropped after Sun/Moon. This one is gonna be significant.

The biggest one is Random Encounters. Usually, Pokémon encounters occur randomly, but not in these games. I'll go into what it was replaced with soon.

The Island Trials were annexed, but considering these are Gen 1 remakes, that shouldn't be surprising.

Z-Moves, the big selling point of Gen 7, are nowhere to be seen in these games. This happened to be a side effect of the removal of...

Held Items are also gone, severely reducing the amount of strategies you could utilise in battle. This was probably done to simplify the game. That reasoning is gonna be a recurring theme, so get used to it. Speaking of...

Abilities were also cut, further reducing the uniqueness each Pokémon would have.

In a weird first for the series, some pre-established moves were cut. The likes of Giga Drain and Rain Dance can not be learned here. Oh, speaking of Rain Dance...

External Weather Conditions are gone as well, happy pleasant calmness further reduces strategies. Oh, right, that reminds me.

The Day and Night cycle is no longer around. A staple for 4 generations, this game takes place during the day, all the time. No matter what.

S.O.S Battles are gone, Battle Royales are gone, Poké Pelago is gone. 

Online Communications took a massive hit, reverting the online capabilities to the levels seen at the beginning of the DS generation.

Any Battle Facility is no longer seen here. Not even Battle Tower. Severely limiting the amount of replayability after the main story is finished.

As far as I can tell, Online Competitions aren't available in this, so players who enjoy playing competitively are out of luck. This also means the Pokémon Global Link is not compatible with this game.

Wonder Trade is gone as well.

Backwards Compatibility is not available here. You cannot transfer any Pokémon from a previous game to Let's GO!

Pass Powers are also gone, which might have a negative effect on any high level training.

The convenient Gadget, a feature which was introduced in Gen 2, is gone as well.

I'm not entirely sure, but I can't find anything on the Vs. Recorder, so you won't be able to record battles and share them with others.

The Move Deleter is gone as well, but after HM's were replaced, that particular feature is not really necessary anymore.

Pokémon Breeding is gone, meaning that in order to get more of the same kind of Pokémon, you'll have less options to use.

Effort Values have also been replaced.

I know I try to stay impartial until the end, but this has to be said. 
BLOODY HELL, MAN! 23 Features that are in the Sun/Moon games are ditched in Let's GO!

But now, it's time to look at what these games add to counteract that slaughtering.

Wild Pokémon Encounters work very differently to previous games. Instead of sending out your own Pokémon in an attempt to weaken and catch an opponent (Or just beat it up for experience), you can only attempt to catch Pokémon in a manner similar to the mobile Pokémon GO game. Using motion controls to fling Poké Balls at Pokémon, items can be used to make it more likely to succeed. Successfully catching a Pokémon will net your team experience, but taking too long will cause the Pokémon to run away. Chaining multiple captures of the same Pokémon in a row can result in rare Pokémon or even shiny Pokémon appearing.
There is an exception to this and that's with the Legendary Pokémon Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Mewtwo, which must be battled traditionally and beaten within a time limit before they can be captured using the Pokémon Go! method.

Pokémon following you is a much celebrated feature that returns for these games. Much like it's implementation in HeartGold/SoulSilver, you can choose a Pokémon to run behind you when outside of battle. Bigger Pokémon can even be ridden, allowing for faster movement, etc.

An interesting new mechanic are Variable Pokémon sizes. When you encounter Pokémon, they can actually differ in size and weight to the average one. Particularly bigger or smaller ones have a special aura around them in the overworld and give more Experience when caught. Although these varying sizes are not actually reflected in battles.

Another big change is the removal of Effort Values. Instead Let's GO! introduces Awakening Values. (AV's) A variant of the first generations stat experience. It'd be easier to bullet point the differences for this, because it's significant.

• Instead of battling Pokémon, you gain AV's by feeding your Pokémon candy, items you can get through various methods.
• You are once again able to potentially max out every stat. Unlike previous games where you had to choose which stat to boost.
• The level of the Pokémon has no effect on how the boosted stats are distributed.

That last point is a weird one. In previous games (Even Gen 1), to get the most out of EV's, you'd have to train your Pokémon to Level 100. In this game, it doesn't matter what level something is, provided you have the candy, you could get the full benefit of maxing out AV's. Leading to complete nonsense like this...

That's not hacked in any way. @Serebii himself did that.

Anyway... There's a slight change to how Natures can be gotten. Most of the time, they work the same as usual, but now there's a woman who, for a price, can set the nature of future Pokémon you catch to what you want. Making it easier to get the Pokémon you want with the nature you would like.

Pokéride has been tweaked to work in Let's GO! Using your partner Pokémon to recreate the effects of the 5 HM's from the original game. It's now called "Secret Techniques"

Pokémon Amie does make a return, but it's unfortuantely restricted to whichever Pokémon is on the cover of your game. Which diminishes a lot of the appeal.

This game can communicate with Pokemon GO! to transfer Kanto Pokémon and the Meltan line to Let's GO! Which makes this a game that can perform communication with a Spin-off game. It's certainly not the first time this has happened, but it is the biggest occurence.

Mega Evolution made a surprising return to this game. But with no held items, all you need is a corresponding stone that you find to utilise it. Unfortunately, with no abilities either, this transformation has less of an impact on battles than before. Pokémon with two Mega Evolutions (Charizard and Mewtwo) are free to choose whatever form they like.

We also have 2 Player Co-operative Play, using another Joycon, a second person can join the player to assist them on their adventure. As well as running around on the overworld (With a second Pokémon following them), this second player can help the first to catch Pokémon by throwing two Poké Balls at once and assist in battling other trainers by controlling a second Pokémon, effectively letting you use two Pokémon to gang up on 1, which I'm astonished is allowed. I mean, that has to be cheating as far as the Pokémon League is concerned, no? Ah well...

There is also a Real-Life Peripheral to go with this game. The Poké Ball Plus is an alternative controller that functions a lot like the Pokéwalker from HeartGold/SoulSilver. Allowing you to train Pokémon and collect items by walking around with it and doing stuff in Pokémon GO. Although it is a pretty expensive seperate purchase (It costs more than the actual game), early adopters could get a Mew to transfer to their Let's GO! game by buying this. Which means that Event Pokémon make a return.

And that wraps that up. So it's time to give my thoughts.

I mean, what can I say? You only have to look at that gargantuan list of cut mechanics to realise that this is a severely stripped-down version of Pokémon. Yes, this is meant to be a simpler, beginner-friendly version of Pokémon, but I think it's way too extreme. Pokémon isn't that hard to play through. You don't need to know stuff like Effort Values or natures and the like just to play through the game, plenty of people do just that. But this has resulted that severely limits creativity, variety and strategy. And it's for that reaon that I don't intend to buy this game.

But it's not all bad. Here's some things I'd like to see in future entries.

While I'm not a fan of the Wild Pokémon changes, I wouldn't mind having them all work like they do with Legendary Pokémon. Having to defeat them in a battle first before attempting capture GO! Style.
Pokémon following you has always been awesome, so more of that please.
That Nature Selection woman is also great and would be very welcome in Gen 8.
2 Player Co-op is also great fun, but maybe have it so that opposing trainers send out 2 Pokémon as well, just to make things not hilariously trivial.

But it's not enough to save this game in my eyes. AV's are ridiculous, simple as and Mega Evolution loses a lot of the nuance it once had. And to mention it once again. 23 mechanics! That's insane. And some of them are pretty massive, especially if you are into competitive battling.

[Dcubed]

AVs are just frickin' stupid! What is even?

 

What can I even say about it!? The entire system is broken beyond belief! Levelling up is now basically pointless, hell, all Pokemon are basically the same now! Only the move choice seperates them here.  There's nothing to make them unique and individual now, stats are basically completely pointless here since you can just max out everything!

 

I can totally see why the guys running the Pokemon VCG Worlds annual tournament don't even acknowledge the game's existence... As far as the competitive side goes, this game is a complete disaster.  All I can do is hope and pray that it has no influence on the real, next mainline game.

 

BTW @Glen-i, you forgot to mention that Double Battles are gone too (yes I know that you can do 2 v 1 through co-op, but AFAIK, you can't do the traditional 2 v 2 format).  Also there's just a buttload of smaller stuff that is completely gone now, like seperate boxes, berries, Union Room etc (the list really is too big to count), but even just the list of major gameplay features that Glen-i has gone through really tells the tale.  Even the bike is gone!

 

This is most definitiely not the traditional Pokemon experience and it is not really for those of us who have played the mainline games.  It's squarely for those who have only ever played Pokemon Go.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

@Dcubed Double Battles still show up in Let's GO. Team Rocket utilise it.

[Dcubed]

5 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

@Dcubed Double Battles still show up in Let's GO. Team Rocket utilise it.

That's true... but you can't do Double Battles in multiplayer at all either.  That's like saying that Inverse Battles are a core game mechanic that were introduced in X/Y (as much as I wish that were the case, it only happens in a single battle sadly!)

 

I'd still count it as a cut feature because it only happens literally about 2-3 times throughout the whole game and it was completely cut from multiplayer (you know, the main point of Pokemon at the end of the day!)

Edited November 18, 2018 by Dcubed

[Mandalore]

49 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I can totally see why the guys running the Pokemon VCG Worlds annual tournament don't even acknowledge the game's existence... As far as the competitive side goes, this game is a complete disaster.  All I can do is hope and pray that it has no influence on the real, next mainline game.

They don't acknowledge that most of the top winning teams are all hacked either. 

I'm more concerned about the next mainline games being equally full of huge convoluted grinds to get 'perfect IV' competitive Pokemon with correct natures etc. It's a really interesting and compelling system, but any motivation to build a team vanishes when you know people will just hack a team in a few seconds and get away with it.

Until Gamefreak solve this issue, I'll happily play casual dumbed down remakes. They really need to if they want to capitalise fully on the huge eSports scene.

[Dcubed]

16 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

They don't acknowledge that most of the top winning teams are all hacked either. 

I'm more concerned about the next mainline games being equally full of huge convoluted grinds to get 'perfect IV' competitive Pokemon with correct natures etc. It's a really interesting and compelling system, but any motivation to build a team vanishes when you know people will just hack a team in a few seconds and get away with it.

Until Gamefreak solve this issue, I'll happily play casual dumbed down remakes. They really need to if they want to capitalise fully on the huge eSports scene.

I do agree with your sentiment here.  I'd love to really get stuck into competitive Pokemon, but the barrier to entry is still too high.  It's really holding the series back as a proper eSports game too.

 

I do feel that they need to find a way of integrating Pokemon Showdown into the actual mainline games if they truly want competitive Pokemon to really take off.  Maybe introduce a Battle Simulator? Where you can take the Pokemon you've caught and just do Simulator Fights that allow you to just select whatever EV spreads, moves and items you want.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

52 minutes ago, Mandalore said:

I'm more concerned about the next mainline games being equally full of huge convoluted grinds to get 'perfect IV' competitive Pokemon with correct natures etc. It's a really interesting and compelling system, but any motivation to build a team vanishes when you know people will just hack a team in a few seconds and get away with it.

That's not applicable anymore. Getting a perfect IV Pokémon is as simple as training to Level 100 and using an in-game service to max out IV's. Which is a feature that Let's GO still uses.

And yes, hacked Pokémon are an issue, but you can only hack a Pokémon within the realms of possibility.

If you try to use a Pokémon that has stats that are an impossibility online or has a move it could never learn. You'll quickly get banned.

It's getting better recently.

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

That's true... but you can't do Double Battles in multiplayer at all either.  That's like saying that Inverse Battles are a core game mechanic that were introduced in X/Y (as much as I wish that were the case, it only happens in a single battle sadly!)

 

I'd still count it as a cut feature because it only happens literally about 2-3 times throughout the whole game and it was completely cut from multiplayer (you know, the main point of Pokemon at the end of the day!)

I counted Inverse Battles as a feature in X/Y. Double Battles in Let's GO still counts.

[Mandalore]

Interesting, I've not tried making a competitive team since X/Y. I had heard of items in Sun/Moon that allow you to max IVs, I was under the impression they were very rare and time consuming to acquire though. Was that changed for Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon?

[Glen-i]

9 hours ago, Mandalore said:

Interesting, I've not tried making a competitive team since X/Y. I had heard of items in Sun/Moon that allow you to max IVs, I was under the impression they were very rare and time consuming to acquire though. Was that changed for Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon?

Setting it all up might take a while, depending on how you go about it. In about a month, I had well over 100 Bottle Caps and more than a few Gold Bottle Caps (Raises all 6 IV's at once) It does require a bit of setup, mind, (This bit is a bit time consuming, admittedly) but once you do, you get a steady stream of Bottle Caps, if you regularly check in on it.

The basic gist is to go to Festival Plaza and fill it with a facility called Treasure Hunt. The more, the better. Normally, there's a chance of this whenever you rank up there. But a quicker, more certain way is to have a friend with one, and then just continuously pay them FC to build Treasure Hunts in your Plaza.

Getting FC was a bit daunting, but strangely enough, taking part in monthly online competitions was a good way to get loads. As well as taking part in those Worldwide Missions that happened monthly. (I think the worldwide missions for both Sun/Moon and US/UM have stopped now though).

You could also get Bottle Caps by trading shards that you found in the cave on Poke Pelago.

So yeah, it takes some time to get going, but once you did, it was pretty much self generating if you took 10 minutes a day to check on it.

But honestly, N-Europers have a way, WAY easier method of getting some Gold Caps, and that's me. I'm drowning in the things and I'd happily give away some Gold Bottle Caps via trade on US/UM. I mean, I've got so many, I don't have anything I want to use them on at this point.