Understanding Pokemon?

[Forever]

So in Black and White, it was mentioned that N could speak to Pokemon, and know their feelings/what they thought of the trainer and so on. This was continued in B2/W2, and we even found out that N was raised in the wild with Pokemon and that Ghetsis took him in. During advertising of these games, it was mentioned that there would be a tighter bond than before between humans and Pokemon. This didn't really dawn on me until recently, but could this mean that in these games you could adopt N's abilities, and thus talk to Pokemon yourself? Not really like talking to Pokemon that follow you, or talking through the microphone, but rather knowing exactly what they're feeling through dialogue on the screen during battles (or outside of battles even, or perhaps in a special event in the games?) - or maybe even a symbol, representing how they feel in battles. Perhaps you wouldn't even need the happiness/friendship checker, and rather you could see it yourself.

How else do you think you could possibly be incorporated into the games? Would you even like to "speak" or at least, understand your Pokemon to the level N does? Would it just seem like a waste of time? Share your thoughts!

[Twilight Sky]

Hell yeah! I mean, think about it: Even though the "Follow me" feature won't ever really make a comeback from HG/SS(or at least, it's highly unlikely), pretend that it did in these games, and that you were able to talk to their Pokemon and not only interpret how they feel, but basically translate their actions and their words into dialogue. That'd be something so cool. XD

It's kind of a shame that N is the only character thus far that could do something that cool and that our own main protagonists can't. :( It'd be a neat little addition, really.

[Miss Doronjo]

This thing that has been repeatedly mentioned:

「プレイヤーとポケモンの絆が深くなることで、さらにポケモンが強くなる新しいバトルの仕組み。
誰もが楽しめるシナリオと音楽」
“A new battle mechanism in which Pokémon become stronger by having their bonds deepened with the player”.

Perhaps our deep understanding of our pokemon has to do with potential bonds that we share with them. But look, I'm just concerned: do trainers really need to speak with pokemon like N to fully understand them? That can be one way out of many, imo. For instance, trainers express their bonds with their pokemon through working with their pokemon, like battling or contest battling. Plus, can trainers ever truly understand their own pokemon? There's just so many mysteries surrounding then, I just found it hard for them to do. Not that trainers necessarily need to fully understand their pokemon to be friends with them in the first place.

Well, you can say I'm sort of indifferent with this concept; it's a nice idea, like, maybe it can a cool way to interact with our pokemon, but is it the only thing needed to fully understand pokemon?

[Twilight Sky]

Well, you can say I'm sort of indifferent with this concept; it's a nice idea, like, maybe it can a cool way to interact with our pokemon, but is it the only thing needed to fully understand pokemon?

I mean, I'm sort of confused as well. Not to turn this whole thread into an N discussion really, but(correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't gotten too in-depth with 5th gen's storyline in a long time) didn't N like live his childhood around Pokemon and all of that? I mean, is it really a gift, a talent or some sort that he has, or maybe he just utilizes some sort of psychological method to translate what they're saying? Like, a Pokemon's facial expression, the tone of their cries, things of that nature. Though that being said, it's debatable because other trainers tend to forge deep relationships with their Pokemon as well, and could understand them just as well as N.

I suppose I always thought that, throughout a certain Pokemon's actions/cries, N could basically translate them to human language or something like that, or read their minds somehow(far fetched, but not necessarily impossible). I'm somehow hoping that in this game that our main character somehow gains that ability throughout battling, if that's what the quoted feature is implying here.

[Magmaruby and Aquasapphire]

Perhaps the protagonist can be related to the blood of the King of Unova (Rood irc mentioned something about descendents to the King after exploring the deepest part of the Abyssmal Ruins in B2W2). Or perhaps someone reseached the same thing as Devon did and created (and perfected) a machine that allows us to speak to them.

[Shadow Libra]

Maybe your starter would be more involved and have speech events like pokemon mystery dungeon.

[Sabrewulf238]

I think it would be interesting if Pokemon were given more personality traits. They're a bit simplistic at the moment but imagine if Pokemon had between 3-5 different personality traits each and these could modify various parts of the gameplay.

For example you could have a personality trait that causes pokemon to naturally act insubordinate (low opinion of authority) and ignore you more often regardless of their current level.

The timid trait could be changed to make a pokemon less willing to fight or be scared of conflict in battle. It might call itself back into it's pokeball and a different pokemon on your team is sent out.

Another trait could be one like late bloomer or prodigy which causes the level a pokemon evolves at to change up or down by a few levels (maybe 2 levels in either direction)

There's a lot of potential to add more variety to the way Pokemon behave and how you interact with them.

Then finally the bond system could be a way to break down the barriers of a pokemons personality. Like making a hostile or proud pokemon willing to listen to your commands despite their personality. Or helping a late bloomer (evolves later than is normal) evolve at the regular or even earlier time. Giving a timid pokemon the confidence to excel and stand it's ground.

I think it would make pokemon seem a lot more like living creatures and not just objects to fight for us. Plus I think it would be really satisfying beating the elite four with a team that had "issues" at the start.

[PokémonShinySilver]

What I think is that quite possibly if your bond level with one of your Pokémon gets high enough, you could quite possibly be able to see what it's talking about rather than just seeing how it feels, then it would be at the same level as N could understand Pokémon... but not all of them, just one or any that have a high enough bonding level.

And perhaps during battle... the Pokémon that's at the high enough bond level might say something in battle.

Or maybe it could turn a bit similar to the anime in how some Pokémon like Meowth ended up talking, or maybe it could become like the anime movies in how some of the special Pokémon talk telepathically to trainers.

[Aerilyn]

Currently playing White 2, there was an NPC in one of the buildings that mentioned they were trying to build a device to talk to Pokémon. I can't remember if this same person said the same thing in Black and White, but perhaps this little snippet could be a hint to communicating with Pokémon in X and Y. I know it's a bit of a reach and will probably amount to nothing, but I figure it was worth mentioning.

I honestly think it would be cool to talk to our Pokémon, but at the same time, it would also be kind of weird if we could just talk to them like we talk to regular people. Maybe if there was a way we could see what they are thinking or get into their minds as we form a closer bond as trainer and partner, it could be used as an interesting new mechanic in the games.

[jasonwolf]

I think out right talking to our pokemon is a bit odd, but being able to better understand them would be great. Pokemon getting real personalities to go with their nature could be really cool. Honestly I'd be happy with the HG/SS style but with more possible answers when you talk to your pokemon and more of them being specific to that pokemon after what you have done with them.

[Forever]

Originally Posted by Aerilyn

Currently playing White 2, there was an NPC in one of the buildings that mentioned they were trying to build a device to talk to Pokémon. I can't remember if this same person said the same thing in Black and White, but perhaps this little snippet could be a hint to communicating with Pokémon in X and Y. I know it's a bit of a reach and will probably amount to nothing, but I figure it was worth mentioning.

I didn't really notice that at all! And some small things are somewhat meaningful! Sooo yes it could actually be possible because of that. However if everyone could talk to Pokemon and not just you it might seem a little too Digimon-like, though. :(

[Aerilyn]

Originally Posted by Forever

I didn't really notice that at all! And some small things are somewhat meaningful! Sooo yes it could actually be possible because of that. However if everyone could talk to Pokemon and not just you it might seem a little too Digimon-like, though. :(

Who knows? Perhaps it was a hint as to something GameFreak is working on. If they do allow communication with Pokémon though, then I hope they make it somewhat more creative than just being able to straight out talk to Pokémon. Reading our Pokémon's thoughts and feelings is something that comes to mind here. Otherwise, as you pointed out, it would seem very much like Digimon territory, and that's something I feel like Pokémon should try and avoid as much as they can.

[zoroarkrules25]

Maybe you can sense their aura and talk to them like that?

[Forever]

Originally Posted by zoroarkrules25

Maybe you can sense their aura and talk to them like that?

Yeah except that might mean physically talking because we aren't really mind readers and that could make it somewhat awkward. :(

[zoroarkrules25]

It could be like how riely ad sir aron can sense lucarios aura and learn what is thinking, ash can to. We could be related to an aura member or something like that.