• Our software update is now concluded. You will need to reset your password to log in. In order to do this, you will have to click "Log in" in the top right corner and then "Forgot your password?".
  • Forum moderator applications are now open! Click here for details.
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.

Gym system?

1
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 25
  • Seen Jul 13, 2016
Do people typically prefer the traditional system of gym battles(player goes through randomly placed trainers to reach the gym leader) or would they prefer a different system of pokemon battles ex: tournament where there are quarterfinals ,semifinals ,finals. or maybe something else?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Voultronix

Pokemon Fossil Creator
40
Posts
7
Years
Normal Gyms are nice because of training , but gyms even if they are the same or have patterns get boring
 
1
Posts
7
Years
My game is in the planning stage only, but I also didn't want to do the traditional gym route. And it wouldn't fit with my story. Instead, I have "testers" (I'll figure out a better name later) who meet your character at certain points in the game and you have to battle them, of course, but also maybe do a puzzle. And instead of gym badges, you gain military ranks when you beat them =]

Instead of gyms each time, I think I'll mix it up between meeting them in regional points of interest (it's mainly based in the British Isles, so like, Big Ben could be a place) and hard to reach areas like on top of a mountain or in the middle of Loch Ness.
 

FL

Pokémon Island Creator
2,434
Posts
13
Years
  • Online now
8 type based GYM Leaders, plus Elite 4 are a model that must die after RBY (since GSC has 16 GYMs).

Look at every other monster/card game series, these have different ways of bosses that repeating 8 typed gyms every game.

I'm very grateful that every Final Fantasy game didn't had four leaders/creatures protecting four crystals.
 
223
Posts
8
Years
My game will not have gyms instead it will have like problems that you need to solve. I got this idea from a picture of a giant mechanic spider species pokemon in a game thread don't remember well but I think it was reborn. I just wish that my game doesn't go a similar way as reborn although I haven't play it but I know that it's really dark.
 
1,805
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 30
  • USA
  • Seen Jan 15, 2024
Gyms might become outdated anyway with the coming generation via Trial Bosses. My game has trainers you mist fight so they are basically gym leaders... of a different trainer class. Though for a while, you know, for six straight generations that the gym system was getting too old/formulaic. The plot of XY started breaking away from it a little but retained the general formula. Gen V really tried to incorporate them into the plot, but incorporating 8 super-diverse main characters, plus yourself got over complicated near the end. Gen VI was an interesting pull back of gym leader involvement (minus Korrina). The rest were just there to battle.

how many gym leaders are there now? 8x6 = 48 and no dark type leader? Starting in Gym 7 they would increase to 56! The system needs to be updated somehow!
 

SpartaLazor

Doofus Lunarius
184
Posts
8
Years
Well, I'm going to say that it comes down to a player's opinion. I personally don't mind the Gym System. I've played games with the traditional Gym system and had a good time. Is having something different good? Of course. Do you need to have something different? No, you don't. It would be offensive and stupid to judge a game based on whether or not it had Gyms. There are so many more aspects to a game than that.
 

BadSamaritan

Gone Fishin'
148
Posts
14
Years
  • Seen Jun 8, 2023
Gyms are perfectly fine as long as the puzzle is interesting. The only reason the official gym system got stale is because gamefreak aimed the games at progressively more casual audiences with each generation, and took the challenge out of the gym puzzles.

Look at zelda for proof. There have been just as many games with the dungeon system, yet no one is saying "dungeons are outdated".
 

dudealmighty

The Very Best
90
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 28
  • Seen Nov 6, 2016
Gym's are good, but a change really is due. This makes Sun and Moon even more interesting. I can see why gyms were used in like, GSC, y'know it was basically a sequel. "Ooh, all NEW gyms to fight." But at this point, we've pretty much seen everything gyms have to offer. Just like in the Pokemon Adventures manga, every trainer isn't going to want to challenge all the gyms and be the champion, and I guess it's time the games reflected that. I think it'll bring out a lot more personality in each Pokemon game. It'll also make gyms a lot more entertaining whenever they bring them back.
 

FL

Pokémon Island Creator
2,434
Posts
13
Years
  • Online now
Gyms are perfectly fine as long as the puzzle is interesting. The only reason the official gym system got stale is because gamefreak aimed the games at progressively more casual audiences with each generation, and took the challenge out of the gym puzzles.

Look at zelda for proof. There have been just as many games with the dungeon system, yet no one is saying "dungeons are outdated".
Zelda doesn't have 8 single-typed dungeons every game and Ganon, isn't the final boss of every game too. The motivation behind each dungeon is different, isn't "Collect a badge to challenge the Pokémon League", or just "Collect the crystals". Look at Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker. The motivation is very different from average dungeons and this challenge doesn't have a single theme.
 

BadSamaritan

Gone Fishin'
148
Posts
14
Years
  • Seen Jun 8, 2023
Zelda doesn't have 8 single-typed dungeons every game and Ganon, isn't the final boss of every game too. The motivation behind each dungeon is different, isn't "Collect a badge to challenge the Pokémon League", or just "Collect the crystals". Look at Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker. The motivation is very different from average dungeons and this challenge doesn't have a single theme.

Ganon, or someone related to him, is the antagonist more often than not. And I hardly find there being a specific number of dungeons an issue. In fact for a game like pokemon with such a large emphasis on competitive, it's better for players to have a rough estimate of how soon they can finish the story.
 

NikkuGe

Wannabe the very best
8
Posts
7
Years
I like the gym system, maybe because of nostalgia. I'd like to see something different too, but I'm not at all against the old gym system. The gym system could be changed some though. There are some theories in the anime that each region has more than 8 gyms, so it could be required to have 8 gym badges for the Elite 4, but with more than 8 possible gyms this could add more depth to the story, creating alternate story-lines depending on choices the player makes. That's a change I'd like to see, but it'd require a lot more work. However, if the story calls for it I don't think gyms are needed. Sun & Moon has Island Challenges instead, so the puzzles might encompass the entire Island I think there'll be less than 8 of them. The main purpose of gyms is to be a progress checker in the game for Pokemon teams, I'd like to see a creative alternative for this, but I care way more about a good story than if Gyms are in the game or not. I also think a tournament style system would work better for the Elite Four than for Gyms. Maybe like a progressive tournament after 2 badges or so, with the last battle of the first tournament being Lorelei, then 2 badges later Bruno, then 2 badges later Agatha (Just using Gen 1 Elite Four as an example). Just throwing out ideas here, sorry for the rant.
 
1,405
Posts
11
Years
Gyms are really overused... If you want to use gyms in your game, then at least reskin them or give them an actual purpose in the story.
 
10,078
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 32
  • UK
  • Seen Oct 17, 2023
I'd like to think that now that Game Freak is leading the main series away from Gyms that a lot of fangames will follow suit and come up with some new, imaginative and original ways to progress a story along.
 

SpartaLazor

Doofus Lunarius
184
Posts
8
Years
Gyms work. Its a fact that the best fan made games have that formula. Why alter it?

I do kinda agree with that statement, though I do feel like it's fallacious. Simply because one game does it and it's works doesn't mean that any other game can do it and it'll work.

Popular fan-games do get cut a bit of slack in the community - if they do something that thousands of other games do, then it's okay. People aren't likely to complain. But if a smaller game is doing something that thousands of other people are doing, then the game is pretty much condemned to be dull and unfavorable.

However, in all fairness, most popular fan-games are popular because they bring something else to the table. I doubt any game has become popular because of the Gym system. If you look at all the popular fan-games, there's always more to them than Gyms.

So to once again sum up my thoughts on this : Gyms are fine. There's nothing wrong with them. Not having Gyms is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I think it would be wise to look into something different, but you don't have to. Most ideas for Gym replacements involve battling a notably strong trainer, and that's basically a Gym with a different name anyway. Just keep in mind that you don't have to cater to every person. Just go with what you believe to be best.
 
1
Posts
9
Years
  • Age 35
  • Seen Oct 21, 2016
You know what I want to see? Pokemon Anime style gym battles. Here's what I mean by this:

-The game has you choose the three Pokemon you want to use for the battle. If you only have two then you have to use only the two you have and so on.

-No items allowed.

-Force a set battle system.

Anime style regional tournament with the same rules for the right to battle the Elite 4. The battle the Elite 4 the same way but in 6 on 6 battles. To balance it, the game heals your pokemon after each battle in the tournament and Elite 4 but allow the player to toggle it off (if it's possible of course) if they want an added challenge.
 
Back
Top