Challenges Feedback 2014

So this year has been quite an eventful one for the world of Challenges! We've tried new things and now I want to know what you guys think of them. You may post your responses below or PM me if you want to keep them anonymous from the rest of PC.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?

I didn't partake in any other GT11 or the Carnival of horror challenges, For the COH one it's simply because a lot of the challenges required to have defeated the Elite Four and all of my games are set to new saves so maybe if it were to return next year (Which I would like it to) Maybe it could include more challenges which require both finished games and new game saves. As for GT11 I never attend them so I cannot discuss those.

As for the prefixes I personally don't think they matter all that much, usually someone will add whether a challenge is generation specific in their title and so using the prefix isn't really all that necessary and having the gen/game specific title in the thread title like "X/Y Challenge" is quicker to read of then looking at the prefix then the challenge title or vice versa.

As for other concerns, the only thing which bugs me a little is the number of "Revived" challenges that seem to appear, I know that it's entirely ok to let a challenge be revived however most of them just end up dead again within a few months. Maybe you could have a tally system in place so that if a challenge tries to resurface so many times it can no longer be revived? I know this means a small number of people miss out on the challenge but I think that is better than seeing the same challenge reappear all the time and then see it die again.

Or maybe have an archive for constantly revived challenges?

Alright, let's have a look at these questions.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors
Yep, I participated in all three.

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?
For the GT11 challenge and the CoH challenges that worked around this (Espurr and Count Gliscor), I found it interesting that one was able to take a file they had already completed and make something out of it. This was not what I planned on, but it was workable. On how it makes you use freshly caught Pokémon, I found that slightly redundant if you already had Pokémon on you that could fit those roles, but at the same time I can say it made the teams more unique in the big picture. I had fun building teams out of them. But for the battle facility challenges, those I didn't really care for as much.

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?
Those were fun. Not only do they make you pull out older Pokémon games you probably wouldn't bother to otherwise, but there were a lot of objectives that spanned across many parts of the games to look at.

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?
Yes, I would be down for that. I am curious as to how much different it would be if it were to return.

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)
What I think I would like to have happen is maybe another full playthrough challenge like the Haunter one, a mini-challenge thing like the Carnie Games, and a GT11 style challenge like Count Gliscor. I say this because the former was like Challeggs from back in March, the middle was basically Stadium Arcadium, and the latter is something that can be done without too much planning or time. I didn't think the ones for the battle facilities were very necessary (if at all).

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)
None I can really think of at the moment.

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?
I don't really have much of a take on this one.

And there you have it.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors

I wasn't able to participate in anything because I uh, literally bought 5 games during the months of September and October and got completely and utterly absorbed by them. Not to mention the two weeks of 13 hour workdays. October free time was spent either on new games or sleeping. I r sad.

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?

Yes! Hopefully we don't get like 10 good games released all within the same time period like we did this time. Derp.

Griff smash!

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors


Stadium Arcadium and Carnival of Horrors

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?


I actually believe it was fine; no real opinion. works, but I like full-game challenges too.

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?


Interesting, though I seldom went out of my way to do them

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?


yes, I'm *this* close to the 3-headded freak show! pokemon bred and trained, if. only. I. could. actually. BEAT. IT!

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)


yea, too many challenges made it seem larger than it really was.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)

not particularly, no (note I couldn't unbold this for some reason)

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?


That could really work.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors
No unfortunately, I was in another country during the GT11 and for the carnival of horrors I knew about it halfway throughout the month :(

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?
Yea, with some minor tweaks :)

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)
I would love it to be a full run (defeating the main game) but including some of the challenges from the carnival of horrors

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?
I'd say we keep 'em, so people wouldn't be hyped up about a certain challenge and reading the whole ruling and realizing at the end it's only for a specific gen/game.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors

All three of them! I finished GT11 and did a bunch of mini-challenges in Stadium Arcadium; as for the Carnival, I finished the Haunter full-game challenge, Gliscor's castle post-game, and did a measly 12 points in Sableye's games :(

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?

While not necessarily a bad thing, I feel like there was a lot going on. We had two E4 challenges, and four battle facilities challenges. As awesome as it was to read all the intros and plan my teams, I just wasn't as excited when I actually got to training in-game for the Espurr challenge in X, after finishing a full run of LeafGreen and post-game Unova for Gliscor's castle.

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?

I love how creative some of the tasks were, especially Sableye's expansion set. Sadly I didn't get to do those, I kept postponing them to finish the Haunter run and Gliscor's castle, and in the end I got sidetracked -- I should've known the last week of October was going to be the busiest :(

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?

Yes, very much. I seriously loved the format, even without being a horror fan, and I want to see it happen again.

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)

Personally, yes. As someone with a full-time job who plays Pokemon as a casual game and rarely goes into the competitive side of stuff, I think a full-game challenge, a post-game challenge and a set of mini-games would suffice. I wouldn't mind if it's just as big though, all the more things to do for the people who have the time and energy to do more. But what I think would work well is have the battle facility stuff in the mini-games, and maybe have some flash challenges released over the course of the month, I thought the Dia de los Muertos one was a really fun idea.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)
What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?

I'm not really a regular, I usually show up mostly for the event challenges, so I don't really have much to say here.

Post-Game Challenges: Couldn't really participate in any of the post-game challenges just because the only save I currently have that's past the E4 is FireRed, and unless I'm mistaken, none of those challenges are doable in FR/LG. So it would be nice to see more challenges that are doable in or have allowances for those games. But I do really like the idea of having challenges that don't just involve playing through the main game. I'd love to see a challenge that actually involves the post-game story content, as that's something I have never seen and rarely play through.

Carnie Games/Stadium Arcadium: LOVE LOVE LOVE please keep doing those. Again, it would be nice to see them a little more balanced in terms of having more things that are doable in older games, but they're still a lot of fun.

Carnival of Horrors: I think it was a lot of fun, but yes, a few too many events. It was a bit overwhelming to have so many, and then rather disappointing to discover that the only ones I would actually be able to participate in were Haunter's Carnival of Horrors and the Carnie Games unless I managed to play through an old Emerald challenge save I hadn't picked up in forever and was only halfway through.

I think the only other suggestion I would have, in general, is to make it clear right at the beginning of each challenge in an event if it's only playable in certain games. There were a number of times I glanced something over, thought yeah that's definitely something I can do, then when I'm planning it out, figure out that there's one tiny thing that makes it playable only in a game I don't have access to, or would take me too long to get to the point that I could complete the challenge. And as fun as it was to read, I also found it difficult to interpret some of your creative wording (likely because I'm a fairly casual player so don't always know what people are talking about when they AREN'T being creative), so a "plain speech" version of the challenge rules would be useful.

My two cents.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors
All of 'em.

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?
Good for the most part, some of the Battle Frontier ones in CoH were a little too difficult imo.

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?
I liked those. Stadium Arcadium was better in general, but Carnie games did well to stick to the theme.

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?
Sure.

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)
Probably.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)
Not really, your first half year as a mod went great!

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?
Does anyone use these anymore?

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors

Nope.

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?

N/A

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?

N/A

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?

Sure. Hopefully I'll have more time on my hands than this year.

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)

Nah, I kind of liked that fact that it was made up of lots of smaller challenges.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)

*forces self to not bring up the challenge index*

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?

I think this is a good idea. It would also be nice to add a +/- option (i.e., Gen 4+) to signify that it can be attempted with any generation including and before/after.

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors
I did GT and Arcadium, but fell flat in Carnival even though I signed up.

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?
I really like it and think it will bring in more players that are unwilling to restart their cartridges. Plus, it gives me more reason to use my storage games. I'd like to see not only more events, but regular everyday challenges like this. It brings something new to the table.

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?
I liked these a lot too and again, it brings something new to the table and does it without having to restart again. It's really fun trying to rack up points and creates a new experience we hadn't yet had in Challenges so I'm all for it coming back in the future!

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?
Yes, and hopefully I'll have time for it. :( I feel so terrible that I didn't do anything for it except one carnie challenge, but October was just...really busy for me this year.

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)
I think so. While I love your ambition, I think there was just a bit too much and in a way, it made it hard to focus, I suppose. It was probably overwhelming for some people because there was so much, but at the same time, all that variety is a good thing and gave good alternatives to players. I think there just needs to be a balance. A good bit of stuff for everyone, but not so much to where it's a bit overwhelming.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)
Don't stress yourself over that index. I hated updating it too. You'll be fine. :)

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?
I think this will be nice and make things look better, even though the prefixes don't get used much. But it does narrow things down better and it'll be good!

Keep up the great work, Necrum!! Meanwhile I swell with pride and tears because people loved Stadium Arcadium and that was my last event. ;o;

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors
- yep, CoH

If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?
- it's really great. It really opens up the possibilities for challenges

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?
- the mini challenges add depth. It's like trying to get achievements while playing a console game, sorta

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?
- oh yeahhhhh

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)
- I don't think so. Just bring all the challenges back from this year so I can tackle the ones I didn't get to!

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)
- nah

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?
- not sure, really

Did you participate in any of the following this year, and if so which ones? GT11 Pokemon Challenge, Stadium Arcadium, Carnival of Horrors

Gah! I missed all of them. My schedule makes me forget about PC and these temporary challenges.


If you participated in GT11 or Carnival of Horrors, what did you think of the post game challenge structure?

N/A

If you participated in Stadium Arcadium or Sableye's Carnie Games, what did you think of the mini challenges?

N/A

Would you like to see The Carnival of Horrors return next year?

I don't see why not. It's fun to do things that fit in with the seasons!

If The Carnival of Horrors were to return, should it be smaller next time? (3-4 challenges)

Small tasks are cool and they fit in with our schedules. It appears I'm in good company with those who missed these challenges. Answering the question, absolutely, but I'd need to clear my current challenges to invest in those.

Do you have any other concerns? (Please do not bring up the Challenge Index, I'm going to get it caught up soon)

These Challenges should reflect on the fact that some of us (ahem) don't have 3DS and therefore, should be eligible with all games, not just the new ones.

What do you think of changing the prefixes in Challenges to be more Gen specific over game specific (with a few for specific regions where it applies)?

In addition to the above, I'd like these Challenges to be universal and if not, a substitute should be in order when the seasonal ones are Gen specific. I'm an American and I like choice! Prefixes would obviously let us know.

To conclude, this is a nice idea you guys have. It's always great to break away from the usual Nuzlockes and Monotypes and this keeps my interest.