6th Gen I'm nervous about these games

[Pendraflare]

^ Although ORAS will have the same Exp. Share that XY had, but yes there is the lack of Pokémon that will be present, much like BW did.

And for the mechanics, that is something that can be agreed on with me - between newer games having more to utilize than the older games, it really does make finding counters to most opponents much easier, except some (Cynthia, BW Ghetsis, etc).

 

[GreenFlame]

I also think that Game Freak doesn't want to make the main parts of the Pokemon games difficult because that would probably scare away new players and the more casual players.

I wouldn't mind them adding in difficulty options though. Just as long as they do it better than they did in Black2/White2.

What is this "difficulty options in B2/W2" everyone speaks of? I only ever played Black of the Gen V games.

 

[Pendraflare]

What is this "difficulty options in B2/W2" everyone speaks of? I only ever played Black of the Gen V games.

A key system that had Challenge Mode and Easy Mode available. Unfortunately, to get the Challenge Mode key you had to defeat Iris in Black 2, and if you were to delete your saved data it would erase the key and you wouldn't be able to transfer it.

Another reason it was not successful is because all it really did was raise the levels of opposing trainers, and give the Gym Leaders and Elite Four new Pokémon (and items for the latter), as opposed to something more complex.

 

[GreenFlame]

A key system that had Challenge Mode and Easy Mode available. Unfortunately, to get the Challenge Mode key you had to defeat Iris in Black 2, and if you were to delete your saved data it would erase the key and you wouldn't be able to transfer it.

Another reason it was not successful is because all it really did was raise the levels of opposing trainers, and give the Gym Leaders and Elite Four new Pokémon (and items for the latter), as opposed to something more complex.

Oh, so it was pretty bad then.

I hope that now that the devs don't have to spend time creating a whole new story or region, they have more time to implement a difficulty system in to this game (and one that works). Despite that though, I'm still very doubtful it will happen.

 

[Cerberus87]

I have a friend who says: "I play games to have fun. If it feels more like work, I give up on the game."

This brings the question of how do you have fun. There are people who enjoy a challenge, while others just want to pass time. I'm in the second category because I'm not a skilled gamer anyway so I prefer to chill.

Pokémon games have just the right amount of difficulty, although they're easy to trivialize. People who want more challenge should probably try competitive battling and/or battle facilities. The story is just the beginning of a Pokémon game.

The Exp. Share is just a tool to minimize grinding and make the game more fun, though I agree they exaggerated its power a bit. :P

 

[SnowpointQuincy]

I have a friend who says: "I play games to have fun. If it feels more like work, I give up on the game."

This brings the question of how do you have fun. There are people who enjoy a challenge, while others just want to pass time. I'm in the second category because I'm not a skilled gamer anyway so I prefer to chill.

Pokémon games have just the right amount of difficulty, although they're easy to trivialize. People who want more challenge should probably try competitive battling and/or battle facilities. The story is just the beginning of a Pokémon game.

The Exp. Share is just a tool to minimize grinding and make the game more fun, though I agree they exaggerated its power a bit. :P

Pokemon is a great game to chill out with. Probably why I have spent so much time playing. The battle facilities can be mind boggling hard. I still don't have a statue.

 

[curiousnathan]

Sigh... Here we go again, people that need everything to be difficult.

If the game doesn't turn out to be hard, that won't kill the game, will it? For that matter, if all your friends say the same thing (that XY were a cakewalk), did they all just Exp. Share the whole game? Because i've played through them several times without it and they were far from easy then. And this will have the same thing if i'm not mistaken. But this will also have some new Mega Evolutions and upgraded teams, so we'll have to see what happens.

It would kill the game for some, including me.

I want a challenge. I want to feel as if I have earned my badges and my victory against the Elite Four. I don't want to bulldoze them all even with a mediocre team because they had only 3 pokemon instead of 4 or a team a good 5 levels below mine.

Ideally I would love for it to be challenging without having to do anything. Why should I be forced to partake in a challenge to enjoy my time playing? I should be able to play the game how I want to play it without having to sacrifice X number of Pokemon or use only Y Pokemon type. Of course, I'd love for there to be a difficult/challenge mode like in B2W2 but with it being available straight away.

I just want a challenge, something X and Y and honestly ever since DPPt/HGSS, Pokemon games have not provided.

 

[James169]

Familiarity of the games is a key factor, ive been playing emerald again and im currently about to fight Liza and Tate for the 7th badge yet my highest pokemon is lvl35 vibrava Games will always become easier as you become more familiar, fortunately for me emerald is starting to become more challenging especially as im trying to get my lower pokemon to the same lvl as my vibrava. Oras being harder than the originals would be perfect for me but others may not agree

 

[Pepperton]

I think they purposefully turned the difficulty down in X and Y because in its design, it was intended to revitalize the Pokemon gaming franchise with an entirely new game in order to reel in a new haul of fans, and therefore they didn't want to make it too challenging for new players, getting them discouraged. If that's the case, I wouldn't worry about ORAS being too easy.

 

[Pendraflare]

I think they purposefully turned the difficulty down in X and Y because in its design, it was intended to revitalize the Pokemon gaming franchise with an entirely new game in order to reel in a new haul of fans, and therefore they didn't want to make it too challenging for new players, getting them discouraged. If that's the case, I wouldn't worry about ORAS being too easy.

You know, I recall one person said that they think they made the game easy and included over 400 Pokémon so you could have fun using your favorites. Which I kinda did the first time I played it.

But in reality, i'm not sure if you've heard, but Masuda(?) said in an interview that he feels that as people who may not have as much time to play Pokémon nowadays, he wanted to make sure we would be able to proceed through the games on a sizable pace.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Sadly at the expanse of those fans who have either more time to play the games and/or those who would like a challenge.


@ Pepperton Well actually Gen V was the revitalizer according to Gf, Gen VI is only a continuation of that (I bet we'll get another reboot with Gen VII as we got one with III and V), yet the Unova games were more difficult...

 

[Hikamaru]

You know, I recall one person said that they think they made the game easy and included over 400 Pokémon so you could have fun using your favorites. Which I kinda did the first time I played it.

But in reality, i'm not sure if you've heard, but Masuda(?) said in an interview that he feels that as people who may not have as much time to play Pokémon nowadays, he wanted to make sure we would be able to proceed through the games on a sizable pace.

Sadly at the expanse of those fans who have either more time to play the games and/or those who would like a challenge.


@ Pepperton Well actually Gen V was the revitalizer according to Gf, Gen VI is only a continuation of that (I bet we'll get another reboot with Gen VII as we got one with III and V), yet the Unova games were more difficult...

Said interview also pretty much explains why the Exp. Share mechanics got greatly altered this generation, it's to help the more busier players level-up faster. Even if does get backlash from those veteran players who wanted a challenge.

I used the Exp. Share all throughout X/Y and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I'm not usually one who likes tough challenges and I just wanted to play the game. And OR&AS, interesting point on 5th Gen being the "revitalizer" because as I know, they had a tagline in the commercials for Black & White which was "Start from a new beginning". X & Y was sort-of a continuation of that, being set in another isolated region and changing some mechanics even further.

 

[Aeroblast]

Loads of people have said this already but because many of us are experienced at Pokemon, we tend to find Pokemon games we play now to be much easier than we remember.

That, I think, is why I think there should be difficulty options catered towards those who are more familiar with the games. I don't think Nintendo will put the extra effort into this feature in the future, though. I know it happened already in BW2 but it was an improper way of trying to add the feature, I feel.

 

[LetsPlayAdvance]

I thought D/P were the most challenging

 

[Chimerical]

They need to significantly up the challenge; Ruby and Sapphire were a cakewalk imo. I'm hoping the games are a little more like Diamond and Pearl in the difficulty department. Level grinding hardly felt necessary in R/S/E until the post Elite Four challenges. I'd like a little more variety in Sky Pillar as well. Perhaps some kind of additional requirements to access it, and different encounters. I didn't feel like it was a worthy contender to Cerulean Cave or Mt. Silver.

 

[Altius]

To me, Ruby and Sapphire were rather difficult games. Of course, one reason could be because I first played these games at a young age. However, there were other factors that made it more difficult than the first two generations.

The top reason for me was because of the boosted AI. I played Red after completing Ruby, and one thing I realized was how trainers wouldn't use potions, or used them in terribly silly instances (full restore on a full HP rapidash). Key trainers in Ruby/Sapphire knew when to use healing items, and used them when the health bar goes to red. It might not seem very crucial, but I believe this was one major factor contributing to the game's difficulty. Of course, FRLG also had the boost in AI, but it is a remake of RB with the "latest" mechanics after all.

As far as I can see, Gamefreak is trying to make the games more difficult than XY. Hoenn isn't exactly a good place to train up levels. The new mechanics in Gen VI as well as the features in other games/remakes would probably make ORAS less difficult than the original titles, but at least GF is trying to increase the difficulty.

 

[Candy]

Here I'm hoping that I can at least get challenged at I go through the game. XY is still cakewalk even without the Exp. Share to me, so I'm kinda hoping that the difficulty will be raised.

I'll admit, since Sapphire was my first game, I've had some difficulties in battling some gym leaders (aka. Wattson, Winona, Tate and Liza as well as Wallace). However, after replaying the game about 6 years since I first played I noticed how easy it actually is, since I've gained experience on Pokemon games.

Probably right now, with the Exp. Share mechanics in place, it'll be really easy to just blast through the game. Chances are, I'll probably be turning off the Exp. Share, set the battle style to Set and resist. using. the. Poke-Amie. at. all.

I thought D/P were the most challenging

Cynthia really helps increasing the difficulty. Admit it, in BW/B2W2 she's still tough as ever, with an epic theme to boot.

 

[Cerberus87]

Emerald was, I wouldn't say challenging, but it required some effort to beat. But that was more because I didn't prepare for most of the challenges.

 

[Poke_Spirit]

Unless you don't want to be spoiled Trainers teams have already been leaked..

 

[Killjoy]

Its kinda silly, but I kept X and Y somewhat challenging by incorperating a few little role playing aspects to the games, based on some of the things I remember from the TV show. For instance, maybe a pokemon will get sick, so you can't use it for a couple badges, then have to get it caught up in level. Another example is, like charizard leaving Ash for the wild, my Greninja at level 58 just "went to live" on Route 14 in the swamps, leaving my party without a water pokemon. Or perhaps you have a pokemon unable to use certain types of moves it would normally excell with.

Little things like that kinda as another level to the game. Get creative with it.