Preferred game conventions (Gen I to Gen IV)

[Mrchewy]

Excuse the, erm... obscure premise of this thread, and also excuse the fact that I posted it in this section. I don't think this topic fits anywhere else.

Basically, I think it might help a lot of game developers - and perhaps even ROM hackers - if we established how people liked certain features and aspects of the interface presented in numerous Pokemon games over the years.

In summary: each generation - and to an extent, each main Pokemon game - features different 'conventions' for certain aspects of the gameplay and interface. Some examples

• All games until Gen IV used BIG CAPITALS to denote items, places, attacks and events.
• FR/LG are the only games so far to color dialog text based on the gender of the person speaking.
• Gen IV was the first generation to introduce 'VS Sequences'
• Gen IV saw an increase in game resolution

These are all really minor things, but I think they affect gameplay enough to matter. As an example, the ridiculously narrow font used in Ruby and Sapphire made reading game text quite a pain; this did reduce the enjoyment I got from playing these games.

So, here's a few questions I'd like ANYONE who's played Pokemon games to answer:

1. Which dialog system (i.e, FR/LG vs everything else) do you prefer?
2. Do you prefer playing in DS resolution?
3. Which game had the must attractive, usable interfaces and menus?
4. Which game had the best fonts?
5. Do you ever actually set the text speed to anything other than 'Fast'?
6. What is your favorite art style? Examples include the 'flat' overworlds and tiles of R/S/E, the pseudo 3D of FR/LG, full on 3D in Gen IV....
7. Which game featured the best music? By this I don't just mean tunes, but style. As an example, R/S/E made extensive use of synthesized brass, while Gen IV has a lot more piano/percussion.

While I value innovation a great deal, I think it'd be great to measure which kind of style of game making people prefer. This will really help us, the indie game devs, make awesome enjoyable games for everyone!

If there are other little things you liked about certain games in the main series (like the unique starting sequence in R/S/E for example), feel free to share.

 

[Birdybot]

1. FR/LG, but I don't like the capitals.
2. You bet.
3. HG/SS
4. D/P
5. Lol no
6. Definately Gen IV
7. That's a hard one... they've all got good and bad stuff about them... perhaps Gen IV, with Fr/Lg coming in close second.

 

[thepsynergist]

1.) FR/LG
2.) Only if someone is good at utilizes the res right.
3.) HG/SS
4.) D/P
5.) There's an option? JK
6.) Full 3-D
7.) Gen 2

 

[Yuoaman]

1. Which dialog system? Fourth Gen, the capitals drive me crazy... Hopefully by the fifth generation even species names will be capitalized correctly.

2. Do you prefer playing in DS resolution? Depends on the game.

3. Which game had the must attractive, usable interfaces and menus? Probably HGSS for it's touch-based menu, though the interface has never been difficult to navigate.

4. Which game had the best fonts? I like the FRLG fonts for some odd reason...

5. Do you ever actually set the text speed to anything other than 'Fast'? Hell no.

6. What is your favorite art style? Examples include the 'flat' overworlds and tiles of R/S/E, the pseudo 3D of FR/LG, full on 3D in Gen IV.... FRLG, definitely. It was a vast improvement over the 'flat' look of the RSE games. And Generation IV... it doesn't look bad, I just can't stand the look of characters' heads. Why must they be so bulbous?

7. Which game featured the best music? By this I don't just mean tunes, but style. As an example, R/S/E made extensive use of synthesized brass, while Gen IV has a lot more piano/percussion. Can't say I notice most of the time, haha. Generation II has the only music I can actually listen to most of the time, with HGSS having a few good ones... then there's the new Goldenrod theme... D:

 

[FinalEclipse]

1. Everything else (Colors are a pain)
2. Oh yes! Hell yes.
3. HGSS FTW.
4. HGSS English.
5. Who would?
6. Generation IV
7. I love Generation II just cause of tunes.

 

[KingCharizard]

1. FR/LG
2. Kinda depends on the game, cant say i'm a fan of D/P too much though.
3. Aside from touch screen FR/LG.
4. FR/LG
5. No I even can read faster then the fast option.
6. When it comes to Tiles, Kyle's lol But the ones nintendo released I like the Flat look. Of FR/LG, but D/P didnt look that bad either.
7. FR/LG by far. As you can see I am a big fan of FR/LG I've played every game up to D/P but I rushed through Diamond cause I wasn't fond of the gameplay. But I played FR like 100 times, and I still like to play it.

 

[Grifstar]

1. Which dialog system (i.e, FR/LG vs everything else) do you prefer?
Yanno, I never even really gave this much thought, but I think as the handheld games gotten more chattier (Gen IV being the most), all of them need to cut away from this only two rows of text and start making their windows bigger entirely. Pokemon has not really improved much in terms of overworld 'theatrics', which isn't that surprising since the main series hardly had any real plotline anyway outside from "Go to the next town, beat a gym, beat an organization, save a legendary, become the champion, wash rinse repeat". If they're going to try adding more story now, which I hope they will, I really hope that they use more of the proper mechanics trying to tell it (they've already proven they can do it for PMD and Ranger)

So short answer: None really. Though FRLG at least color codes some dialogue, which can sometimes help a little break up who's still talking, give or take.

2. Do you prefer playing in DS resolution?
Bigger screen is always nice, but honestly, I barely even use my touchscreen when playing it normally on DS(with the exception of box/party switching in HGSS because I do think it's a little faster in the long run). Button controls are still more convenient.

3. Which game had the must attractive, usable interfaces and menus?
DPPt since there was too many weird changes in HGSS that were kinda awkward getting used to. DPPt was basically like GBA but more updated.

4. Which game had the best fonts?
I've never payed too much attention to. Though I remember looking back at R/S's font and thought it looked hideous now.(How it never bothered me until much later I'll never know)

5. Do you ever actually set the text speed to anything other than 'Fast'?
Hahaha, no |D

6. What is your favorite art style? Examples include the 'flat' overworlds and tiles of R/S/E, the pseudo 3D of FR/LG, full on 3D in Gen IV.
It's hard to say. Some 3D from 4th Gen I liked (like going behind waterfalls, some parts in Torn World), some parts were a little cringeful or did not look right at all. Also I don't like how most of the tilesets had that grayscale tinge to it, or maybe that was only the Sinnoh ones. GBA overworlds I have no problem with, but they just look too outdated now. So I really don't know

7. Which game featured the best music? By this I don't just mean tunes, but style. As an example, R/S/E made extensive use of synthesized brass, while Gen IV has a lot more piano/percussion.
.... Let's just say, HGSS has been the only time music from a main Pokemon game was directly ripped to my mp3 player, it was that good. And I could barely even remember liking any of the music from the original G/S outside from the Dark Cave music. (though... I don't know if this cheats due to the fact it was a remake)




Yeah, I probably spent too much time thinking over this ;;