Should the difficulty be increased?

[TomPhanto]

I say there should be difficulty settings like in Black 2 and White 2, only it's available from the start instead of having to be unlocked.

And I hated how all the gym leaders had only three Pokémon each in X and Y; it just made it too easy. At least Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire brought back some challenge. Like I think the first gym leader should have three, then the fourth gets four, then the sixth gets five, and the last gym leader has six.

I honestly think the Elite Four members should all have six Pokémon each, since four is kinda pathetic.

 

[The Evil Mewtwo]

They should make the Elite Four having 5 Pokemons instead of 4.

 

[Talon Flare]

The game should have a difficulty option similar to Fire Emblem Fates.

Easy Mode: You'll get EXP share before the first gym. Also, EXP will be easier to obtain.
Normal Mode: The difficulty of the game will be similar to the previous ones.
Hard Mode: EXP will be hard to obtain. Also, the level of opposing Pokemon will be 2 levels above yours.
Lunatic (or whatever Pokemon calls it) Mode: Access to items and EXP will be limited. All fainted Pokemon disappear forever. This is a good feature for those who are looking for a challenge.

 

[dandun]

They need to bring back the achievement medals back from B2/W2. Those could help increase difficulty depending on how difficult the medal is the player is going for. Also should have the last gym and all Elite Fours have 6 pokemon. I'd like to see trainers using more healing items too. Something as small as that can really help increase difficulty.

 

[Guest123_x1]

The difficulty level I experienced while playing Alpha Sapphire and Y would be fine to carry over into Sun/Moon. However, when players are introduced to Exp. Share, there should be a statement at that time that says something like "if you want an extra challenge, keep this device off during your journey" (not that it would make that much of a difference, though, in hindsight).

Maybe there could be a new setting that players could change that affects how experience is gained-say "Exp. Distribution" where one option would be to duplicate (as it is in Generation VI) or divide (as it originally was in the earliest generations) among Pokémon in your party.

 

[KillerTyphlosion]

The problem with X and Y was not only the exp share, but the exp system in general. If you switched out pokemon, both pokémon would get full exp instead of it being shared. The exp share feature should be limited. Like the rby days where the exp is divided equal and post game you can get a upgrade that changes the exp system to the one we have now in XY/ORAS.

The fact that people need to create rules for themselves to make the game harder or you need to create a modified version or create your own game for a challange is just stupid. There are many unofficial pokemon games out there that make the games very hard. Like a level cap or pokemon not listening to you after said level cap, only getting 1 exp when hitting that level cap. Gamefreak could easily make more difficulty settings that have more rules set in place to make the game harder. One thing that makes any of the pokémon games so easy is the items. In the first games the e4 and champion would destroy me and the only thing I could was spamming potions and revives to beat the e4 and champion. The AI can only use a max of 4 items in a battle, so why can you use unlimited items? Also hold items, pokemon bw2 was the only game that featured having the opponent holding items and even then it was only the gym leaders, e4, champion and the world tournament enemy's. And of course the shift mode. Shift mode also makes the game so easy.

 

[FlygonFreak]

Yes. Absolutely. 150% sure.

Just because it's a game made with children in mind, it doesn't mean that GF should ignore all of the other kinds of players. Those players could be a kid that saw the games on TV and now wants to try it out, a teen playing because they heard about it, a parent who wants to know why their child loves this game so much or a fan of the series that just wants to have a good time. And if GF is only ever going to focus on the first ones, they're setting aside a lot of potential buyers.

I'm not saying that they should make different games for different people, just an option to choose the difficulty would be fine. Something that lets you adjust how challenging you want the game to be, maybe even something that lets you skip the story and the puzzles if you're only interested in playing.

Well, I'm not saying anything that the previous posters haven't, but that's my opinion :/

 

[Clark]

I'm not at all opposed to a difficulty option, but I feel like there's more to "difficulty" than higher levelled opponents. When the only difference between "easy" and "hard" is more hours spent on tedious, arbitrary grinding, I don't think difficulty is really the factor in question. I'd prefer a difficulty option that improves things like the movepools, stats, and AI of trainer opponents. Give their Pokemon access to crafty movesets, high stat values, and actual battle strategies - sort of like the Battle Tower/Frontier/Maison, I guess? Give Gym Leaders another Pokemon or two, give E4 members teams of 5 or 6. Sure, make them higher leveled as well. Make wild Pokemon stronger to allow for better grinding. But if levels are the only difference, I'd honestly rather there not be a difficulty option at all.

This may ultimately be the fault of Pokemon games in general, though. No matter what, you can always grind up your team and beat your opponents simply by outleveling them. It comes down to patience moreso than strategy or skill.

I also think the Experience Share ought to be received post-game... I love having it, it's a big help with leveling up and evolving Pokemon when you're working on the Pokedex or training competitive teams, but having it during the main storyline puts a big level gap between players who use it and players who don't. A difficulty option would probably be the ideal replacement.

 

[Entermaid]

I would rather see gym leaders and trainers levels calibrated to your pokemon's levels if they exceed a certain level than having to disable the EXP share. Why not elevate both the player's and CPU's game rather than forcing me to waste time grinding? That's not fun nor "challenging" -- it's just a nuisance especially as I have more and more time commitments.