Hi, I honestly didn't know how to title this but here's a more "technical" discussion about challenges! Especially some of the ones I've been trying to create lately, or for the purpose of events~
Some background: I've played a lot of Pokémon Reborn and similar. I've noticed just how much those games force you to change and adapt your team as you go, both by limiting access to more versatile critters and by giving you very hard battles that require a lot of planning. I actually loved that aspect of the game because it made me appreciate so many Pokémon I would've never used, and made me genuinely want to hug things like Vespiquen and Jumpluff.
That's why I kinda made it my mission to find rules and challenges that would allow for more Pokémon variety, even in a single run of the game. Perhaps nothing can replicate Reborn in that sense, but I feel like I got close enough to it with the current Lampent Challenge. Even some simple limitation that make you swap your team members often and always look for new Pokémon to catch, even those that are usually too late in the game, to me... they can really make games more fun and interesting. I asked around for opinions after my 2020 event and I found comments such as "I would've never used this Pokémon without this challenge" which makes me know I hit bullseye!
It's also true that you can achieve something similar without swapping your team over and over - something that I can totally get can become frustrating. There's things like Monotypes for that, there's the "Ones that got away" challenge, there's tons of other limitations you can place on yourself and keep up for an entire run. I've tried a Flying monotype in Platinum a long time ago and that also let me appreciate Pokémon I'd have never used, such as Gliscor and Yanmega.
So, to summarize, we have two kinds of challenge rules. One pushes for more team rotations and forces you to adapt your playstyle as you go, while the other forces you to only use certain Pokémon for a whole run and make it work no matter what. What's your favorite of the two? Why? Any good memories of playing with either "challenge style"?
Some background: I've played a lot of Pokémon Reborn and similar. I've noticed just how much those games force you to change and adapt your team as you go, both by limiting access to more versatile critters and by giving you very hard battles that require a lot of planning. I actually loved that aspect of the game because it made me appreciate so many Pokémon I would've never used, and made me genuinely want to hug things like Vespiquen and Jumpluff.
That's why I kinda made it my mission to find rules and challenges that would allow for more Pokémon variety, even in a single run of the game. Perhaps nothing can replicate Reborn in that sense, but I feel like I got close enough to it with the current Lampent Challenge. Even some simple limitation that make you swap your team members often and always look for new Pokémon to catch, even those that are usually too late in the game, to me... they can really make games more fun and interesting. I asked around for opinions after my 2020 event and I found comments such as "I would've never used this Pokémon without this challenge" which makes me know I hit bullseye!
It's also true that you can achieve something similar without swapping your team over and over - something that I can totally get can become frustrating. There's things like Monotypes for that, there's the "Ones that got away" challenge, there's tons of other limitations you can place on yourself and keep up for an entire run. I've tried a Flying monotype in Platinum a long time ago and that also let me appreciate Pokémon I'd have never used, such as Gliscor and Yanmega.
So, to summarize, we have two kinds of challenge rules. One pushes for more team rotations and forces you to adapt your playstyle as you go, while the other forces you to only use certain Pokémon for a whole run and make it work no matter what. What's your favorite of the two? Why? Any good memories of playing with either "challenge style"?