Things Game Freak would do that would make you quit Pokemon

Well, we like talking about negative things and expressing our inner rage and dissatisfaction, so why not make a fun little discussion out of it?

Title, basically. What would it take for Game Freak to push you out of the main series games?

Requirements to enter a Pokemon Gym *Check* <- LGP/LGE
Not allowing Cut-scene's to be skipped. *Check*
Lack of Freedom to go where I want in-game. *Check*
Z-Moves *Check*

When you got ample things already checked off, kind of turns you off doesn't it?

Personally, as long as Game Freak doesn't enter the realm of DLC, then idc about whatever else they do.

LGPE as far as I'm concerned is mostly kind of a spinoff title anyway so they can do whatever they want with that.

colours said:

Personally, as long as Game Freak doesn't enter the realm of DLC, then idc about whatever else they do.

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I'm sure this will be a very unpopular opinion, but if done correctly, I think DLC would be a fantastic idea for Pokemon. I mean, I'd much rather pay $20 for a DLC update to the game than paying full price for a 3rd version which is 80% the same as the originals. It could've also given titles like X and Y an opportunity to be fleshed out, or added areas like the Battle Frontier to ORAS.

That said, with a brand new Pokemon game coming out every year, there's no real incentive to extend the life of the old ones, so if Game Freak were to just add easy money DLC (like paying to get access to an Ultra Wormhole like feature or something), then I'd take issue with it. Any sort of paying for in-game items like Bottle Caps and Master Balls would turn me off the games as well.

Brendino said:

I'm sure this will be a very unpopular opinion, but if done correctly, I think DLC would be a fantastic idea for Pokemon. I mean, I'd much rather pay $20 for a DLC update to the game than paying full price for a 3rd version which is 80% the same as the originals. It could've also given titles like X and Y an opportunity to be fleshed out, or added areas like the Battle Frontier to ORAS.

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While this is a very valid point, my biggest issue is that DLC breaks the immersion in Pokemon games, so generally I just feel very conflicted whether or not it's really a good idea in the long run. Like entire story arcs like Breath of the Wild kind of DLC would be really awesome in theory, but in execution it would break the immersion that you ARE your player character due to possibly desiriable post-game features being hidden away behind a paywall/DLC of some sort.

The general point is that you're your player character, exploring around the region, capturing Pokemon and the like, and now you have to pay real world money to continue that journey? Granted it's optional but... idk. It just doesn't sit well with me. u.u

It's... a tricky area to navigate, I think. @__@; I hope this makes sense.

Hoo boy, here we go...

- Excessive reliance on HMs
- Every wild Pokemon can flee, even if it's shiny
- Bad level curve
- TMs go back to being single use
- Locking the whole game besides the first gym behind a paywall
- Removal of PvP

I can go on.

colours said:

Personally, as long as Game Freak doesn't enter the realm of DLC, then idc about whatever else they do.

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Why not add micro-transactions and loot boxes while we're at it! :laugh:

LGPE as far as I'm concerned is mostly kind of a spinoff title anyway so they can do whatever they want with that.

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Didn't Game Freak state LGPE are "core" series games, despite the seemingly watered down tone these versions are taking?

CodeHelmet said:

Not allowing Cut-scene's to be skipped. *Check*
Lack of Freedom to go where I want in-game. *Check*

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These seem to be more symptoms of the seventh generation being more of a JRPG as opposed to an adventure game, not that I do not sympathize with you on this. Perhaps Game Freak can learn from this, and provide a balance between being locked into a plot with unskippable cutscenes & being able to go on a genuine Pokemon adventure.

Z-Moves *Check*

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Hater! :tongue-poke:

Though, I much prefer Mega Evolutions. Hopefully Game Freak expands upon this in future games, if not to appeal to my personal preferences.

Brendino said:

I'm sure this will be a very unpopular opinion, but if done correctly, I think DLC would be a fantastic idea for Pokemon. I mean, I'd much rather pay $20 for a DLC update to the game than paying full price for a 3rd version which is 80% the same as the originals. It could've also given titles like X and Y an opportunity to be fleshed out, or added areas like the Battle Frontier to ORAS.

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Perhaps, but then the questions begs to be asked why such features were not included to begin with. Now, if DLC could be one way to address accessibility to multiple regions, that would be an interesting avenue to explore.

Any sort of paying for in-game items like Bottle Caps and Master Balls would turn me off the games as well.

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I don't suppose accessing those item via means such as Battle Points (granted more expensive than your typical items/moves) would be one way to make such items more accessible without having to pay DLC prices?

HeroLinik said:

- Excessive reliance on HMs

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Game Freak has an enormous opportunity to address this issue with Poke Ride, assuming they decide to make this a staple feature going forward. Perhaps LGPE will further experiment with this, assuming they do not already.

- Locking the whole game besides the first gym behind a paywall
- Removal of PvP

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Hopefully thought leaders at Game Freak are not this stupid to make such suicidal moves.

As for myself:

-Random Encounters (see LGPE)
-Pokemon Go catching mechanics (see LGPE)
-Restrictive gym requirements (see LGPE)
-(Excessive) forced legendary encounters (especially Pokemon not recatchable)
-Removing online capability (as such, removing online multiplayer)
-Too many unskippable cutscenes
-Excessive DLC content (thus making a weak single player experience)

That's all I can think of for now.

I did say "as far as I'm concerned", meaning to me it's more of a spinoff instead of a weird core series/spinoff combination thing. :P

If the main series continued from the "Pokemon Go" style games.

They feel like a huge simplification of the series, which I don't care for.

Pokemon Go never interested me, and neither do the "Let's Go" games.

Good question. If I've pushed through the last three generations - which have already given me more than enough reason with their absolutely disgraceful faceless NPC-driven narrative - I have a hard time envisioning what could make me quit the series entirely...

...oh. Don't the Let's Go games have mandatory motion controls, just because the developer wants you to play that way?

Well then.

I've only really considered jumping ship since Gen 7. The cut-scene lengths and hand-holding are becoming deal breakers for me with the prominence of them. At times it felt like I was "playing" a visual novel rather than a main series Pokémon game during my Sun play through.

I'd say Gen 6 got the balance right between story telling and game play if they now want to give more focus to the story. But Gen 7 was on another level.

If Gen 8 doesn't offer up anything new and is just the same... again... despite the radical upgrade in hardware, I have absolutely no qualms with being done with the games forever.

I literally haven't had fun with a Pokemon game since Y. I can live without Pokemon; I want something next generation and new and GF is the most stagnate game company around. They only get one more chance from me.

They tried 'new' ideas with SM, but the right kind of new. Those games were absolutely atrocious.

Because anybody can just come up with a laundry list of incongruous off-the-wall things that have little to no chance of ever actually being incorporated into Pokémon, I'm gonna try and keep this limited to just things I feel have a chance of actually potentially happening:

The biggest one is probably the Let's Go! games turning out to be the new "base" on which future Pokémon games are developed. I don't mind incorporating some elements from GO; for instance, I'd be perfectly fine with the Poké Ball-throwing mechanic being a replacement for or influencer of the randomness involved in using Poké Balls, but having it replace random battles entirely is a step or two too far. Other things like the removal of abilities and later-generation Pokémon don't exactly get me excited about the precedent I really hope Let's Go! isn't setting, either.

Going too hard into this "alternate dimension" nonsense would be another one. This is really a super personal, subjective thing, but I find that alternate dimensions as a plot element are usually really dumb and distracting unless they in some way exist as an expression of a story's themes, as is the case in, for example, Chrono Cross... which I haven't played and really shouldn't be using as an example. Besides, I really appreciated how the more fantastical elements of the Pokémon universe were more muted in generations like the first and second. In those games, the Pokémon themselves were the most fantastical things about the setting, although there were also little things like humans with psychic abilities, that sense of some modesty in the inclusion of fantastical elements created a sort of "feel" for the setting that not a lot of RPGs have. I'd kind of like for Pokémon to move back in that direction, honestly. Making legendary Pokémon actual creator-gods, for example, is a little silly to me; I much preferred when they were just rare and powerful creatures that may or may not be revered as local deities in certain parts of the world, but were still more or less "mortal" and didn't even come close to any sort of omnipotence or dominion over an entire aspect of reality or anything like that. So, I guess in general if they keep up the goofy scope inflation and legendary power creep stuff, that'd really hurt my interest.

I really, really don't mind having a more fleshed-out story in a Pokémon game, but what I do mind is feeling like GameFreak doesn't trust my perspicacity, ingenuity, and/or general competency as a player. I know that children make up a very large portion of Pokémon's target demographics; I know that, but I kind of feel like SuMo as they are are underestimating even children in how they're designed. Believe it or not, kids are actually fully capable of picking up information through experience, communicating with each other, and putting two and two together to solve problems and, in this case, learn about how to play a game more competently, by themselves! They don't need to have their hands held through everything, either! I'm not saying Pokémon should go full-on NES RPG levels of obtuse and spartan in terms of in-game information on the mechanics, but don't force the player to go through an entire in-game adaptation of the game manual before letting them actually play it. Also, as somebody who's fiddled around in RPG Maker and knows how this sort of thing would be set up, it's really not hard to make it so important plot events in certain areas won't activate until it's time for them to even if the player goes to the relevant locations early. Stop barring player progress arbitrarily in all directions other than the very specific one you want the player to go in! I really want to like SuMo, but I've found myself asking at multiple points, "Alright, GameFreak; do you want me to play your game, or would you ideally like me to just watch you play it in the single-specific way it's intended to be played?"

Gutting the single-player game in favor of the postgame and multiplayer. I actually really like the main single-player Pokémon games, and I really wish GameFreak would start putting as much effort into making those robust and enjoyable experiences as they did into, say, B2W2's postgame. I get that some people see the main game as just a means to the end that is the postgame and multiplayer, but I really don't, and would strongly prefer that GameFreak doesn't, either.