Whoa, now that's a mouthful! I'll try to break this down a bit piece by piece.
Things that I think could be implemented a little better
New Threads:
While I definitely dig the classic look, I feel like the sprites themselves can sometimes be a little bit of a mixed bag. For example, on the back sprite of the male trainer, I feel like you should be able to see part of the white area on the front of his cap based on his pose, and you don't.
I've considered this several times while editing the sprites. The issue here is that the perspective in the backsprites is just odd in general. I do want to be as accurate as possible with them, but that doesn't mean much if the result looks worse because of it. This may be one of those cases where trying to be more accurate in that department may end up with something worse off as a result. I'll certainly give it one more try, though.
Classic Music:
This is really a marvel and I have to give you massive kudos for making it work as well as it does. However, the volume of the tracks does make this feature less enticing for me personally. They completely drown out many of the sound effects. I know that you can't just adjust the volume as you said earlier in the thread, but is it possible to make everything else louder to match?
Unfortunately, that's the reality of what I'm working with here. Adjusting the PCM channels to be quiteter would require completely reworking every single tune in the game and changing traits about them all. Not only would that take a
lot of time, it'd also result in something that couldn't be as accurate on a base level. The other option would be to, as you said, make everything else louder. There's not a switch you can just push to suddenly make every sample-based sound become louder. I'd have to edit each and every sample/track in the game using them to be louder individually. First off, that in itself is pretty ridiculous, if you ask me. And second, the vanilla game's loud enough as it is. No need to make it even louder.
DECAPITALIZATION:
This is overall much appreciated, but I've noticed some inconsistency where menus will share both normal and ALL CAPS options, and I find it offputting.
If I may ask, which menus are you talking about? There are menus in the official games that also have a mix of normal and all caps. If there's actual problems with them, I'll see what I can do about any offending menus.
The little things
"Red whited out" should be "Red blacked out". This seems like some kind of weird censorship thing as the former isn't even a common English expression. It would also be true to the original Red/Blue/Yellow.
I've already changed this for the upcoming update.
Reinstate the creep factor of the old peeping tom outside the Celadon gym. His lines were neutered in FRLG.
The old man standing outside the Celadon City Gym in FR/LG is still a creep. Moreso than the original games, actually. He won't even turn around to talk to you! His dialogue and demeanor weren't toned down until HG/SS.
Things I'd like to see that I think are potentially within the scope of the project
Note that a lot of my suggestions will be in service of making the game less tedious. Playing the Generation VI games and then going back to the Gen I games, they can often feel like a slog, even with the Gen III updates and the further modernization made by your patch. Some of these may inadvertently make the game easier, but it my opinion they would almost all make it more fun.
Poison:
The implementation of poison in the field feels like a half step, as it did in generation 4. Often if I forget to stock up on antidotes I'll just run around until my Pokemon reaches one HP, then heal it up with potions as a workaround. In the name of modernization, I feel like you should just go all the way and implement Gen V/VI poison, where it only effects Pokemon in battle. While it would take away a little bit of poison's uniqueness as a status condition, it would also make it more difficult to shake: you either need to be prepared with the right items or it will follow you into further battles.
I've implemented this for the upcoming update.
Experience Points:
In Generation VI, when multiple Pokemon participate in a battle, they all receive the full share of experience when that Pokemon is defeated rather than it being divided among them. I personally feel like this is a no-brainer change because it makes it significantly easier to raise weak Pokemon like Magikarp, Abra and Zubat early in the game without the issue of all your Pokemon becoming over-leveled too easily.
It also encourages switching and discourages weird practices like having your better Pokemon whittle an enemy down to low HP and then letting them faint so that your weak Pokemon can claim the kill and get all the experience (seriously, how cruel).
More controversial, but also welcomed by me, would be the updated Exp. Share item, which gives full experience points to your entire party for each felled foe. I like it as an optionally enabled item, because it removes tedium for casual players who want to use it but also preserves the challenge for players who choose to keep it off. It would also work as a tribute to the classic "Exp. All" item, which doled out experience to your entire party (admittedly in much smaller amounts).
As far as Exp. Share goes, I agree with CrabInfestedPubes. No need to make the games even easier than they already are. Honestly, from what I've heard with the new games, it really seems like enabling it just breaks them. Not to mention that it'd take some pretty hefty ASM work to code that functionality into the game. I'm incapable of doing that myself.
The updated participation Exp. distribution behavior is a bit different, though. It seems like you'd be able to change that if you know where to find the calculated formula for it in the ROM. I don't know where that is, though, and I'm unsure off the top of my head if anyone does. It's not quite as game-breaking, and it makes sense from a general RPG perspective. If I can figure out a way to do it, I may consider it. No promises on it, though.
HMs:
Can we make these unlearnable? I know this isn't something that's ever been implemented in the series, but god it feels bad to saddle one of your Pokemon with Cut or Flash, or to give up one of your six Pokemon slots for an HM Slave.
I don't see how you could get stuck due to forgetting one, since they are infinitely reteachable, and you can only trade out Pokemon at the Pokemon Center (or more likely never when using a ROM).
An alternative option would be to have a free Move Deleter and forgotten Move Tutor at every Pokemon Center, probably as part of the PC system or through a separate machine. This would preserve Game Freak's reasoning behind keeping the moves unforgettable but not punish players so much for using them.
You can get stuck if you release all of your Pokémon that can learn Fly or Swim while you're at Cinnabar Island, keep releasing Pokémon until you only have one left, then finish all Pokémon battles there,
then run out of money and items so you can't afford any Poké Balls. Then again, that'd require you to deliberately screw yourself over. Plus it wouldn't matter whether or not you could make your Pokémon forget HM moves.
I don't know how I feel about this one, simply because no games in the series do this. Maybe? Again, no promises.
Pie in the Sky ideas
Some of these I'm pretty sure you've stated are outside the scope of the project but I'd still personally be jazzed to see any of them.
[list of Pie in the Sky ideas]
You're right in saying that I've
directly stated that some of these are outside the scope of the hack. However, I've made it implicitly clear that
all of these are outside the scope of it. Breaking compatibility with the official games isn't in my intentions, but there's a bigger reason, too.
You say that you like playing updated/improved versions of games. I do too. However, you reach a point where certain changes begin to transform a game into something else entirely. In Pokémon games, the keystone element of them is their battle systems. Each generation has a specific battle system that signifies what Game Freak felt was acceptable for a given period of time. They serve as milestones in the series' development as a whole. That needs to be acknowledged and accepted. If you go about changing the rules, you begin destroying what that game was and turn it into something else entirely. You'll essentially be making it a Frankenstein's monster of Pokémon games.
I understand why you feel that way, though. Here's another example. One of the most influential releases in modern-era videogaming is Grand Theft Auto III. That game single-handedly changed what open sandbox and action gaming was like. It was an incredible game for its time, and it's an important piece in the medium's history. However, going back to it nowadays is difficult, especially so if you've played any amount of Grand Theft Auto V like so many other people have. The mechanics in GTA III have been surpassed far and wide in later games. It makes that game look antiquated in comparison.
Regardless of how you may feel a game has aged, though, you have to take it for what it is. It's a game of a particular period in time, and it represents where gaming was at that point in time. Changes and updates in how that kind of game behaves won't retroactively make the old games less complete in comparison. It just shows how far the series or genre has come.
...
The idealist part of me kind of took offense to your comment about how adding things like this would "make the game feel more complete." I know what you mean, though. If you go so far as to adopt every new addition to the games as necessary, it makes playing the older games more rough. I think the best thing to do is to remove that feeling from your mind when replaying the older titles. Take them for what they are and don't fret about what they aren't. I'm fine with Pokémon hacks that make something new including these features. If they're trying to remain faithful to their given generation, though, changing any part of the battle mechanics betrays what they actually are.
I've stated that I may find a way to add as-is options for battle mechanics changes in the future if I find a good way of doing it. Although I still stand by this, I've decided that there are some things that I still feel go too far. This is a list of things that I will
never add to Throwback under any circumstance:
- New Pokémon
- New moves
- Mega Evolutions
Particularly controversial ideas
These are ideas that have never actually been implemented in a Pokemon game, but which I personally think would help make the game less tedious. You may love or hate these, but I just figured I'd put them out there.
Pokemon that faint in battle survive after the battle with 1 HP:
This is something that I've seen in several other RPGs and it would be essentially to cut down on tedium early in the game, where revives are hard to come by. No one likes having to run in and out of Mt. Moon with several fainted Pokemon, wouldn't it be better to be able to Potion up your fainted Pokemon and press on? As controversial as it probably would be, I think this could be a big feature. If Game Freak implemented it, it'd probably become a staple.
What if Game Freak actually implemented this for Sun and Moon? You'd be feeling pretty great about yourself then, wouldn't you? :)
I actually wouldn't quite rule this one out. The problem lies with figuring out how to implement it.
Ether & Elixir available in stores:
Another common occurrence in the early game is running to the Pokemon center and back to replenish PP, which can feel tedious. I have some radical ideas for solving the "PP problem", as I've always felt PP was kind of a clumsy mechanic, but for a mod like this, it's probably best to keep things closer to the official games. A more agreeable solution would be making Ether and Elixir available in stores, so you can stock up for a long trip, much like Potions.
I don't disagree with you, but I can't help but feel that doing this would be considered blasphemous for some reason. That's got to be the only reason that Game Freak insists on not making them purchasable... right?
Also, I thought of another feature that would be fun: an optional Pokemon Yellow patch for those who have fond memories of that version of the game. I imagine having Pikachu follow the player might not be possible but the other features seem pretty straightforward.
Implementing Pikachu's Beach is in no way straightforward. At all.
Beyond that, though, the fact that there's no way to have Pikachu follow you makes the whole idea of that kind of hack extension pointless to me.
I'd also like to see the animations when you use an item on a Pokemon removed. Afaik they're not in any other game in the series and the really just slow things down.
The animation is there to help you gauge how much your Pokémon likes you. The closer it comes in to you when using an item, the more it likes you.
That said, I know there's other ways of finding that out. I won't rule it out entirely, but it's real low on my priority list.
Lastly, the new title screen is cool but even cooler would be a remake of the original Red/Blue title screen that shows Red next to various Pokemon. Not sure how feasible this is but it's something I'd love to see.
I'd love to put that in the hack. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone has the hacking skills to do that. It's a pipe dream, for all intents and purposes.
Hope you didn't mind my equally-long response your own response!
