a pokemon game without... plot?

[colours]

the thought came to me just now, but bear with me!

back in gen 1 and 2, the games had... actually very little plot to speak of. your primary objectives were the classic "beat 8 gyms and become pokemon champion" and "defeat team rocket", with the latter not having a whole lot of lore or background beyond being a criminal organisation that sells pokemon for profit.

gen 3 however, that started to change. it seemed as if every single pokemon team wanted to capture or use the legendary mascot for their either world-conquering or world-ending ambitions. i'm currently wondering though, what would happen if, in future games, there wasn't a plot to speak of again? you'd be dropped in the pokemon world, exploring around to your hearts content without being overly concerned about plot twists or character development or any of that.

or would you prefer that pokemon did have a story? do you think having a story makes pokemon games more fun to play?

keep in mind though, i'm not asking if the story can be improved (it definitely can be), but it's rather a plot or no plot. which would you prefer?

 

[Sydian]

tbh it doesn't really matter to me, i don't come to pokemon for plot, but if it has one, then cool. although lol i had someone once argue with me very intently that gen 1 is the best plot bc it revolves around team rocket and creating mewtwo and you have to search pokemon mansion for the clues about mewtwo's birth and humanity's mistakes and the very last thing you do in the game is find mewtwo and THAT'S the actual climax of the game and like i get that but buddy having to manually scrape at the game to get your plot that was barely fed to you doesn't really count as a plot. it wasn't the driving force behind what you as the player were doing. i get the sentiment, i really do, and i think it's cool and an interesting message, but that was not what we were seeing as kids. lol the plot was literally complete the pokedex and become the champion, team rocket just happened to get in the way a few times.

 

[CelloX]

A more open ended, plotless game would be nice. Imagine if your player character didn't have to be a kid...

 

[Devalue]

Selects "no plot". Frets about possibly losing something minor, yet unexpectedly crucial. Demonstrated that well in Sword/Shield. Eliminated a lot of window dressing in areas. Drained them of life like a cave of Zubats.

 

[Nah]

Depends on what exactly we get from each option. A good story always adds to a game, while a bad one detracts from it. But if we remove the plot, are we getting improvements in other areas of the game? If we are and they're substantial, it'd certainly be a fair trade, if we really can't have both. But if all that happens is the plot is removed and that's it, what's the point?

 

[Percy]

I think for me, 'cause I grew up playing and watching pokemon, I prefer a game with deeper plot. when I was a kid, I clearly just had my fun beating gyms and catching pokemon but when I play the same concept over and over as I grow older, it just gets a bit tiring right? so at least sprinkle some good plot alongside that repeating concept to at least have some new entertainment. idk, I get more appreciative of a game with a more complex or deep plot. adds more realism (in terms of the pokemon world, being a trainer, etc.) and incentive to train and grind your way towards the championship.

 

[Sheep]

hmmmm... On one hand it was awesome going through the original games and I didn't even care that there was no major story nor thought much about it, but on the other hand a story does tend to give more personality/depth to characters. I think I'd prefer a story over not though, given how awesome BW turned out because of it. Pokémon is awesome because of the cool and cute monster designs + gameplay more so than plot, but if both are done well it can be absolutely awesome. Unova really showed me the height of Pokémon's story - I'd love the possibility of having that level of story again, definitely more than the basics that we had in RBY/GSC.

 

[SawkTheWarrior]

I don't really care about story a crazy amount in video games (with the only exception being the story mode in smash bros. Brawl), so if they made a game with little to no story it wouldn't really matter to me very much.

 

[colours]

i'm kinda torn, here.

i think there are a few pokemon games that have left an impact on me in terms of plot, but story is only really something that, barring replaying over and over, you experience once. so after i finish the story and beat the game, i'm going to be focusing on the rest of the gameplay and features and the story is going to take a backseat in my mind.

i think because of this i wouldn't mind a more gen 1/2ish approach where story isn't front and center (or at all, really...). at the end of the day, i play the games to raise pokemon and the plot wouldn't have a whole lot of impact on that.

 

[Palamon]

Well, gen i basically had no plot already, but I honestly feel like these days, Pokemon at least needs a small story in it to have an objective. A game literally just having.... no plot is much more suited for a Pokemon mobile game that's free. I most certainly wouldn't want to spend money on a $60.00 Pokemon game that has no story whatsoever. But, if the way you mean no plot is getting to play the game in any order you want, I'd be down with that.

 

[Bellsprout]

Unless the story is going to be good it's not necessary for me. I get the most enjoyment from exploring and battling other trainers.

 

[Corveone]

The plot can be a little extra motivation for some players to continue playing (or to revisit) the games. Pokémon games don't need an amazing plot (and definitely don't need an intrusive or very complicated plot as in other more adult RPGs), but I personally welcome when they at least try to bring a story that's interesting and more or less makes sense. It's not a top-priority but it's a nice plus if it's well done.

I mean, between a garbage plot and no plot, I'd probably take no plot at all, but otherwise I prefer a decent story, with interesting and appealing characters. I like to see Gym leaders that have a personality and even some story and motivations behind them, or a rival that has some character development besides being just the edgy dude that only cares about showing everyone how he's the best and strongest, or the friendly bro who's allways happy and smiling, or a Disney villain that just does evil things because that's what evil guys do, etc. Basically, some character depth so that they're not just flat avatars filling a gameplay "job".

 

[Mab]

 

[Sheep]

lmao

Honestly I do feel like the plot is predictable most of the time. Usually involves a villain using Pokémon for the wrong reasons, and in the end there's a legendary Pokemon for you to fight. I get that. But there's something really cool about certain things that come with it - Ghetsis's theme song for example is one of the best ones ever, and I'm not sure if we'd have gotten that if the game was just linearly exploring and collecting badges. I guess they could've put it elsewhere, but I love the tunes that some of these plots bring to fruition. Some of the games (again, BW) have excellent stories and I wish we'd have that same level of quality.

I'm less picky than others though. I loved Hop as a character and his development for one, which is a very unpopular opinion in the fanbase from what I've seen. So it's no surprise I'd say some plot > no plot haha.

 

[Sowon]

Boy I would love it. No useless cut scenes every five minutes to interrupt my enjoying of the game. Just having fun with pokémon.

The climax of too much scenario was USUM. Anyone who has tried rushing the game will know what I'm talking about. They are way too many characters who keep showing up when you really don't need them.

Sometimes I see people saying "People keep saying that old games were better, but what did they have that the new generations don't?" Well that's one thing, they had simple scenarios and let you enjoy exploring around. (the second thing being the possibility to change move order in combat using select, which I never understood why they removed, but that's another debate xD)

 

[Arcaneum]

Yeah the problem is that, minus Black & White, Pokémon's plot is kinda trash really. It's extremely simple, strictly formulaic and lends almost nothing to the game itself. It does however at least steer you in the right direction; I feel that it needs at least that otherwise even the exploration aspect would be incredibly boring after about an hour.

That said, if the games are rehauled to accommodate that then sure, screw the plot because it's not like it's doing anything anyway.

 

[Meister_anon~Master_o f_None]

idk, I thought the plot of black & white was some of the worst executed.

they tried to bring up big ideas, but then it was clear the team didn't really believe in it, from the get go, with the two dumb grunts stealing pokemon.
And we never actually got a backstory for N, and all the other members.

What we got was just really disappointing to me, considering all the background details just slammed into the games intro, that we never
saw or heard about at any point in the game.

Now what would have been interesting is if the game was played in reverse, if we were N.
Growing up in his secluded kingdom, exploring and making friends with pokemon, then we leave to see the world and enlighten the masses.

and our rival is the player character just going about their business trying to catch em all and be the best.

That way we could have got the background and actually contrasted the two themes.

 

[Zeostar]

If you want to experience this, there's a rom hack called Crystal Clear which sacrifices all plot related elements for a completely open world.

It wasn't for me, but I know some love it. I find it becomes an endless numbing repetition of battles, and I hope the main series never turns into this.

 

[pkmin3033]

Depends on the quality of the writing - Pokemon has always been about gameplay for me, but that's partly because the writing has always been trash and they've been reusing Gen 3's plot every single time. Good writing and good gameplay are not mutually exclusive. As things stand I would prefer no plot because I am tired of the exact same thing every title and it's just text to skip through, but if they could ever change that...

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Well, I love pokemon because it can offer many different experiences: from the story to competitive, to completing the dex to catch shinies. I mean, the reason why they decided to implement a story is mainly because otherwise the game would be too boring and too similar to older ones (but we got kinda the same thing anyway). I prefer a story because it just makes sense in this kind of game and it enriches it. If they made a game without a story, then I would like to see waaaaaaay more focus on the competitive part or anyway more and more new pokemon and constant new challenges like dynamax raids and dynamax adventures, ecc.
Anyway, I personally think they should do the exact opposite: focus on the lore of their own games and make more complicated stories. Till now this was a problem because competitive players do not care about the story, many other people play the game just because "it's another pokemon adventure" and they don't care as well and so on...
Since pokemon has so many ways of playing the game, they have to make everyone happy but they just can't in one game, or they could in a WELL MADE GAME, which is hard to realize tho. That's why I am looking forward to trying pokemon legends arceus. that is the kind of game that isn't focused on competitive and it's a prequel, therefore I expect that game to be focused really much on the lore and on the story, or I hope for that, at least!