5th Gen Actually training pokemon...

[Astinus]

I like the way it works in the Digimon DS games.

Instead of a PC it's a training area where you can up different stats depending on what you use to train them.

Exactly. The training areas of the Digimon games are a great idea for Pokemon games. They can still level up/increase stats, but without the trainer actually having to be there. It makes it easier trying to complete the Pokedex. And there's an extra boost to whichever stat is increased while on the farm that's higher than what a normal battle could give. (Though Digimon stats are measured differently.)

One thing I always liked about Pokémon was that I could leave it lying unattended for a few months and then just pick it up and start up without having to worry about it. If you had to feed your pokies isn't it possible that they also could become malnourished and then perish? I'd be awfully disappointed to return to my game only to find that my poor pokies had expired because I hadn't fed them. ):

I'd imagine it would be like Nintendogs, where even if you don't play the game for a long time, the dogs don't die. They just get really hungry/thirsty/dirty. Because, y'know, I don't think the young children that play Pokemon would like their little buddies to die. Because that's just awful.

It just doesn't make any sense - why would a Pokemon choose to get beaten up and fainted instead of following a simple order?

I always thought that the Pokemon didn't trust the trainer enough to obey the command, and so figured that rather than lose dignity by obey a trainer they think is "wrong", they would much rather have the trainer lose the fight and have the trainer lose their own dignity. If that makes sense. They're just trying to make the trainer look bad. That's how I've always seen it.

 

[Niprop]

One thing I always liked about Pokémon was that I could leave it lying unattended for a few months and then just pick it up and start up without having to worry about it. If you had to feed your pokies isn't it possible that they also could become malnourished and then perish? I'd be awfully disappointed to return to my game only to find that my poor pokies had expired because I hadn't fed them. ):

Some Pokemon have the advantage of not having to eat as much, like Meditite and Cascoon, while others don't have to eat at all, such as Shedinja/The Regis/Porygon, which would make these lower maintenance pokes preferable for boxing over a pokémon that needs constant attention, like Togepi. Of course, they could pull a Mystery Dungeon and put game mechanics over all else in order to balance things out...

These concepts would be interesting for a Spin-off, but perhaps they're a bit too much for the main games?

 

[brownkidd]

This would freaking rule. I've never played the digimon games, but the ranch idea sounds pretty rad. It'd be neat just to have a place to hang out with all your pokemon instead of just having them frozen in a box. While there's certain Pokémon that I like for battle, there's other, weaker, Pokémon that I'd like to hang out and play with and train in a Nintendogs-ish way, but knowing Nintendo, rather than implement such a vast feature in the main Pokémon series, they'd probably just make a whole new game out of it via WiiWare or something, but I'd still be down for buying it.