Are Pokémon Games Hard?

T!M

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    Do you think any or all of the Pokémon games were hard or challenging. Or do you constantly breeze through each installation? What's your opinion on the difficulty on any or all of the games?

    THREAD NOTE: I mean the base difficulty. So this is excluding the use of Easy or Challenging modes in B/W2.

    Note: Oh crap! I meant to post this in Pokémon general gaming. Would a mod be so kind as to move it? Thanks in advance.
     
    Well, certain aspects are. Obviously for most of the games you can grind, EV etc. and make it really easy. But Battle Frontier, particularly in Pokémon Emerald, is still pretty tough. Especially Battle Factory, I think that's possibly the hardest feature in all of the games.
     
    Pokemon games have always been the easiest RPG titles that I have ever played. I've never had any difficulties with any of them, even at a young age. Now that tends to change when you get into the competitive environment, but that's true of all things, even tic-tac-toe.
     
    When I started playing this franchise it was a little difficult, but as I played more the games became easier and easier. I think that the games are designed to be a challenge to younger audiences.* And once you get the hang of how the mechanics of Pokemon work, it becomes a breeze to play through, almost.

    *This does not include the optional Battle Frontier, Subway, etc. in Gens 3, 4, and 5, where it is considerably harder to win battles.
     
    I haven't got past the first few gyms in B/W, can't say much about gen V, or battle frontier, but for the other games, I think it lacks a bit in the terms of a proper challenge, though given the mechanics, I don't think much can be done about that. Probably why people started to create their own personal rules to play the game. For example, there was a time I played allowing me to have a single main type of pokémon in my team.
     
    The hardest Gyms are usually the first Gyms. Because there are only so many trainers and so many EXP point you could have earned. The challenge is maintained when pokemon fight at the same level.

    The Most notorious fights I know about are Whitney's Miltank and Lenora from BW. Both are very early in the game. And both normal type.

    Pokemon should have a level cap system. You can't level past 10 without the first badge. And the first gym is designed to be challenging at lv10. The same with the other gyms, except at higher levels.

    BW made it real easy to find water pokemon before the ground gym and other such match-ups. While this was true in Gen1, you did have to go out of your way to find these things. (Like Diglet's Cave and Lt. Surge. It's been awhile, but I don't think you must go to Diglet Cave before the gym.)
     
    Oh yeah... that damn Milktank was tough... it just reminded me.

    The level cap idea is a really good one. I think I'll do something like that on my Nuzlocke run XD
     
    When I first started out at quite a young age and didn't know anything about type advantages/HM moves being undeletable and all of the other important information one should know, the game was rather challenging. I also pretty much caught and tried to raise everything I saw but found that rather difficult. However, once you actually get the hang of the game, learn a bit more and grind a tiny bit, the games become unbelievably easy to cruise through. There were only a few things that stumped me such as the Battle Frontier Tycoons etc., but other than that once you know the basic info to the franchise, the games are quite easy.
     
    Whitney's RollTank wiped me out 2 or 3 times when i was a kid... and i think that's the only gym I've had problems with.

    They're all just ridiculously easy now. Even battle frontier was a breeze. Being luck-based on say, the battle pyramid(or was it pike), did not make it harder either... just luck-based.
     
    They are hard if you haven't added any Action Replay codes if your playing the rom versions on your PC or laptop.
     
    I've not played ALL the games mind you, only Blue and Black. I don't use Legendaries, either. It would just be way way too easy that way! I think Blue was harder than Black though, probably because I was a newbie and never knew about weaknesses. They were both easy for me in general though. A good grind can make it even easier. Since there is a fight in every piece of grass/stone just about, the grind happens whether I liked it to or not. ^ ^; (A tough game of this genre is called Shin Megami Tensei.)

    The AI is terrible from what I've seen, and most wild Pokemon are very bad at making decisions. Many times they spam moves like "Leer" over and over, but never attack. I've had many moments where one attack could have finished me off so many times, but they never decided to give the finishing blow.

    The Gym Leaders in Black were so easy that I was able to win every single fight just by using Lilligant. Apart from the Ace Trainers I never felt challenged in Black. I barely remember Blue anymore, but I do remember my Gyarados beating down everything in his sight. xD

    I think Pokemon was made to be easy so everyone of all ages could enjoy it though (obviously, yes?). It was made to require skill when it comes to the competitive battles though. Humans are A LOT more challenging than Pokemon AI. :)
     
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    i feel Pokemon games are getting more complicated in very minor aspects. The transition from Red to Silver for me took a long time because at that time i never researched anything and just played the game as it were handed to me. The transition from Gen 2 to 4 in my honest opinion wasn't that hard but i struggled getting used to all the changes in gen 5.
    Did these changes make things a little harder? Maybe just a little. But they also made things easier at the same time as long as you payed attention to the new set of rules.
     
    With more changes, the games steadily get more challenging, but never too hard.

    IMO, any Pokemon game is only as hard as you make it. You could grind to make your experience better, or not to give yourself a challenge. It's usually the post-game battle facilities that provide the difficulty, like the Battle Frontier or the Orre Colosseum. Any other time, it's what you do in the game that decides how hard your experience will be.
     
    Tetrakeet said:
    I think Pokemon was made to be easy so everyone of all ages could enjoy it though (obviously, yes?). It was made to require skill when it comes to the competitive battles though. Humans are A LOT more challenging than Pokemon AI.
    [PokeCommunity.com] Are Pokémon Games Hard?
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    Exactly my thoughts.

    The metagame and the newly-implemented difficulty levels/modes exist, so we couldn't ask for more or less. Challenge mode would need some improvement, though. The AI is still easy to get around with... and increasing pokemon levels really does little.

    I like the post-game stuff, too (Battle frontier, the long-lost Pokemon Contests, and the likes). Not that they're terribly easy, or terribly hard. But some new set of rules and limitations are always a welcome treat for those who'd wanna spice up their game.
     
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    For older players, Pokemon is fairly easy but i remember playing emerald as a kid and bieng totally challenged by every gym leader. I kind of miss it. But theres nothign like that feeling you get when you find out something new that helps you get better. Like type advantages i didn't kknow about years ago and more recently, discovering EV training and cross-breeding. Those kind of things just ad a little bit more challenge to the game and i love that.
     
    Pokemon's obviously not designed to be a walk in the park, but still easy enough for first timers to pick up the game and not get frustrated from the difficulty, and then never playing the game again. And because it's still aimed at a younger audience, many of us who have been playing for years could basically play the game in our sleep.

    I do love that they've added more challenges in game, though, like the Battle Frontier, PWT, etc. That way, it keeps older players of the game interested due to the added challenge, but it isn't mandatory for those who aren't quite as skilled at the game.
     
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