Battle Facility

Hikamaru

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    Been a while since we last speculated on this.

    As with every main series game, there is usually a battle facility in the region that's unlocked in the postgame. These include minimal facilities like the Battle Subway of Unova and the Battle Maison of Kalos. And then there's the huge Battle Frontiers of Hoenn and Sinnoh that are hugely loved by the fanbase (even if Masuda thinks it's only a minority that like the Battle Frontier) and have a diverse array of battling challenges.

    That said, what do you hope to see for the battle facility in Alola? Are you likely thinking it's something like the Battle Maison again, or are you hoping for a huge Battle Frontier-type facility? Discuss and speculate!
     
    colours said:
    As time passes, I've come to reluctantly accept the fact that the Battle Frontier may never be a thing again... a relic of the past that one has to look back on fondly and nothing more. I'm only hoping that the spirit of the Battle Frontier lives on in S&M, to hopefully resurrect once more as a battle facility that's actually worth taking part in.
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    I can understand the appeal of the Battle Frontier to people on this forum, but I think a Battle Frontier likely won't happen in S/M since this is the first game of a new generation, and Battle Frontier usually only appeared in third versions (and also HG/SS). According to Masuda the Battle Frontier's popularity among the general fanbase was only minimal and was why OR/AS settled for X/Y's Battle Maison instead.

    Like you, I seem to view the Battle Frontier was a "relic of the past", but with the new Battle Royal feature it could be potential that there may be a new facility that focuses on Battle Royals, although I'm guessing it will only be a multiplayer thing.
     
    Hikamaru said:
    I can understand the appeal of the Battle Frontier to people on this forum, but I think a Battle Frontier likely won't happen in S/M since this is the first game of a new generation, and Battle Frontier usually only appeared in third versions (and also HG/SS). According to Masuda the Battle Frontier's popularity among the general fanbase was only minimal and was why OR/AS settled for X/Y's Battle Maison instead.

    Like you, I seem to view the Battle Frontier was a "relic of the past", but with the new Battle Royal feature it could be potential that there may be a new facility that focuses on Battle Royals, although I'm guessing it will only be a multiplayer thing.
    Click to expand...

    Well masuda was wrong. The reason most people liked emerald was because of the battle frontier. It was a feature that let you play the game for a long after you complete the story. I talked with a lot of friends who got emerald and they all said the same. While in gen 6 after you were done with the post game quest and having done the maison like a few times most people went straight to breeding for competitive play. In oras I didn't even bother doing the maison.
     
    The likely reason why Emerald's Battle Frontier was popular was because it was a fresh concept of a battle facility with the past couple games having just a Battle Tower and the additional challenges struck well with the players.

    But also when I looked into a reason behind the recent lack of Battle Frontiers is because wi-fi battling had become more accessible in recent generations and it's likely why the postgame had usually declined as well - Game Freak were encouraging players to breed competitive-focused teams so they can try out the wi-fi battling feature. Remember that Emerald's Battle Frontier was popular was likely because battling against other players was much more restricted prior to 4th Gen, and there's also the fact Pokemon is a "social" franchise which is why battling and trading are popular, especially in the more recent generations.

    So when you look into it, the rise of wi-fi battling was pretty much the downfall of the Battle Frontier.
     
    As long as it's not the Madison I'm fine with almost any facility. They could make a battle tower work if you could do triple, rotation, inverse, and royal battles but if it's the classic single/double that would suck :/
     
    I'd love if they had the Pokémon World Tournament appear again, espcailly considering these games are coming out for Pokémon's anniversary.

    Also, out of curiosity, what was bad about the Battle Subway/Mansion? I never played any games that had the Battle Tower/Frontier, so I don't know how they compare to those. :s
     
    clbgolden said:
    Also, out of curiosity, what was bad about the Battle Subway/Mansion? I never played any games that had the Battle Tower/Frontier, so I don't know how they compare to those. :s
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    As pointed out by Angie, the Battle Subway and Maison were basically watered-down versions of the Battle Tower in which it was nothing but 3-on-3 singles or 4-on-4 doubles, while the Frontier had extra variety.
     
    I dunno what to expect any more.

    After Masuda claimed character customization was Kalos-exclusive but now it's almost guaranteed to be in SM, I don't know if his statement on the lack of Battle Frontier was face-value legit or if he said it to kinda "cover up" that they couldn't, for whatever reason, include it in ORAS but are planning on having something similar in SM. It could really go either way.

    My only concern is, from what I know, we're supposed to get information on that artificial island soon, and that's honestly the only place I can imagine such a facility being located. But I doubt we know even half of the Island Leaders and we definitely don't know even half of the Grand Kahunas yet. Would we really get information on such a facility before we even know half of the "Gym Leaders?" Hey, maybe we will. But it would definitely feel rather early compared to similar past reveals.

    But as always, my two cents is that it would be awful of Game Freak to make the XY Hiker specifically mention Alola's "awesome facility" if it turns out to be yet another recolor of the Battle Tower.
     
    I didn't even bother with the Battle Subway or Maison because they could never hold my interest. Something like the Battle Frontier from Emerald with multiple facilities would be perfect. I know it's a long shot, but that was by far the best type of battle institution from any of the games imo.
     
    To be honest, Emerald is my bread and butter an I absolutely HATED the Battle Frontier. I give Gamefreak credit for making a fresh new concept, but the Frontier's puzzles and AI were insanely cheap. I could either A. Never get to the Frontier Brain because the challenges were either too hard to navigate through( minus some like Lucy's or Gretal's) or B. Once I got to the challenge the Frontier Brain was insanely difficult. It seemed that no matter how much I prepared with items/natures/EVs thess people always steamrolled me.

    I find this weird though because I actually like the Frontier in Gen IV. Maybe it's because of the gameplay changes that alluded me to be able to do it.(Probably the Physical/Special split)

    That said, In black/white 2 we had a battle-like facility with the Black Tower/White Forest. I really want that back so badly. It made grinding too easy. Plus, the final boss put up a pretty good challenge in my opinion.
     
    Like Angie, I also forgot about Black Tower and White Treehollow (forgive me because I haven't played B2/W2 in a long time) but as pointed out it had a unique system in that you had no level restrictions and it did reward you with some cool stuff.

    As for where the facility in Alola should be, who thinks it could be the white mansion seen on the artificial island? And I mean the same mansion that was seen in concept art from the announcement trailer.
     
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