News: Bikes and HMs gone in Sun and Moon

[MegaKuriboh]

It's interesting how the #1 concern in this thread is how this is going to affect breeding! :o I think that's perfectly reasonable. Although... personally, I really don't expect PokéRide to function too differently from the bike in terms of breeding.

The main problem to me is that in order to obtain full speed you need to hold down B, while on the bike you just go full speed automatically. I also wonder if there will be an area that does a perfect loop around like the Battle Resort. Maybe there will be an automatically faster Pokemon later?

 

[Charlie Brown]

So glad that HMs are now gone, it's definitely been a long time coming. There've been so many cases when I've had to teach a lame HM to a good Pokémon because of convenience, and it sucks :/

Though I will miss the Bike, it's just been a staple for so long so it'll be weird without it. I thought Alola would be a really good region to have a Bike in, just with all its chill vibes and everything.

 

[Rivvon]

The main problem to me is that in order to obtain full speed you need to hold down B, while on the bike you just go full speed automatically. I also wonder if there will be an area that does a perfect loop around like the Battle Resort. Maybe there will be an automatically faster Pokemon later?

This is my exact concern. Breeding was very convenient on the bike because you didn't need to hold down B--I could be typing or drawing or whatever with my right hand while I used my left to steer the bike. The Tauros in the demo is pretty slow if you don't hold down B, so...

I'm really hoping there's another Ride Pokémon that is actually a Bike replacement, in that it goes at top speed without the need to hold down B.

 

[Charlie Brown]

This is my exact concern. Breeding was very convenient on the bike because you didn't need to hold down B--I could be typing or drawing or whatever with my right hand while I used my left to steer the bike. The Tauros in the demo is pretty slow if you don't hold down B, so...

I'm really hoping there's another Ride Pokémon that is actually a Bike replacement, in that it goes at top speed without the need to hold down B.

Surfing the waves on high-speed with an Alola Raichu? Or maybe just riding a Dodrio or something I guess.

 

[blue]

It has been a staple to hold down a button to go faster for as long as the running shoes have been in existence. It was only gen VI that switched it up by introducing the Roller Skates, and I'm glad they're not coming back lmao.

 

[Charlie Brown]

It has been a staple to hold down a button to go faster for as long as the running shoes have been in existence. It was only gen VI that switched it up by introducing the Roller Skates, and I'm glad they're not coming back lmao.

Isn't it likewise a staple to press a button once to go faster for as long as the Bike has been around, though?

 

[blue]

Isn't it likewise a staple to press a button once to go faster for as long as the Bike has been around, though?

That's the equivalent of Poke Ride, though. You press a button to call on a Pokémon and at default speed is double that of walking. The only time you need to press a button is if you want to go even faster than that.

 

[Dancutus]

Salamence learning Fly by itself sort of hinted at this. Good change.

Though I will miss the bike, I liked to go around fast!

 

[MegaKuriboh]

I feel like I'm really the only person that doesn't see the big deal in holding down a button in order to go faster. With all due respect... are you really that lazy?

It's not laziness, hell in my normal run through I don't mind holding down the B button to go faster, it's just when I breeding batches of competitively bred Pokemon and I have to go through multiple run throughs to get a Pokemon with the right Nature, Ability, Egg Moves and IVs, I'm going to want to multitask while doing it. I want to scroll through a website and drink some coffee I don't want to put both my hands on the DS just for breeding. That's why the Bike was so useful and it's why the Battle Resort / Prism Tower were amazing because you just had to hold down one button and wait for the egg hatching notification to pop up.

 

[Rivvon]

It's precisely because it's a staple that I don't see the big deal in it. We've been holding down buttons to go faster for generations now; this shouldn't come as a shocker to people.



Yes, I agree, but again, a minor difference...? I see it as laziness if you're not willing to hold a button because that's what we've always done to go faster.

Have you ever done competitive breeding before? The ability to multi task is literally a godsend when you're spending hours looping in a circle trying to hatch a single Pokémon with the right Nature, IVs, Ability, and sometimes even moves. Not having to press B, giving you the option to multi task, makes the process tolerable.

I don't think I've ever used the bike once during my normal playthroughs because I like to listen to each route and city's music. But when it comes time for post-game, the bike becomes irreplaceable. It's fine to defend each and every change made in these games, but to call competitive players lazy when breeding is already a chore even with the bike? All we're saying is we want a real bike replacement through Pokémon Ride...

 

[Nah]

Breeding is a mind-numbingly tedious and boring task, even with all the changes they've made to it. Such is grinding, though I'd like to think that games will eventually make grinding actually fun for once. Many people like to be able to do other things while breeding so they aren't bored out of their sanity (you can actually look away from the screen for quite a while, only needing to check every so often for a split second). If the need the hold both a direction and a button makes it difficult to do so for some people, it's possible to see this as a flaw in PokeRide.

We can hope though that a) it turns out it's not difficult to use PokeRide and do something else at the same time and/or b) they will again make additional changes to breeding mechanics to make it easier (hardly unfeasible, since they've made changes to it almost every generation since it was implemented) and so this is less of a worry.

 

[Rivvon]

I still don't see your point. Yes, I have done competitive breeding before, but I don't see your point because I don't personally multitask; if I'm going to focus on breeding, I'm going to focus on that alone and not much else. If I need to do something else, then I put my DS down and focus on whatever else needs to be done. That kind of stuff has never bothered me so it comes across as puzzling when people complain about holding down a button because it inhibits them from taking a few seconds grab a drink and go back to breeding again? It just perplexes me, is all. Then again, I'm the kind of person that focuses on doing one thing at a specific time rather than multitask, so that's just me.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not against a bike replacement via PokeRide, and if it turns out that there's a Pokemon faster than Tauros, then great! But holding down the B button, is, again, something I've been accustomed to (and most people should be accustomed to) over the generations and shouldn't be surprised if they do have to hold down B for other Pokemon in order to go the speed that they want.

If you don't multitask, good for you. But the bike is still "faster than holding down B," which is more convenient for the purpose of breeding. And some people do prefer to multi-task while breeding--which can't be done without a bike-esque option. If you can't bring yourself to see why some people may see that as an inconvenience--one that honestly shouldn't be happening since supposedly the games are moving towards more convenience when it comes to breeding--then there's really nothing I can say to make you see it.

But the lack of convenience is a major reason why lots of people are turned off from competitive play, so... yeah, that's really all I can say in regards to that.

 

[MegaKuriboh]

I'm going to digress a bit here, but I remember in XY while training my Pokemon from scratch via Super Training and it would take me an hour and a half of those constant mini-games and that is without any distractions whatsover. Maybe Game Freak would make getting into the competitive scene easier in-game, but I feel in the meantime, the process being excruciatingly time-consuming is expected to be the norm.

Horde battles were a much much faster was to EV train a group of Pokemon.

I'd like to see something like a Dodrio or a Rapidash be rideable and fast, heck Rapidash might even give us some kind of Flame Body hatching bonus effect, which could be really cool.

 

[Rivvon]

Horde battles were a much much faster was to EV train a group of Pokemon.

I'd like to see something like a Dodrio or a Rapidash be rideable and fast, heck Rapidash might even give us some kind of Flame Body hatching bonus effect, which could be really cool.

I MADE THAT PART SUPER HUGE BECAUSE THAT'S THE BEST IDEA I'VE EVER HEARD????????

Imagine not needing a Flame Body Pokémon always in your party I would cry every time I start to hatch Eggs the Flame Body would have to evaporate my tears

 

[Rivvon]

Kinda curious as to how many Pokemon we're allowed to ride on land or whether it's limited to just Tauros and Mudsdale.

Flame Body Stoutland Confirmed

Crossing fingers for post-game Rapidash!

 

[blue]

We've also seen Stoutland as a ridable Pokémon which is presumably for the same reason as Tauros and Mudsdale. It would be even cooler if we're not just restricted to Lapras and Sharpedo for crossing the waters. Like, can we swim on the back of a Bibarel pls?

 

[Iron Tiff]

I think it'll be refreshing, especially getting rid of HM slaves. And Tauros got some much needed love XD

 

[Sheep]

HMs being gone is the best news I have heard all week. I've been complaining about them since.... geez, forever really. Now I can stop dragging around a Cut slave just to get across a teeny tree. ):

Curious about what Pokémon we're allowed to ride in the overworld also, though I don't imagine it's a huge list. Doubt they'll let us ride Pokémon to perform the same action (so no point in another Pokémon that can break rocks when Tauros already has the ability to do so unless they do other things)... now that HMs are gone maybe we'll have a lot more action Pokémon to do different tasks with? My guess is there'll be more overworld tasks than just Cut, Strength, Surf, etc to give us chances to experience more Pokémon in the overworld. A bigger/expanded list of 'overworld HMs' seems cool now that we don't actually have to have one in our party.

 

[Altairis]

I feel like I'm really the only person that doesn't see the big deal in holding down a button in order to go faster. With all due respect... are you really that lazy?

When you're hatching 1000s of eggs to breed for competitive purposes... as well as for shiny purposes (but that's a whole other beast)... ANYTHING that can make it easier helps. Being able to use one hand or none at all if you weigh down the D-pad is EXTREMELY useful. So it's kinda rude to just say it's laziness, at least in my opinion :(

 

[Florges]

I can forgive Game Freak for the lack of Pokemon this gen for this reason alone.