How do you feel about freebies in ROM hacks?

[Avara]

Freebies as in, a NPC who gives you a TM for no reason, or randomly finding an Eevee in a ball in Celadon City.

I personally feel this is something that should be done very sparingly. It's nice to come across a freebie now and again, especially at the beginning of a game where you might get a Potion from a Mart worker for example. Of course key items are normally given to you without you needing to do anything to get them. However, I have played hacks in which it felt like every town I visited I'd be showered with free items or even Pokémon. I even felt that Pokémon Yellow had too many cases like this in hindsight, even if it was kinda cool being able to have all the starters, I'd have liked it better if I needed to complete a side quest or something. From a creator point of view, I'm a bit of a sadist. I want my players to jump through hoops to get things as much as possible!

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How do you feel about gifting things to your players? How do you feel about it as a player?​

 

[tzujm33]

It depends on the amount. I prefer a npc who gives me a full heal compared to a npc who says something useless and not every item deserves to have a sidequest completed.
I only want to see npcs with useless text in cities and mandatory places. On non-mandatory places i want to see mostly npcs with usefull text, freebies (i consider going to a nonmandatory place a (small) sidequest and sidequests of course.
To sum it up, i dont have a problem wth freebies.

 

[Dr. Seuss]

I like the idea of getting some special Pokémon/items from npc. In my opinion if it is used correctly. I mean, if you put an npc/Pokéball in specific parts of a map it can work as an incentive for exploring the region. My problem with freebies is when you obtain plenty of them as part of the story. Game Freak abused of this with the 7th gen games. You literally obtain something almost every cutscene. If it is used correctly it can work to reward the player.

 

[Outwitter]

We all love freebies, don't we? I certainly won't mind occasional gifts if they are offered in a meaningful way. Gifts; be it a key item / rare Pokémon / regional variant not only gives us a necessary kick / motivation as we progress in our journey but it also keeps the game alive and refreshing. Otherwise the game would just end up as a boring / linear journey. The best analogy that comes to mind regarding optimum usage of gifts is of a paragraph that is beautifully punctuated. I would like to conclude my ranting with a timeless proverb which states that "Excess of anything is bad", hence, moderation is the key in doing anything appropriately. In my opinion, Adventures Red hack has implemented this feature perfectly.

 

[PiaCRT]

In a Gamefreak game I don't expect them too often but with a ROM Hack I think they're nice. I make sure to add plenty to my games, whether it be early rare candies, tons of free "rare" Pokemon (albeit at low levels) and of course, more than one Masterball.

 

[Jaeger12]

It's intersesting to have player interact with all NPC. Maybe more like a reward after fights/quests

 

[Roni]

I wanna get good items as a reward for exploration! I can't leave any stone unturned when it comes to exploring rom hack worlds and sometimes I get disappointed when a certain fork in the road leads to literally nothing.

If y'all wanna make NPCs give me items, put them in obscure parts of a Town or Route or whatever. It feels more rewarding to me if I find it rather than it finding me.