In your eyes, what makes a Pokémon game good?

[Pendraflare]

Now, there are many types of things people may look for in a Pokémon game. How about you? Are there things you think even your favorite game doesn't do as well as others do, and that your least favorite does way better than many? To explain that a bit further, here are some examples...

• Are GSC and/or RSE your favorites because of all the mechanics they introduced?
• Do you like games such as Platinum, BW2 and XY for their variety or do you prefer, say, BW with its only using new Pokémon?
• Does the story in BW make it high quality and fun to go through the adventure? Are you one of the dicks who judges BW2 based fully on the story? Or are you one who finds the story not important most of the time?
• Do you crave the difficult Gym Leaders that the likes of Emerald and Platinum throw at you? Do you find the ones in, say, BW2 and XY boring to the point they kill the game for you?
• Even if the likes of RS, BW and XY are enjoyable adventures for you, do you find their post-games boring and prefer to play through them multiple times? Do you dig the massive amounts of post-game that the likes of BW2 and HGSS have?
• Are Emerald, BW2 and/or XY among your favorites even if you think Wallace, Iris and Diantha are crappy Champions? Do you enjoy DPPt, HGSS and BW for battling Cynthia, Lance and Ghetsis? (Yes, I know Ghetsis isn't a Champion but he's the final battle and he's on the level of those two so shut up.)
• Do you get frustrated when you have to grind a lot (like in Johto and RSE) and prefer grinding off of Audino in BW(2)? Do things like the "Use another Repel" dialogue and the free space pocket from BW2 really turn you on? Are you a big fan of HGSS' touch screen which had things like automatic running shoes and the menu available at any time?
• Anything else I didn't mention?

These are just a few examples of well-known excuses I hear for people's favorite games being such. How important are these things to you? Does your favorite game exceed well in some of these regards but fail in others compared to other games?

What do you think? Discuss.

 

[Yato]

There are definitely a lot of factors I look for in Pokemon games when playing them, and whether I really enjoy them or find them so-so depends on whether those factors are present and/or do good to the game.

One of the first things I judge in a Pokemon game is how good the plot is. I really enjoyed BW and BW2 for their storylines, especially since the former's deviated from the standard plot. However, I also look at how good the evil team's goals are, what they do to achieve them, and if they actually do achieve them. In my opinion, Team Galactic was perfect in that regard, as were both Team Plasmas. Lastly, I look for character involvement--how much important characters (Gym Leaders, the Champion, your rival(s) and friends, etc.) get involved in the plot. Again, BW is a prime example of character involvement.

Another factor I consider important is how much of a challenge the game poses. Although I'm not a huge fan of RGBY/FRLG, I liked how I found the games rather challenging without the use of glitches or cheats; XY, on the other hand, was a cakewalk. Of course, making a game too challenging would likely ward off new players (or people who aren't good at battles), and making it too easy would ward off people looking for a challenge. The addition of Challenge and Easy Mode in BW2 satisfied the aforementioned types of people, and it's a feature I wish would've stayed around in XY. I also like challenging puzzles--for instance, the Braille puzzles in RSE and FRLG were difficult to understand unless you had a Braille chart on you or specialized in reading it. Some of the Strength puzzles in BW and BW2 also served to be somewhat of a challenge. Even ones that are luck-based like Lt. Surge's gym puzzle are fun to do.

Post-game content is the third most important factor I look at in Pokemon games. Having plenty of things to do post-game (namely the exploration of new areas and the addition of a battle facility/facilities with plenty to do) makes the games worth playing after beating the storyline. FRLG, GSC/HGSS, Emerald, DPPt, and BW/BW2 are good examples of games with plenty of post-game content.

New features/game mechanics and conveniences are equally important to me. They can either make the game really good (though I've found most of the conveniences introduced improved the game(s) they were introduced in) or make it annoying/complicated. There are a lot of game mechanics I could talk about, but so I don't end up making this an uber long paragraph I'll just say I enjoyed many of the ones introduced in RSE and BW/BW2. As for conveniences, the Repel dialogue, Free Space bag in BW2, auto roller skates in XY, and the merging of Pokemon Centers and Marts are ones I really appreciate, and I hope to see roller skates and the Free Space bag make a return.

In regards to variety, I did enjoy BW's lack of old Pokemon pre-post-game content; however, I don't mind old Pokemon being found, too.

As for other things, when it comes to new generations I look at the new Pokemon introduced, and I look at (well, listen to) the soundtracks. That being said, even if the Pokemon or music don't catch my interest, I'll still try and use ones I haven't used when doing new playthroughs and keep the volume on. Gens. III, V, and VI have some of my all-time fave Pokemon, while XY and BW/BW2 have my fave OSTs.

tl;dr, plot, challenging battles, post-game content, new features, and conveniences are important to me; the Pokemon introduced and soundtrack are somewhat important; and variety isn't too important.

 

[PlatinumDude]

New game mechanics, Pokemon variety and good post-game activities are what I look for in a Pokémon game. X/Y hit the game mechanics on the head with Mega Evolutions; B2/W2 had Pokemon variety and HG/SS, Emerald, Platinum and B2/W2 had the post-game events.

B2/W2 and X/Y are among my favorite games because of the relative ease of grinding (Gen V's EXP mechanics and the ease of gaining EXP in X/Y).

 

[Hiatus]

What matters to me most in Pokémon—or any video game, for that matter—would be story. If it's not interesting enough and is unable to keep me attached to what I'm playing, then I'll find myself quitting next second, and move onto some other game. Up next is graphics. I could live with non-attractive graphics for sure, but they do add a lot to your game-play experience, so I personally prefer them to be as good as possible.

Difficulty and challenge doesn't matter to me at all, honestly. They could keep you playing longer depending on how tough it is, but all-in-all, I don't worry too much about that; only thing I actually do care for is how much I'm enjoying myself, and that should be it.

 

[Khoshi]

Why isn't music an option? :(

Anyway, I really like how much easier it's become to access items and the like in recent Pokemon games...I just loooove the Free Space section in B/W2, it's where I keep the most holy of Pokemon items: Repels. I just love convenience when it comes to being able to avoid navigating that huge hammerspace bag you have. Things like the Select button accessing stuff like the Bicycle and Rods was the start of it, but then the aforementioned "Use another Repel?" made me avoid having to dig around my bag, making things so much easier.

The plot of Pokemon games usually follow the same formula - young trainer begins their journey, beat 8 gym leaders of region, foil evil team's plots, become champ. Some games have gone so far as to have a legendary Pokemon to catch within the main story, usually the mascot. The story formula, particularly in the Black and White era, are more fleshed out in my opinion, as they have a lot of depth within, what with the whole N and Ghetsis thing.

The champions are also something I really like about the Pokemon franchise. The definition of champion is someone who's surpassed all rivals to become the best. Guess what you do in Pokemon? You surpass (or try to surpass) your rival to become the best. Unfortunately there's usually someone there before you, and they usually serve as the final hurdle to becoming the very best, like no-one ever was. A tough Champion battle serves as a way to prove if you're worthy of being the best, and it's expected that the Champion should be one of the strongest trainers you'll ever meet.

Last but not least, the things each generation/game bring to the series. Mostly mechanics, but also new features. The most important one in my opinion has to be the Physical/Special split Gen IV gave to us. It's made a massive impact in Pokemon gaming, both in game and competitive. Gen III and later Gen IV had the Battle Frontier, which is what I'd call the pinnacle of after-game features. You battle multiple trainers and then the Frontier Brain, someone who can be stronger than the Champion themselves. How's that for after story material? :D X/Y also had the amazing feature of Mega Evolutions, giving love to underrated Pokemon, while giving the fans what they want with an enhancement to their favourites. Aforementioned EXP mechanics in X/Y and Gen V can fall under both features/mechanics and conveniences, but they made grinding a hell of a lot easier.

 

[Trogd0r917]

One thing I look for in a pokémon game is what pokémon are available. I didn't really like that X and Y added so few new pokémon but I did like that the Kalos had over 400 pokémon available including most of my favorites from past generations.

Unlike most people I prefer when leveling is slow so I don't have overleveled pokémon which would make the game too easy. Except for after beating the game when I try to raise a team for online battles.

I also quite like it when new features are added such as abilities and double battles in gen 3, the physical/special split in gen 4, reusable TMs in gen 5 and just about everything that was added in X and Y.

As nice as it is to have a post-game I don't really see it being 100% necessary when you can just battle people online (this is also why I don't understand why people like the Battle Frontier so much).

When it comes to story in a game it really does not matter as long as the game itself is fun to play.

 

[Shiro]

Hmmm

- Plot! I like a story that's enjoyable.

- I also like difficulty. I think BW was reasonably difficult to me? I've heard people say they found it easy but there were a lot of moments where I just narrowly won. I've never played BW2, though!

- Post-game activities. This one is definitely important to me. I think lately the post-game has been kind of lacking? XY had very little postgame and so did BW. :/

 

[Hikamaru]

Here's what I think makes a Pokemon game enjoyable for pretty much everyone:

The plot: Now, most Pokemon games in earlier generations didn't have much of a dark plot, but Black & White definitely broke said tradition by having the first real "mature" plot of any Pokemon game so far, because it makes you think if using Pokemon to battle is the right thing or not. X & Y's story also came pretty close to this, with Team Flare's whole "eliminate all who aren't from Team Flare" genocide plot. If you have a plot that can connect to the player while not being bland, you know you've done it right after seeing the example with Black & White.

New and improved mechanics: Changes to mechanics are pretty given with every new generation, but some of the most revolutionary ones were 4th Gen's physical/special split, 6th Gen introducing Mega Evolutions, 5th Gen making TMs reusable, 3rd Gen having the natures system introduced, and also 2nd and 6th Gen's introduction of new types, Dark/Steel and Fairy respectively. Also, new moves, items and abilities cause changes not only to an in-game aspect but competitively as well. The same goes for changes to existing moves/items/abilities. Other notable mentions were 5th Gen's EXP system (combined with slaying all those Audinos for massive EXP gain) and the changes to the Exp. Share in 6th Gen where it now gives everyone on your team EXP points at the same time, with those who participated in the battle getting slightly more.

Post-game content: Now this is one that many think too many of the main series games have failed to deliver, the most notable examples of huge post-game content are HeartGold & SoulSilver and Black 2 & White 2, and even Emerald, FireRed & LeafGreen and Platinum to a lesser extent. Most others tend to fail to deliver that, but most of those cases are the first new games of the generation (remember, this was why ones like Ruby & Sapphire, X & Y and even the original Black & White were often complained about because they had very small post-game content, Ruby & Sapphire's being the smallest of all games, after 1st Gen). Many are hoping OmegaRuby & AlphaSapphire have a wide enough post-game so that they can still keep playing without suffering the boredom but you never know what Game Freak will do, but based on past examples it seems like remakes do get solid post-game so I could see it drastically improved compared to its original counterpart.

Gym Leaders/Elite Four/Champion: This is another thing X & Y was heavily complained about, because starting in 5th Gen we have been seeing the resident Gym Leaders have a maximum of three Pokemon in their rosters, or two in the case of the really early Gym Leaders. When this trend continued into X & Y, people thought Gym Leaders weren't as "challenging" as they used to be, but the thing I see Game Freak was doing in this regard was to cater towards newer, younger players a.k.a. the target audience which is mainly children so sacrifices had to be made, and sadly the older, more veteran players had to suffer as a result. I think a good Gym Leader roster pattern should be: 2 Pokemon for first and second Leader, 3 for the next four and then 4 for the final two, sorta like what they did in Sinnoh. That was one I think they got right, in that they still provided enough of a challenge. Same goes with Elite Four having maximum of four Pokemon in their rosters, while pre-5th Gen they had five at the most. For a good challenging Champion we want one like Cynthia who uses strong Pokemon, but also maybe not fully EV train them because then it would be too much for the younger players. We need a perfect balance of challenging enough for the older players, but still easy enough for younger players to handle.

Rivals: I know that, in any generation after 2nd Gen expect the rivals to have been copping a lot of flack for being "too friendly and not competitive anymore" and while I do understand people were upset at the overusing of "friendly" rivals (pretty much the closest we got to a competitive rival post-2nd Gen was Barry, whose Sinnoh starter held the "strongest non-battle facility NPC Pokemon" title until Red's Pikachu was buffed in level in HG/SS) I guess they were trying to again, make the game cater to the target audience (which is the children, obviously) by having the rivals act more like friends. In X & Y, any of the main rivals not named Calem/Serena really got shafted because you didn't battle them a lot (Trevor and Tierno you battled three times each, one was a tag battle, while Shauna was only battled twice) and I guess even B2/W2's Hugh and R/S/E's Wally to a lesser extent. In fact, speaking of Hoenn many thought Brendan/May was the rival but after the Lilycove City battle they decided to just help Professor Birch instead (as a result Brendan/May often got complained at for not fully evolving their Hoenn starter). Cheren and Bianca in B/W I think were a good balance of friends but also had a lot of development to them, with Cheren being the slightly more competitive of the two. I do hope Brendan/May's Hoenn starter issue gets fixed in OR/AS by having it use its Mega in battle, but for future generations they need to try and nail a balance of friendly and competitive, like what we got with Barry.

 

[Banz]

The story, the sense of adventure, and all the great Pokemon that you get to catch and raise...

And there has to be enough of a challenge to keep me interested otherwise it gets too boring. At the same time there should not be a need for too much grinding as it takes the fun out of the game...

 

[Sheep]

I like the rivals, gym leaders, and E4 to be memorable. Unova was good for me in that I felt the rivals were really standout-ish and the gym leaders/E4 themselves had lovely designs and actually showed up throughout the game.

Kalos, on the other hand, while having awesome new 3D graphics, had some of the most forgettable gym leaders and E4 that I've seen. But to counter that we had really thought-out rivals that I adored. I'm more of character involvement than anything.

 

[Bellsprout]

- gym leaders, elite four, and champion should all be challenging.
- variety of pokemon of all types. I hate being limited to the same certain Pokemon because of a lack of fire types for example.
- make the post game fun/give a little more to do than just battle platforms
- not a giant level gap between the last gym leader and the elite four that leaves you grinding forever.
- enjoyable characters

honestly I don't think any of the games have all those things combined but I still like most of them.

 

[Universe]

I'm probably gonna be extremely simple here because I am one of the most easily pleased people in the world.. but yeah.

If I can pick up a Pokemon game and have an absolute blast, then it's a good game to me. There isn't a single Pokemon game I haven't had a fun time with because of this.
They've all been time-consumingly fun, addictive, and amazingly done. Any game I have a great time with is a good game in my eyes and I'll always enjoy picking it up again in the future. :3

 

[Reyzadren]

Good variety - absolutely this. If we're going to play as a pokemon trainer in the pokemon world, then I firmly ask that we at least act like one. The ability to choose any 6 pokemon to fit onto your team is what makes you different, special and unique! (Ugh, this sentence is so Unovan lol)

I also voted for things added to the series and conveniences, because why not.

 

[Grand Wizard Ryan]

Things they introduced into the series: I didn't pick this one, but I wish I had now. After reading through most of the posts in this thread, I was actually reminded of how much was added into the games as they progressed. I never properly played Gen I (only on an emulator) but when I did, the bag pack was just plain awful. Just look how far it's come. That's an example of a feature that has been adapted properly, and one of many in the Pokémon series. Sure, some things are kind of pointless, such as contests, but you can't bash the creators for experimenting and trying to make the games different from each other.

Good Variety: I picked this one. I like regions that have different terrains to them, which has been included a lot since R/S/E, which is definitely a strong point. I think that D/P/PL are the ruling contenders for the games with the best terrain due to its variety.

Good Plot: This is one that I didn't pick. It's not that the plot in the main series games is bad, but it's just re-used to hell. But why change something that seems to work? B/W did add those extra layers and themes, as well as raising some interesting questions, and R/S/E had two evil teams instead of one, but not many other games added much to the plot. But it's evidently not important, since we all seem to like the re-used plot line.

Challenging Gym Leaders/Elite Four: This is one that I did pick. It's hella important. Challenge is key to a game, but not so much that it becomes too hard (unless if you like that; which could be interpreted in more than one way ;) ). In Emerald, on his first play through, my brother swept the Elite 4 using only Rayquaza and one full restore. Sure, he got lucky, but where's the challenge? The whole point of the game is raising a team to become super powerful, so why not challenge the player to do that instead of just letting them battle every trainer and that being enough?

Fun/difficult Champion battles: Another that I picked, but for the same reasons as above.

Enjoyable post-game activities: Hell, Emerald and Platinum's battle frontiers were enough to make me happy. One of my fondest memories on Silver was going through the entirety of the Kanto region after a relatively short Johto region. Even Fire Red/leaf Green had the Sevii Islands (all this talk is allowing nostalgia to flood back to me). There are very few Pokémon games that had bad post-game activities, and they tend to be my least-favourites. Then again, just more Pokémon game content makes me happy, if I'm honest.

Conveniences: Covered this in Things They Introduced to the Series. Didn't pick it.

Other: Music and Graphics come to mind. A reason I was very hesitant to buy HG/SS was because of the music. I still own Silver and just prefer the music in it. Now, I do want HG or SS now, but wherever I look they seem to be highly priced (why? Seriously, these games are at least four years old now- God I feel old now). The Graphics in B/W and B/W2 are fantastic... until you battle. Then it becomes too pixely and I instantly miss when Pokémon just stood still and remained with their decent graphics. I can't comment on XY due to not owning them, but I'm pretty sure the battle graphics did improve in them, which is another reason to buy them.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Two words: Type Diversity. As long as type specialists do not use 2-3 Pokémon from the same line, Pokémon not associated with their type, nor Pokémon who are ace Pokémon to another type specialist in their team, the game is ready to go. Oh, and new features that will help benefit low tier Pokémon to be OU material.

 

[nesinomics]

I think honestly is simplicity but a dark core that you won't understand till you get older. If that makes sense. Also I like an easy experience mechanic. Like every game that wasn't black and white and black 2 and white 2. I have white 2 and the experience mechanic is jut not my style every time I play get annoyed. No offense to anybody out there who does like the experience mechanic in Black and White its just not for me.

 

[Pendraflare]

Been a tad while since I made this thread, and for my 1,500th post I thought i'd discuss some of the things I like Pokémon games for. There was another topic I wanted to make it in, but felt it wouldn't be one i'd be proud of.

First off, one thing that keeps Pokémon from getting stale is the fact that you can use completely new teams of Pokémon every time and have a different experience. This is why Black 2/White 2 and X/Y are my favorites, because with their amazing Pokédex selections, there are so many possibilities for teams. While X/Y have a larger selection, Black 2/White 2 have the Move Tutors, which I like because you can spice up movesets even better with them. It's fun giving my Pokémon things like the elemental punches, Superpower, Heat Wave, and other fun attacks. I tend to get this vibe from the fact that I like doing challenges such as Nuzlockes, Wedlockes, Monotypes and now Mono-Colors. So yeah, variety is definitely my favorite thing. Which I do find a bit odd considering Black and White are also among my favorites yet they only have 156 before the end-game.

Then we have final battles. When the adventure comes to an end, I want it to end on a battle that I enjoy, whether it ends up being difficult or not. Battling N and Ghetsis at the end of Black and White i've always enjoyed significantly, for not only N's legendary and Ghetsis' Hydreigon, but the fact that it stems on a different route from what every other main series game has done, and the fact that it ultimately has you fighting to save Pokémon equality and restore the good between people and Pokémon. Even though the Champion of my favorite game is one that has received mostly negative reception, I enjoy battling her for reasons i've mentioned before. I'm not gonna discuss Iris again, because I just did on both my blog and the "Favorite Champion" thread a little while ago, but I like her even if she's not that great. (You can like something even if you don't think it's that good.) I do like battling Cynthia because of the diversity in her team and the strategy it takes you to best her, but my favorites are BW Ghetsis, and Iris on Challenge Mode. Even though Diantha I didn't exactly care for, there are a few battles with her I have enjoyed. And it does kinda help that they've explained why newer games have been easier...

And while I have said several times that I don't care for Pokémon stories, i've wondered if that's true or not. For the most part, if the story isn't top quality material, then there's still the gameplay to have - if there are any "zomg" moments, then cool, it definitely makes the game better. What I like Black 2/White 2's story for (despite that one being rather infamous) is the climax, because in addition to Ghetsis being the first villain to try to kill/physically harm you, N saving you with his legendary was part of his plan the whole time to create Black/White Kyurem, which I surely give it credit for. And i've talked about XY's story with the whole genocide thing, which I tend to like. Some people have said that story is bland until after you beat Olympia where it really unfolds, and I do kind of agree, but when it is going, it sure is epic.

And conveniences and other little parts also, i've mentioned that I like BW2's Free Space pocket and the "Use another Repel" dialogue. Other than that, HGSS' touch-screen Start menu, two Select key items and automatic Running Shoes are something i've found good to have. It's not something super important, but they're fun.

Finally, for post-game, when i'm doing normal playthroughs, there are things to enjoy, like the PWT and White Treehollow in my White 2, and sometimes the Battle Subway, as well as battling foes like Colress and the Game Freak executives. I like HGSS for Kanto, the Safari Zone, the Battle Frontier, Mt. Silver and Red, Cerulean Cave, Hoenn/Sinnoh Sound...your adventure just doesn't have to end with either of them. I know some people say XY's post-game sucks, but I like how easy breeding is, so it makes collecting much more enjoyable, and the Battle Maison was interesting for not only getting repeated BP for every fight, but running into foes with their HAs, as well as being able to do Triple and Rotation Battles, which the Battle Subway didn't have as far as I recall. But I don't mind it.

Those are just some of the things I like Pokémon for, as what I checked off in my own poll. Thought this would make for a decent 1,500th post, haha.

 

[Altairis]

The plot and challenge are the most important aspects in the game for me. If it doesn't have a half-baked plot that keeps me engaged and not rolling my eyes the entire time, then I'm great. I also like games that challenge me but not to the level of insanity, so having Gym Leaders with 5+ Pokemon (preferably 6 :() with growing levels and a hard Champion is a must for me!

Postgame isn't necessarily something that I look for, but if there are a lot of great postgame activities, then I'll definitely notice and bonus points for that game! Something that should have been an option is region design. That's really important to me, because I play Pokemon to feel like I'm going on some sort of adventure with my little monsters. If I'm just crossing bridges like I could do in real life instead of hiking up mountains and volcanoes then that takes off points.

 

[ShivaDF]

Why are likable characters not included on this list? That is a huge draw for me.

But aside from that, I find plot and challenge important.

 

[Bretifur]

Every time a new Pokemon game is released, I only really care about the story line and the three starter Pokemon. If the story line and starter Pokemon seem to have good variety and interest me, I play the game.