Little Improvements

[Devalue]

Talks about big improvements and huge steps backwards often. Ranges from things like the physical/special split to HM removal to 3D models. Glosses over the little things sometimes. What are some small changes over the years that you liked? (Might define "little" differently. Considers that fine.)

___________

• The battle status screen. Contains all the stat boosts/drops and remaining turns for weather, screens, and Trick Room. Lowers the amount of memorization for the player.
• No poison damage outside of battle. Hated poison out-of-battle more than in-battle. Drops everything to cure it immediately (be it an Antidote or the Pokemon Center).
• Pokemon closing their eyes when asleep.
• Easier box organization. Swapped Pokemon around one at a time originally.
• Multiple copies of a version exclusive legendary in a single playthrough. Gave you a Pokemon like Lunala in Moon. Gifts you a Cosmog later on. Allows you to trade that one for the other box legendary without sacrificing your main one. (Was not perfect on this, admittedly.)
• Stat buffs. Snuck in small buffs to Pokemon, mostly ones that needed it.

 

[Lunastra]

One thing I remember noticing immediately when Gold/Silver came out was the blue EXP bar below the health bar. I've always loved that feature, as it cuts down on time spent constantly checking menus. It gives you a nice sense of progression if you're grinding for levels and, even if you have to actually go into the menu for an exact number, it does let you estimate fairly accurately how many more battles you'll need before you level up.

Also, the highlights to stats that indicate what will be stronger/weaker growth thanks to the Pokemon's nature. I might have every type committed to memory, but I can't remember every single nature's benefits/drawbacks, just the main "desirable" ones like Adamant and Modest. So being able to check this without having to have Bulbapedia or wherever open constantly is nice.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I've been spoiled with newer Pokemon games. Here are some of the little improvements I appreciate:

- Pop up menu appears when your repel expires asking if you would like to use another repel
- Move re-learner / move deleter accessed through the menu rather than visiting the NPC in each region
- Registering multiple items (Bicycle and other Key items like PokeRadar or Itemfinder)
- Rideable Pokemon in Arceus/Scarlet/Violet or accessing HMs through the menu rather than carrying HM slave in your party
- Mass releasing Pokemon and easier box organization in general compared to the early games
- Flame Body reducing the steps to hatch Pokemon (it's rather miserable hatching eggs in GSC).

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I feel what can be considered "little things" are subjective. Some people might consider my opinions to be major changes, or not. It depends. With that said, such things are:

1. Exp. Share – Some might consider this a huge change, but to me, it seems to be a small feature that drastically changed the game for the better. Now, when training Pokémon, I no longer have to waste a ton of time training each Pokémon individually, a tedious task indeed.

2. Gaining Exp. after catching Pokémon – In the old days, you had to defeat a wild Pokémon in battle to gain experience. If you caught it, no matter difficult it was to catch, you gained nothing. Making you gain experience even after capturing was a small but great change.

3. Change Pokémon movesets at Summary – It's simply easier than having to go to the Bag all the time to teach new moves. I also love how the move deleter and reminder are no longer people you must visit, but menu options, something it should have always been. No more having to collect Heart Scales just to get your Pokémon the moves you want.

4. Nickname Pokémon at Summary – Thank goodness! Can someone please explain to me why I had to visit another person to name my own pets?

5. Running Shoes removal – Can someone explain to me how I don't know how to run until I put on a pair of shoes? Thankfully, I know how to run automatically these days. I mean, it's not like my character is a preteen that has been walking for quite a while already.

6. Level 50 Hyper Training – If you want your Pokémon to have perfect IVs, you can do it without having to grind all the way to level 100. Making your Pokémon competitive has never been easier thus far.

7. Easier competitive training – Related to the Hyper Training thing, the simple addition of Exp. Candies, easier accessibility of Bottle Caps, Mints, and the ability to max EVs with vitamins instead of using only a max of ten vitamins is a great change for those that enjoy competitive play.

8. Egg moves – I can have one of my Pokémon hold a Mirror Herb and teach it Egg Moves by simply starting a picnic with the other Pokémon that knows the moves I want to teach. I no longer have to do a bunch of chain breeding to get the moves I want. Awesome change!

9. The handling of Boxes – In the past, you had options of "Deposit," "Withdraw," "Organize Boxes" and so on. "Organize Boxes" allowed you to basically withdraw and deposit at the same time, making the other options pointless. Now, the Boxes simply function better by allowing you to move stuff as you see fit without having to select a ton of options. Even better, I no longer have to visit a Pokémon Center PC to access my Pokémon Boxes. I can do this at the menu.

10. Choosing your caught Pokémon's destination – "Where do you want to send your Pokémon to" right after catching is one of the best questions asked in any Pokémon game.

11. Nerfing HP recovery moves – Moves like Recover, Roost, Slack Off, and so on only have 5 PP now and 8 max. Of course, stalling is still a problem, but not as bad as it once was thankfully. This is a welcoming change.

12. Throw Pokéball with a simple button press – I don't know what game this debuted in, but when I played the older games, I recall having to access the Bag every time just to attempt to catch a Pokémon. This was a great change.

13. Gameplay enhancers – O-Powers and Rotom Powers were so cool. Why did these disappear when Pokémon moved to the Nintendo Switch? These features were so cool. Sandwich powers are good, but they're not quite the same. I also loved how you could share your O-Powers with others online.

 

[ReKoil]

1) Empty move slot egg move breeding. When I learned of this it became such a hug time and effort saver.

You can pass egg moves between members of the same species if one has an egg move and the other an empty move slot, starting in gen 8. This also applies for two Pokemon of the same species and same gender. The latter I didn't know was a thing until I wanted to put 4 egg moves onto Volbeat in BDSP, but couldn't due to the egg moves' parents and the Volbeat/Illumise hatch from the same egg thing. Stuck two Volbeat with differing egg moves and an empty move slot into the Daycare and they both had 4 egg moves afterward =D

2) Also breeding related: passing on the parents Pokeballs and Hidden Ability.

From X/Y the female parent could pass on it's PokeBall to it's child, which from Sun/Moon forward also included breeding with a Ditto as well a male and genderless parents .
Also as of X/Y, to pass on the HA though breeding the parent no longer needs to be female if it's bred with Ditto.
I've used these mechanics a lot during breeding in SwSh.

3) Ability Patches/Capsules.

They just provide more control over what ability your mon can have, what's not to like?

4) Nature Mints.

Never used them in SwSh due to how they were obtained (either had to grind for BP or get lucky with wild area items), but with how easy to obtain they are in Scarlet/Violet I did start using them. They allow you to improve your partner Pokemon without having to waste time catching 'the right nature' in the wild, or breeding for it.

5) Box Access from anywhere.

I honestly miss this feature so much when replaying a pre-gen 8 Pokemon game.

6) Move re-learner becoming free in gen 8 as well as relearning/teaching moves from the Pokemon's menu in gen 9.

They gave us even more freedom in Paldea by just letting you change your moves on the go from your Pokemon's menu, but in SwSh just not having to visit some random individual, usually tucked away in the late game, and having to pay them a single use item you need to farm for first was a very welcome change. You could just walk up to any Pokemon Center and relearn any moves freely.

7) Exp Candies, especially the L and XL versions.

They are just by far the easiest way to level up mons fast.