Optional tutorials?

[HeroLinik]

Do you think that we really need to learn how to catch a Pokemon for like the 50th time?
Do you think that we really need to learn how to use a Pokemon Center for like the 100th time?
Do you think that we really need to learn how to do Pokemon battles for like the 1000th time?

Going to be honest here, I get that you may be new to the series, but seriously, why do you have to force the veterans who've played several previous generations to watch a tutorial that teaches them something that they already well and truly clearly know by heart? It slows the game down and makes it harder to get to what we really want to be doing, especially for the veterans. Honestly, I'd kill for some feature that asks if you already know how to do it, and then set you off on your way so you don't have to sit through the tutorial. Seriously, it's 2017 and Pokemon games still don't give you an option to do that!

Anyone else thinking the tutorials should be made optional?

 

[-Nonsense-]

At this point, probably almost everyone.

 

[Mister Coffee]

I personally think that Game Freak should be using Red and Blue as their prime example for how much tutorial a game needs to teach children how to play the game. They had pretty much just one NPC at the very beginning of the game who quickly showed you how to catch a pokemon and then everything you needed to know after that could be learned through reading optional signs with the title "Trainer Tips". You could choose to ignore these signs so it never became an issue for people who were already experienced in playing the games.

Every kid who played Red and Blue figured out everything they needed to know about playing the basics of a pokemon game. They didn't need their hand forced to do anything after that very first tutorial capture battle. All of the rest of the tutorials are really unnecessary and honestly it's kind of insulting to feel like Game Freak thinks we're not smart enough to figure out everything else on our own.

 

[Nah]

Optional tutorials would be lovely, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[Mab]

It's one of the most annoying things for a game like Pokémon to lack, and extremely easy to implement. It's literally a Yes/No prompt into a conditional prompt. I really hope we see it in the future because lacking it is getting more and more inexcusable.

 

[Desert Stream~]

"Do you know how to catch pokemon?"
"Yes"
"Great, I'll show you!"

 

[Drayton]

I wish that optional tutorials appear on every main series as we go, but launching of US/UM I thinking that won't happen. GF just spamming these everytime we play so YES/NO or Newbie playing pokemon/Returning Veteran, Skip tuts options does not exist right now. Every main series have one and can't skip with one button

 

[Spyro]

This isn't a problem only with Pokémon sadly. The trend of over-tutorializing everything is present in most new games. I despise tutorials with a passion, but Pokémon is a simple enough game to understand, I think the biggest challenge is type matchups. Like yes, we know the fire>grass>water circle, but I don't think new player will know that flying>fighting. However, there's dudes at the start of the gym that tells you a gym weaknesses, and you can just completely ignore him

 

[Mab]

This isn't a problem only with Pok?mon sadly. The trend of over-tutorializing everything is present in most new games. I despise tutorials with a passion, but Pok?mon is a simple enough game to understand, I think the biggest challenge is type matchups. Like yes, we know the fire>grass>water circle, but I don't think new player will know that flying>fighting. However, there's dudes at the start of the gym that tells you a gym weaknesses, and you can just completely ignore him

Plus there's the uh, type matchup indicator in-battle in the new games. Hopefully that stays because that's a great example of non-obtrusive tutorials.

 

[Ace Trainer 188]

Forced tutorials have grown on me as much as the SM cutscenses. If you don't like it, then find something else to do while it's going on.

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

I don't understand why they removed what they had in DPPt and HGSS: a screen at the beginning that asks if you know how the game is played. I get that that was only for button input, but I don't get why they removed it. GSC asks you if you know how to catch a Pok?mon; RBY's tutorial is short enough to look away for a minute. Why are these things suddenly mandatory to follow? I don't get the general increase of tutorials in literally every game nowadays at all.

 

[Imperator161]

I wish we had the option to skip the tutorials, but I doubt it will happen any time soon with the way things are going. It's as though GF is afraid that a new player will press the wrong button, accidentally skip the tutorial, not remember what to do next, and then get frustrated and keep playing. Since the games no longer come with physical manuals (not that a lot of players read them before anyway, but still), I guess a player could more easily start the game without a clue of what to do, and GF doesn't want that.

It's hard for me to assess what seems obvious at this point, as it's been so long since I first played Pokemon, but I'm pretty sure I figured things out just fine in Red. I get the feeling that it's assumed that kids have shorter attention spans than they used to, and getting frustrated without help early on in the game. I'm not sure if that's actually true, or whether it's just my age starting to show. Still, perhaps optional tutorials and an in-game tutorial-type item would help (kind of like FRLG's Teachy TV maybe? I didn't use that much, so I don't totally remember what the programs covered). The abundance of internet-accessing devices should also make tutorials less necessary, in my opinion. (My gut reaction if I need to refresh my memory on a game mechanic or game info is to Google it, and since we're talking about the era of smartphones on every countertop and a game system with a built-in web browser, rather than dial up that only worked for one person on a line at a time, it seems like newer players should be able to find their answers online too.)

Unskippable cutscenes and boring dialogue are also becoming the bane of my existence. I played through the intro to Sun last week to get an extra cap Pikachu, and I'm dreading having to do so again every week for the next month or so to collect the set. The whole experience makes my frustration over getting Kanto starters (which takes maybe 10 minutes) seem so minor. Even the intro to Gold, which I always thought seemed slow with the whole walk up to Mr. Pokemon's house and back, seems relatively quick now.