Rival Discussion & Speculation

[illumine]

OR/AS did go down a romantic route, which the anime also did, kind of, but they were re-making a game rather than trying to make up a new 'rival.' Obviously, though, a more romantic rival eventually just ceases to be a rival. In addition, making a new character whose design is to get attracted to anyone might slightly negate their own modus operandi, unless it was merely a re-make of an old character. They'd also be unlikely to want to have to do this with two characters, something which even Stephanie Mayer balks at. Other, more specific, places could probably do romance better, if that was the point.

Anyway, though, a character who was more contrarian, like G/S/C's 'rival,' might be decent, while the more arbitrary claims in R/B might come across as slightly out-of-place, but obviously significant refinement might be needed if that character was to return. Anyway, though, some amount of similarity to previous 'rivals' is likely, as in recent gens they've been increasingly similar, but it might be unfortunate and just seems to indicate a certain degree of lack of interest from them.

how about taking things a little higher this time like your rival having a speculative crush on you and always tags along you and making their you inspiration whatever? and a little hint of romance at the end where the evil organization was about to destroy the region and he/she saved you then they'll tell you that ever since they liked you and that ****.

Generally speaking, it is the player's game, and they are the protagonist, so the game is unlikely to have some random perform the protagonist's duties, especially if the player generally had to beat them earlier to get to that point in the game.

What all of this has to do with Louis Napoleon might be unclear.

 

[Guest123123]

I'd rather not have romance as a silent protagonist. I mean I'd be ok with an optional relationship system but I don't want to be force-shipped by the game, especially if they're just going to assume I'm/everyone is straight.

 

[gimmepie]

I think the rivals I enjoy the most are the ones that aren't just rehashes of other rivals. This is something that gens 4, 5 and 6 did much better than the previous ones (excluding remakes of course). The rivals were interesting unique characters instead of stuff like Silver being a rehash of Blue and Brendan/May being a rehash of Leaf (or whatever her name is). Even Lyra was just a rehash and wasn't she an entirely new character added to HGSS?

I also like to have multiple rivals which is cool too. But it's not a big deal so long as they're interesting.

 

[Cyrain]

I'd like to have 2 rivals with cool characters:) one friendly fellow and an arrogant idiot. The brats we had so far were boys and now I'd really love a bitchy, annoying as hell girl:D. When silver said stuff like 'I let you win' it sounds like a lame excuse but it would somehow fit a vain maybe rich chick that always got everything she ever wanted and thinks she's the best. Maybe even give her a character twist that she finally understands she was wrong and let her change to a friend^^.

And please make them challenging and surprising! In retrospect I loved all the times a rival battled me out of the blue and posed a serious threat to me and my team. The newer rivals always ask and it's sooo damn boring imo...

 

[Hikamaru]

A bratty rival would be super nice, and it'd be cool if GameFreak dropped the whole 'childhood friend' cliche because it's kind of worn out. N was nice because the player had no pre-story connection with him, and having a mean-spirited person whose backstory you have to look around to find would be nice, they'd be an adventure themselves.
Wait.

I think the main reason behind why recent rivals have been more like friends is probably because Game Freak is trying to spread the message of Pokemon being "the power of friendship" because your Pokemon are your partners, they fight alongside you and I could imagine that my Pokemon are like having friends.

 

[Bill Cipher]

Silver.
That's all I'm saying.
A trainer who's too serious about grinding their pokemon, to realise that love and trust goes a long way too.

A trainer who doesn't actually deserve the Pokémon they have. Or, got said Pokémon via un-conventional means.

We need a new Silver.

 

[BreakingHeart]

Would like a rival who's a bit of a jerk but if we're getting another "friend" rival, at least make them challenging and have a distinct personality like Barry was. No disrespect to Brendan/May, Bianca and Cheren whose characters were good but battles weren't that memorable.

As long as we don't have many rivals crammed in like X and Y, I am happy.

 

[DarkWitch]

I want the jerk rivals again. Really can't stand these new friendly rivals. I want the whole rival that doesn't help you out when you fight the villains teams, the one that thinks they're better than you. I want the rival that makes me want to take them down.

 

[NightmareClown]

2 or maybe 3 rivals is the max. I mean in X/Y there were just too many. And they did have their own challenges but still, two many. I want 1 boy rival and 1girl rival! Here is what I think:

Boy: bit of a flirt, major ego, good challenges, childhood friend but still is a tease.

Girl: shy, good challenges, defiant still, childhood friend.

What I mean by 2 rivals, is that if you are a boy, you get the girl rival. Bose versa for girls get the boy rival.

AND BEFORE YOU ASK!!!! By 'a bit of a flirt' I mean exactly as it means. I want a bit of romance between them (it's my opinion!) because in X/Y at the end you get friend zoned and that made me detriments to have some romance in this. No hate peeps.

 

[elf rat]

i have nothing against friendly rivals, but we just get those type in the last games.
I'd like another characters like Silver, and with a great story arc.
A female badass (and hot) rival too.

 

[Hikamaru]

I know a lot of us are hoping for an antagonistic rival like Blue or Silver, but I'm likely expecting another friendly rival and that's because I heard that the reason Game Freak seems to be straying away from "evil" rivals is because they might be a bad influence on children, which is Pokemon's target audience.

 

[PkmnTrainerElio]

I'd like two rivals, one asshole who is very mean and one who is sweet... I would like it if they had more of a story to them too... HG/SS, B/W/B2/W2 and X/Y gave us that, but I would like more of a story to the rival.

 

[TheLegendaryGuy]

Just one or two rivals a most. I didn't like how many rivals you had in X & Y, it just felt like there were too many to keep up with. Having just one or two to take the remaining starter Pokemon is enough.

Right. Even i didn't like the number of rivals in X/Y. I think 2 rivals, with one bratty male and a friendly female would be the best option.

 

[Hikamaru]

I wouldn't mind two rivals again, like in Black & White. Although I felt Cheren was a little brattier than Bianca, they still had the "friend" aspect that seems predictable by this stage. X/Y did go overboard with the rivals, which is where that game fell flat, on top of absolutely no character development for most of the major NPCs.

 

[Solar Snivy]

I want another rival like Barry, but with more challenging battles.

I'd want the rival to be several levels ahead of you on a 'Hard' difficulty, and about even with you on a 'Normal' or 'Easy' difficulty.

 

[BrodieB]

The rivals actually wont be able to be classified as either good or evil, because they're the literal sun and moon, duh xD

 

[Lunar]

I want another rival like Barry, but with more challenging battles.

This sounds great, I loved Barry as a rival and felt like he was the first one I was determined to beat since Blue. Although tbh I can't see Game Freak doing this again cause of the need for Pokemon to be all about friendship...

 

[Hikamaru]

This sounds great, I loved Barry as a rival and felt like he was the first one I was determined to beat since Blue. Although tbh I can't see Game Freak doing this again cause of the need for Pokemon to be all about friendship...

Barry actually did have a friendly nature to him, but with Blue elements added.

 

[Skip Class]

The possible Rival? Seems like a friendly childhood friend maybe?

 

[Hikamaru]

The possible Rival? Seems like a friendly childhood friend maybe?

Looks like we're getting another friendly rival, but nice to see it's another person of colour, and after Shauna in X/Y I was hoping we'd get a male rival with a darker skin tone.