Should the Pokedex reveal more information?

[PoryKid575]

Despite completing the Pokedex ostensibly being the ultimate goal of most Pokemon games, I've always found the information recorded within it to be rather lackluster; you usually just get a short blurb about a given Pokemon's characteristics alongside their height/weight/footprint, which seems a bit underwhelming considering how it's typically marketed as this bleeding edge encyclopedia in-game. I'd prefer if it also displayed attributes such as a Pokemon's base stats or learnset, possibly behind a second window to avoid being too crowded. It would certainly cut down on the time spent consulting wikis and adds a nice incentive beyond personal satisfaction to fill out the thing.

I can see the other side though, if we're being realistic, most hardcore Pokemon fans are still going to mainly use online resources due to the greater convenience and casual players don't really need the information in the first place. What do you guys think though, could the Pokedex use an overhaul, or is it fine as-is?

 

[Corveone]

The Pokédex is made deliberately casual, most likely to avoid overwhelming kids/newcomers/main target audience with too much numbers and information.

I'd surely appreciate if the in-game Pokédex provided some more actually useful information, because knowing a Pokémon's stats and movesets is certainly more useful than a description of what that Pokémon is or does that has nothing to do with actual gameplay. But I understand that certain information might go against GF's idea of letting players have fun with their favorites without worrying much about numbers and technical stuff.

I think they should keep the default Pokédex as it is, BUT add optional side-quests available at some points in the game. Upon completing those quests, the players could unlock Dex upgrades that allow new info to be displayed. Example:
Tab 1: Shows Base stats and possible Abilities
Tab 2: Level-up learnsets and evolution method(s)
Tab 3: Learnable TMs
Tab 4: Egg group and possible Egg moves

To prevent spoiling things too much, certain data could be shown as "???" until the player discovers it. E.g. Dex will tell you that your starter evolves at level 36, but not what it will evolve into. It would tell you that your Pokémon can learn TM72, but not tell you what TM72 is if you have not discovered that TM yet.

 

[Meganium]

My answer to this will be that I'm old school and I prefer simple, 1-2 sentences to describe the Pokemon on the PokeDex. I think its too much storage for the game to handle a page-length for nearly 1000 Pokemon.

Guess you can call me hardcore.

 

[Devalue]

Prefers a little more information, partially for a first playthrough. Typically tries to avoid places with information during those times. May not need to add all the base stats, but perhaps something like "strongest stat" and "possible abilities". Keeps it digestible for newer players. Could present the base stats as a bar chart, alternatively.

Ideally gives a hint about the evolution too, given how strange some can be. Imagines something more generic, like "Evolves with experience", "Evolves with a special item", and "Evolves by trading". Hates having to look up whether a Pokemon will be hamstrung by being a trade evolution or some online feature.

 

[Delta Crowned Sword]

I will say that the default PokéDex is nice, but needs little refining.

I will not like to see the complete movesets at all, because what our Pokémon will learn while leveling up is a nice surprise when we are using those Pokémon for first time. Same goes for TMs as well. Once we had our TMs, then we can automatically check the eligible candidates, so giving all info will be bit more spoon feeding.

And for evolutions, the only thing they need to do is to mention the special evolution methods. Because when I was playing Fire Red for first time, I didn't knew that Haunter needed to be traded and I ended up leveling it over 60. Similar for Pokémon like Salazzle, Gallade, etc. So will agree with @Devalue 's idea for sure.

Excluding this case, it's good if they don't let us know at what level our Pokémon will evolve. It is nice if we discover it on our own.


For stats, I think they should adopt the method of Pokémon HOME for displaying the data. Gives a nice touch. Though I don't consider this as must, and instead if this feature is augmented in Pokémon info page, then players can decide on their own whether the Pokémon in focus has good stats or not, by comparing with other team members.

The main usage of PokéDex is to know the Pokémon location, hence it could be strengthened and made better.

The main targeted audience are young kids and players who play the game for fun, and I don't think they are too much into competitive scenario, hence presenting all of the data will feel like they are looking into Pokémon Wiki entry, which they are not going to use anyway.


Not to forget that even in Anime, the PokéDex is never shown to provide a lot of information and only supporting characters like Brock used to provide ideas and hints of moves, ability, etc. At least till Sinnoh, the point to which I had watched the series.





Some information are good when we discover them on our own, hence I will support The Pokémon Company's idea behind this, otherwise knowing many things from start will take away the fun, and will be like official version of Smogon+Showdown, minus movesets description.

 

[Sheep]

I think they should keep the default Pokédex as it is, BUT add optional side-quests available at some points in the game. Upon completing those quests, the players could unlock Dex upgrades that allow new info to be displayed. Example:
Tab 1: Shows Base stats and possible Abilities
Tab 2: Level-up learnsets and evolution method(s)
Tab 3: Learnable TMs
Tab 4: Egg group and possible Egg moves

This is an excellent idea and is my ideal. I would like it even more if I didn't have to open up a separate menu for it - so for example, I can have the Dex open in the corner of the screen so I can quickly refer back to it if I am in the middle of breeding, etc.

The Dex has been largely unchanged since the beginning, and I would love for an expansion. Things like BST would be nice to see too, like you mentioned, but I can't see Game Freak wanting to show those numbers officially. The rest being added would already be amazing.