(Theory)Pokemon League and caracter custumization

[G.Igamer]

Two new ... "things" have been revealed for the pokemon games. That is the ORAS and XY leagues.

Also, For Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, caracter custumization has been removed. Not only that, but it has also been stated that it was developed exclusively for Kalos' theme of beuty so it is possible that we won't see it in future games.

That said, this theory relies on 3 things:
1. The pokemon global link and game sync
2. The ORAS and XY League
3. The fact that everyone(or at least most people) like custumization

Taking these into account: remember how pokemon leagues work in the anime? Well, basicly, you register yourself at a pokemon center, collect 8 gym badges and fight with other people that have done so too.

See where I'm headed? If not, it goes like this:

Your pokemon trainer accout will serve as your registration to the leagues which you can link to your copy of a game with game sync. I am guessing the leagues will play as rating season, as match making may be difficult or impossible.

Now, as of caracter custumization: you could do this in the pokemon website and then download the sprite with game sync. You may argue that the style of the games(currently) and the website do not match, but compare the trainers now with what they where in the old trainer club.

This could also link to the Pokemon TCG online, how exactly, you may ask. That is something I don't know either.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?

 

[Hiatus]

Main reason as to why they're removing character customization feature in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, I believe, is due to May and Brendan being already-established characters, as they'd made plenty of appearances in anime and manga in the past. If they'd allowed fans to break away from that and permitted everyone to have them their way, Brendan and May likely won't have anything special set to themselves, if you know what I mean.

One thing I've been hoping for is them giving us ability to personalize online players (in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, we'd be applied with random NPCs every time we connect games with link-cable and whatnot, which, I believe, will likely be carried over to ORAS, but only with bit of a different fashion, considering that linking is no longer a thing), which would definitely be sort of a good middle-ground, I feel.

As for ORAS and XY leagues, they sound pretty interesting! Will help Global Link to be more used, surely.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm agreeing with everything Peitharchia herself said.

I think the main theory behind the removal of customization is not trying to make it a niche exclusive to Kalos, but because of Brendan and May being well-established characters who have iconic designs in their own right. Customization was fun in that it allowed everyone to make their character into an individual of their own, but it also tied in with Kalos being themed around beauty and the fact France is considered a "stylish" country.

Having customization in Hoenn would take away from the iconic designs of Brendan and May, and they wouldn't be considered "special" anymore. As for the XY and ORAS leagues, they are essentially leagues that only allow their respective games. X/Y can only be used in XY League while the ORAS League is just for OR/AS. This is mainly due to the fact X/Y can't be updated with a patch to include the OR/AS Megas, items etc. and would cause compatibility issues.

 

[Nah]

IDK, I think that the removal of character customization is Game Freak having a strangely romanticized view of their games. First of all, character customization is not/should not be what makes Kalos "special". Particularly since it's a feature that can fit into any region. Replace Kalos in the sentence "Character customization is part of what makes Kalos special" with the name of any other region, and it works just fine, shouldn't give you any weird feelings. Or do people outside of Kalos not know how to change their clothes or something? Second of all, character customization doesn't "ruin" May and Brendan's design. Something so "iconic" shouldn't be ruined by something like character customization. Especially when it is an OPTION. If you like May and Brendan's original look, you don't have to change it. You are not forced to use the customization feature at all if you don't want to. But for those of use who don't care about the iconicness of May/Brendan's outfits, please give us the option; it makes our experiences better.

*sigh*

But about the X/Y and the ORAS leagues, that's just because the two can't exactly battle with each other due to ORAS introducing Megas and items that don't exist in X/Y's coding.

 

[KajiVenator]

If I may say so, if Nintendo were so concerned with wanting to maintain the "iconic designs" of May and Brendan then they would not have removed the "iconic designs" of the characters. Old Brendan and May looked infinitely better than new Brendan and May, new Brendan being derpy as hell in his official art (that awkward smile and posing...) and new May... well, she now has a bow on her head for whatever reason, and seems to be trying too hard to look cute.

 

[Polar Spectrum]

Or do people outside of Kalos not know how to change their clothes or something?

I chuckled


But really, I'm sad to see the extremely diverse customization go. If anything though - I'd wager all my X/Y mega stones when we start ORAS, we get to choose from either gender, then 3 character archetype builds (like in the beginning of X/Y in the mirror). Basically just skin tone and hair if I'm not mistaken. Could be slightly less or more, but I'd put money on that being the case.

Sad about not playing cross game since it's the same gen... but, kinda... understandable, sorta.

 

[Musicality]

I'm actually in full support of character customization in ORAS, but while that isn't going to happen, I'd like to share some opinions with regards to customization.

The game is for you. While they don't have to offer extremely featured character costumes/outfits, it's nice to have a personalized character to distinguish yourself from other players, and to have this personal aspect incorporated into the game. However, the introduction of Cosplay Pikachu probably helped somewhat, so it's not all bad, I guess.

 

[SnowpointQuincy]

Hard truth: there are only so many hours in a day. As a game director, you have to make choices about how time and resources are spent. This game has Flying, Diving, and contests. All of that takes time.

 

[Megan]

I have that feeling, GF didn't plan on releasing ORAS in 2014, they probably wanted to stick with their two years release cycle. If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with Nintendo, more specifically with Nintendo's little financial problem.

Putting aside all the hatred some fans may have towards X and Y, there's no reason to abandon the games after just one year (which is likely to happen sooner or later now with the release of ORAS next month). With this semi compatibility and all those new gameplay specific features players sooner or later have to switch to the newer games, there's no way around it, but a lot of people probably feel cheated for buying a game whose lifespan lasted only half the time, the other games did.

And as a side note: I don't buy this "iconic design" argument. It looks more like they tried to be creative, but for whatever reason (probably time/money) they couldn't manage to not make them look generic. While the X/Y protags are generic, too, the customization helps out a little bit. Also remember, that you're not forced to customize your trainer.
Ask any member of any game developing company about a beloved feature that was in previous installments, but not in the next one, you will never hear something like "we didn't have the time and money, so we had to remove it", but rather "it was only designed as a feature for the previous game (that just happens to be abandoned one year later)"