Trials or Gyms?

[Darkbirt]

What do you think about both, all gym badges for the league and all trials for the battle tree.

 

[Radiating]

I think it'll be a mix of both. Some of you may recall empty plots of land all over Alola. Some people (including myself) think that these will become gyms for Alola.

Spoiler:

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I think it'll be a mix of both. Some of you may recall empty plots of land all over Alola. Some people (including myself) think that these will become gyms for Alola.

Spoiler:

I agree. I fully expect those spots to be turned into gyms, but I still think we will have the trials where we will be collecting Z crystals.

 

[Eresse]

I agree. I fully expect those spots to be turned into gyms, but I still think we will have the trials where we will be collecting Z crystals.

I really wouldn't mind having both. The gyms could be more combat-focused, and the trials could focus more on puzzles and exploration (like the forest trial).

 

[pkmin3033]

One note on both - they had better not be mutually exclusive, or have one required to do the other. What would be lovely would be if you could choose between them for progression, but still go back and do the other one afterwards if you wanted to. I realise that will never happen, because Game Freak aren't that thoughtful of a company, but I think it'd be fantastic (and long overdue) if we got to actually chart our own game progression from choices available to us, rather than being forced to repeat the same thing over and over to get anywhere. Even if Gyms and Trials are basically the same thing.

 

[Kiyotaka Ishimaru]

I prefer Trials for these games. They've been a fun addition to the system, although it would be preferable for them to have a higher difficulty and more extensiveness for the new games that will be coming out. It would also be nice to have more character backstory and characterization for all of the Trial Captains.

 

[Hikamaru]

I honestly don't care either or. I don't quite understand the hatred on trials -- they fit the theme of the game, after all -- even if it's not your cup of tea in terms of deviating from traditional Gyms. In the context and bigger picture of sticking to a Hawaiian theme, I'd say while there's plenty of room to grow insofar as the execution of trials, I hesitate to say they were done poorly (with the possible exception of Mina).

I think the reason why people were disappointed with Trials was because they only had one different thing going for them, and that was being out in the open and not a building. Game Freak even said the reason this was done was because they wanted to put nature at the full-front of focus in S/M.

Trials were basically done poorly, in that aside from the task you do before the Totem fight, you still fight a few Pokemon before the Totem, just like how you fight other trainers before the Gym Leader.

 

[Mawa]

I think it'll be a mix of both. Some of you may recall empty plots of land all over Alola. Some people (including myself) think that these will become gyms for Alola.

Spoiler:

This is awesome :o I definitely want this too.

Trials are fine but I don't want to see them becoming the "new gyms"... I wouldn't mind if it's gonna be the trials in USUM as it is still in Alola. But now that there's a league in Alola... maybe there will be some gyms?

... or maybe two separate leagues: one with gyms and one with trials. Maybe???? XD

 

[smocks]

I think Gyms will be appearing in Alola! But since SM ended off with the start of the construction of the Pokémon League, all the gyms will be newly constructed and the trial captains & kahunas will be the Gym Leaders! But since they're all so used to the Alola Traditional Trials, they'll probably be incorporated into the gyms probably as puzzles.

& +1 to Radiating's post, totally hinting at the construction of gyms for Alola's Pokémon League imo.

 

[Flowerchild]

I actually really preferred the trials. I hope GF won't abandon this like they do so many other cool features. Gyms are fun but they're getting old and they're just not interesting to me anymore.

 

[thedarkdragon11]

I hope to see both... With one of them as a post-league quest, just like the Kanto exploration in GSC and HGSS wherein you have a chance to challenge the Indigo League gyms...

 

[Hikamaru]

If the reason people had a problem with them is because they're not in a building then, bluntly speaking (but will all due respect), that's dumb.

In essence, Trials are basically Gyms with a fresh coat of paint. What does it matter if they're outdoors or indoors? I wouldn't be upset if they were indoors but had some Hawaiian Gym theme going on, but since the overall focus is more nature related, it's outdoors. Getting upset at that is quite frankly silly.

I'd rather Game Freak put more focus on the character development of the Trial Captains themselves. I'd like to see you work with the Captains to bring down Ultra Beasts, to bring down the Aether Foundation, Team Skull, etc. Have them more out there, y'know? SM showed that there was a lot of potential for this; the Trial Captains seems to have more personality and, for the most part, weren't cardboard like most Gym Leaders of past generations.

I do admit there was one positive with the feature and that was the Trial Captains having personality and that you were able to visit where they lived meaning you'd learn more about them. I guess people though it was a fresh idea at first, but then realised that it had barely any difference from how a Gym played out in that you faced smaller subjects before the main boss itself.

It was a huge shame we didn't get to see more of the Trial Captains themselves, in that they didn't serve any notable part of the plot other than Acerola who becomes an Elite Four member, while Mina's roles didn't come into effect until the postgame.