Victory Road - yay or nay?

[Sheep]

Victory Road tends to exist in most Pokémon games as the 'final challenge' players must face before reaching the Elite Four.

Do you like often having to go through Victory Road caves? Are you okay with this trend continuing, or would you prefer something different in its place?

 

[_confused_piplup_]

the only victory roads which were challenging were the Hoenn and the Sinnoh one. The others are just too easy, so i don't get the point of their existence. Yeah they're nice for the strong pokemon and trainers u find there, but if they're also good dungeons is even better. If that's the case, then it's super cool and it's an experience that should be always present in pokemon games.

 

[colours]

i don't typically pay much attention to victory road caves, so i guess i'm more or less neutral towards them? maybe i'm the odd one because i've noticed some people tend to take note of their design and how annoying they are to go through. for me, most victory roads tend to be same-y caves that i have to use HMs for with the exception of gen 5 i think?

not really sure they add anything but a bunch of trainers and obstacles to go through before the e4. i genuinely wouldn't notice (or probably care much) if vr got removed entirely. shrugs.

 

[Corveone]

I like Victory Road as long as I don't need HMs to get through them. Especially at that point in the game where you're almost at the end and you already have a full team, being forced to remove moves from your Pokémon to keep HMs or to carry an HM slave is an awful idea. That was OK in Gen 1 when movesets were so poor that you didn't have many good stuff to teach to your Pokémon anyway, but that's not the case in the other games.

Depending on my team levels, I don't allways battle all Victory Road trainers, in some playthroughs I've just fought the mandatory ones to prevent some of my Pokémon from overlevelling.

 

[Fairy]

I don't mind it! It's good for some last minute training, plus there's usually Pokémon there you can't get anywhere else. But if it's highly puzzle based - that's just a pain. I'd rather do a long challenge of fights than have to deal with any HMs.

 

[ReKoil]

I just find them tedious.
There's not much challenge to them, so them being lengthy to get through if you battle everyone/pick up every item is just tedious.

 

[Drayton]

Ah hahahhah. Too much puzzles and waywardy to get the destinations and trainers at this point seems extremely tough to take it down and the routes often requires HM to move/get around things

 

[Devalue]

Appreciates parts of it.

Positives:
- Badge checks. Reminds you of your journey here.
- Tougher trainers. Tends to own more varied teams, as well as stronger Pokemon. Bumps up the IV spread in Moon for Veterans, for example.

Negatives:
- Heavy HM requirements. Speaks for itself. Goes hand-in-hand with Strength puzzles.
- More caves. Designed a really fancy entrance in X/Y. Leads to a natural-looking cave, plus some paths here and there. Did they blow the entire budget on the door and main building? Strands you out in the snow in Sword/Shield.

Remembers disliking Black/White's Victory Road. Criss-crossed from cave to cave. Felt very disorienting.

- Exploding Gravelers. Shows up in a lot of these Victory Roads. Became even worse with Sturdy.


Still wants some form of Victory Road. Deserves an update, though. Likes the idea of a final test of your trainer abilities before the League fights. Ought to reflect the gyms you cleared. Would really like to see Pokemon types and abilities come into play here.

Will use Sword/Shield as an example. Herded Wooloos in the first gym. Dealt with a water puzzle in the second gym. Combine them. Herd Wooloos through a water maze.

Gains advantages based on your team. Demonstrates your greater mastery over your Pokemon. Halt a water stream with a Water type. Freeze a stream with an Ice type. Remotely push switches with a Psychic type. Herd Wooloos easier with Intimidate, Unnerve, Lillipup, Wooloo, Yamper, and so on.

Would also give the option of fighting tough trainers instead of interacting with the puzzle (completely or mostly). Hesitates to provide the above advantages by defeating specific trainers. Cheapens the special feeling of watching your Mightyena put Wooloo in their place.

 

[Sheep]

the only victory roads which were challenging were the Hoenn and the Sinnoh one. The others are just too easy, so i don't get the point of their existence. Yeah they're nice for the strong pokemon and trainers u find there, but if they're also good dungeons is even better. If that's the case, then it's super cool and it's an experience that should be always present in pokemon games.

The Hoenn one was one of the most windy ones for me! But I pretty much memorized the path since I replayed so often lol. Agreed with you mostly, I wish they would all be similar levels of windy/tough so I could appreciate the experience more. Some are hardly memorable because they just don't stick out in any way. :x

 

[_confused_piplup_]

The Hoenn one was one of the most windy ones for me! But I pretty much memorized the path since I replayed so often lol. Agreed with you mostly, I wish they would all be similar levels of windy/tough so I could appreciate the experience more. Some are hardly memorable because they just don't stick out in any way. :x

actually, same for me with the Sinnoh one lol

 

[Bellsprout]

The only thing I like about Victory Road is that last batch of trainers with decent exp for training before the elite four/champion. I really don't care if it goes through a cave or has multiple points of cave/open road. I wish if anything they would add more trainers or just trainers with better teams.

 

[Roni]

It's cool. A way to do some last level grinding before the final challenge. I do wish it were an actual road though.

 

[giradialkia]

I love the idea of Victory Road, but I'd like to see them play with it a bit more. Something like "Victory Valley", or "Victory Canyon", or.. well, something beyond just a cave. Pokémon Gaia, a cool ROM hack, has Victory Falls, which is just cool to me.

My favourite iteration of Victory Road is in B2W2, where we got fragments of BW's Victory Road along with some awesome ruins, caves and outer mountain areas. Really felt like a kinda final gauntlet for Trainers to overcome before the League "tournament".
XY and USUM also played with Victory Road being more of a mountain than a cave, but B2W2 was my favourite iteration.

 

[Orion☆]

I love the idea of Victory Road, but I'd like to see them play with it a bit more. Something like "Victory Valley", or "Victory Canyon", or.. well, something beyond just a cave. Pokémon Gaia, a cool ROM hack, has Victory Falls, which is just cool to me.

My favourite iteration of Victory Road is in B2W2, where we got fragments of BW's Victory Road along with some awesome ruins, caves and outer mountain areas. Really felt like a kinda final gauntlet for Trainers to overcome before the League "tournament".
XY and USUM also played with Victory Road being more of a mountain than a cave, but B2W2 was my favourite iteration.

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. I really like that later games in the series started shaking up the Victory Road cave format. My first one was the Sinnoh Victory Road... and you can imagine I got tired of it real fast.

I also don't like how certain Pokémon can only be found in Victory Roads (e.g. Mawile in Emerald) because... you shouldn't have to extend the grind just to use one of your favourites. Unless the presence of that Pokémon makes geographical sense, it's a no for me.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Ah, Victory Road - great on paper, flawed in execution. The idea of a final gauntlet of powerful foes to both prepare you and test your abilities for the Elite Four is a good idea, but does it also have to be a test of your mastery of HM moves? Why isn't it more of a straightforward, you know, ROAD? I've always envisioned an elegant, grand hallway, where waves of powerful trainers awaited you. Maybe some grassy patches off to the side with selections of powerful wild Pokemon if you wanted to go after them, but it would be your battling skills that would be put to the test - not your ability to scale waterfalls or push rocks around.

And what's with so many Victory Road trainers only having 2-3 Pokemon that are 10+ levels below the Champion? Many of the trainers hanging out on Victory Road tell you they're also planning to take on the Elite Four, but with the teams that the games give them? Doubtful they'll get far.

 

[d4rk]

And what's with so many Victory Road trainers only having 2-3 Pokemon that are 10+ levels below the Champion? Many of the trainers hanging out on Victory Road tell you they're also planning to take on the Elite Four, but with the teams that the games give them? Doubtful they'll get far.

I'll add that none of these trainers have Pokémon with HM moves, I suspect all of them to have a personal chopper.

 

[Duck]

My issues with Victory Road are mostly the puzzles - I don't care that much about puzzles in Pokémon, it's not a game like Zelda or SMO or Pokemon Rangers where I expect that kind of thing, and while I do appreciate the occasional Strength puzzle, it just feels tiresome to do Strength + Rock Smash + Surf + maybe Flash to get to the final boss.

Especially with the wilds being annoying.

Personally, I think something akin to the Galar Tournament as a precursor to the Elite Four could be interesting - you and other trainers that got the badges are ready to face off and see which ones will gain the priviledge to facing the elite trainers of the region.

Like Devalue mentioned, I could see other ways of proving worth being used there but just going through a windy maze because it's expected is kinda boring. It's OK to make artificial situations for this kinda thing, you already got a perfect justification in the form of "The League is doing it for revenue".

 

[Diamond 97]

Victory Road is...meh. I like that it is a high level training spot. I hate that I often need to bring HM slaves to get through it. ESPECIALLY when you have to strategically push boulders through the ground (looking at you gen1).

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I always hated Victory Road in my playthroughs. I always viewed it as a pointless obstacle making it harder for me to access the Pokémon League. It is also another location that basically forces you to spend the majority of your hard-earned money on Max Repels. I merely find it pointless that trainers require a "final test" before facing the Elite Four despite winning all the gym badges.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Well, I for one love Victory Road, every single game. The only thing I dislike is the HM requirements in some games, but otherwise I love having a final gauntlet of trainers to fight before the league, and even though they're usually caves, they tend to be interestingly-designed caves with lots of areas to explore. Plus it's a great training spot if you're fighting wild Pokemon to grind instead of trainer rematches.