What makes a POKéMON End-Game good?

[Rockoria]

Hello!

I come to the community today with an odd question. Currently I'm working on a ROM hack that focuses basically entirely on the end-game. And I wanted some outsider-input, and so I ask, what do you think would (or already does) make an end-game for POKéMON enjoyable? For me, it's exploring the extra land it gives you (e.g. the Gen 4 island) and catching special POKéMON like the special legendaries and such.

Any input is appreciated! :)

 

[BettyNewbie]

For me, a good postgame must be something that has appeal for casual players, people who don't want to dump their faithful companions and go through the trouble of breeding/EV-ing up a new team (so that automatically rules out multiplayer, as well as battle facilities).

Lots of new areas to explore are a must. Many people play for the adventure aspect, so having only a few new areas to go through after beating the E4 won't be any fun for them. Any new areas should have new Pokémon and Legendary sidequests to keep things interesting. An expanded Evil Team plot would also be nice to have.

Gym Leader and E4 rematches are also a must. It's always great to revisit them, and it's a good source of EXP. Cameo battles with characters from other games might not be a bad idea, too.

And, this might be controversial for some, but extra Badges wouldn't be bad to have, either. Whether it's another 8-Badge League or a 4-Badge one (like the Orange Islands), having extra Gym Leaders gives you more to do in the new areas. There should be an extra postgame final boss (like GSC Red) if you have extra badges, though.

That's all I can think of for now, but you get the general drift.

 

[Drayton]

Like most everyone said, a decent endgame would have:
♥ ability to battle gym leaders again
Let's face it and you want to rematch with the gym leaders just for grid and fun

♥ more quest to compete
Take a decent look in ORAS with delta episodes and it sure excite everyone


♥ More pokemons that not on normal dex
Which means player acquire national dex and to look for more mons

♥ Battle facilities
A place where to get BP and battle competitively

 

[Simple Dragon]

There are a few things that I want to see in a hack or a game.Those things are:

-More areas to explore
I'm currently working on a hack that focuses around the exploration of other regions.
-A good quest line for the legendary/ies.
There are a lot of legendaries in the 3rd Generation (>20 in fact),so a good quest line for each Pokemon that can be found Post-game will be pretty cool.
-A Pokemon World Tournament-thingy
-A Battle Frontier.
-A Battle Frontier REGION,not just an area.Why the hell not?
-Be able to catch Pokemon,that can't be found before the Post-game quests.
-Be able to fight a new evil organisation

 

[Torshavn]

Some gimmicks such as the ones found in the Battle Frontier in Emerald, or new areas to explore such as the Sevii Islands in FR/LG or Northeastern Unova in B/W are definitely very good ways to 'keep the players busy'.
Also, if there are any popular characters, it helps to make them appear in the postgame (just think of Blue in FR/LG/G/S/C, Red in G/S/C, N in B2/W2 or Steven in Emerald).

Best of luck with your ROM hack))

 

[Pendraflare]

As some people have mentioned, getting to see past Gym Leaders is a nice addition. I know that Drayano's Blaze Black/Volt White 2 hacks have all the Hoenn Gym Leaders and you get to battle them at certain points even before you beat Iris, and Sacred Gold/Storm Silver had Steven and Cynthia. That isn't something many games today get, so it's a decent consideration.

 

[LucarioFan3]

The biggest thing is to add plenty of Post Game routes to explore, even if it is an old region like how Kanto was in Gen 2. Also, make sure you throw in Leader rematches.
Also, I am willing to lend a hand on this project. I do know how to build teams for NPCs pretty well.

 

[Sebastian_Sommer]

There are two end game contents in pokemon that I really enjoy playing. The first was in Johto games (GSC/HGSS) where you are suddenly given the opportunity to revisit the Kanto region to rechallenge all of the past gym leaders and battle against Red the previous protagonist. Another one that stood out to me was the PWT tournament from the postgame of BW2, where you are able to challenge every gym leaders and champions of previous games. This was highly enjoyable for me since the opponents are strategically using held items and the mode forcefully imposes the teams to lvl 50 which removes the player advantage of being higher level.
I excluded the battle frontier since I never got around to beating the RSE/DPPl games to reach it.

 

[27thColt]

Something epic. That will truly end the whole game. Not just an E4 rematch, but something really strong. Something that the player will really strive for.

Around the game, sprinkle in some NPC talk about this strong trainer. Sprinkle it everywhere, but not too much. Maybe even some mentions in some cutscenes. Then after you beat the E4, have someone come up to you and say something like "Woah, you beat the Elite Four!? Maybe you can challenge <blank>" And then it would be that trainer that you've been hearing all this time. So you are given an incentive throughout the whole game. Have the player be given a hint as to where this trainer is (Probably somewhere epic) and then once he finds him, just epic battle music and epic scenery with epic pokemon. Have the team be a full 6 on 6 (maybe based off of a competitive pokemon team? I don't know) and with the pokemon being the highest levels in the entire game.

 

[Wicked3DS]

Battle Frontier

The Delta Episode in OR/AS was a good example, a mini story after the game is always a good thing if you ask me. New areas to explore, maybe a couple of extra Pokémon to catch.

 

[Somewhere_]

New areas to explore.

New legendaries to catch.

Battle Frontier-like thing.

Rematch Elite Four.

New gym leaders with a champion or something.

 

[Loriania]

New areas to explore and Pokemon to catch, Liked the Delta Episode in AS/OR a lot.

 

[Megan]

Wait, are we talking about the End-Game, or are we talking about the Post-Game? Because End-Game=generic already beat to death multiple times "beat E4, become champion"-stuff, whereas Post-Game=everything that happens after the credits roll ("after" the games).

If we're talking about the End-Game: do something different, then everyone, which shouldn't be too hard, considering everyone who makes a Pokemon fangame, goes for the generic and boring E4+champion route.

If we're talking about the Post-Game: something that's both engaging and fits into your kind of game. If your game consists of islands only, then you want to give your players something that allows them to explore those islands in such a way that they don't feel annoyed by the fact, that there's going to be a lot of water they have to cross in order to keep island hopping. Create dungeons that are fun to explore and use environmental puzzles (HMs and stuff) to such an extend, that people don't mind doing them.
You'll probably need to build in a Battle Frontier similar to the Battle Frontier, but you'll not be getting around adding new things to said facility and some kind of plot, especially since focusing mostly on the postgame creates a hugh hole in both story and gameplay that you need to fill, or your game will be really short and boring.

If your game just rehashes stuff that's already covered by the main games, but in an inferior way, people will rather play the main games, because they do that stuff better anyway.

 

[Huseyin]

In an endgame most people like to explore new routes/towns/city's. Not just 1 or 2 new place(c) but more. Something like a battle frontier can also be good or maybe something like the black tower/white threehollow from pokemon black and white 2. Legendary's are good but not too much. Most people I know complain about the many legendary's in OR/AS so maybe 4 is a good amount?

 

[Hikamaru]

Most of the others summed it up, but a postgame done right needs new areas to explore, more Pokemon to catch, rematches against trainers, catching new Legendaries, a Battle Frontier-like facility and also stronger Elite Four rematches.

OR/AS's Delta Episode and B2/W2's Join Avenue, PWT and Black Tower/White Treehollow were some nice advances in terms of good postgame activities fans liked. Not every game gets its postgame looking perfect, but it's what you want if you want to keep playing.

 

[TheCrystalFlaaffy]

I think that being able to discover other areas or regions during post-game would be really fun, I especially loved being able to visit Kanto after beating the Pokemon League in G/S/C/HG/SS. Also the Sevi Islands in FR/LG were pretty cool too, though had a lack of a good story/plot.

Small note, but I think it'd be rather nice if there were some playable minigames that you could do with players online post-game for a more enjoyable experience. While I do understand that usually such activities occur at varied spots during your adventure, I think it would actually retain interest if you were presented with a myriad of different games you could play with others online or locally and be presented with some really cool items for it (like rare evolutionary stones, competitive items, things like that).

Think minigames like what Pokemon-Aime has but on a much grander scale of things. Also I'd personally like something like the Underground to be available post-game, but that's probably stretching it a bit.

Speaking of minigames I would really enjoy bringing back the Poke-a-thon from HG/SS. It had some pretty good minigames and had a good mix of fun and competitive gaming.