Little things you like about Pokémon

[Antihaxxer]

I really hope one day we will have the Z version we deserved ! There is so many things left in X&Y (I like the game mainly for the reasons Suspicious gave) and it could be better with a Z version on the Switch ! :)

The ghost girl, the South of France / Kalos, The Train Station, The Central / The desert, Haunted House, The tips (Sure it means something !), The cave near Route 22, AZ Floettte, Zygarde hunt, the lake in the east, All the rivers should be Surf-able, etc...

 

[Pikachu315111]

Does the PR Video Studio not count as a mini game?

It's more of an image editor than what we traditionally think is a game where there is a definite end goal. "Finishing editing an image is the end goal"! That's a subjective end goal, one where you decided to end the activity because you decided you were done. A definite end goal is when the game has a planned finished you're trying to reach on the programmed terms. For example Pokemon Contests, Musicals, and Pokeathlon the end goal is trying to show off your Pokemon best than your opponents to win first place, first place is a definite end goal. In Pokewoods Studio you're following vague instructions of a script to make the best movie you can to get high box office returns, the box office returns being another definite end goal (but one that you're not competing against anyone). PR Video Studio, decorating your Secret Base, making your League Card, playing with your Pokemon in Pokemon-Amie & its expies, etc. are all more side content/features which let's you play it as long as you feel like.

I really hope one day we will have the Z version we deserved ! There is so many things left in X&Y (I like the game mainly for the reasons Suspicious gave) and it could be better with a Z version on the Switch ! :)

The ghost girl, the South of France / Kalos, The Train Station, The Central / The desert, Haunted House, The tips (Sure it means something !), The cave near Route 22, AZ Floettte, Zygarde hunt, the lake in the east, All the rivers should be Surf-able, etc...

We're going to need to wait for their remakes which ain't gonna happen for another two consoles (since remakes go by consoles). Sinnoh is up next for the Switch remake, after that it's Unova (which should be interesting to see since you can't combine BW with BW2), and then its Kalos.

But let's quickly go over each of the mysterious you mentioned left behind for a second:

Ghost Girl: ... Does this need an explanation? The Pokemon series have had a number of ghost characters and rarely are they explained.
Most obvious example would be Sinnoh's Old Chateau which has ghosts of a butler and little girl you see float out of sight upon entering certain rooms never interacting (which may be a good thing considering what Pokemon Generations showed, poor Cheryl and Chansey). We don't know anything about them and aside from some loose theories made nothing is concretely confirmed (infact a note you find is more about how Charon used to live in the house and befriended a Rotom).
Unova is an interesting case as they actually do touch upon the ghost girl that appeared on Marvelous Bridge and revealing more of her story via encounters in the Strange House. I guess you could say this is a conclusion to her story, you find out what happened to her (she's a victim of a Darkrai and they were too late getting her a Lunar Wing) and as a bonus get the Lunar Wing to battle and catch a Cresselia.
XY obviously has the ghost girl who is waiting for someone (and also makes an appearance in ORAS). Speaking or ORAS, we got the ghost girl who appears just off screen when you're challenging Phoebe (some theories suggest she could be her grandmother's ghost who we can infer she's talking to in the post game on Mt. Pyre, but once again no concrete proof).
SM didn't have a ghost in the full game but in the demo they had a ghost of a girl who was waiting for her ship to come in, she tells the player she's afraid of boats and is nervous. She asks the player to see her off to ease her nerves, happy she can see her mom and dad again, and as you watch her about to pass through the gate a Machamp quickly walks by and she vanishes. If you talk with the lady behind the desk she says they're currently building the ferry.
And finally SwSh has the little girl in Hammerlocke who asks you to deliver a letter to a friend in Ballonlea who oddly turns out to be an old man. The man would say the girl who wrote the letter was a old friend, a girl who was sickly and when he moved he never heard from her again. When you go back to the spot the girl is gone but you can find a hidden item where she was standing: a Reaper Cloth (called Spirit World Cloth in Japan). In addition one of the man's granddaughters seems to be talking with something in the corner of the house (though considering Ballonlea is within a forest heavily populated by Fairy-types it could be anything from a ghost to a fey).
But overall my point is that, even if they do expand upon the ghost girl in XY I can't imagine it'll go anymore indepth than the ghost in Gen V. If I may dare speculate, it doesn't even seem SHE knows who she is looking for. Why approach the player if its then revealed he's not the one she's looking for. Wouldn't she know that just from a glance? Infact, she's a ghost, why is she waiting at all and not directly going to where they are? We know she's not stuck where she is as she later appears in ORAS. She's waiting for someone but doesn't seem to know who, and for all that is known said person may have passed on (and maybe she has something to do with the mysterious message on the back of the sign in Lumiose that says "I'm going to go for help. Wait in the usual place").

South of Kalos/Kiloude City: I wouldn't read too much into Kiloude City's description. All it's saying is that it's a city located in the south of Kalos. At most, if there was another game, they could maybe have added a few more cities/towns like they did in BW2 with the southwest of Unova (Aspertia City, Floccesy Town, & Virbank City).

The Central/The Desert: Not sure what you're talking about, do you mean the power plants in the Lumiose Badlands? Yeah, those are one of the locations where I think in Z version it was intended to be where you'd have an event encounter with Volcanion. There are several places like that such as that empty room in Reflection Cave where you find the Alakazamite (likely would be where Diancie would have an event) and the Chamber of Emptiness (likely would be where Hoopa would have an event).

Haunted House: I can only think of two places that match that description... and both don't really have anything more to add upon:
Scary House on Route 14: It's just meant to be a gag. You enter this creepy house where a guy tells a rather tame spooky story... then asks you for money. Maybe in Z version they could have different spooky stories but it's not meant to be an actual haunting. At most maybe the stories he tell have a nugget of truth to them if you follow the instructions given in them (maybe have one actually lead to a ghost encounter), but otherwise it was meant to be a silly little thing.
Lost Hotel on Route 15 & 16: It's not haunted, just abandoned. The moving trashcans are wild Pokemon who are looking for trash to eat or collect. It's nowadays just a hangout for Punks and oddly rollerskaters including a legendary rollerskater who teaches you the Cosmic Flip after getting all the other tricks. Like maybe in Z they could tell you about the history of the hotel but it'll only add lore at most.

The Tips: What tips? If you mean the message on the back of the Lumiose sign (the one that says "I'm going to go for help. Wait in the usual place"), honestly, I'd just leave it as is. Because in real life such messages are all over the place, someone left a message for someone else that only they'll ever understand. Did the person who was meant to get the message get it? Who knows. And who knows if the person that wrote it did what they said they were going to do. Or if they ever met up. Nearby you can find a guy asking if he's in the right place. Was he the guy meant to get the message or is it coincidence to show this sort of stuff happens all the time. While it doesn't add any lore exactly, it does make it feel like you're in a living world where there are things going on around you that you're just not a part of. It's no different from talking with an NPC after you battle them and they tell you something that's going on with them before moving on possibly forgetting about them.

Cave on Route 22/Chamber of Emptiness: Already discussed that above with The Central/The Desert.

AZ's Floette & Zygarde Hunt: Probably the biggest victim of no Z version. At least the Zygarde hunt was hastily moved into the Alola games even though it felt out of place there and had no bearing on the story which it probably would have in Z. As for AZ's Floette, huh, I'm curious how they would have given that out. Like, would AZ really give us the Floette he had been waiting 3,000 years to reconnect with? Or maybe this is another Floette, like AZ has secretly grown Eternal Flowers and to thank the player for helping him gives them another Floette he bonded with an Eternal Flower. Or is it maybe a non-canon thing, it would be an event distribution that just never came cause we jumped straight to Gen VII for the 20th Anniversary.

Lake In The East/Rivers To Surf: What lake to the east? You mean the lake that Anistar City overlooks? And I guess by surfable rivers you mean all the rivers running alongside the routes connected to it. Eh, sure, I guess would be neat to explore it if they add anything interesting and new hidden locations. But it's not like there was a big mystery concerning them, for Anistar the main mystery was with the sundial (and maybe Terminus Cave).

 

[Antihaxxer]

Lake In The East/Rivers To Surf: Yes, exactly and all the small lakes in the east (Red circles), and all the rivers in Kalos !
For the tipping part, I meant you know you give an amount of money to someone who has provided a service, especially in a hotel or restaurant
I hope there is an expasion of Kalos, in the South West (yellow circle) and in South of course, near Kiloude City !
And sorry for Lumiose Badlands / Desert / Central (purple circle), I don't know how it's called in English games, but yeah probably for Volcanion !

 

[Pikachu315111]

Lake In The East/Rivers To Surf: Yes, exactly and all the small lakes in the east (Red circles), and all the rivers in Kalos !
For the tipping part, I meant you know you give an amount of money to someone who has provided a service, especially in a hotel or restaurant
I hope there is an expasion of Kalos, in the South West (yellow circle) and in South of course, near Kiloude City !
And sorry for Lumiose Badlands / Desert / Central (purple circle), I don't know how it's called in English games, but yeah probably for Volcanion !

View attachment 240443

Ah, now I see. I was looking at the in-game map which is...

pretty basic.

So let's start from the top:

Small Lakes (Red Circles):
First, the red circle next to Santalune City is Route 22, the island in the middle there is where the Chamber of Emptiness is.
Second, the red circle downhill of the Pokemon League, that's Route 21. The Draco Meteor move tutor is right next to it.
However that third red circle next to Snowbelle is a mystery. Looking at Couriway Town there is a river there going west that could maybe lead to it.

Tipping: Oh, that's what you meant. Yeah, no, tipping does nothing. Just a funny thing GF threw in, curious is maybe its from a real life experience they had?

South Expansion (Yellow Circle): Huh, right, and there is a river heading that direction on Route 7 (it's the one which had the bridge Snorlax was sleeping on). Infact I think it's also right after Route 9, blocked off by a cliff. Would be neat for them to add a city there, sure.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

I didn't really use the Restaurants cause you gotta pay to enter and they have the "do the battle in this many turns" gimmick in order to get the best prize (I get the idea is you're killing time in order for the chef to make his meals... though I also have no problem waiting. I rather later games eatery gimmicks where you have a set amount of turns and you have to just beat as many trainers as possible). However I did go back to the Battle Chateau pretty much daily not only to grind for experience and money but also the Berry Garden was on that route.

Tangentially, while I think they could have done more with the teams in the Battle Chateau I do like at least the idea behind it. Call it shallow, but I liked climbing up the ranks and earning the next title even if it doesn't really amount to much. Maybe if they did a similar idea again they could have it so there's a shop connected to the facility and as you increase your rank better items are made available to purchase (maybe at a reduced price too).

I never used the restaurants all that much either, the main reason I mentioned them was because I have seen others praise them. But even so, they do at least exist, and they are a great training spot no matter how you look at it. They also allowed you to battle for as many turns as you wanted, it just changed the rewards if you took the wrong amount of turns (at least that's how I remember it, haven't played X/Y in a while). Compare this to the Mauville Food Court in OR/AS which ends if you take too many turns, or the Battle Buffet in S/M which has the same problem (though you can get past it by exiting and then entring again, and US/UM fixes it by making it so that you can do it as many times as you want instead of just once a day).

I thought what they did with the Cheteau was just fine. A good training spot is enough for me. Just find a Furisode Girl (since they have Audino), make sure the Exp. Share is on, one team member is holding the Lucky Egg, use a level 3 Exp. O-Power, and start racking up tons of Exp. I almost never used writs to raise the levels of the opponents and I still never had any issues training there.

Horde Battles: Eh, I could take them or leave them. Cool idea... if you have a move that can hit them all at once. Yeah, yeah, I know their main purpose was EV training... in a game where they already made EV training easy. ORAS got me excited for a sec when they introduced Trainer Horde Battles. YES, that is exactly something a villain team would do! And think of the possibilities. You could have an admins backed up by a bunch of grunts, you could actually have moments where Aqua and Magma may call a truce because they consider you a bigger threat at the moment, maybe have a whole team battle with the leader & two admins & two grunts... oh, they only resulted in two moments where it was just a whole team of grunts using just Poohyena and then later Mightyena which are easily defeated... GF, why did you bother?

Sky Battles: Yes, Sky Battles were interesting... until you did all of them. Because there was no way to rematch them and there was no facility in the game which focused on Sky Battles. And unlike Horde Battles they could have probably made this into an online multiplayer option... but they didn't.

Inverse Battles: THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME IDEA WHY DID YOU REMOVE IT! Heck, you could tell at first they didn't think much of it as Inver was just this random trainer inside a house on a route who once a day would use a team from the Battle Tower in an Inverse Battle. However I guess they realized this actual had some potential so in ORAS did give Inver his own facility to have Inverse Battles more than once a day in. Not only that, they allowed you to use Inverse Battles inside your Super Secret Base (though still not online multiplayer)!

I mostly used Hordes for EV-training, they were really great for that. Other than that they did give pretty good training too, but it could be a bit annoying to take down all opponents if you didn't have a move that could hit all of them at once.

I agree that Sky Battles could have been handled better, but I still liked them for what they were.

And I also wish they had done more with Inverse Battles, but they dropped it quickly (like a lot of other features, sadly).

Fixed that you ya.

Not really. Megas at least existed in Gen 7, but not in Gen 8. While you couldn't use Megas during the main story in Gen 7, I didn't use any Megas on my main story teams in X/Y either. I only did that in OR/AS. For other games, I only used them during the post-game (which again, is where most of my playtime for the main series games used to go prior to Gen 8).

The Roller Skates were fun especially with you able to do tricks, though I feel they did kind of nerf the bike in order to make the roller skates better in at least how fast you could go on them. Honestly I'm surprised they even included a bike, probably could have left it out and no one would have complained, especially if you gave a way to cruise control on the roller skates. Also I feel they could have maybe done more with the tricks, notably the rail grinding one which could have been used to access some more secret areas.

IIRC the Roller Skates were only faster than the bike if you "charged" up speed with them, otherwise the Bike was faster (or equally fast). I like how they included both, it gave players a choice of which to use and I found both useful for different situations.

Something else I don't feel they've topped since either. Closest was probably Sun & Moon's Ultra Beast hunt.

After reading this, I have come to the conclusion that I agree with you here. The Looker Missions is probably my favorite post-game story for the 3DS and Switch games. Maybe even for the series on the whole, not sure about that though. Nothing that has been released after it is quite as good. While I liked the OR/AS Delta Episode, the S/M UB hunt and the S/S post-game story, neither of them were quite on the same level as the Looker Missions. I don't care much for the RR Episode though, it has serious issues just like with the rest of the story in US/UM. I did like getting to battle all the evil team leaders with legendaries on their teams though, but that's the main positive thing about it.

Lackluster Content/Post Game: XY was definitely banking on having a Z version to not only expand upon the base frameworks they've setup but also the various mysteries they've planted around the region. They were cursed with initial paired games content withheldment but unfortunately Gen 6/Kalos never got that additional version booster to make it more memorable.

Yeah, Z could definitely have expanded on the post-game and some of the mysteries of X/Y. That said, I am kinda happy in a way that we never got Z, because it means that X/Y aren't obsolete in the same way as other games such as D/P after the release of Platinum. If Z had became a thing, I guess I would be praising it instead of X/Y. An alternative could have been if we had gotten sequels instead of a third version, but I think a third version would have worked better for X/Y to expand on them and fix their issues as opposed to sequels which would be building upon the first pairs, which IMO only works well if the first pair is great on their own (like B/W were).

Bad Story/Character/Lore: Not bad, just dull or nothing there for a majority of the characters. Of all the characters I only feel like Shauna, Looker, Emma, and Xerosic was given any real depth, and the latter three only in the Looker Missions. If there's anything "bad" I would say it has to do with that tone whiplash they had with Team Flare being this wacky group who wants to commit planetwide genocide. Lysandre is a mess himself where he keeps on flip-flopping and would just like him to commit to what he is: an extremist who believes the only way to save the world is by culling the world no matter the cost OR a nihilist who is looking for that one person to prove him wrong so he doesn't feel like he needs to cull the world. If anything so we could just get passed all the "well if you do this I'll stop what I'm doing PSYCHE".

I guess that's a better way to put it. And as said, some parts of it was good, and I think it had potential to be good if it had been better written on the whole.

Does the PR Video Studio not count as a mini game?

Good point. I had completely forgotten about the existance of the PR Videos. I guess they might count, not really sure though. The one thing that goes against them is that they lack a "goal", compared to other minigames, as Pikachu315111 put it. But I guess that apart from that, they sort of meet the criteria for a minigame. It depends on what you consider important in a minigame, do they need a goal, or just a short and simple game you can play even without the need for reaching a goal?

And since I forgot the PR Videos in my previous post, I'll say that I like them as well. They were rather short and simple but there was a ton of different effects and stuff you could do in them which was quite fun, I spent a bit of time on my videos in my games to make them as great as possible.

I really hope one day we will have the Z version we deserved ! There is so many things left in X&Y (I like the game mainly for the reasons Suspicious gave) and it could be better with a Z version on the Switch ! :)

I gave up hoping long ago, but even so I still wish we could get Z one day. I used to think about if they could release it as part of Gen 7 and then if it could be released for Gen 8, but I guess that's more wishful thinking than anything else. But there's at least the X/Y remakes to look forward to, providing they ever happen... and if I'm still a fan of Pokémon at the point when they are released. The future is very uncertain right now so it is hard to say anything about that at this point.

Tipping: Oh, that's what you meant. Yeah, no, tipping does nothing. Just a funny thing GF threw in, curious is maybe its from a real life experience they had?

I once read a theory about how tipping a lot raised your chances of finding random training bags in Super Training. Here is the thread about it. I also found this after searching, not sure if it is true though. I think that the parts about raising your style might be true, but the rest seems fishy.

 

[Hematite]

Small clarification: I'm not sure if this is worth noting, but I don't think the Power Plant was ever supposed to relate to Volcanion specifically.
I could believe that there was something more to the other entrances (the fact that there's actually a message when you interact with the doors and the locks certainly raises more eyebrows that it wouldn't otherwise), but Volcanion is said in canon to be an ancient, somewhat deific and altogether solidly natural Pokémon that dwells in the mountains, hiding in the fog it creates, and was revered as a god by the people of southern Kalos - its lore doesn't really indicate any possible relationship to the Power Plant. In fact, even its basis on steam power is established not as a way to generate energy but as the basis of its relationship with that people: it could generate explosions powerful enough to level a mountain... and it actually did that, and the mountain it leveled became a plain, and the southern Kalosians settled there and started to worship Volcanion as thanks for creating a suitable home.
I know its design all but screams "artificial Pokémon made to power human technology," and I'm downright baffled by the obvious conflict between its design and its apparent role in worldbuilding - it's possible with that in mind that it was originally intended to do something different, or it's possible that it was just an awkwardly executed design - but at least by the time X and Y actually came out, I think they had pretty thoroughly ruled out any plans on using it for the Power Plant in a future title.

That said, to weigh in on southern Kalos... I actually totally do think more of southern Kalos would have been featured if Z or a similar enhanced version had happened.
I'm gonna put this in a spoiler because it's so speculation-heavy that it feels like it doesn't deserve to take up this much space in this thread belong in this thread, but I'm only posting it at all because it's relevant, so I don't feel like just putting it in Mysteries and Conspiracies, either, haha.

Speculation on Southern Kalos (and Plans for Volcanion)

Okay, I'd like to raise the point that Diancie is pretty strongly suggested to be "the Mythical Pokémon for X and Y" and Hoopa is pretty strongly suggested to be "the Mythical Pokémon for ORAS" - each of them relates to the story themes, the worldbuilding and even the new gameplay mechanics of the very entry in which they were first released.
For Diancie's part, it explicitly and directly represents beauty (the namesake of the Kalos region and a major discussion point in X and Y), it may or may not have an unexplained connection to the sundial in Anistar City (one of the few main "mysteries" of X and Y that actually does seem to have been meant to be relevant to the story), and when ORAS expanded on it, they made it the only Mythical Pokémon to Mega Evolve (the main feature of Kalos - and the connection to X and Y that ORAS tried to emphasize the most).
Meanwhile, Hoopa relates to one of Hoenn's more distinctive themes - how foolish it is for humans to try to control nature and how small they are compared to the Pokémon that govern it (Emerald especially plays this up with Archie and Maxie) - and even has a tangible effect on both the game world and a major new mechanic of ORAS in Mirage Spots (and even this much was clearly planned by the time X and Y were released - they make apparent allusions to both Mirage Island and Mirage Tower). On a related note: I think I have a slightly lower opinion of some aspects of ORAS than the other people here, but I also want to say that I LOVE the new designs they brought to the table - all of the new Mega Evolutions and all of the human characters' redesigns are such an incredible high point for the series in my opinion, and while Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon had somewhat more minor changes to their designs, I think the retexturing went an incredibly long way in making them feel truly "legendary" and like terrifying forces of nature. The reason I mention this right now is because Hoopa was actually one of my least favorite Mythical Pokémon starting almost right when it first leaked, but Hoopa Unbound turned out to be such an unexpected direction to take it and a serious breath of fresh air compared to a fairly generic and by-the-book "cute pixie Mythical;" it does so much more justice to Hoopa's concept, and it does it in an incredibly interesting and new way for the series. This might be a hot take because I don't think that many other people actually like Hoopa Unbound, but here's its well-earned appreciation segment!
Okay, back to the point!

Bearing in mind that it was already an established tradition by this point to release a Mythical Pokémon every year, I think it's very likely that Game Freak had it in mind from the start that the release of each Mythical Pokémon would coincide with a different game, leaving Volcanion for the third game of Generation VI that never happened.
This, combined with the fact that it's the only one of the three that didn't get a new form in ORAS, suggests that it would have been saved for a "Z," and the fact that Volcanion's only established lore explicitly ties it to an otherwise-unmentioned civilization in southern Kalos and even lays out some neat cultural information and location ideas makes it pretty easy for me to believe that that was supposed to be setup for an eventual game in that area, at which point Volcanion's event would have taken place and it would have gotten a new form hopefully one that communicates its concept better and salvages it the way Hoopa did.
And I'm not sure how often Game Freak revisits the places they go when researching for their games, but this might be relevant: I remember hearing about Masuda tweeting from Lyon (southern France, the basis for Kiloude City) at some point well after X and Y had come out and right around when everyone was already speculating about southern Kalos being the next new area in development, so that might lend credence?

Brief thoughts on various other comments from this thread so I'm not too off topic:
- I absolutely loved the Battle Chateau, and I'm super happy to see it getting appreciation here! Not even as a basis for rematches (yeah, those could've been done better) but just as a training spot and a fun side feature... I spent hours there when I was just starting to learn about training ideal Pokémon and "competitive" in quotes because that is not at all where I ended up teambuilding.
- Hordes were definitely a more efficient way to gain EVs than Super Training, and I really liked the way they acted as different options: Super Training was the actively fun and accessible way for casual players, while hordes were a faster and more convenient targeted at people who already knew what they were doing. It was a cool pairing that really just made things more convenient for everyone - I think other games have come close or even done better on just one side or the other, but I can't think of any other times when EV training has been that good for both kinds of players at once.

 

[Ironmage]

Because I've been doing some optimization-focused breeding, I'm realizing how well-designed talonflame is. And I don't actually mean Gale Wings.

Since so many early-route pokemon are meant to be familiar, they have a tendency to be passed by postgame (if not earlier in the case of the bugs) when "being an introduction" is no longer an important team role. When looking at the other birds, Swellow and Staraptor simply go for being effective in battle after evolving, and I would argue that, at least in their starting generation, pidgey, hoothoot, pidove, and pikipek fall short. Fletchling goes in an interesting direction instead. In addition to having a niche built around a useful hidden ability (something Corviknight would later repeat), talonflame actually makes a good effort of extending it's original role of easing players into the game by way of being really useful for breeding. It has the fairly rare combination of Flame Body and Fly, meaning you can both hold 5 eggs and move quickly between e.g. the day care and IV checker. I usually end up considering something other than my starter my main, so it's very easy for me to envision just getting into competitive, realizing that my in-game team wouldn't be the best battlers, but knowing that a mon I've had since route 1 is going to be integral in raising the next generation of champions (I didn't end up using fletcling in my orignial playthrough, though).

 

[DrPumpkinz]

When Sonikku A said they thought Genius Sonority was overrated, I jokingly said that they were known for making Learn with Pokemon: Typing Adventure. Out of curiosity, I decided to look into the game, and found a let's play of it.

The game honestly looks great.

What do you think of when you think "typing game"? Probably a bunch of random words that you have to quickly type, right? Get that weak shit outta here. In this typing adventure, you type the names of Pokemon as they fly at you. Typing their name captures researches them, and you move on a rail, a bit like Pokemon Snap. In this way, the game is as much a test of Pokemon recognition as it is a test of typing. Provided there aren't already Pokemon on the screen, you can type a Pokemon's name pretty much as soon as it spawns, so if you're able to quickly recognize a Pokemon, you're rewarded with more points and less screen clutter. And recognizing a Pokemon isn't always easy. Some Pokemon start out hidden underwater or behind trees, so getting them quickly requires recognizing their cry. Some levels take place against a sunset, so the Pokemon are in silhouette until they get close. The game is also streamlined a bit by using Pokemon names, as they're words that Pokemon fans are likely going to have some muscle memory for.

And if you thought all you'd be doing is typing Pokemon names, you'd be wrong. Many levels have background objects that can be destroyed or collected by pressing the key shown on them, which earns you extra points. Sometimes these objects do more than just grant points. Sometimes the object will scare away the Pokemon on screen if it isn't destroyed in time, and sometimes getting all of them in a level will earn you a chance to find a rare Pokemon at the end of a level (think the puzzles in Pokemon Snap). What, are background objects not impressive for you? How about boss fights? Some levels culminate in a fight against a strong Pokemon, whose attacks you must deflect by pressing the appropriate keys. The keys you need to press are usually related to the shape and location of the attack. For example, a horizontal attack in the bottom left of the screen might require you to type the letters Z, X, C, and V.

There are two other small things that I really like about this game. First, the world map is a keyboard, with each key being a level. You also navigate the map by pressing the key you want to go to. Second, there are a few times in the story where one of your companions (their names are Professor Quentin Werty and Paige Down, two top-tier pun names) has already been in a level before you arrived. When that happens, the appropriate names will appear on the high score table for that level. I can't think of any other game that uses high score tables as part of the narrative and world building.

 

[Kurona]

When Sonikku A said they thought Genius Sonority was overrated, I jokingly said that they were known for making Learn with Pokemon: Typing Adventure. Out of curiosity, I decided to look into the game, and found a let's play of it.

The game honestly looks great.

What do you think of when you think "typing game"? Probably a bunch of random words that you have to quickly type, right? Get that weak shit outta here. In this typing adventure, you type the names of Pokemon as they fly at you. Typing their name captures researches them, and you move on a rail, a bit like Pokemon Snap. In this way, the game is as much a test of Pokemon recognition as it is a test of typing. Provided there aren't already Pokemon on the screen, you can type a Pokemon's name pretty much as soon as it spawns, so if you're able to quickly recognize a Pokemon, you're rewarded with more points and less screen clutter. And recognizing a Pokemon isn't always easy. Some Pokemon start out hidden underwater or behind trees, so getting them quickly requires recognizing their cry. Some levels take place against a sunset, so the Pokemon are in silhouette until they get close. The game is also streamlined a bit by using Pokemon names, as they're words that Pokemon fans are likely going to have some muscle memory for.

And if you thought all you'd be doing is typing Pokemon names, you'd be wrong. Many levels have background objects that can be destroyed or collected by pressing the key shown on them, which earns you extra points. Sometimes these objects do more than just grant points. Sometimes the object will scare away the Pokemon on screen if it isn't destroyed in time, and sometimes getting all of them in a level will earn you a chance to find a rare Pokemon at the end of a level (think the puzzles in Pokemon Snap). What, are background objects not impressive for you? How about boss fights? Some levels culminate in a fight against a strong Pokemon, whose attacks you must deflect by pressing the appropriate keys. The keys you need to press are usually related to the shape and location of the attack. For example, a horizontal attack in the bottom left of the screen might require you to type the letters Z, X, C, and V.

There are two other small things that I really like about this game. First, the world map is a keyboard, with each key being a level. You also navigate the map by pressing the key you want to go to. Second, there are a few times in the story where one of your companions (their names are Professor Quentin Werty and Paige Down, two top-tier pun names) has already been in a level before you arrived. When that happens, the appropriate names will appear on the high score table for that level. I can't think of any other game that uses high score tables as part of the narrative and world building.

And let's not forget this ungodly good battle theme!

 

[Codraroll]

Another thing I realize Sword and Shield did very right: XP candies. I think they are the most ideal form of consumable rewards we've had so far in the series. Sure, the raids you get them from are flawed to heck and back, but the candies themselves are a pretty neat idea.

Pokémon games have always had various side activities to do, but not always given good incentives for doing them. There's always been that need for good rewards that hasn't been filled to a satisfactory degree. After all, what makes a good reward? Money is the reward for Trainer battles, but you've always got more of it than you know what to do with, so more money is no good reward for a side activity. Consumable items such as medicine or Poké Balls is another classic, but the average player doesn't use that much medicine as Poké Centers are free and readily available, and when it comes to balls almost all of them are useless in any given situation. Besides, you can usually go to any store to pick up the consumables in bulk instead, which is usually way quicker than doing the side activity, even if you factor in the grind for money.

The earlier games had single-use TMs, which were always neat to find. However, if you were like me, you always waited to use the good TMs in case you found something better to use them for later. Rare Candies have the same issue. They increase your level by one, period. It feels wasteful to use them to level up a good Pokémon from level 23 to 24, when you get much more mileage out of using them in the post-game to get those late-90s levels. Later gens have experimented a little with Shards instead, which can be exchanged for tutor moves (essentially the same as gifting TMs, but a little more flexible), but getting the right colour Shards you need has always been annoying. Gen VII even gave you BP, another currency reward, for Mantine Surf. Admittedly, I liked that too, the drawback is that the best prices were unavailable very late in the game, so you didn't have the incentive to cash it in early on.

XP, however, is the one "currency" you're always in need of. You're constantly seeking to obtain it throughout the entire game, and getting it through candies is a good supplement to getting it through battles. Spend them immediately to make your team stronger, or save them for new Pokémon you catch in the late-game, they remain equally useful either way. As they give the same boost regardless of what level you are at, the value of an XP Candy doesn't increase or diminish based on your current level. The only instance where it may feel like you're wasting an XP Candy is if you're only a few hundred XP short of reaching level 100, but it's very rare that you'll ever be in that situation. And if you are, you can just do a battle or two instead if you feel like preserving the XP candies.

Additionally, the XP Candies come in different sizes, so they can be given to players at any point in the game without being overly game-breaking or borderline useless. They hold the same relative value in either case. Sure, if farmed early on they might catapult you way ahead of the game's level curve, but it's not like you are forced to spend them. It's like choosing whether to grind battles for XP. This gives them amazing flexibility as rewards. Hand them out for side activities such as Raids, let players obtain them from talking to NPCs, or put them in locations off the beaten track as reward for exploration. They will always be a welcome thing to find.

And if you save up all your candies for late- or postgame, the tiny candies you got in the early-game still have their use, unlike say, the basic versions of Potions, Poké Balls or Repels that are made completely obsolete by their later-game counterparts. You can just spend all of the tiny XP candies at once and combine them into one big XP boost. Way less of a hassle than popping a new Repel every few steps or click through Potion after Potion just to get use out of them.

XP Candies are also convenient as heck for training new Pokémon. While other rewards may give you fancy moves or money to buy Vitamins or tons of medicine you're never going to use or stuff like that, XP Candies can let you bypass the tedious grind required to bring a team member up to speed. Instead of hauling your freshly caught Magikarp through a bunch of battles as a hanger-on, chuck a few Candies at it and let it battle for itself.

All that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the next games remove XP Candies completely. It's the sort of thing Game Freak has a tendency to do with good ideas.

 

[Pikachu315111]

All that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if the next games remove XP Candies completely. It's the sort of thing Game Freak has a tendency to do with good ideas.

Not remove them, just maybe don't give them out in troves until the post game (or only give out the smaller ones).

Though thinking about it now, kind of odd that the Vitamins/Wings aren't also given out like the Exp. Candies.

 

[R_N]

Not remove them, just maybe don't give them out in troves until the post game (or only give out the smaller ones).

Though thinking about it now, kind of odd that the Vitamins/Wings aren't also given out like the Exp. Candies.

They probably value Levels less than exp. Levels only really matter up to level 50 for most pokemon. By then you generally (not always) have your moveset and fully evolved (....again....not always...). ANything higher than that gets lowered for most online competitions and battle tower stuff and I think depending on the facility & pokemon may raise it to 50 anyway.

you can see that in other aspects too. Lucky Egg's been easier to get. The changed xp system at its worst still gives more exp battle for battle until like 10-20 levels higher than the competition. The EXP share. The exp share now being forced on. Any interaction with subsystems increases exp gain very easily.

Meanwhile vitamins have remained expensive, wings only comes in chunks of one and increasing EVs through other means is usually hedged in more out of the way subsystems than exp.\ and requiring some stackign depending on the game.

Basically levels are just a byproduct of an RPG and they want to smooth over that grinding process for game progression purposes but EVs are something you don't have to interact with as much ans they want "serious" players to put more time into.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I've realized recently that Agatha is among my favorite characters in Pokemon. Besides the fact that her ace is also one of my favorite Pokemon, she's a really fun character in her own right. Her dialogue (at least in the three mainline games she appears in; Bulbapedia doesn't have quotes from Masters) paints her as a skilled battler with decades of experience, and a sly pseudo-mentor who treats her league battles as chances to test young challengers. Her history with Oak is also pretty interesting, as it gives her a connection to the rest of the world that Elite 4 members often lack, and it further characterizes her as someone who puts high value in competitive edge and battle prowess, as well as an experienced old lady who probably has a lot of cool stories to tell (kinda like my grandfather, who had wonderful stories of world travel and advertising). Also, compared to the other members of the Indigo League, her dialogue sounds like something an actual person would say outside of exaggerated trash talk.

Lorelei: "I am a master of ice! Prepare to be frozen solid!"
Bruno: "Me and my posse are gym bros and/or Dragon Ball characters! Prepare to lose to our superior might!"
Lance: "Yo, dragons are fucking awesome! Prepare to lose!"
Agatha: "I heard Oak has been teaching you how to play Pokemon. Bah! That old duff used to be a hunk, but then he became a nerd and went soft. Let me teach you how to really play Pokemon!"

Two more things to note about her dialogue.
1) Duff is an old slang word for butt, which makes her nickname for Oak ("that old duff") ten times funnier.
2) While the other three express anger and disbelief over being defeated, Agatha's just thrilled that you've got the sauce.

Dialogue isn't the only thing she has going for her, though. Her visual design is also great.

Her more realistic design that she uses in FRLG, Masters, and the show is simple, but effective. Her smirk and glare are pretty standard anime fare, but in this specific context, they mesh perfectly with her dialogue to further characterize her as a crafty old witch who gives you a feeling like she's secretly testing your character, but you have no idea what her tests actually are even though you seem to be passing. I like to imagine that she does this constantly, and only ever makes it obvious what she's testing when she battles someone. Like, you'd catch her staring at you with that same expression at the grocery store or something, and start trying to figure out what you did to impress this witch when all you were doing was buying pasta and cranberry juice.

As great as her realistic design is, I tend to prefer the exaggeration afforded by cartoonish art styles. Thankfully, her more cartoonish depiction in Let's Go and Pokemon Adventures delivers. Giving Agatha a hunch and trading her smirk for a toothy grin really plays up her craftiness and witchiness (and also makes her look like a Gengar). Everything I said in the previous paragraph still applies, but now it feels even creepier when you see her in the grocery store. Also apparently the Kanto Elite 4 is evil in Adventures? Sure, I'll take it. I do love me a scheming villain, and she was already giving me Palpatine vibes.

One more bit of Agatha being awesome: her depiction in Pokemon Generations.

Agatha tests Blue by mockingly comparing him to Professor Oak, and when Blue get mad at the comparison (as opposed to her mocking Professor Oak), she gets excited. Blue passed her test with flying colors. He's got the sauce.

 

[R_N]

Agatha owns yeah, definitely one of the more personality filled members of the first generation and I wish we got more out of her beyond the kanto games.
She was going to show up in GS judging by the prototypes, spaceworld 97 even has her in a house, but sadly that didn't follow through & HGSS didn't add her (or Lorelai) anywhere either. Shame.

 

[Pikachu315111]

JWittz just released a new video on something we all at least some point in our Pokemon craze sought out for: Holofoil TCG cards. What's the topic of his video? How many patterns of holofoil have they had. Simple enough question... but to answer it he needed to make a 24 minute video (you also get a quick glimpse of the many gimmicks they've had over the years, plus the artwork is neat):

So pretty... so SHINY...

 

[Yung Dramps]

PMD game spoilers

I really like how the Mystery Dungeon games give unique personalities and plot roles to Pokemon you wouldn't expect. For example, you can bet your ass that if the Explorers games didn't exist 80% of Grovyle's fanbase wouldn't exist and Dusknoir's would be halved. There's also Super Mystery Dungeon making Nuzleaf a conniving bastard who gangs up with Yveltal, Gates to Infinity having Dunsparce and Virizion as a real attempted relationship that actually exists, etc.

 

[DreamPrince]

I really like how the Mystery Dungeon games give unique personalities and plot roles to Pokemon you wouldn't expect. For example, you can bet your ass that if the Explorers games didn't exist 80% of Grovyle's fanbase wouldn't exist and Dusknoir's would be halved. There's also Super Mystery Dungeon making Nuzleaf a conniving bastard who manipulates freaking Yveltal, Gates to Infinity having Dunsparce and Virizion as a real friendship that actually exists, etc.

Spoilers for SMD

Actually, Dark Matter manipulated both Nuzleaf and Yveltal, not Nuzleaf himself.

 

[R_N]

Someone linked the internal movelist in another thread and it made me remember something I liked with SWSH's pokemon: nearly every line (or in the case of the fossils, heavily related pokemon) has a unique move or ability (or both). Those moves/abilities may not necessarily be good, & they'll likely continue to extend them to other Pokemon as time goes on, but it's a fun way to add flavor.

if we count G-Max Moves (which seems valid, by definition those are moves exclusive to that pokemon) the only ones that dont are the Dubwool, Thievul, Pincurchin, & Indeedee* lines. And Indeedee you could at least kind of argue that the gender dimorphism counts as a "gimmick", even if those kind of things have been done before. That's pretty impressive, gen 7 started the trend but had a lot more gaps.

interestingly they made sure every galarian form/line had something going on! I fully believe Galarian Slowbro & Slowking as well as the Birds will have unique moves & abilities as well, to carry the theme.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Someone linked the internal movelist in another thread and it made me remember something I liked with SWSH's pokemon: nearly every line (or in the case of the fossils, heavily related pokemon) has a unique move or ability (or both). Those moves/abilities may not necessarily be good, & they'll likely continue to extend them to other Pokemon as time goes on, but it's a fun way to add flavor.

if we count G-Max Moves (which seems valid, by definition those are moves exclusive to that pokemon) the only ones that dont are the Dubwool, Thievul, Pincurchin, & Indeedee* lines. And Indeedee you could at least kind of argue that the gender dimorphism counts as a "gimmick", even if those kind of things have been done before. That's pretty impressive, gen 7 started the trend but had a lot more gaps.

interestingly they made sure every galarian form/line had something going on! I fully believe Galarian Slowbro & Slowking as well as the Birds will have unique moves & abilities as well, to carry the theme.

If you extend "unique move/ability" to include moves and abilities that existed before but are currently exclusive due to Dexit, Pincurchin and Indeedee are the only Pokemon with access to their respective surge abilities, and Thievul is sort of the only Pokemon with access to Stakeout. I say "sort of" because it can't actually use Stakeout at the moment, because hidden ability mechanics are dumb.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Im not gonna waste anyone's time with drawn-out introductions restating the obvious about my feelings towards USUM, just gonna get straight to the point: The promo artwork for those games is actually incredible.

Exhibit A: Rainbow Rocket

This piece, like all the others, is dope. You got the main Sun and Moon crew ready to fight with their main mons while the villains are up there looking all menacing with their castle, good stuff I tells ya! Something I love in this piece is the shading that stays really colorful while conveying depth in the characters portrayed. This is also evident in the next piece...

Exhibit B: "The Ultra Saga"

Once again, awesome colors and shading, now conveying a cool little summation piece of the Ultra games' plot. Reminds me of Star Wars movie posters in a good way, homes in the sensation an epic, dramatic adventure awaits those who purchase one of Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon!

Exhibit C: Ultra Space Worlds

etc.

Now these are super interesting! They got a way different, almost kinda photo-realistic artstyle with harsh shading and dark colors. Makes the environments shown have a murky vibe, which fits considering how isolated and alien they are Ultra Beasts aside. But my favorite of these pieces is Ultra Megalopolis:

Takes those quirks I mentioned earlier and ramps them up to a tee, giving the city depicted a Cyberpunk-esque atmosphere.

So yeah, next time you ponder over what USUM did well, give a shout-out to the art team, they deserve it!

 

[Blue glass]

That is two generations in a row which Game Freak gives a unique move and/or ability to most of the Pokémon lines introduced in that gen so it seems to be a long term trend, one never knows with GF. The only exceptions in gen 7 were some Alolan forms (which could be argued since it was the first time there were regional forms so they had something unique).

 

[Codraroll]

So yeah, next time you ponder over what USUM did well, give a shout-out to the art team, they deserve it!

It really looks like the art team was given all the time and resources they needed, while those responsible for actually implementing said artwork had a much tougher time. The games have so many interesting ideas that are only given the slightest bit of gameplay to work with. You can see the same in Sword and Shield, where many locations look as picturesque as a postcard, but have approximately the same amount of area to explore as a postcard too. It's like the art director handed in a sketch and said "We should make a town filled with buildings like these three example buildings!" and the modeler said "We barely have enough time to make a town out of these three example buildings". Hence places like Stow-on-Side, Ballonlea, Spikemuth... or indeed, Ultra Megalopolis. Impressive to look at at first glance, but the magic kind of fades when you realize the first glance shows you everything there is to the place.

I suspect this is a leftover from Game Freak's spritework days, when the artists could work directly with the sprites that were going to be put into the game. If you could make a few building designs, you could make a town in a few clicks of the mouse. Sketch up a character, adapt the sketch into a sprite, copy right into game. But now, concept artists and 3D modelers are different people, and the latter need way more time than the former, and they even need the former to be finished before they can even start working.

That is two generations in a row which Game Freak gives a unique move and/or ability to most of the Pokémon lines introduced in that gen so it seems to be a long term trend, one never knows with GF. The only exceptions in gen 7 were some Alolan forms (which could be argued since it was the first time there were regional forms so they had something unique).

I'd say three, actually. There are very few Gen VI lines that don't have a unique ability or unique moves. At least that was the case when they were launched, it might be more watered out now. I think it's refreshing too, but it does have a nasty side effect of accelerating the content pile-up Game Freak is struggling with already. For instance, every new game featuring Silvally also needs to feature the 17 Memories, that serve no other purpose than changing Silvally's forms. Flabébé needs its flowers, Oricorio its Nectars, there must be a gyroscope for Inkay and Sweets for Milcery. That's a lot of code to implement solely for the sake of single Pokémon that get more and more obscure as time goes on.

 

[Worldie]

That is two generations in a row which Game Freak gives a unique move and/or ability to most of the Pokémon lines introduced in that gen so it seems to be a long term trend, one never knows with GF. The only exceptions in gen 7 were some Alolan forms (which could be argued since it was the first time there were regional forms so they had something unique).

I'd say three, actually. There are very few Gen VI lines that don't have a unique ability or unique moves. At least that was the case when they were launched, it might be more watered out now. I think it's refreshing too, but it does have a nasty side effect of accelerating the content pile-up Game Freak is struggling with already.

My problem with this is that... this gen we had a "movexit" due to the bloat of redundant / bad moves, and this is going in the opposite direction, in fact introducing "more" moves that are going to be forgettable / unique to a single pokemon or family.

Then again, it's GameFreaks, you never know what they're thinking with this so *shrug*

 

[R_N]

Those Ultra Beast art pieces were sold on pokemon center for a time (or at least other merch) iirc, so that's probably why they're so crazy good. It's not really concept art, per say, it's just they commissioned an artist to do artwork based on the scenarios so they could sell.

Besides promotional artwork is probably going to blow the games out of the water every time anyway

Look at this, made to give a sense of the Hoenn region. It's gourgeous. But let's not pretend ORAS was ever in a million years going to look like this if they just had a bit more time, they just hired an artist to go nuts so they had a cool piece of promotional art.

If I had t oguess they wanted Ultra Megalopolis to give a cool feeling when they unveiled it so they commissioned the artist (who is.......??) to do up the piece. Then it had good response so they decided to have them do all the Ultra Worlds for merch purposes. Note that all the pieces are just fairly accurate representations of the worlds as they are in the game and not a nexpansion on them; same applies to the likely in-hosue Rainbow Rocket and "Story" pieces.


Also it's just single pieces probably done by someone either comissioend (as I think) or on staff whose entire purpose is just to do this & tbh the time to put out a piece of artwork is probably lesser than putting together an area in the game


I Guess what I'm saying is we cant use how stellar some of the artwork is as proof of Artists getting all the time & money in the world while the Developers got way less of that to experience the True Vision. The contexts are entirely different, and sometimes depending on the art even between each other.
SWSH is at least more of a conversation, though, since the in-game aesthetics (....wild area aside) are generally quite good even though the areas are quite empty; the contrast is much higher than normal but even then I think that's probably more a different set of issues.

My problem with this is that... this gen we had a "movexit" due to the bloat of redundant / bad moves, and this is going in the opposite direction, in fact introducing "more" moves that are going to be forgettable / unique to a single pokemon or family.

Then again, it's GameFreaks, you never know what they're thinking with this so *shrug*

The thing about "movexit" is I dont think it was because of bloat. Yeah there was a lot of redundant moves cut but we still have a fair amount of "wait THIS is still a move?" stuff in the game and a number of moves that were cut for seemingly no real reason.

 

[Smoughon Account]

This has probably been mentioned before, but I like how there are two themes for the Pokecenter in Sinnoh. There's a day theme and a night theme.

Day Theme

This theme has the typical upbeat feeling that Pokecenters usually have.

Night Theme

While this theme has a sort of calm and soothing feeling to it. Like you've just got home after a long day at work. I think it's really cool that they would create two separate themes for something as simple as the Pokecenter. I also like how there are different Pokémon available at different times in those games. It added a bit of realism to the games.