Since nobody else decided to join me on this feature idea, I'm simply going it alone. So no links or voting, just enjoy what I have here and let me know what you think of it.
I would like to preface this entire piece by saying that I actually have only played the first three generations of Pokemon games; I have not played anything after the GBA. So some of what I think may be new may already exist, and I may not address certain newer nuances or issues that I am unaware of.
If I had the reigns to make a full version of the Pokemon franchise, I'd start off by making it for a home console. Having more power under the hood allows us to do a bit more than your typical Pokemon game, and I promise I intend to use that power for more than just good looks.
One of my biggest complaints about the Pokemon franchise is that you have to tackle the world in a very specific order, and the levels of wild Pokemon reflect that order. This is simply an unrealistic feature of the world that is used for its simplicity on a handheld. I will opt for one of two ways to change this. Either the levels of Pokemon will change in the world to be always relatively around your level as a trainer, similarly to how WRPGs balance the game worlds to allow for open exploration, or more likely I will incorporate Pokemon of various experience in every area. This means that right from the get-go, there are Pokemon in the wild that you will have no hope of defeating, and no hopes of capturing (they'd never obey you). These battles will basically use a new mechanic where the trainer attempts to distract the daunting foe in order to escape. It's something of a survival horror element, but it's much more realistic to have the "grown ups" in an area to raise and watch over the young'uns. Not only that, but it will give you an extra feeling of triumph when you finally are strong enough to take them down, akin to the Big Daddies in Bioshock. Most of the time though, the ones you find will be of an appropriate skill level for you (usually about 5 or so levels lower than your average party Pokemon). Slightly more common than the overpowering wild Pokemon, but still much less common than the more appropriately leveled ones you would also encounter Pokemon that are simply too weak for you to bother with, such as level 5's when you are level 10. Attaching those will increase your likelihood of encountering the "protective parents", so basically you can use the smaller ones to prompt a mini-boss battle with an higher-leveled wild Pokemon.
Following this ideology, gyms can also be tackled in any order. Each town will have its own goings on and story as always, but you will be free to challenge them in any order. I will also change the rules a bit so gym badges aren't requirements for HMs, but rather an option. Another option would be winning tournaments or pageants that exist within every town. I would also include several smaller towns that do not have gyms, and increase the number of gyms from eight to twelve. Competing against the Elite Four will still only require eight badges, but players can challenge for all twelve. All of this is done to add a sense of reality and depth to the world.
I would also change things up a bit in that there will be more than one rival. That's right, now you'll have two different rivals to contend with. Each rival will come up at seemingly random times during the game as always, mostly one at a time. I say mostly because I will be introducing another first for the series (to my knowledge): three way battles! That's right; at times you will take on both of your rivals at the same time, but they won't be working together.
But I'm not just doing these things for no reason. There's a particular story I want to pursue here that encompasses each of these elements in various ways. Well, most of them. See, this time it isn't about filling your Pokedex or becoming the best their ever was (though you still will do both of those things); this time it's a much more personal story. This time, your adventure begins when your father comes home from a journey. He tells you with a heavy heart that he was attacked by a terrible organization and he was saved by your family's Pokemon (a new type, I haven't named it or anything), which has been your best friend as a child. But in the confusion, the Pokemon was separated from his master and ran off, probably to look for the father. He apologizes to the player, but your best friend is lost. So you decide that you will explore the world and find your friend. Your rivals are your two best human friends, both of whom want to help you. Each of them gets sidetracked after a little while without finding your lost Pokemon, and instead focuses on their own training. Their battles with you are their way of trying to convince you to give up your search as they have, but you persist. At times, these rivals may also tag along with you for certain storylines in specific towns. This is done to reinforce that these rivals are still your friends, not your enemies and truly do still care about you.
Eventually, you find out that your Pokemon may have been captured and taken to an exclusive island where only true Pokemon masters may explore, so you finish the gym challenge to beat the Elite 4 and get to this island. There, you must simply explore until you are reunited with your lost friend (basically through random encounters). When you do find him, the game will set up what seems to be an ordinary fight, but the wild Pokemon will refuse to fight before it really gets going, and a cutscene will show it begin to recognize you and a happy reunion scene is shown.
In terms of the gameplay itself, despite being on the bigger screen, roaming the world will retain its top-down perspective and SNES era charm. Battles themselves, as well as other competitions, will show a more detailed presentation, but nothing too over the top to unbalance with the tradition. It will still retain its turn-based mechanics and I will keep the moves limit to four. This should allow easy trading and battle across different versions and different systems, meaning that my intention is to allow trading and battling with the 3DS games as well as the (assumed) WiiU version. I would add voice overs, but I will also keep the text bubbles and old presentation. I find it to be part of the game's charm don't want top alter that, but I still believe that console games should have voiced conversations.
As I may have alluded to before, I will also be retaining the Team Rocket-esque bad guys. It would be a new organization than before, with an all new evil plan. This group dedicates themselves to stealing Pokemon for use in genetic experimentation, as they are trying to artificially make an army of obedient Pokemon to conquer the planet with. In battling with this organization, there are certain boss battle type moments when you have to take on these super-charged Pokemon, which will be modeled closely after existing types, but the experimentation will mean that certain type advantages and disadvantages will no longer apply, such as an Oddish that can resist psychic attacks but is weak against Bugs. These encounters are limited, as they are intended to be "boss moments". Much of the storyline against this organization is the fear that they captured your lost Pokemon, because it was the organization that attacked the father in the first place.
The final thing I wanted to bring up is that I plan to make every trainer you can battle on your adventure replayable, and allow for their Pokemon to grow up in between your fights. You will not have to fight them as soon as a rematch becomes available (the "once in sight rule does not apply if you've already battled once), but you can speak to them and start up a rematch if you choose. This is again for the added realism, because one would have to expect these people to heal their Pokemon just like you would, and also that they gain some experience in between. Also, fainted Pokemon will not be able to use HM moves like Fly outside of battle. That just doesn't make sense.
So in a nutshell, that's about it. Anything else I haven't addressed is because it isn't going to change or the changes would be consistent with expectation for the franchise. My overall goal is simply to give a different sort of story experience than the franchise has had in the past, and to make the world feel more alive and realistic than before.
So, what do you think of this idea for a Pokemon game? Is it one you would want top play, or is it just pure, unadulterated crap? Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts, and feel free to comment with your own pitch ideas as well.
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“The fact that the world will never be perfect is no excuse not to try to make it better.”
-kiera2
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