Hey everybody! Welcome back to the... fifth! Yeah, fifth installment of Pokemon Talk! Thunderplant wanted to be the first to speak in this blog, but like I’d let that happen. This is going to be a very special list thanks to some interesting something or others.
With advertising money (and a pie, for some reason) from Game Freak in our pockets, it’s time to plug some love for the new Pokemon X & Y! Coming out worldwide (except a few select countries) in October 2013 on Nintendo 3DS... is what we’d like to say if the person Doc talked to wasn’t a homeless person living under a bridge who paid us in food stamps. So with canned pasta at hand, we here at Pokemon Talk will do what we always do best and that is make a Top Ten about whatever we like.
Uhh... Dude... We talked about this. It’s a top five this time (cause damn does it take too long to do a top ten. I mean uhhh...) And we already established what fun we will be having. Hey reader(s). We brought in... wait for it... A THIRD PERSON. Yeah that’s right, we extended this luxurious one-time offer to your very own Abrams! And if he doesn’t accept within the next 15 seconds, well...
Spoon and Salutations, g1s! It is I, the SpoonMan Abrams X! These two slackers requested some more Poke-nerdiness, and I do love myself some Pokemans, having played the games since I was a wee lad on the original Red & Blue in 1998! You don’t get more OG then that! Now where is that pie I was promised?!
Yes, we snagged the Spoonman himself. His services don’t come cheap, don’t you know. We had to offer him the rarest of all pies created by some South American shaman. Of course before we had that delivered to him, it suffered from an unfortunate accident of eaten. Now since he’s the guest and all, why don’t we make him do all the work and mention the few short rules for this discussion.
Less work for me? HELL YEAH, I'M DOWN.
What is this?! No pie and I have to do your work? I call shenanigans! Regardless, I suppose I could lay down the ground rules real quick, so people know what we we’re up to here... *mumblegrumblesIwantpiemumbles*
-
This is a list on the basis of overall game feel, and what would improve the mold that is the main Pokemon series. Talk about metagame and the competitive nature that is online battles should not, and will not, be the primary feature of this blog.
-
Yeah, that’s right. That also means we’re talking about improving the obviously successful formula of Pokemon here. We’re not shooting for the sky here. What neat little things we wanna see that would just make the game cooler -- that’s what this list is .
-
Also, these are the things we would like to see, so we’re not trying to list too many of the obvious ones. Duh, we all want new Pokemon and we want cool moves. We have lists dedicated to some of those already.
-
Our list, our opinions. If you have any problem with it, please leave a comment on our new twitter handle: @manlynessness
A shorter list means only a few rules. Got it? Good. This list should be pretty self explanatory, and you’re all probably going to agree with us for once (Thank God...). So if it’s cool with you guys, we’re just gonna nerd out the five most awesome things we wanna see. Oh, but first, the honourable mentions:
Multiple Save Files
You would think this would be standard for all RPGs nowadays to have more than one save file. I even find this problem with certain SMT games where you recruit Demons, Angels and Gods to assist you in battle.
But we aren’t talking about Devil Survivor, no, this is Pokemon Talk. I have a file in Pokemon Platinum I’m afraid to let near my young cousins because I know they’ll want to create a new game and wipe out 200+ legal Pokesav’d Pokemon ready for competitive purposes. After I’m done with the main game of Pokemon I rarely, if ever, create a new game, because I’ve spent countless hours grinding my team to perfection. I get sick knowing that something so simple as a corrupt save will ruin that playtime. Multiple saves voids this as I can instead have a specific folder devoted to my post-game multiplayer experience, while keeping a couple opened for whatever I feel like doing. Whether it be just a new game or a Nuzlocke challenge, this is something I truly want to see in X & Y.
However, I was the only one strongly on this note, as the top five featured content that surpassed this opinion believe it or not.
Active/Real-Time Battles
Now don’t get discouraged, I’m not talking about overhauling the entire Pokemon battle style and making it into an MMO with command input and fully animated battles, etc... (though that would be AWESOME! Least in my opinion~).
Turn based battles work and all, but can only do so much with it. “Real/Active” time battles would be the next obvious step in the evolution of the series (hyuckhyuck) Something similar to the (in)famous Final Fantasy ATB system would be cool. Each move has a cooldown, and moves that need “charge up” like Solarbeam could do so, or moves like Hyper Beam can simply just have slow recharge & even slow down all recharge times temporarily, etc. Speed would actually mean something outside of just “who goes first”, actually impacting how fast and often a ‘Mon can attack. It would be intuitive and fit very well into the current dynamic of the game, opening up new strategies and possibilities...
That said, it unfortunately isn’t necessarily newbie friendly, as a lot of the youngins that play might have a hard time time grasping it... and admittedly, while it doesn’t change the Pokemon formula TOO drastically, it still is a very big change (also, Doc & TP are haters~)
Character Customization
I don’t want much from you, Game Freak. Really. I like you guys! Everyone else likes to complain, the character looks “so dumb” and say things like “Why would I wanna be that?” Well you know what I say to that? Who the hell cares? You’re looking at the back of their head for most of the time you even control them. And even then, they’re a lo-res bunch of pixels! So stop complaining!
But now, oh now. We’re talkin’ 3D, bitches! That means we’re gunna get up close and personal with these character models. So wouldn’t it be nice to customize them? I don’t expect anything too advanced (realistically). I don’t anticipate Tony Haw-esque customization or anything. Just some nice little ideas: palette changes, different head accessories, different backpack/pouch/bag. Simple things.
This would be even better with a little more incentive. Say, every time you beat a Gym Leader you get a badge (of course), a TM, and a new customizable thing, like a hat or something. And you can unlock others in other ways. Give the players more reason (although maybe not the BEST) just to play more things in your game like the battle towers and dumb ass contests. Oh. And remove those dumb ass contests, Game Freak.
And with that, we get into the:
Top Five Things We Want to See in Gen VI
5. Better HM Implimentation
Okay, the idea here is essentially how HMs are dealt with in game. Usually the game requires you to have a Pokemon with a certain move to get to a certain path that is blocked, or make your travel time easier. That one move takes up valuable space, as no one but slaves want to have something like Cut so late in the game. This does later on decrease the value on certain HM Slaves ala Bibarel and Tropius, but I’d prefer to carry an asset to my team when battling.
Agreed with TP entirely. Make the moves either suck less and be viable in endgame/competitive aspects (other than Flash), or just do away with them “being moves” all together; aka make them strictly “utility moves”.
What I mean, they could give each ‘Mon a “Utility slot” or something of the like, so they can learn the HM without having to fill up a move slot. This would just serve to lessen headaches as well as be able to properly equip a full team to deal with the hazard of adventuring.
For the record, utility slot? My idea..! And a damn good one. It’s much more reasonable than the thought of raising the power of all HMs, because it wouldn’t make sense to get a 70 Power Cut at the first gym. It would break the game, and frankly, some moves HAVE to suck, amirite?
However, similar to how certain Pokemon can only learn certain HMs, it would be better to leave that mechanic alone, but instead leave each Pokemon with one slot for one HM that, maybe, can never be erased. That means 6 HMs on a team at a time, and that sounds reasonable. Because holy hell do I hate having to swap out one of my six Pokemon for a slave just to get through Victory Road.
4. Different and/or Multiple Regions
Ah, yes... THIS is one of the main reasons why a lot of players remember the Gold/Silver/Crystal series so fondly, as well as made the remakes FireRed and LeafGreen so awesome! Part of the experience of single player is the exploration, and Black and White kind of made a step in the right direction with post-game plot and area exploration. They need to take it the step further and throw back in some old regions for that? Why haven’t we went back to Kanto since Gen 2? Why haven’t we visited Orre on a handheld?!
If this happens, I want it to happen right. The reason Gen II Kanto was so great was because we saw the passage of time on our beloved region (i.e. Magnet Train in Saffron, Cinnabar eruption) and really, Red (the last games’ protagonist) being battle-able. That being said, I would hate it if they just slapped Hoenn in a game and were like, “well, here ya go. Second region.” We need it to matter; we need it to change in a way that we want to reach every town to see what happened.
It also had to do with that fact that the level progression in the game was really slow. If you were to compare the battle between Lance and Blue, you would have to pick Blue back in Gen II. It was evenly distributed knowing full well that another adventure continues beyond Tohjo Falls.
In order for a new region to be implemented, the entire game has to be designed in an intricate fashion. Whether it be towns extremely close to each other or level progression going to the 80s, it has to make sense. Technically this could go into more post-game material based on how lackluster Black/White was in comparison to lets say Platinum, but we want to keep this within the main adventure. Besides, post-game is extra for us hardcore folks.
3. Distinct Differences Between Versions
This one needs a bit of explaining. Yes, there are usually differences between two Pokemon games. What we want here is a very clear differentiation. Not just different legendaries, but maybe different gym leader order? Maybe a few different gym leaders entirely (Iris vs Drayden barely counts). Maybe a different path through the game. It’d need to be something to really make you think about which game to choose. Just be careful. One version better not be downright superior to another. That would suuuuuuuck.
Do you know what made me choose White instead of Black? Lilligant. I am dead fucking serious. The fact that I chose the game purely because I liked one Pokemon over another constituted me to buy that version. I didn’t care about the White Forest or the Black City, I just wanted to play one and get it over with.
My suggestion for this topic was for the player character to start at different routes to experience a different style. Imagine instead of Black 2/White 2 we had a hybrid that balanced the two out. One would have the character start at Nuvema and another in Aspertia. Pretend you fought trainers/gym leader in a completely different order. We could, for example, see a gym leader like Brock have level 15 vs level 40 Pokemon (and possibly different ones entirely) in different versions.
Yea, something besides “this Pokemon only appears in this version!” (Truthfully I’d prefer they do away with it completely, but I digress) Obviously it would require some rebalancing to be done if the games were to still share a mostly similar world or whatever, but still, would really make the experience fresh and unique. Maybe even go as far as unique player characters and storylines? One can only hope...
2. New Evolutions
This doesn't fucking count.
Currently, sans legendaries, there are 56 Pokemon in the National Dex without an evolution. This is confusing beyond belief, as some of these Pokemon are in dire need of one, just so they can get some attention. For Xenu’s sake Generation IV gave evolutions to Tangela, Electabuzz and Magmar. Where’s my Farfetch’d Samurai? That bird is beyond useless to the point where it’s greatest asset is a STICK. Evolve that bird already.
Not every Pokemon needs an evolution (In fact, here's a list of the Pokemon who statistically need one the most: http://i.imgur.com/8iH80.png?1), granted, Ditto would just be awkward, but when you look at Pokemon like Farfetch’d, Dunsparce, or Mawile, with their strange popularity, it really begs the question.
It could also help some of the, in my opinion, “forgettable” additions like Volbeat & Illumise or Stantler. Also, Pinsir. SO much cooler than Scyther/Scizor. Yes, I said it. How can you not love a Pokemon with giant steel-crushing pinchers on his head?! Answer: You can’t. Don’t even try.
I know what you’re all thinking, “oh but everybody’s gonna say this (and also #1).” Well, first of all, too bad. But hear me out. This didn’t happen in Gen III or V, and it worked very well in my opinion (in fact, I preferred it). It gives us more totally new and unique Pokemon. But, seeing as everyone likes to bitch and moan about “bad Pokemon design” a la Vanilluxe, this could work.
I love seeing Game Freak use their imagination to evolve an older Pokemon in a creative way, while still keeping it a reasonable progression. It could be fantastic, or it could end horribly. This is only #2 because I could be happy whether they did this or not, and it’s a bit more obvious that people want this.
1. More Bad Ass and Creative Type Combinations
See? Now that's just bad ass.
You all should have seen this for number one. I really love Electric and Ghost type Pokemon, and I feel they have a lot of potential. We haven’t gotten a lot of interesting type combinations for these types, although it has gotten better recently (Ghost got a lot of cool stuff this generation).
Honestly, I only want one thing: Electric/Fire (Toaster Rotom doesn’t fucking count). And it would be awesome. As well as Fire/Water, Ghost/Steel, etc. And we’re all thinking about this next sentence, so we’re purposely not putting it on the list. But guys, a new type (which I don’t see and don’t want to happen) would be awesome, am I right?
Actually, the man has a point...except that talk about a Fire/Water type. Unless you can think of some crazy two-in-one/duo elemental sort of Pokemon then that’s just crazy talk. Anywho, out of all the seventeen types in the game, it is Ghost in last place and Water at a staggering first. Yes, despite the claim that Dragon is supposed to be a rarity in the Pokemon Universe they are not the least common denominator in the game.
So my spin on the whole idea for more creative Pokemon is implementing ghost attributes to even things out. There is so much Eastern and Western folklore that involve the supernatural, it’s strange how some haven’t been turned into Pokemon yet. Headless Horseman themed Ghost/Fire type please?
Or a Slenderman inspired Pokemon? Would fit PERFECTLY into Pokemon lore, ha. Seriously though, some types just need to be represented more. Throw some more random Normal Dual types out there. Normal/Grass? We’ve also got some pure Ice type Pokemon finally, what about a pure non-legendary Flying type? Heck, I’d almost be happy with less Water type Pokemon just to even things out, but I digress. Also, I am inclined to agree with Doc, Water/Fire type is too awesome to not have happened already~
THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS
Yeah, yeah. I know this #1 wasn’t as surprising as some others may have been, but that wasn’t the point this time. Seriously though? We could get some really cool Pokemon out of it if Game Freak just decides to go nuts. We want cool stuff from Gen VI, and we wanted to write with some cool g1s. Go figure, it works! So expect more of that in the future. That being said--
Hopefully we’ll one day get that advertising money from Game Freak so we can sell out like champions!
Indeed, and then maybe you can reimburse me for that priceless Pie you ate. You know, that pie wasn’t necessarily meant to be EATEN, just a fyi... The next 48 hours are going to be fun for whoever ate it, bwahahahahaha~
And thanks for joining us Abrams! I hope you didn’t hate every second of it and don’t ban me from g1 After Dark for it.
Thanks for having me! It was much fun sharing in the Poke nerd-ness. I look forward to working with you potentially in the future! Perhaps with more shenanigans involved... maybe even some malarkey! (Also don’t worry. Doc, you’re not TP so I don’t have any need/reason to ban you daily~) (<3 TP, lol)
Oh... so that’s what you think of me Abe?! *AHEM* Like always, for all your frequent updates on whatever, you can always follow us on our respective Twitter accounts: @Thunderplant and @Dr_Cool_Guy. We’d like to once again thank the Spoonman Abrams X himself for partaking in this blog, as well as providing us some excellent feedback on our format. You can also find him via Twitter with the handle @Abrams_X.
As always, the three of us are frequent on the g1 dedicated tinychat g1 After Dark so whenever you’re bored on a lonely night, you can always pop on http://tinychat.com/g1afterdark for random shenanigans.
And guys, if you would like to play Pokmeon with yours truly, I frequently play online at http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/lobby as, of course, DrCoolGuy. Send me a PM on either that site or SA. No teams required either, as they do have random battles (Although I also frequently play in OU and Ubers). But yeah. Play with me I guess. If you want. Oh you don’t? I mean, that’s cool. Cause then I have more time to write about:
The Top 10 Pokemon We Hate With a Passion!
TP: Now <BEARS> off!
g1 DISCUSSIONS
2200
You know what I want to see from Gen VI? Gen III remake :D
BR1ZZY-B34R
Silveon does count as a new evolution, stop cutting fucking corners...
DrCoolGuy
Dude, it was a joke...
Dastardly Dylan Toomey
DAWOOH
MagnumMagnus
Multiple save files would be too easy to exploit, Active time battles would change the game entirely, and I'm almost certain character customization will be in Gen. VI.
5. To be fair, Surf is one of the best Water moves available and Fly isn't a half-bad move, but making the others la bit ess useless should be a priority.
4. That may actually make sense, but I think it only worked for Gold/Silver because there was only one other region to visit at the time. Now you have five others. You'd never finish it all!
3. You can't make the versions too different, or else you'll have two games that share nothing in common. The idea is to make the versions different enough that you'll need to interact with someone who has the other version, but similar enough that you get roughly the same experience regardless of which version you have.
2. I think it does count. We need more Eeveelutions, I'd just like to know exactly what it is. As for the rest, there are definitely Pokemon that are in dire need of an upgrade, because at this point, they're just worthless. I think that may be the real problem; Pokemon with no real value to them, either because of poor/misplaced stats (in the latter case, Flareon is a victim of having a high Attack stat and no decent moves to exploit it with), or a bad moveset (once again, Flareon).
1. I dunno where you got those images, but they need to exist. Actually, I'd like to see a Dark/Psychic type modeled after Cthulu. Its only weakness would be Bug types, and it would be awesome.
DrCoolGuy
Oh, for number one? Those are as real as fake Pokemon can get. They're throroughly thought out and made for competitive battling, my favorite being Mollux (the Fire/Poison) one. Check em out here:
http://www.smogon.com/cap/pokemon/
gamereviewerbr
All I want is one Ghost/Steel, with big defensive stats, I can't set foot on OU without being soaked by rain and being bombarded by Close Combats
DrCoolGuy
He may not be defensive, but I present to you... Kitsunoh: http://www.smogon.com/cap/pokemon/strategies/kitsunoh
JiCi
Good list:
5- The HMs could be forgotten in the latest games, at least THAT was addressed. What they should do is make their use optional. Like to access specific non-mandatory parts of dungeons. Furthermore, aside from Fly, Surf, Waterfall and Dive, the rest of HMs ever featured has been useless in battle. What they should is this. "This obstacle requires [HM]. Which Pokémon to you wish to use?". The HMs should be relegated to secondary abilities that your Pokémon can use outside of battle without having to necessarily learn it. A Water-type Pokémon should be able to Surf without having to learn the HM for instance. Same goes for a Flying-type which should be able to use Fly wihtout wasting one of its moves on it.
4- That... could be hard, because of overleveling issues.
3- I could see this happening, like changing the Gym orders and even have different locations.
2- I'd say that every non-legendary Pokémon should have an evolution, because it gives a reason for players to train them. Seriously, Pokémon without evolution sounds outdated already.
1- I totally agree, because I'm still waiting for a Dark/Electric, a Dark/Bug and a Dark/Psychic. Also, legendary typings should be made into non-legendary Pokémon morer often. Finally, NO MORE NORMAL/FLYING TYPYE!!! For crying out loud, can we get a [bunch of] single Flying-type Pokémon that is not Arceus or Tornadus? Seriously, it's the ONLY type that doesn't have a single type non-legendary Pokémon. Enough with the Normal/Flying and give us Flying/NOTHING.
My personal wishlist:
- Pokémon voices from the anime series, because I'm dead tired of the chiptune-like sounds.
- A Gym Leader specialized in Dark-type Pokémons. Tally up, Dark has only been used by the Elite Four and never by a Gym Leader.
- LESS legendary Pokémon: a trio, a version exclusive and a secret, NO MORE.
- NO MORE FIRE/FIGHTING POKÉMON AS STARTERS! Ok look, starters should remain single type, like the Johto starters, they don't need to be dual type.
- More Physical attacks for Fire and Psychic and more Special attacks for Fighting, Rock and Ground.
- Rebalance the Pokémons that need some. For instance, Flareon (yeah, tedious example I know) needs either a boost in Defense or Speed, MORE Physical Fire attacks (Flare Blitz, Blaze Kick, Fire-type Iron Tail, Fire-type Iron Head) and Blaze as an ability. Garchomp needs to be nerfed to non-legendary status. Haters are gonna hate...
spinner981
How can you hate Sylveon? It is so dang cute.