Ten Ways to Improve the Pokémon Games
Hey guys, in a quasi-response to a video I have seen showing a guy's hopes for Pokémon Black and White (yes, the video is a little bit older), I figured I'd list the ten things I'd change for the better when it comes to the main series Pokémon games. So without further ado, let's get the Pokéball rolling! (sorry not sorry)
10) A Stronger Post-Game:
A simple request to start things off: the game needs more things to do once the Elite Four have been defeated. Ever since Gen 3 the post-game has been quite dull, so giving the player more to do would be nice. To some extent this could be tied in with later stuff on this list, so I won't elaborate that much here. However I'm sure almost everyone agrees that X and Y especially were lacking in this regard, with only Looker, the Sushi High Roller and the Battle Maison being the "rewards" for beating the champ, which is just disappointing. We need more, Game Freak!
9) More Player Customization:
X and Y finall gave us some degree of player customization but overall it was pretty lackluster. Three skin colours, a few different eye colours, some hair cuts and a limited selection of clothing... You can do better than that, Game Freak! Make hats optional, allow for different facial features (comparable to Miis), etc. and make most of it (aka everything but clothes) available at the beginning of the game! Also expand the male selection, please... I'd really help to improve immersion.
8) Make Cheating Pointless:
This one bugs me a lot. While X and Y introduced a marker for non-game generated Pokémon, people can and do use them, leading to random a**holes stomping you with an Uber team with only Shinies and perfect IVs if you try online battling. How about blocking illigitimate Mons from online battling (excluding battles with registered friends, maybe?) and the day care center (to stop them from using them to breed legitimate Pokémon? That would be sweet!
7) Avoid Additional Baby Pokémon:
Okay, seriously, babies are annoying but in real life and in the Pokémon world. All of them are pretty useless and some are hard-ish to obtain, requiring incenses and the like. So asking Game Freak not to design and include more of them should be very easy, right? Use that space more valuably, guys!
6) Show More of the World:
The Pokémon world has a lot of underutilized potential when it comes world building. How is the government structured, if the even is one? How do people use Pokémon outside of battling or contests? These two questions (and a few others, too) beg for answers. Show us the government's role within the world and integrate it into the story! Let us see humans interacting more with Pokémon, like Growlithes as support Pokémon for the blind or give us back moving aid Machoke! We want to see a richer world. Also increasing the size of the world map would be awesome, too.
5) Make the Player Seem Less Important:
Okay, this might seem like an odd one but making the player character less significant in the story would help with the immersion. I mean it's ridiculous that a preteen (or in case of X and Y a group of preteens) can almost single-handedly defeat an evil team, right? In the second generation of Pokemon games (Gold, Silver and Crystal) the player had Lance on his side, in the fourth generation (Diamond, Pearl and Platinum) we had Cynthia. Both of them, along with Troy from Gen 3, set the standard for the modern champ-player interaction throughout the story, which to me always came off as pandering. Because of these "priviliges" the player character becomes bland and Mary Sue-ish. Make the character more human by reducing stuff like that, please.
4) A Less Linear World and Story:
This kinda goes hand in hand with points 5 and 6 but I'd like the game world to be more open than what we're used to. Multiple optional routes (which don't just branch off into nothingness), gym leaders being accessible in any order (or at least most of them) and many secrets to discover.
It might be problematic to find a way to scale the routes if most of them are available very early, though. However you could implement a feature which allows the player to alter the average level of wild Pokémon by activating/deactivating badges (that could also alter the selection of Pokémon to some extent). A similar principle would also be needed for AI trainers, but there the scaling should be irreversible to stop players from breezing through the routes/gyms, but that should be pretty easy to do.
The story should also reflect this, of course, with villain teams, rivals and other stuff being more spread out within the world, with side stories like Looker in X and Y being sprinkled across the world.
3) Change the Way HMs Work:
This is a classic complaint but it needs fixing. HM moves suck and forcing the player to make some of their Mons learn them is annoying. But how would I fix it? My proposal is very simple: make teaching HM moves optional by making them usable as long as you have Pokémon in your party that could learn these moves. Need to cut down a tree? Your Grass-type starter should do the trick and you don't need to waste an attack slot for Cut! Want to fly somewhere? The same still applies! HM slaves would be a thing of the past and people would rejoice. Especially since it'd still allow exploration and secrets (s. 4 and 6), thus avoiding a stale game world.
2) Introduce a Difficulty Slider:
If there is anything important on this list, it's probably this (number 1 is rather nitpicky and personal, tbh). Since roughly Gen IV the games have gotten rather easy, with X and Y in particular being a walk in the park. I mean come on, 4 Pokémon in their 60s for the Elite Four? Sure, this keeps the games accessible for younger players but the series veterans who know how to handle the problems the games throw at them by heart are definitely feeling the lack of challenge.
So a three level system would be ideal, with the "Standard Mode" being the Gen VI level, "Hard Mode" being a noteworthy increase in difficulty and a "Veteran Mode" for the very skilled players. The difficulty setting would manifest itself in better AI and stronger/different teams for it, as well as ditching tutorial mechanics and stuff like Premiere Balls maybe. Also the player, while choosing his/her difficulty level at the beginning of their journey, the player should be able to change the difficulty if it would become too difficult. I would imagine allowing the player to upgrade and/or downgrade the difficulty level by one stage in relation to their original difficulty, thus allowing overconfident players to make the game a bit easier, while giving insecure people the chance to make it more challenging if they think they can handle it. Okay? Okay.
1) Non-Elemental Starter Pokémon:
Breaking up patterns is good and the elemental starter trio is one of these patterns that needs to be broken in my humble opinion. Fire/Water/Grass feels so tiresome, so a new starter trio concept is needed desperately, at least to keep me interested. I think Psychic, Dark and Fighting would make an intriguing combo. But this is really just a minor problem I have with the games, so if the other nine points are put into practice before this, I'd still be happy.
