Tof's gaming ideas: Pokemon

Pokemon games, the main series, are games that never really changed much when it comes to mechanics, and a lot of the structure of the game has remained the same over the versions.

Tiny changes have been added, but honestly, some annoyances inexplicably have remained in the games over the years.

There are hundreds of tiny things everyone has a problem with in Pokemon, but I'm not going to get into too much detail.

The following is a series of things that I feel should be fixed to make the game more enjoyable, and at the end i even add a suggestion on how to make it more interesting.

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Fixes

The Pokecenter

If you've played a Pokemon game ever, you might already know what I'm gonna say.
I still don't understand what kind of person makes a part of their game purposely annoying. In every Pokemon game, going to a Pokecenter to heal has always been a tedious, and unnecessarily so.

This is made even more evident by the fact that certain NPCs in the game will heal all of your Pokemon, restore the PP and do so instantly but without the long wait.

Also ticks me off that the nurse will ask if you want your Pokemon healed, I mean, is there ever a time you talk to the nurse and don't want her to heal your Pokemon? even if you didn't mean to, what's the harm of healing them anyway?

-Solution-

Have the nurse do the slow version the first time you visit a Pokecenter, then afterwards just have her say all your Pokemons have been healed when u talk to her, that's it.

Alternatively, implement the regeneration system from the Pokemon mystery dungeon games to reduce the need to use a Pokecenter all the time.

Someone's PC

It made sense you had to use a PC in the first game to store your Pokemon.

But now, there's a lot of wireless going on in both the game's world and the real world.

It seems unnecessary to make you go to town and find the nearest Pokecenter to switch Pokemons.

-Solution-

Make a fucking menu where you're accessing the computer wirelessly.

HMs

Again, an obvious issue if you've played any Pokemon game.

In some games, there are far too many them, and they're usually bad moves that you have no desire of using because they could be replaced by something far better.

However, you are forced to use them in specific area to progress, which ties your hands behind your back.

This forces you to handicap yourself by either spreading the moves through your fighting Pokemons, or carry around 1 or 2 Pokemons specifically for the HMs that aren't any good in battle.

HMs are keys, just handled the worse way possible.

That's not to mention the redundancy with all the water related HMs: Surf, Waterfall, Dive, Whirlpool. That's ridiculous and should had been streamlined years ago. Just 1 ability should cover all of that.

-Solution-

Make it so that, as long as you have 1 Pokemon in your party OR storage that knows the ability, you have use the ability. Simply have a HM menu where you choose the one you want to use.

Alternatively, How hard is it to carry 1 or 2 extra Pokeballs? the main character could easily carry extra Pokemons, that wouldn't be used in battle, just for ability use.

Yet another alternative: Allow Pokemons to learn 2 extra moves that are only usable outside of battle. You would still have the option to learn them as an attack move.

Movement speed/transportation

These games have a sadistic delight for making you start out your adventure at snail pace. The slow grueling speed you go through the first area of the game is agony after you get used to the speed you can move on later in the game.

But, is there even a point or reason for this?

Besides making the start of the adventure painful and boring, not really.

-Solution-

The auto-run option from HG/SS. I really don't need to go into this one. Should be in every game and you should start with it.

In fact, why don't we start with a bike? all it does it allow you to move faster, it doesn't really add any advantage to the player.

There's no reason you shouldn't have the bike from the start. You're a 10 year old kid, are you expecting me to believe you the one kid that doesn't have one?

Pokemon games don't need padding, they're already long as fuck and monotonous.

There's a good reason they were banned on the "let's play" board at something awful.

Speed this shit up ffs.

More than 1 save per game.

This is fucking 2012, add save slots ffs!

-Solution-

Add more saves slots, duh!

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Improvements

Choices and paths

I've mentioned it before, but I think it'd be very interesting if the main character had to make choices.

The choice would influence the path the main character takes, which influences the areas he'd have access to, the Pokemons he can catch, and the order of the gyms. associated with a path would be perks.

Here's an example:

Early in the game, you could be given a choice to become the apprentice of a famous Pokemon breeder (heck, could even be Brock), or continue as a battling trainer.
Picking a path would be like a picking a class, and doing so would confer some bonuses.

Here's an example of class perks could be for a Pokemon breeder:

• Increase your chance of encountering female Pokemon.
• Reduce the time required for your Pokemon to make eggs
• Reduce steps required for egg hatching.
• Slight stat bonus for bred Pokemon.

It really wouldn't be hard to come up with other classes such as Pokemon researcher, Pokemon catcher, Pokemon battle trainer, etc... a lot of NPCs in the games and characters in the anime claim to have such jobs.

Although just the fact that you could go through the same game with a different story and in a different order seems like it'd add replay value.