Your dream Pokemon game?

[Fryer]

Ever since I was a child I've been strongly attached to the Pokemon series. Not much of a gamer per say, Pokemon and Fire Emblem are one of the very few franchises I bother playing (and are pretty much the only reason I bother owning consoles). Some ideas of my dream Pokemon game(s) are somewhat controversial but I'll share it:

-Only new Pokemon available during the main campaign. The fanbase was pretty split when Gen V did this but I am was one of the few who loved this. I felt like a child again, new to the franchise and seeing new creatures that I don't recognize. I cannot feel the same with the latest releases since the old Pokemon are so abundant.

-New megas/forms for Pokemon who deserve it. (i.e. stop giving forms to Legendary Pokemon or Pseudo-Legendaries. Give to Pokemon who truly need it like Dunsparce, Ledian, etc)

-Smaller scale story. Not trying to be a genwunner or anything but in the first two Gens, the plot revolved around collecting badges and stopping an evil team in the sidelines. Ever since Gen 3, the plot seems to emphasize the evil team and almost always involves a Legendary; though USUM did a good job with Necrozma).

-More diverse Pokemon types (i.e. Ice, Fire, Steel, etc) being available early game routes instead of the usual Normal, Bug, and Flying.

-Battle Frontier. Maybe make the Pokemon League the equivalent of the game's Battle Tower? To clarify, several trainers challenge the player and every 7-10 battles, a notable NPC like a rival or a Gym Leader challenge you for the position (basically combining the Battle Tree and the TItle Defense).

-Items that change a Pokemon's nature. Maybe have some sort of Pokemon behavior school where you can have an NPC train your Pokemon to do so?

-GTS not having unfair trades.

-Less cutscenes.

-Less Kanto pandering. GF seems to emphasize the region over all others. This happening two gens in a row is getting tiring and if the leaks are real, then I'm worried.

 

These are just some of my ideas. What are yours?

 

 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Fryer

[Anacybele]

Sinnoh remakes!

But for them to be the best possible Sinnoh remakes though, I'd add these:

- Mega evolutions and Z-crystals for the starters. Yes, both! Not like we can use both, but it gives players the option to choose which they like more. Also make Megas/other new forms for Palkia and Dialga as Groudon and Kyogre got in ORAS. Giratina has a second form already, so I'd give it a Z-crystal.

- Online for the Underground. This should've been a thing in the originals imo, but I think they had a hard time implementing it. But this time they should be able to! Also, ditch the boulders in the secret bases, those were dumb.

- Return of the Battle Frontier. I never used this place much since I'm not super competitive, but I know a lot of others enjoyed it. And maybe I can be a bit more competitive if something like Super Training comes back.

- And speaking of Super Training, give us that or an equivalent of Poke Pelago or something. Also give an equivalent of the Pokenav from ORAS since being able to see the ability, an egg move, and held item before catching was awesome. Perhaps in the form of a Poketch app.

- And speaking of the Poketch, more apps! That means more fun! Though maybe ditch one or two useless ones like the counter.

- Keep the event items, redistribute them, and also finally bring in the Azure Flute so we can legitimately get Arceus. I really miss events like these, I thought they were more fun than just handing us the Pokemon with a code or over WiFi.

- So the events of Platinum aren't just seemingly forgotten, put the Distortion World scenario in the post-game a la the Delta Episode of ORAS. Or make it occur not long after meeting Palkia or Dialga at Spear Pillar, giving us an opportunity to catch two "cover" legendaries during the main story rather than just one.

- Add an extra event item for Ho-Oh or Lugia via the Sinjoh ruins as a callback to the event featuring the same location in HGSS. You'll meet Lance just as you did Cynthia in HGSS and be given the chance to catch one of Ho-Oh or Lugia depending on your version of the game.

- While on the subject of legendaries, ditch Mesprit and Cresselia's roaming habits. Roaming sucks. Same with the legendary bird trio if they return as they did in Platinum. Or, if you don't want the tracking map Poketch app to be useless, change it to where as soon as you find these guys, they don't repeatedly run off. The birds were especially bad here because they also had Roost!

- Bring in ride Pokemon to replace the HMs, of course.

- Contests come back, of course, but with improvements. Though I'm not sure what improvements exactly...

Edited May 26, 2018 by Anacybele

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I would do a third Orre game. We're not in the gamecube/wii generations anymore, so reusing assets directly from the first two games is not an option, they'd have to be remastered. Previous locations like Pyrite Town and the HQ Lab have to be in, but I wouldn't bend over backwards to ensure every location makes a return. Returning characters would appear, but don't have all these fanservicey moments for the benefit of people that played the original. That was one of my biggest gripes with Game #2 since all of those scenes were mandatory and derailed the plot and pacing. The plot would include Cipher as the villain again and I would double down on the themes of evil just under the surface. Cipher has been known to replace important politicians and even an entire town full of people in order to mask their operations. So this story is going to include a lot of betrayal and misdirection from the characters you meet. And a lot more underground areas as well. Cipher is always under the surface, hint hint. As for our protagonist, I don't mind having another kid rather than an adult like Wes. Having a kid helps contextualize how trusting and easily deceived we are by the villains. My one request is character creation and clothing customization.

Game #3 would continue to be double battles only and maybe even feature triple battles. Having a setting for single battles only is not something I would do. Part of the charm of these games was being a refreshing experience from the main series, and being able to use unique strategies, abilities, and moves to their maximum effectiveness. Another must have feature is the Purify Chamber from Game#2. It feels really good to have this system of purifying pokemon that you gradually build up and improve over the course of the game. Game #2 was the first pokemon game ever to have a use for all those pokemon you caught but don't use in your team. Eat your heart out, Poke Pelago. Wild pokemon needs a small tweak. Keep the poke spot system, but instead of an alarm that makes you drop everything and leave your current task, make it so that when a pokemon arrives, they get physically trapped and will wait for you to encounter them with no threat of them leaving or eating the rest of your resources

As for a plot, it should be set maybe ten years after the previous game. Cipher has been waiting to make their move and have only become known again because one of their admins (probably the first big boss fight you encounter) gets impatient and blows an operation that signals their return. But Orre is well prepared with a competent police force and even a reformed Team Snagem taking it upon themselves to fight against Cipher and be the hero. Their leader, Gonzap, has been replaced by some young, charismatic guy. You probably see where I'm going with this. Much of the new police force and Team Snaggem are made up of undercover Cipher agents. Lots of dialogue would have townsfolk praising these new people but also noting that they just arrived out of nowhere a few years ago. And the one big fanservice moment I'm allowing is for Gonzap to return and take up the reigns of Team Snagem with your help.

The pokemon in the Orre region would continue to include mostly Johto and Hoenn pokemon for consistency, but since Gen 5 also took place in the pokemon equivalent of the United States, let's have some Unova pokemon come in as well, they could use some love. No need to have any new pokemon, but new forms or megas have been introduced mid-generation, so that's on the table. Your starter would be eevee once again. And how about we throw in another choice of gen 2 starter that you must snag at the beginning of the game. I would also ensure the game has plenty of move tutors able to teach relevant double battle moves such as Helping Hand and Follow Me since we can't make those TMs. I definitely would add a method of increasing a pokemon's EVs quick and easily for the benefit of any late game shadow pokemon additions to your team. Shadow Pokemon mechanics would remain the same as in Game #2. Shadow Moves in that one were actually the first moves in any pokemon game to feature the physical/special split, though I don't remember them telling you which of the moves used your special attack stat.

And that is a lot more than I initially intended to write. It did get me feeling nostalgic though.

[Michelaar]

Another Colloseum/XD game, whether it be in Orre or not, I don't particularly care. But I love those games so much. XD is probably my favourite Pokémon game. Make it include Pokémon from all gens and I think it will be a perfect game.

[Anacybele]

I edited my post to add a few more things I was forgetting. :P

[Lau]

Hmmm...for a mainline game...

- New evolutions for older Pokemon. Dunsparce, Corsola, Luvdisc (should've been able to evolve into Alomomola), another Eeveelution or two, Illumise, Volbeat, etc.

- Let's go back to the standard 8 gyms format. Alola was a breath of fresh air, but was rather anticlimatic compared to the Gym Leaders. But spice them up. New puzzles, unique music, a better spaced out powercreep as you work your way through them. For gym badges...bring back the music thingy from Sinnoh, where if you tap a badge, it plays a music note. Let us polish them, too.

- I want Professor Willow, Spark, Candela and Blanche from Pokemon GO to make an appearance, as well as other characters from past games. Looker, Sina and Dexio, Colress, Steven Stone, Riley, etc. I love recurring characters, as it's nice to see what they'll tell you about their past experiences.

- As for the evil team...Team Skull was fantastic, and Lusamine was great, I have a soft spot for Team Rocket, and Team Galactic were amazing. That being said, spice it up even more. I want a full executive board, like in HGSS. Develop them, give us their motivations. Black and White handled N and Ghetsis fantastically, and Guzma was amazing, but I want more. As for team leader...Giovanni was fantastic, Archie and Maxie were sorely underdeveloped, though ORAS did a good job fleshing them out. Cyrus is one of my favourites, Ghetsis was fittingly unstable. Lysandre was rather weak, tbh, and Guzma and Lusamine were great. I want another leader who has family ties, but this time, have the kid(s) follow in their parent's footsteps, so it's up to the player to convert them with the power of friendship.

- I want an older protagonist. Hilbert and Hilda have amazing designs, they don't look too old, nor too young. Just right. For that matter, I want more player choices, choices that actually affect the course of the story.

- Bring back something similar to the Poketch.

I don't want a lot, just more focus on the story and characters, hahah.

As for a spinoff...

POKEMON CONQUEST 2. Oh baby.

Or another Ranger game. Let's go with that.

- The player is a Ranger, born and raised in Almia, and fresh out of the Ranger School. They've been posted in a new region, it's rather peaceful, but not as peaceful as Oblivia. We'll call this region Fialia (A combination of Fiore, Almia and Oblivia). The player is stationed in the main city of Fialia, with only a couple of their classmates, yada yada. Everything is going smoothly, they're working their way up the ranks, helping civilians when needed, until they get to about Rank 3, and shit hits the fan. An evil team wants to pick up Gordor's research on the Super Styler, and they're in the testing stages. The player fails an important mission, and gets kidnapped by said team because they've seen too much. Boom. The entire region is in a panic, they haven't seen anything like this before, one of their Rangers is MIA, Pokemon are disappearing at an alarming rate, the civilians are losing faith in them. So, they call in the Ranger Union. And who do Hastings and Erma send? Kellyn, Kate, Keith, Solana, Lunick, Ben and Summer. Further on, they send Sven and Wendy. The player is rescued, and they join forces with the older Rangers, but it isn't enough. The Super Styler is being mass produced, they're using it on legendaries. But who appears? The Go Rock Quads. As Gordor's kids, they were privy to most of his information. They lend their help, and things progress nicely, and yeah, it's a culmination of all the Ranger games.

Sorry, I'm still salty about the Go Rock Quads being reduced to a mere quest in Guardian Signs.

[Michelaar]

3 hours ago, Anacybele said:

 

- Contests come back, of course, but with improvements. Though I'm not sure what improvements exactly...

Online contests!

[Lau]

Just now, Michelaar said:

Online contests!

I don't want strangers judging me when I put sparkles on my Stunfisk...

...I just want him to feel loved.

[Anacybele]

3 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

Online contests!

That'd be nice, yeah!

And I don't think other players would be the judges, they'd just be the contestants.

[Michelaar]

16 minutes ago, Lau said:

I don't want strangers judging me when I put sparkles on my Stunfisk...

...I just want him to feel loved.

But Stunfisk is so cuute!

[NinjaMonkey]

They've already made my perfect Pokemon game, it was called Pokemon SoulSilver.

[Light Strategist]

• New Evolutions for old Pokémon
• Mega Evolutions for some Pokémon that have a hard time staying relevant that can't get a new evolution such as Non Kanto/Hoenn starters, Poliwrath, Vivillon etc.
• Unique Z-Moves for Lucario (which should totally be Aura Storm from Smash Bros. Brawl), the Starters that don't have them and so on.
• UK based region that has you knighted when becoming the champion and allows you to travel to Kalos through the Pokémon World's equivalent of the channel tunnel. I like the regions in Pokémon (well not Alola but that I think might just be the fault of Gen 7 as a whole for me) and hate the fact that these regions that are so close together or are otherwise outright mentioned are never able to be visited and to boot, Kalos is my favourite region to date which I owe largely in part to Pokémon X and the XY anime for just making me feel like a kid again. I want to see the regions I've been to before but I don't want to be stuck in an infinite time loop of knowing events in advance. I want new adventures in old places so the trip back has more value! Kinda turned ranty there... ^-^;
• Tie-in to the region idea: I'd like an in-game event that gives the player a free Shiny Honedge that was stuck in a thick stone as a nod to King Arthur pulling Excalibur.

Alternatively, I wouldn't mind the idea of a region where you start in the middle of the region and you choose your path around it which causes the wild Pokémon on the paths you choose to be appropriately levelled for the way you're going.

[Erren]

8 hours ago, Anacybele said:

Sinnoh remakes!

But for them to be the best possible Sinnoh remakes though, I'd add these:

- Mega evolutions and Z-crystals for the starters. Yes, both! Not like we can use both, but it gives players the option to choose which they like more. Also make Megas/other new forms for Palkia and Dialga as Groudon and Kyogre got in ORAS. Giratina has a second form already, so I'd give it a Z-crystal.

- Online for the Underground. This should've been a thing in the originals imo, but I think they had a hard time implementing it. But this time they should be able to! Also, ditch the boulders in the secret bases, those were dumb.

- Return of the Battle Frontier. I never used this place much since I'm not super competitive, but I know a lot of others enjoyed it. And maybe I can be a bit more competitive if something like Super Training comes back.

- And speaking of Super Training, give us that or an equivalent of Poke Pelago or something. Also give an equivalent of the Pokenav from ORAS since being able to see the ability, an egg move, and held item before catching was awesome. Perhaps in the form of a Poketch app.

- And speaking of the Poketch, more apps! That means more fun! Though maybe ditch one or two useless ones like the counter.

- Keep the event items, redistribute them, and also finally bring in the Azure Flute so we can legitimately get Arceus. I really miss events like these, I thought they were more fun than just handing us the Pokemon with a code or over WiFi.

- So the events of Platinum aren't just seemingly forgotten, put the Distortion World scenario in the post-game a la the Delta Episode of ORAS. Or make it occur not long after meeting Palkia or Dialga at Spear Pillar, giving us an opportunity to catch two "cover" legendaries during the main story rather than just one.

- Add an extra event item for Ho-Oh or Lugia via the Sinjoh ruins as a callback to the event featuring the same location in HGSS. You'll meet Lance just as you did Cynthia in HGSS and be given the chance to catch one of Ho-Oh or Lugia depending on your version of the game.

- While on the subject of legendaries, ditch Mesprit and Cresselia's roaming habits. Roaming sucks. Same with the legendary bird trio if they return as they did in Platinum. Or, if you don't want the tracking map Poketch app to be useless, change it to where as soon as you find these guys, they don't repeatedly run off. The birds were especially bad here because they also had Roost!

- Bring in ride Pokemon to replace the HMs, of course.

- Contests come back, of course, but with improvements. Though I'm not sure what improvements exactly...

I agree with this.

[Erren]

How about a Pokemon game where you can take up jobs, such as a Pokemon Ranger or Treasure Hunter (with Treasure Hunter, you can have your Pokemon explore mini dungeons, using a JRPG format, similar to the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games)

[vanguard333]

Dream Pokémon game? Hm... all this is off the top of my head, so it's far from a complete list, but I'll give as good an idea as I can:

A Pokémon game set in a region based on Scotland, including Orkney and a capital city based on Edinburgh: right down to the royal mile and a castle at the summit that functions as either the Pokémon League location, a gym/trial location, or the museum/library area with the statues/books about the legendary Pokémon.
I've been to Scotland; it's a really nice place, and I think the combination of lowlands, highlands & islands as well as the unique architecture could provide for a really unique and interesting Pokémon region, and the wildlife and folklore could provide a great inspiration for some really unique Pokémon. 

Such a region could also provide interesting regional forms for older Pokémon. For example, the region's Rapidash could be made into a water & grass type Pokémon with new abilities to match. But that would be the only gen 1 Pokémon to get a new form; Pokémon from other older regions will get new forms as well. 

Naturally, there would be a legendary inspired by the Loch Ness Monster (if it didn't have it, people would be wondering where it is). 

Smaller Things:

• Have ride Pokémon continue to replace HM moves. 
• Have the evil team be interesting and have differing goals that set them apart from previous teams, and make sure the leader is well-handled. 
• Light Strategist said something about a Sword-in-the-Stone moment. That would be cool.
• A quadrupedal fire-type starter Pokémon that remains quadrupedal and gets a second type no other starter has gotten so far.
• A fire & grass type Pokémon. It's one of the few type combinations that hasn't been done yet (as far as I know), and I think it could be really interesting. 

[henrymidfields]

Any Pokemon game that interprets the real-life region in a realistic yet interesting way would be the best. Not just the apparent look of the region, but the overall history and culture should also reflect the region in real life. Kalos was great in that regard not least because of, amongst other bits and pieces of the region's history, how Lysandre was a reference to Francois Coty and the far-right in 1930-40s France/Europe. I want an Orre seqyel that talks more about the Wild West, the Great Depression, the Bible Belt, and maybe even War on Drugs. And I would have liked to have seen a Poke-California with backstories of gold rushes, hippies and counterculture, or even race relations as early as Gen 3 instead if what ended up with RSE with a fake-Kyushu and a story that could gave been used for Poke-Guam/Sapian or even Alola.

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, putting gameplay related things aside, I'll go over what I'd want story and setting wise...

I suppose as a start I'd want to see a region based on my home country. I feel it has lots of potential places for regions. Still don't know about the where and the scale ratio of the region's size, but I'd be down for any area.

Other stuff that piques my curiosity is likely stuff that would be unlikely to be actually done in an actual game. Kinda. One would be the theme of warfare. It exists. It has happened. Always just as background stuff, but it's there. Pokémon Conquest is like about the only time a Pokémon game has actually focused on that stuff, but it's not quite the same, I'd think. Like, imagine a Pokémon game that actually took place in the middle of a war, instead of just being told a war happened in the past, like Kanto and Kalos do; Unova as well if the brothers' feud counts, but I don't remember just how big it got. Instead of a Team/Gang as the antagonist group, it's an invasion force that needs to be repelled. Who knows.

Another idea that dwells in my head is on the subject of Arceus. For all intents and purposes, that Pokémon is basically their universe's Creator Deity. It's the Alpha Pokémon. It's stated that it created pretty much everything, emerging from an "egg" in the middle of the void (so mixing both the idea of a Creator and the Big Bang, so to speak, although the egg thing likely comes from other creationist myths; then again, the Big Bang has been compared to that myth as well). The original idea to reach it was to basically ascend to its turf in the heavens (Hall of Origin is somewhere up in the sky... maybe). Sounds like quite a big deal. Except not really. It's something that doesn't really get aknowledged a lot. And it's understandable, as that's dabbling into religious stuff that would certainly not fly. A bit of missed potential, I'd say. Like, imagine some kind of antagonistic group centered on Arceus. Either your cliché EvilChurch(TM), or perhaps something like some kind of cult that thinks it can control the Creator since Creator or not, it's still a Pokémon. That kind of stuff. Also something quite unlikely to happen officially, but well, this is about "dream" ideas.

So that would be it, my "dream" scenario as far as setting and story would go. A region based on my home country, with a story centered on inter-regional war (or a civil war), or your standard Team who aim to subjugate Arceus because "Pokémon are beneath us, even the legendaries!" or something like that. And the region itself having some actual religious-esque prescence, with Arceus-worshipping and stuff. Those would be the big/main ideas. I have stuff for the minor stuff, but that could be for another day, maybe.

Who knows! Certainly they might be orthodox ideas. Well, I can rest assured that if it doesn't happen officially, there's always fanfics, or even fangames. Not that I really have the means for the latter, but still...