Should Pokemon be visible when exploring?

[vanguard333]

In every main Pokémon game so far (unless you count Let's Go as main series), you walk through the tall grass, surf over the water or walk around indoors and a wild Pokémon will appear; only Legendary Pokémon were visible in the game's overworld. Here's the question: for the eighth generation, should the formula be changed up so that all Pokémon in the area are visible when exploring the location? 

 

Here are some potential pros and cons that I see with this:

Pros: 

- Less randomness: you know what Pokémon you are about to encounter. This would also make finding rarer Pokémon in an area a little easier and less of a grind.
- Easier to avoid Pokémon if you're not looking for a battle and just want to get from point A to point B.
- Could introduce a small stealth component to exploring the Pokémon world that could be interesting.

Cons:
- Repels become almost useless.
- There's less surprise.
- Some Pokémon might be hard to fit on the map (example: Wailord)

Edited January 27, 2019 by vanguard333

[Anacybele]

Yes, I like the idea mainly because of the wanting to get from point A to point B thing. I find it annoying to explore water or caves because you're constantly running into Pokemon there otherwise.

[Chocolate Kitty]

yeah but repel exists

I'd like it if it was purely ascetic, anything else and I'm going to bother chasing after or running around pokemon in the grass, which sounds tedious

[Anacybele]

So? If you don't have to use repel, you save some money on having to buy them.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Non-random encounters is on the same top tier as Ride Pokemon as far as additions to the pokemon formula. Random battles always felt like some archaic call back to JRPGs. And unlike those same jrpgs, Pokemon is about (or at least should be about) collecting pokemon. Having to walk around for an hour to find Pikachu in viridian forest isn't fun. But stalking through viridian forest for ten minutes before spotting a Pikachu takes less time and is more engaging. Kudos if they can add even more mechanics to encountering rare pokemon, such as finding tracks left behind by pokemon in the environment or if they program AI for pokemon to run away from you if they spot you, forcing you to sneak or stand still if they look in your direction. That being said I wouldn't mind random encounters in specific situations, such as fishing. But fishing mechanics are long overdue for a revamp anyway.

Furthremore, there's something similar they did in Let's Go that I would also love to see in the future. In that game's version of Cycling Road, it was this hot battling spot for trainers, and you could tell because they were standing around with their pokemon partners eager for a fight. What was great about this area is that the pokemon they're hanging around with was always the first one they'd use in a battle, actually warning the player what they're up against and giving them the advantage of counterpicking. That sounds exactly like the sort of strategy making you would do in order to become top dog in the pokemon universe, gathering intel on your opponents. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

There is a middle ground- some earlier 3D JRPGs leave exactly what enemy you'll be facing a mystery. To speak of Tales of Symphonia, it uses visible encounters, but on the world map and in some dungeons, makes them usually appear as generic "monsters" which don't actually exist as enemies. This can seem primitive though.

 

Alternatively, if they stick with random encounters, there is the Bravely approach. Which is to say 95% of the time, you can freely change the encounter rate. So if I don't feel like fighting, I just drop it to zero, but if I do, I can turn it up to the point every four steps or so is a fight.

 

I haven't played LG, but I'd think visible Pokemon would make the world feel better than not, being able to actually see Pokemon in the beautiful world they occupy. It'd be weird to see trainers standing around doing nothing while an Onyx strolls back and forth three inches from their face however.

As for Repels- why must they endure? All they do is give something else for you to spend money on.

Edited January 27, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Binty12]

I don't get this thread, Let's Go already does this and Repels still work in that game.

I do think that gen 8 should do it to though.

[vanguard333]

1 minute ago, Binty12 said:

I don't get this thread, Let's Go already does this and Repels still work in that game.

I do think that gen 8 should do it to though.

Let's Go may have already had it, but the thread is about whether or not it should appear in the next main series game. So the thread makes sense. 

The repel thing was me just giving my quick thoughts; my thought (since I haven't played Let's Go) was that, if you can see a wild pokemon, you can try to avoid them, and this would make repel less useful overall. If that's incorrect, then thanks for letting me know (and could you please explain why repels are still useful). 

[Binty12]

2 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Let's Go may have already had it, but the thread is about whether or not it should appear in the next main series game. So the thread makes sense. 

The repel thing was me just giving my quick thoughts; my thought (since I haven't played Let's Go) was that, if you can see a wild pokemon, you can try to avoid them, and this would make repel less useful overall. If that's incorrect, then thanks for letting me know (and could you please explain why repels are still useful). 

Oh ok i get it now.

To answer your question in Let's Go repels stop pokemon from spawning at all so you don't have deal with encounters when you don't want to like in a block pushing puzzle.

It also added lures which are basically reverse repels, pokemon will spawn a lot more.

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, Binty12 said:

Oh ok i get it now.

To answer your question in Let's Go repels stop pokemon from spawning at all so you don't have deal with encounters when you don't want to like in a block pushing puzzle.

It also added lures which are basically reverse repels, pokemon will spawn a lot more.

Huh. That's interesting. Thanks for letting me know. 

[VincentASM]

I'd definitely like to see visible encounters in the next mainline game; I loved how they worked in Let's Go. Although, some maps were a bit too small and sometimes the wild Pokemon got really crowded. However that shouldn't be a problem if they're making a new game and don't have to reuse map layouts from the old GB days ^^

[Punished Dayni]

I thought this was on about partners following you around like in HG/SS and was all YES.

As is, I understand the appeal of the idea, though I'm not so sure I'd be into it in practice. Keep in mind I'm not familiar with how Let's Go does things..

[vanguard333]

6 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I thought this was on about partners following you around like in HG/SS and was all YES.

It wasn't until reading this that I realized how easily the title of the thread can be interpreted that way. Should I change it for clarity?