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Battle Frontier

I think this is a bit over pessimistic. We can at least expect the original Battle Tower.

I'm with SwiftGallade here. I do expect the Battle Tower to be present in some capacity, given the Battle Tower was part of the originals. I feel doing away with a battle facility altogether would be trying to make the game more "casual" towards players migrating from GO and I wouldn't really like that, especially as lacking a battle facility was the case in Let's Go.

Isn't Palmer Barry's dad?

Yes, he is.
 
Frankly, I'm still not convinced that the Maison in ORAS was even due to a lack of effort. To me it seems more like a mild misjudgment about what fans would be receptive to. What I mean is, the Tower and the Maison function very similarly, so the code-level differences probably aren't a huge problem. Really I would think the main thing in terms of work to be done would be making some new tiles in order to recreate the visual appearance of the Tower in 3D. Which for one building with mostly identical floors, is not that significant of a task.

I mean, I think it's a little odd that we seem to hyper-focus on the copy/pasting of the Maison itself when the whole island outside of it is a newly-designed location, specifically engineered to be an optimal breeding loop. We went from this:

Battle_Tower_RS.png

To this:

Battle_Resort_ORAS.png

Which to me looks quite honestly like a straight-up improvement, both in terms of visuals and functionality. A tropical resort is also a better fit for the Hoenn region than a big rock with a lawn and a generic skyscraper.

So who's to say that the time saved by copying the Maison wasn't spent making the rest of the Battle Resort into a more useful place or something? Quantifying where the time saved ends up going is just a guessing game, in the end. And obviously the Resort is not as cool as the Frontier, but however you feel about that, the Frontier seemingly wasn't on the table to begin with. Within that context, I don't think the Battle Resort is all that bad. Really it's just the weird backstory they give to justify having an overtly French facility in the middle that's somewhat awkward, but hey, there's another thing - not saying it's a major accomplishment, but they at least tried to come up with a rationale for it rather than just plopping it in with no context (which incidentally is what happened with the Frontier in HGSS, hence Barry's dad and all the Sinnoh Stat Trainers showing up even though they should technically be in Sinnoh at that time - meanwhile the Hoenn Maison lets you partner up with Hoenn characters instead of just importing Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna directly from XY, because ORAS take place earlier than XY). And they recreated the Frontier Brain theme for the Chatelaines to use, which they didn't exactly have to do. It really just seems like they underestimated the disappointment that some people would feel from not getting the full Frontier, and thought most people wouldn't mind just having some well-meaning references to it. (And even still, the question remains as to how big of a problem the blowback really was when the games sold very well and got a mostly positive reception from the general audience.)
 
@Esserise IIRC, it wasn’t necessarily the mostly copy-paste Maison and the absence and reference to the Battle Frontier itself that ticked people off. It was how they went about it and the reasoning they gave!

The in-game lore is that the Battle Frontier was under construction. That’s fine by itself, but they talk about it as if it was coming soon. This implied that there would be some sort of update or DLC that would add it later, which would mean that the Maison is largely there as a placeholder andor for compatibility reasons so ORAS players can still do multi-battles with XY players in the post game.

However, these “hints” are completely contradictory to what Masuda said during an interview: basically, Game Freak thoughtpeople were too busy to enjoy harder challenges because of other entertainment option, and that they target audience would just get too frustrated and return to smartphones.

Putting aside how I think about that statement as berating to their target audience: if you don’t think that a majority of people will enjoy a specific returning feature, then you shouldn’t be teasing it as if it was actually coming later down the line (the infamous poster stating “The Battle Frontier project has started!” comes off as a middle finger to fans that do like it). References are fine, but I think they should have said in game that “It might take awhile for the Battle Frontier to come, so you might not want to sit around waiting for it.” instead of what ended up happening.

I see what you mean about the Battle Resort as a whole, but I would rather Game Freak be honest about it instead of trolling us like they did and blame smartphones for an unpopular decision.
 
I feel like it could come back. BDSP doesn't feel like it's for casuals (as opposed to Legends). It seems like it's more for people with a vested interest in the franchise. It could very well be the game that they think the hardcore games want.
 
@Esserise IIRC, it wasn’t necessarily the mostly copy-paste Maison and the absence and reference to the Battle Frontier itself that ticked people off. It was how they went about it and the reasoning they gave!

The in-game lore is that the Battle Frontier was under construction. That’s fine by itself, but they talk about it as if it was coming soon. This implied that there would be some sort of update or DLC that would add it later, which would mean that the Maison is largely there as a placeholder andor for compatibility reasons so ORAS players can still do multi-battles with XY players in the post game.

I think the Frontier not being there would have disappointed the people it did regardless of whatever a little sign had to say. People have thrown around all manner of possible excuses and justifications for the Frontier not being there, but it's never assuaged the anger. The sign saying "coming soon" was a bad call, undoubtedly, but I really don't think the reaction would have been much different if it weren't there. People wanted the feature, not a more carefully worded rationalisation for it not being included.
 
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I think the Frontier not being there would have disappointed the people it did regardless of whatever a little sign had to say. People have thrown around all manner of possible excuses and justifications for the Frontier not being there, but it's never assuaged the anger. The sign saying "coming soon" was a bad call, undoubtedly, but I really don't think the reaction would have been much different if it weren't there. People wanted the feature, not a more carefully worded rationalisation for it not being included.
I can agree with that. The only thing I’m arguing is that the way Game Freak went about it only added fuel to the fire.
 
The in-game lore is that the Battle Frontier was under construction. That’s fine by itself, but they talk about it as if it was coming soon.
I hated this with a burning passion. If you don't want the Battle Frontier to be in the game, fine, don't (i still think their reasoning for its exclusion was a baseless statement with no evidence to back it up). But don't put a damn tease in the game. It's insulting to me to be aware that people want this, but still not actually give it.
 
I feel like it could come back. BDSP doesn't feel like it's for casuals (as opposed to Legends). It seems like it's more for people with a vested interest in the franchise. It could very well be the game that they think the hardcore games want.
It's for people who are better off replaying Platinum and are being taken for granted, and for kids who don't care.
 
Platinum, for all its improvements on DP, is still slooooooooooooooow, and saddled with one-use TMs. It’s been fun, but I look forward to never touching it again once BDSP come out.
 
The main problem I had with the Maison as ORAS's battle facility was it was way too obviously cut-pasted. The Maison was primarily designed to the theme of Kalos, not Hoenn, and even used the trainer designs directly from Kalos as well - in Hoenn! Dialogue might have been changed, and Wally can appear there, but it really stuck out both on the decent island it was placed on, as well as in the game itself.

If they really didn't wish to bring the frontier back, I would've rather they just use the original battle tower tower design, integrate it with the island, provide similar features to the Maison, integrate the frontier brains to each format, and call it a day. No need to go into this "under construction" nonsense in this manner.
 
I would've rather they just use the original battle tower tower design, integrate it with the island

I don't think the modern skyscraper look of the Tower would make a lot of sense there. I feel like it'd literally stick out like a sore thumb. Obviously the Maison's not an ideal solution either; if you ask me they should've just invented a new place that fit the aesthetic better. Call it the Battle Spa or something, and play up how it's seen as an even more premier retreat than the hot springs in Lavaridge. And maybe by earning BP, you can pay to apply an extra Flame Body multiplier to the entire area while hatching eggs and a friendship gain multiplier for your party Pokémon (I'm thinking of something akin to Isle Avue, here).
 
I don't think the modern skyscraper look of the Tower would make a lot of sense there. I feel like it'd literally stick out like a sore thumb. Obviously the Maison's not an ideal solution either; if you ask me they should've just invented a new place that fit the aesthetic better. Call it the Battle Spa or something, and play up how it's seen as an even more premier retreat than the hot springs in Lavaridge. And maybe by earning BP, you can pay to apply an extra Flame Body multiplier to the entire area while hatching eggs and a friendship gain multiplier for your party Pokémon (I'm thinking of something akin to Isle Avue, here).
How about one of the other battle frontier facility designs instead? The Battle Dome or Arena may have worked on the resort as well.
 
@Esserise IIRC, it wasn’t necessarily the mostly copy-paste Maison and the absence and reference to the Battle Frontier itself that ticked people off. It was how they went about it and the reasoning they gave!

The in-game lore is that the Battle Frontier was under construction. That’s fine by itself, but they talk about it as if it was coming soon. This implied that there would be some sort of update or DLC that would add it later, which would mean that the Maison is largely there as a placeholder andor for compatibility reasons so ORAS players can still do multi-battles with XY players in the post game.

However, these “hints” are completely contradictory to what Masuda said during an interview: basically, Game Freak thoughtpeople were too busy to enjoy harder challenges because of other entertainment option, and that they target audience would just get too frustrated and return to smartphones.

Putting aside how I think about that statement as berating to their target audience: if you don’t think that a majority of people will enjoy a specific returning feature, then you shouldn’t be teasing it as if it was actually coming later down the line (the infamous poster stating “The Battle Frontier project has started!” comes off as a middle finger to fans that do like it). References are fine, but I think they should have said in game that “It might take awhile for the Battle Frontier to come, so you might not want to sit around waiting for it.” instead of what ended up happening.

I see what you mean about the Battle Resort as a whole, but I would rather Game Freak be honest about it instead of trolling us like they did and blame smartphones for an unpopular decision.
I wouldn't be surprised if they did at one point intend on making it dlc. If I remember correctly dlc on the 3ds was easy to delete and this would screw with Pokemon if they had added new forms or areas, like say you saved in the battle frontier dlc area and deleted the dlc, what happens to your save?

I forget if thats exactly how it worked but I remember reading that dlc for Pokemon on the 3ds wasn't very viable.
 
I think the Battle Tower is a bare minimum, since it was more important to the game's story vs. the one in RS, considering your rival's dad is literally the top trainer of the Battle Tower, they can't really cut it like what they did with ORAS. I'm not expecting a full Battle Frontier, BUT, I am expecting QoL updates to the Battle Zone as a whole. More shops to buy things like nature mints and TRs and Ability capsules/patches with BP would be amazing, I'd love to have the villa back from Platinum, the whole Resort Area could use a massive overhaul. It was described as a place that attracts Contest Coordinators but there isn't even a Contest Hall. I'd love if, in addition to the Contest Hall in Hearthome City, we get another more difficult Contest Hall here in the Resort Area. We also need the Battleground from Platinum added to the Survival Area for gym leader and other notable trainer rematches.

Tl;dr: I'd like all the general improvements Platinum made, and then some, made to the entire Battle Zone, but I wouldn't be heartbroken or disappointed if this didn't include the Battle Frontier itself, as long as we get basically everything else.
 
I don't expect the Sinnoh BF but the Battle Tower will probably be kept unless they come up with a new Battle Tower-esque replacement.
 
so, here's my 002c regarding battle frontier:

ever since its disappearance post-gen 4, deep down inside i've wanted it back. every single battle facility rendition since just didn't feel the same, and that isn't because i didn't give them a chance or anything. they didn't present unique challenges in the same way that battle frontier did. around gen 6 or gen 7, i've kinda come to the resignation that the battle frontier i knew and loved wouldn't ever come back in the same form again, assuming it would at all. and after that, i've honestly come to the conclusion that i'll accept mostly any post-game facility as long as it isn't a blatant battle tower clone, because those are boring.

tl;dr i mostly want a good battle post-game for pokemon games and i feel i havent had that in a long time. :c
 
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