Brendan and May post-game role

[IceHippo95]

I can see them as a post game battle(hopefully with a fully evolved starter and a decent team). Maybe to flesh them out a bit, they can enter contests, tell you when the department store is having a sale(if secret bases make a return), or inform you of Pokemon outbreaks each day. Maybe they could give you a PokeRadar during the post game when talking to them in the lab?

 

[Fair Verona]

I guess I just don't see the point in having romance in these games even being optional when it doesn't really add anything game play wise. I especially don't see why we would put them in remakes. I could see maybe future generations playing around with the whole dating thing since they are starting to lean more in that direction... but why Ruby and Sapphire? The Brendan/May relationship is arguably the one with the least chemistry. You don't talk to them a whole lot and they aren't overly friendly like the X/Y rivals. We literally treat them like acquaintances.

Now granted I want their role expanded and expanded dialogue in general. But even if we add a couple more battles and give them a bigger role I still don't see romance. If we are going to follow their story arc of them deciding battling isn't right for them and they go on to be professors, it's going to be forced. Even with more battles thrown in their story arc is ultimately going to have to end with the protagonist beating them and them getting frustrated and quitting. That's not going to be a romantic scene no matter what point in the game it takes place in. Maybe if they make the story longer they can add more chemistry building scenes, but I can't imagine that being all that popular with kids or even half the fanbase for that matter. More people would want to learn stuff about the evil teams or the more action-oriented stuff (not fully agreeing with them) rather than just building a romance from the ground up.

Pokemon just isn't a story-oriented game in that way. It can have a good story, don't get me wrong. It's always going to have to take a back burner to the gameplay though. I might be in the minority, but I honestly don't want these games plots to be overcomplicated. Fleshed out a little? Sure. More attention to the rivals? Absolutely. A ton of tough battles? All the yes. But I still want the games to have a feel like the originals. I don't want the same game again, but I also don't want them adding a bunch of stuff to the plot where it doesn't belong. Fact is, there was zero romance in the originals and it seems foolish to suddenly add it now. I would rather have Brenden and his struggles, his team, his thirst for knowledge expanded on instead of adding a personality trait out of nowhere.

(There is also the fact that for all the people who don't want to deal with the romance, even if it's optional, it's still really annoying. Getting hit on all the time when you absolutely don't care is not a fun life experience nor gameplay experience.)

 

[Zone]

Given these characters are 10, staying away from romance would be a good idea.

Giving them a bigger role in the post-game story and the option to battle against and alongside them at the Battle Frontier is a good idea though. And the secret base. It would be awesome if they were the ones to teach you about secret bases and it was turned into some kind of competition or something

 

[SeanWheeler]

Fine no kiss, no romance. Just going for a walk on Thursdays without anything romantic. If there is any romance, it will be in the player's head, or jokes from NPCs. It's just two friends walking and battling together. I don't know why I put that kiss there. Guess I thought it was too romantic to not have it there. If you want a relationship with a rival, might as well wait for a generation that GameFreak establishes you as dating your rival, and your rival being flirty. Brendan and May are just neighbors and didn't develop feelings. So no more kiss in my fanfiction. I knew it was a bad idea.

 

[Lufenium]

It'd be really cool if they added in more sequences involving said rival.

Like with Bianca in Reversal Mountain, and Shauna in the Woods, especially with Serena/Calem on the way down to fight the legendary Pokemon in X/Y. They did it with characters like Marley, Riley, Cheryl & Buck in D/P/Pt.

It'd cool to see sequences like that with the rival, exploring optional caves, post-game areas and maybe some storyline locations.

 

[SeanWheeler]

Yeah, explore the entire Hoenn region with May. Get into some double battles. And since you're a silent protagonist and May's the talkative neighbor, she can talk for you. In yes/no questions, she can translate you're answer in a full sentence. And when buying stuff, it can go like this:

Clerk: "Welcome. How may I help you?"

(List appears. You select "Potion")

May: "We need potions."

Clerk: "Potions? Certainly. How many would you like?"

(You select "x02")

May: "We want two potions."

Clerk: "Potions? And you want two? That will be $600."

(You select yes)

May: "Brendan, could you pay up?"

(Make transaction)

May: "How many for me?"

(You select "x1". One potion is added to both of your bags)

Clerk: "Thank you. Come again."

And maybe you can also check May's bag like one of your pockets. And see her inventory to see how many healing items she has. You can only see her medicine pocket because that is what she'll use in battle to heal you. Yeah, she won't catch Pokémon. It'll be awful if she stole your capture. You can't edit her items. You can only give items to her. But the berries and other stuff will be in her medicine pocket unlike when you play as her. But items of other uses would be kept secret from you. Giving her a Poké Ball would be like throwing it out. Your party will be split in half when walking with her so that you can check the summary of her Pokémon. You can even look at her trainer card. You can go anywhere with her for a whole Friday. Yep, you can rematch Gym Leaders and Elite Four with her. Some NPC dialogue will change with her presence, especially with her responses that make it close enough to a talking protagonist.

 

[Almonds]

Given these characters are 10, staying away from romance would be a good idea.

Curtis and Yancy says hi.

I don't know why people are seeing romance as a disturbing factor when everyone who's played Black2/White2 has gone on Ferris Wheel dates with Curtis and Yancy at least once. Romance doesn't have be anything deep. It can be just something simple as exchanging calls and enjoying spending time with one another - and I don't see how that's a disturbing factor? Heck, 10-year-olds can have crushes in real life. They're human; they have emotions; they can like someone. You don't have to hit puberty or become an adult to develop feelings for someone. It's just as natural as how you enjoy spending time with friends.

Kissing may be controversial to some extent, but romance itself isn't.

And personally, I'd rather have some optional romance with Brendan (like going shopping together at the harbor market) than having him stand around some route all the time. I really really wanted to do something with Shauna (go shopping in Luminose, taking a train ride together, etc...) in the XY post-game instead of her stalking my house for all eternity...

 

[Team Gaara]

Curtis and Yancy says hi.

I guess Yancy and Curtis must be up to interpretation, then, because I could hardly call anything that happened with them as romantic. IMO, all they did was call me to talk about the most insignificant sh*t that I could have hardly given two cares for. To me, it wasn't romantic, it was just...weird and annoying.

For me, I'm not opposed to romance between, in this case, May and Brendan, that's minor (like NPCs calling them a couple), or up to your interpretation (like certain dialogue in the Pokemon Ranger series). But forced romance is what I don't want to see because this series is not primarily about romance. It makes it seem like they're trying to push the romantic factor which is not so much disturbing as it is unfitting. As I've said before, this isn't a dating sim, and I've seen many people wanting to advocate for more things like Yancy and Curtis to a greater extent, like picking and choosing people to "date" which is not what Pokemon is about, even if it was optional. That's what I don't want to see. I wouldn't even mind something where Brendan or May (or any such rival character in later games) follows you around or something to jut go do random stuff. But not something along the lines of an actual date. Again, not because it's disturbing or anything, but because it's just unfitting.

That's just my two cents.

 

[Almonds]

Curtis and Yancy says hi.

I guess Yancy and Curtis must be up to interpretation, then, because I could hardly call anything that happened with them as romantic. IMO, all they did was call me to talk about the most insignificant sh*t that I could have hardly given two cares for. To me, it wasn't romantic, it was just...weird and annoying.

For me, I'm not opposed to romance between, in this case, May and Brendan, that's minor (like NPCs calling them a couple), or up to your interpretation (like certain dialogue in the Pokemon Ranger series). But forced romance is what I don't want to see because this series is not primarily about romance. It makes it seem like they're trying to push the romantic factor which is not so much disturbing as it is unfitting. As I've said before, this isn't a dating sim, and I've seen many people wanting to advocate for more things like Yancy and Curtis to a greater extent, like picking and choosing people to "date" which is not what Pokemon is about, even if it was optional. That's what I don't want to see. I wouldn't even mind something where Brendan or May (or any such rival character in later games) follows you around or something to jut go do random stuff. But not something along the lines of an actual date. Again, not because it's disturbing or anything, but because it's just unfitting.

That's just my two cents.

Curtis' lines on the Ferris Wheel implies that Mei is just as beautiful as the Unova region and that he wishes time would go slowly. So there was at least some intended romance in the game.

Yes, this isn't a dating sim, but the characters in the games aren't just plain pixels. They're given characteristics to look human, or be human. Developing feelings is just another human thing to do, and I don't see how it would be unfitting if Brendan grew fond of May along their journey and rivalry.

 

[Fair Verona]

Curtis and Yancy says hi.

I guess Yancy and Curtis must be up to interpretation, then, because I could hardly call anything that happened with them as romantic. IMO, all they did was call me to talk about the most insignificant sh*t that I could have hardly given two cares for. To me, it wasn't romantic, it was just...weird and annoying.

For me, I'm not opposed to romance between, in this case, May and Brendan, that's minor (like NPCs calling them a couple), or up to your interpretation (like certain dialogue in the Pokemon Ranger series). But forced romance is what I don't want to see because this series is not primarily about romance. It makes it seem like they're trying to push the romantic factor which is not so much disturbing as it is unfitting. As I've said before, this isn't a dating sim, and I've seen many people wanting to advocate for more things like Yancy and Curtis to a greater extent, like picking and choosing people to "date" which is not what Pokemon is about, even if it was optional. That's what I don't want to see. I wouldn't even mind something where Brendan or May (or any such rival character in later games) follows you around or something to jut go do random stuff. But not something along the lines of an actual date. Again, not because it's disturbing or anything, but because it's just unfitting.

That's just my two cents.

Curtis' lines on the Ferris Wheel implies that Mei is just as beautiful as the Unova region and that he wishes time would go slowly. So there was at least some intended romance in the game.

Yes, this isn't a dating sim, but the characters in the games aren't just plain pixels. They're given characteristics to look human, or be human. Developing feelings is just another human thing to do, and I don't see how it would be unfitting if Brendan grew fond of May along their journey and rivalry.

I don't mind the occasional line because, that's always kind of existed. They hint and poke fun and stuff, and I'm fine with that because I don't have to respond to it. I can just ignore it. The problem that I have is when we have cut scenes, and kisses, and "I love you, ride off with me into the sunset" all focused on a relationship in a remake where there was no romance. There's nothing wrong with them developing a crush (though as I said, it wouldn't make that much sense with their character). However, it should either be 100% optional sidequest and not even touch the main Ruby/Sapphire storyline or just be reduced to hints.
This character is supposed to represent the player and about half the players don't want this. And whenever people say "just make it optional" I become pensive because they probably aren't going to make it totally optional or they will give perks to the people who date and nothing to those who have no interest.

As I also stated earlier, I'm not saying that romance should never happen. But are the remakes really the place we want to start? The ones that had no romance in the slightest? Hints are one thing, crushes are one thing, actually dating is something that seems like it would have a lot of drawbacks for the people who don't want it and barely any pay off for those who do want it.

 

[Team Gaara]

Curtis' lines on the Ferris Wheel implies that Mei is just as beautiful as the Unova region and that he wishes time would go slowly. So there was at least some intended romance in the game.

Yes, this isn't a dating sim, but the characters in the games aren't just plain pixels. They're given characteristics to look human, or be human. Developing feelings is just another human thing to do, and I don't see how it would be unfitting if Brendan grew fond of May along their journey and rivalry.

Like I said, if you found Curtis or Yancy's lines romantic, that's perfectly fine. I, on the other hand, could never wait for them to shut up. I'm not denying that there were romantic implications, I'm just saying that I did not see it that way.

I didn't say the characters growing feelings would be unfitting, I said specifically dating would be unfitting. I have zero problem with the former whatsoever, the latter is what I don't want to see becoming a thing.

 

[SeanWheeler]

Well, Brendan and May aren't dating. Just going out for a walk as friends.

 

[Jolty94]

Well one thing's for sure; I definitely don't want to see them giving up on being a Trainer in Lilycove City lol. I want at least 3 more battles with May/Brendan after Lilycove, and of course, I want them to have their starter in their final form so it can mega evolve for an awesome battle! To be honest, I can't see this not happening as I think even they knew to certain extent that they should have done more to include the rival in the story (same goes for Wally but that's irrelevant in this thread).

As for post-game, I want them to be more involved daily in different areas, like the first post states. Serena bores me to death every time I have that battle in Kiloude and I'm just gunning through (I know it's bound to happen because battling her often becomes jarring and you know what's going to happen), but at least in ORAS I hope they will have May/Brendan travelling around Hoenn just as much as I will be!