DISCUSSION: Game mechanics in fanfics

[SinnohEevee]

How do you handle game mechanics in your fanfics? Are you a games purist, or do you just ignore game mechanics? Do you use the 4-moves limit? Do you use levels? Are there more than one of each Legendary? How would you translate some mechanics into a realistic setting? Discuss.

 

[Misfit Angel]

I pretty much ignore everything. In my stories, the following are gone:

• Four move limit.
• Very early on in Storm Island I embraced the concept of Larson's Clefairy being an HM slave, but I never really expanded on that. Since the four move limit is gone anyways, there's probably no reason for HM slaves to exist as a concept.
  
• Most type advantages (electric -> water stays, as it honestly makes sense in most cases).
• The broad concept of types is gone, too, actually.
• Trainers being limited to six team members, though I rarely go over four or five.
• Legendaries is up in the air because I generally don't mess with them.
• Levels are for the most part gone, power in my stories are determined by the physical/mental strength of the pokemon and the experience of the trainer at commanding.
• PP, stats and HP are gone, too. I kinda just throw my pokemon at each other until one faints, or a recall is tactical.
• I ignore move restrictions for the most part, if they make sense.
• TMs/HMs as a concept are gone. If a pokemon can learn a move by TM, it can learn it through just hard work and training in my story.

I think just about the only concept I've really kept is tall grass, and even that's not a guarantee of an encounter with a wild pokemon.

 

[zoroarctic]

I don't use the 4-move limit because I find it limits creativity for battle scenes, especially prolonged battles. Instead, I gradually phase out the weaker moves as the story progresses and the Pokemon get stronger.

 

[Iggy]

Here's what I decided to do;
- Six Pokémon limit is gone. Storage bank is present.
- Type advantages/disadvantages are there. How much that weights depends on the Pokémon and the situation. So a Pikachu taking out a Gyarados with a single thunder shock is highly silly and quiet detrimental. On the Pikachu's part.
- TMs are in, they can be purchased through an online webshop accessible on the Pokédex. After downloading the instructions video the trainer can show the footages to the Pokémon and start training. The level limits do not apply, if a move can be learned by a Pokémon that Pokémon can learn the move at any time.
- PP, HP, levels, those numbers are out. Training, will power and the bond with its trainer are key factors to a Pokémon's strength.
- Natures have no effect on the Pokémon's battle ability.
- Status conditions apply.
- Move limits are more set by the intelligence of the Pokémon. A Caterpie won't remember more than two moves (because they're bird food, really), while a Larvitar can easily learn more than four. Fun fact = there is a Slowking in the story that knows all the moves she can learn.
- Legendaries/mythical/shiny Pokémon appear at the story's behest. And not sooner. If they appear at all.

I probably have forgotten some things but this is the gist of it.

 

[Drakon]

Quite literally the only game mechanics I keep are really the form of TMs as discs, entry hazards and status conditions.

Because, let's face it; most of the game mechanics are simply there for game and narrative reasons. Fanfics are usually in a more "semi-realistic" world and as a result, most of the game mechanics make no sense.

But when it comes to fanfic, it seems the most commonly discarded item are the turn-based battles. Most battles I see in fanfic are real time where both trainers shout commands at roughly the same time and have to think on their feet and improvise strategies and moves.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I tend to vary on the four move limit format

There'll be moves a pokémon uses often, but they're by no means limited to just those moves

Then there's having some moves just be universal, like Bite/Crunch and any move where it boils down to "hit them with a body/limb" (Magikarp using Giga Impact after using Splash to leap thousands of feet into the air, for example)

Then you mix in types and you wind up with things like biting moves that deal grass damage or Swift stars that are on fire

I also cheat the system by having one move be Metronome and they can freely use any move they've previously used from it

There's a lot of fun goofy stuff you can do if you think about it

 

[CrystaI]

I ignore all game mechanics that are strictly digital numerical to the exact value and unrealistically restrictive. Therefore these will be the things I ignore:
- LV/EXP, also learning moves at specific LV. No, pokemons will simply able to access all their natural moves on the get go.
- BST/stats
- IV/EV
- Power/accuracy/PP of moves
- Type effectiveness damage multiplier, aka that exact numerical (x0.0/x0.5/x1.0/x2.0) increment of damage
- Turn-based style battling and 4-move limit
- Catch rate
- Gender ratio
- Height and weight of pokemons (This is obvious)
- Friendship/Affection

But, I would keep all game mechanics that are non-digital non-numerical, adapted into my fic with some translations. That will be things like:
- Type (but not so much on its effectiveness). Does an attack do more damage than normally on specific pokemon will depends on situation and physiology of that respective pokemon. That's said, "Type" is more of a scientific categorization branded by the zoologists than being some kind of fantasy elemental property of pokemons.
- Items and usage of it during battle. However, what effect it will have when used on pokemon, how fast its effect is, and also the how it can be utilized during battle, all of these will require translation. In case that it is realistically untranslatable, those items will not be adopted in my fic.
- TM. Like Iggy, for me the TM are basically instruction DVD not for the pokemons, but rather for the trainers to watch, and let them acquire the necessary attack knowledge in order for them to teach one's handheld. Can the pokemon learn the attack shall depends on the trainer's teaching ability and pokemon's learning capacity. Well to be fair, one can also teach specific move to a pokemon without TM, because all one need is knowledge, not that specific TM item, shall one can acquire the necessary attack knowledge from other means. BTW, there doesn't exist a different TM category known as HM.
- Distribution of BST of individual pokemon. Although I don't care about the numerical value of BST, however I care about how it is distributed within a single pokemon, because it gave an indication of what this pokemon competitively excel in and what its competitiveness weakness is. E.g. Lucario had the lowest in its HP/Defense/SP.Defense BST, highest in its Attack/Sp.Attack BST, moderate in its Speed BST. Translate it realistically, I'll see it as a pokemon species that is intrinsically good in offense but bad in defense, despite its body sturdiness that earns its Steel-type categorization, it is doubtful how many attacks it can endure when being hit directly. Although I don't know how moderate Speed BST can be translated to, but looking at Lucario's physiology, it may not move constantly in super high speed, but its footwork seems light enough for instantaneous agileness to evade attack in minimum movement. So it is (realistically) suggestible to train Lucario how to evade attack than simply training its running speed.
BTW, the catch point of my BST adaption: Never ever compare it with other pokemons. I merely compare the BST distribution internally within one pokemon, but not externally with another pokemon. That is because within the game, BST total is merely within the range of 175~780, making difference seems small that it is easy to find two species that its strength are same, but looking at them physically and realistically doesn't feel like they are competitiveness equal at all. E.g. Garchomp and Manaphy, bar the latter's "mystical pokemon" label.
- Moves, especially on how moves functions in non-gamey realistic sense, and how to 'call' them. Say for instance, a pokemon is not using "Bite" when it is biting the opponent, it is we the human tends to call that action of biting "Bite", and using this word as an recalling for the pokemon to perform that action. Shall we call that biting action "Crunch" or something magnificent like "Piercing Fang Rush", for the pokemon it is still the action of biting, with the only difference of biting the opponent harder or softer. So do we ever really need that many move names of "Bite" "Crunch" "Super Fang" "Hyper Fang" for all these normal biting action? I don't think so, hence how one instruct pokemon to perform an action is different in my fic.
- Abilities. For me, they are more of an inborn attribute of that pokemon, whether it is an attribute in its physical body or its behavioral characteristics. So it is part of its physiology rather than a bonus on competitiveness. Same goes for nature which is just their personality, so it won't affect its battle abilities.
- Legendary. Firstly, I don't use this generic label of "Legendary" in my fic to categorize those specific pokemons indiscriminately like the fandom does. If a pokemon is mentioned in legends or sacred writings of religious books, those are normally deemed as "deity", they are seen as preternatural sacred gods before they are even as pokemons. Then there exist some super-hyper-ultimately rare pokemons that are so rare that they may be non-existent, only exist in myths and folklores, but these are not seen as deities and they are not worshiped. Are they unique or not? Well, when no one will ever saw one of them even just their shade or footprint of the past, does there exist reason to discuss are they singular or plural? BTW, I agree Pokemon World in my fic is polytheistic.
- Eggs. OK, take this straight and don't ask me question. Pokemon born from eggs, and the eggs were reproduced by mating between a female and male pokemon of the same species. Simple unmysterious biology fact. End of discussion. Period.

And, I implanted other things that are previously not in the game, because I think they are more "realistic". These include things like:
- A government separate from the Pokemon League. Pokemon League is the largest sport NGO within the Pokemon World. They responsible for setting up the battle game rules and regulate all battle-related facilities, but that's all they do. There also exists other pokemon-centered NGOs such as one whose goal is to advance the welfare of pokemons possessed by human beings, another one whose goal is to debate and push the forbiddance of catching wild pokemons, and another one whose goal is to oppose all abusive treatment of pokemons (Which controversially includes pokemon battle. YES I meant it). Despite the many NGO, all of them hold no political power to set up laws regarding to their specific goals. All they can do is lobby the public and appeals to the government's respective department to set up new laws or change the current laws.
- Massively expand the in-game cities and towns to the point of nothing like canon. Oh please, do one really think one company one large global communication facility one TV station one school one shop one Pokemon Centre three mansions and just several dozens people made Jublife the most "modernized" and "largest" city of Sinnoh? There need more people, there need more housings and buildings, there need more shops, more business, local transport facilities, normal schools and colleges and universities, bank and hospitals, other enterprises of different industry, other works and jobs for non-trainer normal civilians, city hall and municipal offices, public areas and tourist spots and other facilities, tax and pensions welfare problems, rules and laws, holiday celebration and local culture, weirdos that are not in-game NPC, etc. Yeah, we need too many things to make this fictional world look "realistic".
- SciFi technology of digitizing matters and materializing digital data. To be fair, this doesn't exist in our Real-Life. But with the existence of storage system and trading system within the in-game Pokemon World, also the fact that Porygon the virtual pokemon is developed, it shouldn't be any surprise that such Minovsky Technology exist in Pokemon World. Also I wouldn't deny it would be fun to write a contemporary cyberpunk science fiction set within the Pokemon World.

What more can I put in? I shall come back if I could think of something more. But this will be it for now.

 

[Beth Pavell]

As a rule of thumb, I ignore game mechanics whenever they:

a) Are a convenient abstraction for a "real-life" concept
b) Exist only as a matter of balance within the game
c) Only make sense in the context of a game

So I have no problem with people buying their groceries from supermarkets and not PokéMarts, or Poké Balls being more expensive than a bottle of lemonade.

When it comes to the question of moves and effects, having limitations, even if they are elastic, is a useful narrative tool. More moves presents two immediate problems:

1. The more moves available, the easier it is for a character to get out of a difficult situation. You're going to have a harder time building narrative tension when all a character has to do is run through the inventory and pick the appropriate counter move to any given situation.
2. The more moves available, the harder it is to justify creative solutions to strategic problems. Or to put it another way, you run the risk of the reader saying "Why didn't it just use x?".

The art is in hitting the balance. Using familiar mechanics (Especially in regards to battles) intelligently can build tension and play with expectations. In this way, a Hyper Beam can be set up as a make-or-break moment in a battle without any exposition on the part of the author - the reader will already know that Hyper Beam is a powerful attack that can leave the user vulnerable if it goes pear-shaped. Similarly, if the pokémon then fires off three Hyper Beams in a row the author immediately sets up an especially dangerous opponent with little or no need for further exposition.

 

[Glitchipedia]

In any future writings I may pursue, any game mechanics referenced will be justified as realistically as possible:

• The four-move limit and six-Pokémon limit: Pokémon League rules and regulations. Generally, Pokémon are capable of knowing more than four moves at once, but are only allowed to use four per match (exceptions made where applicable). Likewise, carrying more than six Pokémon at a time is physically possible, but frowned upon.
• Types and type advantage: Referenced as a concept that human science has yet to fully crack. As a result, it takes quite a bit of discussion and debate before a new type is officially recognized, and mistakes and corrections are occasionally made when classifying Pokémon and moves.
• Levels, stats and experience: They exist, but are referred to only in broad terms like "strength" (levels and experience), "skill" (stats and EVs) and "genes" (base stats and IVs). Precise numerical values are eschewed in favor of vague descriptions like "decent", "good" and "superior"; where more accurate measurement is needed, a simple five-star scale based on CP is used.
• HP and PP: HP is referenced simply as the amount of damage a Pokémon can safely withstand before it must withdraw from battle, lest it risk actual injury. PP is treated similarly, in that a given move can only be used so many times before the Pokémon becomes exhausted or depletes a necessary resource.
• Moves themselves: There are few limits on what moves a Pokémon is capable of learning (common sense permitting, of course), but the Pokémon League imposes tight regulations on what moves are and aren't permissible for a given Pokémon. Furthermore, the moves available in the core series games account for just fifteen percent or less of all moves in existence, with the remainder being deemed too dangerous for sport battling and therefore illegal.
• TMs and HMs: Replaced with instructional video discs.
• Held items: Not so much "held" as "equipped", with League rules once again permitting only one held item at a time.
• Legendary Pokémon: Numbers depend on the particular species.

That said, one thing is absolutely gone:

• Turn-based battling: This not only makes no sense, it's painfully slow and plodding, so real-time or something close to it is a must. Trainers will also usually refrain from calling out specific attack names to avoid telegraphing their strategy, instead disguising their instructions with code phrases or training their Pokémon to battle autonomously.

 

[LightningTopaz]

Four moves: Any Pokemon can use any possible move they have access to (and in a few cases, some moves they can't learn in real life that I felt would make sense.) This includes TMs and HMs.
Six Pokemon limit: You can have six on hand, but the professors are happy to let you use the storage system
Types and advantages thereof are still in place
Most anime rules of levels and stats apply
HP and PP are not referenced at all
Held items work as they do in the games
Legendaries: They are known to reproduce, but only a select few have been spotted and studied (Lugia, for example)

Battles happen in semi-real time--the gang has time to plan strategies most of the time, but also know they may have to think fast if the situation changes.

 

[KrspaceT]

If you are applying them ,you need to explore them same as not applying them

 

[Greninjaman]

I tend to vary on the four move limit format

There'll be moves a pokémon uses often, but they're by no means limited to just those moves

Then there's having some moves just be universal, like Bite/Crunch and any move where it boils down to "hit them with a body/limb" (Magikarp using Giga Impact after using Splash to leap thousands of feet into the air, for example)

Then you mix in types and you wind up with things like biting moves that deal grass damage or Swift stars that are on fire

I also cheat the system by having one move be Metronome and they can freely use any move they've previously used from it

There's a lot of fun goofy stuff you can do if you think about it

That sounds fun. Can I use this idea for my story?

 

[Twilight-Kun]

That sounds fun. Can I use this idea for my story?

By all means~

 

[Ambyssin]

I guess I'll step in and add my two cents, with a side order of PMD mechanics, since it's what I'm doing. ^^;

• Four move limit: doesn't exist, plain and simple. Younger, weaker Pokémon know very few moves, but can improve their movesets by battling and training. They grow stronger, and are thus more capable of pulling off a stronger move (i.e. from Powder Snow to Aurora Beam to Ice Beam). This doesn't mean everyone has a dozen moves, because they usually just replace weaker moves with stronger ones and "forget" the weaker ones because they don't use them anymore, and their muscle memory disappears. Legendaries have the largest move pools, since they're considered the strongest Pokémon.
• Battling: I kind of try to do them real-time, and add in some anime stuff like dodging attacks, using the field terrain against a foe, and combining attacks to do crazy stuff. Maybe it's a bit over the top at times, but I enjoy it this way.
• Types and type-advantages: fully exist and are openly known/talked about by Pokémon. Everyone has a life force drawn from a certain basic energy (one energy per Pokémon type), but also display trace amounts of energy from types they can learn moves from. If a psychic's strong enough, they can read a Pokémon's life force to find out their type and what moves they can learn.
• Levels and EXP: don't exist. I'm just sort of trying to chart it out where the protags gradually get stronger... as does their enemies.
• HP/PP: generally just referred to as stamina and energy, respectively. A Pokémon out of stamina falls unconscious, and could theoretically be killed if an enemy decided not to leave them alone. Otherwise, they'll wake up of their own volition a short while later, but be too tired to do much of anything. Reviver Seeds can bring a Pokémon back from getting knocked out, but they take several seconds to work. Pokémon can heal stamina with oran berries, but are capable of suffering injuries that eating a berry wouldn't help with (broken bones, wind knocked out, deep gashes, etc.). In which case, healing moves are needed to help them recover. A Pokémon out of energy can't use the move it wants to, and needs an elixir.
• Other stats: are all arbitrary. Pokémon have physical/up close attacks and/or ranged attacks, and some are better at one type than the other. Speed is just a matter of "How fast can Pokémon X get from point A to point B?" Quick Attack functions like a flash step, while Extreme Speed is too fast to be seen by the naked eye. So, it appears as though the user simply teleported.
• TMs: exist, and can be used as a "quick and dirty" way to learn a move. Species can also learn it naturally through hard work. Move Tutors are also present (for the right coin), and some change a Pokémon's ability (also for the right coin).
• Held items: emeras and looplets, used to provide boosts to help Pokémon. Unlike the games, an emera will work outside a dungeon, and instead breaks after it's been used for one day. Awakening Emeras allow applicable Pokémon to Mega Evolve, and a specific looplet will give a Pokémon access to Z-Moves, with a considerable recharge time after one's been used.
• Dungeons: are actual landmasses instead of labyrinths created by voodoo magic, for lack of a better word. They're separated from civilized communities by boundaries in the natural environment (e.g. a giant wall of trees separates a forest dungeon from nearby towns). Ley lines (from Gates) exist, and they are a chaotic energy threatening to tear through the planet. Some Legendary Pokémon try to restrain them, resulting in dungeon landscapes getting reshaped.
• Legendaries: come in two flavors. One set is the immortal gods who had a direct hand in the world/universe's creation. They're celibate and one-of-a-kind. Then there are lesser Legendaries, that still try to look out and protect the world. But their lives are finite, so they can reproduce with one another, if they choose to.

 

[diamondpearl876]

• Types and type-advantages: fully exist and are openly known/talked about by Pokémon. Everyone has a life force drawn from a certain basic energy (one energy per Pokémon type), but also display trace amounts of energy from types they can learn moves from. If a psychic's strong enough, they can read a Pokémon's life force to find out their type and what moves they can learn.

Does the trace amounts of energy apply for dual-types, too, with one type having more of a presence over the other?

 

[Ambyssin]

Does the trace amounts of energy apply for dual-types, too, with one type having more of a presence over the other?

Yes. The primary-type appears as more prominent than the secondary-type. This also applies to evolution lines. Final evolutions will project a more vibrant life force than their pre-evolutions. But only the most adept psychics (the ones that can see even trace amounts of energy correlating to non-STAB moves a Pokémon can learn) can differentiate between different families/species with the same type combination (e.g. Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar).

 

[Natu? Natu!]

I see the games as inspiration rather than the one and only true description of battle mechanics. Pokémon can learn more than four moves, although there is some sort of limit to the number of moves a pokémon will master to the degree that it can be effectively used in a battle. In official pokémon battles, I use the four-move and six-pokémon rules as official regulations rather than a consequence of pokémons' poor memory. That means when you apply to take part in a competition, you need to register which pokémon you will use and what moves each pokémon will be allowed to use. However, even if it is possible for a person to carry more than six pokémon, typically my characters use 3-4 pokémon. That's mainly because I want to keep the teams small enough to be able to give each character some sort of room for character development. If a person has ten pokémon, there is a risk that many of them would be only a species and a name, basically.
I generally adhere to type rules and strengths/weaknesses as in the game, but the concept of levels only exists as some sort of experience, not in the sense that pokémon "level up". I don't follow the rules about what moves a pokémon can learn or not, and how they are supposed to learn them (eg through leveling up, breeding, TM/HM etc). If I want a pokémon to know a certain move, and I think that I can make it believable, the pokémon will be able to learn that move. Therefore, I have a recurring Natu who knows hypnosis (not possible according to game mechanics) but it will never learn aerial ace (perfectly possible according to game mechanics). Why? Because I can describe what it looks like when it hypnotises someone, but I find it hard to write a believable story where a natu one-shots let's say a chesnaught using aerial ace. That would just be weird.
Some years ago I wrote a pokémon battle simulator that I sometimes use to find out what's possible and not according to the game mechanics, but I use that too as a sort of recommendation rather than as a final decision on what's possible or not.
Legendaries in my stories occur mainly in legends. That is, they don't just randomly show up and take part in the main storylines.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Whenever people bring up game mechanics in fanfics, I always think about what ScytheRider said.

 

[canisaries]

For someone who doesn't write battles, like, at all, game mechanics are most often not relevant for me. However, I do try to keep movepools and abilities true to the game ones (when possible, that is: the mon which appeared in runs of gen I/II games didn't have abilities, for example), and naturally take into consideration type advantages.

Then again, there are also plenty of situations where the games contradict themselves. Like how in the hell a charizard can't fly but a dodrio can, to use a common example. Flying type moves also aren't super effective on gastly, despite it being said to disintegrate in strong winds. We could probably talk about all the discontinuities in Pokémon until gen 8 comes out, so I'm just gonna say an author is well justified in overruling a lot of canonical stuff.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Like how in the hell a charizard can't fly

Only in Red and Blue.