Leak Repository Thread (WARNING: Huge spoilers!)

[Esserise]

BW2 may never be surpassed at this rate...

2011. I can't in good conscience call the sequels "perfect" because of the abominable Challenge/Easy Mode thing.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

2011. I can't in good conscience call the sequels "perfect" because of the abominable Challenge/Easy Mode thing.

How...was that bad?

Difficulty settings are one of the most highly-requested features in Pokémon.

 

[Esserise]

How...was that bad?

Difficulty settings are one of the most highly-requested features in Pokémon.

Implementation is key.

The way of accessing them was so bewilderingly baroque that the end result is a complete embarrassment. Version-exclusive difficulty modes. That you only receive after beating the game.

Easy Mode, after beating the game.

And if you wanted to play through the full game with them, you needed an entirely second DS and a finished copy of the game.

 

[prog rocker]

As someone that never cared about that, I still feel they were the best ones.

 

[Juizel]

Implementation is key.

The way of accessing them was so bewilderingly baroque that the end result is a complete embarrassment. Version-exclusive difficulty modes. That you only receive after beating the game.

Easy Mode, after beating the game.

And if you wanted to play through the full game with them, you needed an entirely second DS and a finished copy of the game.

"Did you have trouble playing through the game? Why not restart it in easy mode for another playthrough!"
Really genius.

When it comes to perfect Pokémon game, though, I think HGSS comes pretty close for me. But so does Platinum. Hnnnngh, I love both equally, gen 4 really was a blessing for me.
(And before anyone would suggest that, it's not even for nostalgia reasons - my first game was Yellow, and I'm pretty sure I spend as much time with gen 4 as I did with gen 3, too, so gen 4 really just was an almost perfect match to my taste and still is.)

 

[William-Jdubz]

"Did you have trouble playing through the game? Why not restart it in easy mode for another playthrough!"
Really genius.

When it comes to perfect Pokémon game, though, I think HGSS comes pretty close for me. But so does Platinum. Hnnnngh, I love both equally, gen 4 really was a blessing for me.
(And before anyone would suggest that, it's not even for nostalgia reasons - my first game was Yellow, and I'm pretty sure I spend as much time with gen 4 as I did with gen 3, too, so gen 4 really just was an almost perfect match to my taste and still is.)

Agreed here! Even though HGSS had that awful level scaling problem, it really was the perfect pokemon game imo alongside BW2

 

[RJB1987]

Pokémon Conquest is the best

 

[Cainhxrst]

Its funny thinking back to nearly a year ago when we were speculating the possibility of mewtwo getting a new form in gen 8, only for it to not even be included in the game data sksksjkfjss

 

[Juizel]

Agreed here! Even though HGSS had that awful level scaling problem, it really was the perfect pokemon game imo alongside BW2

That's one of the few flaws I see in HGSS, also that, for example, you only find Houndour in Kanto, and Larvitar on Mt. Silver. (Though I think you can get them earlier in the safari zone? But not 100% sure about that anymore and safari zones are never too reliable with letting you catch something lol)
So yeah, HGSS was pretty much as close to perfection as we got in terms of Pokémon mainline games, imo. DP remakes gotta try hard to be as good.

Pokémon Conquest is the best

But that's a spin-off, I wouldn't really compare those to the mainline games tbh. Though Conquest is definitely pretty good.
So was Mystery Dungeon before it turned 3D, but that's just me, I guess.

 

[Windchild]

HGSS also didn't allow location-based evolutions. also imo Super Mystery Dungeon is still good

I have absolutely no faith in potential DP remakes given ORAS's flaws and the current state of Pokemon overall.

 

[Juizel]

HGSS also didn't allow location-based evolutions. also imo Super Mystery Dungeon is still good

I have absolutely no faith in potential DP remakes given ORAS's flaws and the current state of Pokemon overall.

DP remakes would basically be SwSh, but in Sinnoh (if they happen this gen), probably minus the battle frontier from Platinum, though.
And with that, I'm pretty all right - unless they somewhat change the center of the region to make another Wild Area, or stuff like that. Rather I'd see the island for the Pal Park expanded to become Sinnoh's Wild Area in that case.

Dyna- & G-Max can stay, most of all because I just really want to G-Max a Torterra.

Then again, I also still enjoyed ORAS quite a lot.

 

[Cute Charm]

Hypothetically, what if in Gen IX they go back to basics. No battle gimmicks, no forms of any kind, just jerk rivals, a very lose non-existent plot, you making your way from point A to point B but in a non-linear and semi-open world fashion, and all 1000+ pokemon reside in the code. Would that be enough to unite the fandom again?

Also ORAS was fun...but it was ehhh. I didn't care much for Gen III anyway so that didn't help my enjoyment much. Blasphemous I know.

 

[Juizel]

Hypothetically, what if in Gen IX they go back to basics. No battle gimmicks, no forms of any kind, just jerk rivals, a very lose non-existent plot, you making your way from point A to point B but in a non-linear and semi-open world fashion, and all 1000+ pokemon reside in the code. Would that be enough to unite the fandom again?

Also ORAS was fun...but it was ehhh. I didn't care much for Gen III anyway so that didn't help my enjoyment much. Blasphemous I know.

I'm fine with no gimmicks and with gimmicks
Forms I'd rather go without (for the reason that with new forms they can make the original Pokémon pretty useless/outdated and that bothers me just a bit.)
Jerk rivals I'd much prefer over way too friendly rivals, definitely. Although imo doesn't have to be an outright jerk, but if I have to pick between Hau and a jerk rival, I pick the jerk 25 times.
I'd prefer there being a plot over a loose, non-existent plot. Just not too many tiring cutscenes, or feeling like a whole tutorial.
Non-linear and semi-open world, I definitely prefer more linear as I'm not into open world games.
All Pokémon reside in the code, not technically necessary (I made peace with Dexit) but would be welcome.

So no, I doubt that would "be enough to unite the fandom again". You can combine features and traits in every combination you can think of, there will always be people who absolutely love what you did and people who absolutely hate what you did. I'm not really sure what "uniting the fandom" would be anyway, now that I think about it...

 

[jonathan keller]

Let's just put it this way...

There's a jogging outfit involved.

Can you post it? But put it under spoilers.

 

[Cainhxrst]

There's two likely scenarios I see

Scenario 1 is that the next 2 gens are in the same vein as gens 6,7,8 (increased focus on plot, lower amount of new pokemon, around like 50-60ish, bigger focus on form changes and battle mechanics) and then the first generation after they cross the 1000 mark is a R/S, B/W style "back to the basics" kind of game with a large amount of new mons

Scenario 2 is that we get gen IX to commemorate the 25th anniversary,I could see the back to the basics approach working here too, as it'd be a neat way to celebrate the franchises routes.

I guess the tl:dr is that I feel like we're honestly due for a soft reboot gen and I could easily see it being the next, especially after all of this backlash Sw/Sh is receiving

 

[TheElderKing]

Hypothetically, what if in Gen IX they go back to basics. No battle gimmicks, no forms of any kind, just jerk rivals, a very lose non-existent plot, you making your way from point A to point B but in a non-linear and semi-open world fashion, and all 1000+ pokemon reside in the code. Would that be enough to unite the fandom again?

Also ORAS was fun...but it was ehhh. I didn't care much for Gen III anyway so that didn't help my enjoyment much. Blasphemous I know.

I doubt it, as people like different things. For example I do want an heavy/deep story (for Pokèmon: think of Gen 5 instead of Gen 1), and for example, I'd like difficulty options or toggles. And I'm pretty sure that there is a good part of the fanbase against semi-open world or Wild Area features.

Jerk rivals also, is depending on how they work. Someone like Silver is indeed a jerk but he also clearly grow in the story, in how he treats his Pokèmon and in how he talks to you, while remaining cool/badass. And if there are multiple rivals, I want them to be varied and not be carbon copies of each other.

In the end, people like different things, and there'll be no Pokèmon game to unite the fanbase. The 1000 Pokèmon thing alone would certainly be seen as a bonus (if we don't miss something from it), but it's not going to happen, unless GF's reason for the cut is purely because they had development problems...which I don't think it is. If this were a reason, I feel like there would be more Pokèmon (expecially those already used on Switch as Gen 1), and more popular ones. It was a conscious decision to go for 400 in the dex.

Unless there'll be a shitstorm after release on the same level of the worst ones mediatically (think Fallout 76, or Mass Effect 3 endings), I think there are zero chances of them going back to the full pokèmon dex in a game.

 

[Juizel]

Can you post it? But put it under spoilers.

Spoiler: Marnie Pic SPOILER!

 

[Cainhxrst]

I feel like the easiest way to unite the fandom would be
-all pokemon in the game data
-a good story that also isn't too intrusive
-non linear exploration in the vein of sinnoh
- 100+ mons
-actual post-game

and then anything else would be a bonus. The thing is, I find it highly, highly unlikely for any future games to include more than two of these at a time even.

 

[Moonlight~]

I can’t wait to see all the female clothing. And the hair styles.

 

[Windchild]

with the remakes, I can see them end up being inferior to Platinum in every regard except graphics and speed, 'cuz
A. They'll probably leave out the Battle Frontier again
B. They'll probably keep the Dex cut down
C. They'll probably decide mapping how accessories attach to every Pokemon is too much work and leave that out
D. They'll probably leave out a lot of the touch screen stuff, between this point and the above one, effectively reducing Super Contests to regular Contests
E. That is, if they leave Contests in at all.
F. Definitely no Game Corner, I mean this isn't nearly as bad but there's probably not gonna be a Voltorb Flip-esque replacement either, it's nice having minigames

I realize maybe I'm being way too pessimistic, but...