No more Safari Zones

[Fan of Jarrus]

Why the developers not putting in Safari Zones anymore? The most recent is Kalos' Friend Safari.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Probably because casualization. They started disappearing in 5th gen, right around the same time they started handicapping things for casuals. Yes there was the Friend Safari, but that's not really the same thing as you used your Pokemon to capture like normal instead of the rocks/bait/whatever they were going with.

Honestly though, I say good riddance. The Safari Zone didn't really add anything other than an arbitrary and irritating challenge. I don't mind another Friend Safari-like feature, but the actual Safari Zone can stay gone.

 

[PinkIceFox]

If they do something with Safari Zones again I really hope they do not do the Friend Safari ever again. I'm extremely socially anxious so the few people I have added as friends on my 3DS were nerve-wracking enough. I'd rather not hunt down total strangers to get the type of pokemon I want from a Safari.

The best idea I can come up for a Safari Zone is a bit of a mix of all of them. Give you Safari Balls in order to catch pokemon in the area, let you battle with your own pokemon, and like the safari zone in HG/SS have a larger type of environments for you to explore and catch pokemon in. I'd prefer a lack of time limit, though. And not having the weird move around features the HG/SS games had in their Safari Zone. Maybe have the rules be that you either run from a pokemon or battle and catch it; no experience gained from battle. It'd make sense since the Safari Zone always gave me a bit of a sanctuary for pokemon not native to the region vibe. Wouldn't make sense to run around fainting a bunch of pokemon that have to be brought in from other regions.

 

[Bolt Strike]

If they do something with Safari Zones again I really hope they do not do the Friend Safari ever again. I'm extremely socially anxious so the few people I have added as friends on my 3DS were nerve-wracking enough. I'd rather not hunt down total strangers to get the type of pokemon I want from a Safari.

The best idea I can come up for a Safari Zone is a bit of a mix of all of them. Give you Safari Balls in order to catch pokemon in the area, let you battle with your own pokemon, and like the safari zone in HG/SS have a larger type of environments for you to explore and catch pokemon in. I'd prefer a lack of time limit, though. And not having the weird move around features the HG/SS games had in their Safari Zone. Maybe have the rules be that you either run from a pokemon or battle and catch it; no experience gained from battle. It'd make sense since the Safari Zone always gave me a bit of a sanctuary for pokemon not native to the region vibe. Wouldn't make sense to run around fainting a bunch of pokemon that have to be brought in from other regions.

The problem is that letting you use your own Pokemon in the Safari Zone makes the feature rather pointless as we saw in ORAS. When you can use your own Pokemon, what's the point of even having one as opposed to just any other area that has wild Pokemon? I think the Safari Zone feature kind of needs the customization and social features to really give it more of a purpose.

What I'd like to see if they bring the feature back, is sort of a combination of HGSS's and the Friend Safari. You can customize the layout as well as the Pokemon encounters from a preset list and then share them with your friends for them to play through. So you could catch whatever Pokemon you want (within reason), but making friends would allow you a larger variety of Pokemon to catch.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

They should had charged anyone going in the one from ORAS.

 

[Bolt Strike]

They should had charged anyone going in the one from ORAS.

That would be even worse. Then you're paying money to do what you can already do in any old area. It's like a microtransaction except with in game money.

 

[Nicolas721]

The idea of limiting capturing methods was bad, but the idea of having strange Pokemon restricted to just one zone that required special access was awesome. I would have liked to see a zone of Alola (maybe an Aether paradise room, so you have a reason to return there) that worked as a safari zone, maybe with QR functionalities that let you caught Pokemon not from the Regional Dex in the postgame.

 

[Team Gaara]

I quite liked the original Safari Zones. It was truly a missed opportunity not to have something of the sort in Alola specific to the area (like The Great Marsh). I wouldn't mind them bringing them back but if it's something like FS, they gotta make it more exciting. I patch of grass looking like a backyard ain't what I'd classify as a "Safari".

 

[Stratelier]

The idea of limiting capturing methods was bad, but the idea of having strange Pokemon restricted to just one zone that required special access was awesome. I would have liked to see a zone of Alola (maybe an Aether paradise room, so you have a reason to return there) that worked as a safari zone, maybe with QR functionalities that let you caught Pokemon not from the Regional Dex in the postgame.

This I can agree with. In order for the Safari Zone to be useful it needs to have a variety of exclusive Pokemon (such as Chansey and Dratini in Kanto, or pretty much everything in HGSS's postgame) and/or advantages to catching them there over other locations (e.g: Hidden Abilities, egg moves), plus a special Ball type that cannot be used elsewhere.

Though, admittedly, its original mechanics were ultimately inferior to standard wild Pokemon battles...

 

[Vaslekib]

I'd love seeing a new Safari Zone, and, sincerely, the fact that they aren't being used anymore is such a big disappointment. If only they readded it and changed a few of the old mechanics, it'd be a great reintroduction.

 

[Almonds]

If the Safari Zone is like a dungeon where completing a quest grants prizes, then it would be welcome for me. However, I don't like stressing over whether a pokemon is going to flee from me especially when I can't bring my own pokemon for trapping purposes. Realistic features are great, but honestly, I don't want to get stressed over that one Chansey I can't catch.

 

[Silverwynde]

Honestly though, I say good riddance. The Safari Zone didn't really add anything other than an arbitrary and irritating challenge. I don't mind another Friend Safari-like feature, but the actual Safari Zone can stay gone.

Yeah, removing the Safari Zone was probably one of their best moves. At least it was to me.

I got put off from the Safari Zone back during my run through of LeafGreen. I spent about a week chasing a Chansey, only to have the thing flee every single time after it had kicked its way out of every Safari Ball I pitched at it. I nearly broke my Game Boy Advance SP over that crap and once I finally caught one, I vowed to never step foot in that wretched place ever again.

Why, no! I'm not bitter at all!

If the Safari Zone is like a dungeon where completing a quest grants prizes, then it would be welcome for me. However, I don't like stressing over whether a pokemon is going to flee from me especially when I can't bring my own pokemon for trapping purposes. Realistic features are great, but honestly, I don't want to get stressed over that one Chansey I can't catch.

Or worse, it was a shiny and it freaking fled. I've seen waaaaaay too many YouTube videos of that exact scenario.

I preferred the Friend Safari, to be quite honest. You could find shinies with their HA, you could actually battle them and you could use your own Balls. Much better deal, in my opinion.

 

[Johnny Boy]

A good use for a safari zone these days would be serving the purpose of catching regional variants in future games. Assuming that regional variants are gonna be a permanent staple of the series from here on out.

 

[rainbow_fire]

i LOVED the Friend Safari. except for the fact that said online friend had to BE online for you to get all 3 Pokemon in their Safari. other than that, it was great. if they brought it back, i'd totally play on the switch. if not...i'm not playing.

 

[CharlaineC]

While I liked the safari zones I find the zones in as/or to be a pain as they made it near impossible to get around it fully. I love the fact that there is no timer but miss the safari balls and the baiting. I always found it fun and relaxing to a point but the timer always drove me nuts. sad it is nolonger used

 

[Muur]

If you can use your Pokemon to fight them and any ball it's fine but the fact they had rare Pokemon with a like 1% spawn rate with what are basically Pokeballs that you had to catch at full HP is ridiculous. Let me fight those Chanseys and catch them with a Dusk Ball or something

They might not like the idea of people taking Pokemon from their natural habitats as amusement for humans though... cuz that's poaching and quite controversial.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

After finding a shiny in the Great Marsh (D/P/Pl Safari Zone) and losing it, I never want to see a Safari Zone as long as I live. I didn't care for ORAS' since it was a remake and I had all those Pokemon, anyways.

If they do something with Safari Zones again I really hope they do not do the Friend Safari ever again. I'm extremely socially anxious so the few people I have added as friends on my 3DS were nerve-wracking enough. I'd rather not hunt down total strangers to get the type of pokemon I want from a Safari.

None of my close friends played the core games, so I was stuck awkwardly asking people on Reddit if they wanted to exchange FCs if they had the Pokemon I needed. It was... uncomfortable.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Frankly, I didn't mind the Safari Zone concept. The only time it really annoyed me was in Gen I and its remakes when going there was required to continue the story becuase of that Surf HM contest. Otherwise, I appreciate the fact that they were an entirely optional thing. I can live and let live just as long as I'm not being strongarmed into this.

What I'm saying is: If you hate the Safari Zone, don't go there at all. Let it be.

 

[Camille]

Frankly, I didn't mind the Safari Zone concept. The only time it really annoyed me was in Gen I and its remakes when going there was required to continue the story becuase of that Surf HM contest. Otherwise, I appreciate the fact that they were an entirely optional thing. I can live and let live just as long as I'm not being strongarmed into this.

You also had to go to Great Marsh in D/P (but not in Platinum) to get Defog, actually.

 

[Gligarman]

Too many bad memories of trying to get a Pikachu with a Light Ball back in Emerald for me to miss Safari Zones.