Pokemon towns/cities too small?

[Jirachi's Wish]

I could imagine a battle in an alley going like this:

Street Thug challenges you to a battle!

 

[Railith]

I think the cities are a good size. There would be way too much filler if they expanded.

 

[The Pig King]

I'm pretty sure they only show you the important buildings and a few filler ones, and you're supposed to assume that the cities are much bigger. A realistic city would take hours to get through, especially to buildings farther away from the Pokemon Center.

 

[Mijzelffan]

But Pokémon is an rpg, and like a lot rpg's the overworld is smaller then the world actually is. So the cities are basically smaller versions of how big the towns would actually be (maybe the same goes for the inside of the homes, because else they'd be ridiculously small too).

 

[Galactic Tomahawk]

Indeed.

Some games as of late have tried to get around it by just giving you one huge city to explore or only letting you access certain parts of a larger town, but for the most part they're usually pretty small.

 

[Takoto]

And if you look at all the people walking around in the street, where do they live? There isn't enough houses for them, does that mean their all homeless? Also hardly any houses have beds, do they sleep on the floor? D:

 

[NiiKo]

You just have to imagine that the cities are larger, I really wouldn't want lots of useless buildings full of useless NPC's telling me that shorts are comfy and easy to wear, they better use the memory on something better like making trainers of the same class somehow different looking, it seems that they are all twins (poor mother)

 

[Iteru]

I actually hate Mahogany because of its size. It's just so damn small! You'd think it would be big due to tourists with the Lake of Rage and all.

 

[H-con]

The towns and cities could very well have been larger, but then you'd actually need something to do there, not just listen to random NPCs telling you something you already knew for the millionth time or so. If they manage to do that, then yes, bigger towns and cities. I think bigger routes are needed, because once you've defeated all the trainers, few routes are actually challenging and more diverse. And less generic caves and forests. But that's another matter.

 

[brightjules]

I'd say bigger maps in general would be welcome, with huge, diverse routes and very extreme road challenges, etc.

And i agree that they're just a bit too small... i mean, who remembers when Ash and the guys reach Saffron City in the Anime? I mean, holy crap!!! it was huge!!!

 

[Soulweaver]

Actually, I'd like bigger cities with more accessible houses. The problem here is really the content. There is no point in a big number of houses if all the people inside do is talk about some random crap.

Colosseum and XD have fulfilled this a lot better than the handheld RPGs, but that's because of the lack of gyms, which allows them to bundle a lot of different activities into one city.

 

[Goodbye Blue Monday]

I actually wouldn't mind there being a bit more to some of the cities, but I think that you're supposed to imagine them as bigger than they are. Even Goldenrod City, if you were to take it at face-value, would be a one-Starbucks town in real-life. If you want to get an estimate of how big the place is, you're probably better off referring to the anime versions than the game ones.

My estimates are (and I'm mostly the first two generations so Kanto and Johto are my references):

-Small town = Pallet and Lavender in Kanto, New Bark and Mahogany in Johto
-Small city (like, college-town-sized) = Cinnabar Island, Pewter City and Fuchsia City in Kanto; Azalea Town, Cianwood, Olivine and Blackthorn in Johto.
-Medium-sized city = Viridian, Cerulean, and Vermillion in Kanto; Violet and Ecruteak in Johto.
-Big, huge metropolis = Celadon and Saffron in Kanto; Goldenrod in Johto.


Another thing to keep in mind is that the different regions of the Pokemon universe are based on different regions of Japan. Kanto and Johto are both urbanized regions in central Honshu, where most of the major cities are. Hoenn is based on the island of Kyushu, and Sinnoh on the northern island of Hokkaido. If you compare the geography of the Pokemon regions with their real-life counterparts, you can probably figure out which Pokemon cities are supposed to represent which Japanese ones and get an idea of how big they're supposed to be. (I'm too tired to do that right now, though.)

 

[Venusaur]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the different regions of the Pokemon universe are based on different regions of Japan. Kanto and Johto are both urbanized regions in central Honshu, where most of the major cities are. Hoenn is based on the island of Kyushu, and Sinnoh on the northern island of Hokkaido. If you compare the geography of the Pokemon regions with their real-life counterparts, you can probably figure out which Pokemon cities are supposed to represent which Japanese ones and get an idea of how big they're supposed to be. (I'm too tired to do that right now, though.)

When you do this, you discover that Saffron, Celadon, Vermilion, and possibly Cerulean Cities are all districts of Greater Tokyo, which gives you an idea of how big Tokyo is. Cherrygrove is Nagoya, Ecruteak Kyoto, and Goldenrod Osaka IIRC. And of course, Jubilife City is Sapporo, Japan. The Hoenn/Kyushu ones, though, I can't match up so well.

EDIT: Hmmm, I wonder how good Jubilife beer is...

 

[ashita]

Its pretty simple really
its simply a condensed version
it would be impossible or ridiculous to render a full size city

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

More accessible buildings and larger, more enjoyable cities and routes plz.

 

[Goodbye Blue Monday]

I figured Ecruteak was probably Kyoto (since it's the second-largest city in Johto, after Goldenrod, and is known for its historical significance) and Goldenrod was Osaka, but I didn't know any of the others. Thanks!

I'd also always wondered why Goldenrod is bigger than any of the Kanto cities if the Tokyo equivalent would be in the Kanto region. If Cerulean, Vermillion, Saffron and Celadon are all districts of Tokyo, rather than individual cities, that makes a lot more sense.

 

[hurristat]

I do think that the cities/town are way too small. Unfortunately, they're in proportion to the rest of the region (and even then, they're outrageously big). So when they can make a larger region, then they can make larger cities.