Trainers and NPCs should have distinguishing features

[SeanWheeler]

Don't you think it's weird that a lot of characters in the game look the same? It seems like only the important characters have unique sprites and models while all trainers within a class share the same model. And some townspeople who don't battle would look like trainers. Twins seem more like... um... what do you call a group consisting of hundreds of kids that share the same parents and birthday? Centuplets? Anyway, notice how Youngster Joey looks a lot like Youngster Mikey? Does that make you wonder if they are brothers? I'm guessing hardware limitations may be the blame for the identical people or time constrants or the developers felt too lazy or something else was a bigger priority. Anyway, in real life, people would look different from each other and they don't usually wear the same clothes. I think for future Pokémon games, maybe they should make everyone look different? They could still have trainer classes, but the trainer class should be a guideline of how they should look but not the whole look. Swimmers should wear swimsuits but not the same swimsuit. Most youngsters should be ten-year-old boys wearing shorts but the color of their shirts and whether they wear a baseball cap or not would depend on them. They could even throw in a few black youngsters in with white youngsters. Even the grunts shouldn't look like clones. And the townspeople should not look the same as anyone else in the game. Do you think it could be a great idea to make unique models for everybody?

 

[Pyrax]

Do you think it could be a great idea to make unique models for everybody?

I'm not a developer, but imo creating unique models for every npc consumes too much time and resources better spent on another part of the game. That's why most games (not just Pokémon) only have a handful of designs for generic npcs - it's cheaper and takes less effort.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

The reason unique models are impossible was described perfectly by @Pyrax. 3D modelling takes a lot of effort. And it’s going to take a lot more effort in Generation 8, which is confirmed to be a graphical update. The effort could go in improving and creating new Pokemon models, and move animations.

 

[Incinerawr]

NPCs are designed generically so they don't take away the spotlight from the real characters.

Plus in a game where there's literally dozens of them you fight at a time, it would be a very time-exhaustive process.

 

[Lemmy]

Also the fact there's no real good reason for them to have unique designs, after all, you'll only battle them once/talk to them once or twice. Why would you care enough about route 4 jimmy for it to deserve a whole new sprite set?

 

[SeanWheeler]

I just thought people looking the same doesn't really make sense in-universe. I mean, I get that it's time consuming to design models of every minor character, but if they could pull it off, it could be awesome.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I think arbitrary alternate colors could be feasible, for like hair and clothes, but making upwards of 20 unique youngster models is a bit much. MAAAAAYBE they could get away with making like 3-4 models for each class, similar to the gen 6 furisode girl, but that’s about all I could see them doing. It’s not an important enough issue to warrant a fix like this, in my opinion.

 

[Midorikawa]

I just thought people looking the same doesn't really make sense in-universe. I mean, I get that it's time consuming to design models of every minor character, but if they could pull it off, it could be awesome.

Honestly I don’t think it’s that strange. Like I’ve been watching the bachelorette and a lot of those guys look alike because they have the same hair and they’re dressed alike and stuff.

Unless soemthong makes someone pop a lot, people looking alike is not that strange.

 

[Dieter]

I think arbitrary alternate colors could be feasible, for like hair and clothes, but making upwards of 20 unique youngster models is a bit much. MAAAAAYBE they could get away with making like 3-4 models for each class, similar to the gen 6 furisode girl, but that’s about all I could see them doing. It’s not an important enough issue to warrant a fix like this, in my opinion.

Same. I also liked what they did with the Ace Trainers in Gen IV giving them a default outfit and a cold weather outfit

 

[Almonds]

I don't mind certain trainer classes/NPCs having generic models or sprites. However, I do want certain characters to have unique models or sprites such as Prof. Cozmo, Cassius, Chaz, Lannette and Fennel (generic sprites - they have unique artworks)... if they're going to be given unique positions, then shouldn't they also have unique models or sprites as well?

 

[Midorikawa]

I don't mind certain trainer classes/NPCs having generic models or sprites. However, I do want certain characters to have unique models or sprites such as Prof. Cozmo, Cassius, Chaz, Lannette and Fennel (generic sprites - they have unique artworks)... if they're going to be given unique positions, then shouldn't they also have unique models or sprites as well?

I agree. For the unimportant ones, they can be generic. But for people that play larger spots but stents gym leaders and stuff, it couldn’t hurt to make them unique. There’s not that many of them, and it takes away from them.

 

[Muur]

Pretty sure no franchise in history has unique models for every character. They all have a certain amount of generic models and reuse them. Some games do mix it up a bit have have the generic models with differnet colours, Pokemon could try that. So like, they can have youngsters with a few different coloured hats, shorts etc. So the exact same model with a few recolours. Simple enough.

I just thought people looking the same doesn't really make sense in-universe. I mean, I get that it's time consuming to design models of every minor character, but if they could pull it off, it could be awesome.

It does though. Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny and the guy in gen 5 in the anime all are twins and theres like 9090909 of each

 

[Beer&Nyquil]

I mean that explanation actually doesn’t make a lot of sense lol

 

[RileyXY1]

I think that this might be too much work on the developer's part.

 

[Drakon]

There are games with unique models for each character but they tend to be open world sandbox games where such an element is a nice feature. Generally, RPGs like this don't have unique sprites.

Starbound produces unique models for each generic NPC by randomizing the customizable features and clothing. Something like that could be done by simply randomizing hair and clothing colors for trainers.