• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Will we FINALLY get difficultly levels in Gen 8?

Will Difficulty levels be included?

  • For sure!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No chance at all

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • It might happen

    Votes: 15 65.2%
  • Who cares!

    Votes: 1 4.3%

  • Total voters
    23
They do this for other features, like seasons, rustling grass, double wild grass, sky battles, honey trees, and ball seals.
those are more region specific though. Plus, some of these have a similar counterpart in other games. Rustling grass for example is not really necessary in games with the PokeRadar or the DexNav, same for Honey Trees. Almost all generations introduce a new type of battling. For example, double battles were introduced in gen III. They could have easily stayed exclusive, but they're not. They're not something tied to the region, at all. Unova was designed with seasons in mind and while I'd welcome the return of the feature in new games, I get why certain games might not have it (Hoenn or Alola wouldn't have a seasonal cycle like Unova does. Kalos on the other hand could have).
 
First, space limitations would be no excuse. Just look at B2W2's amount of content for the DS age. They shoved in a heck of a lot of stuff and still could include a variety of teams according to the level difficulty. Just as long as GF balances dedication and sacrifice well enough, there'd be plenty of room for various teams according to the difficulty setting. Perhaps just for the major NPCs, at the least.

Second, kids being locked into difficult mode and not being able to finish? Again, no excuse. Like B2W2, have the game ask about how you want to set your difficulty every time you boot it up.

Third, the "exclusive features never return" claim doesn't hold. Like others have mentioned, customization returned, and so did Pokemon Amie, with a different form as Refresh. Contests came back, although it was for ORAS only. But Contest stats are still kept in the game despite its exclusiveness, and I'm pretty sure a max-beauty'd Feebas can evolve in the Gen7 games without the Prism Scale.


*Also, off topic but I'm 99% sure seasons are going to return at some point. Sooner or later players won't have access to the Gen5 games, and we have a species of pokemon that changes appearance according to the season - Deerling and Sawsbuck. There's no way they're going to discard and let pokemon forms "go extinct" when they put so much effort designing it.
 
Last edited:
I sure hope so. Playing Sun/Moon was always frustrating to me because of some opponents supposedly having 'competitively' trained Pokemon. That kind of thing should only happen in a higher level difficulty.
 
I would hope so, even if I only plan on playing on normal difficulty initially. Having an Easy (trainer and gym pokemon levels are a few levels lower than normal, less status effect moves used or something like that), Normal, and Difficult (higher levels, more strategic move sets maybe).

I'd totally play easy if I feel like taking notes on teh story or things like that, and hard if I feel like hating myself for a week or two.
 
I hope not, to be honest. And for good reason: Pokemon as a series I don't think was ever intended to be super difficult nor handhold-y.

From the best of my recollection, Pokemon's standard level of difficulty was kinda just something people accepted for multiple generations as soon as RBY was a thing (people always loved to talk about how broken Psychic types were and how broken crits were) up to say...B2W2. I kinda wish Gen 5 didn't include a difficulty option if only because it raises people's hopes that they wanted Pokemon to be super challenging game and while I get that appeal (trust me, I love a good challenge!), I feel that would ultimately hurt the spirit of Pokemon in the long run which is not to be a difficult game in particular, but to be enjoyable, cathartic and fun. All of those feelings go out the window if all of a sudden your stress levels rise because you find yourself to be in too difficult of a challenge to beat, etc.

In short, I feel like the more that Pokemon bends to add a difficulty setting, the more that it loses its status as sort of a soothing, relaxing game that it's meant to be. That's not to say that some aspects shouldn't be difficult, but it's a delicate tightrope act to walk I think; you want to provide enough of a challenge to be enjoyable, but not so much that players break their cartridges over it. And I fear this would probably end up being the case if there was some Super Hard Mode that would be added because imo there's really no real benefit to adding such a thing in the long run.
 
Last edited:
I feel that would ultimately hurt the spirit of Pokemon in the long run which is not to be a difficult game in particular, but to be enjoyable, cathartc and fun. All of those feelings go out the window if all of a sudden your stress levels rise because you find yourself to be in too difficult of a challenge to beat, etc.
But with a difficulty setting, players could choose that for themselves. If something was too hard, they could just turn down the difficulty and make it an easier game. (and that challenge could be in hard or normal mode-there's been some battles in the past that people still struggled with while not having a difficulty setting)
 
But with a difficulty setting, players could choose that for themselves. If something was too hard, they could just turn down the difficulty and make it an easier game. (and that challenge could be in hard or normal mode-there's been some battles in the past that people still struggled with while not having a difficulty setting)

I'd be more for an adjustable difficulty setting in the options menu rather than having it set before/when you start a new game, to make things overall easier. It would be really annoying progressing a decent amount in the game and finding yourself against either a Gym Leader that you're having trouble beating or at a point in the game where there's a significant difficulty spike and you're forced to either grit your teeth and deal with it or start over.
 
That's actually how BW2's difficulty setting was, though-it wasn't as convenient as the options menu, but you could still change difficulties partway through a playthrough.
 
I hope not, to be honest. And for good reason: Pokemon as a series I don't think was ever intended to be super difficult nor handhold-y.

. . .

In short, I feel like the more that Pokemon bends to add a difficulty setting, the more that it loses its status as sort of a soothing, relaxing game that it's meant to be. That's not to say that some aspects shouldn't be difficult, but it's a delicate tightrope act to walk I think; you want to provide enough of a challenge to be enjoyable, but not so much that players break their cartridges over it. And I fear this would probably end up being the case if there was some Super Hard Mode that would be added because imo there's really no real benefit to adding such a thing in the long run.

Is it though? I agree, the way the games are made isn't in a way that's supposed to be incredibly challenging. That said, over the past few years GF has set on a course that involves a lot more handholding and streamlining, which can be aggravating for more experienced players.

I think the difference between levels in BW2 were pretty good actually. There were no drastic differences, just enough to make a battle either more or less challenging. An altered moveset, with slightly better moves, and a few extra levels are generally something that creates a bigger hurdle, it doesn't make it practically impossible to defeat an opponent. Not to mention that Gym Leaders still are type-specific, which tends to leave a (sometimes massive) opening in their defence.
 
Is it though? I agree, the way the games are made isn't in a way that's supposed to be incredibly challenging. That said, over the past few years GF has set on a course that involves a lot more handholding and streamlining, which can be aggravating for more experienced players.

Initially, yes. This meaning from like... RBY all the way to B2W2, until Game Freak themselves kind of broke that streak and Masuda somehow made the giant assumption that Pokemon games were getting too hard for the younger generation for some reason. It was at that point that Game Freak cranked the handholding up 11 and frustrated more experienced players by watering down things unnecessarily.

That said, there are some difficulty aspects that I agree with that I think Game Freak did a good job with handling! I think Totem Pokemon are a good way to go about with things and I think the idea of a "boss Pokemon with boosted stats" should somehow stick around in some form in later generations, because I think that would be an appropriate challenge.

I hope this makes sense but... as long as there aren't any excessive or nonsensical difficulty curves, I don't have a big issue with difficulty options returning but I guess that's just my belief that Pokemon, as I said, is supposed to be a relaxing series first and foremost so I understand why this isn't prioritized.
 
Initially, yes. This meaning from like... RBY all the way to B2W2, until Game Freak themselves kind of broke that streak and Masuda somehow made the giant assumption that Pokemon games were getting too hard for the younger generation for some reason. It was at that point that Game Freak cranked the handholding up 11 and frustrated more experienced players by watering down things unnecessarily.
That's when they noticed 'idle' games were popular and figured a younger audience would find the games too difficult and cumbersome. Which is really weird, cause people who want to play those games will do so on their phone...

I hope this makes sense but... as long as there aren't any excessive or nonsensical difficulty curves, I don't have a big issue with difficulty options returning but I guess that's just my belief that Pokemon, as I said, is supposed to be a relaxing series first and foremost so I understand why this isn't prioritized.
I thought their goal always was to connect, hence why they used to have the gotta catch em all slogan, and held up incentives for people to trade. And it's definitely also marketed as something fun, something to be enjoyed, but that's not really the same as relaxing. For some people a relaxing and fun game is something they can really sit down for and challenge themselves a little with. And if that's not what you want at all, an easy mode would work equally well

If we have gyms, or leaders at least return, some kind of mechanic where there signature pokemon gets a boost would be pretty cool.
 
I wish they would, but I don't think they will. Idk, it's like Game Freak has lost faith in the ability of their target audience to play their games and they've been doing everything in their power to make things easy since (barring Ultra Necrozma-I enjoyed watching my little brother rage quit to it several times). You know, players did successfully complete Generations I-IV despite the difficulty GF. The immense hand-holding and game breaking features that plague Gens VI and VII aren't necessary.
 
Please note: The thread is from 5 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom