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Pokemon's #1 problem is its utterly insipid writing

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
why the fuck are you grinding if you don't plan on playing multiplayer (which even then has an easier time vs pre-Gen V days)
 

DekuLink

Member
No, i understood. the point is its aimed at children. Not preteen children, but like grade school children.

And unfortunately, a lot of children are not of the highest intellectual caliber. they write to the lowest common denominator so the game can be enjoyed by all.

That's a fair point, but I am 100% certain that Nintendo and Gamefreak are fully aware that A LOT of adults are playing the games, and could make some effort to have writing for both kids and adults, like in the examples OP provided.
 

Meffer

Member
I dunno, I prefer the Kanto of the anime than PokeSpe's Kanto (albeit if I had my way I'd prefer Electric Tale Kanto). The "all gym leaders and Elite 4are evil" is the one that made me tilt my head a little and the one that really bugs me in that arc. RSE PokeSpe is the one that I thoroughly enjoyed though.

Electric Tale, questionable artstyle aside, really did push the OS-era anime potential much more. Like it didn't have the trappings Shudo was pushing (let's turn Ash into Nobita! crap).
I really liked the Electric Tale of Pikachu. I enjoyed the art style and even though you can tell that it was early in Pokemon history so some concepts were different from the game and anime and it made some choices that fitted the manga better, it still had neat and novel concepts. It was certainly more adult but that's it's charm.
I also liked it's take on some of the anime's stories. Like instead of Sabrina being a scary person that turn people into dolls, she was a kind and talented psychic that had a vendetta againest a gigantic Haunter that was a menace.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I really liked the Electric Tale of Pikachu. I enjoyed the art style and even though you can tell that it was early in Pokemon history so some concepts were different from the game and anime and it made some choices that fitted the manga better, it still had neat and novel concepts. It was certainly more adult but that's it's charm.
I also liked it's take on some of the anime's stories. Like instead of Sabrina being a scary person that turn people into dolls, she was a kind and talented psychic that had a vendetta againest a gigantic Haunter that was a menace.

Yeah, honestly your post makes me want to read it again XD
 

Forkball

Member
The dialogue is rather bland in Pokemon games, but the games do a good job developing the world you explore and despite the simplistic writing, there are still many memorable characters who manage to make an impression with limited dialogue. This is everything Agatha, the ghost trainer of the E4, says in Pokemon RBY.

"I am Agatha of the Elite Four! Oak's taken a lot of interest in you, child! That old duff was once tough and handsome! That was decades ago! Now he just wants to fiddle with his Pokédex! He's wrong! Pokémon are for fighting! <player>! I'll show you how a real trainer fights!"

"Oh, my! You're something special, child!"

"You win! I see what the old duff sees in you now. I've nothing else to say. Run along now, child!"


She only says a handful of sentences, but we get a good grasp of her personality.
 
Yes the storywriting of maialine pokemon is insipid, but that's far from being the sole problem..
The game never tried to alter its formula...
Make that instead of one ti al you have more, say 20 possibile and those are randomized at the biginning of the game..
Make it so that One of those will be your best friend, and you will have him join you in 2vs2 batte..
Make it so that every city has a mainline gymleader and a 2vs2 representative..
Make it that you will always do these battle with your "best friend", and you can after beating a gym give him a call to influence bis best catch, and before th attualmente fight you can swap bis team around..
Give us a Team tournament, were in single player you can choose up to 5 rivals with 2 pokemon each and you can get in this tournament against other cpu controlled team, whereas in multiplayer these tournament//match arte all real players..
Finally give us some real sense of accomplishment where, when beating a specific gym you arte given a score (based on captured pokemon, time elapsed/number of new pokemon, number of beaten npc inside the gym, number of dead pokemon), and you're matched against your rival (cpu) score, giving you something special in you win (e.g. Previous games shiny random pokemon, or additional copy of pokemon with branching evolution like eeve) that is nice but not game breaking..

There is a lot that can be done to improve single player experience in pokemon games, but since we're so relaxed game freak just revamps the map, given us a new pokemon and ships a other milion seller...

Oh well
 

Kazooie

Banned
It's part of the charm for me. How can they realistically improve the dialogue without losing the identity of the games? Toy Story is Toy Story, it's difficult to compare one franchise to another.

One thing I would say is that I wish they made a few games to cater to the adult market. So for example they could have had Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as they are, but then release a Delta Emerald or whatever with a different formula. Like the Gym Leaders are actually the best of the best with high level pokemon and strategy and you do have to grind a bit to beat them.

Not only that but I wish the story wasn't just go from gym to gym until Team Rocket appear. Why not have a different story where you go back to the gyms when you are powerful enough.
 

JoeM86

Member
Yes the storywriting of maialine pokemon is insipid, but that's far from being the sole problem..
The game never tried to alter its formula...
Make that instead of one ti al you have more, say 20 possibile and those are randomized at the biginning of the game..
Make it so that One of those will be your best friend, and you will have him join you in 2vs2 batte..
Make it so that every city has a mainline gymleader and a 2vs2 representative..
Make it that you will always do these battle with your "best friend", and you can after beating a gym give him a call to influence bis best catch, and before th attualmente fight you can swap bis team around..
Give us a Team tournament, were in single player you can choose up to 5 rivals with 2 pokemon each and you can get in this tournament against other cpu controlled team, whereas in multiplayer these tournament//match arte all real players..
Finally give us some real sense of accomplishment where, when beating a specific gym you arte given a score (based on captured pokemon, time elapsed/number of new pokemon, number of beaten npc inside the gym, number of dead pokemon), and you're matched against your rival (cpu) score, giving you something special in you win (e.g. Previous games shiny random pokemon, or additional copy of pokemon with branching evolution like eeve) that is nice but not game breaking..

There is a lot that can be done to improve single player experience in pokemon games, but since we're so relaxed game freak just revamps the map, given us a new pokemon and ships a other milion seller...

Oh well
So to improve the single player you put forth the notion of constantly having an AI partner in battle?
 

COOLSKELETON95

Neo Member
I would say the bigger issue with Pokémon games as time has gone on, and apologies if this point has already been made, is how the games have become more mollycoddling than before.

In Pokémon Yellow, you are given a starter Pokémon that is ineffective towards the first Gym. To be able to overcome this, you need to find yourself a Pokémon which could be effective against the first Gym and take the time to train it up to a high enough level.

The later games seem to want to throw Pokémon at you - Black and White, if I recall correctly, GAVE you a Pokémon that was not only super-effective against the first Gym, but was also at a decent enough level that going into said Gym wouldn't cause you any problems. No trying to find a Pokémon of your own, just given to you.

I don't think the series needs to become any more complex, as I don't really play Pokémon games for their writing (more that I enjoy the journey through them), but hand-holding like that needs to tone down. That, and I want my Game Corner back.
 

Meffer

Member
The dialogue is rather bland in Pokemon games, but the games do a good job developing the world you explore and despite the simplistic writing, there are still many memorable characters who manage to make an impression with limited dialogue. This is everything Agatha, the ghost trainer of the E4, says in Pokemon RBY.

"I am Agatha of the Elite Four! Oak's taken a lot of interest in you, child! That old duff was once tough and handsome! That was decades ago! Now he just wants to fiddle with his Pokédex! He's wrong! Pokémon are for fighting! <player>! I'll show you how a real trainer fights!"

"Oh, my! You're something special, child!"

"You win! I see what the old duff sees in you now. I've nothing else to say. Run along now, child!"


She only says a handful of sentences, but we get a good grasp of her personality.
One thing I noticed in the games is a NPC will point of new tech and then will finally add, "Isn't technology amazing!?"
It's like the Indian elephant in the early pokedex entries.
I guess the bigger problem is that the writing and dialogue is a bit predictable. Like it's just going through the motions and patterns.
 
So to improve the single player you put forth the notion of constantly having an AI partner in battle?
not constantly..
you put something more..
you vary the game modes.. adding some squad-tournament and other events along these lines..
and you change the rival system..
having only one rival with a restricted set of pokemon is nonsensical..
build an host of possible rival, which you are getting assigned is determined at game start..
each rival behaves differently (in terms of pokemon) depending on some factors:
those being:
rival affinity with specific pokemon type (for example someone with S affinity with fire type pokemon will always have 2 to 3 pokemon that are at least partly fire category, if he has A with water 2 to 0 pokemon of water category and so on)
your time passed between the last gym and the new one (e.g. if more time has passed, the game will balance your rival pokemon level to be near yours, conversely if you're in the "median" figure, the level of your rival pokemon is predetermined.. more time will allow for some "hidden" counter that will make so that your rival will have evolved pokemon activated from conditional stuff or not)
the number of different pokemon you have recruited
the specific gym you have cleared (for example if you have cleared only one gym for elecrtric+fighting that is surrounded by water, grass and fighting pokemon, the available pool of pokemon for a rival is dictated by 90% "availability" of pokemon in a zone that has already been cleared, plus a 10% "rogue catch" meaning that he has taken a different route from you ideally and can have access to pokemon you have not seen even used by other trainer)..


maybe you misunderstood me, but i don't want to "FORCE" you to always have a companion ai together, but rather to make the whole "rivalry" thing from your fellow trainer from the beginning something much more challenging and invested time-wise..
I want to have some camraderie with them with "team battle", i'll admit that much, but that's so you give in game a sample of a new feature that will be made available with your "real players" friends online as well :)

those points are all imho clearly :)
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
One thing I noticed in the games is a NPC will point of new tech and then will finally add, "Isn't technology amazing!?"
It's like the Indian elephant in the early pokedex entries.
I guess the bigger problem is that the writing and dialogue is a bit predictable. Like it's just going through the motions and patterns.

Indian Elephant thing has been excised from future dex. The only real world reference is the Atlantic Ocean thing.

As for the "technology" thing, that's less predictability and more of a running gag, like the shorts kid.
 
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