Topic: Pokémon Sun & Moon - Discussion & Speculation

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@iKhan The older games aren't as difficult as you remember them. If the newer games have been made easier, it's marginally so. There's fake difficulty from flawed mechanics though.

Since when has the story ever been very good in Pokemon outside of Black/White?

I agree. I'm TRIGGERED.

While Pokemon has always had lame stories (where B/W was the best because they tried). Jerk rivals was a thing in Gen 1 and 2 and diminished in 3. Even children can get a feel for these 'Jerk' characters and make them want to be prepared to topple their greatest challenge.

I've never really seen Arcanine as a tiger, and don't think I'll ever do.

It's just too dog-like.

@Meowpheel Exactly! I was starting to feel I was the only one.
I mean, other than the pattern there's nothing that looks tiger-like. Just looking at the tail or the nose it's pretty easy to notice it's more like a dog.

HAHAHAHA This is amazing.
Also the Pokémon Eclipse art by Deltheor is just too much (which is good)

And as far removed from the original as the new generation may seem in terms of difficulty... I'd go as far as to say that they aren't as simplified as it seems. Yes, the explanation on attack super effectivenesses, plus the handout of friends over rivals gives it a less adult vibe, but heightened mechanics in the newer generations r.e. EV training and Shiny Hunting by far outweigh this.

#TeamYungoos

@iKhan I saw the demo at E3 and I got the same feeling. They even tell you when a move is super effective, deals neutral damage or is not very effective; I know the new additions are more convenient, but it seems you don't really have to think about anything at all anymore.

@IceClimbers

Depends on what difficulty you are referring to. Combat difficulty is the same (X/Y were a bit on the easy side, but that was one game), but I don't care that much about that. However, newer games in the series have removed a lot of the elements that force players to actively think. The Snorlax encounter in X/Y is a great example, where rather than letting the player figure it out by talking to characters in the worlds, you are told where the PokeFlute is and how to get it.

The stories have always been hot garbage, which is why it blows my mind why Game Freak focuses so damn much on them in recent games. The stories aren't better, they are just more intrusive on my desire to go unfold "my very own Pokemon Legacy"

Arcanine is a dog.

@justinu

See this is where I really get upset with Game Freak's approach. People say "oh the competitive seen is way more difficult and complex so it's okay", but that ignores 20-30 hours of single-player gameplay. I don't really play Pokemon competitively, and when I want to scratch that competitive itch, I use something like Pokemon Showdown to skip the endless grinding.

Arcanine isnt just a dog tho, it is very obviously based on a hybrid of dog and tiger. The orange and black stripes are obviously a tiger pattern, and doglike as it is, that's the closest thing to a Fire type tiger that Game Freak will make you (unless Littens evo is a tiger) so I don't know why you're complaining

@FriedSquid haven't you noticed it's cool to complain about franchises you used to like but now hate because Nintendo screwed up?

I really don't get it though, okay you don't like Pokémon anymore, but why make a scene? Who cares if you like it or not, if it's not your thing then don't play it. Unless you have something to contribute with don't comment.

i don't know why everyone is so surprised that they have made the game easier. this is a franchise that is primarily aimed at kids. There are plenty of hard games to play that Pokemon doesn't have to be one of them. And second of all the game isn't out yet or near done so how does GameXplain know what the story is? Honestly no one is forcing you to play this game or even use the move mechanic. I mean it's not like Red had such a deep story, Pokemon has never been about that.
I am one who is beyond excited for the game and I can't wait to delve into this world. I'm one of those few people who enjoys a game for just the heck of it. I don't let other people tell me how good a game is. I play games to de-stress and not for difficulty level.

Yeah what @AlliMeadow said

Kids in the 90s didn't play Pokemon for its story, difficulty, and puzzle-solving, and kids today won't either.

it needs a difficulty option

@FriedSquid

The thing is that difficulty was never a problem in previous Pokemon games. So telling the player exactly what to do and how to do it doesn't solve an actual problem. All it does is make the game less interactive.

Also I don't think people understand my story complaint. I'm not complaining that stories have gotten worse. I'm complaining that they are just as bad, but now way more intrusive upon the experience.

A big part of the series was the world and the exploration. Thats what made the collection aspect so cool, you felt you were going around the world finding these cool things yourself. In remember back in high school I was replaying Crystal and I saw a Phanphy on the first route, and I felt awesome.

@Pokefanmum82 Children aren't stupid; making it easier and adding more handholding because it's aimed at younger people is a terrible excuse.

@DarthNocturnal No harm in making it optional though. Easy mode and ''traditional'' mode, there, done.

How exactly is it rose-colored? Catching Phanphy on the first route is not intuitive. You have to go off route, then get the luck of the draw in the grass. When I was in high school the series was finishing Gen 4.

@Octane i never said my children were idiots but honestly who expects a 4,7 and 9 year old to know everything there is to know about pokemon and how to play it. there's nothing wrong with my kids getting a helping hand in playing a game.

@Pokefanmum82 Children possess the great ability to pick up things and learn them, and they do that really fast. I wasn't four years old when the first game came out, but I've seen my younger cousins pick up the early games without any trouble. Sure they got stuck and spent a few minutes trying to figure out what to do next, but that's it really. The Pokémon games were never really difficult to begin with, so I don't understand why they have to be made easier with every generation.

I don't really have a problem with them streamlining everything and making it easier for kids, in fact some of the conveniences they're introducing are things I actually welcome (such as the Rotom Dex and the revamped battle interface). The problem is when that streamlining enforces a dumbed down experience on older fans that don't want it. We've seen a lot of that with the linear region design of Unova and Kalos and the roster limits on trainers in that region (can we please get a gym leader with more than 3 Pokemon again? Please?). What I see of this game looks promising in that aspect though, because while they have taken measures to make the game more accessible for kids, they also seem to have opened the region design back up. Hopefully the difficulty can follow suit, if so this could easily be the best Pokemon game in almost a decade.

Even though it's a legendary, Raikou has always come across as a tiger to me. I know that Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are popularly referred to as the legendary "dogs", but I've always felt that they more resemble big cats.

Raikou = tiger
Entei = lion
Suicune = cheetah

Also, I always thought Arcanine was based on the mythological tiger-dog, but the name (in English, at least) seems to suggest that it's a canine.

As for the lowering difficulty in the Pokemon games, I think this could be solved by having a type of hard mode available from the start. If I recall, Black/White 2 had a challenge mode and an easy mode, respectively. The only catch was that you had to beat the game on its normal setting first.