Topic: Pokémon Sun & Moon - Discussion & Speculation

They don't need to add in a boring sidequest just to make the game feel more alive, there are much better ways to accomplish that goal.Pokeride already does that job well enough and has the potential to add more content to the game. Beyond that, how about sidequests that are actually, you know, sidequests? Something that requires a little more work to complete and has a better reward than just money. This is just a waste of time for something that isn't that fun.

@Bolt_Strike Then don't do it. Others will enjoy it. Seriously, you're complaining about something that shouldn't affect you at all. It wasn't in any previous games so you're not losing anything by forgoing it, and it's not taking the place of fun institutions so you're not losing anything by it being there. It literally shouldn't affect you. In fact, it'll be a godsend for those who run into a bit of trouble when it comes to in-game currency.

Heck, you should at least be happy that Pokemon are actually adhering to their own lore and appearing in the overworld doing things the 'dex says they do.

My problem with all of those activities is that they're all a "mode." Like, you don't walk along a route and run into most of them: You have to go to a specific city, enter a building, and talk to an NPC to start them. I really enjoyed pokemon contests and the underground, but they're both totally ancillary to the main game: a Pokemon game. I just hope they go further in the direction of actually telling stories—role playing—with these creatures.

@Haru17 What I don't like about battle facilities is that there isn't a title to gain for beating the head honchos. In the main game you get to become the Champion. You actually feel rewarded by getting gym badges. When you beat battle facilities they're all like: Yeah here's a cool little trophy thing for beating something infinitely harder than the Elite Four. They don't even give you good story incentives for competing in the Battle Facilities. I wish the battles took place outside, and that there would be a tournament styled choice list. I also wish there would be some type of special "official" feeling prize for beating whatever you need to beat. Honestly this is why the World Tournament was amazing. I hope they bring something similar to that back, and make up some new type of position higher than Champion (World Champion for instance, something after you beat every other past Champion in the new and improved World Tournament Frontier).

I actually really love how Shinnoh incorporated the underground.

It was 100% optional, quite fun and worth visiting every now and then.

You didn't go there to have battles, it was all about mining and exploring (and if you had friends, then it was like a whole new game).

And every town had vents to keep it safe, so it was like a real part of the world instead of, say, the online theme park from platinum.

That's a pretty nitpicky difference to claim that it offers less than a minor sidequest. Fact is, they offer much, much more content that the Pyukumuku throwing. And until I see any indication that this is anything comparable in scale to those "modes" there's nothing to really get excited about. It's just objectively not on the same level.

@Tsurii I agree. I'd even like full fledged character side stories that you can do at any point while playing the game. Like, imagine things like the Delta Episode and the Looker Sidequest being available all over the Pokemon world for you to do as soon as you discover a new area. Not only does that open up a lot of optional things for you to do during the main playthrough and postgame, but it really gives all of these side characters some actual depth (not to mention it makes the game feel a bit more real, because there's no way your character would realistically only go from gym to gym to gym. It'd burn them out!)

A random idea just sprung to mind that I would like to see incorporated into the Pokémon franchise...

For sexless, magnet/data-based Pokémon such as Magnemite, Rotom, Porygon, Klink, Beldum etc., I think they should introduce an Electric Charge category so that they can be either Positive/Negative in lieu of Male/Female. This could result in a new egg group (Magnetic?) in which such Pokémon are not forced to breed with Ditto in order to reproduce. Pokémon such as Klink and Magnemite will finally be able to breed and potentially pass on traits, egg moves etc. It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, yes, but it could pave the way for some interesting possibilities in-game. Perhaps pairing Positive/Negative Pokémon could have consequences (or benefits) during Double/Triple Battles (such as two adjacent Pokémon of the same charge being unable to attack, while two adjacent Pokémon of opposite charges will benefit each other). A magnetic Pokémon will also be incapable of physically attacking a Pokémon of the same charge as it (special attacks will be unaffected), while physical attacks toward a Pokémon of an opposite charge could deal greater damage.

To avoid Wobbuffet v.s. Wobbuffet style situations, two adjacent same-charge Pokémon can suffer from a bit of damage each turn, and players should finally be able to choose precisely how many Pokémon they would like to use during a double/triple/rotation battle, rather than being forced to use multiple Pokémon at a time.

Other sexless and legendary Pokémon can remain as such, however.

Who said I wanted a bland, empty region? There's a world of difference between those two feelings, what I'm saying is that the bits and pieces do little to nothing to create that feeling and you need something on a larger scale to create that sense of world building. Kalos had similar bits and pieces to it and that didn't save the region from feeling bland and empty, it was bland and empty because it didn't have substance, there was too little extra content to really flesh out the region. This suffers a similar problem, and overall we haven't seen the game as a whole rectify the problem either. We don't have that big sidequest like the Contests, Secret Bases, etc. of past regions that really made the game and the region feel alive.

Western classification bodies are generally much MUCH stricter now when it comes to gambling content in their games since the early days of the 3DS' lifespan. Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver were originally classified G in Australia with no consumer warning whatsoever. Beginning with Crystal version through to Platinum (which was the last Pokémon game to have the Game Corner in Australia), the games were classified PG for "Mild gambling references", despite Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver containing the very same "gambling" content. I suspect that if any of the original Pokémon games were to be reclassified today (and they legally do not need to be reclassified in Australia so long as the content remains the same, no matter what platform it is released on), they could receive a classification as high as M (!) for "Simulated gambling" (Australia's M rating is roughly equivalent to PEGI's 12 rating and ESRB's T rating). Similarly, the original games were recently rated 12 by PEGI. A far cry from the 3 rating given to HeartGold/SoulSilver/Black/White and the like.

Australia is perhaps the strictest concerning gambling content, giving games such as Mario Party DS, Wario Land: The Shake Dimension and even Wii Party U PG ratings for "Mild gambling references", even though I struggle to discern exactly what these gambling references that they are referring to are (and they seem to interpret "gambling" very loosely). More recently, Kirby: Planet Robobot was rated PG for "Mild violence and gambling references", however, I am yet to buy the game and cannot comment. The other classification bodies have made no reference to any form of gambling whatsoever in their classifications of the aforementioned games.

Up until around 5-6 years ago, I had never seen a game receive a classification greater than PG for gambling content. Now it seems that games with any type of "realistic" gambling content (whether it be a game of blackjack or a slot machine etc.) are now slapped with an M rating by default.

The hypocrisy here is that a game like Pokémon Shuffle, which is rated G, allow players to spend REAL currency for the mere CHANCE to beat a stage more easily (and there's no guarantee that they will), which I would argue is far more detrimental and would constitute gambling to a greater degree than the arguably innocuous content contained in Red/Blue/Yellow, which use only virtual currency, and the gambling content in the Pokémon games constitutes an incidental, almost negligible part of the overall experience to the point that it isn't much of a concern (except for those obsessively trying to get their hands on a Porygon).

In my opinion, games that contain any kind of gambling with real currency should be given an adult rating (18+). Just as a child would be barred access from the facilities of a casino, so should children be barred from accessing games that encourage the use of real money for only the chance to advance through a game.

At the same time, there should be a distinct boundry between casual friendly gambling, and mature gambling. By default anything that has any sort of gambling should be M or above in your ratings or in general by the current system's ratings.

Yet you look at other categories like blood or gore and there is a distinct difference between the games that are M and T. For example, a zombie game thats rated T would have some gore it in since the zombies on constantly bleeding, or losing limbs, but then in say halo reach, there is just the blood of your character should you get hurt, yet the different is T for the zombie game, M for halo.

Its not like kirby 64 was rated T for the bleeding zero two at the end, or earthbound being T for the several suggestive themes, crude humor, and I think some gambling. What about diamond pearl or platinum when you had to pick a lottery number for a chance to get a master ball or something like that? Was that gambling?

Lotteries are fine, as long as they're free. Apparently.

Who wanted voltorb flip to unlock ANYTHING in the games?

They couldn't think of something different?

I just stopped by to say that Voltorb Flip was the best minigame ever in a Pokémon game. I literally spend an hour one day playing Voltorb Flip and listening to that awesome Game Corner music.

I have to admit that I was never too good at it. So I never got enough coins for anything.

They could always just give you minigames that you pay for but get tickets in exchange for your performance that will allow you to buy prizes. That's viewed as a-ok for kids in America, so it seems like a legit way to reincorporate gambling sneakily.

Besides, virtual air hockey and skee ball would be awesome!

Voltorb Flip > Game Corner. At least Voltorb Flip has a sense of skill and strategy to it, unlike the Game Corner which is mainly luck and reflexes.

I'd like voltorb flip more if there was a way to... Get the coins without having to play it.

I felt sorry for the game corner owner in ORAS; I felt like it was a sad, winking nod to the many crazy game corner days gone by in previous entries. I never had much patience for it, half the time I just bought the required amount of coins needed for something. XD

According to VGChartz, Pokémon ORAS is back at the no.1 spot for the last week of July, the week before it sat at no.89. Pokémon XY went from 147 to no.4. Let's see how long the GO craze can keep these numbers up.