Topic: Pokemon Sword & Shield

I had written a huge post on random encounters, but then nintendolife went offline >.> So here's a summary:

I think the mainline games and Let's Go need to compromise. Like others said you don't want to spoil the surprise by having all the new Pokémon walk around in the overworld. However since the Galar region has improved scenery and a more open feel, it would be a waste not to have Pokémon roam those beautiful fields. Imagine a herd of Tauros, a Pokémon players are already familiar with. This would help make the world feel like it also belongs to the Pokémon, not just trainers.

Don't remove random enounters completely but implement them in a more natural way. Grass encounters are fine but they should make them a bit more realistic regarding size. They could make it so that after you encountered a Pokémon for the first time, they become recognizable. For example Pikachu's ears sticking out of the grass. Give the player the option to pass on a Pokémon they're acquainted with and let them be surprised by new Pokémon.

So, don't get rid of ambush encounters either. Like the surprise attack from underground or a bird Pokémon sweeping in from a tree. They should get creative with this and use it for new Pokémon.

So basically have some familiar Pokémon visible in the overworld to make it feel like a natural environment. Keep random encounters but don't force it too hard. Pokémon shouldn't appear out of thin air either, It's not a bloody magic show!!

I never hated the Let's Go games, but I do have to say I could barely get into it and haven't played it much since I bought it on release. I'm one of those people who enjoys grinding their Pokemon to higher levels through random encounters. While I do think being able to see the Pokemon in the wild is nice, having to catch (instead of battling) them and earning XP through how well you "throw" the Pokeball is not something I can ever get behind. If they had only allowed you to battle wild Pokemon next to being able to get XP from catching them, I'd have loved the games.

It’s easier for Gamefreak to do the random grass encounter thing. Even with the Pokémon appearing in the overworld in Let’s Go I wouldn’t say it looked very good or natural. The Pokémon were just spewing and walking aimlessly around, and hardly felt like a part of the actual area.

instead of having to actually build large environments to incorporate them in they can just place some patches of grass on the sides of roads and shove the Pokémon in there.

How about FF XIII Random Battle style for Pokemon ?
We can see the wild Pokemons, they will come to you and the Battle happened on Paralel stage.

@ALinkToMyProfile Pretty much that. If you're going to do overworld Pokemon, do it right. Keep the surprises in by using tall grass (and other hiding places) in an effective way, but make it so you're able to locate the Pokemon more easily. More interaction with the environment and all that. But if they're going to opt for the Brownian motion paths like they did in LGPE, I rather have the ''traditional'' random encounters.

That is pretty good, The only one that kind of seems wierd to me is the Sobble evolution. Could be similar to the actual one though, don't really know.

Grookey is the most convincing looking I think, the bunny is ok, and Sobble is ridiculous.

@Harmonie There might be some of that too, but I think a lot of the people that are upset with this game are also upset with many of the recent games, they’re just not making the kinds of changes people want to see. I haven’t genuinely enjoyed a Pokémon game since BW2 and this game looks to be more of the same of what I’ve hated about the games since. So yes, I’ll keep complaining until they actually listen to me.

I agree but, as Delibheel said, you don't really miss out on anything if you only buy one. What I don't like is the enhanced versions (Platinum, USUM etc) because if you don't buy them you miss out on some new content, but they're full-price games that only have minimal additions. Why can't they just put all the content in the original version of the game, either at launch or as DLC? /rant

@Dogorilla Well, you miss out on some cool Pokemon. Even the third version doesn't include them all. Although, looking at their recent games, the last time we got a ''third'' version was Platinum. Gen 5 and 7 got two ''enhanced'' versions.

@Octane Now that online trading is a thing you can easily get the version exclusives in either version though.
I'd say Black and White 2 was different enough to count as a proper sequel, not just an enhanced version. USUM is the same kind of thing as the third versions from Gen 1-4, it's just that it's split into two (near-identical) releases.

Problem is, with this whole trading business, is that I don’t have any friends. Online trading is for chumps.

@Tsurii I know. And if I want a version exclusive I'm sure I can find someone on here in no time, but it's a bit silly isn't it? You're immersed in the game, only to stop, go online, find someone to trade with, etc. It's not the end of the world, but I'd love it if everything was available in a single version of the game.

I could actually do without the trading business as well.

Unlock legendaries and other starters at the end of long, in-game quest lines.

But I'm fine with the way it is right now as well. Except for event Pokemon, and stuff like Mew being hidden behind a paywall. Not cool. I want to be able to pick the games up whenever and collect all the Pokemon.

Honestly, before Pokemon can go open-world or even semi-open world in the vein of Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time, it needs to have wild Pokemon visible in the overworld. Having a game with large spaces characteristic of open-world games would be pointless and may even make the games worse if there's nothing to see or do except wasting time running through very large patches of grass or run long distances to get from one trainer to another. Until they incorporate visible overworld wild Pokemon into the mainline games, there honestly is no point in making the game larger.

@Ralizah I agree, if you get the game later with the stupid events, its very unlikely you can catch all of them, Games should include all of them. I like the trading system though, I liked doing it with my friends and it can make it easier to get rarer pokemon if you're friends will trade them.

@shadow-wolf Isn't the general setup regarding people who want open world Pokemon essentially a case of removing the turn based battle system in favour of something like Pokken combat?

@Grumblevolcano Honestly I would Not be for that, I like the normal battle way and I feel like that would ruin the game if it was a mainline pokemon game

I don't think being open world necessitates overworld appearances of wild Pokemon. However, when I think about it, having wild Pokemon being in the overworld like in LGP/E looks very awkward, cluttered, and unnatural... And that's why I've never thought the idea was something I even wanted. Now when I think about it, a massive open world game with Pokemon appearing in the overworld would be quite delightful. Because then they wouldn't be cluttered in small 2.5D patches of grass... Instead they could all wander naturally in the landscape as a whole like animals do in Breath of the Wild.

If we think small with this feature like they did in LGP/E, it has absolutely 0 appeal to me, but in a BOTW style open world game it might actually work.

Also, I see nothing about the concept of open world that means that we can't keep turn-based battles.