Game Freak Considered "Changing Up" The Battle System In Pokémon Sword And Shield

I agree. They are a lot of "4 move slot syndrome" pokemon that with an extra move, their coverage would be too good and present balancing issues.

However, I think its a bit difficult to try to change the current battle system without actually making a new one entirely. They already tried multiple pokemon in a battle (doubles, triples), variations of that (horde and rotation), a "Nuke button" in Z moves... Seems like Dynamax and Gigantamax was what they came up with (Unless they go crazy like the Tag Team pokemon cards in the TCG or something like that), so curious to see how much it will affect (or break!) the battle system.

The moment they change the battle system into some terrible action hybrid like a certain other JRPG series has done is the moment I'm out. Save that stuff for spinoffs, main entries shouldn't stray too far away from the turn-based gameplay that it has had since the beginning.

The game still isn't going to be balanced lol

@Expa0 This is my feeling exactly. These games have a solid formula, and the exciting new stuff in each new game comes with adding new Pokemon to that familiar formula. Meanwhile, sidegames are the perfect place to try new ideas. If an idea works well then you just started a new side series for people to enjoy. And with how bad they are about retaining fan favorite features (I'm still bitter that there are only three games in the core series where you can have a Pokemon following you) I don't trust them to make good changes to the core formula if they tried.

Yeah, messing around with other genres is why there's sidegame sub-franchises. Leave the main ones intact!

"Changing Up" the battle formula actually might've made justification for the lack of a National Dex if it were well executed. As it stands though, Game Freak doesn't have excuses for that debacle...

Lol remember when the reveal video where they used a very exact phrase that evokes the Botw mindset? We’ve gone from that clearly not being the reality to now apparently trying to evoke Smash Ultimate but just for the turn based battle system.

man if they let us have 5 moves i might've been able to put the dex issue aside, would put swsh in the different category rather than neutered for me.

the world is not ready for a dunsparce with five moves

I'm just gonna recycle my comments from DQXIS ... at least make what happens on screen seem exciting. Just because mechanically, you are offering the same slog you have for decades, does not mean folks necessary need to notice this 5 minutes into the game, a feeling that will also never leave them over the course of dozens of hours of play (if not more).

I mean, the camera can be moved, you know? It can work from odd angles, it can focus some areas, while blurring others, it can move with cuts and without ....... even at this most basic of all the basic'est levels alot can be done.
I'm not gonna take about how animations and special effects for Pokemon fights, can be used to overshadow any turn-based bore-fest feel. For reference just check your ... own animes really, or other recent jRPGs, that did really well (e. g. TMS#FE, which no one ever blames for turning into an action game ^^).

Just because you keep the mechanics stale, doesn't mean they have to look as stale as 20 years ago.

I'm not gonna lie, if they changed the core battle mechanics of Pokemon, that would probably kill it for me. That is my most core red line. To me, Pokemon just IS the turn based battle system that we have had since generation 1. There are things they can and have done to improve it, and there are somethings they still could potentially do. But if they changed it to something else all together, that's a deal breaker for me.

They could try a battle system like Divinity Original Sin.
That would be an interesting change.

Gamefreak: “we thought about changing the battle system... but then we couldn’t be bothered to. I mean if you think about it. If we are able to wow fans with curries that sounds like a game mechanic from 2001 then why would we need to”

Fans: “omg I can’t wait I’m buying both”

Gamefreak “see, told you”

Honestly I think it needs a core battle system change. I have played every game since Gen 1 released when I have a kid, and don't get me wrong I love turn-based JRPG's (my avatar and name are from a turn-based JRPG.) but Game Freak never adds anything new to the Pokemon games to keep me playing, I barely finish them any more because they just bore me.

The Battle system from Ni-No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch would be prefect for Pokemon, (if you don't know what it is then play it or look it up.)

They should use the Pokemon Masters system,
Limit what pokemon your partners can use but allow me to have and use any pokemon i catch. I like Pikachu but i don't want to be stuck with him.

I don't really want a core system change, but would be interested to see what they could come up with that works.
Maybe throw balance out the window and put out a co-op only pokemon title, where your moves and abilities are used to spec out healers, tanks, special/physical damage and CC abilities in an MMO style game. Speed up pokemon leveling and cap at level 20, but allow pokemon to reincarnate into lesser versions of themselves or other species while gaining small bonuses from the previous life (such as a move or minor stat increase) so that lower level players always have people to group with. Make end game the beginning game, and you'll suddenly have infinitely replayable titles. Then release content updates throughout the leveling process and new pokeon accessible behind either a monthly sub (for all-access) or a one-time fee per content update. Want to unlock the random double-battle 100 win challenge? $5. Nuzlocke-enforced options? Another fiver. Officially-supported SMOGON ruleset 2019? $5.

it looks anything but new..i am sooo disapointed ...they have just missed their chance

I have also considered buying an Xbox. Considering is nothing...

GameFreak ruined Pokemon. I’m no longer interested.

I had some resistance for turn based combat when I was younger, but then I tried Pokémon and it felt so right
You're a trainer, giving commands, so it made sense
Maybe they could try real-time command issuing or something like that in the future, but it's fine the way it was

Glad they didn't change it up. I'm seriously just going to start putting National Dex whiners on my Ignore list at this point. You're still going to buy SnS, so your pointless whining doesn't mean anything. These games can't come soon enough!

Dream world - Pokemon basically plays like Smash. If any of you have seen the game Rivals of Aether, you know how cool a 16bit pokemon "fighting" game could be. I wouldn't need it to be as complicated or in depth as smash or street fighter but I think it's time that the Pokemon series grows up a bit to make it a bit more skill based, not just strategy based. Maybe that could be a spin off on its own, but I would want it to have RPG elements to it, leveing up and such.

Now I don't know much about the Pokemon games anymore but what if instead of adding a 5th move, we had the option to keep all of our moves, in general, but can swap them out during battle. Maybe it takes a turn to swap out one move or something.

Why fix what isn't broken? As others have noted, we have spinoffs and side games for that.

Also, please do not reduce the move slots below four. I enjoy some aspects of Pokemon Go, but limited attack slots are handled isn't one of them.

Sounds to me like they're (un?)intentionally choking the life out of the single player content in favor of keeping their "balance" for multiplayer. How about we split the difference? I can think of two ways:

A: switch (haha) to a system where every Pokemon has a new energy pool (replacing individual move PP), but access to all their learned moves at any time like any other RPG. The limitation of the pool would encourage switching Pokemon more often.

B: same as above, except keep the 4 move limit, but allow the moves learned to be banked and swapped on the fly. There is NO reason why Pokemon can only remember four moves at once outside gameplay shenanigans.

The multiplayer would not suffer with the removal of PP, and the four move limit could still be implemented for it.

...AND THIS WHEN THEY RECOVERED FROM THE HANGOVER THEY GOT FROM ALL THAT DRINKING AND "BRAINSTORMING" THE NIGHT BEFORE.

I hate turn based "action" Really breaks the immersion for me

They always talk for nothing, it's absurd
"Yes we know that 4 attacks is really the best number of attacks because otherwise it's not balanced", well f*****g glad they said it otherwise I would never have noticed that since they have a turn-based combat system with 4 attacks for decades, the simple fact of changing the number of attacks will upset the whole design of the game built since day 1 and cause big imbalances, forcing us to change everything from A to Z, thanks Game Freak for warning us because it was a question we were all asking ourselves and we needed the advice of qualified people.
Now when do you stop laughing at people by coming out of half-finished games just to get the new ones in versions "3"? The still ridiculous animations and the national Pokédex?
I mean now I'm not bothering myself anymore, I know I wouldn't buy it, but I find it particularly pitiful to talk about topics that are, I find, absolutely irrelevant just to talk about the game and dodge the questions that are asked of them the most. The problem with Game Freak is that they make too many games at the same time and since Pokemon is successful, they can release games that are not crazy and still make a lot of crazy money. The fact that it doesn't make people react questions me, because for Mario Kart Tour, everyone reacts. For Battlefront 2, everyone reacts. But for Pokemon, which releases "good" versions almost every other time, there is nothing.
So I'm patiently waiting for the day when Game Freak will no longer develop Pokemon games and someone else will take the torch. Maybe that day will never come, but I will patiently wait for eternity, and the day that it comes, a flame of hope will be reborn, maybe that flame will go out directly, or maybe it will shine with a thousand fires to become something very beautiful.
Game Freak, on the other hand, only reminds me of a poop. Even "Town" reminds me of a poop, telling me that they don't get into a good Pokemon game just to develop an original not so good game (because they know deep down that they are losing influence and that they won't be on Pokemon forever, so they might as well try to build a presence with something else but well... They fail)

Anyway, concentrate and play a good game, at least for once.
Do you think Breath of the Wild could have been the game it is if the people who worked on it hadn't put all their energy into it? What if Nintendo hadn't concentrated the maximum number of resources required?
Of course not, otherwise each Zelda would be recognized as a big crazy slap in the face that redefines the video game at each iteration, except that it's not the case, we know that some of them are "just nice", but still when they saw the criticism about the formula becoming too repetitive, that Skyward Sword was proof that the game developers no longer had too many ideas about Zelda, they realized that something else had to do, and that it was good

While here for Pokemon, it's just a matter of making a lot of money while trying to make some original games to try to survive if there's ever more Pokemon to ensure their presence. Except that since they already make 2 different versions of Pokemon in addition to at least one original game, they find themselves doing things not crazy... The only thing that makes Pokemon good is that the formula at the beginning worked well, and so they've been doing the same thing ever since. I would love it if Nintendo could make a real Pokemon for once, a real RPG, as usual, but if they could take care of a real project, a very ambitious one... It could be very cool.

@Spudtendo We're not gonna be pawns, unlike you. Don't give money to those who don't deserve it!

@Browny
I've also thought about refreshing the 4-move limit, and my personal change would be committing to 4 moves on the fly.

At the start of each battle your Pokemon have their full list of learned moves in a separate column, and with each turn can freely choose any move. However, each choice locks in that move for the rest of the battle, maxing out at 4 moves. So basically, you're retroactively choosing your Pokemon's 4-move set on the fly with each battle.

This would open up a Pokemon's moveset if you keep them in your team for specific moves like False Swipe, Hypnosis, etc. It would also give competitive battles a lot of room for spontaneity and unpredictability, like forcing your opponent to choose certain moves defensively to limit their Pokemon's offensive move pools.

This article makes me want to try Pokémon Conquest on the DS. Not sure what they could do with the battle system but if the game keeps selling then not sure Game Freak want to risk shaking things up.

@Xaessya ehh that would just make it feel like a crpg like fallout 1&2 or wasteland 2. I like that kinda game but I really feel pokemon needs to stay in the turn based battles it already has. Gamefreak doesn't need to pull a square and change the battle system in every game like they do to final fantasy.

Of all the controversial things in Sword/Shield, this would have been probably the final straw...
Well, I'll see how "ultimate" is it when the game launches (or a special demo at least)

@iLikeUrAttitude
I don't think it's reasonable to think a Pokemon game will ever be completely balanced; in what world would a Delibird be as viable as a Dragonite? I'm curious though for this entry though: they seem to be indicating that they will be introducing more measures to make the field more balanced so a higher percentage will be viable.

Unpopular opinion, but I actually think the no-national-dex call will help the balancing too.

make having five moves an option, like doubles, or battle royale, and only for certain pokemon, preferably the less powerful ones, no slaking, garchomp, legendaries,mythicals and so on.

@Spudtendo "Oh no, I can't take the opinions of others, so I'll just put them on an ignore list instead!" Dude, grow up. Why bother wading in the comments thread if you're not gonna do actual discourse? I'd understand if the people you're putting on mute are rude and cusses you out. No, just because of a difference of opinion, you're muting people. I mean, I don't even have a horse in the National Dex issue, so this really doesn't bother me either way, just found your, uh, "discussion" methods suspect.

Also, I'm pretty sure many hardliners in the Dex issue are adamant about not buying the new games. It just won't show in the sales figures because there are more new players today who don't have as much of a history with Pokemon as those hardliners, more than enough to negate their boycott. Growing world population vis-a-vis statistics and all that.

4 move, turn based has worked for 23 years - why change a winning formula only to break the game. There would be international uproar if Game Freak suddenly decided to change the core game mechanics that we know and love so well.