Exp. Share Supposedly Can't Be Turned Off In The Pokémon Diamond And Pearl Remakes

won't someone think of the poor competitive players!

Well, nothing wrong for being too easy.
I'm very casual in Pokemon games so EXP shares for my six Pokemons is very helpful to level up faster.

Oi vey. This again?

It's extraordinarily simple. A yes/no option. Like you had it set before. No bells. No whistles. Nothing fancy. Just a gameplay option. One of many that used to be a option as before.

It's not even anger at this point. It's just befuddlement at removing work done already for individual player enjoyment.

Oh and yeah, TMs, sure, whatever.

One step forward, two steps back as always.

Pokémon Company never changes.

Seems quite odd they wouldn't take the whole..what maybe 20 minutes to include a toggle on/off option? Or maybe this is just for show and they'll do a "we heard you fans!!" and add it if it's not already there.

@Anti-Matter Not every player out there is like you.

That’s unfortunate. I wish it wasn’t mandatory for exp share. I actually enjoyed the grind of strengthening each member of my team. Not sure I want this anymore.

Remember when the main story in Pokemon games were challenging?

Why single use TMS? Why not the option of no exp share? Is that to hard to implement? Like I'm loving everything they are doing but this is.... Not fetch.

Ughhhhhh. There goes my interest. It doesn’t need to be pathetically easy. I’ve been playing Crystal and you actually need a brain in that game. My god, there has to be genuinely about 5 brain cells between them.

Man, they always, always, Give us something good, then right away they will add trash to the pile.

@BenAV I was about to say the same. Gen I required some grinding at parts in my experience, but other than that, all of the other games are generally a breeze.

The EXP share being permanent I don't really care about. I'm a casual player so it just cuts down on the grinding for me.

But the other two: one-use TMs and autosaving. These are both horrible, particularly the autosaving. "Ah, I accidentally killed the legendary. No worries I'll just reset real quick and... Hey, what's the little spinning wheel in the corner?"

@BenAV I wouldn't be surprised if auto-winning against lower leveled pokemon becomes a thing at one point in the series.

I mean, why not throw an exp device that allows your team to gain experience while walking in the overworld while we're at it?

@SeantheDon29 Next it’ll be ‘press A to skip the main game and immediately enter the postgame in which you slowly catch them all through timed event Pokemon’.

No, the early Pokemon games weren't exactly "difficult", we after all got through them all ourselves. What we remember being difficult was the surprise of a harder trainer challenge when unprepared and typically half-dead from battle and status aliments already.

Cynthia in her villa or Blue after Mt. Moon are not some insurmountable challenge when you're going around the second time through, but the first time is essentially finding the Ruby Weapon from FFVII in a random encounter.

Newer games have however considerably cut back on the wear-and-tear JRPG-ness of random encounters going from town to town drilled into the genre's very DNA since Dragon Quest. Poison doesn't actually poison you while traveling the world for example. And healing items/money are so plentiful you can drown in them compared to gens 1 and 2 especially.

@rushiosan
I have never played any Pokemon games before and i started to play Pokemon games from Pokemon X after i was curious to see some kids in my hometown started to play Pokemon X after being released so i have no idea about EXP sharing, TMs and everything about Pokemon games.
To see EXP share cannot be turned off, for me as newbie and casual gamer i saw as a welcome feature as it made the game easier for somebody who are not familiar with Pokemon games.
So, if most users here loathing for unable to turn off EXP share, I felt happy instead (less grinding) since i am a casual gamer for Pokemon franchise.

Also, i have experienced with Permanent EXP share from Yokai Watch games on 3DS.

I was 100% on board with BDSP from the start, but EXP Share always being on is a massive deal-breaker for me.

It’s not that EXP Share is bad, but the lack of an option to toggle it off is. XY, ORAS and S/M all managed to do this, so why on earth this stopped being a thing since the Let’s Go games has been a real annoyance.

I see people telling those complaining about the EXP Share being always on that this is a common staple for RPG’s these days. But so is auto-save?? And yet ILCA have made that optional.

It doesn’t hurt to give the players more options to let them play how they prefer to.

Honestly, I’m just disappointed.

Disclaimer: Copied my comment from the other article as this focuses on my specific gripe.

@BenAV They weren't the hardest games out there, but I do remember the old gym battles back then could kick my butt multiple times. Then there are the modern generations of games...where I could often one-shot their Pokemon and end the battle in just a couple of turns.

You can turn off EXP share? lol Had no idea when I played these back in the day.

That's extremely disappointing. Guess that's another skipped Pokemon game

Are you effing kidding me?
I know it wasn't Game Freak that developed this game, but it's exactly how they behave.
Unlimited TMs gave enormous variety and potential combinations with your Pokémon.

The Pokémon franchise will never evolve as long as Game Freak has control over it, they only know how to make simple games from 20 years in the past. Give it to a better developer like Namco.

@BloodNinja EXP Share was an item that you could give to one of your pokemon back in the day. It didn't share it among your entire team. These games aren't balanced around this, so the games just become even more easy then they already are

@Sora181 It’s been probably 15 years since I’ve played one so I’m sure I’m not remembering right. What was the system they used in Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green on the GBA?

Gen 1, I can beat with level 45 Pokemon, hardest was lance (without) legends. After the 8th badge they were level 38 give or take in levels, so some training was required. Gyms in Gen 2 is frustrating just saying...

According to Serebii TMs can be back after use but, didn't say the method...

@BenAV I mean heck look at mario kart 8, The game can play its self, But at least I can have it on or off, like damn, its not that hard to add a on or off button.

@BloodNinja They used that same EXP Share system. An item you equip to one pokemon to give them experience. It didn't start sharing EXP to your entire party until Gen 6 I believe and of course, starting from Gen 8, you couldn't turn it off

@Anti-Matter But why would it matter if you could turn it on or off? You would still be able to turn it on right?

I pretty much use a single Pokémon for 90%+ of the battles, so Exp Share on from the start has been a blessing since it was introduced. At least I see the evolutions of different Pokémon in my party.

That said, Game Freak could add it as an option for others who may enjoy the grinding that I find boring. Most games don't really offer optional quality-of-life enhancements, so I suppose that's their excuse.

I don't understand why they're forcing Exp Share All on us. I just don't. It was optional before. That was perfect. The people who want it can turn it on, those who don't turn it off.

Taking away options like this is just bad game design.

...man. The mandatory experience share thing is so dumb. Just give us the option, please. I like to have control over how I level up my teams.

Single-use TMs are fine IF every TM is at least renewable this time around. The big issue with single use TMs in the past is that many TMs were limited to 1 per save file. This was a horrible feature and I at least hope that that aspect has been remedied. But with Pokemon games I always have my doubts!

This is great news. Constant grinding was the worst, most unsatisfying part of older Pokemon games. Anyone who takes off their nostalgia glasses once in a while would agree.

I don't mind exp share, but single use tm drops my interest

@Snatcher
I have no idea about turn off EXP share but i will not turn off EXP share since i need EXP share for my six Pokemons for entire game to get level up faster.

@CharlieGirl So what's wrong with just giving us the option to turn it off? More options in video games is never a bad thing

@Anti-Matter Oh no I understand that, But I'm wondering why be happy with the fact that wont let you turn it off? When you wasn't going to take it off anyway?

@CharlieGirl I actually still played that way for the the most part. At least up until Sword and Shield. I kept it off most of the time. But would toggle it on every now and then if I wanted to level up a specific Pokèmon. But otherwise z I enjoyed rotating Pokèmon through battles and leveling them up the old fashioned way.

I think in the end, the argument isn't necessarily that it exist. But why move away from making it optional. I just can't wrap my head around why they've become so against giving players the option. As I said in a previous article, it isn't necessarily a deal breaker. At least for me personally. But it just seems like an odd decision

@Sora181 Thanks

@Snatcher
If i remembered from my Pokemon White 2 DS, no EXP share = only 1 active Pokemon level up after battle.
With EXP Share = every Pokemons will level up even they didn't participate in Battle.
For me, leveling up all Pokemon with EXP Share will make the game easier for casual or newbie gamers.
So better EXP Share cannot be turned off and all my six Pokemon will keep leveling up even without enggaged in Battle.

Remember when exp share was an obtainable item in late game instead of being a crutch?

@BloodNinja No problem!

I wasn't going to get these games for a while if ever, but this means I will never get these games. Makes no sense to me to force exp-share. The games are too easy as it is, so this just seals the deal. I didn't know any games had multi use TMs, but I never use TMs anyway as another way to make the game an actual challenge. Are Sword and Shield like this as well? Because I was eventually going to pick 1 of those up...

There’s no good reason that EXP share has to be always on, especially if that wasn’t the case in the originals

It's fine what it's there from the beginning, but why can't we toggle it like we used to?

I purchased and beat Shin Megami Tensei IV after being severely disappointed by Pokemon X/Y. It was far superior to any modern day Pokemon game. There's no good reason to even purchase a Pokemon game anymore as the creators are actively insulting the intelligence of the players by making poor decisions like not allowing Exp Share to be turned off. To anyone who reads this comment and is bothered by the recent decline in quality of Pokemon, I highly recommend that you give the Shin Megami Tensei series a try. It's basically Pokemon but the game is deep and forces you to actually use your brain, which in this case, is very enjoyable.

@somebread Pokémon is just casual games at this point, wish they could return to the more hard-core games, but it is how it is sadly

I don't understand with negativity here.
Permanent EXP Share is a really huge deal for me since every Pokemons i bring will level up even they don't participate in Battle.
It's a welcome feature for newbie and casual gamer like me.

The EXP Share being on doesn't matter much to me, I've dealt with that in Let's Go and Sword, but going back to single use TMs does make me wonder if I should bother picking up the remakes. That's a big loss in terms of personalizing my team.

@CharlieGirl It isn't nostalgia glasses, and the very idea that it's the main reason people don't like it being not optional is foolishly dismissive.

There's nothing wrong with giving players the choice to play the game how they want, and grinding as it is, is a traditional part of the JRPG experience. Some people actually like doing it and putting time into leveling their individual Pokemon. What about taking away that choice is a good thing?

@Sora181 Wait a second, is that Roll riding Rush?! Did you draw that or find it somewhere, it's really cool!

I was still debating whether or not to buy the remakes of my favorite Pokemon games. I finally know the answer! wtf no

TRs are single use in Sword and Shield and it hasn’t been a problem, its not suddenly a problem in BDSP.

The single use MT is really a good thing.

One of the reasons why recent Pokémon game were extremely easy is because you can change the moveset how you want in any moment.
I loved when I had to actually think about wich moves were the best and I had to keep for my Pokémon.

Honestly, focusing so much on the competitive scene was the biggest error of the series, as long as I'm concerned.

@Anti-Matter friend, I think I don’t understand how YOU don’t understand why people are annoyed. Why is permanent EXP share a big deal? What do you lose in this game by allowing people to turn it off? Do you hate other people for wanting to play how they want? I’m assuming you don’t, but that’s how you sound.

Pokémon is a game series that allows a lot of player freedom in terms of how they construct their team. Similarly, it challenges people in various ways. One of the challenges in old games is team management, not only by looking into type coverage, but also making sure that everyone is of a decent level and ensuring that you don’t put all your experience points into one Pokémon. This has benefits of actually making people use different Pokémon and it gives at least some extra decision making to prevent the whole process from being mindless. You’re a casual gamer, so you don’t mind mowing down teams carefree, but others like training their Pokémon because that’s how “training” works in real life. You can’t train something by keeping it in a cage for the whole time. It gave more immersion if being a Pokémon TRAINER, because Pokémon is still a role-playing game.

I like to have my team setup as so. Every Pokémon is the same level but my starter is three levels ahead of everyone else. That’s how I’ve done it in every single Pokémon game I’ve played since I was 8 because it feels right to me, and if there is no reason why I’m denied doing things the way I like, then I’ll be annoyed.

Stop bringing up the “you’re a newbie casual gamer” we don’t care. Do you represent the ENTIRE Pokémon fan base? Why are you not seeing the downsides to not allowing people to have the opportunity to enjoy the games in a franchise they like? Similarly why can’t they make one-use TMs an option instead of a required feature, surely you’d prefer that as well? But Gamefreaks lack of customisation is bull-headed and just annoys everyone.

@SeaFishelle No, they aren't, and you've deliberately misrepresented what I said.

Grinding being a traditional part of the JRPG experience is a fact. Stating that is not nostalgia talking. The aforementioned Dragon Quest series earlier in the comments is one such example, and some people preferring the Exp.Share being an optional thing isn't just a matter of nostalgia either.

Exp.Share being on all the time takes something outside of your control, without being given the choice to put it back in your control.

Now if you're going to try to argue it is purely nostalgia in different dressing in a manner that is not disingenuous and a strawman argument, then do so. Just know if you bother to respond with something that falls into either of those things, you will be ignored.

If anyone wants to try a Pokémon game with some teeth, try out the Inclement Emerald ROMhack. It came out a month ago and not only increases the challenge and improve the AI of Pokémon battles, but also includes more Pokémon from almost every generation with some older Pokémon getting buffs like Dustox being able to have the Unaware ability among many stat changes. Plus there are multiple difficulties that change how important EVs are during the game. Patches are still coming out but it’s a good time.

Great… the WORST feature of sword and Shield is back!! Yey!! Skipping this game.

@Supaguy
Why did you feel upset with my opinion about Permanent EXP share ?
I thought it was a good news for me since i'm not really a huge fan of Pokemon games.
I still have some interest with them but not as big as other games i played.
And i am really casual in Pokemon games, not really get into the game seriously.
Also, the Permanent EXP Share was a decision from the developer, not my decision. I just only hear the news about Permanent EXP share and i felt happy to hear that because Permanent EXP share is perfect for casual gamer like me. Less grindy, faster to finish the storyline.
Is that wrong for me to play Pokemon games casually ?
I didn't even hunt for every single Pokemon, just only collect some Pokemon that i have interest about.

@BloodNinja Yeah it is! An artist I knew drew it. https://twitter.com/ibara_380/status/1397186031645073408
It's a reference to Monster Hunter Rise

I never understood what was wrong with the Exp. Share. It made things a lot less tedious.

@Anti-Matter Not at all. It's fine if you play them casually.

Was actually looking forward to getting this after staying away since the original SM, but the more I read about this the less interested I get. How do they keep making 1 step forward and 3 steps back?

Its like during discussions about this game they intentionally approved all of the worst decisions.

@Anti-Matter I’m assuming English isn’t your first language. I’m not angry at you, I’m just asking you questions to get my point across. Although it can be hard to infer in text formats. Playing casually is perfectly fine but it just stings that it seems to be to the detriment of other player experiences. Which yes, are decisions by the developer, that’s what I’ve been saying. They’re bull-headed and heading only in one direction.

Like it or not, people are invested in this series, and each of them for different reasons. You play Pokémon for the story, which I never did, I played for the gameplay and overcoming challenges. Pokémon stories are not the big selling point for me, so GameFreak gutting out a lot of things except the story is not what I want.

I’m happy you can enjoy it, but I’m frustrated that I can’t for very easily remedied reasons. Although I don’t know why you brought up catching all the Pokémon, that task has been too time consuming and difficult since Gen 3 so we share common ground there.

@haniwa What do you mean 1 step forward? This game has been 100 steps backwards from day 1.

Doubts about purchase increasing.

😅I have ALL mainline GBA/DS/3DS/Switch PokéMon Games CIB...

...And have yet to even START them.

I will, one day, after I clear my backlog...

@haniwa Honestly, if you want a decent Pokémon experience there are some nice ROMhacks out there if you get that Pokémon itch.

@Yosher Why? It's only an experience share.

@Savage_Joe You didn't "have" to, you wanted to make it more challenging. Besides, it's just a video game.

I think they should bring back Exp All which basically was the current form of the Exp Share, but it should be optional. Then revert Exp Share back to been a held item for one Pokémon.

@mr-duster And the return of single use TMs. And there's more going on than just that really. Playing it too safe, art style not looking too great in my opinion, animations still not being up to par, etc.

@Yosher Admittedly, the single use TMs I'm not a huge fan of. All the rest really doesn't feel like that big of a deal. The art style looks fine for what they're going for, we don't know for sure if they're "playing it safe", because these remakes have ways of surprising us, and the whole "animations not perfect" thing has sort of run its course at this point.

@Yosher
So far Pokemon BDSP looks good to me.

@Savage_Joe The Pokemon games do have a level of challenge. They just made things so much less tedious in the long run. No more having to run back and forth from one route to another just to train one Pokemon. I hated that.

I haven't actually liked a new Pokémon release for a very very long time. Why do I still consider myself somebody who likes Pokémon then?

@Sora181 It’s awesome!

Totally on board with EXP SHARE. To me that’s a quality of life thing. I don’t play competitively but I do respect that scene…

Now, the TM thing is just …. I dunno…Unnecessary? I grew up with single-use TMs and HM slaves (sorry, I don’t like that word either) and haven’t had to deal with that stuff for generations. Now they’re telling me I have to again? Come on…

@Anti-Matter If you want the EXP Share on, having it be present but with the ability to turn it off if you want wouldn't affect you in the slightest. You could choose to keep it on and those of us who don't want it can turn it off. I don't see any possible way that it's better for anyone if it's forcibly left on as opposed to giving people the option.

Just to note, I'm one of the people who enjoys the new Pokemon games and is very much looking forward to these games, but I'm not a fan of how the EXP Share has changed over time.

Baby mode. I think i'm gonna skip this one.

I am getting kind of worried. This remake seems to be very basic in terms of what they could have done to improve on the original game. I don't know how much money I would spend on a game that is too similar to the original besides the graphics. I am thinking I will just hope that Pokémon Legends: Arceus is worth the wait and
play that game instead. I just hope it doesn't disappoint.

@Anti-Matter

People are not obset because there is XP-Share,
they are obset because there is no Option to turn it on and off as they wish.

Edit Topic.
The single use Items could make Sense to not make Battle Towers and else obsolet.

The EXP All made every Pokemon game a snoozefest. Pokemon was never hard but even 3 year olds have no trouble completing a Pokemon game now. Gen 5 was the last good generation.

Strange the they don’t give us the freedom of choice.
However, I usually play with the exp-share turned on anyway so not really a big problem for me.

@Anti-Matter Yes, but it's always better to have options. If I want to turn those off I want to be able to. That way everyone is happy.

@Clod Postgame battles with half-dead teams.

Well, I remember my first encounter with Silver in Mt. Moon in Gold. Like 100k-something Pokedollars at risk for failing, because Gen 2 mechanics.
Half a new team.
Winning that by beating his Alakazam, somehow dependent on a Houndour half its level.
The biggest stall battle I can recall having, pretty much because of the broken AI. I'm going to guess it wasn't going to use Future Sight until it had depleted all its other moves. And once I manage to make it waste its Recover, then it was done.

Single use TMs were an issue in old games when move number was very low and some Pokemon learned maybe one STAB move without them. But I have to admit multiple use TMs made me finally use them rather than hoard them in fear of "wasting" them.

@SmaggTheSmug
Well, the developer have decided with Permanent EXP Share and nothing can i do but welcome that easier feature for casual players.

Going forwards on the EXP Share but then backwards on the TMs just doesn't make sense.

Unlimited TMs encouraged experimentation and didn't make you afraid of wasting them on Pokemon that would turn out to be a bust. That was why I rarely used them in the earlier games.

@Mobiusman not really painting the competitive scene in a good light here

I wont be buying this Pokemon game. Ive purchased the last couole on switch and have always been left with a same old same old taste in my mouth afterwards. Albeit these newer games are a cake walk. By the time you get to the gym youve naturally over levelled and left with no challenge. Cmon, these gym leaders are supposed to be tough but instead they are no harder than steve, standing in the middle of a field who you battled with 5 minutes earlier.

@somebread I'm not even a competitive player. I just play. I actually play. Unlike 99% of the people here who goes through the "STORY". My god dude.

EXP share has become an industry standard in a lot of JRPG’s. Of course Pokémon would do it as well.

Yup, forgot about this little tidbit when I was slightly considering getting the game, but this seals the deal for me, I'm not getting it. I'll just play OG Platinum instead, would be cool to play the game on the big screen but I don't wanna deal with that nonsense.

I just cannot fathom why they cannot spend the 5 minutes needed to include the option to turn it off.

@BenAV And this is the answer. There's no further discussion to be had once somebody says this.

There is no good reason to not give players the choice. None.

Ok but hear me out...

What if... we just played the originals instead? Looks better, has the same content assuming its only 493 pokemon, XP share is a hold item, nothing changes with the TMs apparently, and online doesn't work... so no difference!

Jokes aside, these games just keep getting worse and worse, they had the ultimate setup with it being sinnoh, one of the most critically acclaimed regions that was possible pokemon at its peak era, and they somehow manage to make it worse when its a direct port basically... if there's 20 min timers back its too doomed.

Ah well, good ole' 'you'll buy it anyway' so nothing changes.

I just want the option to turn it off again, is that too much to ask?
Of course some people like it and some don't, but if you could toggle it, it would be perfect for everyone.

After seeing this yesterday I ordered a used copy of Platinum off ebay, it was an excellent game and I'd love to play it again (but don't want to delete my old save). I think I'll be playing this over the remakes this winter - I'm so excited for it to arrive!

Pokemon is a game made primarily for CHILDREN. Calm the ***** down, people.

Everone talking about exp share making it too easy but what about the fact it tells you which moves are super effective vs the pokemon.

Surely that is even worse! Takes away any thought whatsoever. Imagine playing chess but a champion player tells you where to move. At that point you are just playing a clicking simulator.

Idk whether to cancel my double pack order :/

I'm a bit torn on this. On the one hand, I don't think the lack of EXP share makes the game harder... just longer. It's removing a grind, not difficulty. On the other hand, it would be SO easy for them to give an option to turn it off.

Also the 'Pokemon' is for children thing is not an excuse. The original games were for children too.

Single use TMs, while not fun make sense because that was a thing back then.

Forced EXP Share is less good news, what I liked about the original games is that you can actually mess-up your leveling up before the league, now it will be way too easy because of this.

Great another Pokémon game where you end up massively over levelled for every encounter and can practically win any battle with any move.

Really don’t understand why you can’t turn this off like in past games, it was the closest thing we had to a difficulty option.

Like others have said Pokémon was never super hard or anything but now it’s become so easy it’s just tedious to play.

Btw I see some saying exp share is great now you don’t have to grind. Some of us just didn’t grind, Pokémon never really required much grind. You just go into battle with weaker Pokémon and win due to strategy. Most people who “grind” in reality are just over levelling their Pokémon and winning via brute force.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a problem with that, I just didn’t want that gameplay style forced on me.

Single-use TMs are something I could still get behind as long as the Pokédex and its fauna are complete.

@rushiosan think you'll find that most are, actually

How does this affect competitive again? Ive played ranked since x&y and never turned off exp share
Edit: pretty sure competitive refers to ranked and not story battles which are gonna be easy regardless

If they won't allow us to turn off exp share at the very least make the game more challenging for long time players.

A difficulty mode should not be that hard to add.

After playing tem tem grinding without an xp share option, this is welcome

@Anti-Matter You really live in your own little world, eh? How many more times are you going to make the same comment?

You do all realize level grinding, especially on the slow as fck Diamond and Pearl, is the worst right? Take off your nostalgia goggles and appreciate an actual quality of life improvement. Otherwise, y'all are just hating just for the heck of it.

Still have my original pearl game. Apart from the new coat of paint I'm not seeing any reason to purchase at this point.

@TyroKith
Every peoples have different life experiences that shaped their gaming experiences.
My life experiences have shaped me into casual gamer with completely different gameplay style, gaming choice and gaming knowledge.
If I played Pokemon games casually that's because I don't really have a big interest with the franchise but still want to continue the games with easy way to play since I was a newbie of Pokemon games from year 2013.

@twicesmt
There was never any need to grind in the OG Diamond & Pearl just as there has never been any need to grind in any of the Pokemon game I have played for the main campaign. The exp.share just makes you overleveled and further turns the game into a one shot fest, if that's what you're into, fair enough, but for me personally the exp.share is the difference that turns an easy game into a braindead one and is enough to turn me away especially when there is still the original version of the game avaialable.

Adding the option to turn it off would literally take them 5 minutes at best to program, there is no loss there.

Don’t mind single use TMs. Almost prefer it. Hate the forced XP share. Why can’t this be a toggle? I appreciate they gave auto-save a toggle.

I strongly dislike experience share.

Limited TMs, but mandatory experience share? Why is the pokemon company like this? Looks like I'm skipping this one then.

@Anti-Matter At least one more time I see! Haha

Still on the fence about this one, but I actually like this feature myself. I know, how dare I not bash every single thing about Pokemon.

I have skipped some of the games lately and there have definitely been design decisions I did not like, but I swear some people are just waiting for pokemon news 24/7 so they can smash their keyboards and scream about how every thing is "wrong."

@Expa0 I'd genuinely like to know what Pokemon game you played, especially the older ones, where you never had to grind for levels. Having the option to turn exp share on and off is the most ideal for sure, but that's also the case for simply just having different difficulty options in Pokemon, which has never happened ever.

In terms of Exp Share, I'd rather have that quality of life improvement, and adjust my party accordingly, than ever have the need to wander into tall grass battling one wild Pokemon after another.

why does Game Freak despise allowing players to control their own gameplay experience? Sword/Shield were way too easy, barely an inconvenience, and I would hope they actually listened to that

@Mando44646
Sword / Shield was easy enough for me to finish the game.
The game was quite good actually.

Just personally, I like individually leveling up each Pokémon at my own pace. Some call it grinding, but I find it comforting and relaxing. I like the battle system so spending hours just fighting battles is fun for me. All we're asking for is a toggle option :/

@Anti-Matter I thought it was meh at best.

Beyond that, I'm glad you finished it? I'm confused how that relates to my comment though. Giving players more options is always better

@Mando44646
I have experienced with no option (difficulty setting, specific customization , etc) from other games so I already get used to play kind of games like that.
Also, EXP share for all Pokemon you bring in journey is a benefit to level up quickly.
Be granted if you cannot turn it off since I have same experience from Yokai Watch 3DS games (EXP Share for all six active Yokai even when they got KO) with no option to turn off EXP Share and I enjoyed the games (Yokai Watch 1 - 3)

Personally, I love the EXP share feature - I’ve been playing since Ruby/Sapphire on GBA, and I remember the grind to get my entire party to a similar level (or, God forbid, a new Pokemon I had recently hatched and wanted to add to my lv.50+ team) as the most boring part of the game. As an adult with a full-time job and limited time for gaming, I just don’t have the time or patience for extensive grinding anymore, so this suits me just fine.

That said, GameFreak (or the studio developing the game, I guess) could have just made it an option to toggle on/off and made the entire fanbase happy on at least this one thing, instead of triggering the millionth round of complaints by a section of the players.

To anyone saying that the Exp. Share is a QOL improvement: You're right! In some cases. For pure grinding, it's great. But it can be better. The ability to toggle it on or off is the best form of QOL for the Exp. Share. There's literally no arguing against that. Being able to control whether Exp. and EVs are spread across your entire party or not is a QOL improvement over not having control.

Control over the Exp. Share can be important for many reasons. Sure, the casual player may never even consider turning it off and have a fine time with the game. But people who have been playing the games for a long time may not always want it on. Here are some examples:

• It makes it very difficult to maintain a party around the same level. There are six different "curves" that Pokemon follow for experience gain. If everyone is sharing Exp, a Pokemon that takes 156,250 experience to reach level 50 will be fighting almost every battle, while one that takes only 100,000 will just be sitting on the sidelines gaining levels despite never battling. By level 100, the range of experience curves is between 600,000 and 1,640,000. An entire MILLION more experience points needed to level some Pokemon up to 100. And yet the Exp. Share gives a flat 50% to every Pokemon in the party who didn't battle, and 100% to every Pokemon that did. The games are rarely balanced to factor in the sheer amount of Exp. flying around.
• It can lead to overleveling if the game hasn't been balanced for the extra Exp. Points the item creates, making the difficulty trivial. Judging from what we've seen of the mechanics so far... I'm not hopeful they've balanced anything. I wouldn't be surprised if the levels were exactly the same as the originals.
• In a nuzlocke overleveling can be especially debilitating to a run because many people play nuzlockes with level limits.
• The Exp. Share spreads EVs to all the Pokemon in your party. 95% of players probably have no idea what EVs are. But for the low percentage that do, it adds an extra wrinkle of party management to EV training if you're not able to turn it off.

The casual player loses nothing from the ability to turn the Exp. Share off. (This is why everyone keeps coming at you, @Anti-Matter, nothing about the way you play the game changes if we have this ability, so why are you against it?) It's a QOL improvement in some ways, but having it be permanent is a detriment in other ways.

I'm fine with EXP share, but for the love of Arceus don't do single use TMs. I don't want to have to constantly switch between Diamond, Home and Sword just to get the movesets I want.

The problem isn’t even the EXP share (though I would like the option to turn it off), it’s that the games aren’t balanced around the ability to level up everyone at once. I get the focus is not younger players, but that’s not an excuse for making a game that nearly plays itself. Kids deserve good games, too. There’s no reason that you should be able to one-shot a gym leader’s ace Pokémon because your own Pokémon are 5 levels than everything around you without even having to grind. There’s no sense of accomplishment if you don’t even have to try. That’s why everyone remembers Whitney and the Mt. Silver Red battle. And as remakes, I’ve got reason to doubt they’re going to be rebalancing them entirely as opposed to just porting everything over. Maybe they will surprise us, but...

I’d even settle for the ability to just make a self-imposed challenge because that’s normally what I do in Pokémon, but an inability to turn the EXP share on/off makes that much harder to do.

This is looking like it might be the first round of Pokémon games I skip, especially with Legends Arceus around the corner.

Happy to hear it. It's part of the experience that the developers have design for their game, if you don't like it then don't buy the game. These releases are going to make a ton of money.

It seems so weird to split the difference in a way that many people won't like. If they wanted to truly replicate the old games, then single use TMs and no EXP Share makes sense. If they want to replicate the current style, then EXP Share (and on/off option) and multi-use TMs makes sense. But doing both seems to please neither and is purposefully unfriendly. What a weird decision.

These games look like a disappointment.

@twicesmt Pokemon Black and White 2 had difficulty options, which people have been begging to return

Single use TMs are honestly obnoxious, and personally hated seeing that aspect of the game return in sword/shield through TRs. It just adds more incentive to cheat..

The TM bit is the final nail in the coffin for me. As someone who would almost never use a TM before they were unlimited (what if I teach it to the wrong pokemon? What if it'll learn a better move later along the line? What if I accidentally overwrite the move?!?), making them unlimited was a great ease of mind. I think I've given up on Pokemon games. I'll play MH: Stories 2 instead

@Bret
I wasn't against with option to turn off EXP Share but when the developer said you cannot turn off EXP share, my initial reaction was Yay...! 😀
That was a benefit for me because I have experienced with Permanent EXP Share from the beginning of the game in Yokai Watch 1 - 3 3DS since every six active Yokai I brought will get EXP points even when they didn't engaged in Battle. The better part you can boost the individual Yokai with EXP orb in different size from tiny orb 50 EXP until Infinite Holy Orb 20,000 EXP so a level 1 Yokai will suddenly leaped into level 25+ by given a single Infinite Holy orb. And different tribe of Yokai have different EXP point accumulation.

@Anti-Matter I'm not familiar enough with Yokai Watch to compare the two. I don't know what underlying systems are in that game while I'm intimately familiar with the systems in place in Pokemon. It is interesting that the different yokai have different experience curves as well, but the backlash for Pokemon's Exp. Share comes from the fact that it's been an option in past games and now it's suddenly a mandate.

I still can't understand why it excites you that they have taken away an option you wouldn't have used anyway. It feels like you're celebrating the fact that other people have lost something, even though you have gained nothing.

I actually love single-use TM's!

TM's became increasingly watered down and weaker over the generations since they were unlimited use. They also overshadowed Pokemon movesets since you would just teach every Pokemon you catch the same cookie-cutter TM's.

Single-use TM's makes your choices more important, and also makes the Pokemon who were taught these moves more important. It enables more powerful TM's to return without completely superseding regular Pokemon movesets. And it encourages an extra layer of post-game grind to collect more TM's through various activities.

Single-use TM's definitely is a more hardcore item management mechanic, and as shown in this comments section, it's not a popular mechanic for the mainstream crowd who is forever focused on convenience.

@Ulysses Yeah, I don't mind single use TMs as long as they're readily available postgame. During nuzlockes it's much more fun for them to be single use. Do I use this Psychic TM on Hypno because he needs a strong STAB move, even though I could still pick up a better psychic type like Starmie or Jynx later? Should I use this strong TM on this glass cannon even though it could die at any moment?

But once postgame hits and I'm building teams for competitive or for the Battle Tower or whatever, those TMs had better be available to me in some form so I can craft teams that aren't missing important parts.

@Bret
Well, the permanent EXP share was something that I experienced from Sword / Shield too so given by a condition where my six Pokemon I brought will get leveled up together even they didn't participate in Battle, it was something helpful for me.
Why did I feel excited with permanent EXP share ?
Because it was a benefit for me as casual gamer so it will be less grindy and I can quickly leveled up my other Pokemons.
It was also same experience I got from Yokai Watch games I played.

@CactusMan At least in those games, it's an option and it's not forced on you. Also unlike Pokemon, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario 3D World are excellent games

@Anti-Matter I get that it was helpful for you. But it's been there since the first 3DS game. This isn't something they newly added for the Switch games. All they changed was making it impossible to turn off. That's why people are disappointed.

Single use TMs? Really? Why are we moving backwards? I always end up holding onto my single use TMs for the whole damn game, afraid I'll use them and immediately regret it. I was so looking forward to Sinnoh with modern improvements and unlimited TMs was one of them so this is a huge bummer for me, personally. #casualplayer

With all these bonehead decisions being made by Gamefreak and ILCA I guess I can kiss playing modern Pokemon games goodbye. If you want an example of competitive and somewhat casual Pokemon games you're better off playing Pokemmo. Exp share and TMs in that game are items you can use one time with the caveat that you can buy them as items over and over again and it doesn't ruin the experience.

This is great, like my main problem with Mario games is they don't give you the Golden Tanuki suit automatically and make it impossible to turn off. So you have to do all the tedious aiming your jumps and boring dodging of enemies yourself. I'm an adult with a job so I don't have time for all that

In Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, only pokemon that holds EXP Share will get EXP and EVs. For casual gamers, this is quite tedious (I'm one of them.. with works and family, I've no time for this). I can understand why the devs want to remove that.

What they should do -> make EXP Share as a Key Item - we can toggle it on or off (on by default) just like in Generation VI to VII... this is a big QoL feature that I like in Generation VI to VII because EXP and EVs is awarded to all of the non-fainted Pokémon in the party.

BUT

by making it a permanent feature just like in Pokemon Let's Go, this is really unfair for gamers that bought and played the original games. This is a remake, a nostalgic one and clearly old gamers are one of their main target. When a company decided to implement/remove something, it doesn't mean that we aren't allowed to criticize it. Criticism works.

Source : Bulbapedia

not being able to turn the EXP share off is something i am neutral towards, but making TM's single use again is a bad idea, i like TMs being infinite use like how they were in every game from pokemon black/white up to sun/moon (haven't really played sword/shield)

@CactusMan Why would I want to have 5 eventual Gyarados? Literary just give us the option to turn it on or off. Giving players more options is never a bad thing

The days when Exp. Share was an actual item that you could get was better

Game series' going casual always ruins them. Worse if they get increasingly kid-friendly at the same time. Sorry but Pokemon are boring games now. It's easy with no excitement, risk, or reward. I don't want to walk around in a video game making friends all day long. Series has been bad since all the way back on Gen 3. Was hoping this version of Diamond would be better than the original since DS had the worst graphics of any console in history aside from the Wii.

Yeah no... Not getting it after seeing this

This decision makes perfect since, and to me is the most encouraging news I've seen about Pokémon in the while.

They clearly sat around at a table for hours, likely weeks, ball parking what changes they could make that the casual (who don't even use TMs and would never turn XP share off) and Japanese fans (who are the in the habit of using small party size to level up anyways, so already have control over XP share and didn't like the TM change) would barely notice, but would TROLL THE EVER-LOVING CRAP out of NA/EU fans. Thinking about it, I think that also comes though in the art style.

Without question, NA/EU Pokémon fans are the most toxic collective anywhere (not that they are all bad, but most of the "fandom" are the unredeemable adults the entitled children who's parents bought them a Gameboy have become, the largest "Team Karen!" anywhere in the world) screaming to boycott the games forever any time they learn that ANYTHING has been changed, but also any time they learn that ANYTHING is being kept the same. I see this as Nintendo saying "GOOD! STOP PLAYING! We passed "Hello Kitty" as the most recognized mascot in the world and if TPC was independent it would be worth more then Nintendo. These games are to Nintendo what the freaking COMICS are to the MCU (1). WE HATE YOU AND DO NOT NEED YOU"

I couldn't agree more.

1 - Fun fact: Every Marvel MCU movie other then "The Incredible Hulk" and "The First Avenger" has made a higher box office gross then the total sales of comic books. All of them. The entire industry. Worldwide. Over the history of it's existence"

Actually, there are conflicting reports about the EXP Share. GameXPlain for one claims it can be turned off.

Personally, I don't care about it and always play with it turned on (although unlike Anti-Matter I empathize with those who would like the option to turn it off if the games are indeed excluding that option). I think the bigger hit to the difficulty level is being able to access your PC from almost anywhere. Sure, it's a lot more convenient that way, but it removes any sense of difficulty from traveling through new areas beyond the first few routes (especially Team Plasma events) if you can just swap in fresh troops after every battle.

A good compromise would be to only allow the option in areas you've already previously traveled/beaten, similar to how flying always works (at least for your Pokémon storage; item storage probably doesn't need to be restricted like this). Once you've reached the next Pokémon Center for the first time or otherwise completed the area's story event, only then should you be able to access your Pokémon PC from the menu while in that area.

@TyroKith I believe I've seen elsewhere that the autosaving can be turned off.

Now the single use TMs are something that bothers me, but at least they're giving us more opportunities to get extra TMs this time.

@Anti-Matter What does it matter to you if it can be turned off? Just always keep it on like I do, and it will play exactly the same for you as it always has (at least since they made it a key item that affects the entire party). Whether the option is there or not, it's still a permanent EXP Share for players like you either way! It doesn't hurt you to exclude the option, but it's also not a benefit for you at all! If the option was there in Sword/Shield, you would've just kept it on all the time anyway and may not have noticed that the toggle even existed. Therefore, there's no reason to be happy about something that doesn't affect you at all but does affect others. To be happy about forcing it on everyone despite making no difference to you makes you seem like an arrogant a**hole who takes pride in the game promoting your play style at the expense of others.

There's absolutely no reason to remove an option for players who do want to turn it off, if that is indeed what these remakes are doing.

That sucks BIG TIME if so. The additional time you spend on levelling up your pokes extends the game and slows down its pace; adds to the immersion as you no longer breeze through everything too.
No commitment to decisions required anymore either with no 1-time TMs. FeelsBadMan. We in the MP era now. Behold and rejoice.

Man, getting rid of HMs and making TMs reusable were two of the best decisions they ever made.

I love the idea of permanent EXP Share, and I view it as a brilliant move from the developers.

In the same thread though, I HATE the fact that they made TMs one-shot again. Having reusable TMs was a major relief, and this comes from a guy who's played most of the games including the original Pearl, since Generation 1.

Also, autosave. While I realize that there are times when Autosave comes in very handy (I often forget to save my game manually and lose LOTS of progress on non-autosaved games if my device loses power, or if something else should happen to interrupt me) I also realize there are times when autosave may not be such a good thing.

Someone earlier in the comments mentioned Legendaries and how in previous games, you could replay a battle where you failed to catch one and try again by reloading your save. That's one place where Autosave would be a pain.

Now don't get me wrong; but I can see why they removed that ability: Technically, it's an exploit. However, it's such a popular way of guaranteeing a catch for certain powerful, one-time-only Pokémon that it's become a prominent feature in the gaming community. I honestly can't think of anyone who I know that plays Pokemon and doesn't use that method, even if it's technically not supposed to be allowed. Heck, I'm guilty of it myself!

The smart thing to do, IMHO, would be to give us a way to turn autosave on and off during play. That way we could have autosave at our convenience, so we didn't lose tons of progress if our Switch suddenly lost power for instance; but at the same time, we would be able to switch Autosave off during times when this convenience would actually be an inconvenience.