Let's face facts:

Pokemon is currently a stale RPG that's been going through the same motions for years. It's time for it to have a revolution.

Throw ideas here for how to remake Pokemon.

My first:

New Battle System
The battle system needs to let you control the Pokemon in real-time. You need to be able to control the abilities and movement of the Pokemon you have at any given time.

Second:

Pokemon needs to be an MMO on a full Nintendo console
We need to see Pokemon using the power of a full-scaled system. Handhelds are fine, but we need a Pokemon only a console can do. And it needs to be a MMO.

Imagine Pokemon Trainers, Breeders, Photographers (Pokemon Snap Online????), Nurses, and more working online.

I'd really like the MMO idea.
I found the concept of Pokemon Rumble fun, but would be cooler if it was implemented in the form of an MMO with full move sets instead of toys with 2 moves.

Firstly:

There are too many pokemon. Hell, some of the new pokemon look like the older pokemon. That, sir, is laziness.

Second:

There should be a wider variety of options for pokemon to choose when you first start your quest.

Third:

More interesting quests. Once the game gets beaten, the game gets rather tedious. Hell, I put down the most recent pokemon game without finishing. It's the same song and dance. Introduce new concepts.

Pokemon party game? Pokemon Chess? Pokemon RTS?

Only keep the first 151 pokemon - can all the others.

Then - I say make an ultra-realistic, gritty, first-person, survival-horror, RPG hybrid (a mixture of Oblivion, Fallout 3, Postal, Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil, all set in the world of pokemon).

I want:

• Sex
• Drugs
• Violence
• Blood
• Gore
• Realistic battles where pokemon get limbs ripped off
• Main villains that actually kill & brutalize people
• Pokemon prostitution (come on - if you have a Ditto, you're telling me that you would only be using it for battle? Have the Ditto be really rare and valuable, like it should be. Then when the player acquires one, they can set up shop, and watch the cash roll in)
• Automatic weapons
• Pokemon poaching & theft
• Harvest and sale of rare pokemon parts (Slowpoke's tale, anyone?)

Then I want a free-roaming world where you can do whatever you want:

• Join Team Rocket, climb the ranks, blow Giovanni's head off while he's petting that wussy Persian to take control
• Open a casino with secret back rooms where customers can have some alone time with your Ditto
• Get a sex-change & cosmetic surgery and become an Officer Jenny in the Police Force and still get to blow Giovanni's head off
• Become a Nurse Joy
• Pokemon breeder
• Researcher
• Poacher
• Photograph wild pokemon and win awards
• Common thug
• Get a job working for Bill, hack into the Pokemon Storage System, and set it up to where every 1,000 pokemon deposited gets transferred to your account where you can use them, sell them, or ransom them back to their owner
• Start your own gang
• Become a name-rater and get paid for being an idiot
• Screw with Porygon's code to create a self-replicating virus that will open pop-ups advertising your casino
• Travel the world collecting genetic samples and create your own Mewtwo (and do it right this time)
• Become a lawless vigilante dealing out justice with brutal force
• Dress up like a Pikachu and freak people out, or find a group of people with a similar fetish and get your yiff on
• Become the Pokemon Champion
• Get yourself a Ditto, wrap it around you, and become a master of disguise - for good, or evil
• Eliminate all crime and unite the land in peace
• Send your army of Charizards and fiercely loyal soldiers of evil forth to conquer all of Kanto and become the emperor of sin, spreading darkness and despair across all lands in your domain
  
• And so on

Do all that, make it an MMO, and it would be the greatest game EVAR! Screw World of Suck-craft.

Alas, I'm not rich enough to buy the IP and have a game studio make it for me.

Maybe a pokemon with a relationship system akin to Harvest Moon with the other trainers. Also, a better story.

I think the GameCube Pokémon games went in the right direction, in that there was an actual plot and quest going on that wasn't the usual "collect 8 badges and win the championship at Pokémon League". Why they insist on using the same plot over and over again in the main games, I have no idea, though they're getting better at making the "Team X" sub-story more prominent. The problem with the GameCube games was that the gameplay was already stale before it started, with the corrupt pokémon being the only feature that was fresh, though the two-on-two battles taking focus certainly helped.

The problem is how these sort of games have to be balanced. In order to get through the gauntlet of trainers and wild pokémon, yours have to consistantly overpower your opponents'. I know that's how it works in normal RPGs, but in those you're a ragtag group of adventurers fighting monsters. Here, it's only monsters that are fighting, so you'd expect to be on equal ground. But the only time you are are when you fight bosses, like the gym leaders or the evil team's administrators. Unfortunately, so long as the games remain turn-based, that's the only way these games can be balanced, unless you have games like the Pokémon Stadium games (which remain the best of the console releases).

So, to make my long-winded point, the games need to be real-time. You need to control the pokémon and be able to run around the playing field, making your attacks. This way, you can actually be on equal ground with your opponents as far as strength and attacks goes, and whether you win would be dependant on your skill running around on the battlefield.

...Oh, they also need to change up how you catch legendary pokémon. They could be these huge epic battles that take all your might to win, but instead you're more focused on simply using the right attacks to get its health just at the right amount to make catching it easy. I think that's why I enjoyed fighting Mewtwo so much in the first Pokémon Stadium. You'd just have to take him out. But not before he's able to take out several of your own pokémon along the way.

Actually, you know what? Let's get rid of the old catching strategy, altogether. It's really no fun, especially when your best bet to catching them is to use Poison Powder and just wait for the poison to drain it for 9 turns. There needs to be a new gimmick, to catch them after their health has been completely depleted. Something with a time limit and a slight challenge, with the difficulty changing depending on the pokemon (although any pokémon that you only have one chance to catch should be guarenteeed).

Okay - I guess I'll take this question more seriously this time (but I still like my idea >_>).

We all agree that the biggest problem is the cookie-cutter main quest and stale game-play mechanics.

For a game series that has been around for 14 years, there has been little innovation in each successive game. Yes, they've improved the graphics, refined the stats system, added new pokemon, and added new (optional) game-play mechanics. Any kind of innovation or experimentation in the PKMN franchise has been relegated to lousy spin-off games. Sure, they've added things like the Underground and Battle Tower, and those fashion contests - they're all optional, add little to the core game, and seem just like little accessories tacked on to hide the fact that it's the same old game.

It has always ever been the same old game, just with a new hat. What do you think about that, Malibu Stacy?


"Don't ask me, I'm just a girl."

Insightful as ever, Stacy.

My point is, they have a formula that nets them obscene amounts of money; they're not going to mess with that. And by the time the newest generation grows tired of the boring, now clichè, core game, a new generation comes along who isn't jaded by years of repetition, and is willing to fork over the cash to fund the next mildly different incarnation of PKMN.

Will we ever get a pokemon game that's different and not a spin-off? I don't know. They have nothing to gain by changing their basic formula, and everything to lose.

That said, here is what I would like to see in the next title (again, more realistically this time):

Introduce more role-playing elements. Crazy, right? I hate the silent protagonist - you just end up getting forced down a single, unwaveringly straight, path with no choice in how you proceed. I want dialogue choices, and, for that matter, dialogue that isn't completely insipid and uninteresting.

Give players choices in an open world - don't force them to do this Gym, then that one, all in a pre-set order. Let the player explore the world, discover new sights and new pokemon, encounter challenges that they can't overcome until they return later and are stronger, and give players incentive not to just stay on the beaten path.

I want to see quests, guilds, clubs, what have you. Allow the player to choose to fight the baddy of the day, or join them. Give the player moral and ethical choices, let them choose to take whichever road they want. And get some villains who are a bit more practical and realistic (flooding the world? Getting rid of the oceans? Controlling space and time? Come on...).

What do you think about that Pokemon Trainer Red?


"................................................."

I think that supports my point.

New and revised core game play mechanics - catching new pokemon is boring - run around in the grass, encounter some random pokemon, either run, take them out, or whittle down their health, throw the appropriate ball, rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Battles between two pokemon with a whopping four attacks to choose from. Hydro Pump, Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, end of battle. Turn based is great, but it is not very dynamic, it limits strategy, and gets very repetitive very fast.

I like the being able to control your pokemon idea - and it opens up a lot of possibilities. Smoke Screen would actually hinder your ability to see your opponent, Onyx could no longer battle Tentacruel as you're sailing around atop your Lapras in the middle of the ocean, destructible environments would add excitement and variety to what would otherwise be a boring battle, and so on.

I also like Draygone's epic battle idea - could you imagine a battle with Mewtwo as it hurls rocks at your pokemon using its mind, teleports itself around the battlefield, uses Psychic & Confuse to invert the screen so you have a hard time controlling your pokemon, and then warps the battlefield into some kind of nightmare landscape from which you can't escape until he's defeated?

How about that, Mewtwo?


"You are an insignificant worm. I will fracture and crush your mind."

See? He likes it!

To summarize:

• Open world
• More role-playing elements
• More realistic
• Better writing & dialogue
• Revamp the battle system

That about covers it. So how do you feel about this Thutmose?

Wait - I am Thutmose. Right?

How should I know? I'm a disembodied voice.

OMG Where's my body!?

You're inside it.

Who are you?

I think my mind is broken...

Friggin Mewtwo.....

I like the open world idea. The only reason they continue to use it is so that the player doesn't go to Gym #8 and fight L50 pokémon with L5 pokémon. I think it'd be nice if the opponents leveled up their pokémon as you wander around, that way they'll be at the right level when you meet them. Heck, they've already tried that to an extent, but only with certain trainers requesting rematches and still always at set levels.

Okay, yeah, leveling up monsters was major fail in Final Fantasy 8, but in this sort of game it'd work, because leveling up means evolved monsters that could use more powerful and more strategic moves. Although then again, there'd always be the possibility of using a TM to teach a speedy pokémon Hyper Beam, and then you'd be able to one-hit KO opponents at a low level. But then, that'd be just another strategy.

Leveling up opponents would also mean you don't have to worry about purposely getting spotted by each and every trainer along the way.

Oh, that's another idea. How about giving us the ability to flee wild pokémon without having to send our pokémon out, first. I still want them to be there during my journey, but if I'm not training or searching out a new pokémon to catch, all they'll do is needlessly deplete my HP while I'm trying to find my way through the dungeon. On that note, get rid of random battles. We don't need to actually see which pokémon is wandering around, but we need to be able to avoid them. Make wavey grass when a pokémon is near, and in places like caves, they could be shadows or something.

The thing I spent the most money on is Super Repels. I would always carry 99 of them with me at all times - whenever I ran out, I felt like smashing the game with a hammer. -_-

I want to be rid of random battles so very badly.

1) Yay to the MMO idea. I think that'd be great. Though what about these legendaries and event pokemon? use instances? that'd work i guess.

2) nay to action battles. turn based is a huge staple. there needs to be some factor that limits how many moves can be performed (in the traditional sense, its PP). now in an action game, you dont want someone spamming earthquake until the poke dies/lands then dies. so aiming would become a much huge more factor, but still... no. just no.

3) ok, yes there's 493 pokemon but guys - they're representing the organisms for their planet. how many spiders/snakes/4-legged animals do we have that look similar? for crying out loud their main spider is ariados. just one type. wth?? i say make more. plus their stats are so varied that it helps much more with competitive battling. instead of seeing over used types etc.

4) i'd like more open ness, as was mentioned. the route thing looks rediculous with how there are seemingly convenient cliffs to stop you. if you get lost, i guess you'll have to learn to backtrack.

5) more "dark". look at the sprites and music of r/b/y/g/s/c. their tunes werent all goofy rediculous childish. it seemed to amplify my preference on those games. I'm not saying toss in gangs or anything, just some pokemon need to look fierce, and some tunes need to be more... blah whatever you wanna call it.


6) get rid of nurse joy saying "we hope to see you again". that crap jinxes me i swear, i see her enough already.


'nuff said.

So you don't think that battles have become stale? And nobody said they would have to get rid of PP.

no, i dont. there are tons of strategies and combos you can pull off if you do competitive battling. sure, npc wise its slow. go do battle tower.

and i didnt say anyone did say that. but if you have PP aiming is a big factor. lets create a scenario.

Someone sandattacks me like crazy. Oh dang, now they created a sandstorm. Oh snap, they're double teaming. I can fireblast anwhere in a 360 spin, and 360 tilt. and worst of all, i can only attack so many times. after i run out of PP, then what? i flail my body around helplessly?

and half the moves would have to go out the window. especially for water pokemon. we're out in a forest, and someone summons goldeen. lawl. or maybe blastoise, but blastoise only knows surf/waterfall/raindance/waterpulse. water pulse is pulses in water, which there is none.

or earthquake in a lake setting. like i said, just no.

Plus, i promise you, if it went action there will be "cheap" ways of killing. Either cornering or some move combos. Yes, there are tactics out there now in the turn based one but those at least have some viable counters. (Refer to the pokemon F.E.A.R. tactic)

Well, the battles bore me. The only thing that made them interesting, again, were the introductions of two-on-two battles, but those fights are underused in the main games. But even in the GameCube games, where two-on-two battles are prominent, it's still incredibly tedious going through dungeons fighting trainer after trainer in such slow-paced battles.

go beat the battle frontier in platinum. i kid you not it is insane there. and they have an endless supply of 2v2's there. plus an option to have your partner be an actual player. or an npc. and your team can be a registered one from the WFC. or your own. serious.

the standard battles are boring sure but elite 4 round 2, or your rival 3rd round (platinum only) are pretty dang difficult. unless you're 100.

and after that, if they're still "boring", go battle real live people. serebii.net forums, post that you'd like to battle. unless you're serious about your team, a good 90% of the people will mop the floor with you. IV breeding, EV training, Nature breeding, egg move breeding, and setting up baton passes and actually thinking of techniques become a must if you want to win most of the serious competitive players.

Getting to the Elite Four would require... well, getting there. In Pokémon Diamond, I had already lost interest by the time I reached the 5th Gym Leader. Which is a shame, because the current generation is probably actually the best in the series, as far as gameplay and features.

Also, I never liked scheduling online matches. I like to get on when I feel like it, as a spur of the moment thing.

I had Diamond too. By the time I was at the point where I should have gone to the E4, I got side tracked PKMN breeding. I know breeding is probably ten thousand times more boring than anything else in the game, but I love going through all the move sets, acquiring the special hold-items, and breeding an army of rare female PKMN to trade. My mouth has never watered so much over the prospect of a female anything before then.

I'm more interested in collecting than fighting. I'd love to see the breeding system expanded.

@draygone - i seriously wish the GTS could do a 'queue' for arranging a random battle with someone else who was queued for one. why they didnt do that is beyond me... =/

@thut - i'm currently doing this. going through the game to elite 4 round 1 took me 40hrs, since then i've been breeding. up to 180... my gosh is it time consuming. but i enjoy it. agreed breeding should be expanded.

And how, exactly, would breeding be expanded? Honest question. I know it's rather simple now, since it basically involves leaving a couple compatible pokémon together for a day and that's it. That leaves open plenty of ways to improve. In theory. But I can't think of anything other than "watch the pokémon play together, instead of seeing them just standing there like nothing's going on".

There is actually quite a lot that goes into breeding beyond just finding two compatible pokemon.

There are complex rules that govern what stats and moves are inherited, as well as what the product of a mating produces (for example: If you want to breed a Munchlax, you can't just use a female Snorlax and a compatible mate. The female Snorlax has to hold Full Incense).

Then there are egg groups to consider. In my game, I arrange my pokemon in the relevant egg groups. I have the females at the start of a row, arranged by rarity, with compatible males trailing them.

You could spend ten hours or more (likely more) just breeding a single "perfect" baby pokemon with the desired IVs, characteristic, nature, and move-set. Then, after that, you have to do EV training if you want a competitive pokemon for tournaments.

Really, if you're into competitive battling, you should get yourself a good breeder/trainer who really knows their stuff - or learn how to do it on your own.

Also, people who use Action Replay to alter their PKMN's stats should go die in a fire. It takes skill, time, and commitment to be a real breeder. Sorry - just a pet peeve of mine.