Lurker > Flappers

10/49 -- so 20% screwed.
Eh, I can do better. Looks like I have some work to do.

I...
I'm not savvy enough to know what any of these were but BY GOD I WISH I DID.

Nade Duck posted...

honestly though, it's a standalone game with no trade economy so who cares?

https://imgur.com/OE5UeAF

DocDelicious posted...

It would be if they didn't spawn so regularly. Shinies are all over the place.

Ugh...

I will say that the anxiety of catching a shiny Pokemon in an open world format would be INTENSE.

Metalsonic66 posted...

Plenty of RPGs are open-world
A Pokemon game could easily work in open-world format without taking away the things people like about the series

Agree to disagree, I suppose.

UPDATE

So yeah, it's Imgur again now but it looks like garbage.

MrMelodramatic posted...

PLA and Lets Go are mainline games because theyre marketed that way. Thats really all there is to it. TPC decides whats mainline, and decidedly these two (three) are part of Gen 7 and 8

Yeah, they're PART of the generation. They aren't a new gen. That makes them not a main game. Main games are new gens.

That's like...the way it's always been.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

You can prefer whatever you want but you said the new way is less immersive. That's nonsense. Seemlessly entering battle on the overworld is a lot more immersive than warping to the battle dimension in the turned based games. If pokemon were a real thing, it would look much more like PLA than the main games.

Save the open-world style for other games like Zelda and shit where is matters and it's the way it should be. You can play all kinds of open world games, but I just don't feel like Pokemon, a RPG, is meant to be one of them. Just let Pokemon be Pokemon.

So... Agree to disagree.
This is clearly a matter of opinion.

A mainline game is defined as a new generation. A new generation includes new starters, a new region, a new Pokedex, and new legendaries.

Everything else is a side game.

Them calling it and Let's Go a mainline game is just them explaining that the stories are canon to the Pokemon world (Let's Go being a spin on a remake, and Arceus being set in the past) -- they aren't saying that it's a new generation, which is what is meant to be considered "mainline".

DeltaBladeX posted...

This is officially a mainline game, where story of this game is actually going to be canon as such. The side games don't have a story that matters in the rest.

Story alone is not what qualifies a mainline game...

T0ffee posted...

Is Breath of the Wild not a mainline Zelda game then?

This isn't about Zelda...

MrMelodramatic posted...

Dude what. Thats one of the greatest features

Pokemon doesn't need to be an open-world type ass game, it's an rpg. There's no nostalgia if they change that.

also, this game is a mainline Pokmon game

...No it ain't.
Mainline is like HGSS, BW/BW2, XY etc. Each new generation with a new region, new Pokedex, and new legendaries. This is a side game.

helIy posted...

a more apt description would be is that arceus the everything people wanted pokemon to become...15 years ago.

I'm quite fine with how Pokemon was without it being this open-world type game. I know that's what people like because the most popular games are like that, but for Pokemon I prefer the good 'ol RPG style. It doesn't feel like Pokemon otherwise.

This sounds like a decent game for people whose only interest in Pokemon is catching them all. I'm not sure if it has much merit outside of that, but I'm glad it has at least some promise.

I'm still salty over the starters and some of the regional variants (looking at you, sneasle/weavile) but that's not a big deal.

One time at 16 I had a panic attack while doing laundry because the clothes were "too wet"

Bro this is a legit selling point I don't know wtf you're talking about.

Phantom_Nook posted...

I just caught *THIS IS PROBABLY CLOSE TO ENDGAME SPOILERS* Dialga, and I'm sad that life is currently keeping me from playing right now.

Dialga was the first legendary I made my bitch.

Fond memories of that one.

FourthDimension posted...

Leveling is based on Pokdex completion, so if youre a completionism like myself, youre going to be over-leveled.

BUT being over-leveled in this game means a lot less than in other games. My Pokmon are KOd a lot in this game, something that very rarely happens in recent Pokmon games. The game handles damage calculations differently. For example, I was using a level 40 Machoke and an agile style bullet punch did not KO a level 4 Bidoof. Likewise Pokmon under your level hit a lot harder than they used to.

Well, I'm glad to hear that things are more balanced.

Abilities would have made this game more tedious, imo, considering all the Intimidate Pokmon that are in the wild (shinx, staravia, etc). I dont miss them.

Abilities are like a core fucking feature of Pokemon.

KodyKeir posted...

Yeah, if you see a tree with berries you throw your partner pokemon at it and it headbutts the tree, or if you see a rock formation you can throw them out to have them break the rock, needed to get parts to craft pokeballs, which you are always doing, there is no reason to buy balls in this game.

Oh that's cool. It makes me think of the apricorns in HGSS.
Makes sense too considering this was in the past.

KodyKeir posted...

You can harvest plants while riding, but you can't break rocks or shake trees; those require dismount.

You mean like, getting berries and using HM's or whatever -- or is this like fucking minecraft for some reason now?

YoukaiSlayer posted...

Definitely far and away the most immersive it's ever been although he wasn't talking about the battles.

There's also quite a bit of skill to throwing pokeballs. When you get it right and chuck like 3 feather balls at 3 different far away pokemon and then hear the catch noise echo 3 times. It's great. It's also fun dodge rolling around enemy pokemon attacks and then whipping around and throwing your pokemon at it's back in the brief moment before it turns back around to get the advantage encounter.

I prefer the classic style where you actually enter battle and it's separate from the overworld. That's what makes it feel like Pokemon.

helIy posted...

you can just chuck balls outside of battles

These battles look and sound like the least immersive experience ever in a Pokemon game.

CinderLock posted...

I love catching multiple Pokemon at once. Was sneaking up on some aipoms and caught four at once.

You can do h w h a t?

YoukaiSlayer posted...

This is NOT a regular ass pokemon game, for better or worse. It's very different. It's honestly closer to pokemon snap than the mainline games. The fun of the game is exploring areas to find unique pokemon to complete more research to get more stars to be able to craft better balls and catch/control stronger pokemon. I've got 6 stars (lets you catch/control pokemon up to level 80) and just now did kleavor. It was kind of funny to see this "scary frenzied beast" at level 18 get obliterated by my level 60 alpha alakazam (this has nothing to do with xp share, I caught him at level 60) during the parts where you can actually fight it.

I despise exp share in the mainline games but it being on here doesn't matter, because it's used to evolve/level your horde of pokemon to complete more research. This isn't a game where you carefully craft a well balanced team of 6 to take on difficult trainers. The only real reason to even have stronger pokemon, is to weaken and catch other strong pokemon. You build your team to hit type weaknesses for research and have good moves for catching pokemon (false swipes, thunder wave, hypnosis, etc).

If you go in thinking of this as a possible step forward for the pokemon series, you are going in with the wrong mindset. This is not a mainline game, this is a spinoff like mystery dungeon or snap. You can catch 3 pokemon in 2 seconds without entering battle. You can drive by snipe a gyarados out of the air with a feather ball. You can dodge roll a charging rapidash and backstrike with it your pokeball to start the battle off with a free turn for you.

It IS a lot of fun IMO. They could also stand to bring some of these things into the main series. The way you walk around, the way battles aren't a separate screen but happen in the overworld (and you can even still keep walking around if you want to), the way you catch pokemon in general, the research tasks and sidequests. All of that stuff could easily work in a mainline pokemon game, although many of those elements could use some improvements.

Speaking of that, while a lot of these elements are fun, theres significant room for improvement in a lot of them. The research tasks could really use a bit more variety. There's only like 10 tasks total and each pokemon has like 5-8 of em. The number of times to max some of these out is beyond tedious. I really gotta kill 40 geodudes, 20 with grass, 20 with water, in order to max out those 2 things, and catch another 25 IIRC. That's a total of 65 geodude encounters to just max out geodude. Of course, you don't have to max all the tasks, once you've got 10 research levels on the pokemon, you get a bonus 100 points. You could get by just going for that pretty easily (it's probably what they intend). I would have loved more unique tasks with more clever ways of achieving them. Like luring one pokemon with baits into another pokemon they wouldn't normally encounter or intimidating one to flee from battle by sending out it's natural predator.

There's room for these to be really creative and fun and it's not used well enough. Instead it's basically, catch em, catch em unaware, battle em, kill em with a specific weakness, see em use X move X times, evovle em, catch multiple forms, possible side quest. There should be room for some basic puzzle solving on each pokemon. By the time I finish, I should feel like me as a player understands that pokemon and how they behave and what sets pidgey clone #7 apart from #5.

Open world movement is solid but it does have the skyrim mountain climbing physics where you can sorta waddle yourself up things you really shouldn't be climbing.

Hm. I hadn't thought of that. This isn't a mainline game. Good point and wonderful analysis.

I...actually really liked the entering battle thing. The way it's done here and kind of in Let's Go just didn't feel like Pokemon at all. The animation of actually entering battle and then being in it. It was more immersive. Felt like every battle was an event.
Not having it just makes it feel more...hollow. I hope they don't keep that for the mainline games.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

Part of it is the game not being balanced for it, but the real issue for me is just the sense of growth. Switch training is also annoying for the same reason. It feels better to me when you are forced to use the pokemon when it's weak before it's strong. Very well embodied by something like tyranitar.

Also a good point.

11110111011 posted...

In my observation of Pokemon Legends I am constantly under-leveled despite experience sharing.

Well, that's some good news.

helIy posted...

here u go i have a gift

https://imgur.com/GHrC6iE

Is that how battles look like now!?
No more actually entering battles like in every game so far?
That hurts...

helIy posted...

i was talking specifically about this game, which i am currently playing and you are not

Fair enough.

it is the standard pokemon plot in every game

But like, what's the lore? Who're the antagonists, what do they want, and why? How does Arceus play in?

oh, one dope ass thing in this game is that pokemon don't forget moves, and you don't need a move tutor to relearn old moves, you can just switch which move is which anywhere

That... That is pretty dope.

helIy posted...

no, but you earn xp relatively slowly now anyways that it's kind of needed at first

Oh God... Is the EXP being on a permanent feature? That fucking breaks the game. You absolutely don't earn EXP slowly nowadays but you've already demonstrated that you don't understand that.

the plot is pokemon and you are the chosen one, like always

That doesn't explain anything.

And can you turn EXP off in this game?
What's the plot like?

yall aint helpin

helIy posted...

and it was discovered that it was because everyone used xp candies lmao

helIy posted...

everyone told you not to use the candies and then you immediately used the candies

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/1/AAdtJsAAC3Xf.jpg

helIy posted...

meanwhile i did all of that and was underleveled

You are literally the only person who I've ever heard say that.

I mean I'm happy for you, but the EXP issue was like this huge problem and topic of discussion everywhere SWSH got brought up!

helIy posted...

just don't use xp candies lmao

DUDE

I didn't use EXP candies and I still got overleveled.

Because the game has other features that makes it too easy to get EXP even without the candies!

Krazy_Kirby posted...

that's been in the games for quite awhile

Yeah. I thought it was super unnecessary. It's also just another thing that panders to making the game beyond as easy as possible for new players. I mean, I know it should be easy enough for a kid to play, but holy Hell they're going nuts with it all the sudden.

Unova's difficulty setting was beautiful.

helIy posted...

swsh was fine lmao

It was just okay. The balance for the gameplay was completely out of whack and the story was poorly paced. Like 90% of people I've talked to agree. I'm not saying it's wrong go like it, Hell I'm glad you do -- but it had major flaws that I feel can't be overlooked.

just don't use the xp candies and you're golden

DUDE. You keep missing the part where you get EXP for just playing the game. I NEVER used the EXP candies and I STILL got overleveled! Why? Because you can't turn of EXP share, you get EXP just for camping, and each gym is only like 2 levels higher than the last.

>Make a statement claiming that SWSH had a legitimate imbalance with EXP by several reasons -- us not being able to turn of EXP share, getting EXP for camping, gyms not being different enough levels, and thus EXP candies are pointless because you get overleveled just by playing the game.

>This fucking guy: WELLYOUSHOULDNTHAVEUSEDEXPCANDY

>https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/1/6/AAdtJsAAC3KI.jpg

Kimbos_Egg posted...

neither us did that, but okay. keep defending bad game design.

preach

DeltaBladeX posted...

This is set way in the past. Breeding wasn't even discovered until whenever the second gen happened, long after this game in the timeline. People in this game are not comfortable near pokemon, many are scared of them, to the point villages have guards to protect them from wild pokemon. Stuff that people learned by that point in the series just isn't known to these people. Even pokeballs are a recent invention. Hell, they don't even have running water, they have containers for water in their homes instead.

That does make sense and is actually a really cool concept story-wise.

Gameplay-wise, it was a mistake...
But I guess I can let it slide.

You look at how good like XY was, then you look at this shit and it's just... I have never seen such a dramatic turnaround. Everything was completely good and the SWSH came out and it was like all of the sudden BOOM right off a fucking cliff. Like, overnight it went to shit.

Bit SWSH did have redeeming qualities, I'm not saying it was a horrible game, I can see why some people would enjoy it -- even if the balance and pacing was pretty much objectively shite. It still felt like Pokemon.
But then they hit us with this shit, not even we got breeding or fucking abilities (you know, a core component of Pokemon) and I just... I do not understand it. I do not understand their decisions.

I'm seriously floored wondering how it just got so bad so fast.

bro im trippin

EvilMegas posted...

You suck at pokemon. No one needs your input.

You're my favorite so far.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

there aren't any abilities in this game, and its still no where near as good as this franchise should be~

Are you fucking kidding me!? Abilities are like a core feature of Pokemon! What the fuck are they thinking!?

Man I swear they been doing some bizarre shit since SWSH. The franchise is finally dying... I can't believe it. This feels unreal.
It's jarring to me the decisions their making.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

its the best pokemon game in years, still not there yet.

???

Graphics suck. Needs more traditional elements like gyms and shit, missing abilities hurt it.

...Missing abilities?

I'm kind of looking for an objective analysis here.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

Story is about what you expect.

But I don't know what to expect.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

its fun

But is the story and gameplay any better?

AndyReklaw posted...

I mean, it already sounds like you've made your decision but, for what it's worth, I'm liking it a lot. I'm only a couple/few hours in and it's very different from the rest of the series (so I can't answer your questions). As someone who likes catching pokemon I'm really liking what they did with the gameplay loop. It's kinda like Let's Go (mainly about catching tons of pokemon and repeats, though this time to fill the dex in addition to levelling your team) but the change in overworld gameplay makes it a bit more engaging. Unlike LGPE you can fight wild pokemon in this and sometimes you need to but you are meant to be catching tons of them. I'm enjoying the story but like I said I'm pretty early still (and I'm pretty easy to please with pokemon stories). Also regional forms for the starters is a neat twist that hasn't been done yet so I'm a fan of the idea. And Cyndaquil is awesome.

That all being said Sword and Shield plus their DLC were my favorite of the series (and I've been playing since Red/Blue). I liked the characters and the world they built (Gym battles in sports arenas with crowd chanting mixing into the music is amazing) and the wild area and raids were awesome additions to the gameplay loop. There were problems for sure (tiny routes and not building it around the xp share did make it too easy) but I put a ton of time into it and loved it.

I feel like as long as pokemon remains a relatively simple turn-based rock-paper-scissors that lets me collect a bunch of 'em and build fun teams (just for fun... don't think I'll ever reach the point where I'm worried about EV training) I'm not going anywhere.

So I dunno... if you like catching pokemon it's pretty sweet. If you just want trainer battles that test your mettle then you're probably outta luck, might as well just head over to Showdown.

I'm glad you were able to enjoy it despite the gameplay.
I really admire story in my games. There have been ones with really good stories and I know I'm not the only one who felt like SWSH had some serious problems with theirs.

It isn't the battles I focus on. It's the story and overall how "fitting" things feels in the game. I really feel like lately they're trying way too hard to focus on gimmicks and it's taking away from the more major aspects, like gameplay and plot.