As a life long Pokemon fan, its always baffled me by the lack of iteration on certain mechanics and features from game to game. Of course there are statistical that have stayed such as Natures as introduced in Gen 3 and the Physical/Special split introduced in Gen 4, but in terms of features, GameFreak absolutely hates actually polishing and iterating on quality of life features that make the games more enjoyable to go through.
I dont want to change Pokemon from a turn based game to an open world action game, however what I do want is for GameFreak to iterate on the formula in more interesting ways than they have been.
Some QOL features from the prior games
Teachy TV from Fire Red/Leaf Green
Why isnt this in every game?
The Teachy TV was a key item introduced in the Red and Blue remakes for the GBA that allows you to watch the Poké Dude Show, a TV show hosted by the Poké Dude that teaches you how to play the game though a series of video tutorials. The show instructs you on on six key gameplay elements:
With the talk of tutorials actually that bring me to my next feature...
The Help system from Fire Red/Leaf Green and Black & White 2
Again, why was this taken out of Gen 7? This was an awesome feature, especially if you hadnt played the game in a couple of months and had forgottern some stuff.
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Help_System
It answers any question you could possibly have about the game, from menu navigation, to what individual stats like Natures and Sp.Atk meant. It even had a type match up list, like this should be essential for any Pokemon game, as a kid this was my first Pokemon game so I learned most of what I know through both Teachy TV and the Help System.
VS Seeker from Fire Red and Leaf Green
The ability to refight trainer..... why would you remove this? It wouldn't even take time implement this.
Player Search System from X and Y
This was an excellent feature and made trading with friends and randoms you logged in way easier. But for some reason in Sun and Moon its teplaced by the god awful Festival Plaza that is just completely obtrusive to use and navigate. What was wrong with just a functional menu? I remember me and friends just not wanting to trade because of just how many hoops you had to go through to do so.
Difficulty Options from Black and White
More player choice, more replayabillity, Regardless of if you personally used them or not, the inclusion of difficulty options is only ever a positive thing.
It makes the games more accessible to a wider audience, as there are more choices on how hard you want the game to be. And for those who want a challenge, its there for them.
Battle Frontier from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald
The Battle Frontier add hours of replayability, and post-game content is something that ORAS (All the 3DS games really) was lacking in.
HGSS features all of the "essential" features from Crystal. I really don't understand why Gamefreak felt it was acceptable to leave out features from the 2005 remake of Ruby and Sapphire in their 2014 remake of Ruby and Sapphire.
In-game National Dex from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald
This features removal is absolutely one of the most inexcusable on this whole list. It's been a staple feature of the series since Ruby and Sapphire. (RBY don't count being the first games, Johto had the "new Pokedex" which had all the pokemons, but in a different order.) You shouldn't have to go into a separate app (PokeBank) to view something as basic as your monster encyclopedia. Its just so backwards,
Dex-Nav from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
This is easily one of the more confusing and frankly infuriating removals. Sun and Moon literally have accurate top down bottom screen views of 95% of its ingame areas, so the Dex Nav would have looked more natural than it ever did in Hoenn. And it's not like the idea of a machine that searches for Pokemon inherently belongs in Hoenn or anything, it could have easily been implemented into the Rotom dex.
Horde Battle, Triple Battles, and Rotation Battles from X and Y
Understandably the 3DS couldnt take it, but they should definitely be in Sword and Shield and other sequels, they're fun and really shake up thinks,. I also feel they should be a bit more common than just single battles.
Some QOL features and improvements I would like to see in later games
A few of these changes may be in Sword and Shield, so who knows
Difficulty and Performance
I dont want to change Pokemon from a turn based game to an open world action game, however what I do want is for GameFreak to iterate on the formula in more interesting ways than they have been.
Some QOL features from the prior games
Teachy TV from Fire Red/Leaf Green
Why isnt this in every game?
The Teachy TV was a key item introduced in the Red and Blue remakes for the GBA that allows you to watch the Poké Dude Show, a TV show hosted by the Poké Dude that teaches you how to play the game though a series of video tutorials. The show instructs you on on six key gameplay elements:
- How to battle
- What a status condition is
- What type matchups are
- How to catch Pokémon
- What TMs are
- How to register an item
With the talk of tutorials actually that bring me to my next feature...
The Help system from Fire Red/Leaf Green and Black & White 2
Again, why was this taken out of Gen 7? This was an awesome feature, especially if you hadnt played the game in a couple of months and had forgottern some stuff.
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Help_System
It answers any question you could possibly have about the game, from menu navigation, to what individual stats like Natures and Sp.Atk meant. It even had a type match up list, like this should be essential for any Pokemon game, as a kid this was my first Pokemon game so I learned most of what I know through both Teachy TV and the Help System.
VS Seeker from Fire Red and Leaf Green
The ability to refight trainer..... why would you remove this? It wouldn't even take time implement this.
Player Search System from X and Y
This was an excellent feature and made trading with friends and randoms you logged in way easier. But for some reason in Sun and Moon its teplaced by the god awful Festival Plaza that is just completely obtrusive to use and navigate. What was wrong with just a functional menu? I remember me and friends just not wanting to trade because of just how many hoops you had to go through to do so.
Difficulty Options from Black and White
More player choice, more replayabillity, Regardless of if you personally used them or not, the inclusion of difficulty options is only ever a positive thing.
It makes the games more accessible to a wider audience, as there are more choices on how hard you want the game to be. And for those who want a challenge, its there for them.
Battle Frontier from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald
The Battle Frontier add hours of replayability, and post-game content is something that ORAS (All the 3DS games really) was lacking in.
HGSS features all of the "essential" features from Crystal. I really don't understand why Gamefreak felt it was acceptable to leave out features from the 2005 remake of Ruby and Sapphire in their 2014 remake of Ruby and Sapphire.
In-game National Dex from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald
This features removal is absolutely one of the most inexcusable on this whole list. It's been a staple feature of the series since Ruby and Sapphire. (RBY don't count being the first games, Johto had the "new Pokedex" which had all the pokemons, but in a different order.) You shouldn't have to go into a separate app (PokeBank) to view something as basic as your monster encyclopedia. Its just so backwards,
Dex-Nav from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
This is easily one of the more confusing and frankly infuriating removals. Sun and Moon literally have accurate top down bottom screen views of 95% of its ingame areas, so the Dex Nav would have looked more natural than it ever did in Hoenn. And it's not like the idea of a machine that searches for Pokemon inherently belongs in Hoenn or anything, it could have easily been implemented into the Rotom dex.
Horde Battle, Triple Battles, and Rotation Battles from X and Y
Understandably the 3DS couldnt take it, but they should definitely be in Sword and Shield and other sequels, they're fun and really shake up thinks,. I also feel they should be a bit more common than just single battles.
Some QOL features and improvements I would like to see in later games
A few of these changes may be in Sword and Shield, so who knows
Difficulty and Performance
- 60 fps.A stable framerate of at least 30 at the bare minimum.
- Tutorial mode toggle on/off.
- More polished and quicker to get in and out of menus. Things such as leveling up one by one (really bad when you are leveling up low level pokemons), having to go through dialogue every time for stuff like Pokemon Centers and Hyper Training, just little things that could just be sped up.
- A more emotive MC. I always hated how the MC in Sun and Moon always has the same blank smile on his face. It really takes you completely out of the story experience. And honestly more emotive characters in general.
- Lower Stakes, more personal story. Rather than emphasizing one big save-the-world plotline, I would love it if the games focused on smaller side stories fleshing out the world, relationships between people and Pokemon, etc. I'd rather help a struggling town rebuild itself or help a little kid find her Rockruff than yet another evil team want to destroy the world story.
- Pokemon to not have the same pixelated cries from the GBA and DS games. probably not going to happen,but Ill say it anyway. I dont want them to say their names, but just more high quality roars, growls, and howls.
- Better NPC dialogue. Everyone seems to just give you advice on how to use in game controls. I don't feel obligated to talk to anyone when I enter a town because they have nothing interesting to say or something funny to hear. NPCS who give you hints on what to do next is fine, but NPCS who tell you what a super potion does when your up to the fourth gym... definitely could use some changes.
- A seamless world with little to no loading screens. It doesn't have to be open world, just let me enter a battle, or a building without going through a loading screen.
- Bigger Cities and Villages. Just more stuff to do in each town or city you visit would be great. More NPC's and Pokemon doing mundane things in the environment. Mini games, fun kind of gimmicky battles you can do in each town, etc. One of the things I really disliked about Sun and Moon, is that every city seemed like the same Pokemon Center/Masala Restaurant/Clothing Shop hub in every city, with a different layout.HeaHea City is like, a driveway connected to a single city street. Make them really like real, believable locations.
- Subroutes or at least more expansive and explorable routes
- More detailed side quests to do and more subquest in general. Kind of like the Ultra Beast subplot in Sun and Moon, but more of those sprinkled through out the game. Like maybe you could join a bumbling evil team (ala Team Skull) or help Interpol and join Officer Jenny hunt down evil doers. Maybe a subplot where pokemon are dissapearing from the Pokemon Center and PC's and the Nurse Joys may have something to do with it.
- A bigger post game.
- Wandering trainers with randomized teams for some routes. For example, say at Route 2, every day the route has different trainers with new teams wandering around, maybe with unique trainers appearing to add to the excitement. Id also just like the NPC trainers to have the same advantages I do. For example, I get to switch Pokemon when I faint theirs would be cool if the NPC got to do the same. Also letting trainers use held items and being able to heal/revive their pokemon would be awesome (though this wouldnt be for every trainer encounter and it would be limited to a few).
- Battles where both participants have the same number of pokemon. eg. You face a trainer who's got 2 pokemon, you have to choose 2 of yours to fight.
- Abillity to tackle gyms in a non -linear fashion.
- Abillity to play as a gym leader, being able to look after the place and recruit your own trainers there. Maybe some online interactiveity where other trainers can fight through your gym to get to you.
- Maybe during Horde Battles battles, you can have the option throw multiple pokeballs at multiple pokemon (though the chance of you catching them drops the more pokeballs you throw).
- Some form of online or local co-op for double battles during the main game or post game. Maybe have some extra hard dungeons where you can double battle wild pokes and trainers with a friend, explore areas together side by side, that kind of thing.
- I would love to choose your lead as soon as a trainer battle starts, if a wild pokemon, be able to choose once you know the pokemon.
- An increase in move slots from 4 to 6 (controversial I know). Or if you do keep the 4 moves limit, allow the pokemon to choose from their full move pool of moves learned at that point instead of forgetting them. Ive never liked that mechanic and it dosent even make sense (knowledge dosent get forced out by more knowledge).
