Making a Modern Pokémon Game: Part 2

Posted on by Jacob Ryckman

Before We Begin

If you haven’t already, you’ll probably want to go ahead and read Part One of this blog series, starting here.

To summarize: it has become clear that the Pokémon has flatlined in terms of creativity. Sure, we get some new gimmick each generation like Mega Pokémon or Gigantamax, but that’s never enough to actually change the games or make them feel like they’ve properly evolved since their debut in the 1990s. So, like many others before me, I intend to put forth some ideas that will hopefully bring the Pokémon series into the modern era of gaming. The ideas here are meant to be plenty within the realm of possibility and still keep the core framework of the games – it’s not like I’m saying “we should add guns” or anything. Simply improving upon a franchise that’s been in need of it for at least a decade.

Last week, we discussed the idea of “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” – arguably the most important of the three frameworks, given that it is the franchise’s tagline, after all. This week, we discuss something else that is a core staple of the Pokémon franchise:

Focus #2: Competition

It all started with this first battle…

Battling is one of the key focuses of the Pokémon franchise – the entire game revolves around you battling with your favorite monsters and leveling them up to become stronger and stronger. By winning battles, your Pokémon grow to like you, making them more powerful. The main story in most of the games is focused on the player going through a kind of gauntlet of really intense battles at Pokémon Gyms, earning badges, and then facing off against the strongest trainers in the land, who are always organized into some kind of Pokémon League.

There’s a reason that Pokémon battles have gone relatively unchanged over the years, and that’s because they just work. Other than a few changes – like Double and Triple battles – the entire concept has remained pretty much the same since the first games. And honestly…I’m okay with that. The actual Pokémon battles themselves don’t need much redirection, in my opinion, because otherwise they would cease to really be Pokémon. I know some people have suggested a sort of blended live-action battle system that games like Final Fantasy XIII uses, but I just don’t think that’s necessary, so I’m not really going to address it at all.

Instead, I’m going to place my attention on some of the systems surrounding Pokémon battles. Basically, the things that ultimately impact battles, but aren’t the battles themselves. I’m going to break this post up into some various subsections to keep a little organized and try to help keep my train of thought from wandering too much.

Leveling Up and the XP System

There have been a fair number of complaints over the years that the Pokémon series has gotten far too easy. Part of that, at least, comes from the XP system and how Game Freak has handled it. In the past, there was this fancy little item called the Exp Share – it meant that the Pokémon holding it would gain experience in a battle, even if it didn’t participate. It was a great way to level up a new Pokémon that was significantly under-leveled without having to go all the way back to a beginning area and grind it up to where you needed to be.

Unfortunately, Game Freak took that a bit too far. In recent games, every Pokémon on your team basically has its own Exp Share – catching or defeating Pokémon earns every party member some measure of experience. What this has resulted in is stupidly-overleveled teams by just playing the game normally. Honestly. If you battle every trainer on your way to fight Champion Leon (the ‘final boss’ of the game, so to speak), you can easily end up have a team that is at least 10-15 levels higher than any of his Pokémon.

So what needs to happen? The XP system needs a bit of a reworking.

The simplest solution is this: there needs to either be an elimination of the team-wide Exp Share, or the option to disable it. I’d argue that the option to disable it is best overall – newer or younger players who might need it can still use it, but more experienced players have the option to disable it if they want a decent challenge.

An argument against the removal of the team-wide Exp Share is that it causes the game to be less grind-y, which can be a valid concern especially towards the late-game. However, with the newly-introduced Exp Candy (and its variants), this grind necessity is all but removed to begin with. If you participate in even just a smattering of Dynamax battles or pick up the shiny objects on the ground, you’ll have enough of those candies to easily level up multiple Pokémon into competitive status.

The First Gym

First gyms in the Pokémon games have always had a bit of a problem: they automatically bias the player against one of the starter Pokémon, many times in favor of one of the others.

Take an example from the image up-above. The first Gym Leader in Pokémon Red and Blue versions is Brock, a rock-type Gym Leader. His Onix and Geodude can be easily swept by the starters Squirtle and Bulbasaur – they each learn moves early on in the game that give them a significant edge here. Charmander, on the other hand, is left out: not only does it not acquire any moves that give it an advantage over Brock’s Pokémon, but his Pokémon also have moves that are super-effective against the Lizard Pokémon.

This is a trend that happens in most other Pokémon generations, too. In Gen 2, the first Gym Leader uses Flying-type Pokémon, putting the Grass-type Chikorita at a major disadvantage. In the Ruby and Sapphire games, the first Gym Leader also uses Rock-type Pokémon, and Fire-type Torchic struggles to fight against this fearsome foe.

Now, I understand the design choice behind this: since the first gym largely serves as a bit of tutorial for new players, you want it to highlight type advantages and incentivize players into finding and using Pokémon that offer this advantage. However, I do not think that setting it up so that one of the starter Pokémon is at an automatic disadvantage is the right play here.

So what is a possible solution? I would argue that something similar to the Striaton City Gym – the first gym in the 5th generation of Pokémon games – is not a bad idea. In those games, the Gym Leader you face is dependent entirely on the starter you choose: no matter which starter Pokémon you select, you will always be at a disadvantage.

The image above illustrates my point: while there is still a type disadvantage, that disadvantage is equal across all starter Pokémon instead of just one. In this way, the player is encouraged no matter what to seek about Pokémon that will help them in this battle. It teaches newer players about type advantages and disadvantages without punishing anyone for selecting a certain starter.

In bringing this idea to fruition for a modern Pokémon game, perhaps it could work like this: the first gym still serves as a rough tutorial of battling and type advantages. You go in, and depending on the starter Pokémon you selected, the leader chooses a different team, one that is intentionally meant to put yours at a disadvantage. Maybe it looks something like this:

This way, no matter your starter selection, you’re forced to try and think about the team you have and find Pokémon that will give you an advantage in that fight. Notice that all of the teams start out with a Pokémon that your starter would have an advantage against: this way your starter isn’t completely irrelevant. Maybe way later, after you’ve gotten all the badges or reached a certain point in the story, you get to face the Gym Leader again, only this time his team looks more like this:

Now you’re forced to think about type advantages regardless of the starter you chose or any other Pokémon you catch. Plus, it gives the leader some potential replayability, a feature that can be found in a lot of newer Pokémon titles.

With this system, the first Pokémon Gym will always be difficult – veteran players will be able to find teams to counter them easily enough, but it won’t be a complete blowout like in previous games. Newer players will experience a genuine challenge, but it also isn’t one that’s completely impossible or will turn them off to the games at the beginning. This isn’t a complete overhaul by any means, but that actually brings me to my next point…

Eliminating the Single-Type Gym System

Pokémon Gyms (and in turn, their leaders), are supposed to serve as bosses, a checkpoint to see whether or not your team has grown strong enough to progress to the next part of the game. This isn’t something new or revolutionary in RPG games – I can’t think of a single RPG that doesn’t have a system like this in place. They are supposed to be difficult, sometimes brutal, challenges that can be a real test of your skills.

At least, that’s what they’re supposed to be.

An issue with Pokémon Gyms, especially as of late, is that they’re a bit of a joke. You can bring in one strong Pokémon that has a type advantage, wipe through any Trainers who are waiting to halt your progress, and then sweep the Gym Leader like it’s a great big joke. That doesn’t seem like much of a real challenge. Sure, you have to acquire a ‘mon with that type advantage, but the games are notorious for providing you with such monsters just before the Gym challenge itself. It renders Pokémon Gyms nothing more than an annoying blockade to your progress through the game – not something unique or engaging, but just another battle-slog before you can get to the next one. Pokémon Sword and Shield were especially notorious for this.

Nessa, the 3rd Gym Leader in Pokémon Sword and Shield, can be swept with either a Grass or Electric Pokémon.

So how does that get fixed? Easy. Make the challenges based more around gimmicks rather than type-advantages.

By gimmick, I mean moves, abilities, or types that change the format of the battle or offer unique challenges. For example, some Pokémon have abilities that alter the weather, changing it to Rain, Hail, Sunny, or Sandstorm. Others can use moves that prevent priority moves, can attract Pokémon of certain genders and prevent them from attacking, or are even able to prevent status effects from taking place.

Let’s say the Gym Leader has the team listed up above: what do those Pokémon have in common? Other than Ferrothorn and Exeggutor, they don’t share any types. Instead, they share one thing in common: they are all slow Pokémon. Dusclops and Exeggutor can both set up a Trick Room, which reverses the order in which Pokémon move. Since all of these creatures are slow, they would suddenly be moving first – teams of fast Pokémon like Jolteon or Inteleon would suddenly find themselves at a disadvantage. One single Pokémon isn’t going to have the type advantages to sweep this team, either, making it more of a challenge and forcing players to think about what team they bring in to face it.

Now, the team shown above would be pretty intense, especially if that were the second gym. Most of those Pokémon are in their final evolutions, and even a late-game player might have a hard time combating the variety this team offers. How then can the game be balanced so that newer players aren’t completely curb-stomped by this gym?

Allow Players to Face Gyms in Different Order

This is a feature that has been long-requested by many a player: being allowed to face different Gym Leaders in different orders. In some of the older games, this was actually allowed to a certain extent. In Pokémon Red and Blue, for example, players could face Kohga, Sabrina, and Erika out of order – you could even technically face Blaine and Lt. Surge out of order, too, though that wasn’t as available and easy to pull off as the others. Even in Pokémon Silver, Gold, and Crystal versions, you could face 3 Gym Leaders out of order if you wanted.

But those days have long since been gone, partly because Game Freak has tried to make the Pokémon games more story-focused, and to do this meant beating certain Gym Leaders serve as markers and checkpoints with the overarching story, too. I’m not going to spend much time talking about why this shift towards a narrative focus was a good idea (it most definitely wasn’t, by the way), but instead pay special attention to why this sort of freedom opens up a world of positive possibilities for the series as a whole, how they’ve already set a precedent for this within their own media, how this could be balanced gameplay-wise.

I mentioned in the last post that one of Pokémon’s primary mantras (their tagline) was “Gotta Catch ‘Em All”, and how that meant the necessity of allowing all Pokémon to be available. Well, there’s another tagline people associate with the series, thanks largely in part to the popular anime: “I Choose You!”

Choose. Choice. Pokémon relies on it – one of your first significant decisions as a player is choosing the creature that will kick off your adventure. I’d argue that the ability to choose is one of the most important aspects of the games.

True, the phrase “I Choose You” is referring specifically to choosing your favorite little monsters to join you on your adventure, but I’d argue that the adventure itself should have some more choice, too. Allowing players to select which gyms to fight when shifts the gameplay from one that is narrative-centered, where players have no choice and are basically pulled along a single path, to one that is player-centered, where they actually get to create the adventure for themselves and create more attachment to it as a whole. Lack of attachment has been a big reason for waning interest in the mainline games. I’ll talk more about freedom and adventure in the next post and leave it at this: choosing the order of gym battles is arguably one of the most important changes Game Freak can make.

All of the Gyms labeled with the star icon could be played out of order in the original Red and Blue games.

But how would one go about balancing this? After all, Pokémon Gyms are known to have set levels and teams. Take the Trick Room team from earlier, for example: a player fresh off their first badge would take one look at that team and go, “Nope.” They’d wait until much later in the game to fight it anyways, so why bother giving them the option?

This is where it can get more interesting: have Gym Leaders switch between different teams based on player progress.

This is something that’s already been shown in both the anime and the manga: Gym Leaders have multiple teams of Pokémon based off where the challenger is at on their journey – smaller and less-powerful teams for trainers just starting out, and full 6-Pokémon powerhouse teams for those who are nearing the end of their League challenges. But what would that look like in-game?

Let’s use that Trick Room team from before as an example. The team would change based on how many badges the player has. Only 1-2 badges? Okay, the Gym Leader only has 3 Pokémon, and each of them are in their first evolution and not overly powerful. Still a decent Trick Room team, but far less intimidating. As the player collects more badges, however, the team becomes stronger, until at least you’re left with the behemoth of a team we started out with.

This way player choice is still rewarded and allowed – the teams the player faces are effectively scaled up as the player moves through their journey. Now the player can actually decide which Gyms they want to face in which order. Maybe a certain Gym like this one will be early along their adventure so that they don’t have to contend with the more powerful team – another player may intentionally wait to face it because they already know which Pokémon they’ll use against it, or maybe they just really want that challenge. The adventure, ultimately, is crafted by the player and not force-fed to them by the game.

Some Final Suggestions

Here are a few additional suggestions that don’t warrant their own section (though a few I could potentially expand upon, if there was interest), but I wanted to note here:

  • Incentivize players becoming friendly with their Pokémon. For a series that loves to tell players how much of a connection they have with their little digital creatures, it sure doesn’t do a whole lot to reinforce that.
  • Bring back the Pokémon Contests from Gen 3. They’re unique, they offer a different kind of challenge, and I think it’d be really cool if one of the Gyms incorporated that somehow.
  • Make the Gym’s pre-challenge stuff (the parts that are inside the Gym, but aren’t the battle itself) better and actually relevant to the battle. Tiny mini-games or puzzles that have little/nothing to do with the actual battle are not only frustrating, but just a waste of time. Honestly this is one I could have expanded out into a section of its own, but this post was already getting pretty long.
  • We don’t need new gimmicks like Dynamax or Z-moves, especially if they’re just going to get taken away in the next installment. Flesh them out and make them better, or eliminate them entirely.

In general, Pokémon’s combat systems could do with a little updating, especially with regard to the Gym battles. Some changes aren’t huge – giving players the option of the team-wide Exp Share, for example – but others are pretty significant and would give the series a pretty necessary facelift.

On the next episode of “Making a Modern Pokémon Game”, we’ll tackle the final major focus: adventure!

Credits

Kudos to some of the sources I read/watched while working on this (in no particular order).

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