New battle structure to make Pokémon stronger

[d.aisuke]

If this actually does mean something, and is not simply a generic quote of creating bonds with new Pokemon:

The Nature system could probably get expanded in some way. In other words, say Adamant which increases attack by 10% normally. With a new mechanic, this will steadily increase due to how much happiness a Pokemon has, maxing out at 20% or 25%.

Alternatively, another stat (no more than 2) could simply get increased by 10% each based on happiness. In this example, you again have a Pokemon with Adamant, but based on your "bond" the Pokemon's speed also increases as if it had a Jolly or Timid nature. Either scenario naturally makes a stronger Pokemon and is simple enough to implement into the games.

If they ever brought back walking Pokemon, the Pokemon you most walk with could get these boost in power. Makes N's & Cyrus's statements about the Pokeballs limiting potential thing make a lot of sense, too.

I honestly am not putting much stock on the quote however, it could really just be a generic quote but if not I wouldn't mind seeing something new.

Great idea.
My issue with this, however, it that it's still a relative increase.

Right now, the biggest problem in Pokemon strength is that BST is ultimately what determines a Pokemon's power. Moveset, nature and strategy aside; it's close to impossible to best a 600 BST pokemon with... Rattata.
A mechanic that puts Pokemon on a level playing field would be ideal. Say this new mechanic lowers/raises a Pokemons raw power so that they are within a certain degree of each other.

If done incorrectly, most of the "strong/weak pokemon" element is squashed, but I'm making guesses on something about which I have no information so, yup

Relatedly, people are also speculating about trainer customizations. It would be interesting if the trainer customizations (or Trainer class chosen) also affected the types of boosts that will be given when your bond strengthen.

I'm all for trainer customization, but trainer class affecting one's pokemon usage is far too patronizing for my tastes. I don't like that.
Now, if it were something more specific, like "this garment affects pokemon in xyz manner"; that's fine.

What could this be in reference to? We got a stat overhaul in Generation III, but technically that doesn't count as a battle structure (only an underlying one), nor did it make Pokémon stronger, but rather more diversified. We also know from Masuda that Game Freak don't intend to cut backwards compatibility, IVs or EVs anytime soon (he said as much when he was asked about those things in a Q&A session last month).

You're right.
Backwards compatibility would only affect things present in previous games (and let's assume that XY are compatible only with BW and B2W2; not DPPtHGSS); therefore, it has to be a brand new mechanic, not an expansion or modification of something present in B2W2.

 

[wohdin]

They probably won't overhaul the base stat system any time soon, as that would majorly impact compatibility with past games. I'm thinking it's more along the lines of a general overhaul of the happiness stat, and possibly even the way EVs are gained. They might be introducing a new invisible "stat", something like "fondness", that can be either positive or negative up to a certain extent, and bringing in more ways of interacting with your mons (like playing games with them, periodically feeding them, etc., and these things could be extrapolated even further by each mon having likes and dislikes) which will affect this stat. And this probably won't directly impact the mon's stats, but could instead give them special advantages in battle, such as slightly improved crit rate and/or access to special "bond" skills (which would of course be generated at transfer for any mons that are brought from older games, likely by IVs or nature - or, to keep things even simpler, these skills could simply be a product of the mon's nature). High negative fondness could put the mon into sort of an "Ash's Charizard mode" where they might not obey you, but also have a chance of unleashing a devastating "rage" attack or some other dangerous skill (for instance, the villain team's mons would likely do this a lot, making them far less predictable and more dangerous).

Basically, treat your mon with kindness and love, and you will reap the rewards in battle via new special skills; treat them like crap and you will probably suffer for it (but there may be certain advantages to having a mon hate you as well, depending on various elements). One interesting idea that came to mind with this concept is having a handful of mons - for instance Aggron, Krookodile, or any other mon where this would have some logical sense about it - who actually benefit from having negative fondness, giving them access to a skill that makes them more useful.

 

[Solacen]

The problem is see with the whole treat good / make them happy = stronger , treat crap / make unhappy = weaker is that its not entirely true. Sure having a strong bond is one of the better ways of having your pokemon do their best but its been shown before (mainly in the anime [Paul]) that you can treat a pokemon coldly and impersonally and still have them turn out strong. Albeit it generally turns out badly if you cant train them well in the first place.

 

[Ninja_Oscar]

I don't want to speculate too much at this point. I mean, I don't see how they can change the battle structure drastically without messing with the compatibility to past games.

 

[33Whimsicott33]

If this actually does mean something, and is not simply a generic quote of creating bonds with new Pokemon:

The Nature system could probably get expanded in some way. In other words, say Adamant which increases attack by 10% normally. With a new mechanic, this will steadily increase due to how much happiness a Pokemon has, maxing out at 20% or 25%.

Alternatively, another stat (no more than 2) could simply get increased by 10% each based on happiness. In this example, you again have a Pokemon with Adamant, but based on your "bond" the Pokemon's speed also increases as if it had a Jolly or Timid nature. Either scenario naturally makes a stronger Pokemon and is simple enough to implement into the games.

If they ever brought back walking Pokemon, the Pokemon you most walk with could get these boost in power. Makes N's & Cyrus's statements about the Pokeballs limiting potential thing make a lot of sense, too.

I honestly am not putting much stock on the quote however, it could really just be a generic quote but if not I wouldn't mind seeing something new.

Those are neat ideas in general, but I only see the "bonds with pokemon" concept being embodied in the last one.

A shot in the dark of my own:

This game has some kind of genetics overtones. Taking that into account plus the "bonds with pokemon" thing, what if friendship was altered to (among other things) affect IVs?

 

[Totophile]

If you scream into the 3ds mic "NOOO! don't faint Chespin! I believe in you!!!" their health will go up a little.

Idk, to be honest the theory I'm hoping for is wohdins. Not just because they've been using the "bond between humans and pokémon theme" for years and finally using that as a gameplay mechanic seems logical, but because I'm a huge nerd and really want to play games and feed my pokémon.

 

[Solacen]

If you scream into the 3ds mic "NOOO! don't faint Chespin! I believe in you!!!" their health will go up a little.

Idk, to be honest the theory I'm hoping for is wohdins. Not just because they've been using the "bond between humans and pokémon theme" for years and finally using that as a gameplay mechanic seems logical, but because I'm a huge nerd and really want to play games and feed my pokémon.

Yelling "You can do it , i believe in you!" will cause them to evolve mid battle and win for you

 

[Totophile]

They really need to implement more mic usage for pokémon.

 

[Ninja-Mage]

They really need to implement more mic usage for pokémon.

I agree when diamond and pearl came out so many moons ago my friends and I were all hoping we'd finally be able to use voice commands for our Pokemon. The idea of yelling pikachu use thunderbolt on the bus just never ceased to amaze me.

Back on topic I love the idea of friendship mattering. Part of why I love umbreon and espionage so much is they need to trust you before they'll give up their awesomeness! So why not allow Pokemon to push their limits for you?

 

[The Outrage]

I'm all for trainer customization, but trainer class affecting one's pokemon usage is far too patronizing for my tastes. I don't like that.
Now, if it were something more specific, like "this garment affects pokemon in xyz manner"; that's fine.

I'd prefer if it was a combination of both. I mean, having a base trainer class would explain why certain trainers specialize...they have a natural affinity to form strong bonds with certain types of Pokemon.

 

[H-con]

Right now, the biggest problem in Pokemon strength is that BST is ultimately what determines a Pokemon's power. Moveset, nature and strategy aside; it's close to impossible to best a 600 BST pokemon with... Rattata.
A mechanic that puts Pokemon on a level playing field would be ideal. Say this new mechanic lowers/raises a Pokemons raw power so that they are within a certain degree of each other.

I disagree, a Ratata (unless you get lucky with FEAR) should really not be able to compete with the big guys. A little rat shouldn't be able to do that, even when trained by a trainer. Some pokémon are specifically designed to be weaker than others, and I don't see any reason to why this shouldn't stay the same. In nature, usually weak creatures make up for it by swelling their numbers to increase odds of survival. Each one is pretty weak, but they're strong en masse.

Not every pokémon were designed to be able to compete with everyone else, and I for one am perfectly fine with that, even if that make some of the pokémon I find cool a bit more useless.


Back on topic, I think part of the battling system is overdue for some changes. I felt that BW (and the sequel, but mostly the first) were disappointing when it came to trainer-pokémon-relations. Seeing how you could do pretty much everything and it wouldn't really matter anyways didn't exactly give me a feeling that anything you did actually mattered. Maybe now they'll actually manage something.

Though I wouldn't get my hopes up in that department just yet.

 

[V Faction]

One might say this is the nature of Pokemon. Not every single creature can be battle-worthy. The bad ones are there to make the good ones look good, but even the supposed "bad" Pokemon have admirers. Variety is the true essence of Pokemon.

That being said, I do enjoy surprises.

 

[Jolty94]

I personally think it will be something small and neat added into the Battle Mechanics, I believe they will just vamp up the Happiness mechanics... Like it will be harder to have a Pokémon in your Party with full happiness, until overcoming a lot of goals/obstacles... I don't mean to be a bore but in the past, evolving Golbat into Crobat wasn't a difficult task for me.

I just hope it isn't something too drastic that could affect the previous games compatibility.

 

[wohdin]

Right now, the biggest problem in Pokemon strength is that BST is ultimately what determines a Pokemon's power. Moveset, nature and strategy aside; it's close to impossible to best a 600 BST pokemon with... Rattata.
A mechanic that puts Pokemon on a level playing field would be ideal. Say this new mechanic lowers/raises a Pokemons raw power so that they are within a certain degree of each other.

I disagree, a Ratata (unless you get lucky with FEAR) should really not be able to compete with the big guys. A little rat shouldn't be able to do that, even when trained by a trainer. Some pokémon are specifically designed to be weaker than others, and I don't see any reason to why this shouldn't stay the same. In nature, usually weak creatures make up for it by swelling their numbers to increase odds of survival. Each one is pretty weak, but they're strong en masse.

Not every pokémon were designed to be able to compete with everyone else, and I for one am perfectly fine with that, even if that make some of the pokémon I find cool a bit more useless.


Back on topic, I think part of the battling system is overdue for some changes. I felt that BW (and the sequel, but mostly the first) were disappointing when it came to trainer-pokémon-relations. Seeing how you could do pretty much everything and it wouldn't really matter anyways didn't exactly give me a feeling that anything you did actually mattered. Maybe now they'll actually manage something.

Though I wouldn't get my hopes up in that department just yet.

I definitely don't agree with the idea of putting the likes of Rattata (or rather, Raticate) on par stat-wise with legendaries and such, that's just nonsensical, but it wouldn't hurt to rebalance the base stats of some mons slightly in order to make better use of the rather LARGE pool of mons that never get touched because of their "inferiority". The metagame is getting stale because of this. Though if you look at my earlier post, my idea of introducing a new fondness ability mechanic or something similar would do a lot to mix up the metagame, and possibly eliminate the need for EXTREME GENE SPLICING in order to get the "perfect" mon, since there would be less of such a thing in the game.

 

[Solacen]

I personally think it will be something small and neat added into the Battle Mechanics, I believe they will just vamp up the Happiness mechanics... Like it will be harder to have a Pokémon in your Party with full happiness, until overcoming a lot of goals/obstacles... I don't mean to be a bore but in the past, evolving Golbat into Crobat wasn't a difficult task for me.

I just hope it isn't something too drastic that could affect the previous games compatibility.

We are going to end up with alot of high level Eevees.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

If it has to do with friendship, then I guess I could be an effort to make trainers and Pokemon get a closer connection in-game, and encourage people to use and train the Pokemon they get in a trade. Since friendship resets to 0 when traded, people have to actually travel with it/use it to make it stronger.

HEH, I can already see people who wants quick PokeGen'd Pokemon being annoyed with that.

In Pokegen, it is possible to modify the "friendship", so I don't see it affecting hackers by any means. If training becomes harder in gen 6, it will be the "legit" trainers who will be having problems.

 

[ange]

If it has to do with friendship, then I guess I could be an effort to make trainers and Pokemon get a closer connection in-game, and encourage people to use and train the Pokemon they get in a trade. Since friendship resets to 0 when traded, people have to actually travel with it/use it to make it stronger.

HEH, I can already see people who wants quick PokeGen'd Pokemon being annoyed with that.

In Pokegen, it is possible to modify the "friendship", so I don't see it affecting hackers by any means. If training becomes harder in gen 6, it will be the "legit" trainers who will be having problems.

Ah, you're right. Forgot about that. I use PokeGen myself so I should've known, haha.

 

[Mitchman]

Hmm this could be interesting. Happiness could be the focus, but hopefully its not made into a stat, first evasiveness needs to be turned into one damn it. However I would like it if happiness had a bar of sorts in every Pokemon's stat pages, and the higher it goes the new stuff comes from it. I love the idea some suggested of perhaps natures taken into account, but what about abilities? What I mean is something like Dragon Quest 8, but on a more fundamental level, where every Pokemon has a dormant ability that is awakened by the bonds with the trainer? Some would be nature boosting, some would be like giving Pokemon access to both their abilities, sounds broken but I would love to see something like that, or even rudimentary stuff like making HM's a more instinctive basic ability and not a move.

 

[YamiiDenryuu]

With the apparent genetics theme, I can see IVs and maybe Natures getting some sort of overhaul, though obviously it still has to be compatible with the previous games... The best I can think of is a way to change IVs after you've caught a Pokemon. That way, transfered Pokemon would be just like recently caught Pokemon.

 

[Pokefanforever]

If it has to do with friendship, then I guess I could be an effort to make trainers and Pokemon get a closer connection in-game, and encourage people to use and train the Pokemon they get in a trade. Since friendship resets to 0 when traded, people have to actually travel with it/use it to make it stronger.

HEH, I can already see people who wants quick PokeGen'd Pokemon being annoyed with that.

In Pokegen, it is possible to modify the "friendship", so I don't see it affecting hackers by any means. If training becomes harder in gen 6, it will be the "legit" trainers who will be having problems.

Ah, you're right. Forgot about that. I use PokeGen myself so I should've known, haha.

I read on an earlier post that you won't be able to hack the games, question is why would you want to cheat? Training is part of the fun.