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Trials are what makes Alola unique, IMO~ I'd rather them not try to shoehorn them into Sinnoh remakes where they weren't there originally just for the sake of having them~ If trials are done again, it should be done properly in a region made specifically for trials~
Well to be clear, I don't want them to follow the same exact mold. I just don't think traditional Gyms should cut it anymore.
Several pages previous in this thread, I actually proposed an (extremely ambitious and improbable) idea for Sinnoh sequels, but there is one part of it that I think could work just as well, with a little tinkering, in order to spice up the Badge quest:
> "So let's have these sequels set ten or so years later, and in the intervening time, distortions have begun to appear all over the Sinnoh region. This has caused an influx of Pokémon that have fallen into Sinnoh from all over space and time (this reinvigorates the regional Dex). There are eight key distortions around the region. The Gym challenge is now intertwined with this plot, and before you can challenge a Gym, you must now assist the Gym Leader in dealing with the distortion in their area. This leads to what is functionally a Totem battle, but reskinned as 'Interdimensional' or something to that effect."
Even though sequels aren't going to happen, I'm sure there could still be a way of writing such distortions into the plot in straight-up remakes. I actually wrote the above text long before SM came out, but conveniently, the UB battles in those games function pretty much exactly like I was picturing for this concept - powerful Pokémon emerge from a wormhole and surround themselves with an aura using the runoff energy from the wormhole they emerged from.
It doesn't really need to replace the Gyms, it just needs to exist alongside them and invigorate them enough to keep them on the level of activity that Trials involve. Besides, several of the cities with Gyms in Sinnoh also have certain landmarks that could function similarly to Trial sites (except in this case, they'd be the places where the distortions are appearing). Oreburgh has the mine, Eterna City has the forest, Hearthome could use Amity Square (tying that in a bit more), Pastoria could use the Great Marsh...
Furthermore, I'd stress that these distortions would be a recent development in-universe, and not something that would normally be a part of the Badge quest, which should help to make it feel less like Sinnoh just decided to copy Alola's Trials for the hell of it. They would only really be intersecting with your Badge quest by coincidence, and you just happen to be a conveniently timed assistant for the Gym Leaders, who are already investigating them.
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