Black/White Interface should go back to BASICS

[mudkip99]

Remember the good old days when the pokedex was organised, cool
to use and satisfying to complete??? Well, how did we get from this:

to this:

and this:

???

The pokedex on emerald was in my opinion the best yet. The same goes for the pc boxes, text boxes, battle info and the bag...
I know nintendo are trying to maximise the graphics potential of the new dsi etc. but does everything have to be 3d, brightly coloured and ALWAYS involve huge icons displaying too much information in one go?? The games are now harder to navigate and messy- were did the concept of simple scrolling lists go??! I was pleased diamond and pearl retained at least this feature (despite the addition of the gimmicky name rotation and giant pokeball scroller) but thats now been replaced by a system in HGSS where you see only 4 items in the bag at any one time and the pokedex is a jumble of tiny icons- not actual sprite pictures...

I know the old system is out of date but simple font improvements and larger capacity would be good enough for me... Thats my biggest hope for black and white!

I would be interested to know what others think and why

 

[Sketch]

I have never had a problem with the Pokedex layout. Ever.

 

[Falconwing]

In my opinion HGSS was the best. I thought Gen IV made the interface better.

 

[Soulweaver]

Pointless rant is pointless. I've never had any problem with any of the Pokédex/Pokémon Storage System/Bag/etc interfaces.

Did you notice that GBA -> DS doubled the screen resolution? That means we're either getting more features on-screen at once (a.k.a. clutter) or bigger interface elements. Frankly, I think the latter is better. I like that I don't have to use the stylus when I'm playing SS (or Pt, but it's a lot more physical button oriented) - all I need is my fingers. I'd like to see you try to aim your thumbs at the minimal start/select buttons in the Emerald screenshot.

Also, the Gen IV interfaces are far faster to navigate (well except for DPPt bag, but it was bad (or in your post, good)). That's a big advantage.

 

[Jeff]

HGSS's 'dex layout was the best IMO. Having 493 Pokemon in a list that has to be scrolled with the control pad is a pain. The pokeball spinner didn't really help much, it just felt gimmicky. Arranging the icons in rows, and adding the scrollbar meant there was less to scroll through, and it was easier to scroll through.

The PC box interface in HGSS is a pain though. The drag-and-drop thing is nice, but it's a pain to move a pokemon to a specific location in another box, which is something I like to do to keep my pokemon organized. They should have just left the button controls in along with the new touchscreen controls.

As for the large buttons, I remember reading somewhere that they're like that so you don't need the stylus, you can just use your finger.

 

[cringe]

what?
HGSS and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum pokedexes are art. i think those old pokédex are simply confuse and ugly. yay for the touch screen!

 

[mudkip99]

Pointless rant is pointless. I've never had any problem with any of the Pokédex/Pokémon Storage System/Bag/etc interfaces.

Did you notice that GBA -> DS doubled the screen resolution? That means we're either getting more features on-screen at once (a.k.a. clutter) or bigger interface elements. Frankly, I think the latter is better. I like that I don't have to use the stylus when I'm playing SS (or Pt, but it's a lot more physical button oriented) - all I need is my fingers. I'd like to see you try to aim your thumbs at the minimal start/select buttons in the Emerald screenshot.

Also, the Gen IV interfaces are far faster to navigate (well except for DPPt bag, but it was bad (or in your post, good)). That's a big advantage.

I get why they do it- I would just like it to be more organized. I understand its faster to navigate which is good(with the exception of the HGSS pc which i struggle to use when organising 300+ pokemon) - I guess I'm just fussy when it comes to design and layout! I would like smaller touchscreen buttons not giant blue things that look like they're meant for ds's youngest users only! I get the 'being able to use your thumb thing' but then why did nintendo invent the stylus? I also hate greasy smudges on my screen.

I would like them to ease off the heavy use of primary colours too- I find the gameboy game's colour schemes much more tasteful... I guess its more a design thing than a navigation thing...

 

[Zeta]

Let go of your silly nostalgia.

 

[mudkip99]

what?
HGSS and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum pokedexes are art. i think those old pokédex are simply confuse and ugly. yay for the touch screen!

I love the touchscreen!- thats got nothing to do with layout and colour scheme though...

 

[#Daisuke#]

I wouldn't really call Emerald's features basics. That's more like RBGY. None of us would want that

But seriously. DPPt's pokedex was the most organized, IMO. RSE's was too slow while HGSS's was pretty much cluttered.

Well...I guess I don't have much more to say... *runs away*

 

[mudkip99]

I wouldn't really call Emerald's features basics. That's more like RBGY. None of us would want that

But seriously. DPPt's pokedex was the most organized, IMO. RSE's was too slow while HGSS's was pretty much cluttered.

Well...I guess I don't have much more to say... *runs away*

I didn't mean absolute basics- that would be LGFR I just meant simpler to use...

Yeah- I'm all for DPPts organization-
that is similar to Emerald- I don't like the pointless rotation of names and the cheesey giant pokeball scroll system- seems like they're saying 'look- we can do 3d! Even in lists!'

I guess its all just personal opinion really...

 

[Gar]

I think it's personal opinion as well. I think I understand what you're saying about the Pokedex. I don't like it at all. It feels like I have to hit four different buttons and scroll to something and hit a button just to search for Pokemon.

Regardless, I never use the Pokedex. Ever. I dislike using it, and I see no point. Serebii.net is my Pokedex.

 

[GreatLiver]

The HGSS pokedex was lovely, so you crazy. I do have a kinda eh feeling with the box from HGSS, and liked it better in DPPt, but eh what're you gonna do.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I agree with most here that the HgSs pokedex system is the best yet, and D/P/Pt's was better than Gen III's (which, in turn, was an improvevent over Gen II, etc.). The layout gets better each time, so I don't see why they should go backwards.

The one thing I do want them to do is reorder the National Dex (or include an "upgraded" National Dex numbering system as a switchable option) that shuffles evos and pre-evos back so they appear with the rest of their line, and moves all legendaries to the end.

 

[The Outrage]

The Pokedex in Emerald was basically the top screen of DPPt >_>

 

[GreatLiver]

The one thing I do want them to do is reorder the National Dex (or include an "upgraded" National Dex numbering system as a switchable option) that shuffles evos and pre-evos back so they appear with the rest of their line, and moves all legendaries to the end.

I definitely agree with that. Having so many families mixed throughout the pokedex across generations is annoying. If they reorder it putting them together and not having a clump of legendaries every 100 or so would be great as well.

 

[Zekurom]

The one thing I do want them to do is reorder the National Dex (or include an "upgraded" National Dex numbering system as a switchable option) that shuffles evos and pre-evos back so they appear with the rest of their line, and moves all legendaries to the end.

Come to think about it, this.

We should get to work on an unofficial ordering for such a 'dex, in my opinion.

But I like all the interfaces starting from Gold/Silver. That grid one looks awesome, BTW. (I haven't played HGSS, so I don't know what it actually looks like.)

 

[The Outrage]

You know, I find it really ironic that the thread said the interface should go back to the basics and the OP uses Emerald's Pokedex. Back to basics would simply be the Pokedex with the name listed and its entries.

Platinum was Emerald's dex with touch screen functionality and HgSs did what RSE did to GSC' dex and made it more user-friendly.

 

[Soulweaver]

The one thing I do want them to do is reorder the National Dex (or include an "upgraded" National Dex numbering system as a switchable option) that shuffles evos and pre-evos back so they appear with the rest of their line, and moves all legendaries to the end.

I'd like this but only as a separate mode. I like the Nat. Dex order as it is, and it should not be discarded, but a new order could be used. Sorta like in GSC, give us a menu and let us sort the dex by any previous Regional Dex or the new ReviseDex.

I didn't mean absolute basics- that would be LGFR I just meant simpler to use...

FRLG was kinda special, really. RGBY has the most primitive interface in every regard, and FRLG upgrades everything greatly, so RGBY could be called as the basics but not FRLG. FRLG's Pokédex was one-of-a-kind in the sense that it had the interesting concept of grouping Pokémon into categories.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

I like the Nat. Dex order as it is

Which is why I suggested it could also be a switchable mode. Though honestly, I don't see the National Dex as particularly useful for anything but nostalgia at this point. The point of a Pokedex is to categorize Pokemon in some logical manner... the national dex fails at this, and would be useless for research.