Do You Like Smaller or More Grandiose Plots?

[Cap'n Jack]

One thing that bugs me about the more recent games is that the plot is this great big "SAVE THE WORLD AND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE FROM THE EVIL CLUTCHES OF BLA BLA BLA EPIC BLA BLA BLA YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE'S ONLY HOPE BLA BLA BLA"-type biblical adventure of epic proportions. I like the smaller plots: You're a trainer, you set out to become a Pokemon Master, you catch Pokemon, you bond with your Pokemon, etc.. It makes me feel a lot more attached to the games than the "SAVE THE WORLD"-type games do.

Sure, you could save stuff along the way: Team Whatever is holding a building under siege? Save it! Now they're poaching Pokemon in the Safari Zone? Stop them! But not this whole "SAVE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE" stuff.

On a bit of a side note, I also would like it if there were LESS LEGENDARIES! Geez! There were about, oh, 5 legendaries in Generation I. Now, in Generation V, I'm sure there are at least over 15. Having less legendaries makes the legendaries that do appear in the games seem even more legendary.

I would also like it if the game was a bit more challenging. In elementary school, you would see kids at school going "You didn't beat Emerald yet? Dude, you're such a pansy! It's been out for, like, 5 months!" or "You didn't catch Rayquaza yet? Dude! You're a wuss!" I know some of the optional features can be a pain in the ass (*cough*Shinies*cough*), but I would like to see the main plot made a tad more challenging.

But enough side notes: Do you like more grandoise plots, or smaller plots? I personally prefer the smaller plots. What do you think?

 

[Enzap]

Re: Do You Like Smaller or More Grandoise Plots?

I agree. I've never found the giant, world-wide plot lines to be all that entertaining. They distract you from the purpose of the games, to catch and train Pokemon.

How come all of these people just sit back and watch a 10 year old save the world anyway? The most involved anyone else got was that one scene in B&W when the gym leaders challenged the sages.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Re: Do You Like Smaller or More Grandoise Plots?

Yeah, It's kind of strange. Since when does a ten-year-old save the Universe? I'm happy I was introduced to Pokemon in Generation II. Well, actually Generation III, but it's a bit of a long story.

 

[hurristat]

Re: Do You Like Smaller or More Grandoise Plots?

I like the larger, more involved plots? Why? Because they're ultimately more interesting. Compared to Team Plasma's goals, TR's goals are incredibly ill-defined (well, I always thought they were but that is neither here nor there), and their scheme to take over Kanto is merely pathetic. I don't know how they came so close to regional domination and how no one noticed or cared except a 10-year-old, but it has always been that way and it always will.

So, long story short: Longer, more complex plots. They make the game more interesting.

 

[Joshawott]

To be honest, I do find the whole "10 year old boy has to save the world" thing kinda ridiculous...but let's be honest, deep down, we love the ridiculousness of a world where 10 year olds are allowed to journey on their own to make magical animals fight for sport. What I'd prefer, is a game where the main character is more directly involved in the story, rather than just happening to in the wrong place at the wrong time. Black and White did improve on that somewhat by having N approach you...but still...

I also wouldn't mind a game more like R/B/Y/G/S/FR/LG , where legendary Pokémon did exist, but they weren't the main point of the game; they were extras. A more down-to-earth-but-still-a-tad-silly-because-it's-freakin-pokémon story would be cool.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Long, complex storylines aren't Pokemon's thing because like all Nintendo games, they're suppose to have shallow storylines yet superb gameplay. The GCN games were hated by the community for not being like the core gameplay on the handheld games despite the deeper plot. As for the number of legendaries, they're suppose to up the difficulty of trying to catch them all, plus you could say that the starters and fossil Pokemon lost their uniqueness as they're breedable, but who really cares.

 

[H-con]

Like? I don't like any pokémon plots. All are pathetic. I would welcome a large plot, but only if it's actually interesting. Too lazy to copypaste; to add more to what I'm saying. It would, for instance, be interesting to not have an evil team in the plot line at all. The problem I see with this is that it's easy to spin a moral tale around this though, and I can imagine that to be something the developers want, considering the main demographic of these games and having played pretty much every game.

I agree. I've never found the giant, world-wide plot lines to be all that entertaining. They distract you from the purpose of the games, to catch and train Pokemon.

Might I ask why you call the plots giant and world-wide, because the plot itself isn't giant, it's more like microscopic compared to what it could have been, and more importantly what it should have been. It might just be me, but I think any RPG should have a story that catches on.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

It seems quite a few of you like the larger plots (at least, more than the smaller plots). A complex plot is fine, and desirable too, but I'm just saying that they've sort of gone a bit overboard with the "save the universe" stuff. I would just like a smaller plot, but being on a smaller scale doesn't mean it can't be interesting as well.

 

[Enzap]

Might I ask why you call the plots giant and world-wide, because the plot itself isn't giant, it's more like microscopic compared to what it could have been, and more importantly what it should have been. It might just be me, but I think any RPG should have a story that catches on.

Team Galactic planned on destroying all of creation and start anew with another demension. If that's not world-wide I don't know what is.

They did turn it down a notch in B&W which I was very happy about, but it's still a bit too much for my liking.

 

[Yamato-san]

To be honest, I do find the whole "10 year old boy has to save the world" thing kinda ridiculous...but let's be honest, deep down, we love the ridiculousness of a world where 10 year olds are allowed to journey on their own to make magical animals fight for sport. What I'd prefer, is a game where the main character is more directly involved in the story, rather than just happening to in the wrong place at the wrong time. Black and White did improve on that somewhat by having N approach you...but still...

seconded. More dynamic usage of interaction, maybe get the character involved in "operations" that call for some automatic backtracking or transport to certain areas (I can't help thinking of how you first arrive in Vector in Final Fantasy VI), catch a legendary mid-game and have its presence in your party be a huge factor in moving the story along (of course, it can't be released or traded until the game's finished), would be nice instead of merely walking to a place and everything just HAPPENS to fall into place once you arrive. But I guess Pokemon is largely following the Dragon Quest model of RPGs: silent protagonists, simplified plots, and emphasis purely on gameplay. Still, seeing as the plots have been getting a bit more epic which each new generation, they could stand to abandon this model just a bit. They could at least experiment with it if they ever release another Colosseum/XD-like console RPG. Not to say I don't mind the simplified plots either. Just so long as it's a good game in the end (and I'm sure the last thing we need is GameFreak going all Square on us and releasing 50-hour FMVs with about half an hour of actual player interaction).

Really, I don't mind the save-the-world plots too much. When you have a franchise where little kids could capture and command huge hulking beasts capable of nuking a mountain, I appreciate that the game series have emphasized this destructive power. It's much better than the first two games, where the most serious things get is having these monsters come off as pawns in some kind of black market scheme that does little more than steal them before marketing them as pets (or eat their tails) rather than using their raw power to try to accomplish something (hell, the anime seems to emphasize how the Rockets are constantly able to subdue Pokemon without actually using other Pokemon of their own, especially when they showcase the whole organization instead of the comic relief trio, which begs the question "Why even bother with Pokemon when they could probably conquer the world on their technology alone?").

 

[Ferbgor]

I prefer the grandiose plots. The games are more interesting that way. Honestly, Red, Blue and Yellow were boring games. I don't want Pokemon to go back to that. Plots with legendaries and crazy people trying to take over the world is way more interesting than just training and battling, and catching legendaries, if you feel like it.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

I like when it has a grander plot. That makes the games more enjoyable to me and makes me keep playing. More legendaries just means more Pokemon to catch. They arent exactly easy to catch, which presents a challenge, therefore making the game even more interesting.

 

[H-con]

Team Galactic planned on destroying all of creation and start anew with another demension. If that's not world-wide I don't know what is.

I see what you mean, though I was thinking more gameplay-wise. Plot-wise, they don't use the region to the fullest, that's what I meant.



The "save the Universe"-kinda plot (or at least save the region) is boring, used too many times and illogical. I can be willing to scratch the last one because it's pokémon, but there's no way one could do that, and I don't see why there's a need towards implementing one kid breaking down an entire criminal organization.

In addition, the more recent plot-lines have all put the focus on legendaries, and that is a focus that really destroys plot-lines, because they're the same concept over and over again, pretty much. The legendaries might be considered the core of the plot, yet I don't understand why it has to be this way. Or at the very least remove the entire focus on the evil teams and the legendaries.

They arent exactly easy to catch, which presents a challenge, therefore making the game even more interesting.

I find that legendaries gets easier and easier to catch by the generations, but maybe that's just me. It doesn't necessarily take too much skill, just a bit of patience. Though I think it's as difficult as you want it to be yourself. There's some tricky pokémon (I found Groudon to be one, as I rely heavily on Thunder Wave when catching legendaries, and of course there's those with Recover...)

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Possibly the developers could make the games less linear, with the story changing based on the decisions you make? I think that would be a step in the right direction. A lesser scale, but more complexity. Though, of course, there would have to be some sort of a single, centralized plot beneath it all, or else continuity would fly out the window.

For instance, let's say some riots break out in a big city (I know, it's not likely anything that political will ever appear in Pokemon, but I can hope it does, can't I? ).

If you simply stay away from the rioters (who would all be portrayed as unruly punks if I was in charge), they eventually dim down and go away.

However, if you do fight the rioters in Pokemon battles (some mohawk-headed punk could walk up to you and say "Hey! Gimme your wallet!" :evil, nothing much happens, except you get some free battles in.

And if you take it a step further and decide to show all these punks what-for, some other opportunities will open up for you (for example, police will tip you off about some suspicious activity going on in a section of town, which turns out to be a side-plot of Team Whatever's).

Something like that. It increases replay value, not to mention makes the game so much more interesting (in my opinion). It will make the games far more complex and interesting, without the need of a big huge "save the Universe"-type plot.

Although this is simply an idea for the games, it does demonstrate how there can be improvements made to make the games more interesting and complex, as well as on the smaller scale that some of us enjoy. :cheers:

 

[thedarkbunnylord]

The "save the Universe"-kinda plot (or at least save the region) is boring, used too many times and illogical. I can be willing to scratch the last one because it's pokémon, but there's no way one could do that, and I don't see why there's a need towards implementing one kid breaking down an entire criminal organization.

In addition, the more recent plot-lines have all put the focus on legendaries, and that is a focus that really destroys plot-lines, because they're the same concept over and over again, pretty much. The legendaries might be considered the core of the plot, yet I don't understand why it has to be this way. Or at the very least remove the entire focus on the evil teams and the legendaries.

I couldn't agreed more. I'd love to have a bit different storyline for a change, since saving the entire Universe or even only the current region is a boring choice for a story. Pokémon creatures and the world itself has a lot of imagination, why the story is pretty much the same crap than in... thousands of other games D:.

And yeah, I personally hope for a bit more realistic and well, modest story. No super epic hero stuffs. For an example I really like the idea of Team Rocket: they're an evil organization, which have a pretty realistic goal: to get a lot of money using Pokémon in any ways possible. That's quite much what criminal organizations do in our real world. I'd like to see, how they would handle a Team Rocket-like organization nowadays, since Pokémon games' story-telling itself has improved a lot from the old RBY days.

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

I'd like a grand storyline, but not too grand: overzealous plots have ruined games, like Sonic 2006.

 

[League]

I think that Black and White forcing you to catch the main legendary is a bad plot feature. A legendary being used against you... I'm kinda iffy on that too. Other than that, I think the plot in each generation is fine. (I think RBY had the best plot, and that GSC were close seconds, because they didn't force you to encounter any legendaries. I don't really like the roaming legendaries though--it'd be best if, after a certain point, the games just gave you hints on where to go to set the creatures off.)

So it's all about the legendaries for me. Foiling some unreal diabolical scheme I find great, especially if it doesn't involve any legendary pokemon.

 

[Composer]

I said the very same yesterday in another thread here. I would like there to be two versions like we have now with the following differencesne is rated E/3+ and has the typical ten-year-old-saves-the-world scheme. The other would be rated M/18+ and the protagonist would be 16-25 and would challenge the league to become famous,but the ten year old from the other version would always beat gyms first,save the universe,collect all the fame so the protagonist is envious of the kid. And then,in the end,the protagonist could challenge the kid (who has a legendary) to battle and kill the kid out of envy.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I'd like a grand storyline, but not too grand: overzealous plots have ruined games, like Sonic 2006.

DING DING DING! There's a fine line between "a lot" and "too much". "A lot" being good, and "too much" just simply being too much.

I think that Black and White forcing you to catch the main legendary is a bad plot feature. A legendary being used against you... I'm kinda iffy on that too. Other than that, I think the plot in each generation is fine. (I think RBY had the best plot, and that GSC were close seconds, because they didn't force you to encounter any legendaries. I don't really like the roaming legendaries though--it'd be best if, after a certain point, the games just gave you hints on where to go to set the creatures off.)

So it's all about the legendaries for me. Foiling some unreal diabolical scheme I find great, especially if it doesn't involve any legendary pokemon.

I would have said essentially this, had I gone more in-depth on the side notes of my original post.

I said the very same yesterday in another thread here. I would like there to be two versions like we have now with the following differencesne is rated E/3+ and has the typical ten-year-old-saves-the-world scheme. The other would be rated M/18+ and the protagonist would be 16-25 and would challenge the league to become famous,but the ten year old from the other version would always beat gyms first,save the universe,collect all the fame so the protagonist is envious of the kid. And then,in the end,the protagonist could challenge the kid (who has a legendary) to battle and kill the kid out of envy.

That's... Kind of strange. It would be cool if there was some sort of hacked Call of Duty game or something, free for emulation, that allowed people to play as Ash and friends, and with a vaguely Pokemon-related plot (but mainly just focusing on the fact that you're playing as Ash or Brock or Iris or whatever with a freaking gun!). That would be funny. Just imagine storming Belgrade as Ash, with an AK-47 in your hands.

 

[Travalgar]

Current Pokemon games are targeted at kids (besides young adults, of course). No hope for that. Give it a plot other than saving the world and the kids wouldn't understand.

I would really like to have a different Pokemon game with a more mature gameplay targeted not at underages, but at players who actually care for storyline. This is actually not an uncommon strategy among game developers. Splitting the main series to two or more games with different target segments is not a bad idea.