Mechanic Changes

[Silktree]

I figure that there should be a general thread for mechanic changes that don't necessarily relate to new features. The following are points confirmed by Game Freak in a Japanese interview. The translation is courtesy of @クリスタル:

1. Pokémon gain experience even when the opposing wild Pokémon is caught (as stated in another interview). A caught Pokémon gives the same experience points as a defeated one.
2. Sky Battles are limited to Flying-type Pokémon and those with the Levitate ability (as previously confirmed). Some moves can't be used.
3. There is an adjustment to the inheritence system of breeding.
4. Ghost-type Pokemon can freely escape from battle without being influenced by Shadow Tag. (The official website mentioned trapping moves.)
5. The item Exp. Share will revert to Exp. All as in Generation I, where when one Pokémon holding this item participates in battle, all other Pokémon in the team receive experience as well. Unlike in Generation I, the experience is not split but rather received by all Pokémon. This means that the participating Pokemon receive 100% experience, while non-participating Pokémon receive 50% experience.
6. When distributing new moves and abilities, priority was given to new Pokémon.
7. The CGI style is different from that of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Battle Revolution, because those games were supposed to emulate "realism within fantasy". Since the handheld Pokémon series is supposed to be accessible to everyone, battles were made "cuter".
8. The standard selection process for Pokémon to be Mega-Evolvable is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance.
9. The power-up of Mega-Evolved Pokemon is meant to elevate them to the class of legendary Pokémon, hence the restriction of only one Pokémon being allowed to hold a Mega Stone during battles.
10. The timing to Mega-Evolve is selectable.
11. Some moves, with focus on special ones, have had their power and accuracy revamped.

Personally, points 6 and 8 worry me. I fear that quite a few old Pokémon that need a boost will receive neither a Mega Evolution nor new moves (I didn't expect abilities) due to Game Freak's bias. I'm surprised that they didn't mention special moves like Freeze Dry, which should be accessible to all generations.

Edit: I added the last point thanks to Tensho.

 

[Gaga]

5. The item Exp.Share will revert to Exp.All as in Generation I, where when one Pokémon holding this item participates in battle, all other Pokémon in the team receive experience as well. Unlike in Generation I, the experience is not split but rather received by all Pokémon. This means that the participating Pokemon receive 100% experience, while non-participating Pokémon receive 50% experience.

:O Cool

8. The standard selection process for Pokémon to be Mega-Evolvable is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance.

"game balance"
Huh? I can see the first two well, but balance? I assume that means balanced after the MegaEvolution.

Personally, points 6 and 8 worry me. I fear that quite a few old Pokémon that need a boost will receive neither a Mega Evolution nor new moves (I didn't expect abilities) due to Game Freak's bias. I'm surprised that they didn't mention special moves like Freeze Dry, which should be accessible to all generations.

I agree completely. Priority to new Pokemon makes sense and all but the fact that they mentioned that at all makes me a bit worried as it implies some older Pokemon (especially less popular ones) will barely get any new moves, if any.

 

[Silktree]

Huh? I can see the first two well, but balance? I assume that means balanced after the MegaEvolution.

I assume it means that weaker Pokémon are given priority. That is, if they're as popular as their stronger counterparts and can undergo design changes...

 

[Dr. Buni]

The standard selection process for Pokémon to be Mega-Evolvable is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance.

This doesn't make much sense, unless they choose a Pokémon based solely in one of those three points.

After all, some of the currently known Pokémon to get Mega Evolutions aren't really popular, like Mawile and Kangaskhan.

6. When distributing new moves and abilities, priority was given to new Pokémon.

This decision and the fact Gen VI aren't getting Mega Evolutions completely baffles me. Why Game Freak make such stupid restrictions?

Since the handheld Pokémon series is supposed to be accessible to everyone, battles were made "cuter".

I approve of that. Cuteness pleases me way more than realism.

 

[Silktree]

This doesn't make much sense, unless they choose a Pokémon based solely in one of those three points.

One point can be enough, but the more points a Pokémon has in its favor, the more likely it is to receive a Mega Evolution. Popularity may also refer to the designers' preferences rather than the fans'. This reeks of bias, but I guess it can't be helped.

 

[Zeb]

Eight seems an incredibly shallow way of deciding which Pokemon get given the Mega treatment. Sadly, I had expected better of them.

 

[Bayushiyojiro]

1. awesome. long time coming really.
3. do we know the extent of this yet? hopefully it makes it easier to pass what we want. 'breeding roulette' is a pain
5. hmm, interesting. i approve.
6. dislike. many older pokemon need moveset changes/updates (like the kind sandslash got in BW2) to even be considerable in todays metagame. and if the disparity gets worse in gen 6? well dang.
7. cute is good
8. this concerns me that pokemon who might not be as popular but need the power boost to even be considered 'usable' competitively will be completely ignored. some fo my favorites are RU/NU but a mega would give them a place in common tiers

 

[Mitchman]

1. EXP from catching sounds like balls. At least let it be reduced.
5. EXP All returning is the one thing I secretly wanted the most. Good to hear that they're doing that.
8. Sounds like Flygon is gonna get one, cause god knows how cool its Mega would look.

 

[Bayushiyojiro]

mega flygon fuck yes

 

[The Outrage]

3. There is an adjustment to the inheritence system of breeding.

Unless this is something that makes passing Hidden Abilities or IVs easier, I don't want it. I really hope they make it so that if you have Imposter Ditto and a male Pokemon with the hidden ability, that it passes.

5. The item Exp.Share will revert to Exp.All as in Generation I, where when one Pokémon holding this item participates in battle, all other Pokémon in the team receive experience as well. Unlike in Generation I, the experience is not split but rather received by all Pokémon. This means that the participating Pokemon receive 100% experience, while non-participating Pokémon receive 50% experience.

Mixed feelings about this. I usually don't want to train all my Pokemon at once, its problematic if I have it with me and I'm EV training. I assume that since we don't have a PC to store the EXP All, that it's going to still be a held item and will only split EXP points if the active Pokemon is holding it?

7. The CGI style is different from that of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Battle Revolution, because those games were supposed to emulate "realism within fantasy". Since the handheld Pokémon series is supposed to be accessible to everyone, battles were made "cuter".

I hate how this is their reasoning and not that this art style better fits their franchise than attempting to be ultra-realistic. There's only a certain degree of realism the Pokemon can get. Someone noted that in the screenshot of Pokken we had, that "it looked so real" that the Pokemon looked like people in costume. That's problematic, when you get the background so real that it makes Pokemon look unnatural.

Though I assume they're talking more about the over-world?

8. The standard selection process for Pokémon to be Mega-Evolvable is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance.

I'm guessing "visual looks" translates to whether they think they can even alter the design properly. I'm also guessing they don't take all three into consideration at once since Garchomp seems to only be there for popularity--it certainly didn't Mega Evolve to preserve game balance.

I hope someone at Game Freak likes Dragonite

Wasn't Mawile Masuda's favourite?

9. The power-up of Mega-Evolved Pokemon is meant to elevate them to the class of legendary Pokémon, hence the restriction of only one Pokémon being allowed to hold a Mega Stone during battles.

I kind of figured that much, considering they had promotional artwork of Mega Mewtwo Y against Mega Lucario....then again if a legendary Mega Evolves that should elevate it beyond even more.

Personally, points 6 and 8 worry me. I fear that quite a few old Pokémon that need a boost will receive neither a Mega Evolution nor new moves (I didn't expect abilities) due to Game Freak's bias. I'm surprised that they didn't mention special moves like Freeze Dry, which should be accessible to all generations.

Alternatively, none of the Gen VI moves may be that great in comparison to already existing moves, but I doubt it. Not only will Gen VI Pokemon have to wait another game (at least) to Mega Evolve, but these Pokemon will also have to wait probably another generation before receiving a boost in their movesets.

 

[winstein]

1. Pokémon gain experience even when the opposing wild Pokémon is caught. (This was stated in another interview.)
5. The item Exp.Share will revert to Exp.All as in Generation I, where when one Pokémon holding this item participates in battle, all other Pokémon in the team receive experience as well. Unlike in Generation I, the experience is not split but rather received by all Pokémon. This means that the participating Pokemon receive 100% experience, while non-participating Pokémon receive 50% experience.

It looks like the experience system is designed to encourage having a big team. Generation 5 gave us the experience system relative to the level of the learner, which is an indirect way to make sure every one in the team is more or less equal (because you get more if you do that). It will also become more convenient to accrue experience with that Exp. All, as with the capturing of wild Pokemon. Seems like a good way to gain experience from legendaries that would be too good not to capture.

2. Sky Battles are limited to Flying-type Pokémon and those with the Levitate ability (as previously confirmed). Some moves can't be used.

I wonder what some of those moves are. I imagine Gravity being a move you cannot ever use, as with Stealth Rock.

4. Ghost-type Pokemon can freely escape from battle without being influenced by Shadow Tag. (The official website mentioned trapping moves.)

The wording for this immunity is still perplexing. Not being affected by Shadow Tag made sense, but I wonder if the trapping extends to other abilities, namely Arena Trap and Magnet Pull. Would be nice to have the immunity to either.

6. When distributing new moves and abilities, priority was given to new Pokémon.

New abilities I kind of understand, but I wonder how those new abilities will be distributed to older Pokemon. I am guessing that those Pokemon with only one natural ability will be granted a new ability, similar to Generation 4 where imported Pokemon can have a new ability. I can see Vanilluxe getting Refrigerate, for example.

8. The standard selection process for Pokémon to be Mega-Evolvable is based on three points: visual looks, popularity and game balance.
9. The power-up of Mega-Evolved Pokemon is meant to elevate them to the class of legendary Pokémon, hence the restriction of only one Pokémon being allowed to hold a Mega Stone during battles.

If popularity is one of the criteria, I hope they don't count the Eeveelutions. They are popular, but I don't really think they could use a Mega-Evolution. On the other hand, I hope there are some Ghosts getting them because we might need a few up there. Starter Pokemon would hopefully include the Unova starters too, 'cause they could use one. Besides, visual looks is something they fit quite well in.

I wonder what is their definition of a legendary Pokemon here. I am guessing it could be a legendary on the same level as Kyogre and Groudon, which would make them really powerful. In which case, Mawile and Absol won't have to worry about low stats hampering their potential. However, if the legendary Pokemon is something along the lines of the base-600s, then the slight upgrade might not seem too noticeable, unless it's those low BST ones like Mawile or Absol.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Karamazov]

Not a fan of Exp. All. I often hold back a Pokemon from getting experience so they could fight and get stronger on their own merit, rather than relying on Exp. Share and the work of their team mates. In a perfect world, both items would exist in-game.

 

[Team Gaara]

If the EXP. All works like they say, which is much better than in Gen I, then it's fine with me. Not to mention more convenient. Exp. From catching makes sense to me since you, most likely, did have to do some kind of battle to weaken the Pokemon.

 

[Mitchman]

I don't think they'll completely take out exp share, just have EXP. All as an option.

 

[GreatLiver]

Yeah, I think incorporating both the Exp Share and All would be better. In a lot of cases with the Exp. Share you're just trying to train up one pokemon be it to evolve for the dex or just to catch up to the rest of your team. If we only have the All that kinda sucks. I'm also wondering if with the All present the EVs still work like they do with the Share.

 

[Muur]

EXP All coming back but better makes it seem like it would be too easy. Expect for maybe evolving loads of guys or something I'll probs avoid using it.

 

[Mitchman]

EXP All coming back but better makes it seem like it would be too easy. Expect for maybe evolving loads of guys or something I'll probs avoid using it.

Considering how the game was made in consderation to drive by gaming, its working like it should. What I mean is, its a fast paced way to play the game and keep the casuals on their toes long enough.

 

[Bayushiyojiro]

it would be a nice way to grind out those pokedex entries on low level pokemon you caught and didnt use. much less tedious than the one at a time with exp share.

 

[Garren]

I'm not sure where this is from, but on Serebii Friday he mentioned:

It has also been confirmed that the game will not receive any post-release patches to alter the components of the game for rebalance.

Pretty disappointing, but hopefully GameFreak will release a patch if there are game-breaking bugs.

My thoughts on the new game mechanics:

1. Doesn't bother me either way, really. A little bonus to help the trainers who catch every Pokemon they see during the main game.
2. Still looking forward to seeing if there's more to Sky Battles than just limited Pokemon + Moves. I guess it'll be a fun diversion for my Flyer.
3. I kind of wanted for awhile for there to be some sort of laboratory allowing you to breed non-gendered Pokemon, with their own version of move inheritance to give them more options, like an artificial breeding center...but I guess it's not going to be that big of a change.
4. Sounds cool, I sort of like how they're giving the Types (most of them) their own unique Abilities. I just wish all the Types got an equal and useful share.
5. I guess this can mess up EV Training, but we don't know if EVs will work the same way though...and I imagine it'll be possible to reverse EVs easier. I probably won't use this during the main game, but this will be VERY USEFUL when it comes to training Pokemon during the post-game to fill the 'Dex.
6. I'm not too concerned, this is often the case, although Gen V curved that through Dream World by giving old Pokemon lots of new Abilities. Maybe it'll be problematic once the game drops, but for now this sounds pretty benign and probably not as bad as it sounds.
7. Cel-shaded works way better for Pokemon than realistic models, definitely. None of them were really meant to be drawn with realistic fur, scales, feathers textures, and the models look really cute. I like cute.
8. Well, I expected "bias" (I mean it's their game), but if we get a large amount like Hiro claims, we'll probably have a decent mix. Plus I imagine we'll get more Mega Evolutions in future installments, unless the feature really bombs, which I don't see happening exactly.
9. Pretty much this was a given.
10. We knew this more or less. I think "Limit Breaks" would've been more interesting, requiring a pinch to activate them, but their is strategy when it comes to choosing to use them as well.

 

[NoirGrimoir]

Regarding hoard battles I am somewhat concerned of they will be how like wild double battles are, and if you want to catch just one of the pokemon you have to take out the other first. D: What do I do if I come upon a whole bunch of pokemon, and have to take them all out just to catch one of them? So annoying...