Inspired by this discussion about World of Warcraft http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1096 (warning contains a very small number of curse words).
1. Graphics
It's unfair to judge the next gen by just what little we have seen so far, but here goes. I'm sorely disappointed by what we have seen so far. The city buildings are a big improvement, but the humans still look like they are from early shots of Space Team Gemini. The combat also looks just lazy. LAZY. It was ok for the original on the old Gameboy. Heck, it was actually ahead of the curve as far as I'm concerned. But using lights, symbols, and no dynamic movement by the actual pokemon is absurd. The DS has the power, it's been out for years, pokemon combat should be eye popping. Don't get me started on Pokemon Battle Revolution.
2. Combat is not balanced
I'm not sure I can convey my thoughts here completely. Let me define balance as I am using it here. Balance means that nearly all parts of a game have some use or purpose in the main gameplay, with no parts overshadowing others to a large degree (IE overpowered) or being irrelevant or hindering other parts (underpowered). Balance does not mean all things are the same or that all things are even. Here are the specifics of what I mean.
Too many pokes are not used in competition. Take the legendaries. Legendaries are prohibited from tournaments. Not even counting the fact that the term "legendary" could be argued about when it comes to pokemon, they should not be prohibited. It's wasteful to have so much of the game invested in legendaries, and then have them be no more than curiosities. I am NOT saying legendaries should be weakened, or that all pokemon should be close to each other in power. Balance does not mean even. Legendaries should be extremely powerful. The trick is to have it so that they are useful in competition, keep them at their current power levels, but make it all balanced. Same for underpowered pokes. Things like Beedrill, Sableye, Onix (especially Onix) etc. should have more of a role. Under evolved pokes should be useful in competitive play. Again, let me say that stats and abilities should not all be uniform or close to each other. Relative power tiers are fine! Tiers of "underused" and "overused" are not.
Same thing for moves and abilities. Some moves are worthless. Some moves dominate to the exclusion of many other moves. Earthquake comes to my mind. Really, though, the imbalance of moves and abilities comes from as much as raw numbers as from the structure of combat. Pure turn based combat is a little to simple. Pokemon combat as a whole needs to be revised.
So there. Naturally I have a few ideas on how to improve pokemon, but first I want to hear what other people have to say. I want people to really think outside the box. What is wrong with pokemon, and how can it be fixed?
1. Graphics
It's unfair to judge the next gen by just what little we have seen so far, but here goes. I'm sorely disappointed by what we have seen so far. The city buildings are a big improvement, but the humans still look like they are from early shots of Space Team Gemini. The combat also looks just lazy. LAZY. It was ok for the original on the old Gameboy. Heck, it was actually ahead of the curve as far as I'm concerned. But using lights, symbols, and no dynamic movement by the actual pokemon is absurd. The DS has the power, it's been out for years, pokemon combat should be eye popping. Don't get me started on Pokemon Battle Revolution.
2. Combat is not balanced
I'm not sure I can convey my thoughts here completely. Let me define balance as I am using it here. Balance means that nearly all parts of a game have some use or purpose in the main gameplay, with no parts overshadowing others to a large degree (IE overpowered) or being irrelevant or hindering other parts (underpowered). Balance does not mean all things are the same or that all things are even. Here are the specifics of what I mean.
Too many pokes are not used in competition. Take the legendaries. Legendaries are prohibited from tournaments. Not even counting the fact that the term "legendary" could be argued about when it comes to pokemon, they should not be prohibited. It's wasteful to have so much of the game invested in legendaries, and then have them be no more than curiosities. I am NOT saying legendaries should be weakened, or that all pokemon should be close to each other in power. Balance does not mean even. Legendaries should be extremely powerful. The trick is to have it so that they are useful in competition, keep them at their current power levels, but make it all balanced. Same for underpowered pokes. Things like Beedrill, Sableye, Onix (especially Onix) etc. should have more of a role. Under evolved pokes should be useful in competitive play. Again, let me say that stats and abilities should not all be uniform or close to each other. Relative power tiers are fine! Tiers of "underused" and "overused" are not.
Same thing for moves and abilities. Some moves are worthless. Some moves dominate to the exclusion of many other moves. Earthquake comes to my mind. Really, though, the imbalance of moves and abilities comes from as much as raw numbers as from the structure of combat. Pure turn based combat is a little to simple. Pokemon combat as a whole needs to be revised.
So there. Naturally I have a few ideas on how to improve pokemon, but first I want to hear what other people have to say. I want people to really think outside the box. What is wrong with pokemon, and how can it be fixed?
