Should PLA’S Battle/Catching Mechanics Being the Standard Going Forward?

[MrMeowPuss]

So now the game is out and we’ve all got to play it and see the mechanics in more detail, should the new catching/battling mechanics of PLA be the standard going forward for all main series games?

For me personally I really hope so. It’s made the game feel like something brand new and brought an all new level of fun and realism to the series.

I’ve seen on some other sites that people are concerned about how the stances could affect competitive but they could simply limit the competitive modes to the old turn based style or have competitive modes for both the old and new style.

 

[Cute Charm]

I don't see them not making it super easy to catch pokemon in the overworld. Not after 25 years of hammering in the "you got to weaken them first!" lore. This game is in the early days of pokemon training as a concept so it makes sense to just go out and throw balls at them.

I also don't see them keeping the battle styles either. Or at least as it is. Maybe they can recalibrate it a bit and it could work. But as it is now...it's just a way to quickly finish off what your pokemon is strong aganst or to turn every move into False Swipe. Sometimes not even picking a style is the better choice.

What I hope does carry over is the battle screens. The near seamless transition into a fight by keeping it in the part of the map it started in. Also the easy run mechanic (that I found out was a thing by accident) where if you stray too far from the fight, it just ends. Those two things are great because there's no reason for fadey voids anymore when battling indoors and you can actually run like the wind from a stronger pokemon.

Other things I see returning:

• Size differences
• Side quests
• Unown being their own separate quest instead of random encounters.
• Facial expressions
• Bare minimum voice acting (Grunting)
• Trainer health
• You having to initiate the battle with wild pokemon to avoid getting obliterated.
• A mechanic similar to the lost satchels where if you black out you won't pay wild pokemon, you realistically drop items while getting away and random people can pick up your items for you.

 

[Alola]

Going forward, I think the aggression should be toned down. I also think that it shouldn't apply blanket style to every species; I don't think every Shinx has it out for a human being, for example. I also think we should be able to pick up Poke Balls that we throw and miss with, provided they aren't lost to a body of water or over a cliff. With these and other QoL suggestions, I can see this style of catching included going forward.

 

[Cute Charm]

Going forward, I think the aggression should be toned down. I also think that it shouldn't apply blanket style to every species; I don't think every Shinx has it out for a human being, for example.

It's not a blanket agression though. It's as dynamic as it was in the Wild Area. A lot of baby and first stages (Machop, Bidoof, Aipom, and Riolu for example) really like to play with you and hang out when you're stalking other pokemon. Other babies and first stages just run away when you don't sneak up on them right. Budew on the other hand either wants to play, run, or kill you depending on if you tried catching it once.

Shinx doesn't want to hurt people like it's evolutions, but it also probably doesn't know what it's capable of...like all big cat cubs.

 

[Alola]

It's not a blanket agression though. It's as dynamic as it was in the Wild Area. A lot of baby and first stages (Machop, Bidoof, Aipom, and Riolu for example) really like to play with you and hang out when you're stalking other pokemon. Other babies and first stages just run away when you don't sneak up on them right. Budew on the other hand either wants to play, run, or kill you depending on if you tried catching it once.

If an entire species of Pokémon always attacks you without any kind of variance of interaction within the species, that's a blanket characterization of said species - they don't act any other way in this game. Furthermore, I'm not talking about how one personally interprets that aggression - I'm referring to the in-game mechanic itself. Regardless of if you think Drifloon attacks you because it wants to spirit you away akin to its Pokedex entry or just cause you pain, every Drifloon will always attack you in-game. I have a problem with that and don't think an entire species should always attack a player.

Shinx doesn't want to hurt people like it's evolutions, but it also probably doesn't know what it's capable of...like all big cat cubs.

Rei/Akari literally mention how aggressive they are during the tutorial, they clearly attack players & lower your health, and their Pokedex entry (based on the player's field research and the professor's summation) echoes said aggression; I'm not sure how you're interpreting otherwise.

 

[Cute Charm]

If an entire species of Pokémon always attacks you without any kind of variance of interaction within the species, that's a blanket characterization of said species - they don't act any other way in this game. Furthermore, I'm not talking about how one personally interprets that aggression - I'm referring to the in-game mechanic itself. Regardless of if you think Drifloon attacks you because it wants to spirit you away akin to its Pokedex entry or just cause you pain, every Drifloon will always attack you in-game. I have a problem with that and don't think an entire species should always attack a player.

Pokemon are supposed to be wild animals. I mean in real life animals will either attack you or run away, so personally at least to me it makes sense that only the young ones would be friendly to humans. The ones already friendly towards humans are probably very rare and like...probably wouldn't be worth it to code an even more dynamic agression system for so that's saved for the NPC pokemon like the Blissy or Driftloon from the sidequests.

Not to mention that it's called "Pokemon training" for a reason. You're the one that has to tame them.

Rei/Akari literally mention how aggressive they are during the tutorial, they clearly attack players & lower your health, and their Pokedex entry (based on the player's field research and the professor's summation) echoes said aggression; I'm not sure how you're interpreting otherwise.

Almost everyone in this game thinks that all pokemon are aggressive creatures. Rei/Akari and Laventon probably aren't the best source of information on native Hisui/Sinnoh pokemon.

 

[Alola]

Pokemon are supposed to be wild animals. I mean in real life animals will either attack you or run away, so personally at least to me it makes sense that only the young ones would be friendly to humans. The ones already friendly towards humans are probably very rare and like...probably wouldn't be worth it to code an even more dynamic agression system for so that's saved for the NPC pokemon like the Blissy or Driftloon from the sidequests.

Not to mention that it's called "Pokemon training" for a reason. You're the one that has to tame them.

And on the same note, Pokémon have also been characterized as far more hospitable than wild animals with several species actively going out of their way to help humans; Sinnoh's mythology (ironically enough) even states how it was a Pokémon that declared that all Pokémon should be ready to help humans, hence why they appear in tall grass.

While those are indeed the realistic scenarios for a variety of species should one hypothetically encounter something, real life animal interaction isn't that entirely black and white. Nor are wild (compared to attacks from domesticated animals) animal attacks common (humans harm other humans annually far more than things outside diseases by mosquitos), which is my point for how species should interact with Trainers in future games. But I'll digress and just agree to disagree.

Rei/Akari and Laventon probably aren't the best source of information on native Hisui/Sinnoh pokemon.

I feel like this a pedantic take. Obviously the two of them have experience with the Pokémon who live outside their village, the Professor moreso given that he has traveled to other regions. In that case, why not question every previous Pokémon Professor's authority, validity, and knowledge on their region's Pokémon in spite of their renown? They can't be the best sources of information if they're sending children of all people out to collect data & enlightenment, can they? We mostly ever see them stand in one spot in their labs, so what could they know?

Given that Rei/Akari, Laventon, and their entire organization is wholly dedicated to professionally observing, chronicling, and studying the Pokémon around them (with the assistance they get from those more familiar with them such as the native Clans), I don't see why their data and conclusions should be met with skepticism.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

The catching mechanics are great, though I don't think the battle mechanics should stick. I mean, the way you can seamlessly enter one should, but the fact that you can find yourself in a 1 vs. 3 battle and have your opponents attack 4-5 times before you can attack once is extremely unfair.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

The catching mechanics are great, though I don't think the battle mechanics should stick. I mean, the way you can seamlessly enter one should, but the fact that you can find yourself in a 1 vs. 3 battle and have your opponents attack 4-5 times before you can attack once is extremely unfair.

I might be in the minority but I personally love the fact that you can do 1 on 3 battles and have them attack multiple times before you can if we are talking about story mode and not competitive.

The main series games have been so boring for so long and it gets really repetitive fighting CPU trainers over and over with their 4 Magikarp. A difficulty level could likely control all this but to me the more challenging the better.

 

[Oriden]

Pokemon are supposed to be wild animals. I mean in real life animals will either attack you or run away, so personally at least to me it makes sense that only the young ones would be friendly to humans. The ones already friendly towards humans are probably very rare and like...probably wouldn't be worth it to code an even more dynamic agression system for so that's saved for the NPC pokemon like the Blissy or Driftloon from the sidequests.

Not to mention that it's called "Pokemon training" for a reason. You're the one that has to tame them.



Almost everyone in this game thinks that all pokemon are aggressive creatures. Rei/Akari and Laventon probably aren't the best source of information on native Hisui/Sinnoh pokemon.

With real life wild animals, you will find aggressive and skittish individuals within the same species, so that actually supports the case that there should be more variation in how pokemon within a species react to you.

I think what could be even better is if their natures were represented in how they behave. Imagine you come up on a pokemon with a Lax nature and it's just lazing there, or a Lonely one runs up to you and tries to follow you for a bit because it wants to be friends. They could characterize species like with Shinx's aggression by making certain natures be more common for that pokemon, but still not have it so every member of that species acts the same way.

 

[GhostLucario]

Honestly the only thing I want to keep going forward (to gen 9 or whatever comes next) is the seamless transition into battle. The battle (especially against wild pokémon) happens wherever you are and are easy to run from.

The agile/strong styles I feel don't add much strategy, I have hardly used them, only to get research tasks done, so I doubt this will carry on.

I also want the aggressiveness of some species toned down, I mean why does every single Shinx/Drifloon/Geodude/Zubat has to try to kill me? At least make it based on natures (Adamant, Serious nature will always attack, Timid/Hasty natures will run away, Lax nature will ignore you etc.) Just an idea.

Another thing I hope doesn't carry forward is pokémon running away from battles. Running away from me going after them with a ball in hand, maybe. But once the battle starts they should not have the possiblity of escaping. Sometimes I just want to catch a Starly or Kricketot without having to sneak up on them because they will run away for sure.

 

[vivian20]

The battles without that transition to a mini stadium must stay. You launch your pokemon to battle and keep walking to pick up an item. But the strong and agile stiles probably not. The catch system also should stay.

Now, the changes I want for gen 9:
1 Each pokemon should display a different behavior in the overworld depending on their nature, even if they belong to the same species.
2 Your pokemon should follow you, and interact with wild pokemon . Wild pokemon behavior should change depending on wich pokemon is following you.
3 I liked concept of pokedex tasks, but it would be better if the dex entries actually showed conclusions based on the research you made. Example: I defeat 20 luxios with groud moves, catch one, and see it using thunder fang 20 times. Then, its dex entries appears , saying tha they share their hunt evenly among them. How did they discover this based on the tasks I did?

 

[Esiouqrut]

What I can see them bringing to the traditional mainline game is the seamless battle and the way we and the camera can move around during battle. Maybe the overworld capture mechanic too, but I'm not too sure about that. I think other mechanics are too big of a difference to include or, in case of Strong/Agile style, a one-off thing like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, or Dynamax/Gigantamax. I don't think player damage will be returning in the traditional mainline game, since they clearly make those games for younger audience.

 

[Epic Spheal]

I think the catching mechanic should stay, I think it adds a nice bit of variety to sneak up on Pokemon, throw berries to distract, or just initiate battles. I agree with others that the natures of Pokemon should dictate some behavior (Timid/Hasty running away, Adamant/Serious attacking, Lax/Calm nature ignoring, Jolly/Quirky coming to play).

I'd love for Alpha Pokemon to return, and perhaps do it where gym leaders/E4/Champions/rivals might have a Pokemon on their team be an alpha (like their ace). It'd be a cool visual nod to the trainer's supposed power by being able to have an Alpha Pokemon at their command

The battle system (strong/agile) may not work in PvP format but I actually wouldn't mind it coming back in like small facility dedicated to bringing back the ancient battling style where you can battle major NPCs using it (think like the battle tents in emerald or the triple/rotation house in BW).

 

[Mew2]

I'd love for the catching mechanic to return and be the standard going forward, even the part where Pokémon can attack and harm the player. It will force the player to plan their moves against the Pokémon. This would especially be true for when you go up against Legendary Pokémon. It could also be used to show just how bad the evil team is since they may have their Pokémon attack, or try to attack, you the Trainer when they're losing so the player has to be careful of them. I would have there be various degrees of success with that with some Pokémon refusing or even turning on the evil team Trainers who order them to attack you. Also, I might even have two or three enemy trainers come in and try to outnumber you in battle. Imagine the Silph Corporation raid if all four Rocket Brothers ganged up on you. Even if Triple Battles were implemented, they'd still outnumber you, basically guaranteeing that one of their Pokémon gets a free hit on one of yours.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

i love the catching mechanics in this game, but unless the overworld for the gen 9 games is one huge wild area, i'm not sure how well it can be incorporated. i don't see us using the grass on a route to sneak up to the wild pokemon.

 

[Greninjaman]

i love the catching mechanics in this game, but unless the overworld for the gen 9 games is one huge wild area, i'm not sure how well it can be incorporated. i don't see us using the grass on a route to sneak up to the wild pokemon.

Yeah. The catching mechanics would realistically work with open world maps.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

I'm quite enjoying PLA's catching mechanics and would approve of it continuing however I believe the aggressiveness can be toned down a bit.

It's sensible that in this period Pokemon understood humans as little as humans did them however there are real-life animal species that are comfortable enough to leave humans who aren't posing an imminent threat to them be. Therefore I feel it was a bit excessive to have every single Pokemon in the player's vicinity including those the player isn't targeting give a shit that a human is nearby and chase them halfway across the damn map or have 50 of them at a time launching attacks at the player character. Having to dodge attacks at such a constant rate hinders the ability to explore the area and concentrate on a single Pokemon or find a specific location.

While the human character fainting/merit points system is an interesting supplement for not being able to have internet battling or wonder trading, losing items from fainting with a system that requires the player to for the most part craft their own items from ingredients that are collected while dodging Pokemon attacks is inefficient and obnoxious.
I cheat this just as I cheat out of blacking out in battles, by resetting the game before items are removed from my satchel and I'm not ashamed. Most of the merit point items are obtainable for free despite some being rarer than others. I already had several evolution stones by the time I noticed the kiosk.

Animals are individuals with individual personalities and that's something that has been established in the Pokemon universe as well both in the anime and in the game. As such this should have been more prominent in the PLA environment. I.e more timid Pokemon who run and hide from you other than psychic types that can use teleport and those curious enough to approach a human without aggressive intent.

Granted this form of environment is more difficult to incorporate in battle-focused games where the wild encounter areas are less vast, SwSh's wild area concept could be the answer to that.

I don't believe the strong and agile battle styles should or will remain as they have no place in a competitive battle environment. In this game in which battles were not at the forefront, it was more or less a hack to reduce the need for a strategy to get through them.

What I did appreciate and want to see continue are:

• The wild encounters remaining in the overworld and the combination of both capture options with the choice to attempt a capture with or without triggering a battle encounter. That's something I've been hoping for since LGPE in which I did not appreciate being conformed to the safari-style capturing and having no real grinding method.
• The player character emoting more (shocked, regretful, etc facial expressions)
• The player character's sprite showing effects of the weather or environment such as glistening from being soaked in the rain or getting covered in mud after crossing the bogs in the Crimson Mirelands.

Dude for real, I'm already kinda hype for Gen 9 even though it hasn't even been officially announced as happening yet.
I wouldn't even mind more games with the PLA-esque premise in the other regions. I had my doubts but have been pleasantly surprised by how substantial and enjoyable it's been. I just got the game last weekend and am already almost done.

 

[Nicolas721]

• Battle: Controversial opinion but yes. Something that bugged me in main series games is how damage done and received was mostly "fixed" and you couldn't do anything to change it (besides changing your stats, but that consumes precious turns). Here you can make them stronger or weaker depending on what you need. I know people dislike it because it's rigged on your opponent's favor, and I agree with that, but I think a competitive option where base speed isn't as important as the styles you use would be interesting to try in at least a battle facility.
• Catching: The idea of overworld catching and Pokemon-player interaction is excellent and it definitely should stay, but the details need some polishing: items should be streamlined, Pokemon shouldn't react that quickly (in main series games, in Legends games they are fine) nor they should have high chances of running away in battle.

 

[pitchtheripoff]

The catching itself is amazing but I'd love if they adjust the agression a bit as it feels like even a simple step is enough to get the entire field of Pokemon to come at you.