What sort of "Battle Gimmick" would you like to see in the series someday?

[nuvematown]

I'm curious about what the people of the Garden think! What sort of gimmick/mechanic would you add to battles for a generation? By gimmicks, I of course mean Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax, Terastalization, etc!!

Personally, i think a deeper dive into Battle Bond would be SO COOL!!!!

 

[Melecie]

since after gen 7 i constantly thought the next gen's battle gimmick has to do with being super-powered abilities. it makes sense: we've had super pokémon species, super moves, why not super abilities?

then we got super pokémon and moves at the same time, and super types! i completely forgot about types as a major battle mechanic, but surely we're getting super abilities next gen, right?

right?

 

[Morningstar]

Prolly a sidegrade to Terastal that serves as an excuse for robot forms or space shaders on the Pokémon.

Not fusion. That is too Digimon/SMT for me and would likely warrant gen AI slop just to implement.

as for mechanics. super abilities aside, would like something that focuses on weather and terrains. Like having a one time boon that depends on the state of the field, maybe adding a third type?

 

[Salmancer]

Switch and attack in the same turn. We've all been in losing battles where such a mechanic would allow us to win, right? Obviously it would need some restrictions so that it doesn't fully invalidate proper positioning, but with it there would be some fun reversals enabled.

 

[Pigrider09]

This is more a continuation of a sort of generational gimmick than something brand new, but if the region’s box legendaries had primal snow and primal sandstorm forms… that would be awesome. I just think sand and snow tend to be overlooked compared to rain and sun in a competitive sense, so this could level the playing field for weathers. Maybe primal sand damages for 1/8th health and primal snow gets a built in aurora veil that stacks with actual aurora veil, plus an actual damage boost for rock and ice moves respectively. Would be pretty good I think, but this is probably only applicable in restricted formats so… maybe ok if power creep got bad enough?

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

I would prefer to see all battle gimmicks extirpated in favor of actually refining and expanding the core gameplay which hasn't really been done in several generations because of the focus on gimmicks. I think the last big revolution was the physical/special split, and that was literal decades ago now.

 

[nuvematown]

I would prefer to see all battle gimmicks extirpated in favor of actually refining and expanding the core gameplay which hasn't really been done in several generations because of the focus on gimmicks. I think the last big revolution was the physical/special split, and that was literal decades ago now.

Honestly, in my mind the battle gimmicks ARE kinda the refinement and expanding. The basic battle formula is kinda hard to improve...what do you think they should do?

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

Honestly, in my mind the battle gimmicks ARE kinda the refinement and expanding. The basic battle formula is kinda hard to improve...what do you think they should do?

I'm not a game designer, so I can only spitball, but I think my biggest gripe with the gimmicks is that they are just that - gimmicks. They're ephemeral and impermanent, and they don't expand the core gameplay system so much as they slap a new coat of paint on it that they then scrape off for the next generation. I'd much rather see new permanent systems introduced which refine the pace and flow of battle, in the same way something like the Baton Pass system did when introduced to the Persona series. I get that it might be hard to further refine the current single battle system, but I'd rather they try than tack some new bells and whistles on every gen.