Pokémon Qualities you really liked

[nightglow]

Do you feel Pokemon has lost its charm?
What is the last Pokemon game you have played?
What are your favorite Pokemon games and what about them do you think made them feel special compared to ones you didn't like as much?
What are some things you like to find or see in a Pokemon game that you felt was missing in the last most recent Pokemon game you have played?

I've been thinking about this since watching a YouTube video of a guy going to Japan to investigate the Ruins of Alph's inspiration and other little details of Heart Gold and Soul Silver (G/S/C). He picked these games to investigate because he felt there were still things in the game today that felt unanswered on understanding, the Unknown was one example he pointed to or the people who built the ruins or why.
These games are some of my favorites too due to feeling mysterious and it feels like there is interesting scenery in the game that has meaning. There is also a point in the game where you could choose to go left or right allowing the gyms to be beaten slightly out of order. I also felt there were quite a few cave areas to explore on the side of you wanted or that you could just miss them and carry on.
Other Pokemon games that are favorites of mine is S/R/E even though they don't feel as mysterious to me, I liked a lot of features in the game and felt like a true progression without feeling out of place in the Pokemon universe. I really liked the concept of exploring the ocean floor and I do feel like it could have been expanded on even more. Especially for how much ocean was in the game. I really liked the music and weather in the game and it made it stand out to me, though I really think they should have kept the day and night cycles. The day night cycles gave you a reason to explore the same area four different times in a day to discover a Pokemon who may only be there at a certain quarter of a day.
The last most recent Pokemon game in the franchise I have played was Pokemon Shield. There were things I liked about the game such as the wild area and the Gigantimax Pokemon due to design change. However I didn't care for the dynamic though I understood why they went with it. However Mega forms were a great detail of XY and I felt like they should have just stuck with that instead of doing these details in Sword/Shield. Mega forms were a great gimmick in Pokemon even though I didn't care for XY personally and preferred Black/White. Pokemon Sword Shield felt very hand holdy. Sun and Moon did too, but at least Sword Shield had the wild area. Sun and Moon's 'gyms' were different and actual gyms being completely removed from the game seemed to not sit well for most fans.
I feel like the older Pokemon games were a little more open ended and not super linear and I think that helps. Maybe there is more to it than that?

 

[Lancelot]

In retrospect Sun and Moon were pretty enjoyable, barr the first like 2 hours of the game making me not want to play due to how much hand-holding there was, and the amount of cut scenes.

I cannot stress how bad I think Sword and Shield are. Anytime there is a story event, Leon shows up and runs off to complete it offscreen so you can continue getting gym badges. E.g. there was a gigatamax pokemon causing havoc or something if I remember correctly that was relevant to the story and Leon goes to fight it so you can get the dark type gym badge...

Scarlet and Violet, I had fun playing due to enjoying open world games but I wouldn't say they are good games. As you touched on, I feel like less effort is put into world building and creating mystery like there is in HGSS and more is being put into having gimmicks, that really don't hit as well as mega evolutions did anyway.

Personally I miss random encounters in some patches of grass. As the ScarVio open world is so big, I feel like so many areas have the same pokemon and it all just becomes a bit monotonous. Theres so many open fields and empty towns that lack the anything that really makes them feel different. I feel the like design of Pokemon and locations really was better in previous games.

 

[Dunquixote]

I’m having a lot of fun playing Pokemon Violet, but to be completely honest, it’s nothing compared to Pokemon Red to Diamond. The gym battles so far haven’t been as fun as the ones were in the originals; so far I didn’t have to fight any trainers in the gyms like I used to.

No game corner — I understand why they can’t have it now; it’s sad because they were so much fun and added to the charm of the old games. I loved the safari zones too; no idea if they got rid of those too so I stopped playing after X.

I think the game had more charm with 2D graphics. The characters look pretty goofy/weird to me in 3D.

The fact that they haven’t fixed glitches and bugs is a big concern to me.

A lot of the new shinies don’t look very good; hard to tell they’re shiny from the lighting.

I’m not too far into Violet; maybe my opinion will get better when I get to the dlc area.

My favorite Pokemon game was Pokemon Red because it was my very first one. I loved them all up to Diamond. Diamond/Platinum were the last ones I enjoyed. I had been avoiding the newer games mostly because of my bias towards 2D graphics and when looking at the features in it, Idk, it felt like something big was missing from it that the older games had.

I think Violet’s strength is the multiplayer; I’m normally not into multiplayer but the few times I did multiplayer with @Vhoop & @Chibi.Hoshi, I had so much fun! I’m hoping to do more with them and our little group .

I know a lot of what I said is negative but, I do think the game is fun in its own way even though it doesn’t have the charm of the older games.

 

[Neb]

Despite all my issues with modern games I still think some of the magic is still there. Even with all of Scarlet and Violet’s issues I still had that excitement of going to a new region and seeing a new Pokémon I have never seen before and trying to figure out what it is.

The last Pokémon game I replayed was Sun and Moon and even though I’ve played through Alola several times through, I still get the same joy from playing the game.

What I want them to add is meaningful postgame content at launch. Pokémon games used to have optional postgame content you could sink hundreds of hours on right away and now it’s all locked behind DLC. Scarlet and Violet in particular is very barren with things to do once you finish the credits.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I like every Pokémon for one reason or another except for Lickilicky (or Ickyicky as I like to call it). Everything about it is unappealing. The English name is horrible, it’s body dimensions are all wrong, and it just looks like Buu from Dragon Ball trying to be a Pokémon and failing miserably. And the worst part for me is I actually love Rollout and it is one of my favorite moves in the games and the evolution method makes me not want o evolve Lickitung and I never use the Everstone so I have a dilemma whenever Lickitung is at a point where it can learn Rollout.

 

[Lancelot]

I like every Pokémon for one reason or another except for Lickilicky (or Ickyicky as I like to call it). Everything about it is unappealing. The English name is horrible, it’s body dimensions are all wrong, and it just looks like Buu from Dragon Ball trying to be a Pokémon and failing miserably. And the worst part for me is I actually love Rollout and it is one of my favorite moves in the games and the evolution method makes me not want o evolve Lickitung and I never use the Everstone so I have a dilemma whenever Lickitung is at a point where it can learn Rollout.

Ickylicky would've actually been such a good name for it

 

[Drawdler]

Does anyone else really miss the safari zone? For me it’s emblematic of something they just seem to have given up on after gen 6. There used to be a lot of methods to catch Pokémon and even shiny hunt. There used to be things like the radar, dexnav, swarms, hordes, minor encounters like the honey trees and rock smash, mirage islands, the bug catching contest, and of course the safari equivalents. I know for a lot of people the safari was only annoying, but I think HGSS’ was especially getting onto something, and I just appreciated the variety. I really think it says a lot that, aside from GSC, some form of safari had been around since RBY and it was yet another feature they cut in gen 5.

I haven’t really played the newer gens other than PLA and one of the reasons I don’t play it more is because shiny hunting is always the exact same. It’s just wandering. I can’t imagine gen 9 shiny hunting would keep my attention either. As fresh as seeing Pokemon in the overworld is, I want them to keep expanding on it and add more exciting encounter types again.