Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

[The Damned]

Bad ideas, not failed products. Some of them just happen to be both, that's all.

[cobaltstarfire]

I got wireless access now. Does anyone want to be the middle man in getting a thick club from my platinum version over to my diamond version?

[Aninymouse]

sure, my fc's 0173 7222 4655

post your codes and i can do the trades after 5PM tomorrow

[cobaltstarfire]

I gave you my codes in pm.

Sorry it took a while to respond. :3

[Zup]

I'm going to go ahead and say that the e-reader was a monumental success compared to the new heart monitor thing they'll be releasing.

That thing's dead in the water.

[The Damned]

The thing is... that's what everyone said about the WiiFit Board, the Wiimote, and the DS. Every time Nintendo comes out with some new crazy controller or add-on, people say it's going to fail, but it then goes on to sell very well.

I'm not saying Nintendo can do no wrong (oh, they have... they have), nor that everything they come out with these days is solid gold. But nothing can really say how it will be received. It could easily go either way.

On topic: The new PokéGear features are up, and the Map looks... kind of... bad? Almost rounded off and kind of a caricature of the usual map style.

[DJ-star]

I wonder if they are going to make more radio channels, or Pokegear cards? ( doesn't look like it though)

[eternal Zero]

I own a GBMicro. It's fantastic but it got little to no love because I already had a DS. Oh well, it's a fantastic piece of hardware and easily the best Gameboy they ever made.

To just chime in about some Pokemon stuffs:

I don't think I'm going to buy this at first. I want an actual catridge, yes, as opposed to the DSTT I've been using for Platinum (much to the chagrin of Aniny because my many stratagems are not limited by my time to play IRL, hehe), but I don't want to get stuck with a version and then realize "Oh hey, Emerald might be coming back too!". Though realistically I doubt they will do this because if they were going to it would have been done with FR/LG cause let's be honest: everyone and their mothers loved Yellow when it came out.

The Pokegear looks really bad compared to what they could be doing. It could look so polished and nicely rendered in a pseudo 3D look instead.

Lastly I have not seen any gameplay because I don't think any exists(?) but if this game does not run at Emerald speed I will be sorely disappointed and will definitely just use my DSTT because I can accelerate the game there. I absolutely HATED Diamond when I played it for that reason alone.

[cobaltstarfire]

They sped some things up in platinum if that makes you feel any better. (I know they sped up surfing anyway, and possibly stuff underground I haven't tried comparing recently as I don't tend to notice a lot of the time...except surfing bleg).

[Aninymouse]

It ought to run at Platinum speed, which was only a few fractions of a second slower than RSE. I was watching this video, and it seems to be the case. It's a wireless battle, though, so it's hard to tell what the timing will be like for certain things.

I also have a DSTT now, though, so it's all good my good man.

I guess it was just announced that they're giving away Darkrai on Wifi from August 3rd to September 13th. Platinum only, though. Haha, I have so many damned legendaries these days...

[The Damned]

Seriously, why aren't there any wifi events for Diamond and Pearl? I know for a fact that they are WiFi enabled games. And yet, there seems to be some massive engineering problem to be overcome, as Nintendo is obviously incapable at this time to let players with Diamond and Pearl also have these items.

Yes, the Secret Key event is useless to us, seeing how it's not an item in the first two games. The Member Card, however, is in Diamond and Pearl, so there's no reason that I can see why we can't get it as well.

The only reason I can see is because they want to concentrate solely on those that have bought Platinum. Well thank you very fucking much, Nintendo, for essentially abandoning the people that bought your games.

I already have a Darkrai from a trade with someone here, but what about all the people don't didn't score one before?

[Aninymouse]

It might have something to do with how Platinum was coded. In ROM-editing software, Platinum is treated like a seperate game. Even codes that you'd think would be universal - codes that work in DP - don't always work in Platinum.

It's probably because they don't want to have to split their dedicated servers between DP and Pt players... I dunno. Maybe it's just to drive sales of Platinum.

I mean, honestly? That doesn't bother me. Platinum is so much better than DP, it's almost like the "true" version while DP is the "let's get it out as fast as we can" version. Save the Pursuit glitch, but eh, the Lost Zone glitch in early copies of Japanese DP was way worse than that.

[The Damned]

I've been toying with the idea of waiting until the third "special" edition of the 5th gen games comes out. It will happen eventually, and I have never bought any of the third versions before.

[Aninymouse]

There's no way I could wait several years just to buy the third version... I have to have the newest fix.

Aside from that, though, Platinum's expansion of Giratina's presence has turned it into one of my all-time favorites. Everything about it holds my interest.

I used to get the third versions used to save money... Emerald, Yellow, Crystal.

Who knows what direction the next batch of games will go in, though, or even what hardware it they will run on?

[Tables]

Pokemon Obsidian and Ivory for the Nintendo 3S

[cobaltstarfire]

I've been toying with the idea of waiting until the third "special" edition of the 5th gen games comes out. It will happen eventually, and I have never bought any of the third versions before.

Yeah that's what I've been thinking of doing lately, I wish I had thought of this sooner, but it took me a while to sink in that the third game in a given generation is superior to the original releases and I should just wait.

[The Damned]

I think I will still skip the remakes, and just stop playing for a while.

My thinking is, they put out a new game every three or so years, roughly (there's a joke in there somewhere about "new" games, but I'll forgo it this time). If you have something you really enjoy a lot, over and over, with no real break in between, then it's going to start feeling less and less interesting.

So, if I hold off on it for now, I can reduce that feeling of decreasing interest, and also get the better version (which will most likely have more online support and/or features).

I guess I'm just trying to preserve my taste for the series. It's starting to turn a bit sour as of late.

[Archaon]

I guess I'm just trying to preserve my taste for the series. It's starting to turn a bit sour as of late.

It needs a story. As in a proper, driving plot, not just some incidental stuff that happens while you're on your way to the next gym. That alone would breathe some life into it again.

Also, it'd be nice to have some level of interaction with your mons aside from cockfighting and HM moves. Like if you could whip out your Charizard and have it melt through a door for you. Probably too ambitious considering the variety of monsters at this point, but it'd be great if they could pull something like that off.

[The Damned]

It needs a story. As in a proper, driving plot, not just some incidental stuff that happens while you're on your way to the next gym. That alone would breathe some life into it again.

Agreed. It's the only thing that really holds the series back. The battle system is well-rounded and polished, and the music and art are nice and light. But yes, the story has always been lacking. The greatest change from the norm were Ruby and Sapphire. You didn't follow the exact same steps as before, and they introduced more villains. It still didn't hold up too well compared to other RPGs, though.

Also, it'd be nice to have some level of interaction with your mons aside from cockfighting and HM moves. Like if you could whip out your Charizard and have it melt through a door for you. Probably too ambitious considering the variety of monsters at this point, but it'd be great if they could pull something like that off.

You may want to check the Ranger series, then. There were parts that had you use wild pokémon to alter the environment. If you had a log in the way, a Fire-type could be used to burn it away. The same for Water-types putting out a fire, or a Flying-type using its wings to remove debris, etc... It has limited, but it did work.

HMs are essentially the same things, but I do like the idea of using your team's moves outside of battle in more intuitive ways. Say, you have to stop a large tank-like fortress. Normally, you would stop it by defeating the various electric type pokémon being used as a power source (like the Lake of Rage and the Team Rocket radio broadcast in GSC). This time, use your team to damage critical parts or sever the wiring or something. Give us a few options on how to stop it, instead of just "push this button here".

[cobaltstarfire]

I really wish they would just do away with HM's entirely, or allow a second set of moves for overworld use only. (Or even have any pokemon that can use x tm be able to use it once the appropriate badge is gotten without having to take up a battle slot). Or at the very least make it so you can forget them at will rather than finding a move deleter.

They're just such a massive pain, I don't want to use an HM slave, but I also hate having to switch pokemon in and out of boxes to deal with certain obstacles, and they keep adding more and more that you can't passively get away with not having as easily as in the first game.

[Archaon]

Or at the very least make it so you can forget them at will rather than finding a move deleter.

I used to wonder why they didn't do that as well, but then I realised that it could lead to you getting permanently stuck. If you're in a cave that requires Surf to get out of, and you delete Surf without thinking, you'd better have an escape rope.

[cobaltstarfire]

Ahh that's a good point.

I still wish they'd find some better way to deal with HM's than they have right now, I wouldn't mind except most HM's are also pretty undesirable too.

[The Damned]

Now that HG/SS are going to have pokémon following you, there is a very good chance that that feature will be included in the next generation of games.

As for why, consider the following:

1. In Yellow, your Pikachu developed a sense of "happiness" along the way. You could turn to face it and from the expression displayed in a small window, you could determine how well it liked you. This concept was carried over to the 2nd gen games and has been in it since.

2. Crystal had the first appearance of the Battle Tower, which has been in every version since.

3. Emerald had the ability to breed Natures down to eggs through the us of an itm, which has been usable in every game since.

There are more example, but I think that's enough for now. So, there's a fair bit of precedence as to what the prior generation had that will be carried onto the next. The point is, you have a pokémon walk around with you.

I can imagine a system where there are pre-scripted events that would require your team to use non-HM moves. The example of burning away something (it's cool to burn things, alright?) comes into play again. Your fire-type, or any pokémon that knows a fire attack, pops out and can use it to remove the obstacle.

When you think about it, we already have a basic form of this mechanic: HMs. We even have the little animations that appear when you use them. Cut, Defog, Strength and Rock Smash bring up a flashy pic of your pokémon and then the object is gone or manipulatable. Surf and fly have a generic placeholder "pokémon" shadow appear for you to ride on. So the premise is there, but just no very elaborate.

I see a short in-game cutscene where said pokémon either steps off to your side, or you release it from your party (pokéball opening and all), and then it begins the task of burning away the wall or tree or whatever. You have to wait for it to finish, and the speed and effectiveness of it doing this task could be slightly to significantly affected by the pokémon's stats, like type (for some STAB), level, and the base power of the move. So, a level 50 Charizard using Fire Blast would take it down in a few seconds, whereas a level 10 Castform using Ember would take longer. How much this difference based upon level and stats is a matter of testing. Too long and it's a punishment for players with low levels; too little and the point of doing so is meaningless.

This may lead to some exciting moments when you are rushing to enter/escape a place, or rescue someone, or whatever.

Sadly, this seems far too complex and different from the norm of the series, so I doubt we'll see anything more than another slightly updated version in... what, about two or so years? Maybe three? Whenever Nintendo puts out their next handheld system.

[Thalzon]

I'll only buy the next game if they rework the battle system to change the following:

1) Stop making us watch the life meter deplete. At high levels this can take several seconds to happen and is downright tedious as it slows battles down to a ridiculous degree. In 40 hours, you might watch HP deplete for 20 of them. At least it feels that way.

2) Stop reminding me it's raining/snowing/sandstorming/sunny EVERY TURN. A weather icon or even a constant animation would work just as well.

3) If the message window can't be removed entirely, at least try to reduce the time spent reading repetitive battle messages. For example, just have the numbers pop up in front of the target like every other RPG.

4) No more grid. Seriously, it sucks. Give us free-range movement. Maybe make better sprites while you're at it.

5) I, swear if I see one more new bug/poison, grass/poison, normal/flying or plain water or normal type in the next gen I will burn the copy of the game I purchased.

[The Damned]

1) Stop making us watch the life meter deplete. At high levels this can take several seconds to happen and is downright tedious as it slows battles down to a ridiculous degree. In 40 hours, you might watch HP deplete for 20 of them. At least it feels that way.

Really? The only time I ever saw an HP meter go down is on the other team. Maybe you just suck.

2) Stop reminding me it's raining/snowing/sandstorming/sunny EVERY TURN. A weather icon or even a constant animation would work just as well.

I would like to say yes to this, but there are a lot of younger kids that play, so it may just be for them.

3) If the message window can't be removed entirely, at least try to reduce the time spent reading repetitive battle messages. For example, just have the numbers pop up in front of the target like every other RPG.

That's the thing I've always found odd about the series. Numbers only how up on your screen, regarding your team's HP. Nothing else. Stat buff and drops are only mentioned in general "levels", not something like "+1" or "x2".

I can see why, as it slightly blurs that line where it's all about numbers, and where you're fighting an enemy you have no info about... it's like they want you to have to guess what the outcome will be.

4) No more grid. Seriously, it sucks. Give us free-range movement. Maybe make better sprites while you're at it.

Fuck yes. RPGs have had free-roaming maps since the late NES/early SNES days. Time to catch up with the rest of the genre a bit.

5) I, swear if I see one more new bug/poison, grass/poison, normal/flying or plain water or normal type in the next gen I will burn the copy of the game I purchased.

There are supposed to be about 90 Type combinations that have not been done yet, so you may get lucky and see something new. But most of the creature designs are based upon actual animals and objects, so their typing(s) are based upon their appearance or story. Some of it is also for balance issues.