#sure you could transfer in any pokemon but a lot of them didn't have numbers/ weren't in the dex

[omamervt]

Look. I know Pokemon is probably beyond third versions at this point. Gen 6 didn't get one, and Gen 8 set up the precedent for expansions over third editions. The state of S/V on release is evidence enough that their current production pipeline barely gives enough time to release the base mainline games as-is. That combined with the higher cost to the customer per version now, it just makes more sense to expand rather than re-release.

THAT SAID! I think there are enough little things that could improve the experience drastically that I'm not sure they can simply patch in or provide via DLC (at least not in the original map), or would be useless to players who don't want to completely reset their game. So, here are the features I think we're missing:

Alternate Ride Pokemon. This game introduced cyclizar and Revavroom, which were explicitly designed to look like transport methods, and Cyclizar are in fact a common Ride Pokemon. They also brought back several ride pokemon from previous generations, including Gogoat and Braviary, and once the games are connected to Home we'll be allowed to transfer in Sneasler, Wyrdeer, and Basculegion. Don't get me wrong, Koraidon is great. I love Koraidon. I'm very upset that I can't transfer the one I've grown attached to through the story out of the game when the time comes. Which, yes, I know, that's why there's Second Koraidon. But again, we're talking Third Version here. Letting players swap in a ride pokemon of their choice would be a good excuse to not give Koraidon/Miraidon right away, since the player would likely end up with both in the end. (yes I know it'd require a rewrite of Arven's plot, I'm not being paid to share my opinions, someone else can fix that)

Make wild Tera Pokemon (the ones found outside raids) about ten times as aggressive. I don't think we need player HP and whatnot brought over from Legends: Arceus but Alphas are the only fun part of that game and if they could make the wild Tera Pokemon induce the same sense of "ha, I'm in danger." when you see them? it'd be perfect. While I'm here I'd love to just say, "bring back Alphas as a permanent feature" but barring that I'll just take hyper-aggressive menaces to society of some form in every game going forward, and the wild Teras are the perfect candidate this game.

Make the badge challenges, but at the very least the Victory Road gym challenges, scale based on the number of badges you have. It was kind of a letdown to start exploring West, completing the bug and water gyms, only to have an area with lv 50 Pokemon preventing me from reaching Larry and lv 35's preventing you from reaching Tulip, only to go out east and discover that I outleveled Brassius and Iono already, and oh, also, when I went back and beat Tulip and her level 40 team, I was ready to take on the lv 50 path only to discover it lead to Larry's lv 35 gym that I was supposed to access from the other way. Route challenge levels don't bother me, but I mean, it'd be nice if the badges really could be done in any order, and barring that, don't give us the illusion of options. They presented it like you could take on gyms in the order you wanted, but really you're supposed to go East first, clear up to Mela, then head back, take on the bug and water gyms plus Bombirdier and the Asado Titan, then go BACK THE OTHER WAY to fight Iono, Orthworm, and Larry, then go southwest for Tulip, and THEN finally head north, fight the last 2 titans, take on the ice/ghost gyms, then the fairy Star base, then do Eri last. They don't tell you this, they just make it sound like you get to choose and then throw reality at you. Be a lot cooler if they just went all in on that premise and scaled the badge challenges based on how many you have.

This is a broken record beaten to death but god damn only having 4 main outfit options with no ability to even recolor them and only being able to customize hair/accessories really sucks, and is a terrible introduction to their "gender-neutral" character creation system. If Kalos really does border the northeast of the map and we get to go there in an expansion we better have access to alternative main outfit options in Luminose, but if we're all wrong about that then man it'd sure be cool if we could just have some other outfits available throughout the world under normal circumstances. Hell let us get Atticus to customize our uniforms. I'll pay him in Tera Crystals or LP, his own made up currency, he can even have his badge back, whatever it takes. just get me out of these orange pants. Hate coordinating my outfit around a single terrible piece. Only one character looks good in the Scarlet school uniform and it's Nemona.

[dragontamer05]

Further addition to- how ludicrous completing the National Dex in Gen 3 was - and things at least we don’t have to worry about with Sword/Shield.

- It may have had a national dex but anyone who wanted to complete it would have to wait like a whole year (2 for Japan) before FR/LG came out and you actually could complete it.

- Oh and guess what not only do you need those games but also better have a Gamecube and copy of either Colosseum or Gale of Darkness (if not both)

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But okay maybe dex completion isn’t your thing you’re still gonna be out of luck of getting to use a fav Gen 1 or 2 mon until those gba games come out.

- Which isn’t to dissimilar to now, no matter how many are available you still won’t be able to transfer in your fave mon until Pokemon Home comes out sometime next year.

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Before anyone gets the wrong idea I’m not hating on gen 3. If anything with how much people enjoy Gen 3 (whether it was their first game or not) it proves you don’t need every single Pokemon in the game or to be able to complete a dex or whatever, for it to be enjoyable- and even if it sucks this is hardly the first time we’ve been limited on the Pokes we could use in a game.

And be glad that unlike Gen3 Pokemon can be transferred over and you won’t need like 6-7 different games if you want to complete the dex.

Tbh when I think about how certain pokemon won't be available all I'm reminded of are all the GBA pokemon games.

Yes technically it's feasible to complete a full national dex but to do so you would need all of the games R/S FR/LG ( and or Emerald as well)

But like for those not lucky enough to either get all the games or know people with those other games (Oh and a link cable)

You essentially only got like probably not even half (Maybe half? idk) of the full available mons. Basically would be no different from having them cut from game since you can't use em anyway.

And in Hoenn it was mostly their pokemon with maybe only a few from Gen 1 and 2.

- And everyone loves Hoenn.

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I think I'd rather no national dex and Mons being left out over - A national dex that's there but with so many Mons the only way to complete it is if you have numerous different games.

At least this way anyone who either doesn't have any past games or only like a couple of them might even stand a chance at coming close at completing the Dex ( even with any versions exclusive n such)

Yeh sure all gens ave version exclusives but generallybthe exlcusive obes are like a drop in the buclet out of the many other available ones so you can still fill up a decent chunk of the dex even without em.

[savefrog]

Anyway, here's my belated take on the Pokedex situation. As preface I have a degree in game design lol

Adding 100+ new Pokemon every major installment is not a sustainable practice. It's tragic but true

I don't think it's impossible to have a game with all the Pokemon in it, the previous games have managed.

However there's a thing called Scope. The bigger the scope, the less time is being spent on perfecting smaller details. This is partially the reason why I think a lot of indie games have outshined AAA games. Bigger scope means more art/concept/animation/programming/design, obviously...but also more testing (and testing doesn't JUST happen at the end of development, that would be a mess)...more things that need to wait for feedback from higher ups...more time spent on communication and figuring out what gets in and what gets cut...more chance for time-consuming errors...etc etc

The previous games had all the Pokemon, sure, but take a look at the meta game. While I think Game Freak does a great job giving overlooked older Pokemon fun hidden abilities and new moves, we're at a point in the meta where there's a tier (ZU) for Pokemon too useless for even the lowest tier (PU). They are just simply outclassed - there's another Pokemon out there that does the exact same thing mechanically that they do...JUST BETTER. They're redundant. And this happens even in the lowest tiers.

While a lot of people don't care about that and battle with their fave Pokemon regardless of whether or not they are good, it's not exactly prime game design. And I don't blame Game Freak, how the hell do you test and consider almost 1000 seperate Pokemon??? The overwatch team still struggles to balance their cast with 31 (ok, they're not entirely comparable but you get it)

Focusing the scope on a smaller cast of Pokemon would mean that more time and attention can be put into balancing them and making sure they all have a place mechanically. Making even the less popular Pokemon have a role!

And besides mechanics, we now have Pokemon camp to interact with these Pokemon face to face, something that'd be less feasible with more Pokemon!!

I'm also sad Pokemon will be put aside, as there's a lot of weirder and overlooked Pokemon I love (so far have been lucky to see my faves in previews tho B-) ). Honestly I'd love a main game that doesn't introduce tons of new Pokemon but just focuses on developing the ones we have and making them fit in the world.

However, Pokemon is a franchise made for a market. New Pokemon generate buzz and help the game sell (important to offset the cost of development, games are incredibly expensive. I know you're thinking "yeah right, it's Pokemon" but no company wants to take that risk, game studios close constantly. And while I highly doubt Game Freak would be at risk of closing, they're at risk of other smaller projects suffering). The Main games are accompanied by a TCG, TV show, spin offs, Merchandise etc etc. There is (sadly) no time for delays. Honestly if they could delay it a year just to keep improving the game I would want that SO MUCH.

And I haven't even mentioned how terrifying of a task it actually is to animate, model, design, program and even just Organize that many Pokemon. We've taken it for granted. Im not fully caught up on the "Are they the same models" debate but even just transferring the models to the switch would be a monumental task. It is entirely possible that the switch renders things differently, or the rigs broke or any number of things that even if they didn't completely remake the models would make devs have to fix 1,000+ 3d models. AND MAKE NEW ONES FOR TRAINERS, ENVIRONMENT, FX, PROPS, PLUS LOW AND HIGH POLY VERSIONS OF THESE!

And considering the pipeline, they may have had to get the models done EARLIER so the riggers and animators could get to work. They didn't have the entire development time to do it, and they sure as hell aren't being lazy.

But I can say I'm interested to see what Pokemon can achieve by managing the scope like this. I'm a sucker for Pokemon world building and seeing Pokemon in the wild in their environments is awesome! I'd love them to feel organic, like they fit together in this world, and with people. So while I'm definitely sad about the Pokedex cuts, I support the decision and look forward to seeing the Pokemon who miss out this game get to reappear in other forms of poke media. They're still around!!