You're not understanding what I mean by sidequests/minigames. I'm referring to extra content like Contests and Secret Bases that you could invest a lot of time into and work towards completing.
No, I get you. I just listed Pokemon Amie and such as examples because they affect the gameplay more substantially. I enjoyed Contests and things alongside that, but it's not worth investing in them because they literally offer you the bare minimum in terms of content compared to the rest of the game. What is the point of investing in secret bases to get certain perks like "raising an egg" or "picking up stones" or contests to raise a pokemon's "beauty" or coolness"? You can't use those features for anything else in the game. And why would you when we literally have the Daycare and Poke Pelago to do all of that with an even smaller time frame.
I mentioned making a base is a cool idea, but I'd much rather they invest in other quality of life changes like rematchable trainers, higher difficulty and such. I just find those things more important. Maybe it's just me, because the side content in pokemon was never my personal main focus as I only cared about the main campaign 90% of the time, but it seems pointless to invest so much work into a feature that you can easily skip without any questions asked.
Other examples include the Pokeathlon, Pokestar Studios, and Join Avenue. The more recent minigames like Pokemon Amie, PR Videos, and the Photo Club just don't have as much depth.
Pokeathlon, Pokestar Studios, and Join Avenue work very as one time things. I'm not at all against seeing a revised version of these things coming back. And using the contest example from earlier I feel the Pokeathlon did offer more than Contests as it was something you could invest your time into that also affected you gameplay advantages in the main campaign. E.G. evolution stones. Pokemon Amie does this even further ( almost broken to an extent) with how just caring for your pokemon gives you an EXP boost and allows you to dodge more attacks and gain critical hits more. I find it rewarding for people who do choose to invest in it because it affects the other parts of the game. Contests being limited to one section of the game was it's biggest downfall. I felt like they could've made it more immersive by adding those things from Amie. Maybe if they made a combo of both I would be more happy with it.
PR Videos are a fun tool to mess with as well as Photo Club, but I agree they could've easily taken them out for better features. I understand why people like them a lot, but I do agree they aren't as fun as the facilities above. I think the main problem GF has is that they constantly have to find an equivalent for a feature that works perfectly fine. This is why we get things like FP when PSS already worked. I think keeping things like Join Avenue + Poke Pelago as a joined place for breeding, hatching, etc, is the much better move to make.
The point is that new areas are huge for content, you take time figuring out how to navigate them and that adds more than say, the Mirage Spots in ORAS or the Ultra Wormholes which you can finish in like, a minute.
I can agree with that. I appreciate the lore of trying to create different worlds for each of the UBs, but I do wish they could've expanded upon them more. However, as someone who shiny hunts I appreciate the increased odds in the Wormholes. As for Mirage Spots, I get the purpose of them (to catch the legendaries before the end of each gen), but I think I think the lore behind them could've been explained better. At least in S/M/USUM it was established aliens existed in that world already. Hoopa was super obscure in ORAS.
The Battle Frontier isn't one facility though, it's a collection of multiple battle facilities. So you can't just count it as one battle facility copy/pasted over and over again, you have to look at Emerald's as a collection of 7 battle facilities, and Platinum/HGSS's as a collection of 5. On the other hand, the battle facilities since, while technically different, are mainly generic Battle Tower clones. The only one that isn't is USUM's Battle Agency, which is a clone of the Battle Factory, the second most overused facility in the series. There's definitely a lack in quantity and creativity with the newer battle facilities.
I'm sorry I should've clarified what I meant. It is a collection of multiple battle facilities, but they are still the
same type of multiple battle facilities. All of them do offer some form of items and rankings to use, but the main problem I always had with them was that it was at the end of the game. Some of the items they give would've been waaaay more useful before the end of the game. And even then, all of them follow the same type of gimmicks.
I wouldn't mind it the first couple of times, but when you copy it three times, that's when you should just drop it and give us something new. lol They should've just given us a better concept then give us another repeat of a battle facilities. It also doesn't help that in an already easy games it's a pretty huge difficulty spike and while that is not bad, the game never prepares you for it. When was the last time you used Resto-Chesto in a regular trainer battle? I feel there is this level of disconnect you get when you go from one shot=ting trainers to having to actually study a bit of competitive battling. But even back then, GF REFUSES (to this day) to even explain the basics of EVs / IVs, something pretty substantial to help you with the battle frontier. It wasn't until I picked up on this stuff you begin to realize how weird it was they made it that way. Not to say any of the facilities are necessarily bad, but I feel things like PWT or PokePelago were better options that had more of an effect on the gameplay without being a weird jump. (Then again, this is part of my personal bias as while I completed these facilities they are far from my favorites in the franchise)
I do agree that they should stop cloning the battle tower, but I wouldn't necessarily say that the battle tree is uncreative. In gen 6, yeah the Battle Maison is bland. However, having a battle tree in which you fight with characters you like (that you have to unlock first) is a fun idea that I actually liked from S/M/USUM. Because there's more of that connection to those characters than "random 4 girls you fight". P tried this too mind you, but I'd much rather it be fans favorites than people I barely knew. I still completely agree though that they should stop trying to replicate those, but even then, I can't say too much I guess because I was never a fan of the original ones to begin with.
Don't even get me started on the Battle Agency. I'll start ranting for weeks!
