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Gyms, Trials, or Something Else

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RileyXY1

Young Battle Trainer
Gyms have been the standard form of progression for 6 generations and 20 years. Until Sun & Moon, where the gyms were completely taken out of the game and replaced with the new Island Trials. What do you want the progression system to be in these games: gyms, trials, or something completely different?
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
I've been enjoying them changing things up from the 20-year-old formula; I will go for the third option, something completely different. ^^
 

Hydrohs

安らかに眠ります、岩田さん。
Staff member
Super Mod
While I didn't mind the trials, I did like Gyms better so personally hope they return. Not sure we'll see something new again so soon, but it's possible.
 

SleepingGiant

Discord mod (Sudo)
Totem battles were cool but the gym puzzles/trainers were better. A combination of a Totem-like battle in place a gym leader could be good enough. Trial puzzles were... kinda sad.
 

FrozTKnight

Will ORA ORA ORA you
Making the gyms based on the competitive apects and strats in the meta game would be a nice change and would make the battles harder.

First gym teaching the concept of EVs
Second gym focuses on status moves
Third on setup moves
Fourth on abilities, natures etc.

and so on and this would teach new players the technical aspects of competitive battling while they play the game
 

Hydrohs

安らかに眠ります、岩田さん。
Staff member
Super Mod
I'm not sure teaching the competitive aspects is the best course, Pokemon is kind of known for its accessibility, forcing people to learn competitive strategies is kind of counter to that. I do think there should be a better way to teach it though, just not sure gyms are the best way to do that.
 

Requiem Aeternam

Dance like an eggplant!
I’d rather Gyms back. The trials were fun the first time around but after that they become boring and too easy. At least I felt like I accomplished something with Gyms.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
Yeah, if it became that level of difficult to get through the game, or made me feel like I HAVE to learn competitive jazz, I would feel kinda alienated.
 

UltimateNinja

Praying for the holy relics
Prefering the old-school gym system. But make them more difficult.
 

Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
I agree. They can change however it's called, but I still prefer the gym system.
Battle a lot of trainers. Solve puzzles while doing so. Battle the Leader. Earn a badge.

The Alolan system would've been better if the trials had more to it.
My biggest disappointments were not being able to battle the Captains directly.

Also the Z-Crystals. I didn't feel as accomplished when I earned them unlike badges.
I didn't even use majority of it on my Pokemon. :/
 

Hydrohs

安らかに眠ります、岩田さん。
Staff member
Super Mod
I had trouble remembering that Z-Crystals even existed, and even after giving them to a Pokemon I'd forget to use a Z-Move (Or choose not to because the animation was so long and awful).
 

paipr_christian

grass type fan.
I wouldnt mind either. Lack of gyms was def a thing missed in gen7, but the trials were fun still.

Anything would be pretty great.

But if I were to choose. Evolve trials. Gen7 was a nice beta for them. Lets work on them and make them more.... and they dont have to be called trials.
 

pokedigijedi

Saiyan Jedi
Just a thought but what if they did a trial-gym mix? Maybe something like "as a test to see if your good enough to challenge the gyms, you have to complete this number of trials" or something less ridiculous sounding.......

Ultimately it would't surprise me if they came up with a new series of challenges, but I wouldn't be upset either.
 

Pikachu111213

Traveler
I would like gyms to return as well. Like others have been saying, it makes you feel accomplished to beat a tough leader, while taking down a totem felt like nothing more than story progression.
 

SleepingGiant

Discord mod (Sudo)
It could be cool if they stopped making it based on types. For the first third of the game yeah, newcomers might want to get practice with type matchups. But having other themes for gyms might be interesting as well. Trick Room, weather, etc. Monotypes are so easy to beat in the late game, and the mid-game monotypes also tend not to require all that much thought either.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
I think the trials did a lot of good to give more presence and characterization to both the trial captains and the world of Alola. So I'd like to see them return BUT with the added feature that at the end of each trial you fight the captain as well.

So a trial-gym combination.
 

Stygian

Well-Known Member
I want gyms back. Maybe incorporate totem Pokémon as boss fights throughout the game (or give each gym leader a totem) but I’d rather trials stayed in Alola. Gyms are a huge part of what makes a Pokémon game feel like a Pokémon game to me personally.
 

CorsolaTrainer

New Member
I'd like to see gyms make a comeback for sure. I didn't mind the trials - I liked the idea. The trials were pretty easy to me. However, with gyms, there were some gym leaders I really struggled with throughout the years.

*sees a pic of Miltank and shudders*
 

M.P.

Retired
I'd like to see something new. Alola not having gyms was refreshing, but the trials were too easy to my liking.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Just a thought but what if they did a trial-gym mix? Maybe something like "as a test to see if your good enough to challenge the gyms, you have to complete this number of trials" or something less ridiculous sounding.......

Isn't that sort of what the Grand Trials were though? First you do some trials to prove you're good enough and then you fight the Kahuna/Gym leader. Personally I didn't miss gyms. They were fun, but I feel like Grand Trials were similar enough to them to be a suitable replacement. The totems were occasionally a bit simple (you could cheese a lot of them by poisoning them or lowering their stats a lot because they can't switch), but the fact that they had allies and an inherent stat boost helped balance that out. Some of them like Araquanid and Mimikyu were quite strong. I do wish some of the z-crystals weren't just given away without a trial though (looking at you, Icium Z).

But to get back on topic, I think trials are going to stay in Alola. It's part of the Island Challenge which is an Alola thing. I'd actually be all for something completely new if it's fun.

*sees a pic of Miltank and shudders*

In my second playthrough of Ultra Sun I actually wiped at Olivia's Grand Trial. I'm not too proud of it, but that Lycanroc is pretty tough (and I'm an idiot and use way too many pokémon in the main playthrough so I'm always underlevelled, does make the game a bit more challenging though).
 
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