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Gyms, Trials, or Something Else

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Pikasaur

Lazy Summer
What if they opt to sorta conbo the 2. With one being the focus of in game, and the other post game. Or the other is otption side stuff as you progress.

Finish a gym, neato the local Totem Pokemon is now wil challenege you since youce proven yourself (or vice versa). You dont have to do the second bit, but if you do you will be rewarded with a TM or Z-Crystal or other item.

If gyms return, Z-crystals will end up in post game like Mega Stones. Going through Trial's to get them would be a better post game then we've had for awhile
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
I don't think Trials will return, at least in name. They might do something very similar, but they'll give them some new name and pretend it's something new. That being said, if they feel the need to something that isn't gyms again, I really hope they actually give us a good replacement. Trials had potential, but completely failed on it, leaving me wishing that gyms would return.
 

Cerex

Well-Known Member
Trials seems very endemic to the Alola region. They went out of their way to stress that it was unlike other regions, so I don't think they will return. That being said, I do hope if gyms do come back, that they are more complex in someway. There's no reason gyms can't be mini dungeons in their own right, where players have to explore and use their Pokemon in various ways to overcome obstacles and then finally facing the gym leader. The point of the gym is to test the player and their Pokemon team, but as players get better you'll need something more than just the combat strategy to keep them interesting.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
I liked the totem trials over the gyms because they were far more challenging. Whereas in gyms, you can just steamroll them with whatever type you want, for totem trials they offer a double-battle against you who has just a single Pokemon at a time forcing you to choose the right Pokemon for the right situation. In fact, what I thought was most interesting about totem trials is that I have NEVER seen people this divisive over a boss battle's difficulty EVER in a Pokemon game.

In past Pokemon games, a lot of people often were in agreement who were the easiest and hardest gym leaders but in Pokemon Sun and Moon you will commonly see so many people who have different opinions on whhich totem boss is hard and which totem boss is easy. You would see Pokemon players who say Lurantis is easy and Araquanid was the hard one or Araquanid was actually the easy one and Lurantis was the hard one. For me I chose the grass-type Rowlet, and the hardest Totem Boss for me in Sun and Moon was actually Salazzle and the easiest Totem Boss for me was actually Wishiwashi and a lot of people said Salazzle is actually too easy to beat and Wishiwashi was much harder.

I have never seen a boss battles difficulty been this divisive in a Pokemon game where your team building actually matters. I really hope they bring back Totem Bosses or something similar where it's a difficult double battle against you alone.
 
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Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
They can actually combine Trials and Gyms.

The Gym puzzle is the trial, just with more Trainers rather than wild Pokemon.
The Gym Leader would use Totem Pokemon as their ace.

I actually expected this with USUM, but it didn't happen.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
I think I just thought of the perfect way where Trials and Gyms can coexist together. Okay imagine this. Your a new player and your goal is to defeat all the regional trials and yet your never really told that through this, you can challenge the Elite Four. Your told you can get special Z-crystals and that's it! That is only Part 1 of the game. When you are done doing the linear story of the regional trials with high-level Pokemon instead of challenging the Elite Four... you get to challenge all eight gym leaders in any order you want and guess what? Those gym leaders all have high-level Pokemon, it isn't like Brock with his Lv. 12 Onix. The first gym leader you face is with his Lv. 60 signature Pokemon facing you down and that's just the first gym leader! That is Part 2 of the game! Then you can challenge the elite four and beat the Pokemon Champion once you gather all eight badges.

It's kind of like Breath of the Wild where your on this "island" and when you get to your objective, the whole world just opens up to you.
 
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paipr_christian

grass type fan.
If gyms return, Z-crystals will end up in post game like Mega Stones. Going through Trial's to get them would be a better post game then we've had for awhile

I hope not. Having M.Stones made into a post game thing ruined them. Sure competative players still had them, but for those that really only play ingame.... pointless doing thr same with ZCrystals would do the same thing again.

Leaving them in game as a side thing works for everyone. Collect them as you play, or save them for post game. Your choice.
 

Hydrohs

安らかに眠ります、岩田さん。
Staff member
Super Mod
I think I just thought of the perfect way where Trials and Gyms can coexist together. Okay imagine this. Your a new player and your goal is to defeat all the regional trials and yet your never really told that through this, you can challenge the Elite Four. Your told you can get special Z-crystals and that's it! That is only Part 1 of the game. When you are done doing the linear story of the regional trials with high-level Pokemon instead of challenging the Elite Four... you get to challenge all eight gym leaders in any order you want and guess what? Those gym leaders all have high-level Pokemon, it isn't like Brock with his Lv. 12 Onix. The first gym leader you face is with his Lv. 60 signature Pokemon facing you down and that's just the first gym leader! That is Part 2 of the game! Then you can challenge the elite four and beat the Pokemon Champion once you gather all eight badges.

It's kind of like Breath of the Wild where your on this "island" and when you get to your objective, the whole world just opens up to you.

Then you have the problem Kanto has in G/S/C/HG/SS. By delineating the game you can't properly balance it, so at some point the gym leaders become super trivial because your Pokemon easily out-level them, and you blow through all eight in an hour because no one can offer any resistance.
 

RileyXY1

Young Battle Trainer
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
I don't think GF would force people to play competitively.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I don't think so either. I mean, I love battling competitively. There's a lot to it coming up with new strategies and combinations on your own, and the thrill to see them actually work in battle is amazing. But the level is a significant step up compared to what the game offers with its limited AI. Make it more inviting, sure. Lower the barriers, sure. They've been doing that for a while now with easier breeding and hyper training and everything. But it should never be forced. Pokémon is more than just battling, and people should always be free to enjoy it in their own way, whether that is spending time hatching eggs, completing your pokédex, doing pokémon contests, or whatever.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
Maybe for a few Gym puzzles you have to use a Ride Pokemon to get to the Gym leader then that Ride Pokemon becomes yours. A tutorial made fun
 

Kung Fu Ferret

The Usurper
I'd like something that's a mix of both gyms and trials. If possible, maybe have a theme that may encompass two or more different Pokémon types per area.

What I mean by this is maybe have one Gym/Trial site/whatever based on an archaeological site and have the Trainers use Rock, Ground, AND Steel types. Or maybe a tropical greenhouse with Grass and Bug types.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
I say bring gyms back and make them completely optional and separate from the game's story.

I also like the idea of making it difficult to reach the gym, such as a an Ice-type gym being atop a mountain, or a Water-type gym being at the center of an ocean. One thing I loved about player gyms in ORAS was the fact that getting to them was half the challenge.
 

OshyHikari

c l a r i t y
While the trials weren't that bad, I do feel they will mostly be an Alola-exclusive thing since Game Freak often loves deliberately making certain features not carry over just to make the regions have "unique gimmicks". I think it'll likely be Gyms being brought back since the trials did have very mixed reception.
 

SleepingGiant

Discord mod (Sudo)
Making features and scrapping them is a good way to keep a franchise feeling fresh. Pokemon isn't the only franchise that does this, and it's definitely not a bad thing.

Although, I don't think GF cares about reception. They are not transparent around feedback, and they seem to continue making terrible decisions. (Not to derail this thread-- we could go on and on with examples. Just trying to point out that their motivation to using gyms, trials, or experimenting with another formulas likely has absolutely nothing to do with how these features have been received.)
 

Phillies

Well-Known Member
I would like them to bring gyms back but give each one a gimmick. Such as having the first gym be a single battle, the second a double battle, the third a triple battle, the fourth a rotation battle, the fifth a sky battle, the sixth an inverse battle, the seventh a battle royal, and the eighth a horde battle. As for trials they can be set up around each gyms town as something you need to complete before earning the right to challenge a gym. They can also be used as a way to prepare the players for each gyms battle system.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
I would like them to bring gyms back but give each one a gimmick. Such as having the first gym be a single battle, the second a double battle, the third a triple battle, the fourth a rotation battle, the fifth a sky battle, the sixth an inverse battle, the seventh a battle royal, and the eighth a horde battle. As for trials they can be set up around each gyms town as something you need to complete before earning the right to challenge a gym. They can also be used as a way to prepare the players for each gyms battle system.
That would be interesting, for an inverse battle it would keep you on your toes because you have to remember what type is super effective and what type isn't very effective then switch it around.
 

RileyXY1

Young Battle Trainer
I would like them to bring gyms back but give each one a gimmick. Such as having the first gym be a single battle, the second a double battle, the third a triple battle, the fourth a rotation battle, the fifth a sky battle, the sixth an inverse battle, the seventh a battle royal, and the eighth a horde battle. As for trials they can be set up around each gyms town as something you need to complete before earning the right to challenge a gym. They can also be used as a way to prepare the players for each gyms battle system.
I don't think that Sky Battles will ever come back.
 

Storm the Lycanroc

Oshawott Squad
I wouldn't mind gyms returning since they're so iconic to the series. I don't think trials will return they're culturally important to Alola.
 
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