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Does this idea seem at all plausible to you?


  • Total voters
    189

Team Volt Grunt

Pokémon Collector
I completely disagree. The Elite Four provided two unique factors that the Champion Cup completely failed to replicate. First, the unique Elite Four characters. It's more interesting battling completely new characters as opposed to ones you've beaten several times over. And second is the challenge. The central identity of the Elite Four challenge is that it's a gauntlet. You have to defeat five of the strongest trainers in a row with no chance to rest. You have to be absolutely solid in your team or you're not going to win. Without that factor, the Champion Cup is just you facing some random trainers, business as usual. It's not interesting, it's not a challenge, it's not climatic.
The elite four aren't that interesting when there is no real introduction or development behind them. Just walking into a room and battling a stranger that has a really powerful team compared to everyone else without any character development doesn't impress me as much as battling characters that have improved throughout the story and have given me reasons to want to beat them beyond being a mysterious and revered character.
I can agree about the challenge though. auto-heals between rounds and less rounds makes it much less challenging.
 

Dragalge

"Orange" Magical Girl
The elite four aren't that interesting when there is no real introduction or development behind them. Just walking into a room and battling a stranger that has a really powerful team compared to everyone else without any character development doesn't impress me as much as battling characters that have improved throughout the story and have given me reasons to want to beat them beyond being a mysterious and revered character.
I can agree about the challenge though. auto-heals between rounds and less rounds makes it much less challenging.
But Alola’s Elite Four was developed considering how they were building up to the first League. Aside from Olivia, we got to see Hala, Acelora, & especially Hapu be interesting characters up until the moment where they became inducted. So Elite Four members can be developed well if done right.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
I like the Champion Cup, the previous League battles were fine but usually the E4 was completely absent save for a couple appearances meaning that for us they were just strong trainers and not important people in the region. Also, over time it became a little strange how there weren't any spectators, the newer Leagues make sense but the leagues that had been around for a while should at least have a couple people watching.
 

WhiteBlair

ベストチャンピオン。
Champion Cup could've been executed much better if it wasn't only for Gym Leader rematches. That killed the opportunity for welcoming new characters and stuck us to the original 8. Interestingly, I found the post-Champion Cup much more entertaining; with the other Gym Challengers are also being participants.

The concept of Elite Four; the mystery of new characters, their OST, the feeling of arriving the final destination are what I always look for when a new generation arrives. Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos nailed in that regard. If only Elite Four would be present in Galar as a part of final-round tournament, that would be excellent. I wanted that suspense for a challenger that I didn't battle before. Galar's felt a bit more like BW2's Type-Expert PWT tournament, which is my only con.

Regardless, I feel the Champion Cup was much entertaining and the right way to end the plot. As much as I prefer it over the past concept, it needs to be revised to reach its full potential.
 

Emboar_Rulez

Pokémon Master (Kinda)
I thought champions cup felt kinda like the anime ex wot for the fact that we didn’t get rekt by a Meowth in boots or because are Pokémon decoded it didn’t want to fight.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
That’s fair, though I personally liked the Champion Cup since it finally gave me the chance to battle a tournament style Pokémon League similar to the anime.

I love the anime, and I typically like seeing anime influences in the games, but this is one case where it just doesn't work. A tournament setting just doesn't mean anything special in a one-player video game, as it's just a scripted sequence. Tournaments are interesting because they're all about seeing who's best, but in a one-player video game that just not how it really comes across. It should be about overcoming obstacles, and the tournament format just doesn't feel like as much of an obstacle as the Elite Four format.

The elite four aren't that interesting when there is no real introduction or development behind them. Just walking into a room and battling a stranger that has a really powerful team compared to everyone else without any character development doesn't impress me as much as battling characters that have improved throughout the story and have given me reasons to want to beat them beyond being a mysterious and revered character.
I can agree about the challenge though. auto-heals between rounds and less rounds makes it much less challenging.

You're not wrong, but you can battle those characters you know at any point in the game. For example, we typically get a pre-Elite Four rival battle, but here we skipped that in favor of battling Hop in the tournament. So in a previous game we would have gotten both the battle against the character you care and a battle against an enigmatic trainer that's supposed to be the best of the best. My point being that we only lost something with the tournament.

And honestly, I would argue that not knowing much about the Elite Four makes them all the more interesting. They're these revered figures that you know nothing about, and therefore you have no idea what you're about to go up against until you're there.


And really, it's not like we couldn't have both the tournament and the Elite Four. All the tournament was was a way to determine who gets the right to challenge the Champion, and the Champion fight is completely disjointed from it. So really, we could have had the tournament to earn the right, but rather than earning the right to go straight to the Champion, it could have been to earn the right to challenge the Elite Four and Champion. Then everybody is happy.
 
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Pokemon Fan

Knuckle Trainer
To me the tournament consisting mostly of the gym leaders worked really well from a lore perspective. Namely that in Galar the gym leaders are routinely jockeying to improve their ranking among each other, keep themselves out of the minor league, and perhaps even become champion themselves. Throwing an Elite Four between them and the Champion in these organized competitions would have just further complicated things.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
The concept of Elite Four; the mystery of new characters, their OST, the feeling of arriving the final destination are what I always look for when a new generation arrives. Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos nailed in that regard. If only Elite Four would be present in Galar as a part of final-round tournament, that would be excellent. I wanted that suspense for a challenger that I didn't battle before. Galar's felt a bit more like BW2's Type-Expert PWT tournament, which is my only con.

I disagree, I can't even remember the names or appearances of most of those Elite Fours from the games you named. I literally only remember Karen, Sydney, Hula Girl and Knight Man and with Knight Man I'm not even sure what type he used. I thought those characters were kinda pointless, since they just sit around in their Elite Four halls and never do anything. The only time the Elite Four worked for me was Alola, where you met most of them at various times during the plot.
Same goes for the Gym Leaders/Kahunas/Trial Captains.

So personally I rather have them use characters that have already been part of the story rather than throw four randos in there, just to have more opponents.

But I do think it can work if they went the Alola route and integrated them into the plot. Like if they had built up your fellow challengers (besides Marnie and Bede) a bit more, the "Elite 4" of Galar could have been four of your fellow challengers.
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
I disagree, I can't even remember the names or appearances of most of those Elite Fours from the games you named. I literally only remember Karen, Sydney, Hula Girl and Knight Man and with Knight Man I'm not even sure what type he used. I thought those characters were kinda pointless, since they just sit around in their Elite Four halls and never do anything. The only time the Elite Four worked for me was Alola, where you met most of them at various times during the plot.
Same goes for the Gym Leaders/Kahunas/Trial Captains.

So personally I rather have them use characters that have already been part of the story rather than throw four randos in there, just to have more opponents.

But I do think it can work if they went the Alola route and integrated them into the plot. Like if they had built up your fellow challengers (besides Marnie and Bede) a bit more, the "Elite 4" of Galar could have been four of your fellow challengers.
Well, I will say that Flint, Lance, Marshal, & Malva were handled pretty good outside of the pokémon league
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
To be fair, the Elite Four started to get characterization after RS.

The fame checker thingy expanded on the Kanto Elite Four in FRLG.

The Johto(?) Elite Four got expanded more in HGSS (except for Sydney and Karen, I think).

The Hoenn Elite Four is perhaps the most unimpressive of the lot, though. Not much to go on.

The Sinnoh Elite Four got some major upgrades and have been seen outside the building at the Battleground and visiting the player's mansion.

The Unovan Elite Four was also developed. Caitlin becoming one was perhaps the most surprising and adds more to her backstory as Darach's master (what happened to him, anyway?)

Screw the majority of the Kalos Elite Four, though. Only Malva got a lot out of it.

The Alolan Elite Four was already made by people the player already met so it kind of doesn't count, but Kahili got the short end of the stick. We still don't get to access the damned golf course in the back of her hotel.

Galar has no Elite Four but it still sort of uses the theme at the Champion Cup, in a game where every major character (except Sonia and Magnolia for some reason) has more info about them revealed on League Cards.
 
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Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
Galar has no Elite Four but it still sort of uses the theme at the Champion Cup, in a game where every major character (except Sonia and Magnolia for some reason) has more info about them revealed on League Cards.

Not the focus of your post, but I just wanted to point out that Sonia and Magnlia wouldn't have League Cards because they're not a current part of the league. Oleana doesn't have one either. Everyone you get a card from is either a gym leader, current gym challenger, champion, or the owner of the league.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Not the focus of your post, but I just wanted to point out that Sonia and Magnlia wouldn't have League Cards because they're not a current part of the league. Oleana doesn't have one either. Everyone you get a card from is either a gym leader, current gym challenger, champion, or the owner of the league.
Oh well. In all honesty, Magnolia really got the short end of the stick compared to the rest of the cast. And the lack of spotlight is very glaring after coming from Kukui; the most involved professor of them all.
 

Bguy7

The Dragon Lord
Oh well. In all honesty, Magnolia really got the short end of the stick compared to the rest of the cast. And the lack of spotlight is very glaring after coming from Kukui; the most involved professor of them all.

Yeah, I agree for sure. Sonia (and Rose with the introduction) really stole all of Magnolia's chances to be meaningful.
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
The Sinnoh Elite Four got some major upgrades and have been seen outside the building at the Battleground and visiting the player's mansion.
Plus the Sinnoh Elite Four got the best treatment in regards to the anime. Each member had at least one episode that gave them lasting & memorable moments than most of the other regions.

In all honesty, the anime, the Adventures manga, & Masters all do a better job at fleshing out the Elite Four than most of the mainline games do.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
Plus the Sinnoh Elite Four got the best treatment in regards to the anime. Each member had at least one episode that gave them lasting & memorable moments than most of the other regions.

In all honesty, the anime, the Adventures manga, & Masters all do a better job at fleshing out the Elite Four than most of the mainline games do.

I don't watch the anime or read the mangas, but however they might be expanded upon in other media doesn't change how they are portrayed in the games themselves.


The Johto(?) Elite Four got expanded more in HGSS (except for Sydney and Karen, I think).

Wasn't Sydney from the Hoenn Elite 4? Him and Hula Girl. And possibly two others of whom I do not have a single memory.
 

Ultra Beast Lover

Well-Known Member
I don't really remember the E4 from Kanto and Johto, I kinda remember the ones from Hoen but barely, I remember Agatha but only because people kept talking about her.
 

WhiteBlair

ベストチャンピオン。
I disagree, I can't even remember the names or appearances of most of those Elite Fours from the games you named. I literally only remember Karen, Sydney, Hula Girl and Knight Man and with Knight Man I'm not even sure what type he used. I thought those characters were kinda pointless, since they just sit around in their Elite Four halls and never do anything. The only time the Elite Four worked for me was Alola, where you met most of them at various times during the plot.
Same goes for the Gym Leaders/Kahunas/Trial Captains.

So personally I rather have them use characters that have already been part of the story rather than throw four randos in there, just to have more opponents.

But I do think it can work if they went the Alola route and integrated them into the plot. Like if they had built up your fellow challengers (besides Marnie and Bede) a bit more, the "Elite 4" of Galar could have been four of your fellow challengers.

Sure, but it creates suspense not knowing which Elite Four and type you'll face against unlike Galar's Champion Cup, which unfortunately is a recap of whom you've battled in the story. I never liked Alola personally, the group didn't give me a synergy.

In one way, I agree having someone who has zero relevance to the (post-)story, just sitting in the hall is a boring attempt. On the other hand, I don't want GameFreak to create easily-predictable characters as E4/Champion. Sonia was a top-notch example for that; even though her grandmother was a professor, I didn't see her becoming one until the very end, at least not until the third-version/sequels. So is Caitlin from Unova (Battle Castle Owner) and Malva from Kalos (Holo Caster Newsreporter).
 

LilligantLewis

Bonnie stan
Plus the Sinnoh Elite Four got the best treatment in regards to the anime. Each member had at least one episode that gave them lasting & memorable moments than most of the other regions.

I think this is because Ash was originally supposed to end after Sinnoh. I think he was meant to beat Paul in the final, beat the E4, beat Cynthia, and leave the show. Then higher-ups meddled. No other explanation makes sense for many of the decisions in Sinnoh, including the E4 focus episodes, and I also think that Dawn would have won as well if they let them.
 
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