The Faults of Gen VII

[Doziz]

Too many fake doors! There's so many! Pls Game Freak, no doors that I can't go through, I will always want to go through the door.

 

[KyogreThunder]

Con #5: The new fishing mechanic is too tedious
Con #4: You can't rematch Trainers on routes, and trainers' Pokemon awarding no more experience than wild ones of the same level is dumb and makes no sense in-universe
Con #3: Tons upon tons of non-regional Pokemon aren't even available without transferring them from the Bank. Was it really that difficult to make them available with Swarms, Safari Zone and Poke Radar?
Con #2: No National Dex in-game. Like seriously, why was it even removed?
Con #1: The Poke Ride is by far the most overrated new mechanic ever created. It feels completely wrong and out of place (why do the Trainers have to use rental Pokemon in a franchise about getting to explore the world thanks to their Pokemon?) It doesn't help that the saddles and the Riding Wear look utterly ridiculous. I do actually understand the complaints about HMs taking up moveslots (and I don't even like Cut, Whirlpool and Rock Smash as moves), but throwing the worldbuilding out of the window for convenience is never going to be plausible. Soaring is actually a fantastic concept because you're using Latios/Latias you actually own and have saved from the evil team, but Poke Ride is just a slap in the face and an insult to the theme of the franchise. Also, Machamp Shove is just creepy and Charizard being used for flying purposes (rather than Fearow, Skarmory, Braviary or Salamence) doesn't help. Fortunately, it does look like you can ride your own Pokemon in Let's Go, Pikachu & Eevee, and if this becomes standard for the future Pokemo games, it will definitely be epic.

 

[oshawott7]

- Only Kanto Pokemon had Alolan forms.
- The beginning of USUM was too similar to SM.
- Festival Plaza was a step down from PSS even though I actually enjoy it.
- I really don't like the routes, they don't feel distinct, they look extremely similar and definitely don't feel memorable like multiple routes in previous games. This is probably my biggest issue with these games. I have fond memories of several routes and can recognize them just by the music but in Alola they are just all stuck together like a big mess. I thought some my feelings towards the routes might change with USUM but they didn't.
- The music. They repeat some of the music way too often, especially in the beginning. Trainers don't have individual little tunes anymore, why did they remove this? I just feel like the soundtrack for these games is very limited and the smallest out of all the games released so far, even if it's not true that's still the impression I get.
- Too many cutscenes!!!! and too many unnecessary and slooooow cutscenes!!!
- No national Pokedex.
- I want Gym battles back.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Machamp Shove- The Machamp literally cradling you like a baby is really awkward looking. Why can’t we ride on its shoulders? It isn’t as if Machamp can’t support the weight there.

 

[Kage-Pikachu]

I was wondering that too, we could easily and safely ride on Machamp's shoulders with some kind of harness just like the others...

 

[pokman]

Too much dialogue like in gen VI. Gen V had a similar problem, but the dialogue was at least vaguely interesting half the time. Gen VII dialogue is a mash-A/B simulator 90% of the time.

Poor implementation of trials. Nothing necessarily wrong with replacing gyms, but the trials were simply too shallow. No real exploration or engagement. The Dragon trial in my opinion was never even finished.

Way too linear. Outside of backtracking, these games don't give you much room for exploration and the single-player campaign essentially revolves around the red flags on the Rotom Dex. Gen VII contends with BW in terms of linearity. It's a shame because Alola is not really even linear by design.

No sea/ocean routes. There are coastal routes, sure, but routes that connected the islands in some capacity would have made the experience more immersive and grandeur, perhaps. It just feels like untapped potential to me.

Lame trainer encounter music, generally lame route music - small things that still matter to me.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Way too linear. Outside of backtracking, these games don't give you much room for exploration and the single-player campaign essentially revolves around the red flags on the Rotom Dex.

Of course you didn't have to depend on Rotom Dex if you knew where you're going. But you don't have to go to the flags if you want to explore around a bit, but you only have to go there to progress in the story.

 

[KurashiDragon]

Have we gotten to the stage where we don’t want Gamefreak to take risks in its game design? I’m very happy that SM/USUM was an attempt at a change in the formula in more than 1 way. It’s refreshing and shows Gamefreak coming out of their comfort zone. When they stay safe, we get trash like XY.

I’d say a lot more happens than that, and that you’re totally underselling what new things it tried (there’s a lot of them and at least 2 of them are very different which makes Gen 7 feel like a very different experience to some of the other games) so I really don’t understand this point. Trials are a lovely edition, ride pager makes for a more enjoyable experience, Alolan formes, while minor pandering, are much more tame than megas and a needed upate to most of the gen 1 designs, USUM shouldn’t be penalised for doing the same things other games did just because it’s newer, the world building is fantastic as usual in these games, the Ultra Beasts were a good idea...

As for my least favourite thing about gen 7, I’d say Festival Plaza. The online service is perhaps the only step down from last generation imo, and it’s a big one because the PSS was extremely convenient and the Festival Plaza is just a disaster.

I mean, the same thing happened with BOTW and I cant get enough of that game. I don't mind some innovation and changes to the formula so long as the game is still fun to play and yea, I had fun with S / M / US / UM as I said in my previous post. I simply don't think it's as good as it could be. It really didn't do enough. Especially in the case of US / UM which was essentially the 3rd version of the gen ala Emerald / Platinum except not nearly as warranted. As for the changes themselves, I don't feel one way or the other about Trials vs Gyms, I like the Ride Pager, like ALOT!, and I prefer Megas to alolan formes / Z moves myself.

You're speaking as though I'm somehow penalizing the game because of the games but no that's not what I'm doing. I didn't really care about that in the first place. Sense B2 / W2 the only thing I really wanted from my pokemon games was more to do. I think that's the biggest gripe I have with Gen 7 as a whole. There's very little to do in the games. Once you beat the story and catch em all, as you do in every game, there's little to no post game to speak of. This has been a problem sense gen 6 and it's only gotten worse. Apart from the Battle Tower / Tree / Subway, a mild post game story, and a way to go after legendaries that I've already caught 50 times, there's very little reason for me to stay with these games. That wasn't as much of a problem in X / Y but Sun / Moon ironically made this problem worse through the sheer annoyance that is the beginning and middle of the story. The beginning with its obnoxiously long tutorials, and the middle that drags so flippin hard. All the 7th gen games suffer from horrible pacing that just brings the whole exprience down in spite of the changes made to the formula.

TL;DR Essentially, a story that drags and very little to do after said story is done is what makes me think of this gen as little more than a stopgap to see what changes they can make. The changes themselves, I don't really mind. In fact, I like alot of these ideas but the game suffers in spite of those changes, not because of them.

 

[TwilightSpooky]

Too much hand-holding, plus too many story lines and mini-quests going on at the same time without enough of a breather/exploration. Imo makes replayability less fun. I hope in gen 8 they keep the same amount of story and larger post game with smaller mini quests for each. Just execute it a bit better.

Festival plaza was not as exciting as I thought it'd be and I prefer the PSS too. Poke finder was kind of a let down, though I'm glad they at least implemented it.

Also hated my characters creepy, unchanging, soulless smile. Please Nintendo/Gamefreak don't ever do that again.

 

[Deadeye]

Too much hand-holding, plus too many story lines and mini-quests going on at the same time without enough of a breather/exploration. Imo makes replayability less fun. I hope in gen 8 they keep the same amount of story and larger post game with smaller mini quests for each. Just execute it a bit better.

I suppose that my biggest gripe is how small Alola feels given how few islands there were. Also, I wish Gyms had been available, because Island Trials didn't seem like enough of a challenge to me.

Agreed on both.

It's pretty much like exploring Sevii Islands in FR/LG but the essentials and "gyms" which are now Island Trials are now making it more long, "therefore it's long enough to be a plot" *sarcasm*. And while in itself it was refreshing to have islands and trials, I wished the islands were more complex! In FR/LG we indeed did most of the stuff on mainland, but Sevii Islands still had both ingame and postgame content like pushing back that motorcycle gang, saving a little girl from scary Hypno, finding a small Team Rocket base and even capturing Moltres! Why didn't Kalos and Alola have lots of content like this?

 

[raichu27]

Dig being replaced and no new mega evolution come to mind. Dig was a great coverage move.

Still no Bug/Psychic, Electric/Fighting, Poison/Steel, Fire/Ice, etc. also comes to mind.

 

[kacklord]

i am actually... not a fan of poké ride.

i haven't read through this whole thread so i'm not sure how unpopular of an opinion this is, but i did not really enjoy it very much at all. i appreciate the notion— the HM-based model that they went with before was pretty bad and usually just resulted in toting an HM slave around, which wasn't really fun or rewarding for anyone. so i guess i can see on that level how the poké ride system was implemented in the hopes of kind of alleviating that inconvenience.

i just feel like, in the process, they've also removed a lot of what made those dynamic overworld elements fun. and i don't think that happened because of the switch to poké ride, necessarily; it's just coincided with fairly poor map design. the pokémon games have been growing increasingly easy as time elapses and i can see why, but even as a ten year old i was able to puzzle out the basic puzzles from SSHG, and i think most of the target audience is probably clever enough to figure it out too.

what we've got instead now is basically Invisible Walls blocking your entrance into certain areas until the right rideable pokémon is ascertained. it's very much a classic insurmountable map hazard, and the reward for finally passing it is... not that great. riding the mudsdale across the treacherous terrain was fun for, like, a minute and a half before it just became very boring and repetitive. and so it goes with most of the poké ride stuff. in XY it was kind of tolerable because it was more a novelty than anything else, but in gen VII it makes the leap over to a core game element, and i can't say i honestly believe that's for the better. it's trite, unrewarding, and ultimately doesn't do much but provide a cheap, five second thrill that doesn't come close to compensating for how much it slows down the game. and its mediocrity really stands out against the fairly challenging and enjoyable puzzles that made the overworld so interactive and engaging in previous titles.

if you liked poké ride then i can definitely see why. it has some appeal. just, for me, overall, i didn't feel it really added that much to the game, and i was frustrated by it on several occasions, so overall i'd say it's a net negative. i truly hope pokémon goes a better direction with it in the future, and i'm hopeful that they will.

 

[AuroraBeam]

The cutscenes/intros for choosing the starters was obnoxiously long. I just wanted a female starter. I feel sorry for anyone who wanted to SR/RNG for anything worthwhile...

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

I'll always hate this gen for nerfing Gale Wings. I know it's nipticky and all but darn, what a dumb nerf. I'd prefer if they created more predators/counter-strategies to it.

Also nerfing Gale Wings but keeping Stealth Rocks basically the same is a complete shame.

USUM's Battle Agency been near unplayable once you reach high ranks thanks to more Rank 0 players you can shake a stick at (unless you go out of your way to register high ranking players) were also notable faults.

This. So much.

It was frustrating wanting to play the facility but getting rank zero pretty much 100% of the time.

But the worst is that when you get a higher level, you have to try to use it for as long as possible, or else you risk losing it because "the player hasn't play for a while".

The loss of triple battles was especially irritating since I found them very fun.

It was my favorite format and the one I most played at. Alongside the Gale Wings nerf it's one of the things I hate most about this generation.

Thanks to Roto Exp. Power and SOS Chansey/Blissey, I can easily grind Pokemon to level 100. I'd say it's even faster than the Restaurant Le Wow from X & Y. To put it in perspective, I've leveled more Pokemon to 100 in the last couple weeks using this method than I had in the rest of the entirety of Seventh Gen.

How does that method work? I mean, it's fairly hard getting Chansey/Blissey to appear... Unless there's a way to make them more likely to show up?

Biggest issue is one that hits replayability: Too many tutorials and cutscenes.

Yeah, I could replay XY various time but those ones felt a shore. Specially because I'm one of the maniacs who buy the two games (yup, I have all four)

Alolan Raichu makes no sense whatsoever and is just blatant fanservice

I don't mind Alolan Raichu and I actually like it. My only issue is that it should have been half fairy. It makes a lot more sense than Psychic. If they wanted to explain the floating around, just place the blame on magic fairy powers or something.

Too many fake doors! There's so many! Pls Game Freak, no doors that I can't go through, I will always want to go through the door.

lol

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Komala was a bit of a let down given how the trailer and official site hyped its Comatose Ability as a huge game changer in terms of battling and that the Ability would shake up the Meta game. It didn’t. Komala’s stats are ok but not quite as I had expected and the ability is all right but not much else can be done with it other than making its user immune to every other status condition aside from Confusion and able to use Sleep bas3d moves such as Snore. But then this makes Wake Up Slap extremely deadly as Komala is weak to the move. Komala’s Shiny is also very disappointing. Our first koala Pokémon had so much potential that ended up going to waste which is a shame as I love the design and concept of Comatose.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Komala was a bit of a let down given how the trailer and official site hyped its Comatose Ability as a huge game changer in terms of battling and that the Ability would shake up the Meta game. It didn’t. Komala’s stats are ok but not quite as I had expected and the ability is all right but not much else can be done with it other than making its user immune to every other status condition aside from Confusion and able to use Sleep bas3d moves such as Snore. But then this makes Wake Up Slap extremely deadly as Komala is weak to the move. Komala’s Shiny is also very disappointing. Our first koala Pokémon had so much potential that ended up going to waste which is a shame as I love the design and concept of Comatose.

I expected that one to be bulky to make good use of its Ability but then it’s stats didn’t get distributed too well, limiting its potential in battle. Comatose was a good Ability, but it just didn’t combine well with the Pokémon that only has it.

 

[CobaltDrew]

Dear lord, I love the designs and plot, but the game had SO many unnecessary features it felt bloated beyond belief. I like the concepts behind Rotom Dex and others, but the region was so small because of it!

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I expected that one to be bulky to make good use of its Ability but then it’s stats didn’t get distributed too well, limiting its potential in battle. Comatose was a good Ability, but it just didn’t combine well with the Pokémon that only has it.

It also doesn’t help that Rest won’t work if Komala was able to learn it and the only way to restore its own health is Swallow which you need Stockpile to make it work.

 

[Mega Altaria]

It also doesn’t help that Rest won’t work if Komala was able to learn it and the only way to restore its own health is Swallow which you need Stockpile to make it work.

Yeah because of the pseudo-sleep triggered by Comatose, so Rest will fail. But then removing its Ability will make it vulnerable to status.

 

[Marika_CZ]

I do have lot of gripes with Gen 7 (despite loving its idea to remove HM - yes! Thank you!), but if I had to pick one I hated the most, it would be Festival Plaza.

I could rant for hours about what an abomination that things is, how self-defeating and nonsensial it makes the whole online experience and how it dangerously hurt the competitive scene. It is completely appalling.

Festival Plaza is an online communication feature for players to meet online... except it doesn't allow them to communicate (besides "Let's battle/trade" trigger with no means to respond or talk in any meaningful way). It is a like a phone that allows you to see other people online but it doesn't allow you to text or call them.

Online battles with your friends are now non-existent (the only meaningful way to battle online is Battle Spot), unless you count occasional random people trying their luck. But when you deny their request, you can't even tell them "gimme 5 minutes, I just want to finish this mission first" - they will probably think you mash the Cancel button all the time or that you are a troll.

When DC happens, you can't even apologize to the other player to indicate you are no troll nor rage quitter. You cannot ask others to join your event/battle/trade - you have to pester random people using trial and error strategy (imagine you are in the room of twenty people and one of them is a famous painter; you want to find out who - but instead of asking the whole room and waiting for a single person to respond positively to your question, you go to to each of them one by one and whisper to their ear "Are you a famous artist?" and then moving on to the next one... what a pointless waste of time for all of you).
It is like the whole thing has been designed to make people grief and hate each other. It is bafflingly inefficient, bordering on sabotage. Bacteria on Saturn have more reliable ways to communicate with each other.

Case in the point: In gen6 I used to do multi battles with a bunch of online friends, everyday. We had so much fun, coming up with new pokemon or new builds to surprise each other.
In gen7 we battle once in two months, give or take. Oh and half of us drifted away and moved on, their interest in pokemon battles completely lost.

...Oops, I ended up ranting anyway. Sorry!
I seriously consider not bothering with Switch and gen8 at all, and it is mostly because Game Freak (hopefully unintentionally) destroyed the online Pokemon with their Plaza.