The Rite of the Island Challenge Discussion Thread

[ReneEnjolras]

Rock and Bug pose even less of a challenge and they get gyms all of the time. Challenge isn't really a good excuse for not having a gym, a gym can have different challenge levels depending on where it's placed in the game.

Exactly. Since I usually pick the Fire starter, I steamroll Bug gyms. Depending on the game, what Pokémon I have in my team etc, Rocks gyms are either easy or medium for me. Does that mean I don't enjoy those type gyms? No. Gym battles are fun.

 

[Julia Artemis]

So was wondering if the rumors of having no official pokemon gyms is correct do you think this will be a cool idea that will change things up for the better or will be kind of a bad idea? I think it's kind of interesting guess it will be sort of like Orange Islands than which I loved as a kid.

 

[SlowPokeBroKing]

So was wondering if the rumors of having no official pokemon gyms is correct do you think this will be a cool idea that will change things up for the better or will be kind of a bad idea? I think it's kind of interesting guess it will be sort of like Orange Islands than which I loved as a kid.

Depends on how they go about it. If there's still a cool story that involves a lot of battling in an innovative environment, I'd probably be okay with it. If they were to just get rid of the gym title and still basically just have gyms, I think it would be silly. But we'll see.

If they do keep gyms around and are looking to freshen things up, there are also many things that can be done like moving away from type themes or incorporating the gym leaders more into the story.

 

[ReneEnjolras]

If there were no gyms, I have no idea what would replace them. Challenges, of some kind, sure. But I do like having gyms, so not having them would be off putting.

 

[SilverFox]

The Gyms is one of the few main draws of Pokémon for me, if they get rid of them, I'll be devastated, and I can't see myself buying the games anymore.

 

[dirkac]

Rock and Bug pose even less of a challenge and they get gyms all of the time. Challenge isn't really a good excuse for not having a gym, a gym can have different challenge levels depending on where it's placed in the game.

>all the time
Rock has 4 Gyms
Bug has 3 and an E4



when water has 7




Anyway again, personally the ideal Gym Roster would be 3/3/3/4/4/4/5/5, akin to what Emerald had, but delay the 4-mon teams by one Gym and switch the roster-numbers of 6 and 7.

Hopefully with an E4 of Fairy/Grass/Rock/Flying for unrepresented types

 

[SlowPokeBroKing]

The Gyms is one of the few main draws of Pokémon for me, if they get rid of them, I'll be devastated, and I can't see myself buying the games anymore.

How can you say that without knowing the alternative?

 

[Julia Artemis]

I think if it's more based off high defense, attack, special attack, special defense, Speed, etc. instead of typings that would be really interesting since I'm pretty sure almost every type has had at least one gym using the various different types. Having stuff based off skills and battle mechanics would be a big change and could make for a more challenging game. Also if they have a double battle gym I hope they have pokemon that do a better job at incorporating it than 3rd gen did

 

[ReneEnjolras]

Because we don't know what the alternative is. It could be great but it could also be the worst thing in gaming history. Or in the middle of that spectrum.

 

[SlowPokeBroKing]

Because we don't know what the alternative is. It could be great but it could also be the worst thing in gaming history. Or in the middle of that spectrum.

Exactly. We don't know. So why be devastated simply because of the loss of one thing when the alternative could be amazing as well or better?

 

[ReneEnjolras]

While I might not be devastated at the loss of gyms, I still am uneasy about the idea. But I'm not even sure if this rumor is true or not so... Until it is denied or confirmed, we just don't know. So, who thinks the rumor is false? True?

 

[SlowPokeBroKing]

While I might not be devastated at the loss of gyms, I still am uneasy about the idea. But I'm not even sure if this rumor is true or not so... Until it is denied or confirmed, we just don't know. So, who thinks the rumor is false? True?

I always think of leaks as most likely false. No sense in getting worked up. But I do like to discuss them just because.

 

[ReneEnjolras]

Agreed. But yes, discussing leaks is fun. And some of the things in them are interesting.

 

[Bolt the Cat]

>all the time
Rock has 4 Gyms
Bug has 3 and an E4



when water has 7

That actually is kind of a lot, Water and Electric are outliers when it comes to number of gyms, most types only have about 2 or 3 gyms. Regardless, when I said "all of the time" I didn't mean that literally, they're just common gym types.

 

[Skeith]

Yeah but what's the point of getting it if it doesn't pose much of challenge? It just sounds like a completionist goal.

Its the same as wanting an Eevee of every type, the completion aspect of seeing every type have a specific gym leader representing them. It would also be nice to see what they would do with the theme to differentiate it from the numerous Ghost and Poison Gym's that we have. It would also be nice to see them address the issue in game and have an explanation as to why there isn't one, maybe they are considered an omen or maybe there was a Giovanni like gym leader that put a stigma on the type. While its not needed pre-say, I do feel there is a lot of unexplored potential with the concept for the dark gym.

As for the whole "no gyms" rumor, I don't buy it because gyms are the games way of railroading you along a specific path and in a region as spread out as this removing it would lead to people getting lost. I know the Rotom pokedex mitigates this to an extent but I still feel that they wouldn't remove such a core feature in leau of resent backlash to change (federation force, amiibo festival and colour splash all come to mind). That and the presence of the ceremonial platforms all over the map, seems to imply that those will be where the gym battles will take place. If anything the whole "own league" rumor sounds a lot like this games variation on a secret base and is expanding on what was in ORAS which I honestly wouldn't mind and if it turned out to be a post game thing then it would certainly add a lot of replay value to the games but as a main campaign feature, I just don't see it happening. Pokemon has a lot of expectations when going into it (X number of new ones, X villainous team, X rival, X professor) and facing the gyms and "tough" (by in game standards) opponents helps to the feel that you have grown as much as the journey and I can't see them steering away from that.

 

[ReneEnjolras]

Its the same as wanting an Eevee of every type, the completion aspect of seeing every type have a specific gym leader representing them. It would also be nice to see what they would do with the theme to differentiate it from the numerous Ghost and Poison Gym's that we have. It would also be nice to see them address the issue in game and have an explanation as to why there isn't one, maybe they are considered an omen or maybe there was a Giovanni like gym leader that put a stigma on the type. While its not needed pre-say, I do feel there is a lot of unexplored potential with the concept for the dark gym.

As for the whole "no gyms" rumor, I don't buy it because gyms are the games way of railroading you along a specific path and in a region as spread out as this removing it would lead to people getting lost. I know the Rotom pokedex mitigates this to an extent but I still feel that they wouldn't remove such a core feature in leau of resent backlash to change (federation force, amiibo festival and colour splash all come to mind). That and the presence of the ceremonial platforms all over the map, seems to imply that those will be where the gym battles will take place. If anything the whole "own league" rumor sounds a lot like this games variation on a secret base and is expanding on what was in ORAS which I honestly wouldn't mind and if it turned out to be a post game thing then it would certainly add a lot of replay value to the games but as a main campaign feature, I just don't see it happening. Pokemon has a lot of expectations when going into it (X number of new ones, X villainous team, X rival, X professor) and facing the gyms and "tough" (by in game standards) opponents helps to the feel that you have grown as much as the journey and I can't see them steering away from that.

Yeah, I agree there. I'm one of those people who wants and Eeveelution for every type. And the gyms are definitely a railroading device.

 

[dirkac]

That actually is kind of a lot, Water and Electric are outliers when it comes to number of gyms, most types only have about 2-4 gyms. Regardless, when I said "all of the time" I didn't mean that literally, they're just common gym types.

I get that, but really they're about average.

Normal: 4
Water: 6 (7 if you count Wallace and Juan seperately)
Grass: 4
Fire: 3
Electric: 5
Ice: 4
Psychic: 3 (4 if counting Liza and Tate seperately)
Dark: 0 lol
Dragon: 2 (3 if counting Iris and Drayden seperately)
Ghost: 2
Poison: 3
Bug: 3
Flying: 3
Ground: 2 (1.5? Because Viridian turned multitype?)
Rock: 4
Steel: 2
Fighting: 4 (5 if you count the Fighting Dojo, which you shouldn't but whatever)
Fairy: lol 1


So yeahhhh, 3 and 4 are pretty average really :/
6/18 Gyms has less than 3, 7/18 Gyms has more than 3, and 5/18 have 3.
I'd say that Bug, at least, is dead average.

 

[ReneEnjolras]

I get that, but really they're about average.

Normal: 4
Water: 6 (7 if you count Wallace and Juan seperately)
Grass: 4
Fire: 3
Electric: 5
Ice: 4
Psychic: 3 (4 if counting Liza and Tate seperately)
Dark: 0 lol
Dragon: 2 (3 if counting Iris and Drayden seperately)
Ghost: 2
Poison: 3
Bug: 3
Flying: 3
Ground: 2 (1.5? Because Viridian turned multitype?)
Rock: 4
Steel: 2
Fighting: 4 (5 if you count the Fighting Dojo, which you shouldn't but whatever)
Fairy: lol 1


So yeahhhh, 3 and 4 are pretty average really :/
6/18 Gyms has less than 3, 7/18 Gyms has more than 3, and 5/18 have 3.
I'd say that Bug, at least, is dead average.

That seems about right. Lots of Water, Electric and possibly Ice and Fighting gyms.

 

[Sazandora3]

While I don't necessarily trust the "leaks" that have happened, there are a couple of things that make me suspicious that there may indeed be no Gyms in Sun & Moon, first of which being that in the gameplay footage we've seen so far, we haven't seen any locations that could be gyms. In the very first trailer for X & Y, we saw the insides of buildings that were undoubtedly Gyms (Coumarine, Santalune and Anistar), but this time... nothing.

Another thing to take account of is the map of Alola, which to me does not contain 8 plausible locations that could be Gyms. I suppose it's possible that not every building in the region is shown, but certainly the in game footage of the Honolulu-based city is one-to-one with the map in terms of buildings.

At the end of the day, these observations are certainly nothing conclusive, and if we get a reveal of a Gym or Gym Leader the idea is obviously debunked, but I can't shake the feeling that they might not exist in this game. This could all be unfounded and I may have overlooked things, but I can't help but be suspicious.

 

[ReneEnjolras]

While I don't necessarily trust the "leaks" that have happened, there are a couple of things that make me suspicious that there may indeed be no Gyms in Sun & Moon, first of which being that in the gameplay footage we've seen so far, we haven't seen any locations that could be gyms. In the very first trailer for X & Y, we saw the insides of buildings that were undoubtedly Gyms (Coumarine, Santalune and Anistar), but this time... nothing.

Another thing to take account of is the map of Alola, which to me does not contain 8 plausible locations that could be Gyms. I suppose it's possible that not every building in the region is shown, but certainly the in game footage of the Honolulu-based city is one-to-one with the map in terms of buildings.

At the end of the day, these observations are certainly nothing conclusive, and if we get a reveal of a Gym or Gym Leader the idea is obviously debunked, but I can't shake the feeling that they might not exist in this game. This could all be unfounded and I may have overlooked things, but I can't help but be suspicious.

Nothing wrong with being suspicious~ Though I do think there are enough places for gyms on the map. As for them not showing a gym yet...maybe they want to be different and wait this time, idk.