'Hard Mode' Alternations

>>28357733
I'm not fussy, hard mode needn't be a big thing.

>higher level trainer pokemon
>give those pokemon better moves
>increase the number of pokemon trainers have

That's it. Have two modes, Normal and Hard, that can be chosen at the start.

It's an extremely easy idea to implement and makes a huge difference to players.

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>Every trainer ever has 6 top tier pokemon with egg moves and hidden abilities, and they all spam attract, sleep, confusion, or paralysis, and when they get a critical hit, it hits for like a gazillion damage.

Just add level scaling. Not sure why this hasn't been done before. Have them scale with your highest level Pokemon. Ensures all battles are always challenging. Make important battles even harder by having the AI difficulty scale with its level as well. Certain movesets for certain level ranges, the higher you get the better the movesets are. Same could be done for entire trainer teams as well. The higher level you are, the less shitmons they use.

I'd say wild Pokemon could be minus 10/plus 5, trainers could be minus 5/plus 5, rivals, enemy team admins and leaders, gym leaders, E4 members, and the champ could be minus 2/plus 10.

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Let's go full fire emblem fates conquest for the hell of it...with no perma death obviously.

>Only way to earn EXP and Money is through trainer battles and payday
>May have to rely on pokemon with pickup for item
>exp share only works with one pokemon instead of all
>exp share only gives 25% to the pokemon using it
>shops have limited items daily
>Limited of 10 for every each item
>Only gain exp from trainer battles
>Fainted pokemon are out of commision until you go to a pokemon center regardless of revives

We can go on for the insane if needed.

>>28357958
how to make pokemon uncomfy: the post.

personally i would be happy with more pokemon and higher levels. a little harder to implement would be certain trainer strategies, have one baton pass trainer or one that spams hazards and forces you to swap - of course in mild forms in early stages of the game. custom strategies would be way more fun than all those monotype/motto teams

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>>28358073
I wasn't being serious but I know SOMEONE want's this.

>>28357733
I don't like the easy answer ""just give it higher-level"" or ""6 pokemon gym leader"
>Bug type in early route shoot poison sting(30% poison)
>Grass type in early route spam powder moves
>Normal type in early route sand-attack
>Cave bats and psychics tries to confuse you
>Wild electric rodents with Nuzzle.
>Ghost has curse, perish song, and destiny bond.
>Rock types have sturdy explosion
>Rain area/Sandstorm area has swift swim&sand rush pokemon
>Grassy/savannah route has grassy terrain
>Foggy/misty route has Misty Terrain
>Factory/Magnetize area has electric terrain
>Horde battle with pokemon that compliment, e.g. ground type with levitating/flying mon.
>Multiple gauntlet routes, several trainers are lined up to challenge you.

>>28358200
>Ghost has curse, perish song, and destiny bond.
>Implying you can't lower their health down and then they'll finish themselves off by using curse.
>Implying you can't just switch with perish song.

>>28357733
All the trainer's pokemon are changed.

The new pokemon are competitive.

Gym leaders and bosses use real strategies, and can switch whenever they want.

Shiny chance increases.

>>28357733
Just give the npcs better ai and have them actually use SE moves if they have them and switch if they're in a bad matchup.

Ahem

>all Pokemon get an increase to their base HP, Def and Sdef to end the late game OHKo fest
>All attacks are reduced 10-20 points on power
>technician works on moves with 30 power and under now
>all trainer Pokemon have 50-100 IVs
>gym leaders, rivals, E4 and team admins and bosses Pokemon have 150-200 IVs
>Tms are one time use again, but can be bought at random shops, mainly after beating the E4
>limited number of items can be used per battle
>Potions and Heals cost double at stores
>Trainers have more access to healing items/Pokemon hold more berries
>No more Amie bonus effects
>Or random trainers Pokemon get Amie effects

>>28358679
The AIs are really awful.

They should have some skill, other then "what type of attack to use".

>>28358680
>>Tms are one time use again, but can be bought at random shops, mainly after beating the E4

Nah fuck off.
Infinite TM use was one of the beast streamlined pokemon change they made in the series.

>>28357733
For the love of God just give the enemy trainers held items already. Youngsters and Bug Catchers are fine with just Oran Berries and stuff but once you get to the Ace Trainers late in the game you're going to start seeing Choice items and Life Orbs.

Give each route at least one gimmick trainer, more for longer routes, and at least one Double or triple battle.

Make the NPCs use overwork wrather to their advantage

Remembered that bullshit Milotic in Sapphire, or the castform + manectric from Emerald with Thunder when it was raining? That.

>>28357778
First post best post

>>28357799

This. I had an idea actually that players would be able to switch between a few modes at any time during the game (that seems to be the preference for difficulty settings these days):

>Fixed Mode: Plays like a normal Pokémon game. Guzma's Ariados in that fight is always Lv29, no matter what Levels the player has.

>Scaled Mode: All trainers have their levels scaled to the player's highest level Poké. So if your Litten is Lv7, Lass Setsuko's Yungoos is Lv6. If your Litten reached Lv8, Lass Setsuko uses the formula (Player's Highest Level + 1) to determine that her Yungoos is Lv7.
>Some bosses will always have a couple of levels on the player. If you fight the third boss with a Lv52, his three Pokémon are Lv52, 52, but then 54 for his strongest, using (Player's Highest Level + 2) to determine his ace's level.
>Movesets would still be set. So early on stuff will still only know Water Gun. This should still add a sense of progress to the game, as even if everything was Lv100 from the start, you wouldn't be facing stronger attacks or evolved forms until later.
>Late game definitely needs bosses to have fuller teams, 4 - 5 on average and 6 for the last ones.

>Lv50/Lv100 All Mode: Turns the story campaign into playing like a Battle Tower. Everyone is at the same level and their mons take their movesets from the diverse sets in the Tower-type facilities.

I would add Bravely Default-style options to the difficulty settings:

>Toggle EXP gain on or off
>Increase/decrease encounter rate
>Switch EXP Share's type between held item style and the "All" version.
>Option for item limiting as suggested by >>28357958

As you said, scaling would not be hard to do, so many games do it already and GF should really have tried this by now. BW2's implementation of difficulty was complete shit.

Feel free to tell me if/why this is shit or how it could be improved.

>>28358259
When I beat silver yesterday Karen's Gengar would use curse then Destiny bond. Hella annoying. What am I supposed to do?

Change the wild encounters so you're not running into the same shitmons you run into normally
Also everything has a lower catch rate
AI trainers use mons from late region right from the start
Gym leaders have multitype teams with a focus on buffing their ace
Battle shift is locked on Set
BW style EXP system
Plot-Crucial trainers have perfect IV/EV mons and an AI strategy unique to the trainer

Hard mode in bw2 was perfectly fine save for the unlock requirement.

If we want to get cute, maybe each gym leader/captain/whatever has a permenant field effect in place when you battle them based on their team (water captain has rain, grass captain grassy terrain, etc)

Add Very Hard Mode.

>AI cheats. This only applies to trainers, not wild pokemon you can catch.
-They get to know what move you used and react accordingly (always switch to ground type if you used electric move)
-They get more than moveslots
-They get illegal natures with no drawbacks (Adamant Garchomp that doesn't lose SpA)
-They get illegal EV spreads (Champion's pokemon have 252 in every stat)
-Their moves secondary effects work twice as often and yours will almost never effect them (Their Psybeams will usually confuse you, while your Scalds and Body slams will rarely burn of paralyze)
-Trainers give out half the prize money they would in Normal or Hard mode
-All members of Elite 4 have a full team of 6 and at least one Max Revive
-Gym leaders and Elite 4's pokemon level up with yours, so they will always be a couple levels higher

>Changes to Wild Pokemon encounters
-Throwing a pokeball reduces all the pokemon's IVs by one. It is impossible to catch perefct IVs on Very Hard and if you throw a lot of pokeballs you'll catch one with zero in every stat. Better use Ultra Balls for the higher catch rate. Also, this means that what you catch will not be quite as strong as what you fought in the wild.
-Encounter rate increases the more fainted party members you have
-However, wild pokemon with Hidden Abilities are now found in ordinary encounters, this way you'll fight more variety and have to prepare for more.

>Other changes
-Breeding is not available until post-game
-Traded pokemon will not gains boosted experience points.
-Any pokemon at a higher level than the badge you have says can control has ability temporarily switched to Truant when you send it out. This discourages grinding too much. Since Gym Leader pokemon level up with yours but they don't have this restriction you can accidentally grind yourself into a hole and make the battle nearly impossible.

Permanent Stealth Rock effect.

Disable use of items in important battles (gym leaders, E4, champ, rival(s), enemy team)
Force battle style to Set
Level scaling for important battles
Guaranteed good movesets, hold items, ivs, and ev spreads for important battles

>experience gain scales differently
>the game calculates the average level of all the Pokemon on your team and adjusts the experience gain for each Pokemon based on that
>if your team's level average is at 10, a Pokemon who is level 8 might level up slightly faster, but a Pokemon who is level 12 will level up significantly slower

Would this make it harder or easier?

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>>28357733
>You can't hit ghosts with physical attacks.
>They have to be hit with special attacks.
>Fighting special attacks and Normal special attacks like Aura Sphere and Hyper Beam will now hit ghosts.

>>28361020

>throwing poke ball lowers its
One or two IV points doesn't even matter until you reach very high levels, and even then it's just one point.

>hidden abilities on wild Pokemon make the game harder because you have to prepare for more.
Not even close to being true. Hidden abilities are usually at their most effective when they synergize the ability with move sets, but wild Pokemon almost always have shitty level up move sets.

A Krabby with sheer force is nothing without secondary effect moves, a scyther without technician is nothing without bug bite/wing attack, a galvan tule with compound eyes is nothing without thunder. But then it makes it exceedingly easy for trainers to catch and utilize those hidden abilities to their fullest

>>28360659
Kill it the turn it curses? It's not that hard. It even does half the work for you.

>>28357799
>>28360541
Scaling in RPG is shit because the whole point of RPG is progress to be able to defeat more difficult enemies/dungeons. If you tie the enemy's difficulty curve directly to the player's progress, you remove the whole point of progressing. It's a bandaid for shitty game balance. I want Pokemon difficulty curve to actually get fixed, not get a bandaid.

>>28357782
This. Volt white 2 will kick your ass

>>28357778
2 of those will just end up giving you more exp though, really better AI and better moves is all we need

>>28359339
I like this. Another thing you can do is something like:

Ace trainer has Air Balloon Metagross.
First time you fight him you get money
Post E4 all trainers are rematchable at any time, with Post E4 line ups.
When you beat Air Balloon ace trainer post E4, you get the Air Balloon instead of money.

Because fuck farming BP for items like Assault vest and pick up for lefties. Gimme a trainer I can fight to get held items

Also, give trainers various line ups, instead of static, like the trainers on the Battle Resort in ORAS, trainers have a line up of 8-10 pokemon, in sets of 3-4 teams, and when you fight them, their team is decided randomly. So you go in prepared for Air Balloon Metagross, and instead it is Air Balloon Magnezone or something.

>>28357733
>Every trainer 'mon has a STAB move for at least one of their pokemon
>Every significant trainer's (AKA: story trainers, like Team grunts, etc.) 'mons all have at least one STAB move for each mon.
>Admins/Gym Trainers all have a disruptive move as well as a STAB move
>Admins/Gym Leaders have a signature 'mon that has a lethal movepool
>Gym Leaders/E4 have different AI depending on how far into the game you are
>Champion/Rival have AI comparable to a player. Team is built with moves that synergize with their composition

>>28361456
Using highest level pokemon for enemy levels gives better scaling. Imagine the situation of your starter Pokemon in the same party as a level 1 HM slave. Your starter is level 51, so the average is ~26, making it easier.

If you have 4 level 30 Mon, it averages to 30, but I'd you have 4 30 Mon and a level 5 with cut, it drops the average to 25, so its much easier.

>>28357799
So what would be stopping you from never leveling past level 10 and versing a level 10 elite 4?

>>28362744
See, I think the best thing would to have AI trainers be actual trainers. They level with you and gain new pokemon over time. Basically a system like the gyms.

Trainers no log have random mons based on route.
Trainers can have Any pokemon from the current regions Dex dependant on how many badges you have.
The number of pokemon the trainer has is also dependant on your badges.
Trainers use type weaknesses in team building, if a trainer has now than one pokemon it should cover the weaknesses of the other Pokemon on the team.
Trainer pokemon level (but not wild Pokemon level) is based on an average of your pokemon's level.
You can refight trainers after each badge, and their teams will be upgraded as follows:
No Badges: Trainers have 1-2 first stage pokemon
1 Badge: Trainers have 2 pokemon, may have 1 2nd stage
2 Badges: Trainers have 2-3 Pokemon, and 1 2nd stage
3 Badges: Trainers have 3 pokemon and 2-3 2nd stages
4 Badges: Trainers have 3 pokemon, 2 2nd stages, and may have 1 3rd stage
5 Badges: 3-4 pokemon, 2-3 2nd stages, may have 1 3rd stage
6 Badges: 3-4 pokemon, 2 2nd stages, 1-2 3rd Stages
7 badges: 4 pokemon, 2-3 3rd stages
8 Badges: 4-5 pokemon, 3-4 3rd stages
E4: 5 Pokemon, all 3rd stages
Champ: 6 pokemon, all 3rd stages

>>28357958
Have you actually played some of the romhacks? One of the Romhacks for Alpha Sapphire does most of this.
>Pokemon are too low level to grind on
>Most trainers have super high levels and could be rematched to grind
>Revives cost way too much
>Sacred Ashes are used in lieu of Revives since they could only be used out of battles to avoid revive scumming

So random encounters are mostly to get your team built, then you use trainers to grind EXP. The sacred ash thing I felt was a really good way to avoid revive scumming on Gym Leader fights.

>Poison and similar status effects affects your pokemon outside of battle.
>Unlike in the normal mode, antidote and other status curing items will only halt the status effect. It will be temporarily neutralized, but it will come back in full effect when the player gets in a battle (in the case it was neutralized during battle, it will reactivate in the next battle)
>Only pokemon centers and certain items can fully cure status effects

>>28362806
Might as well give some high tier trainers HAs as well. Victory Road suddenly gets a lot more intimidating when suddenly there's a LO Technician Breloom punching your shit in.

>you take a quiz for a starter
>repels are sometimes defective (1/20 chance)
>totem Pokemon at the end of every route

All I want is for you to only be able to use as many Pokemon as your opponent has. There's no fun or tension if your mon gets knocked out, for you to just have 5 more over leveled beast