So do you like the trial/kahuna format or the old gym format?

Anything is better than the stale as fuck gym format the series hasn't deviated from since the fucking 90s.

Trials and Kahunas are a step in the right direction. I hope the next games go even farther from that and start doing something more unique.

>>30896129
It was a great break from the original. If they bring back gyms and make the leaders more essential to the story then sure I'll enjoy it.

The new fomat feels like zelda where you're navigating some cave and then fighting a mini boss and then a final boss. In the end, you really lose nothing from the old format which was just fighting some trainers and then the leader. You still battle trainers while doing a trial and then a final boss. So trials and kahuna is much better.

It was really nice for a change.
Totem mons were legit hard sometimes and I really liked how they employed combos with their allies.
I'd like them to experiment with core staples like that more, but guess I prefer GYMs.

A good thing is that you can't get out of the trial site, wheras in the gyms you can go to the pokecenter after each battles.

>>30896129
Trials are better and more challenging

Trials were great.
It's a shame Kukui shit all over Alola's unique traditions by building a League

>>30896129
new one felt like there was no real challenge to prep for
it wasn't bad it just made the gyms not feel like milestones

>>30896129
Definitely trials/kahunas, though to be fair at least some of that is surely novelty. If/when we do go back to gyms I hope they incorporate some of the lessons learned, especially totems or the equivalent thereof

>>30896215
I agree with this.

Fighting a bunch of trainers then a stronger one is a leftover from the gameboy era we should've moved past already. It seems almost boring in retrospect. I don't want to go back to "rooms" unless they have a really interesting puzzle. Stuff like "Nope there's only trash here" can stay in the trash.

>>30896129
I like both.

>>30896255
This was a big one for me.
Being able to leave gyms whenever killed a lot of the challenge, but with the trials you actually have to prepare yourself. All the fights before the boss aren't just free experience anymore, they can potentially screw your run up if they wear you down too much and you didn't stock up well enough beforehand.

Something new was nice. Most of the trials were fairly basic but more interesting than gyms at least.
Too bad we'll probably just get gyms again in Gen VIII

>>30896129
the trials were too easy to an extent, the totem pokes were difficult but the challenges were too easy. I loved the variety and some of the challenges were fun though.

i'd love to have both in a sense, where you go to the trial to get an item to prove your worth and to train you out in the wild. Then you bring the item back as a trophy and challenge the trial leader. Would be pretty cool

I hate how trials and capitans were getting worse and less prominent as the game went.
Ilima was the focal point of Melemele.
The trio on Akala were the best captains and the most interesting trials.
Then it all went to shit. Ula'ula captains were just there and their captainship wasnt even focus of their arcs. Nanu just showed in the last moment "I'm Kahuna btw, lemme just lose to you real quick".
Story shifted from the Challenge to Team Skull and Aether too.
Poni is just a mess. Why the fuck did they make it all backwards and made you fight Kahuna first?
Mina is the worst. "I'm the captain, lol", then she just hands you the crystal and fucks off 30 seconds after being introduced.

>>30896129
It was good for something different, but they never felt very important or difficult. The trial captains themselves often felt underutilised due to never having to battle most of them.

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>>30896593
CutContent-chan deserved better.

>>30896593

This. The trials are a welcome change of pace, but it feels like they gave up about halfway into the game.

The trials by the third island are a joke (How the hell did Team Skull get so many of those bug Z-Crystals? And you just steal one for yourself), and they completely give up by the 4th island. The first trial IS the grand trial "Oh, I am the Kahuna now, guess I should fight you, you win" to one of the captains literally just handing you the crystal.

The most challenging and intricate trial on the 4th island..... WAS GIVEN TO YOU BY AN ANCIENT STONE CARVING IN AN UNPOPULATED CAVE! And if you had picked the water starter, or just had any fairy type with you, you simply had to walk forward and streamroll through anything with a fairy type move. Hell, the demo version of that trial was more intricate and thought-out than the retail version.

With the possible exception of the grass one, the trials were far too railroaded. With Gyms there was some tension that getting things wrong might punish you. (Even if the 'punishment' of having to fight an extra trainer was something you'd generally want for the extra experience)

>>30897225
>With Gyms there was some tension that getting things wrong might punish you. (Even if the 'punishment' of having to fight an extra trainer was something you'd generally want for the extra experience)

that was the only "tension" and you already explained why it isn't tense and more beneficial so i don't understand what you're trying to say.

Gyms are old and dumb and boring

>>30896129
I still like gyms, but I also liked the idea of trials. I don't think trials were implemented as well as they could've been. But if gyms don't make a return in the next gen, I'll still have he 48 gyms of generations past to challenge.

>>30896129
I would have enjoyed the new format more if it didn't cause the game to run at 5fps.

>>30896593
yeah, it looks like they didn't do a great job at handling the relationship between your personal story and the Lillie/skull/aether arc. As soon as the plot kicks in the trial challenge kinda falls apart.
It's nice that GF tries to give their games a bit of a story arc and some (very shallow) character development, but I don't think it helps the games at all. If you look at the aether foundation arc from the player's point of view, you have virtually no reason at all to go to awaken the legendary to invade UB world, since Lusamine just shut herself off there and had no intention to threaten Alola in any way (you also see the tapus and the kahunas handling the UBs). You are only forced to go there because Lillie (who has never done anything for you -the player- except constantly interrupting your journey with useless dialogue) tells you to. This makes the plot missions feel like a pointless chore.
Now, let's go back 20 years when there was not enough room on cartridges for many cutscenes and silly character expressions. You are just blasting through your gym challenge and suddenly you see Rocket grunts all over Saffron. One of them is blocking the gym entrance, so you -the player- have an actual motivation to go to silph co. and have team rocket fuck off.

I like trials and Totems, but I still wish you had to fight the trial captain right after instead of having them be sometimes version exclusive optional battles.

>>30896129
Trials are ok

But totems are cool as shit

Trials are more challenging.

A Fully evolved pkmn with a permanent(?) stat boost along with supporter enemies seems like the traditional "bosses" in games.

>>30896129
Meh. Most of the trial challenges were pretty stupid. I'd rather just have more Pokemon battles. The Totem battles were an interesting idea, but some of them were annoying as fuck. The only difficulty that came out of them were because they were 2 on 1.

>>30896378
This. Everything just kind of blurred together as the game pointed me from cutscene to cutscene with waypoints. There was no real sense of progression or anything. It wasn't the worst, but it could have been better. Right now, I think the only reason people think it was good is because it was different, and anything feels like a breath of fresh air after almost 20 years.

That said, I wasn't as bothered by gyms as everyone else seems to be.

It be neat if they incorporated riding mons and you could race them, or beat their record smashing rocks or something, and make it at least somewhat difficult

>>30896129
3/4 shitty regular traines + 1 boss specialiced in X type
vs
3/4 shitty wild mons + fully evolved mon with at least 1 stat permanent boosted with supports in the same combat

Gyms a shit

I like both. Hopefully of they bring gyms back they'll make them have a bit of both. Complete a trial, totem pokemon, then go back to town and the gym leader will fight you.

I liked the trials, but I do feel like battling bunch of random mons feels bit forced in some trials. Like with Kiawe's trial. You get into a battle if you answer incorrectly or correctly.

>>30896129
If gyms are back in the future, they should actually be gyms where you do trial-like objectives before you can fight the gym leader.

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I certainly appreciated that GF was trying something new, but I kinda missed going into gyms at times there. With most gyms you have to face down multiple trainers before going up against the leader which meant you were battling a lot of Pokemon. In the trials it was pretty much all fighting one wild Pokemon at a time until you fought the totem, where it then became a 2v1. Although the Kahunas did give us the classic "gym leader battle" and each of the trails felt sufficiently different that I didn't know quite what to expect going in.

Overall I'm glad that tried something new and hopefully they keep some of their good ideas for the next gen whether they go back to the old gym format or continue off in this direction.

>defending mini games and being locked out of catching pokemon

It was interesting but I want more of a mix of the two going forward. Having a gym leader with one totem Pokemon (kinda like Lusamine) would be great

>>30899249

I should add to this, a lot of the trials were literally impossible to fail any part of, like the electric trial, and not only would you have to be braindead to answer any of the questions wrong during the dancing fire trial, but it is literally impossible to answer the last one wrong.

>>30899510
>Defending stale and repetitive gameplay that gets boring after the third try.
>Implying the gyms don't periodically have minigames, or that you could catch pokemon in gyms anyway.

>>30896129
Hey guys! Good idea, read it or die.
There should be real gym leaders with gyms but you have to win a trial to get the right to enter the gym.
This is what a pokemon game should be.

The gyms will come back. There are exactly eight blank spaces in the cities of Alola. They will build the gyms there.

>>30896129
That question was answered ages ago. It was supposed to be a Celebi inside that ball.

(I prefer the gyms, no kahuna was interesting except the picture one for a laugh)

I don't think there's anything wrong with either format, although I did like the trials more if only for the sake of variety.

Whichever system they use, I think the challenges the player faces should in some way reflect both the pokemon type and the personality or interests of the leader. The trials for Lana, Mallow, and Acerola are good examples of this, as is Sophocles' to a lesser extent. However, Kiawe's trial was goofy and didn't fit his personality at all.

It was interesting that you couldn't go back and heal, but I feel like the cities became way less interesting because of it.

>>30900453

Never even thought about that, I think in all the games I only ever left a gym to heal once.

As for cities... what cities? There were barely a handful of them, and nearly all were not even large enough to qualify as a village.

>>30896129
Trials for sure. Too bad it'll be a typical "y belongs to x region only" and we'll be back to boring old gyms next gen again

>>30896129
I'll only accept gyms if the bring back their individual themes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-VQ5-UWm0s

The totem battles felt even easier than gym battles, except for the Mimikyu thanks to that Hypnosis Haunter and Disguise ability.

Every other one was piss easy and the battle was over in 2-3 turns despite not being overleveled.

Emerald and Platinum's gym battles were superior to every totem battle except Mimikyu's.

Also, Mallow's trial was absolutely horrendous. The most boring part of any pokemon game involving game play.

When people say they liked trials, do they mean they liked trials, or they liked Totem battles?

Gyms are better, trials are random and hardly interesting because they feel more like side missions then something thats one of your goals during your adventure

And inb4
>but totems are harder
No, imagine gym leaders sending two pokes (and them holding items) against your one.

Its the same thing. lus i one-shoted 4 out of 7 totems so they're hardlly difficult.

>>30896129
Gyms, because you were fighting against others to prove your worth in the world. There's no sense of strength in being shuttled around the islands on a feel-good tropic tour. Have you all forgotten the point of the series? To be the best? To fight and claw your way to the top to prove yourself? This game has gotten soft.

>>30896219
>Totem mons were legit hard sometimes

No they weren't. Not even at all. Every Totem went down in 2-3 hits with one mon.

>>30896129
Would like them much more if they were combined.
Totem, trainers, small sidequest, and a gym leader

>>30896129
Pretty goddamn solid and flavorful. Trials helped a lot in giving Alola it's own identity over other regions, and if they get replaced with gyms on the third version I would be extremely dissapointed.

Still, I hope the format stays in Alola. Would not be too fitting in other regions, I think.

I liked the Gyms better. Most of the trials were underdeveloped and ended up being easier than what the Gym equivalent would have been.

Take the Fire trial for instance. It's basically a battle against Marowak, a battle against a Hiker and then a battle against totem Salazzle. Or the Electric trial, which is a few Grubbin/Charjabug battles followed by totem Vikavolt.

It doesn't help that the totem fights themselves only got easier as the game went on and your team developed.

>>30902420
>vikabolt used no sp atks
This was Gen 1 Brock bad.

To me they are basically interchangeable when you think about it. People just like shit presented different and I guess this accomplishes that.

>>30896129
gym leaders with totem pokemon would be the best option to please everybody.

>>30903176
This is probably the best option, but gym leaders suddenly shitting out a secondary pokemon during the battle would feel weird.

>>30902046
this. i think gamefreak should give gym leaders totem pokemon.

>>30902211
The Grass Totem (can't remember name right now,pretty drunk) took me about 4 tries.
Mind you I deliberately keep my pokes under levelled.

>>30899510
Oh yeah I loved catching all those Pokemon in gyms.
Trials are gyms that turn into routes after you beat them.

Totem battles were better than gym leaders, and in essence gym leaders still exist in the trial captains so it's not like we are losing those unique characters from the games. That said the format seems unique to Alola and we'll probably be back to the status quo in the next game anyway so it doesn't matter.

Yes they are good but they can improved in this way:

>Trials like finding items ecc...
>Battle with the leader
>Battle with the Totem Pokémon

The trial format made the game feel like it had much better pacing

>>30896129
I personally loved the way they did things in S/M

Trials are just a nice change of pace and it helps that every captain and kahuna is memorable compared to ,say, the old guy with lawn scissors in X/Y. Totems are genuinely an upgrade and the series should keep expanding on it.