How much do you hate The Island Challenge?

>>33117687
i dont't hate it.

island challenge is so stupid they call it verlisify

>>33117712
Yes you do

>>33117687
when your new idea that's supposed to replace gyms and shake up the formula not only functions the exact same way as gyms for progression, but also suck and are worse than gyms in nearly every way, that is when you have fucked up

gyms are better, but it's hardly the worst new thing SuMo forced on us

>>33117687
Better than the gyms for me. If only they had actual puzzles... Kiawe's trial is the funniest one.

Don't mind.

>>33117727
>it's hardly the worst new thing SuMo forced on us

Yeah, like retards calling the games SuMo instead of SM because MUH children.

>>33117687
Its something straight out of Yo-kai Watch. Sure the Totem battles can be challenging (well some of them because raticate, salazzle or vikavolt are a joke) since they're 2 vs 1 but the trials itself arent ANY challenges. At all.

They should've kept the gyms and do the trials in the post game as a way to obtain the remaining Z crystals

>>33117738
this, they just need to be improved, the concept itself is good

>>33117754

>challenge

???
if you have a decent team with good coverage none of them are an issue

Bring back gyms, remove trials, do 18 totem pokemon, one for each type crystal. Everyone's happy

>>33117723
Nuh uh

>>33117687
I don't. The only thing I hate is stupidity. They could've been done better but I like the premise.

>>33117687
soulless, plastic, linear tourist attractions

I really hate them. There was no need to let them replace the gyms. They could've been mini-games before gyms.

Easy and insulting for someone who plays Pokémon since Red and Blue

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>>33117836
If you can't handle a little change, especially for a children's game, that's your fault, and pretty sad to be honest...

>>33117849
Change for the sake of change isn't a good thing. The whole point of changing something is that you improve upon what was originally there, and trials somehow managed to be worse than gyms despite not even being that different. If you can't understand this, that's your fault and pretty sad to be honest...

It didn't add much to the game at all and I don't want gyms in USM. I want gyms to be fresh in gen 8

Just expand on the trials

>>33117863
>they had to throw a ganksquad fight with buffed mons in order to even be remotely like a gym

There's no argument for both coexist, I agree with you replacing gyms for this is stupid.

>>33117863
The changed gyms for the better, though. Gyms were getting old and stale and half of them weren't even involved in the story. If they reintroduce gyms then that's fine, but hopefully they learned how to actually integrate them into the story rather than slapping them at random intervals and letting them gate you from progression.

>>33117891
The entire story is you going around collecting badges from the gyms to challenge the league. It's integrated perfectly. You're just a dumb SM cocksucker. Meanwhile trials have shit like "actually I don't have a trial LOL here's a Z crystal okbye".

Trials were sold as "refreshing" and plotwise as "ways to make stronger bonds between pokemon and people" and "it's not only about battles".

BUT GUESS WHAT? THE ONLY INTERESTING PART OF THEN WERE THE BATTLES.

They are boring and the handholding is obnoxious. Man even the trash can puzzle from RBY had more trickery than "oh look i will ask obvious questions about things i just said and repeated".
If USM want to improve the trials, they should copy the Hoenn Battle Frontier scheme, or at least some decent puzzles, not Yokai watch tier pottery.

Gyms
>actual puzzles
>requires thought and effort but still easy enough for kids
>several trainer battles
>battle against the gym leader
>can fuck you up if you're unprepared

Trials
>made for literal babies
>spot the difference / which shape goes where / go to the splashy spot
>no trainer battles
>don't even battle against the trial captain
>a single Totem battle which can end in one attack if you kill it before SOS and even with SOS it still is piss easy
>it also brings the game down to single digit fps

>>33117891
Are you crazy? The whole point and appeal of pokemon was that there was no story. The game contains a silent protagonist Mary Sue with a customizable team. The game was making your own adventure out of the world. Why were nuzlockes invented. Because the point was more personal self reflecting and difficulty rather than baby sitting an NPC for the entire game.

>>33117999
I miss the ice puzzles

Every gym with an ice puzzle, even Wallace's gym in R&S, was always so satisfying to solve, never hard, but always satisfying

>>33117687
Limits exploration too much, it's only until shit hits the fan on Ula Ula where they finally let you go wherever the fuck you want.

>>33117712
I do hope they expand and improve it though

>>33117966
>BUT GUESS WHAT? THE ONLY INTERESTING PART OF THEN WERE THE BATTLES.
Except they were not. The most interesting part of the trials were the captains. They were actual people and not just some random nobody at the back of the building. That's what makes the trials "refreshing", "ways to make stronger bonds between pokemon and people" and "not only about battles".
In precious games, gym leaders barely had any relevance. They didn't do shit in the plot, they didn't even talk to you for more than two lines. Hell, the most fleshed-out were usually the champions, especially in hoenn and sinnoh. Now, the trial captains actually have a character, a life besides their captain work, and interact with you during your journey, besides the usual "testing your worth".

>>33117999
>Gyms
>actual puzzles
Gyms hardly ever have actual puzzles, except the Ice-themed ones as >>33118040 said. Most of them are just some variation on a maze, occasionally a quiz of some kind, and sometimes a literal straight path to the Gym Leader with some battles on the way.

>>33118093
The Unova leaders have more character than all the trial captains.

>>33118103
cause unova is the only place where gym leaders had personalities and relevance outside their building

>>33118102
You have no idea what you're talking about A maze is still a puzzle. And even gyms that don't have a puzzle often have some degree of strategy involved in choosing your next path like Norman or Drayden. Flannery has the hot springs, Morty narrows your vision, Clay has mine cart stuff, electric gyms generally have panels, psychic gyms have teleportation puzzles, etc. Of course some of them like Brock and Roxanne are just straightforward walk to the leader, but those are the minority.

>>33118121
Yes, and I do not understand why they didn't stick with that strategy for future games

>>33118198
neither do I, anon, neither do I

>>33118005
There's always been a story in Pokemon, from day one. Team Rocket might've been bare bones, but it was still a story. Profit-minded villains wanting control of the region that some dude ultimately stops.

>>33117687
I don't, it's just as easy as any gym but trials didn't feel as tedious as some gyms can be.
The worst part of SUMO is dumb Lillie-scenes every 15 minutes. Take that bitch out!

>>33117836
I don't get this mentality. Of course the game's gonna be easy for you if you've played Red and Blue. You understand all the mechanics, know to pimp them to your benefit and know what does best and where. Short of giving the AI meta competitive programming, the games are always gonna be easy for you. And that would alienate the target audience.

>>33118230
In RBY, you never set out to disband Team Rocket. You only ever confront them because they happen to be in your way. No-one really asks you to defeat them, you just end up defeating them because the Snorlax was blocking your path and you needed a Pokeflute.

Pokemon games have progressively been getting worse in that regard. They're no longer adventures, they're just stories.

>>33118269
Pokemon was never difficult, so why do they feel the need to simplify the games even further? It doesn't exactly take a genious to complete the older games but there are a couple of puzzles that would force a young kid to think for a bit. The modern games don't even have that, they're utterly braindead.

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>>33118262
>The worst part of SUMO is dumb Lillie-scenes every 15 minutes. Take that bitch out!
I'd take her out.

On a date.

>>33117836
>They could've been mini-games before gyms.
This. Like come the fuck on. At least let us battle against the captain at the end of the trial. Pokemon is about battling monsters but it feels like nobody on Alola even wants to battle except the generic nobody trainers, kahuna, and Guzma. Even Plumeria doesn't have a battle 2 of the 3 times you encounter her.

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>>33117863
Considering how shit the gen 6 Gyms were, Trials were probably the better option. And whether or not they were an improvement or not is your opinion, don't treat it as fact for your gewunner brain.
And still, you shouldn't talk "I-It's too easy compared to the originals!!" for a kid's game.
>If you can't understand this, that's your fault and pretty sad to be honest...
Thanks for piggybacking of of my insult, proving you're too underage to think of one yourself.

>>33118315
you can battle 3 of the 7 captains after you beat the kahuna (Only Ilima is a battle before the trial)

>>33118352
This. (You can battle Ilima again after the trial too) Plus you have Totem Pokemon to battle in the trials, in case you all forgot.

>>33118296
Agree to some extent. I remember the Ice-Boulder puzzle in Gen II games in that one cave that took a few minutes as a kid. Maybe GF feels the average modern child won't want to take those few minutes to do a puzzle.

>>33118366
Right, forgot that second time. You essentially have 4 kahunas, 4 captain battles =8 gym leaders with a bonus of 7 totems.. it's only the trials themselves that are lacking, and Mina needed a real trial

>>33118352
Yeah, and you have to go out of your way to search for them to do it. Iif you wait any amount of time or just don't know about it you'll be overpowered when you fight them and stomp them anyway making it even more of a pointless battle.
>>33118366
Totems are a single strong Pokemon + an additional 0-2 weak shitmons. They are absolutely in no way an acceptable replacement for gym battles.

>>33118379
>and Mina needed a real trial
I'm still pissed about this. I don't really have a problem with trials replacing gyms, but you can't just pull shit like this. We should have at least been able to battle her.

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>>33118385
>Iif you wait any amount of time or just don't know about it you'll be overpowered when you fight them and stomp them anyway making it even more of a pointless battle.
That's really on you. If you wanted to battle them, then you should have looked for them.

>>33118392
We do in the Looker sidequest (when it's too little too late and too useless)

But yeah, I hope at least USM has complete trials down to the last one (and no empty island with no kahuna bs)

>>33118392
>We should have at least been able to battle her
you can have you even played the game?

>>33118385
totems are more difficult than most gyms also
>you have to go out of your way to search for them to do it
you are the reason pokemon has starting with gen 5 become too linear

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>>33118435
As a trial, anon...

>>33118284
I mean, does that really change anything, though? Whether you set out to stop them or they're just in your way, the end result is the same. Though I guess some people don't like being 'told what to do'. To me, it's just a different way of trying to make the player care about what's happening. Like the whole of Lavender Town in RBY.

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>>33117687
>How much do you hate The Island Challenge?
Pic related.

'Tis a joke.

>>33118455
>totems are more dificult than most gyms
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
>you are the reason pokemon has starting with gen 5 become too linear
How? Because I don't go recheck every single building after every single event to see if maybe it triggered something that wasn't there before? If the levels scaled with you it wouldn't be an issue. But because there is no hint in the game that you can actually fight them, it's very likely you'll be long past the relevant level range when you discover them unless you knew about it out beforehand.

>>33118458
Now that you put it that way...since she was too lazy to think of a trial, indeed, she should have just said "battle me" for the trial...

>>33117966
>they should copy the Hoenn Battle Frontier scheme
Opinion discarded, fuck off frontierbabby

I had more problems with totem lurantis and it's friend castform than any previous gym leader.

>>33118543
This. Except I had issues with Totem Mimikyu initially. The only gym leader I can ever recall having issues with was Whitney. Every other one was a cake walk.

>>33118516
See >>33118414

>>33118543
I don't get how people can have problems with that fight when I literally made sport of Lunartis and made sure to mug it for items and test out the moveset.

Were you only using your starter or something?

>>33117790
The same can be said for literally every battle in pokemon

Not at all, it was gyms but better with room for improvement

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>>33118606
>just because I beat it easily means everyone else must have too!
Fuck you that shit was difficult and you know it

>>33118606
I assume it has to do with people having shit teams or being too stupid to switch to something better suited for the fight and thinking that makes it hard. Or being so utterly braindead they attack the Pokemon called in with SOS instead of the totem. Every totem should be beaten in a maximum of 3-4 turns.

The little dance you do before the z move is hands down the worst addition to the franchise.

>>33118687
I've never used a z move once and never plan to. Just seeing that cringe animation in the story was more than enough. It was fine when Nanu did it though.

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>>33118687
Found the shit taste

>>33118711
cringe

>>33118121
I don't see how this is a bad thing.
I don't want NPCs forcing me to do shit I want to kick their asses and get my badge.

If this must be done save it for postgame.

>>33118657
>Fuck you that shit was difficult and you know it
No. No it wasn't.
What was your team?

I don't use the exp share or anything I just had a lead pokemon with thief and then beat it up after mugging it.

>>33118864
>I don't want NPCs forcing me to do shit I want to kick their asses and get my badge.
But that's XY and especially SM.

>>33118864
>not wanting the game to feel more alive

ok then...

>>33117725
this.
I was hyped when I knew they changed the formula a bit, but trials ended up being a watered down rehash of gyms anyway. At this point, give us back the gyms (not that there was something wrong with them in the first place).

>>33117687
About this much

>>33118886
>wanting forced cutscenes to take you on a linear rail of a "plot"

I miss when these games let me explore at my own pace and had dungeons/puzzles but I mean, if taking those out makes a game feel "alive" because NPCs have extra lines of dialogue...

>>33117863
this guy is right
>>33117849
this guy is retarded

>>33118883
No I remember being stuck talking to them and them forcing me to go places in the overworld.

>>33117687
If you had to prove yourself against the Totems in order to battle the Captains in their Gym, then it'd be cool.

As it is, there is very little battling.

>>33118925
im against taking those things out though.. Im just not against making the story feel more alive and the characters with more personality and relevance

I don't get why they swapped Mina and Ilma? She suits the Smergle to a T and he looks fine as Fairy captain.

>>33118935
Like SM?

>>33119007
cause if youd start your game with a captain too lazy to make a trial, youd call it quits
(halfsrs answer)

The NPCs having more relevance worked for Unova because there was effort put into the dialogue and actual substance to their words. Alolans like to talk a lot but they never say anything of worth and generally just repeat the same bottom tier trite over and over again. I don't know how many times it felt like Kukui was feeding me the same shit about his dream for an Alolan league. Or Lillie gushing over how I'm awesome and she's useless. Or Hau wanting to beat his grandpa while eating malasaladas.

>>33119049
The "too lazy to make a trial" part is more Gamefreak were too lazy/ran out of time to make a proper trial, she would've challenged you like Ilma did I assume.

>>33119121
Idk about that, her personality is literally a slakoth

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>>33118687
>tfw proud because my little cousin plays pokémon thanks to me
>tfw he also does that little dance every time he uses a z move

>>33118869
Well shit dude you must be fuckin' pro

>>33119134
What happen with the dances?
I find most of them cute and pretty creative.
Since when this board is full of edgelords?

The reason why it worked in Unova but not in Alola is bc Gym leaders HAD RELEVANCE.
For example, after you beat, any piece of developement is a sidequest that just showed something she already said, she has sisters and she has to look after them.
What about Drayden, he is a mayor, he is the foster father of Iris, he guards the dna splicers, he is worried about iris, he has a good friendship with the gym leaders, he stands against team plasma in the final showdown.

Don't get me wrong, unova has lots of issues like alola, and this gym leader stuff isn't perfect, but justifying the shitry trials bc "muh characters" is like saying "but i had good intentions" after you ruin a party.

>>33119145
If you aren't a kid you really shouldn't do the z-dance

Please don't

>>33117891
Gyms don't gate progression, gyms ARE progression. The overall point of the pokemon games is to become the league champion and catch 'em all. You become the league champion by challenging the pokemon league and you're only allowed to challenge them if you've beat the eight gyms.

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>>33119349
I do and I'm proud

>vikavolt trial is conveniently unseen because it's cheaper
>summons sp attack raising charjabugs
>the pokemon with like 140 sp attack is all physical

it fucking sucked

>>33121251
>Incienroar meme
That explains pretty much everything.

I feel like they had the potential to be interesting, but failed to live up to that potential.
They should have each been a proper dungeon with type-themed puzzles. Instead we got "spot the hiker."

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>>33123082
>Implying I even like Inshiteroar
>Implying the Pokemon used in a meme means anything
What a sad, desperate life you must live :)

>>33123111
>:)
I can't even.

>>33123147
>>:)
I LITERALLY can't even rn...

>>33123162
>>>:)
I wish I could even...

>>33118455
>totems are more difficult than most gyms

>physical vikavolt
>glass kommo-o
>difficult

>>33123170
>>>>:)
I...why even...

>>33123294
>>>>>:)
I don't want to even...

I liked the trials, I thought they were easy but gym leaders are easy to beat too. I'd like a bit of both in USUM, I don't know if that's possible though.

The things I liked in the trials was that once you leave the trial's area you're penalized by having to do it from the start, so you have to be more prepared. With gyms you can go heal your pokemon whenever you want since you're in a town. And you have more trials than gyms, not counting gen2 and its remakes. I'd like gyms to be more challenging by not allowing you to exit it as easily until you beat the gym leader (like with the trials) and the trainers to have more pokemon, because they were a joke in XY.

>>33117738
>good because funny
Fuck you.

i cant name a single gym leader from xy nor can i remember the types they used and i want the xy gyms back to replace trials

>>33119372
I honestly wish the games stepped away from this tired shtick. It's rinse and repeat every game and every generation, and it's only recent that they've started to put effort into the 'why' of what you're doing in the first place. I'll take a story and cutscenes any day to the week than being shooed off to face some Literal Who at the back of a building before being shooed off to do the same eight more times. And what's the point of even beating the League? It's just some arbitrary 'you win!' state implemented to make you feel accomplished despite the fact that it doesn't really add anything other than what you've already done but x5. It's literally just a gauntlet of stronger Gym Leaders. At this point, it's just tradition.

And I'd have nothing against Gyms if they were just more interesting instead of Copy and Pasted formulas. For all of the Trial's faults, at least they provided some variety. Been playing since Yellow, but ya'll can miss me with this whole nostalgia fest. Those days aren't coming back; I've accepted that. Instead of trying to appeal to 1995, why not show me what can be done in 2017?

>>33119140
No, no I'm actually not thats the sad part.