Friendship Expanded

[Blahsadfeguie]

From our Titanpad discussions, we've determined that the mechanics of a Pokemon's friendship/happiness with their trainer will be greatly expanded and elaborated. But to what extent?

There have been at least two different arguments so far: those that are for uniqueness that welcome new and expanded mechanics like these, and those that prefer old-school and the classic focus on battling. Too much of one can interfere with the other, and so on. Let us reach a happy compromise, if that is not an unreasonable goal?

Obviously the goal here is to be innovative and original, but not overly complex; keep the factor that got the franchise where it was (coughBATTLINGcough) in mind, while straying from the well-established cliche of blatant PETA infractions.

But yeah, enough intro. Let's talk turkey.

Happiness will be more than just a factor for evolution and two very specific moves in this game. The happier your Pokemon are with you as a trainer, the better they'll perform in combat; likewise, an unhappy Pokemon will generally do worse. I'm thinking this will be implemented through a small boost/reduction in stats, critical hit chances, EXP growth rate, and so on (probably not all at once, but you get the idea). In addition, a truly happy Pokemon will be loyal at all times, while an unhappy one will often disobey its trainer and maybe even run away if it gets too extreme.

There will also be more stimuli that affect happiness, including not only of course traveling and battling, but also things like feeding, playing with, and otherwise interacting with the Pokemon. This invokes the addition of several new items such as food and toys of varying degrees.

Natures may also come into play, besides dictating the Pokemon's favorite flavor. Certain Pokemon will behave differently, and react to things differently. A Timid Pokemon may not like fighting Pokemon that are higher in level than it is, while a Bold one would like the thrill of the challenge. Gentle Pokemon may despise hunting and KOing countless wild Pokemon just to level-grind, but a Naughty Pokemon would enjoy picking them off one by one.

Of course, this would introduce some problems with grinding certain Pokemon, and thus there will be more ways to earn EXP. For instance, there will come obstacles in the field that require Pokemon that satisfy a given condition to surpass (and not just the standard HM roadblocks), such as a water Pokemon putting out a forest fire or an electric-type powering a generator. This, in addition to usage of HM moves, would grant the Pokemon some EXP.

Now, as always, none of this is final, so speak type freely if you have something to add or change about it. Since this is a weighty topic, I figured it would be a good idea to give it its own thread, to organize and spark discussion - so discuss! :L

[Halofire]

In my gut, I feel like we should try to avoid making these changes too drastic, but overall, the entire idea of the Pokemon as an individual appeals to me. Pokemon are fully capable of interacting with us now, and it's been clearly defined that they can understand the human language and have human emotions, but why do the Pokemon games persistently make it so that the only things this affects is stats and taste?

But going back to my original point, the crux of the Pokemon franchise is, of course, battling and training. I like the ideas for Bold and Timid, but I can foresee I'd have difficulty keeping a Gentle Pokemon in my party if I couldn't use it that much in battles (if, for example, you're beating your way past a bunch of enemies, for example, and your Gentle Hydrail was most effective against whatever they're using), and that would complicate things. Well, not that I couldn't use it, but I certainly wouldn't jeopardize my relationship with my Pokemon if it could be avoided.

However, as I have stated already in this post as well as in the pad, I like the idea of happiness affecting a Pokemon's performance, because it gives people a reason to treat them well rather than seeing them only as a collection of pixels on the screen awaiting a command.

But we need someone who's mostly for traditional to throw their ideas in here, because it's hard to make a democratic decision when the discussion is, for the most part, one-sided.