There?ve been a lot of Pokemon threads as of late... thought I?d get in on the action. 
Whether you love the current iterations of the Pokemon games or you hate them, you have to agree that the series has been using their basic storyline formula in almost every main game. I like the new games, but I don't think the series is aging as gracefully as it could.
The advent of Pokemon Black and White is upon us, and there's a lot of speculation on the changes it'll be making to the series. So here's my question: If you are of the mindset that the series needs a change, or you're losing interest in it, what, in your opinion, does the next Pokemon game need to have/be in order to turn the franchise around for you? What would it need to do in order to ?win you back,? so to speak? This can be anything from a graphics enhancement to a complete overhaul of the series.
Personally, I?d like to see a complete break from the old formula (Get starter from professor, beat five gyms, beat an evil organization, beat four more gyms, beat elite four, etc.) Here?s my idea:
You begin as the champion of your region, One day, you receive a call from your friend, a champion in a neighboring region, asking for assistance. According to him, there is an organization spreading throughout his region, who hold the belief that humans should not master pokemon as they have. They believe humans are like slave drivers, and those who retain control over pokemon must be punished. This changes things up from the usual ?Small-town kid who just got his first Pokemon? routine, and it gives us a main villain team who doesn?t just want to take over/destroy the world. Now, I know this is the direction B/W is taking with their villain, and that, to me... is awesome.
You begin your adventure with three starters instead of one. Since you?re already champion, you could start the game choosing your three from a pool of six pokemon (your ?championship team,?) and you?d begin your adventure. In order to balance this, the starters wouldn?t be extremely strong.
Additionally, each gym is legitimately hard, as opposed to the current ones that you can completely sweep with one well-leveled pokemon. The gyms in this game won?t simply be milestones to show how far you?ve gotten in the main story. They will exist in a fashion similar to raid bosses in World of Warcraft -- you?ll need to level your team well, and set a strategy up in order to face them.
Lastly, gyms will be based on strategy, not type. The gyms will have themes such as ?One-Hit KO,? ?Annoyers,? ?Spikers,? etc.
Hopefully that wasn?t tl;dr. Okay, thoughts?
EDIT: Some folks thought I was trying to persuade people to see the franchise as stale. I'm not. I'm trying to get some cool ideas on what a revamped main series game could look like. I'm not attacking it here.
Also, I'm looking for ideas more from Pokemon fans. I'm not asking what would interest you if you just don't like the series.
Whether you love the current iterations of the Pokemon games or you hate them, you have to agree that the series has been using their basic storyline formula in almost every main game. I like the new games, but I don't think the series is aging as gracefully as it could.
The advent of Pokemon Black and White is upon us, and there's a lot of speculation on the changes it'll be making to the series. So here's my question: If you are of the mindset that the series needs a change, or you're losing interest in it, what, in your opinion, does the next Pokemon game need to have/be in order to turn the franchise around for you? What would it need to do in order to ?win you back,? so to speak? This can be anything from a graphics enhancement to a complete overhaul of the series.
Personally, I?d like to see a complete break from the old formula (Get starter from professor, beat five gyms, beat an evil organization, beat four more gyms, beat elite four, etc.) Here?s my idea:
You begin as the champion of your region, One day, you receive a call from your friend, a champion in a neighboring region, asking for assistance. According to him, there is an organization spreading throughout his region, who hold the belief that humans should not master pokemon as they have. They believe humans are like slave drivers, and those who retain control over pokemon must be punished. This changes things up from the usual ?Small-town kid who just got his first Pokemon? routine, and it gives us a main villain team who doesn?t just want to take over/destroy the world. Now, I know this is the direction B/W is taking with their villain, and that, to me... is awesome.
You begin your adventure with three starters instead of one. Since you?re already champion, you could start the game choosing your three from a pool of six pokemon (your ?championship team,?) and you?d begin your adventure. In order to balance this, the starters wouldn?t be extremely strong.
Additionally, each gym is legitimately hard, as opposed to the current ones that you can completely sweep with one well-leveled pokemon. The gyms in this game won?t simply be milestones to show how far you?ve gotten in the main story. They will exist in a fashion similar to raid bosses in World of Warcraft -- you?ll need to level your team well, and set a strategy up in order to face them.
Lastly, gyms will be based on strategy, not type. The gyms will have themes such as ?One-Hit KO,? ?Annoyers,? ?Spikers,? etc.
Hopefully that wasn?t tl;dr. Okay, thoughts?
EDIT: Some folks thought I was trying to persuade people to see the franchise as stale. I'm not. I'm trying to get some cool ideas on what a revamped main series game could look like. I'm not attacking it here.
Also, I'm looking for ideas more from Pokemon fans. I'm not asking what would interest you if you just don't like the series.
