Should there be more choice of starter pokemon?

[Denariax]

If anything, continue the tradition of the anime;

Fire, water, grass, electric.

 

[MurderousToaster]

I hate to say it, but fans would probably have an aneurysm if the ordinary three-starter dichotomy was broken for whatever reason. Fans are a bit strange like that.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Ummm, maybe. I think it would sort of ruin the balance of the Rock, Paper, Scissors that each different starter represents. There's a sort of balance to the game that needs to be preserved.

As much as I think the series needs to freshen up a little (seriously, why not do an open world on Console or something? I'd buy that), throwing in even more pokemon isn't the way to do it.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I'd prefer it if they kept the rock/paper/scissors thing but changed the actual types involved. Not sure what other 3 types would work but meh.

 

[Terminate421]

Type wise? No.

Pokemon wise? It would be cool to turn on Pokemon: Grey and find out I can pick between any past starter. I'd pick Piplup in an instant.

 

[Terminate421]

Nope.

First off, the whole idea with Pokemon is that you start simple, and then gradually accumulate a more diverse collection of Pokemon as the game progresses, catering your monsters to your style and tastes. The three Mon choice at the start is perfect for this- you're already being forced to make a choice, and indeed make a compromise. As I remember it from Pokemon Blue- if you pick the Grass pokemon, the first three Gymn leaders will be a push over, but after that your Mon will struggle a bit. Water is an even mix of easy Gymn leaders and harder battles. And if you pick Fire, it means you're going to have a ***** of a struggle for the first couple of Gymn leaders, but after that you'll be laughing. If you offer players a choice of Mon from any dozen different species type, that element of choice and compromise has gone.

Secondly, the three choice Mon system offers a perfect balance. No single starting Mon is stronger than the others. Fire plant, plant beats water, water beats fire. Start mixing and matching the Mon types more, and you lose that balance.

Believe it or not with what you said they also did it with stats.

For instance,
1st generation:
Typically the grass type is given blessings in the defense department while offense is dropped in options
Fire is the opposite, given stronger offensive capabilities while dropping defense in exchange
Water is then the balance of the two, allowing one to see what they do.

These have been changing based on generations as well I believe, I can't be sure though,
Generation 3:
Swampert: Slow but Strong in defense and offense
Blaziken: Strength in offense and decent speed but lowered defense, high move pool though.
Sceptile: Highest speed, dropped defense and move pool, great offense though.

Generation 4:
Empoleon: Slow but great in defenses and offense (Ranged attack wise), comes with 13 resistances, great bulk
Torterra: Slow but focused on Physical Offenses and Defenses as well as good bulk
Infernape: Great offensive capabilities and speed, as well as move pool, but shite defenses.

I only did those two because my Pizza is ready, ponder on about Generation's 2 and 5 if you want though.

 

[Terminate421]

and maybe even have the gym leader types change according to which pokemon type you do end up picking, to make it harder so you really gotta strategize around other pokemon other than your starter

They did that in generation 5's first gym. It was ingenious but they didn't focus on gyms like that. Maybe they will do it in Pokemon Grey.

 

[SD-Fiend]

honestly i'd like to see it as a new game+ option (obviously you only have to beat the elite four and that snazz and not catch every single pokemon to get the new game+ option)

and maybe even have the gym leader types change according to which pokemon type you do end up picking, to make it harder so you really gotta strategize around other pokemon other than your starter

I don't see how that would work, if you start over then what would happen to the other pokemon you caught? would their levels be reset to the level of original capture? what about special download pokemon? a new game plus seems more likely in a spin-off not the main series

 

[him over there]

Honestly it is there for the purpose of balance and the purpose of compromise, since in single player you can never get the two you leave behind. What I want though is a pokemon game where you choose from all 15 starters and have all the 600+ pokemon at your disposal. And while I'm wishing for things how about gyms based on metagame strategies like stalling and rotation instead of type, or that my ps3 would stop giving me trophy noifications and dispensed peanut butter cups.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I like what they did in 4th gen where they gave starters secondary types that would balance them out more. Infernape's Fighting and Torterra's Ground subtypes allowed them to prey on Empoleon's Steel subtype, while Empoleon's Water type is effective against Infernape and allows it to learn Ice moves to wreck Torterra.

I like the Fire-Water-Grass thing. However, I hate how many Fire/Fighting type starters there are. No more of those, please.

 

[geK0]

What my sister likes to do is have an "exotic" pokemon traded to her (from me) and use that as her starter (ie. a pokemon from an earlier title; She used a houndour for Diamond and a dratini for black)

 

[Aris Khandr]

I think it would be fun to see the trinity change. Instead of Fire/Water/Grass, why not Psychic/Dark/Fighting? The trinity works mostly the same, though it might get a bit sticky with Dark completely ignoring Psychic attacks. But since you start at level 5, you'll likely open up with Normal moves anyway, and either secondary typing or other caught Pokemon could cover for that weakness.

 

[DarkRyter]

Here's my idea. Have it be like Pokemon Special. You not only get a traditional starter, you also get to pick a second pokemon among non-starter types, preferably low level pokes of assorted pokemon from the region.

For example, someone picking Bulbasaur could also get a geodude long before they can actually go and catch one. Alternatively, they could also get, say, a voltorb, or some other basic pokemon.

This second choice allows a competent player to immediately compensate for their starter's weaknesses, building the foundation of not only an actual team, but the selection process in building a team.

 

[Johann610]

No. nononono. The difficulty someone mentioned before is critical to the story. Re-balancing for more than 3? Hideously difficult. For the record, 1st gen was Grass--Water--Fire. For the first eight gyms, it was Easy with grass, medium with water, Hard with fire. Then you hit the Elite 8, and a leveled up Fire pokemon could beat them quickly, but water was medium difficulty, and Grass hit a Hard wall of ice.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Here's my idea. Have it be like Pokemon Special. You not only get a traditional starter, you also get to pick a second pokemon among non-starter types, preferably low level pokes of assorted pokemon from the region.

For example, someone picking Bulbasaur could also get a geodude long before they can actually go and catch one. Alternatively, they could also get, say, a voltorb, or some other basic pokemon.

This second choice allows a competent player to immediately compensate for their starter's weaknesses, building the foundation of not only an actual team, but the selection process in building a team.

Why? then your rival would do the same in the interest of fairness or have some pokemon thats incredibly OP and they would choose the advantage to what you just chose. So for your example if you chose Bulbasaur/Geodude, your opponent could just chose say... charmander/mankey. So you'd still never have a complete advantage.

 

[Fleetfiend]

I think it would be kind of weird to see it changed, and, like was said by Johann610, the balancing would be muchmuch harder.

I do think that it would be pretty interesting to eventually have a pokemon game that would let you choose from any non-legendary pokemon to be your companion, and they would have higher stats than the wild versions of the same pokemon would be. Maybe an MMO or something. I'm ever hopeful.

 

[DarkRyter]

Here's my idea. Have it be like Pokemon Special. You not only get a traditional starter, you also get to pick a second pokemon among non-starter types, preferably low level pokes of assorted pokemon from the region.

For example, someone picking Bulbasaur could also get a geodude long before they can actually go and catch one. Alternatively, they could also get, say, a voltorb, or some other basic pokemon.

This second choice allows a competent player to immediately compensate for their starter's weaknesses, building the foundation of not only an actual team, but the selection process in building a team.

Why? then your rival would do the same in the interest of fairness or have some pokemon thats incredibly OP and they would choose the advantage to what you just chose. So for your example if you chose Bulbasaur/Geodude, your opponent could just chose say... charmander/mankey. So you'd still never have a complete advantage.

In my proposed system, the second pokemon choices would be balanced to be effective and efficient, but not overpowered (like a normal starter).

The solution to that case would be to send the geodude out against the charmander and the bulbasaur against the mankey. Trainer AI (barring special cases) does not switch out until a pokemon faints, whilst a player has that option.

You may not have a complete type advantage in this situation, but you wouldn't have the advantage in the normal 1 starter system either. Rivals exist to teach the player how to overcome type disadvantage, after all. At least in my situation, there's another layer of variety beyond tackle, tackle, tackle, tail whip, tackle.

 

[Atmos Duality]

you'll never see that. there's always too few dragon pokemon in the game, and they're all OP'd and pseudo-legendary. If you saw dragons as a starter, you'd either see them completely debuffed and their stats very much lowered, or they'd gain more weaknesses and the NPCs would constantly be several levels over you and in all likelihood also have dragon types or ice types.

A more focused, less-OP dragon would be perfect as a starter, which themselves lean more towards the above-average side of stats and abilities anyway.

I'm not looking for another OP monstrocity like Garchomp; but a reason to actually consider the dragon moveset and type as an option before dead-endgame, which in itself turns into a massive pile of grind.

 

[krazykidd]

I feel the fire/grass/water line up is a good system. It's simple so you don't spend ages deciding who to pick, and the type effectiveness is obvious to everyone.

Another problem I see is with more starters, comes more different games you will need to trade with to complete the Pokedex.

I also don't think it would do much for the replay value. Would having a Ghastly or Cubone at the start of Pokemon Red or Blue really change that much? All the wild Pokemon would still be the same so I don't see where the added challenge is coming from.

Actually , if you had started with a ghastly in blue or red , you would be WAY overpowered .

OT: i think having different types as starters would be great . Anything other than fire , water , grass . Pokemon also needs a hard mode , for experienced players, have your opponents do 1.5x - 2x more damage than in easy mode ( this is for single player only obviously ) . Also a NG+ mode where enemy pokemon are lvl 75-150 ( when you catch them they revert to level 100 ) to add some replay value. Also more than 1 save slot please , i mean seriously WHAT THE HELL .

 

[SlaveNumber23]

In the later Pokemon games I've played I have ditched my starter pokemon as soon as I catch a Pokemon that I find as a suitable replacement, leaving my around level 10-15 starter in the PC box while I use another basically as a starter. Guess I just got sick of having to choose the generic starters. There definitely needs to be a starter for each type.