Steven in Emerald: a Disappointment

[Carbonite4]

I, for one, was very disappointed with the minor role Steven got this time around. Sure he helps you out with Magma, but he's not Champ anymore. He's just...some guy who collects rocks and helps you fight evil. Steven was my favorite trainer out of all of the games.

Is anyone else perturbed or upset about the role Steven was given in this game?

[stickachu]

Well... that's not really his entire role.


*Spoiler? I think it's a spoiler*

Meteor Falls after E4. He has pretty much the role Red had in GS with a 70-80 level team. All champs have to retire sometime I suppose.

*End spoiler*

[Carbonite4]

Oooh. Well...in that case...



Still, I'd rather have seen him at the E4, THEN move to the falls. Wallace could have then taken his place, and what's-his-face could have taken Wallace's place at Sootopolis.

...Or maybe that's just too complicated and I'm looking for an excuse for Steven to be more involved.

[Sceptile_Master]

Well... that's not really his entire role.


*Spoiler? I think it's a spoiler*

Meteor Falls after E4. He has pretty much the role Red had in GS with a 70-80 level team. All champs have to retire sometime I suppose.

*End spoiler*

Emerald seems more exciting each day. I can't wait to get it.

[Jeff]

For future reference, we have [spoiler] tags you could use if you have a spoiler.

Anyway, I find it interesting that they changed Emerald's story this much from RS, it's a nice change of pace from the virtual clones that were Yellow and Crystal.

[Sceptile_Master]

Something about yellow got me hooked for longer than red and blue. Don't know why. It was good fun though.

[andyizcool]

Something about yellow got me hooked for longer than red and blue. Don't know why. It was good fun though.

Perhaps because Pokemon Yellow had all three Starters in without trading to other Pokemon RBY versions.

[Darien Shields]

Something about yellow got me hooked for longer than red and blue. Don't know why. It was good fun though.

I found the Pikachu training actually pretty fulfilling. It was nice to see that you actually had some sort of relationship with your pokemon, instead of them just being tanks 'n' tools like in the other games. I'd like to see this sort of feature return in future games, so that you could see how much all pokemon liked you (and perhaps get some sort of reward out of this, like they gain EXP more easily if they like you... or something?)

I've only played a Japanese copy of Sapphire (So what if I have no patience, and buy japanese copies of the games as soon as they come out?) is it worth getting Emerald, in either language?

[Poryhedron]

I'd like to see this sort of feature return in future games, so that you could see how much all pokemon liked you (and perhaps get some sort of reward out of this, like they gain EXP more easily if they like you... or something?)

Ever since Gold/Silver, the Normal-type attack Return has served as a happiness reward; the happier a pokémon is, the more damage it can deal with Return.
That said, I agree that happiness should play a greater role. I think disobedience should be linked to happiness, perhaps even more so than it is to level; an unhappy pokémon is more likely to disobey, and if it's truly down in the dumps, like well below initial-capture, not even having all eight badges can force it to take your orders at all times. Of course, since fainting lowers happiness, that might result in a downward spiral...hrm...well, there are various other ways for happiness to take effect. Perhaps Pay Day produces more money when the user is happier, or happy pokémon breed faster, etc...

[Darien Shields]

Ever since Gold/Silver, the Normal-type attack Return has served as a happiness reward; the happier a pokémon is, the more damage it can deal with Return.
That said, I agree that happiness should play a greater role. I think disobedience should be linked to happiness, perhaps even more so than it is to level; an unhappy pokémon is more likely to disobey, and if it's truly down in the dumps, like well below initial-capture, not even having all eight badges can force it to take your orders at all times. Of course, since fainting lowers happiness, that might result in a downward spiral...hrm...well, there are various other ways for happiness to take effect. Perhaps Pay Day produces more money when the user is happier, or happy pokémon breed faster, etc...

Visual effects (like with Pikachu) are nice.

And I think Return is pretty lame. Even at max power, it's not that great, you need to use it on a normal pokemon to get STAB, and, well... y'know. Maybe if there were a hold item that game a power boost proprtional to happyness that'd work... but still, I'd like for it to be more of a feature. Perhaps happyness could contribute to capture-rates? If you have six really happy pokemon, it'll be easier to catch things (because the pokemon your trying to catch sees your team and is like "Hey, they're all happy! Maybe this guy isn't so bad!" if you catch my drift.)

[riot mankey]

But then Frustration would become redundant.

[Darien Shields]

But then Frustration would become redundant.

Yes, the idea is that happy pokemon are good, unhappy pokemon are bad. I guess you'll just have to keep on beating your pokemon with a stick without the satisfaction that it's empowering one of their attacks, and just for the fun of it.

Or you could have an item that does the opposite for dark pokemon.

Generally speaking though, sad pokemon = bad.