Pokemon Black & White, aka Gen 5. Coming to Japan in Fall 2010.

[Dane]

One thing I have been quietly wishing for would be a status that either halves Sp Atk or knocks defenses down one stage. The obvious contender would be poison... but that leaves the question about Toxic being so damn common that Sp Atkers would be Fubard.

Well, one way to overcome that would be to make Toxic and regular Poison different. Toxic gets the crawling damage, whereas regular poison gets the stat drop.

On the topic of unusual and wild ideas - how about armour? Wearing armour changes a Pokemon's secondary type to that of the armour (or adds the secondary type to a pure type). Perhaps only on the defense.
Steel armour might end up virtually everywhere mind; the type's so good defensively it may have to be omitted from the armour list (but then that wouldn't make much sense anyway). Certainly those Pokemon with a 4x weakness, especially to rock, would appreciate being able to lose it.
I'm not sure the theme is where Game Freak would want to go - but various sorts of armour have appeared in the anime: Mewtwo, and the war scenes in the opening of the Lucario movie spring to mind.

Now this sounds like Digimon. It's been a while since I played Digimon World 3 and 4, but I believe those let you put items on your Digimon to make them stronger (though it may have just been 4, and only the weapon). However, I know the DS games ("Digimon Story") have a weapon, armor, and accessory slot for each Digimon.

Honestly, the biggest changes that are likely to happen are things hinted at in HGSS. That is, true 3D worlds and sprites (as opposed to faux-2D), alternate outfits (Team Rocket, Jersey), possibly "alternate" Pokemon like Notch-Eared Pichu, customization (Safari Zone, possibly expanded to further areas), and things of that nature.

 

[Chaoswalker]

I've been wanting more character customization since the introduction of the underground. Seeing 4 other "Me"s was so disturbing.

 

[Galactic Boss Cyrus]

Another thing Game Freak likely meant by "change" was letting us alternate costumes, yes, but perhaps even create our own Trainers as well, or have a wider selection (black people, derp?). Maybe we could be able to freely control the camera angle or at least shift it. Things like Roark's/Gardenia's gym or the Lighthouse in Olivine are great.

 

[Dream Boat Dixon]

I hope that the changes to gen 5 aren't too game changing. I like the turn based nature of the game at the moment and it's that style of play which is why I play Pokémon over other RPGs. I just can't get into others.
Everything being 3-D on the DS would be a bad idea, it would just look horrible and even if it was okay, then the rest of the game would be incredibly lacking. That sort of thing is best left for the consoles, where it's a viable option.
Any major changes, enough for it warrant it being a next gen would be a type reworking. Some types at the moment flourish, where others severely lack. I can understand why Dragon would be an over powered type. Being stuff of legend and actually be hard to obtain an' all, but all other types should be equal. That in itself would completely reinvent things. I'm gonna use Poison as an example cus it's the one who's been suffering the most. Being super effective against Water and Bug (like it used to be) on top of Grass would make sense for it and could completely change how useful and effective things can be.
Any other lesser changes, like customisation of your character would be more than welcome too. It did look silly being in the underground with a group of clones. Even just a small colour change to your clothes would be appreciated.
As for the idea of armour. That is a bit too much Digimon. Maybe a single item that grants a resistance to one type would work. Not a different type per Pokémon, but more like something gay like "Sand Cloak" which grants the holder an Electric immunity.
I'm trying not to think of the new Pokémon just yet, cus there is bound to be at least one that I think is cool. The big thing is gonna be the apparent big change that were in store for. I'm more worried about that right now.

 

[Jonathan]

^ Yeah because that's not broken at all... Yache Berry was enough to send Chomp to Ubers, an item making him immune to Ice attacks is totally viable.

 

[Dream Boat Dixon]

That's why I went for the obvious Electric immunity. I used that as the most viable example to armour we'd get. I never said you'd get one for every type. If that was to happen at all it wouldn't be for any more than one type.

 

[Jonathan]

I guess I didn't make my point clear but imo such a concept would be broken for any type (to use your example, imagine Gyarados with an electric immunity).

Why would you ever use an item that halves the damage from an attack for one turn (type berries) when you could be immune to it for the whole battle?

 

[Dream Boat Dixon]

I realised that on Gyarados it would be horrific. By what I forgot to mention, or at least make clear was that I didn't think they were gonna do this. I just saw that being a much more likely than an armour that grants the wearer a steel type, or something to that effect. I don't think either are gonna happen.

 

[Chaoswalker]

Heh, heh. The armor discussion reminds of something from early in pokemon Special/Adventures where Red dressed up Pikachu in a bunch of armor/trinkets he bought from blue. Because of that I proabably will never be able to take armor seriously. I'm allready having a hard time imagining pokemon wearing an EXP share.

If anyone doesn't mind me bringing up the terain changing idea again, I think it would be an excelent addition except that it might lead to some terribly broken situations (Rain+Water terain=Water team from Hell) unless they are careful with the boosts it provides. Water terain could slightly increase the speed of water types(by 25% or maybe less), increase the accuracy of electric moves (But not enough to fix thunder), and make dive a one turn move. Those don't have to be the exact boosts, but you get the idea.

As for some names...:Flashflood, Terraforming, Scorcher, and Overgrowth(Or something that means the same, but doesn't sound like a grass starter ability)

 

[Esurio]

Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry I should have been more specific. I'm only talking about an overall theme for the pokemon introduced in each gen.

-1st Gen:151 pokemon introduced. Um... fairly obvious that it didn't build on anything. Being the 1st and all...

-2nd Gen:100 pokemon introuduced. 19 of these pokemon were building on existing pokemon. That's 22% of the introduced pokemon (Not including Starters and legendaries who couldn't possibly build on other generations)

-3rd Gen:135 pokemon introduced. 2 of these pokemon were building on existing pokemon. That's 1% of the introuduced pokemon (Not including Starters and legendaries)

-4th Gen:107 pokemon introduced. 26 of these pokemon were building on existing pokemon. That's 31% of the introduced pokemon (Not including Starters and legendaries)

The pattern exists, just as I said.

I see a different pattern.

Red/Blue (1)
Started series. Creates an isolated Island. (Played on GB)

Gold/Silver (2)
Creates an isolated island but allows travel to old region. Also allows for limited trans-generational trade. (Best played on GBC)

Ruby/Sapphire (3) & LeafGreen/FireRed(3.5)
Creates new 'isolated' island. No trans-generational trade of any kind. Introduces remakes as a way to get back the missing Pokemon instead of offering them in R/S.

Significantly it changes consoles which probably prohibited Pokemon trading.

Pearl/Platinum (4) & HeartGold/SoulSilver (4.5)
Creates new isolated island. More limited trans-generational trade allowed.

????(5)
???? I'd hope it follow what 2 did and allow for travel between Sinnoh and the new land.

I'd argue even that Gen 4 is analogous to what Gen 1 was. That your cycle would theoretically be more accurate as:

1-2-3
4-5-6

Therefore 5 will be to DPPt what 2 was for RBG/Y and 6 would be the standalone you anticipate.


Though I still think that the reason 3 was a standalone was because of the console change.
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Well, one way to overcome that would be to make Toxic and regular Poison different. Toxic gets the crawling damage, whereas regular poison gets the stat drop.

I would agree with this. Then we would have to have a non-toxic inducing Poison move. Also they would probably have to reintroduce Toxic as its own status to avoid confusion.

 

[Dane]

I would agree with this. Then we would have to have a non-toxic inducing Poison move. Also they would probably have to reintroduce Toxic as its own status to avoid confusion.

I don't see a reason they'd need to make Toxic its own status. There's already a flag in the system so that it knows the poison is Toxic rather than standard poison, so it could just use that flag to know whether to reduce stats or not.

 

[Mario With Lasers]

I don't see a reason they'd need to make Toxic its own status. There's already a flag in the system so that it knows the poison is Toxic rather than standard poison, so it could just use that flag to know whether to reduce stats or not.

Yes, but it would be better to differentiate it for the player.

 

[Brock Samson]

What if they introduce a new typing or two? A type that is immune to dragon and can hit dragon super-effectively would be nice. Similar to how they introduced the dark type to nerf the over-powered psychics in generation 2. It would help make the metagame less centralized around dragons and steels.

 

[Cshadow]

Yes, but Steels and Dragons have weaknesses, where the Dark and Steel type were introduced because Psychic had no real weaknesses at all. It was immune to ghost, and the only bug type move that could hurt them in the game was pin missile, and iirc that was only usable by Jolteon. Nothing resisted Psychic, and nothing could hurt Psychic super effectively. I think the typing are fine the way they are we just need more Pokemon with type combinations that would make them as good defensively as Steels or as offensively as Dragons.

 

[DDRMaster]

There was Leech Life as well and it's clear that Gamefreak wanted to make Ghost good against Psychic because of all of the guides that say so and a trainer in Red and Blue mentions that Psychic Pokemon only fear Bug and Ghost attacks. Of course, even with Lick added as well, Lickitung, Jolteon, and Parasect would've been the only Pokemon that can hit Psychics SE without being weak to Psychic themselves. But you're still right, Dark and Steel were made to nerf Psychic and probably Dragon as well since it now has attacks that can get STAB (although, they still weren't very good initially).

Edit: They aren't going to make new types if they haven't by now. They'd have to redo Hidden Power which would probably make them incompatible with Gen 4. A Dragon-type Volt Absorb is a more likely way to get a Pokemon that's immune to Dragon.

Edit 2: @bearsfan092: I doubt they'd change the type chart either for the same reason. All we really need are some legendary Ice and Steel types that aren't Uber and are viable in OU.

 

[bearsfan092]

Rather than new typing to check dragons, I'd rather buff ice types. I'm talking about making them resistant to Dragon type attacks, but with SR, it might ruin their survivability at any rate. Imagine, Lapras would be able to take Draco Meteors fairly well if it resisted it.

If not that, just edit the type matchups to throw in an additional resistance to dragon attacks.

 

[Brock Samson]

Its not a matter of Dragon having weaknesses, its a matter of only one type being able to resist Dragon. Its why most teams carry at least 2 steel types. I'm merely speculating how the metagame would change if such a dragon-immune type were created. 2 steel types wouldn't be necessary, and there wouldn't be as many draco meteors flying around.

 

[Chaoswalker]

Other than Light or Sonic(Sound), there arn't many types that could be added. But looking at the two, neither really sound like they would resist dragon, though I suppose one could argue that Sonic might be super effective.

I see a different pattern.

Red/Blue (1)
Started series. Creates an isolated Island. (Played on GB)

Gold/Silver (2)
Creates an isolated island but allows travel to old region. Also allows for limited trans-generational trade. (Best played on GBC)

Ruby/Sapphire (3) & LeafGreen/FireRed(3.5)
Creates new 'isolated' island. No trans-generational trade of any kind. Introduces remakes as a way to get back the missing Pokemon instead of offering them in R/S.

Significantly it changes consoles which probably prohibited Pokemon trading.

Pearl/Platinum (4) & HeartGold/SoulSilver (4.5)
Creates new isolated island. More limited trans-generational trade allowed.

????(5)
???? I'd hope it follow what 2 did and allow for travel between Sinnoh and the new land.

I'd argue even that Gen 4 is analogous to what Gen 1 was. That your cycle would theoretically be more accurate as:

1-2-3
4-5-6

Therefore 5 will be to DPPt what 2 was for RBG/Y and 6 would be the standalone you anticipate.


Though I still think that the reason 3 was a standalone was because of the console change.

I see what you mean, and since near everything that happens to the series is because of game design, you are probably correct. I suppose we when this generation comes out, we will know for certain, and be able to predict each subsequent one after that by one of the two patterns (If there are more).

 

[deluge]

To the person who wished for a Cacturne evolution, I second that.
Cacturne is one of my favourite of the flawed/lesser used Pokemon.
But better mixed attacking stats than Ape/Luke and +2 boosting moves on both sides are difficult to exploit when you're both slow as molasses and very frail.

On the Dragon issue, I think the fact that it is resisted by one type and SE against one type is a decision they are unlikely to change.
The lack of SE coverage and the drawbacks of the best Dragon moves make the typing very easy to nerf if you start introducing too many resists.
And I think it is clear that, within the mythology of Pokemon, Dragons are intended to be very good.

Nontheless, a Levitating Steel/Water with a strong Ice Beam/Shard could come in on almost any attack Dragons tend to carry and threaten.
I think a Dragon Killers can be designed within the existing type/ability system if GF so chooses.

 

[BuddyBlueBomber]

If there was a Steel/Water with Levitate which had access to a powerful Ice Beam or Ice Shard, Every team would have one. Oh, the chaos! Wait a sec, I never see Empoleon that much anyways. Nevermind.

The fact is, we've got enough "Anti-Dragon" pokemon. Weavile, Mamoswine, Empoleon, other Dragon types, are all viable options if you're really that afraid.

 

[Wichu]

Guys, there have only been 4 generations of Pokémon (and only 3 sequels). Any 'pattern' you find is most likely just your imagination; maybe if there were 20 games with a certain pattern, you could infer something useful. I could say this:
Gen 1 had 151 new Pokémon.
Gen 2 had 100 new Pokémon.
Gen 3 had 135 new Pokémon.
Gen 4 had 107 new Pokémon.
As you can see, the number of new Pokémon in the odd generations is decreasing by 16, and the number in the even generations is increasing by 7. Therefore, the 5th generation will have 119 new Pokémon, and the 6th 114.

 

[deluge]

If there was a Steel/Water with Levitate which had access to a powerful Ice Beam or Ice Shard, Every team would have one. Oh, the chaos! Wait a sec, I never see Empoleon that much anyways. Nevermind.

The fact is, we've got enough "Anti-Dragon" pokemon. Weavile, Mamoswine, Empoleon, other Dragon types, are all viable options if you're really that afraid.

Empoleon doesn't Levitate and will be outrun and whacked with a SE Earthquake or just 2HKO'ed by boosted Outrages if it switches into one.
But I agree with you that we have capable anti-Dragons but most of the Steels who can switch in cannot threaten as immediately as the revenge killers.

 

[BuddyBlueBomber]

Switching Empoleon in(Which isn't that hard, considering its resistances) and using Agility is an excellent way of remedying that problem. Also, not many Dragons run Earthquake anyways. :P I run a pet/sub in my Sandstorm team, and it can pretty much sweep until it hits a priority Fighting-move user, or someone with a boat-load of Special Defence. Really wrecks teams that aren't prepared.

 

[DDRMaster]

The problem with using Agility is you don't get to keep the boosts when you switch out and really using Agility doesn't make Empoleon any better of a counter since you have to be able to switch in to be called a counter and Empoleon still can't take Earthquake or two Outrages and it will get taken out before it gets a chance to respond. Just because Salamence can't counter Agility Empoleon doesn't mean Agility Empoleon counters Salamence. Also, Earthquake is the most common move on Salamence, Flygon, and Dragonite. Taken from the Shoddy Server Statistics:

| Salamence | Move | Earthquake | 77.6 |
| Dragonite | Move | Earthquake | 55.0 |
| Flygon | Move | Earthquake | 98.0 |

Latias and Kingdra might not run Earthquake, but the physically based Dragons do and can hit you hard.

 

[Chou Toshio]

^You should add in the stats for Salamence's Brick Break and Dragonite's Superpower-- I'll bet you will see that dragons run Fighting OR Ground at even higher percentages.