Pokeride Radio: Yeah, that's another reason why I don't use Poke Rides as much as I wanted to. I guess its alright for Tauros Charge (though I still prefer the bike which automatically gave you a speed boost without needing to hold down B) since the bike also change the music (though I find the bike themes more general & upbeat than how obnoxious the Poke Ride music can get), but when solving a puzzle like in the Ruins, which have nice and mystical ambient music, needing to use a PokeRide and switching to that music breaks immersion. Thankfully at some important points in the game they disable the PokeRide music (and, like with the bike, if you exit an area it returns to default music).
Maybe for future biking/surfing/Poke Riding they should instead add a subtle layer to the music instead of changing the entire theme, like what they did in Mario Sunshine with Yoshi. Or at the very least give us an option to turn off the music.
EDIT: Oh, you CAN turn it off? And its via Festival Plaza. What a cryptic way of doing it.
Innovation Sake: That what it comes down to (as well as a bit of Winner's Curse/Mindset). It's why well liked features from past games are shoved aside, the new toys are given such a big push, and the recycle repeats next gen. GF is so focused on making new mechanics that they're making the games feel a bit bloated with options but limiting the depth of these options. GF, instead of expanding on quantity of features, how about quality? More Mega Evos, and not just of the popular Pokemon. More special Z-Moves, and not just for Gen I Pokemon. Keep the idea of variant forms and maybe introduce a few new ones each generation (and also don't keep it to Gen I Pokemon).
Yes, a franchise has to evolve in order to survive, but there does come to a point where constantly changing things can hurt. Festival Plaza feels clunky, they tried combining Join Avenue and the PSS but entirely missed the point of both. Join Avenue was a mall you can customize to easily serve your needs, and the more you used these services or sent people to check them out they upgraded. PSS was a simple system for players to communicate with one another, and that's all it needed to be and player's wanted. But Festival Plaza is a mess, not only are certain shops locked to certain versions but you can't upgrade them, either Sophocles or one of the trainer avatars may randomly give you the upgraded shop you want. And these are player avatars, not the players themselves you're interacting with. PSS showed you players who were playing the game right now you could tap on and ask to trade, battle, or give an O-Power to. But Festival Plaza it feels you're just dealing with a robot and either get FP from or order a shop/clothes they have.
Customization Woes: Okay, so looks like they did a better job with giving the male character as many clothing options as the female. Great!... so of course they needed to do something to mess it up: Version exclusive clothing.
And I'm not just talking about special clothing items, color is also version exclusive! And if you want a certain clothing, be it special or color, you have to hope one of the avatars in the Festival Plaza is wearing it or your dye shop provides the option.
Okay, for the special shirts I sort of get it, but for colors? Really? Without a trainer avatar wearing it or a dye shop, if you bought Moon/Sun version you can't wear red, yellow, orange, or pink/blue, purple, green, and grey? Why not? Also, why fill up your closet with all these palette swaps? Why not just let us choose a style and then color?
Also, despite having NPCs with wild hair colors like blue and red, we're still only limited to natural and semi-natural hair colors. *sigh*
Do we really need all this complications for customization? Is it wrong if I want to make my playable character look the way I want them too as long as its within what was programmed into the game?
Destiny Knot/Everstone: Maybe for now on they should just have someone in the Daycare give you those items as that's what you're going to use them for anyway.
"Hey trainer! I hope you let us help you raise a strong team of Pokemon. By the way, I want you to have these *gives Destiny Knot and Everstone*. If the Pokemon holding the Destiny Knot becomes infatuated, so does the Pokemon its attracted to. Everstone prevents a Pokemon holding it from evolving. However they have use in breeding too! Destiny Knot will pass down five stat's IVs from the parent holding it. Everstone has a 50% chance of passing down the Nature of the parent holding it. If you ever want to know what these items do again, just ask."
So here's a list of fixes GF can do (or we want to see them do):
1. Have the Evolution Stone shop sell all the evolution stones, no restrictions. Should be placed mid-early in the game to give the players a choice to evolve now for a power boost or hold off to learn more powerful moves.
2. All evolutions items, or at least ones Pokemon in the regional dex need, should be made available around the point where the player would be evolving their Pokemon who evolve by level to their final stages. These items should either be visible Pokeballs on the ground or given by an NPC as soon talked with/battled. Every single evo items, including additional ones you get in-game, can be bought in the BP shop for a reasonable (low) amount of BP (maybe as much as two streaks through the Battle Facility?).
2+. Areas for area based evolutions should also be located around the point your evolving Pokemon to their final stage. Maybe have multiple locations that can qualify.
3. Vitamins and Rare Candies should be really cheap (like one streak is enouhg to buy 3) at the BP shop (if BP Shop can be accessed during main story these options should be locked until post game).
4. Sell the Apricorn Pokeballs. Either sell them like other special Poke Balls or have a Poke Ball shop.
5. Option to turn off Biking/Surfing/Poke Riding music (and have it where its easy to find). Maybe change it to just an additional music layer.
6. More focus on established mechanics. Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, Region Variants, even certain battling strategies (weather, entry hazards, rooms/terrain, specific moves & Abilities).
6+. Bring back & keep popular mechanics/features like DexNav, Habitat Lists, VS Seeker, Horde Battles, and Inverse Battles.
7. Mega Stones for Pokemon found in main game should be available like the Evo Items (and the ability to Mega Evolve). All other Mega Stones are made available in the post game (how can be up to debate).
8. Ditch SOS Battles, or keep them contained to either specific bosses, Pokemon, or using the Adrenaline Orb. Also let us catch Pokemon in the Double/Triple/Horde/SOS battle even if there's another Pokemon; just have the caught Pokemon sent to the PC.
9. Put in a better fishing so we're not getting Magikarp 99% of the time. If GF wants to stick with one fishing rod how about different kind of lures and/or baits.
10. Player-to-player interaction should be kept simple. PSS and not Festival Plaza.
10+. On th GTS let us (1.) see any items the Pokemon is holding and (2.) let us ask for the Pokemon to be holding an item. Would make Trade Evolutions a bit easier. And no, it wouldn't create more trolling, instead all the trolls would just have a new toy instead of asking for Legendaries or ridiculous levels
11. High level post game locations for you to level-up at (either wild or trainer battles). Also Hyper Training shouldn't require your Pokemon being level 100.
12. Customization should be player friendly. Pick a style, pick a color. No making colors version exclusive.
13. Pokemon Bank should have been available at launch.
And feel free to add to it.
