Pokemon MMORPG (In progress)
Yeah, you read right my friends.Pokemon MMORPG! Ok fine, it’s actually my commentary on if there was to be one. Damn I hope that day will come. First, I’ve been a Pokemon fan since 6th grade. I’m now going to be 20 in 2 months. I was 11-12 then. Good times indeed. Now, my fan-boi status of Pokemon has never wavered. I’m not the cliche’ super-nerd, as I do not look the part, but hell, I am the part. Now, my dream of a Pokemon MMORPG started when I first saw some friends playing Everquest. I never played it, but I saw the potential. I later got WoW and FFXI, and my addiction of MMOs started. Ok, this started from a comment I was making on a blog made by my friend Phenomena on Break, here on WordPress (check him out). It had to do with Super Smash Bros Brawl, and the inclusion of the pokemon, Lucario. Here’s what I wrote: ”Still waiting for a Pokemon MMORPG….Imagine it, walking around from town to town catching pokemon by seeing them in the field. To level, you have to actually fight others, like in the original games. It would have such awesome PVP. Imagine a FFA Pokemon battle. Or team stuff. Capture the flag, king of the hill, etc. Awesome stuff. Raids would be against things like Zapdos, Mewtwo, and Jigglypuff. Yes. Jigglypuff. But really, it’d have endless possibilities…..ok I’m turning this into a blog. ” Yeah, my gears started a’turning. Ok, well let’s start from the top. The basis of the game.
World
The world would be made up of every world from the games (and show most likely, since it’s popular still I guess, never was the biggest fan of it past season one). Kanto (Red, Blue, and Yellow), Sevii Islands (Fire Red, and Leaf Green), Johto (Gold, Silver, and Crystal), Hoenn (Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald), Orange Islands (from the show) and maybe some of the other places like Battle Frontier. You could choose start in a certain zone. Like, the starter zones could be Kanto and Johto.
Kanto and Johto are connected, with the Elite Four in the center, so it would not be too difficult to make those starting zones. Like have the levels there range from 1-50. Each side has 8 badges each, so it would be simple.
After that, you could take a boat to the next area, Hoenn, which would be for levels 45-75 (think how zone levels work in WoW. They are recommended, not enforced). Here you would get another of the 8 badges, and move on to the elite 4 in this area. After this, you would move onto the next place, which would probably be either Sevii Islands, or Orange Islands.
Sevii could be 60-85, and Orange could be 70-100. Sevii could be for those who want a change in leveling from Hoenn. Orange would be the next step past those two zone, though you could always stay in Sevii for around 10 more levels before heading to Orange. Or just switch around back and forth. 100 would be the initial level cap for each pokemon and yourself, so any regions past Orange would likely be in an Expansion pack or patch.
If you’ve played the games, than you know each region has it’s own areas. Each town has buffers around it that have wild pokemon and other trainers. These places would be straight from the games. Though, it would likely be best to add some areas to the map. Like in between Pallet Town and Viridian City in Kanto, there is a very very small area in-between the two towns. In the MMO, they should increase each zone terrifically.
Think about WoW. Each zone in that game is pretty decent sized. Some zones in this game should be that size. Viridian Forest could be a good sized forest, with trees and bushes that have little space between them. Each route would be renamed, and made bigger and more complex, but keeping with the general theme of the area. The general theme of the regions would be changed slightly in general from the games though. Small jungle areas, more desert, some marsh areas, and the such. They are there now, but in a very small number.
Gameplay
Gameplay would be based around a leveling system for both the pokemon and the trainer. Each cap would be 100 at first. Getting to 100 would take around the same time as it takes to get there in World of Warcraft for 70 (before the new patch). So roughly a year or so for a casual player. Each trainer starts at level one, and gets a starter pokemon based on where they start. If they start in Kanto, it would be between Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle. If starting in Johto, than it would be between Chikorita, Totodile, or Cyndaquil. Each of these can evolve 2 times, meaning there are three forms to them. Once evolved, there is no going back to an original form. Each is a different element (I’ll go into that later), so they are balanced like rock, paper, scissors. That way, not one is stronger than both, it’ll be better than one, but checked by the other.
To level, you gain experience. To gain experience for your pokemon, you can do several things. One would be questing, another would be fighting other pokemon, another is training (I’ll go into that), and the last would be rare candies (this automatically levels your pokemon, but they don’t receive as big of a stat boost as normal leveling (instead of maybe getting all +2-3 stats up, you only get +1 of each).
To gain experience for your trainer (you), you do similar things. You can train (different than for your pokemon), fight with other trainers, fight against wild pokemon, or do questing.
When your pokemon level, they gain stat boosts depending on the types of pokemon they fought, and how often they were able to rest (will also go into that). Your pokemon will also gain new skills. Now each skill is part of a tier, and can be upgraded. Like for an electric pokemon, it may have “Shock” as a skill. It may gain that skill at level 14, but then it may be able to get it upgraded at level 34 to a version that is a little stronger. Your pokemon also gain other things as you level. They are only able to have 4 skills at any one time, but when you first start, you only have two.
- When you hit level 5 (which happens fairly quickly, probably a few hours), you gain a third skill slot.
- You would gain your fourth one at level 20.
- At level 25, they gain the ability to equip a type of armor.
- At level 30, your pokemon will gain the ability to hold an item (like a berry to heal itself, or a status affliction).
- At level 35, your pokemon would gain the ability to hold an attack aid depending on the type of pokemon. A Hitmonlee would gain some sort of kicking aid. A Kadabra would gain a spoon to increase psychic attacks. I’ll go into this much further later.
- At level 40-50 (depending on the pokemon evolution level. Basic pokemon that have not evolved get it around 40, second evolutions get it around 45, and third evolutions get it at 50), they will gain a passive skill slot. A passive skill is something you can’t choose to use in battle, instead it will just always be affection your pokemon. Each pokemon has two to choose from. They can be things like faster attacks, immunity to a certain status affliction (like sleep or stun), or maybe a skill that gives +10~ health to all pokemon in the party.
- At level 45, your pokemon can now breed.
- At level 60, your pokemon now gives off an aura that gives a small stat boost to the other pokemon in the party based on your pokemon’s highest stat. So a level 60 Sandslash, who’s highest stat may be attack, would give a +1-3 boost to all pokemon in your parties’ attack as long as they are part of the party. If that pokemon is knocked out, the other pokemon loss that buff.
- At level 70, your pokemon can use another aid for battle. If it would be a defense aid or attack aid, depends on the pokemon. If the pokemon has high defense, they’d gain the ability to wear more armor. Opposite if they are based in attack.
- At level 80, your pokemon will grant the trainer a boost in running speed slightly (10%~) as long as they are the main pokemon in the party.
- At 90, the pokemon will grant the trainer a buff based on what pokemon they are. Most pokemon will give a different buff. A pokemon like Rapidash may give the trainer an additional 5% run speed. Others may decrease his attack choosing time (will go into that). Another may increase the trainers attack choice range (if the pokemon goes too far from him, he can’t tell them their attacks as quickly).
- At level 100, your pokemon will gain a cosmetic change. This change can be a purple aura for psychic pokemon, some electricity around them for electric, steam and bits of flame coming of them for fire, ground cracking beneath for ground types, poisonous clouds for poison types, or maybe flowers and grass sprouting around the feet of grass types. Each of these auras will give your pokemon a boost for their element. Fire types may gain extra fire damage to their physical attacks (or more fire damage if that’s already their passive). Water types may get a speed boost to their water based attacks. Electric could gain an electric shield that hurts attackers slightly. Rock types may gain extra defense. Poison types may gain a chance to give a status effect with attacks (weaker than a regular one). Grass types may slow their opponents running speed. Flying types could have a speed boost, including a boost to speed based attacks (like Quick Attack). The list goes on. These auras would only affect that pokemon.
- At level 1, they would have two ways to command their pokemon, attack (the pokemon will attack normally) and defend (the pokemon will defend themselves instead of attacking. This lessens damage done, but doesn’t negate it totally). The pokemon would choose it’s own attacks to use, since you are not skilled enough to control their actions. You can equip a chest item, pants, and shoes (equipped items increase your stats). You can hold no more than 3 pokemon at any one time with you. You have space in “pokemon storage” for 3 pokemon as well (for a total of 6 able to own). Your pokemon stay in their balls when not fighting.
- At level 5, you gain the ability to choose their attacks, but their movements are still up to them. Also, your pokemon may not listen to what you say, when you do chose their attacks.
- At level 10, your pokemon will now listen to you when you give them commands to attack completely, as long as they are not 5 levels higher or more (at level 10, a pokemon level 15+ will listen you only 25% of the time.) A pokemon that is more than 15 levels higher will not listen at all, and will simply refuse to fight. Your storage is increased to 6. You can tell your pokemon now to return to you in battle. When you return a pokemon to you, a cooldown for sending out another is started for 1 minute. This tactic is used solely for running from a wild pokemon. In trainer battles, you can return them however many times you want. Only limit is 45 seconds between switches, and 2 minutes for pokemon recently switched out (unless they are your last pokemon to send, then they automatically go out, but are slightly weakened. Will go into it more).
- At level 15, you can now trade for pokemon that are 5 levels below your trainer level or lower (at 15, that’d be any pokemon level 10 or lower), and only to trainers within 10 levels of you. You can trade your own pokemon, regardless of their level, as long as the other trainer is high enough to take it. From now on, your main pokemon will travel with you outside the pokeball if you choose to do so, even outside of battles and in cities.
- At level 20, you can now equip gloves. Also, you can now begin training your pokemon (will explain later). At this level, you can now have 4 pokemon with you at one time, and your storage is increased to 9. You are able to choose a type at this point, and start your quests for that type.
- At level 25, you can now tell your pokemon to run. This is different than returning to you. They instead will run from the opponent, but stay in battle. This allows them to bide their time, or charge for an attack easier. Your storage is now 12.
- At level 30, you can equip a hat, and you also give off an aura to pokemon below level 15 to get a +5% xp gain. You can now carry 5 pokemon, and your storage is 15.
- At level 35, you gain a quest for a new pokedex. The original pokedex would tell you the name, sex, level, elemental type, and trainer of pokemon you faced. It would also tell you the name, level, and team (a guild) of another trainer. The new pokedex you can gain with the completion of the new quest will now tell you the profession of the trainer (will go into this later). It will also tell you the two lowest attacks an enemy pokemon currently has (so if it has Shock lv 14, Punch level 1, Tackle level 5, and Quick Attack level 16, you’d see the Punch and Tackle attacks). The new pokedex will also now show a 2d picture of the pokemon or trainer targeted. You can also now tell your pokemon to dodge. This is like defend, but will negate all damage done (since they won’t be hit), but has a chance to fail, unlike defend. You can also now use a small aid in your hand (this is something you hold that gives you a bonus to stats like armor does).
- At level 40, you gain the ability to tell your pokemon to berserk. This will lower your pokemon’s defense, but raise it’s attack/special attack. You can now wear 1 ring. You can carry the max of 6 pokemon for battle now. Also, your storage goes up to 18. You now give off an aura that will give all pokemon below 20 a +5% xp buff, and all under 10, a +10% xp buff.
- At level 45, you can now breed pokemon. This will allow you to make new baby pokemon, or another pokemon from that species that starts at level 1, but with some extra skills from both the parent pokemon. Will go into breeding more in the profession section later.
- At level 50, you can tell your pokemon to taunt or cower, depending on the type of pokemon. Taunting has a chance to send the enemy pokemon into a berserk, increasing their attack, but lowering their defenses. Cowering has a chance to lower the opponents attacks, but increase their defense. Both have a cooldown of 3 minutes. Your storage is now 21. You can also wear a second ring. You can now gain a quest for a new pokedex again, as long as you’ve finished the first pokedex quest. This new pokedex will show 3d pictures of the trainer and pokemon, will now show all four skills of the pokemon but not the passive skills, or the skill levels. The pokedex will also tell you what your pokemon’s disposition towards you is (how much it likes you). Also, it will display your pokemon’s medals, ribbons, and what levels they recieved them and where. That, along with other pokemon’s and trainer’s medals and ribbons.
- At level 55, you can now wear a necklace (this includes scarfs, bandannas, ties, and such). Your run speed is increased 3%.
- At level 60, you gain a special quest for training your pokemon to use a special attack. This pokemon must be over 55, and only one is allowed in your party at a time. This attack is very powerful, and has a cooldown of 1 hour. It can range from getting +100% defense for 30 seconds, to +50% attack for 30 seconds, to increasing attack speed by 15% for 30 seconds, to even a healing skill. They can also be attacks that do great damage to the opponent, or cause them a bad debuff (like stopping their movement for 10 seconds, to a random status effect with 100% chance to hit). It differs between pokemon, each family has a different skill. Your storage is now 25.
- At level 65, you can now get a quest for the ability to use certain flying pokemon to use Fly. Fly will take you back to any town you’ve been to before in a current region (as long as you’ve visited the roost in that town. A roost is a place near the inns and hotels.) To visit the roost, you must do a separate quest for each one to be able to Fly there. In lower level towns (like Pallet town), the quest can be relatively simple. In higher level towns, like Cinnabar Island, the quest will be harder, and take more time. You can only accept these roost quests at 65. Cooldown of 1 hour. You also gain an aura. This aura will depend on your type choice (will go into this in more detail in the professions section). It will give all your pokemon or yourself a buff that last 5-10 minutes. This skill has a cooldown of 30 minutes. Your storage is now 30
- At level 70, you can now equip arm bands and leg bands. Your storage will now be 35. All pokemon you have below level 30 gain a +5% boost, while all below level 15 get a +10% boost. Your run speed has increased +2% (combined with the previous +3%, it’s now +5%). The run speed of all your pokemon is now +5% higher while in the party with you. You now gain a quest for a new pokedex, as long as you finished both the other pokedex quests. This new pokedex will show you what levels a pokemon will evolve (but not tell you anything about special evolutions, like stones, certain times they evolve, like night, and won’t show what it will evolve to with disposition). This new pokedex comes with an interactive map that shows you where you’ve caught certain pokemon, when, and at what level. You can trade with anyone, for any level now. Your own pokemon that are higher in level to you only disobey 5% of the time now. Any traded pokemon over your own level will have a 25% of disobeying your commands.
- At level 75, you gain a more powerful aura, that does an additional effect depending on your type. You can now use a large aid (bigger and more appealing cosmetically than a small aid). These large aids will both buff you can your pokemon based on their type. Large aids will only affect a certain elemental type for your pokemon, like water or fire. Gives better buffs to trainer than small aids. Your storage is now 45. You can now carry a “companion” pokemon. This companion pokemon can not battle. Even if all 6 of your pokemon faint/KO, this companion pokemon cannot battle. Companion pokemon have a passive skill that will be given to you. This can be run speed, faster commands, lower cooldowns, a buff to your own auras, longer range, etc. This pokemon will travel outside of a pokeball with you much like your lead pokemon.
- At level 80, your storage is increased to 60. You can now equip a back item (capes, special backpacks, etc). You now gain the ability to start a quest for a second special attack for a pokemon. This pokemon must have completed the first special skill quest. Again, only one pokemon can have one in a party, yet, if you have another pokemon with the first special skill, you can use both. Yet, they have to be different. One pokemon can’t have both the first and second skills used at the same time. 1 hour cooldown again. This skill is like the first, but more a little more powerful, but not by much. The main perk to this second special skill, is that you can use it in conjunction with the first special skill.
- At level 85, you can now have a storage of 75. You can now tell your pokemon to show no mercy, which will increase attack power for your pokemon when a status effect in on the opponent. You can also tell your pokemon to mock the opponent. This will cause any opponent with a status effect to have lower attack power. Each has a cooldown of 2 minutes, and each lasts 45 seconds.
- At level 90, you gain a total storage of 95 pokemon. You now give off an aura that gives all pokemon under the level of 45 a +5% boost to xp, all under 30 a +10% boost, all under 20 a +15% boost to xp. And all under 10 a +20% boost to xp. You can now get a quest for a cosmetic change. This change will give you one of several things, depending on which quest branch to take. This change is purely cosmetic. One is hair, and it will give you a choice between many new different hair styles (15-20). The other is a change in skin. This will give you the ability to have tattoos or symbols on your body and face to a limited degree. The other would be body. You can make yourself much taller, fatter, more built (muscles), skinnier, or much shorter. These would all give you a unique appearance to other players.
- At level 95, you now have a total storage of 120 pokemon. You give off an aura to all your pokemon boosting their main stat by +3%. This is passive and always in effect to pokemon in your party. You gain your final pokedex quest. This new pokedex will show all evolution hows and whens, where to find any pokemon you’ve seen before (not just caught), will keep a log of how many pokemon you’ve bred, will show how long until an egg will hatch more precisely, and will give you a special title.
- At level 100, you gain an aura that is visible around you. This aura will effect the current pokemon that’s out depending on your type. This is a great aura, and each elemental type will give you a different look. Water may give you a few patches of scales and puddles beneath your feet, electric may have sparks and bolts shoot off you at random times, fire may make you steam and give your skin a red tone, poison may put a mist around you, ghost may make you very slightly transparent, along with a “dead” look (rings under eyes, paler skin, etc), flying would make you hover an inch or two off the ground and have wisps of wind around you, rock could give your skin a rough look, ground may give you a dirty look and have the ground crack beneath your feet a little, etc.
Mike Dolor said,
January 31, 2008 at 8:59 am
My gawd, if only this were true.
Haven’t read all of it but I have dreamed of a Pokemon MMO for a long time, too… I can’t believe, what, ten years after it first came out I still actually like this series? And want more of it? I’m so ga– Nerdy.
justanechochamber said,
January 31, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Ha ha, I see what you did thar.
Yeah, I’m going to add a lot more. I type this out for like 3-4 hours last night. I was on a roll to say the least.
danny said,
February 11, 2008 at 12:48 am
I think IT’S A GREAT IDEA. I think pokemon is great, and I think mmorpgs are great, so this is going to be AMAZING!
danny said,
February 11, 2008 at 12:49 am
You have my support!
shaun said,
March 7, 2008 at 11:05 am
haha awesome! me and a friend have been thinking about the possibilities of one for awhile now and theres no excuse as to why there isnt one yet,,,,
now i would suggest making it easier to get 100 cause if it took a freakin year to level up a pokemon to 100, 6 years is a long time to make a team…and besides you want to be able to make multiple pokemon 100 so that you could make all kinds of different teams..there are so many pokemon and move combinations you could make it take, say, 100-200 hours to get a full team of 100s via grinding?
and with the pokemon changing at level 100 and the type benefits, thats a really awesome idea…i would just balance the bonus’ more and on some of the pokemon (like the dragon) not change their appearance so much because some of them are different colors and/or wouldnt look right with horns for example. and dont forget about duel types!
one last thing about the gameplay….with the being able to do certain things at specific levels…you’re thinking too much like WOW. this is pokemon, there isnt anything like that in it and it would make pokemon not pokemon lol…have u played pokemon competitively? i just got into it and its so much fun (diamond/pearl) and theres so much to the game i didnt know about (like IV and EV values and breeding and all that fun stuff) you should go to Cerebii.net and check it out in game mechanics section it’ll teach ya everything you need to know. because they already have an incredible system for how the pokemon level…
but yeah the world and how you encounter enemies/people definately needs to be similar to WOW…but thats probably about it…
justanechochamber said,
March 12, 2008 at 5:01 pm
That’s the thing, if you made a pokemon mmo act the same as it is now, it wouldn’t be an mmo. It’d be playing the gameboy version, but with better graphics and people to talk to. What would be new about that? I’ve been doing that for 10 years now. It works, but if they were to make a new thing with pokemon they need to make it different.
I know full well about EV/IV and it’s fine, but that’s not what I’d look for in an mmo.
The reason it would take so long to get to 100 is not because it’s a race to get there and “pwn” it’s because it’s about the experience and having fun with the game. It wouldn’t be about racing to 100 with EV trained pokes that once you get them there, it’s just over, and you can’t do much else. I like how things I have are in this because it’s different than what they’ve done the past 10 years.
I would rather see people choose teams based on what they like and such, since it gets so fucking boring doing competitive battles and seeing the same pokemon over and over (Salamance, Blissey, lv1 Rattata, Charizard, Rampardos, etc.). I would not at all want this game to be like the pokemon gameboy games, they are fun and amazing, but if you want that, go play those than. I think an MMO version of things would be far more fun.
Again, the system of leveling and movesets and etc, are set up so that you don’t see the same 10-12 pokemon and nothing but those once you hit 100. Stats would be closer, and rely more on gear and what things you choose along the way, and it’ll be based on actual skill.
At the moment, there is such a small amount of skill in gameboy versions. Once you know a strategy, it’s so easy. You spend a bunch of hours EV training cookie cutter pokemon, then you fight their dopplegangers on the net with cookie cutter doppleganger movesets.
I would love to see being able to train your pokemon to be good with certain things. Like, if you train them in a certain stat, they get more moves in that area, and the moves that have to do with that stat become more effective (not just more powerful, but more expansive with more substance). Like quick attack on a regular poke may just attack quickly, but having a speed-based pokemon would also maybe add a second attack, and having a speed-based normal type poke use it may add a status effect (paralysis or something). This would add much more variety to the game.
Instead of 3-4 strategies, you’ll have hundreds, and at 100, you will have to be on your toes all the time.
Also, I added the type based rewards (like looking different at higher levels) to encourage people to not use cookie cutter teams.
And thinking like WoW? Uhm, maybe it’s because this was a post about an MMO, not a solo-adventure game. I brought in things from games like WoW, EQ, Guild Wars, FFXI, and the like because they are part of the genre. If you don’t like long leveling grinds, big communities, non-cookie cutter things, and the like…well, an MMO isn’t for you. Again, I have to stress, this is for a pokemon MMO, not another adventure game (they did that on the gamecube, go play that if that’s what you want).
And I’m not talking about it taking a year to make it to 100, I mean it’d take that long to get your team up there along with yourself, maybe longer. But that would be if you were a casual player. If you play WoW or other MMOs, it can take a year or so to make it to 70 casually playing, but if you’re an avid player, you know it can take only a few months, or weeks if you play many hours a day.
Also, player versus player isn’t going to be the main focus of this game. So balance isn’t the biggest issue to me. PvP will be a part of the game, but it’ll be second to PvE, and story-line based conflict. If you base everything on PvP, than the game will never proceed and grow. You’ll hit 100 and everything will be cookie-cutter. There will be certain ways to be better in PvP than others, but then you will be more gimped when you try the PvE aspects of the game, and the other way around.
You could play the game to 100 without getting a single badge or fighting a single NPC/NPP (Non-playable pokemon), if you stayed in the colosseums, stadiums, arenas, and fight areas for PvP. And then, if you want to go back and do the main storyline, you still can, since you can always breed your pokemon or level up new ones. This way, you can always try each part of the game.
With that in mind, you can’t balance things like they are balanced in the modern gameboy versions, since that would make the game linear towards PvP and nothing else. But then people would not be able to do PvE, Job Leveling (thing I didn’t mention above yet, but people can level and base play around jobs like: contests, breeding, crafting gear, skill training, and etc), and the such. I’d always rather have tiny balance issues spread over everything, rather than huge balance issues in all but one aspect of the game. Earthquake OP in PvP? Well, it’s not very useful in PvE, so if you make it weaker because of PvP, than it’ll become completely useless in PvE. If you make it more powerful for PvE, you’ll make it completely overly OP in PvP. See what I mean?
justanechochamber said,
March 12, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Also, one more thing, if you read it, you would notice that as you level your trainer, your lower level pokemon in your care gain large boosts to xp gain. So once you have your initial self up higher, it become far easier to grow other, newer pokemon up to higher levels.
So it may take a while at first, but if it didn’t, you would have far too many people at level 100 still being clueless to the game mechanics (much like how many people who play the pokemon games for gameboy have never heard of EV training). But once you’re there, you’ll be able to raise new teams much faster, and more efficiently. Take for example any other MMO. First time through, you think you did fine, but then when you go to raise a new character (or class) to the max level, you realize how much you missed out on, and how noobish you were. (For example, when I first raised my Hunter in WoW to 60, I didn’t know really the strength was useless until I was almost 60, but now that I’ve raised him to 70, and have many other alts, along with another almost 70, I know far more and see how much I missed the first time through).
I also want to stress that this game will NOT be a race to get a bunch of pokemon to 100, it’ll be trying to get a team of pokemon and maybe some extras to roughly 100, and then make them more powerful with better gear and skills. Since once you hit 100, it won’t be like hitting a ceiling, you’ll be opened up to a whole new part of the game. New dungeons, new arenas, new stadiums, new story-lines, new mechanics. So basically, having it like this will give the game longevity and re-playability. If you notice, in the gameboy games, usually once you have your ideal team and you battle with them a little, the game is over, and there isn’t anything else you can do but do it all over again. And even then, you can’t relive the story line again without starting the game over and losing your past one.
In this MMO, you can “train” an apprentice (how many, I don’t know), and this will essentially be like having an alt. That would let you raise another trainer up again. Maybe this time, you want to focus on PvP instead of PvE? Than go for it and base your stat increases on that. Maybe you want to base your leveling on a job, than do that. All and all, it’s all about re-playability and longevity.
Acamus said,
April 2, 2008 at 5:25 am
The idea of players and pokemon both having levels will probably not work unless the trainer levels up several times faster than any pokemon.
The moment you mentioned WoW I started to imagine that your perception of the game in your mind is likely WoW-type graphics. As I don’t think you have millions of dollars, that is never going to happen. Do you even have any experience making games? In all likelihood if you were to actually commit 10 years of your life to making this a reality it would likely become an online browser game, or a 2d game with really bad graphics and you would have had to make so many compromises because of lack of possibilities with coding that your game would end up being much more simple than the one you described.
Or is this a “Man, I wish there were an rpg like…” type of thing? lol
JP said,
April 8, 2008 at 5:44 pm
A Pokemon MMO has to happen. However it has to be done properly, and the focus has to stay on the classic Pokemon. Of course you would have to include the recent ones, maybe even incorporate some new ones with the game, but in the end the biggest fan base will be coming from the group that enjoyed the first generation.
Arcanine said,
April 12, 2008 at 9:01 am
Dude i think you should do it i like the idea Pokemon is awsome and MMORPG’s Rock so you will have alot of users playing!!Give me game file if you want me to add sometihng new i found a really cool Pokemon Creator thingy
justanechochamber said,
April 14, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Lol, to “Acamus.”
I would never actually make a game such as this. I’m expressing a dream of mine with this. I have just always imagined a real pokemon MMO. I just wouldn’t express enough interest to learn how to code, and pitch an idea like this, because it wouldn’t happen. I’m well aware it would never happen. The majority of current pokemon fans are just like, “Heh heh, I’m going to make the same team as everyone else on the newest pokemon handheld, but with a tiny tweak, and then fight the same types battles over and over.” Nintendo and Gamefreak know this and know that they don’t have to spill a cent more money than they already do into the games, since they’ll sell millions of copies anyways.
The entire point of a game like this would be to go away from the basic premise of the current pokemon games.
And Acamus, I don’t see why the trainer would have to level a lot faster, I’d see him as leveling a lot slower, since you’re leveling more than 1 pokemon at once (6, I’d expect from the average player), and they level a lot faster than the trainer. If the trainer leveled faster, than you’d wind up 100 as a trainer, while still having the 6 pokemon in the 30s or something. I wanted it set up so that the trainer levels slower so that s/he’ll stay relatively the same level as the 6~ pokemon s/he is leveling. Once they hit the high levels, then if they want to switch out one, and level another pokemon, they’d at least have the xp boosters by then to make the leveling faster, but while also not leveling past as they catch them up.
Again, to anyone who comments, “They should just make them the same as old games.” That’s not the point of this post. They will always make the handhelds. If they made an MMO that was like the handhelds…it would be horrible, and would not keep people playing. They’d get to 100 and all sit there with the same pokemon as the next joe-shmo, then quit because it’s boring. Very few people in the current games get to 100 with 6 pokes and continue to play a lot competitively. Far less do so with more than 6 pokes at 100 (without cheating). The “MMO” would just turn in to the pokemon games, but with people walking around you. There would be no motivation to even be around the other people. Just level in the PVE, and get to 100 would be all they wanted in that way.
In the system I’d see, there would be many reasons to continue playing. For starters, there are three ways to play the game altogether. Breeder, Professions, Contests, and Plain Trainers. Even in that system, there are sub-systems. For Breeders, there would be the types who would breed for battle, other who would breed for other people, and some that may breed for contests.
For professions (something I didn’t really reach yet in my main post), there are people who would make types of Pokeballs, food, potions, battle gear, contest gear, breeding equipment, and etc. There would be a profession branch likely for making battle things for the pokemon (pokeballs, healing, battle gear), then things for the trainer (battle gear, stuff for breeding, etc), and then making things for the contests (decorations, costumes, backdrops, etc).
Then there would be the contests. That would be it’s own thing, since a pokemon raised for battle may be horrible at contests. It’d be a whole different play style from battling.
Lastly, normal training. You could play solely through battling others in the battle zones (or normal world) and leveling that way. You could play solo and just level your pokemon in the environment, and battle the gym leaders to reach the Elite Four and other such “bosses.” Then, you can also run in the gym circuit, which would be battles in certain level ranges that lets you join the gyms and train. There could be battles and such that let you when certificates of *insert thing here* that show that you excelled in that gyms type. The gym system would be more an end game thing though, as a reason to go back and level lower pokemon again.
All those would get you to level 100 in some sort, some slower than others, some faster than others. You have different level meters though. One for Battling (solo or pvp), one for each profession, and one for contests. That gives many possibilities and re-playability chances. In the current handheld (and console) gaming systems, you reach 100 with EV training, and make that “perfect” party, then don’t have much else to do. You can battle other people (which is fun at first), but then after a while, it becomes the same thing over and over. This would lose customers fast, and an MMO is about keeping people hooked and playing a lot for a long time. It would be a huge waste of money to make and MMO that had a solid final ending that was as easy to reach as it is in the current systems.
Think it through a little more. I also stress that I know that things would change if it (somehow and miraculously) got done. I don’t know everything about gaming systems, but I know more than enough to know that it’s possible, and would be enjoyed throughly by people, even if they had prior bad bias towards Pokemon.
-JAEC
Psycho-John said,
July 23, 2008 at 4:53 pm
This Is The Most Cooless Thing Ever.
you should make it lol that would awesome tho, i been a pokemon fan since i was 5 yrs old. iam now 17,
but the IDEA”S!!!! for that is awesome you should send that to a game company and talk to them about it.
but you should also put something in there about, Creating Style of your trainer. that would be awesome
justanechochamber said,
July 25, 2008 at 4:51 am
Yeah, I’d like the trainers to be more customizable, much like how you can do in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. How you can make them look very unique, and even adjust the parameters for the face, and body. It’d be very awesome.
I’ll never send it to a company though. I know it’d never get used. It’s too much work for them, and they would much rather do more basic ones, like the ones they do now, since they make just as much cash off those. It’d be amazing though.
Sam Allmon said,
August 10, 2008 at 2:02 pm
First off, for all of you wishful thinkers, this game will probably not be made, (by Nintendo) for quite a while.
Although, now that I think about it, 435 is a perfect number to stop at, So they may move on to re-hashes and spin-offs. (i.e. ranger, mystery dungeon)
WoW being what it is, everyone and their dog is making MMOs these days, and Game Freaks may board the Bandwagon.
Second off, Your Idea of holding out on the abilities of the Trainer for a while is great, but the series slogan, “Gotta Catch ‘em All” sounds like a pipe dream when your computer only has 3 slots.
Instead of Exp to level the Trainer, you could start the game (and give plot to the backstory) when your character joins the Pokemon League. The league gives out licenses that allow you to battle Pokemon. Each of your licenses dictate how many pokemon you are allowed to catch, and what level they can be. Say you start out with trainer level D. You are allowed to carry with you 3 pokemon, and can only Catch, that is recieve from the wild, pokemon up to level 25. Of course, you can raise them past that, its just you can’t catch (or trade for) any higher levels.
And this brings me to point three.
This game has a much better chance of making it if the designers started from the ground up, and had nothing to do with Pokemon. Mostly because there are things in Pokemon that just plain don’t make sense.
How the hell do your Pokemon get from the wild to your computer?
How the hell do Pokemon fit IN the computer?
How the hell does Kangaskan hide in tall grass?
Various Pokemon off-shoots have answered these questions, true. But incorporating them into gameplay would officially kill all things Pokemon about it.
Now picture this:
You leave out of a store, and run off towards the nearest forest. There are a few vicious monsters that will aggro if you come near them, but mostly they mind their own business unless attacked. You call up some of your buddies and you head into an instance-like place: Kanga’s Nest. You and your buddies fight through monsters (who are already aggroed from your encroaching on their land) and finally come to the end, where you have to take down the gargantuan Kangaskan. When she is defeated you are each given an egg, which will hatch into a baby Kanga. If you decide you don’t want to carry the egg around currently, you pick to send it back to the “Ranch” a place that houses your Montsers for you, keeping them fed, etc.
During your journey, your Starter leveled. You then can open it’s menu and Pick your stats you want to level up. Of course this could cause some cookie cutter ness, but if you have unique stats, you can unlock unique evolutions or moves.
An all strength, no speed Rattatta? He learns Earthquake.
Pokemon is great, but could be so much better.
Just as the man said, the 2d games don’t work for MMO. I think that if you made Pokemon to be an MMO, it A) would end up exactly like the 2d games, just slightly better or B) would be totally un-Pokemon, and people wouldn’t play it.
Mankind Hates Change, but Adores Novelty.
Make a New Pokemon, People will say the old way was better.
Pull a “If you liked Pokemon, you’ll love this” and spin it your own way, People will give it a shot.
Just saying.
Oh, and for those that might actually care, I am going to College to Study Game design, and plan on making (At least a solo romp) a Monster Game.
Though that is several years down the road, and I probably will have been ousted before then.
EFOJO said,
August 31, 2008 at 3:44 am
I agree it should be made but with your ideas its basically just a multiplayer version of the gameboy games turned 3d…. I don’t think the game should revolve around the elite four but just revolve around leveling your pokemon and then doing pokemon contests and battles and working your way to “catch em all” as for the raids… thats not really a pokemon kinda thing… but other then that good ideas man
Felidire said,
September 6, 2008 at 4:22 pm
The “At level 25, they gain the ability to equip a type of armor.” seems kinda lame, as does the pokemon being able to hold 15-odd items.
Try not to over-process it, pokemon isn’t a supposed to be a super-complex game.
I want them to make a Poke’MMO too, but i’m worried they’ll wreck it. ,xD
yo said,
October 6, 2008 at 9:53 am
Your ideas would not work on so many levels.
I will not go into this right now because i’m pretty tired, but most of your ideas are to your own ideals and not to the public audiences, and therefore only people like-minded to you would play this.
PokeMMODesign said,
December 16, 2008 at 11:53 am
It was great reading some of your ideas. Though in contrast to remaking the game the concept was to make a game that followed the shows closer. Some people got their hopes up from watching the shows then going to the games and felt a little let down. The big reason is to hold on to the original fan base as not all gamers will want to “re-learn” how to play a game that’s been around for so long. Of course we’d add elements for the hard core gamers too. I think you’ll all like some of the ideas that have been conceptionalized. There will be a living online document of the design we’re working on for user input soon. We’ll post the site when its finished.
Catch em all.
Pokeplayer said,
December 31, 2008 at 8:29 am
You are definitely thinking too WOW like. Im thinking this might be a casual gamer mmo. As it is, I, as a psuedo-hardcore pokeplayer, would not try this. IF you want to see how “cookie-cutter” the game is, just download netbattle (it only includes the 3rd gen, but w/e) and try it. Take shedinja, its a ghost/bug type with plety of weaknesses (dark, fire, rock etc.) but has an ability to negate all damage done by attack that are not super effective. The catch? 1 hp. 1hko. It sucks in standard (no 00bers) but rocks in the uber teir. And, some teams are the same, but ITS HOW YOU USE THEM! /emphasis
Also, wtf is with the armor? Shuckle has an almost-impervious defense, why boost it with a shield? And a Ghastly cant hold a shield! What about bastidon? it IS a shield!
Also, becuase of the 6 poke limit, each and every team has a weakness. If you got a team of dialgas, your dead. You could wipe the floor with 400+ pokemon, but you are still weak to ground. Any ground thats an ioda faster could very well be a 1hko.
Even if you balance the types, you could still be vulnerable. A curse-tank could halt you forever. A pecial spweeper could blast through your defence, unless your opponent had a special sponge.
And you remark about there being only 3-4 strategies, well I dispute that. When I was fighting on netbattle, i LOST (with my interwebs based team) to a sableye. This little s*** has no weaknesses, but horribly pitiful stats. IT CLEANED MY ENTIRE TEAM! /emphasis
The way your saying it, a level 50 Squirtle with a + 100 to all stats epic armor set and a sword of pointy death, with a level 100 water trainer, could smash a well organized well balance, non cookie cutter team, with all level 100s. *end of long sentence*
Have you tried playing D/P or a battle sim like netbattle? Try it, then talk to me.
Seth L said,
January 9, 2009 at 8:28 am
This is the greatest idea ever!!!!!
Dan The Man said,
February 19, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Would love for this game to have 2 factions.. maybe you could choose between beeing a normal trainer or a Team rocket, magma, aqua ( Those three can all be “the bad guys” but with a slighty different storyline)
Both factions will run around in the same citys but have different quests and be hostile outside of city’s.
Dont flame my idea tho, just came up with it =)
Believe. « A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. said,
April 3, 2009 at 6:49 am
[...] an initial design document, there is a whole other aspect of the game that needs to be fleshed out. Here’s a link to someone who has probably put way too much thought into this, but has some sol…. If you’ve made it this far in this post, that link is well worth your [...]
Kevin said,
April 4, 2009 at 1:47 pm
It would be Great!
My dream is a Pokemon MMORPG that have WoW-Grapich and you are controlling like it is in WoW with action bars etc. It would be so great! And when you battle, is it you that controle the pokemon, you can jump and do everything and if you are a pickachu you can click on the eneny and click on action button 1 and use Thunder shock , and when the enemy are weak you can controle the trainer again to throw a Pokeball
My example, and sorry for my bad english.
meloveulongtime said,
April 21, 2009 at 9:28 am
I know there was a long time since anyone wrote anything in this thread. But i would like to tell you (With my very bad english(!), plz excuse that) that this was very well written and u should have much cred for it. Thank you!
It’s a very long time since i’ve played pokémon the last time but i can still remember how good it was, Really a masterpiece. I’ve have thought in your way many times and how great this could actually be. I mean seriously, if they really got this to work in some way, i really think it would be bigger than wow. I mean common, pokemon out in the fields, trainers running around trying to get experience from other trainers, tournaments everyone trying to get by with their pokémon just to be the best. Diffrent pokemon with diffrent skills/stats. I think people would really love it, insted of trying to get that epic set u always wanted, u would try to get that pokemon you just can’t seem to find. To beat ur friends let’s say magikarp(Yeahyeah ironic bullshit i know ^^ ) with that diggler. Hell yes. I like almost everything u wrote. But i think we sould leave the pokémons without armor and etc, it’s just not Pokémon :p But stuff like holding something to heal themself 1 time o or 2 during battle sounds good. I like how u want the trainer to get experience and leveling to. But seriously, lvl 100 seems to be a bit much :p Maybe level 20-25? Then they can enter certain guilds and certain pvp areas and etc?
And some areas like the gameboy games locked until u have certain badges/aprovals ?
Graaaaaaaaaah! So much to discuss
I
really really liked ur story of this! It’s so detailed and well written. We’ll probably never see this though, cause of nintendos ownage, i love nintendo, but this is too big for them, it really is. So i guess it’s just dreams. But i like dreaming them with you!
Pokemon Rocks said,
May 5, 2009 at 2:54 pm
This is an awesome idea! I have a question though. Will this include a storyline like in the regular games? I don’t see why an MMO can’t have a storyline separate from the multiplayer parts. I don’t quite like your idea of replacing current moves with more generic ones that can be leveled up (although it would be awesome if you could upgrade your regular moves). The changes in appearance are cool too. It would be amazing if you could create crossbreeds of pokemon. Also, to any Nintendo employee who might be looking at this blog, I know that there is almost no chance of this happening anytime in the near future. However, it would make me as happy as a monkey in a room full of bananas if you would at least allow people to go directly into other peoples worlds in the game. All I’m asking with that is that there be a little virtual switch that you can press that allows other real people to walk around inside your own world via wi-fi where you can talk to them, trade with them, and battle with them whenever and wherever you want. Even you people can have the courage to do a little thing like that.
Kythri said,
May 28, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I’m sorry, but having read through some of this, I’m a bit offended actually. First off, if Pokemon were ever made into an MMO, in order to draw just about ANY large degree of its actual fan base (and not just a bunch of FFXI, WoW, etc players looking for their next obsession), it would HAVE to stick, at least decently, to the Pokemon formula.
I’m not denying that the formula for Pokemon is easily broken. On the contrary, since I learned about EVs, IVs, etc, I’ve used those methods extensively. Quite frankly, if you want to get much of anywhere in the post-story game play, including Battle Frontiers, Battle Towers (in games lacking a Frontier), or competitive play with a friend, then it’s almost required of you to not only learn, but embrace the leveling system we’ve been presented with by GameFreaks/Nintendo. My problem with your statement about how Pokemon is a “cookie cutter” game at the upper tiers is simply this: so are MMORPGs.
Object if you want, but here’s the deal. Anybody, and I do mean ANYBODY who plays an MMORPG at the higher levels and DOESN’T use the best equipment, the best spells, the best skill set, etc., for their given character class, will either never get a party, or will never complete any of the highest missions without a RIDICULOUS amount of luck, because their sub-par equipment, skills, etc., given the level they’re playing at, simply don’t stack up against those who are willing to play according to meta game rules. You want to complain about seeing the same Pokemon types at the highest tiers? Okay, but isn’t that the same as seeing the same weapons and armor at high tiers in WoW, FFXI, PSU, etc? You want to complain about seeing the same strategies and move sets on multiple teams of Pokemon at high tiers? Okay, but isn’t that the same as everybody using the same high-power classes (no, all classes in WoW are NOT equal, nor are they equal in any other given MMORPG…trust me, I lived with one of your type for 3 semesters, and all he EVER did was show me statistical differences on the multiple MMORPGs he played…they are NOT equal, and, great as a wish for equality may be, you give this idea to an actual developer, they won’t come out equal), or the same skill-sets at high tiers? Amazingly, if you really look at your idea for a “balanced” MMORPG mechanically constructed Pokemon MMO, rather than sticking to the classic Pokemon mechanics, you’re not creating anything better, but simply another form of tier-based gameplay. (Btw, I’m not ONLY pulling this from my friend, either, as I’ve played PSO, PSU, FFXI, and WoW over the years myself. I never got addicted to them, but I played far enough in, and read enough “Perfect Character Class Construction” strategies for each of them to realize that, contrary to your loving statements in this design, they’re just as, if not MORE, broken than the Pokemon system. At least in Pokemon, you can CHOOSE how a particular ‘class,’ aka Pokemon, will level up, down to the Stat Point, if you put the effort in.)
Pokemon has its flaws structurally whenever you get to the higher levels. This isn’t something I’m going to deny. However, for you to state that giving this system, which has worked perfectly for over ten years now, mind you, a complete and total overhaul, turning it into a cookie-cutter (ooh, I used your word) copy of the style of every other MMO to date, then you’re bound to attract attention from fans like myself. I, too, have been playing Pokemon since I was young. I was probably in 4th or 5th grade myself when I first bought a Pokemon game. I’ve played nearly every game since, and I’ve witnessed what’s improved the system, and what’s worsened it. However, overall, the system still works perfectly for most of the fans.
As I said earlier, to turn a Pokemon MMO into the exact same type of game as WoW, EQ, FFXI, PSO, PSU, etc., would simply remove one set of cookie-cutter meta-game rules, and place another where the original lay previously. Players of any sort of competitive game will ALWAYS find ways to discover meta-game strategies within the bounds of the game’s rules, no matter how hard you try to balance them. Thus, if you want to create a POKEMON MMO, then don’t degrade it from its own nature as a Pokemon title by forcing the laws of WoW and Co. onto it.
As a closing statement, I will admit that certain aspects of the MMO style will need to be implemented in order to keep players from abandoning this in lieu of the simplicity of the handheld titles. Restrictions on zones, tiers of Pokemon available, or something of that sort would be necessary, so that when a player reached that milestone in their journey, they felt a sense of accomplishment, and were willing to continue paying in order to play something they could easily play for nothing more than a cartridge cost normally. Essentially what I’m saying here, Justane, is that, despite the fact that you’re entirely off-base by claiming that MMOs aren’t broken, and that for a Pokemon MMO to work, it would have to copy aspects of other MMOs to the letter, you do have a few good points. However, the majority of your gameplay discussion completely insults the Pokemon mechanics thus far, and in that respect, your game idea is crap. Later, and I do hope you’ll take at least a little bit of this to heart before the next time you decide to butcher something that’s worked for the last decade by trying to make it a slave to another genre’s generalities.
P.S. You don’t look like a super nerd? I’m sorry, but if that’s a picture of you, then you look just like every stereotypical super nerd I’ve ever met in my life. Don’t make a stupid claim like that, and then post a picture of yourself that proves otherwise…moron.
P.P.S. I will not be returning to this board. Quite frankly, I was searching for actual, avid players of the games to supply heart-felt, intelligent concepts for a Pokemon MMO, and your page happened to pop up. The entire reason I posted a response to this is that, being a fan of the series (and not even a die-hard one at that: I play plenty of other genres as I see fit, and as I have time to, so I’m completely privy to genres aside from Pokemon’s particular RPG style), I was extremely insulted that you feel the need to destroy the gameplay which has worked for so long, and has drawn in so many fans. To completely remove the core gameplay elements in that fashion would lose about as many players as if you were to place Duke Nukem inexplicably as a cameo in the story, or if you were to make the story revolve around Pokemon becoming politicians or something along those lines: you would lose the vast majority of the fans, and those you would gain simply wouldn’t stay with the game for long, because it would just be another MMO conquest to them. As I said though, the only reason I posted here is because your idea, for the most part, blows…at least in the gameplay department. I won’t be returning to this, however, so feel free to “flame” me as much as you want (or whatever ludicrous internet slang you have to use in order to avoid using the term slander). I won’t come back and argue with you, so if you really want to complain about my opinions that badly, do yourself a favor, and contact me yourself. This blog requested my email to post, so I’m assuming that you, being the blog master, can acquire that information somehow, and can contact me yourself if you truly feel that offended that I shat on your concept. Well, tootaloo, and I’ll be praying that, should a Pokemon MMO ever appear, it doesn’t succumb to the chains you attempted to put on it with this blog.
Morty said,
June 23, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Damn man, gogogo me want a pikachu:P
BloggerDude said,
October 8, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I don’t know If I said it already but …This blog rocks! I gotta say, that I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read….