5th Genereation confirmed?

[Josiah]

Yeah, Silver pretty much summed up my thoughts perfectly. He's right that it would be a pain on the Wii, though not impossible. And considering that Nintendo seems to be putting more emphasis on multiplayer and some online stuff these days it might happen...eventually... But probably not on the Wii. Actually, knowing Nintendo, if they ever do a Pokémon MMO, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried it on their latest handheld system...

[Doodleshark]

Yeah... Pokemon would be a perfect franchise to turn into an MMO.

[SuzuTitor]

I've thought about an MMO for a bit, and one thing came to mind.
People camping in one specific route, on one specific day, at one specific time just to catch one rare Pokemon.

[Josiah]

It happens... You could help reduce it by having pokémon encounter rates similar to the games, with swarm times being randomized. As for super rare pokémon (like eevee) and legendaries, they should only be given out as rewards in quests and special events.

[Silver]

I really don't see that being a problem though. Like Josiah said, make the encounter rates like the games. They wouldn't make it exclusive by day, I can almost guarantee that. A Day/night system like second and fourth gen, sure, but nothing that appears only on Wednesdays or whatever. And as long as they don't make a limited number of any one type of Pokemon, just make it a very small percentage of it actually appearing, everyone has to go hunt on their own.

And even if they did limit the numbers... As long as they include a breeding system it would be fine. They just have to change it from number of steps to actual real time (Y'know like, it takes a week to make an egg or something like that) so that it doesn't get totally flooded with rare Pokemon. There would obviously be a trading system since that's kind of a defining trait of Pokemon, and with any form of breeding it would balance out.

[Metalheadz]

Though I do like the MMO Pokemon idea, keep in mind of the downsides. Kids play Pokemon, and they could anytime get caught up in the dangers of massive multi-playing. Offensive language, hacking, fighting over who gets what.

Also, the good side is that the competitiveness of the game will go booming. Honestly, just imagine how many challenges in the Pokemon MMO would be.

HOWEVER, there are already several Pokemon MMORPG's. I suggest you give them a try before someone recommends it to Nintendo.

[Josiah]

I don't think fan made games really count...

As for kids playing, yeah those could be problems... But then kids also play WoW and other online games (and not just MMOs) so it's not like a they don't run into that stuff already. Not that that's a good thing, of course, and it could certainly deter Nintendo a bit, but I don't see it being a huge problem.

[SuzuTitor]

With Nintendo, online talking won't happen, so that solves that problem.

[Josiah]

Well, it's not completely unprecendented. You can chat online in Metroid Prime Hunters and several other games like the new Pokémon titles (though generally only with people on your friends list).

[Silver]

Exactly. On your friends list. It's not like you can just chat with random strangers. I expect they'll do preset dialog like, "Do you want to battle?" Or "Where's the nearest Pokemon Center?" Rather than letting you chat freely. Then once you've exchanged Friend Codes you can talk with that person normally. That system's the most censorship-friendly and just generally makes the most sense.

Also lol fanmade Pokemon MMOs. I'm sure some of them are great. But just... no.

[Metalheadz]

Exactly. On your friends list. It's not like you can just chat with random strangers. I expect they'll do preset dialog like, "Do you want to battle?" Or "Where's the nearest Pokemon Center?" Rather than letting you chat freely. Then once you've exchanged Friend Codes you can talk with that person normally. That system's the most censorship-friendly and just generally makes the most sense.

Also lol fanmade Pokemon MMOs. I'm sure some of them are great. But just... no.

A little narrow-minded on that last paragraph, Silver?

Friend codes wouldn't be very necessary on a Pokemon MMO. In fact, players would have better and easier control if they know who to add on a friend list. But I do agree with your idea on the preset dialogue. The downside would be since millions of people play Pokemon, people would probably want more characteristics from the original games. Voice chat, for example.

What I'm most afraid of is the 5th Generation to be the next Halo 3... Just as long as it doesn't get too competitive like Halo, I'm fine with it.

Now as for the competitive side... Hmmm...

[Josiah]

Pokémon is only as competitive as you want it to be. Sure there's some hardcore players, but they're the minority and if you don't compete in tournaments you never need to have anything to do with them. Heck, you don't even have to touch multi-player to have fun with pokémon. Like with any game that has a highly competitive portion of its fanbase, if you don't want to deal with them just don't get into multi-player battles with them.

As for friend codes... They aren't neccessary, period. The question is more like when will Nintendo realize that and replace them with a better system? I'm not holding my breath...

[Silver]

Narrow-minded? What, you think I haven't played around with my fair share of doujin online Pokemons? Pokemon Crater, TPPC, Pokemon World... oh, sure, they're great little sims. Sure you can have fun for about 20 minutes. But they're just not the quality we're talking about here. Why? Because if they were, Nintendo would shut them down. There will never be an online Pokemon MMO that's really playable for that reason. Even if Nintendo has no plans of making one themselves, they'll still shut down anyone that tries because Pokemon is their property.

And friend codes are just... meh, to me. I understand censoring online content so that parents can't complain and they don't lose their audience of six-year-olds. Friend codes are really a decent way around that, as they allow free chat to people you already know... I just wish there was some way to like, auto-friend people you've encountered online. Like, if the "Register in your pal pad?" Worked for more than just the Union Room. But in an MMO, it actually is a bit easier. Toon Town used a Friend Code-like system... and came with a variety of preset dialog. One phrase starting with each letter of the alphabet, in fact. So to exchange friend codes... people would use phrases starting with the letter for their friend code, in order, and then jump however many times for numbers. If Nintendo does make an MMO, it will use Friend codes, and I can expect that system to be used by the real players.

[Josiah]

My problems with friend codes are:
1. They're a long string of numbers.
2. You can't choose your own.
3. You get a different one for every single game.

And, when it comes down to it, if they dealth with number three, than the first two really wouldn't be so much of a problem.

[Kaida]

I've never really had a problem with the friend codes since I rearly use them. Most Battles/trades I do are over the wirless. Although I do find it annoying having a different code for each game, but I can also see why we don't get to choose our own, It's kind of like how we don't get to choose our own phone number, the phone companies have to make sure two people don't end up with the same number. Same Princeple.

I have a prediction about the new Starters. I belive the fire starter's evolved form/s will be Fire-Ground. Why, because its a Pig. How I came to the conclustion; having a fit at the glaze for the strawberry tarts at work. It was to thick damn it! I just causen't get its runny enough v_v. Did eventually, on the last tart, after I'd spent ages trying to thin it down while making sure it set.

My second theroy for the new fire starter would be Fire/Dark since its red and dark brown/black, or a pure fire type. Robby belives that it might be a fire/psychic type.
And going off this line of reasoning the grass starter duel type would most likely be grass/poison.
As for the water, no idea, could be water/normal like bibarel, or water/ice.