The Pokédex kind of sucks. Here's how it could be better.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- I don't think the Pokédex is very good. Here I trace how the Pokédex has changed over the course of the last 30 years, and note some ways I think it could be better, while offering my thoughts on each Pokédex as I go.
Thanks for watching!
You can find all of my music here: soafnb40.bandcamp.com/
And here: open.spotify.com/artist/44J25...
All my links are here: linktr.ee/soafnb40
Buy me a coffee here: ko-fi.com/tortoisecity
introduction: 00:00
Generation One: 1:58
Generation Two: 3:24
Generation Three: 5:25
Generation Four: 7:32
Generation Five: 10:54
Generation Six: 13:24
Generation Seven: 15:25
Generation Eight: 16:25
Generation Nine: 17:47
Conclusion: 19:12
Blue Glitched Speedrun footage is from Eddaket: • Pokémon Blue - Catch '...
Let's Go Pikachu Speedrun footage is from Etchy: • Pokémon Let's Go Pikac...
Violet Longplay footage is from aWiibo: • Pokémon Let's Go Pikac... - เพลง
i'd like a pokedex that shows the moves pokemons can learn, or get by tm, breeding or other methods, also it should show all possible natures a pokemon could have
That would be a great addition and there's no reason why they couldn't do that
What’s the point of showing the natures they’re not locked to specific characters
@@corralzin4909 Surely they meant to say Abilities.
The most important criteria you forgot to judge is how satisfying it is to scroll down the list. Some just tick along at the same slow speed, but others get faster and faster until you hit the end.
I love good scrolling design.
super valid point, it's been a while since I made this video but I'll say the ones that feel more like spinning a wheel are very good
They actually did have rewards for dex-completion in Gen 1. Stuff like the exp-share or Flash weren ocked behind catching a certain number of different Pokemon-species.
fair point! actually a good example and I wish they'd do more of it
the problem is, they werent really tied to the pokedex itself, but were rewards for catching/evolving pokemon.
Very good video. I always thought the habitats in the frlg Pokedex were so cool. It really made the world feel bigger and more populated than just the individual routes and cities you go through in kanto
Thanks and I agree, it made Kanto feel a bit more populated and full, even if only a little bit
One small detail I like about the Gen 7 dex that you didn't explicitly mention is the way that each Pokemon is put on a small "page" with a few others - usually its evolution line, but sometimes related lines, or Pokemon that don't evolve, will be grouped together, and the game notes when you fill out a full page. I think it adds some smaller milestones to keep track of as you work towards completing your dex (notably this was the first generation where I felt a desire to do so), and seeing what Pokemon the devs consider to be related is a tiny bit of worldbuilding.
It also might have been worth analysing the Pokedexes available in Pokemon Bank and Home, especially since they're supposed to be the main collection hubs now with no full national dex in the main games. Admittedly I don't have a ton of experience with them myself so I don't have my own thoughts.
These are valid points, and I do enjoy that aspect of the gen 7 dexes where they are grouped in evolution lines. The main reason that I didn't mention home or bank was that a casual player picking up their first or second game may never encounter these tools, and thus it doesn't really factor into mainline games all that much. Even though I've played every gen, I've never used home or bank, and I imagine I'm not the only person in that boat. Thanks for watching!
Evolution is definitely something that should be in the dex! Even from gen 1 they didn't make sense.
Why does Nidorino evolve with a moon stone? Why doesn't Umbreon evolve from a moon stone? Why didn't my Dragonair evolve by level 47 like Lance's? Does it need to hold an item or be traded?
I understand hiding some things to keep them a secret, but no one is going to randomly find out that Slowking evolves through trade while holding the King's Rock. Slowbro just evolved by level up!
I totally agree! I think having hints would be a nice balance, so that it doesn't give it away, but at least you get some clue that some eeveelutions evolve while levelled up in a certain area or something like that
but the issue is, its not really hidden, as its easily found by a simple internet search, or using external guides.
i can understand the original dex from gen 1 and 2 being barebones, since those games were VERY limited when it came to cartridge size. so that amount of extra info might meant an entire city would no longer exist(yes, it could get to that point for such small games).
but by gen 3 and onwards? the only reason so much info was hidden was simply to be sold later in guides. specially since nintendo had a very hard aprouch to game rentals. so it wouldnt surprise me if that also afected the games.
as a side note, i feel like this is something that could be in the manual games used to have back in the day.
@@marcosdheleno While it *can* be found in guides, why should it? I personally like to play games blind so I'm not spoiled. I don't want to know what level my pokemon evolve at, because it's fun for that to suddenly happen. But for the evolutions that don't evolve through level-up, there's no way to simply guess. When it was just evolution stones, I could make assumptions and try them out. I think that's way more fun than having to look it up.
@@Kmn483 i dont disagree with you, im just saying, the first 2 gen games had VERY small cartridges. so its understandable why they didnt have anything extra like that.
but its nintendo we are talking about, and they are very keen in doing the least amount of work possible when they can.
they also REALLY HATED game rentals. so they loved doing this kind of shit, to either force players into spending ALOT of time experimenting, or just buying guides.
I want more flavor in my Pokémon Encyclopedia! Give me diet information, give me more behavioral things besides just two sentences! Give me info on its predators!
those would all be really cool!
One thing nobody touches on is I wish there was an imperial/metric switch for English games!
that would be super nice!
It's frankly bizarre that the Pokedex contains no gameplay details beyond the Pokemon's type. You'd think that the first thing they'd decide to put in the Pokedex would be base stats, possible abilities, moves they can learn via various methods, etc. But somehow, what seems like the most obvious inclusion is entirely missing. So many Pokemon have specific base stats, such as how Spinda's add up to 360, or how UBs use all prime numbers, but how in the world is anyone meant to know that? I shouldn't have to open Bulbapedia or the Showdown teambuilder any time I want to get the most basic information about a Pokemon when the Pokedex is right there
yeah it'd be so nice if you didn't have to google a thing every time you want want basic mechanical information about a pokemon or an ability
I definitely agree (in fact, I've been saying it for years) that the Pokédex should display more information: larger Dex entries (nothing excessive, but getting more than 2 lines would be nice), evolution information, even perhaps down to Stats, Abilities, Moves, etc. - basically avoiding the need to go online to gather such information, as you said; it would be hard to accommodate, UI-wise, but it would still be neat and useful nonetheless, especially if combined with an unlocking aspect where the player in part fills out this information as it levels up the Pokémon (with the level-up movepool, for example).
I also agree about the rewards aspect and would like for GF to bring back Professor Aides/assistants that are placed around the world and give you rewards for reaching certain thresholds; this was a thing in Kanto and then never again, which is unfortunate because I felt it fleshed out the Pokédex completion goal alongside the main RPG progression based on Badges.
fully agree - it would be no impedance to players who dont want it since they can just not look at it and play the game as they please, and be a great worldbuilding tool for people who do want it
why would it be hard? other games did this. many rpgs have bestiaries that go full on everything you needed to know about each monster. including info that noone actualy used.
and if you look at ni no kuni, the book is AMAZING when it comes to information. it not only looks like a true compendium, but also feels like one. even if, it still doesnt have that much info as a player needed.
a great example are the "tales of" games. their bestiary shows ALOT of good and important info you would want to know about the monsters.
@@marcosdheleno I don't know those games well (wanted to try Ni No Kuni but ended up never buying it), so I'm afraid I've never seen how they lay out their information, but I just meant that, especially knowing Game Freak and even just general modern design standards, I can very easily see them not wanting to overload the UI with buttons and/or too many pages (after all, look at how they've cut down and massacred modern Pokédexes - we don't even have footprints and height and weight comparisons anymore!), so it'd be hard to display all of the information in a manner that satisfies them as well.
I certainly don't see us getting Serebii-like pages in-game either way, but hey, I don't doubt other games do these in-game encyclopedia pages much better than Pokémon.. After all, Pokédexes have pretty much only gotten worse as time went on, after a certain point.
one thing that did catch my attention was that you did not mention the search feature in the generation 2 Pokedex
this is a fair point actually, I did forget to mention that
I'm not sure when exactly the change was made, but at some point, the Pokédex started telling you the type of a Pokémon even after only seeing it. I really liked this in SwSh and SV because after encountering a new Pokémon, I can check my dex to see its type combination, even if I haven't had a chance to catch it.
SV's dex removed the ability to jump forward a page at a time (typically left and right in previous games) and is much more of a chore to scroll through as a result.
that is a nice change, pokedexes should give you that info after sighting - you need to chat to get more detailed info about height, weight, behavior, all that stuff, imo
Despite playing Pokemon since Red back in the 90s, the only Pokédex I fully completed was Ultra Moon. Got the Nurse Joy outfit and everything.
I completed in Ultra Sun, but found the experience really underwhelming with only 400 mons, wanted a bit more from it
Dex-nav in ORAS was pretty much perfect, especially running in the background. Realistic, imo, for how the in universe characters would use them.
Also, the scrolling models on the top screen were to show size comparison.
I really really like the dexnav, first game I ever learned about egg moves, IVs all that jazz about because It was fun to chain things and see what they had. Also interesting about the size comparison, wasn't intuitive to me but that's plausibly just me
How game freak choose evolution lines or group of 1stage pokemon into regional Pokedex? In S/V they need 400 regional dex, but new pokemons not many, how they choose pokemon to be in new region? Which pokemon don't be in main Pokedex and could be in dlc & etc of questions. Can you try to make video about this?
that's an interesting idea, and I might look into it in some form or other. Thanks for the suggestion :)
Would like yo hear your thoughts on Legends Arceus' dex. It certainly gets more focus, but im not sure that I'd consider it a more effective encyclopedia.
This is where I have to shamefully admit I've never played legends
@@tortoisecity This is where you have a perfect excuse to play Legends! I legitimately prefer it over anything that's come out since the DS.
I have heard nothing but good things about legends
It's not supposed to be an encyclopedia tho. It's just supposed to be your notes on the pokemon as you catch them.
@@icantthinkofaname4723 a good point! I like your name lol
unironically, in BW you do gain TMs for completing the pokedex, granted, they are all passive moves (protect is great tho) but it is strange that they never did it again after BW, not even the sequels do this
I'd really like it if they did something like that, especially considering in gens 2-4 moves like flamethrower and ice beam were basically impossible to get a second copy of, and thus would be a good incentive
They should have kept the "New Pokedex" from Gen 2. It makes no sense to just add new pokemon on top despite evolving from ones introduced earlier. In particular from a worldbuilding sense, with pokemon such as Crobat which can't possibly have been discovered later than Golbat since they evolve without any special items or locations or anything.
Also, it makes no sense for Nidoran to count as two different pokemon, this is something that should have been fixed all the way back in generation 2.
yeah the gen two evolutions being weirdly lapsed into numeric order instead of evolution order was an odd choice, and sadly it stuck
i feel like instead of "fixing" nidoran, they should've gone the extra mile and made more pokemon genre specific. for example, beautifly and dustox. other pokemon should have more variations between sexes as well. specially the bugs and the mamal based ones. you could even argue that tauros and miltank are similar cases to the nidorans.
to me, the pokedex should give much more important information, both before and after you catch a pokemon. the info we get when we catch should all be avaliable when we first see it. but by catching, we should get info about its real info. things that are actually usefull, like its moveset and how it evolves. things that actually help the player play the game.
instead we get a description that adds nothing to the game beside useless lore that doesnt matter, the ability to hear its "cry" which again, is completely pointless, and then the only real reason anyone uses the pokedex in the first place, where to find them for catching.
the dex should also offer other functionalities, like for example, show by zones, so you can see what you can find in that area, it doesnt need to list pokemon we have yet to see, but just showing that there are not discovered pokemon in the area would actually help in its thematic function that is the reason we are given them in the first place in those games.
another thing it should list, is explanations on abilities, moves and what their stats mean. and, much more functionally important, the meaning of the natures as well as the evs we get for defeating the pokemons.
it would be even more interesting if the pokedex also had a bar that gets filled as we fight or encounter more mons, for example, instead of being forced to capture a pokemon to know its abilities, we could have to fight it a few times, and the pokedex will tell us that info, it could even tell things like, items it might carry.
overall, the pokedex should be a true enciclopedia. something the players can open to look for info that will help them. instead of just, "where the F. do i find this thing".
How did you make a whole video on Pokedexes yet skip Legends Arceus? You just skipped over the game where the Pokédex is the main focus of the title. Arguably the most important aspect of the game.
didn't want to spend $80 on a game to make a video (edited to note that also LA doesn't at all interest me, so it would be spending $80 on a game I have no interest in for a video I am making purely for fun)
please get rotom out of my cell phone I don't want it talking to me
yeah me too (get it out of VGC as well)
@@tortoisecity USUM Pokedex my behated
I think the newer dexes do indeed deliver.
Fair enough! I do like the gameplay of scarlet and violet a lot, and found it encouraged active catching and pagefilling a lot more than the previous games
Im sorry....did you say "Skizor"?
Nope. no idea what you're talking about. it's crazy you would even suggest such a thing.
Skizor? You mean Scizor?
yeah idk what the heck I was thinking when I said that
to me, the pokedex should give much more important information, both before and after you catch a pokemon. the info we get when we catch should all be avaliable when we first see it. but by catching, we should get info about its real info. things that are actually usefull, like its moveset and how it evolves. things that actually help the player play the game.
instead we get a description that adds nothing to the game beside useless lore that doesnt matter, the ability to hear its "cry" which again, is completely pointless, and then the only real reason anyone uses the pokedex in the first place, where to find them for catching.
the dex should also offer other functionalities, like for example, show by zones, so you can see what you can find in that area, it doesnt need to list pokemon we have yet to see, but just showing that there are not discovered pokemon in the area would actually help in its thematic function that is the reason we are given them in the first place in those games.
another thing it should list, is explanations on abilities, moves and what their stats mean. and, much more functionally important, the meaning of the natures as well as the evs we get for defeating the pokemons.
it would be even more interesting if the pokedex also had a bar that gets filled as we fight or encounter more mons, for example, instead of being forced to capture a pokemon to know its abilities, we could have to fight it a few times, and the pokedex will tell us that info, it could even tell things like, items it might carry.
overall, the pokedex should be a true enciclopedia. something the players can open to look for info that will help them. instead of just, "where the F. do i find this thing".