Pokemon Journeys

Pokemon Journeys would be a Nintendo-based, open world Pokemon RPG for the Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS. The game would feature WFC battle mode, and the Wii U version would include an MMO mode where you can enter an overworld and interact with other people.

There are already plenty of Pokemon RPGs out there, which I am fully aware of, but this one would have a much different gameplay style and format from the traditional Pokemon game. In this game, you would play mainly as a trainer that you customize and bring to life yourself with a variety of options.

I mainly made this idea out of love for the Pokemon extended universe, but I've also always been intrigued by the idea of a Pokemon MMORPG. However, I still think that the spirit of the series should be kept alive, so I decided to settle for making an idea for an RPG that's not exactly a strict MMO, but would allow the player more options and freedom than any other in the series. It would have the level of scope you'd normally see in an Elder Scrolls game, and its graphics would be significantly upgraded as well.

Another very special feature of this game would be the ability to begin the game with your own customized Pokemon. Here you can choose the appearance of your Pokemon, everything from color to fur style, and create a moveset according to an easy to read system, as well as the type of Pokemon you choose (like Normal, Flying, Electric, etc.). At certain junctures of progress in the game, your Pokemon will get a chance to evolve, at which point you can create am almost entirely new Pokemon with an increased roster containing advanced abilities. However, you will also have the option of leaving it the way it already is.

Plot
The plot for this game is simple, and similar to most other games in the series. You start out as a boy or girl (your choice) who desires to become a reputable Pokemon Trainer, or Connoisseur, or Breeder, or anything you'd like. It really depends on what choices you make throughout your journey.

You choose a region where you want to start out, and then you'll have that place as your "hub" in the map, marked as a starting point so that you'll have a place of reference.

From here, you can travel from region to region, visiting and joining gyms, heading into the wilderness to catch Pokemon from the highest of mountains to the deepest of forests, training the Pokemon you have, and doing pretty much anything you can imagine you want to do. In fact, I'd even add the ability to join roaming Pokemon teams, from which you can get advice, rare tips, and new Pokemon through limited trading. The goal of this game would simply be to make the most of it, be it by winning the Pokemon League, filling up the National Pokedex, or simply making a strong team out of cute Pokemon.

Gameplay
One big challenge I had when coming up with the details of this game was trying to synthesize a simple, easily memorizable system for battling and interpreting information on Pokemon. Now, note going in that this will a deviation from the normal system of gameplay in other titles. It's not because I have any kind of problem with the usual system, but since this is my idea, I'd like to create a battle system that focuses on the cinematic angle of Pokemon battling as well as the strategic, technical aspect. To a great degree, battling in this game would resemble battling in the anime, which would also be reflected in another feature I'd incorporate, which is dynamic battle environments. Certain moves would have clear, dramatic effects on the battlefield, as opposed to simply creating buffs and debuffs. For example, Ice Beam might make part of the battlefield slippery to walk on.

There would be a base-line skill set containing abilities like Dodge Left, Dodge Right, Jump Back, Jump, and Block. Different Pokemon would also have different attributes, abilities, and skill in certain areas. For example, Oshawott may have an advantage with blocking because he has his shell, which can repel many attacks. This would add greater value to collection of many Pokemon, and would add an extra wild card to the world of Pokemon battles.

Now, there would be a certain number of things you can teach each Pokemon to do, and if you reach the proper stats as you go along with that Pokemon, you would have the option to teach it new and more powerful moves. If you can successfully teach it the move, it would be added to your limited roster of usable moves. Teaching your Pokemon moves, winning battles, and generally participating in competition would contribute to how soon you can level up and therefore how soon you can evolve your Pokemon. The evolution conditions for the Pokemon will be the same as in the other games and sources.

Interacting with Pokemon
As well as changing up the battle system in this game, I would also put great emphasis on interacting with Pokemon in this game. I really enjoyed the advantages and fun of Pokemon Amie in X and Y, so if it were me, I'd bring it back in an even more expanded form for this game. There would be more engaging activities with Pokemon, and it would also be possible to bring Pokemon out of their Poke Balls and have them travel with you.

Hatching Eggs
I'm just gonna come right out and admit it. I love baby Pokemon to death. They are the cutest, funniest things I've ever seen and quite honestly, I wish I had a bunch of them in real life. Logically, since egg hatching has been around for the entire history of the franchise, it would, of course be in this game as well.

Now, I read up on Pokemon breeding and the hatching of eggs on Bulbapedia (whoops! Ad alert!) and found that the in the main series Pokemon games, eggs hatch after a certain amount of cycles, and the necessary number of cycles varies from egg to egg and is counted out by the amount of steps you take.

In this game, I think I'm going to take the opportunity to apply both that and the amount of gameplay time. A cycle would probably consist of about 255 steps worth of distance, meaning that each egg would take some commitment to hatch.

Quests
Quests are optional missions that reward you with good items and lead you to new places or new Pokemon. There would be two basic types of quests:

Catch Quests - You are required to catch and bring someone a Pokemon, frequently rare ones in specific locations. They may be of certain genders, colors, or levels. You might even be asked to obtain a shiny Pokemon for massive rewards.

Explore - You are asked to explore a place that is not available to you until you talk to that person, then they ask you to report what you found, or bring back something from there.

Other Quests
Performance Competitions - These would be competitions revolving around working with your Pokemon to put on the most spectacular show among a number of competitors.

Battle Clubs - There would be multiple battle clubs in this game scattered across the different regions, but the basic idea of them is the same: it would be a place for trainers to test their skills and to win prizes, money, and glory by competing against tough competitors.

Miscellaneous Adventures - In a big world like the one in Pokemon Journeys, I would be sure to include many opportunities to simply stumble upon interesting little questlines to immerse the player in the world and provide a little storied excitement.

Online Play
I mentioned at the outset that this game would have an online gameplay option, but I didn't go into a whole lot of detail on what this would include. I would include the straightforward normal functions of trading and wi-fi battling that we've seen in recent titles, but I would go even further by incorporating an entirely separate version of the overworld to be playable with others over the Internet.

Players would connect to the world on separate servers, where they could then battle, trade, explore, and catch Pokemon together. This way, a dynamic world could be created whereby players could travel throughout the world of Pokemon as groups, communicate with each other, and play their own role in a larger community.

Also, in the same way as competitions are held against NPCs in the singleplayer game, there would also be live player vs. player competitive events in the MMO world. For example, they could convene for massive battle tournaments on certain in-game dates.