Region Speculation/Discussion Thread

[Maya The Awesome]

On to overall region speculation, I'd say I think it's more likely to be a part of Europe rather than just France, or France with elements of other countries blended in. I fully expect a Big Ben clone and probably some sort of sea voyage to get there. Making it France-Germany-England makes sense geographically and gives a lot of scope for the environments and landmarks that could be used.

This is the idea I've been having, because the region looks majority France with other European influences and Norse/Celtic mythology (see the legendary spec. thread for my and other arguments on that. Pg. 156+). I'm hoping that the region will at least resemble Germany, France and Spain on the map, with the UK an island for later on (Frontier like in DPPt?) or maybe the starting town, if Northern and Southern Ireland are included. If I see a One Direction reference, I'll kill myself out of loss in faith for life and humanity... even though 1D is quite recent...

[Colegoco]

I suggest waiting for the Hoenn remake instead of making Gen 6 a Hoenn rip-off.

I agree, I'd like more water areas than Unova, or Sinnoh, where Surf was a less-than-nessecary field move, unlike Kanto and Johto, where at least 1 gym was on an island.

[Ampharoid]

I suggest waiting for the Hoenn remake instead of making Gen 6 a Hoenn rip-off.

I'd been feeling lately that its too early to remake the 3rd gen, but now that I realise it'll be in 3D, I am seriously pumped for the remakes.

[BBtheASH]

I agree, I'd like more water areas than Unova, or Sinnoh, where Surf was a less-than-nessecary field move, unlike Kanto and Johto, where at least 1 gym was on an island.

HUGELY AGREE! I've talked about before on this thread. I would love A LOT marine exploration!
It would be so great! I just hope that doesn't prove to be impossible in this new 3-D world!

[Snorunt conservationist]

I agree, I'd like more water areas than Unova, or Sinnoh, where Surf was a less-than-nessecary field move, unlike Kanto and Johto, where at least 1 gym was on an island.

I agree. Water routes are often pretty fun (Hoenn water routes are some of my faves, though there was perhaps maybe a bit too much water there).

Tying this in with something that was said a few pages back about wanting a prominent River in X and Y, perhaps we could have a couple of cities sitting in a lake caused by said river? Would be a nice detour for two or three cities.

More than anything though I just want to move around in a non-linear fashion again. Johto doesn't have many water routes, but it has enough, and makes up for this shortage by having you take a varied route through the region.

[Wulava]

I hope they don't make huge but empty areas in the game.
In other words, don't make another Moor of Iccirus.

Sure, there were items and a few trainers, but there's really nothing noteworthy in the area aside from the Keldeo event (IF you have a Keldeo).
Even the Pokemon obtainable in the area are just repeats of Route 8.

[WaterMasterDD]

I agree. Water routes are often pretty fun (Hoenn water routes are some of my faves, though there was perhaps maybe a bit too much water there).

Tying this in with something that was said a few pages back about wanting a prominent River in X and Y, perhaps we could have a couple of cities sitting in a lake caused by said river? Would be a nice detour for two or three cities.

More than anything though I just want to move around in a non-linear fashion again. Johto doesn't have many water routes, but it has enough, and makes up for this shortage by having you take a varied route through the region.

I like this idea; perhaps you could travel up or down the river to reach other towns? Or perhaps have a town that's similar to Venice, where you can explore it by using the waterways.

[Stoutland's Moustache]

This is the idea I've been having, because the region looks majority France with other European influences and Norse/Celtic mythology (see the legendary spec. thread for my and other arguments on that. Pg. 156+). I'm hoping that the region will at least resemble Germany, France and Spain on the map, with the UK an island for later on (Frontier like in DPPt?) or maybe the starting town, if Northern and Southern Ireland are included. If I see a One Direction reference, I'll kill myself out of loss in faith for life and humanity... even though 1D is quite recent...

I like these ideas. There's no reason why, with 8 or more cities, each one can't be representative of a European city. Looks like Paris is in, you could also have London, Berlin, Madrid, Copenhagen etc. There'd be a lot of awesome landmarks to choose from and the areas could be fairly diverse. Gym leader in lederhosen?

[Platinum fan.]

I hope there will at least be one snow city area like Snowpoint, or if they keep the seasons going simply have snow during winter. I love snow and ice worlds/cities in video games so I hope Pokemon XY have them. I'm really excited on what the region's map will look like.

[ShadowMarauder]

I would be happy if the region is not a big chunk of land and the cities are connected in a circular pattern, regarding the map I want a similar map style to Sinnoh but a little bit more realistic and polished... didn´t like so much Unova's map style so I hope they won´t go that path again

[rocky505]

If we do get seasons again, I hope we get an area that is only accessible if it's winter time, like a cave or old building of some sort. I know we had parts of Twist Mountain only accessible by it being winter time, but I mean a whole area.

[carboncopy]

If we do get seasons again, I hope we get an area that is only accessible if it's winter time, like a cave or old building of some sort. I know we had parts of Twist Mountain only accessible by it being winter time, but I mean a whole area.

I'm pretty sure they are not going to pull another r/s. Seasons will be there. I'm sure they are going to expand it to something like you said.

[Snorunt conservationist]

I like this idea; perhaps you could travel up or down the river to reach other towns? Or perhaps have a town that's similar to Venice, where you can explore it by using the waterways.

It was someone else's idea first :P. However yes, I like the notion of a dominant river sweeping through several towns.

I hope there will at least be one snow city area like Snowpoint, or if they keep the seasons going simply have snow during winter. I love snow and ice worlds/cities in video games so I hope Pokemon XY have them. I'm really excited on what the region's map will look like.

Agreed. A nice snowy area in X and a tropical area in Y please.

If we do get seasons again, I hope we get an area that is only accessible if it's winter time, like a cave or old building of some sort. I know we had parts of Twist Mountain only accessible by it being winter time, but I mean a whole area.

I'm pretty sure they are not going to pull another r/s. Seasons will be there. I'm sure they are going to expand it to something like you said.

Seasons just seemed somewhat tacked on in B/W. I want them to actually be useful for summat.

[Bolt the Cat]

I hope they don't make huge but empty areas in the game.
In other words, don't make another Moor of Iccirus.

Sure, there were items and a few trainers, but there's really nothing noteworthy in the area aside from the Keldeo event (IF you have a Keldeo).
Even the Pokemon obtainable in the area are just repeats of Route 8.

Agreed, Moor of Icirrus was such a forgettable area that in BW1 I actually did forget about it until long after I beat the game. At the very least, every area should have a unique set of Pokemon to them, no two areas would have the exact same set (in otherwords, no more situations like with Rt. 5 and 16, Icirrus City, Rt. 8, and Moor of Icirrus, etc. We have more than enough Pokemon to do that.

I would be happy if the region is not a big chunk of land and the cities are connected in a circular pattern, regarding the map I want a similar map style to Sinnoh but a little bit more realistic and polished... didn´t like so much Unova's map style so I hope they won´t go that path again

This is a huge part of what was wrong with Unova's design, the hexagon design limited the ability to make the storyline path nonlinear. In fact, I'd like to see someone try and make a storyline path through Unova that isn't linear, that'd be amazing if it were possible.

If we do get seasons again, I hope we get an area that is only accessible if it's winter time, like a cave or old building of some sort. I know we had parts of Twist Mountain only accessible by it being winter time, but I mean a whole area.

Please, no more seasons, it's really annoying having to wait 3 months just to access a particular area. I'd rather they use weather to do the same thing, that way it could follow weekly patterns instead of monthly ones. There's a lot of neat things they could do with that, too. Sunshine would cause the water level to lower so you can access low lying paths. Rain could raise the water so you can Surf to higher paths, as well as adding puddles everywhere. Snow would function like Winter, creating snow piles in the area and freezing over waterways. Sandstorms could cause sand to pile up similar to Autumn in Rt. 20. And like with seasons, different Pokemon could appear based on the weather, you could see more Fire and Grass types when it's sunny, more Water and Electric types when it's raining, more Ice types when it's snowing, and more Rock and Ground types during sandstorms.

[BBtheASH]

I would be happy if the region is not a big chunk of land and the cities are connected in a circular pattern, regarding the map I want a similar map style to Sinnoh but a little bit more realistic and polished... didn´t like so much Unova's map style so I hope they won´t go that path again

I agree, except I think I liked johto's map the most.
Just because although it was mostly made up of land mass, there was still a lot of water and an island to travel towards.
Which in my opinion was a huge plus because it reminded of the days back in kanto, or hoenn, where surfing can actually get you to places.

[Wulava]

I would like it if there were less restrictions in accessing areas.
I'd like them to impose risks to the player.

Someone already brought up this idea before about getting lost on a route with high-leveled Pokemon and skilled trainers while you are just on your Lv. 10's. This should be enough to point you back and find a different route without obviously saying that you're not supposed to be there yet. If you managed to get through and reached a town/city, then that would quite an accomplishment. Although pretty sure they will still restrict you on going further.

Also, it would be cool to have alternate routes in reaching areas again. Fuchsia for example.
You have three options: (a) Celadon west exit to Cycling Road; (b) Lavender south exit to Routes 12-14; or (c) Vermilion east exit to Route 11, then south via Routes 12-14 again.

They did the same with reaching Humilau City where you can either choose to go via the Marine Tube or pass by the sea routes on the east, but the other being just a bridge with no challenge at all.

[Colegoco]

I would like it if there were less restrictions in accessing areas.
I'd like them to impose risks to the player.

Someone already brought up this idea before about getting lost on a route with high-leveled Pokemon and skilled trainers while you are just on your Lv. 10's. This should be enough to point you back and find a different route without obviously saying that you're not supposed to be there yet. If you managed to get through and reached a town/city, then that would quite an accomplishment. Although pretty sure they will still restrict you on going further.

Also, it would be cool to have alternate routes in reaching areas again. Fuchsia for example.
You have three options: (a) Celadon west exit to Cycling Road; (b) Lavender south exit to Routes 12-14; or (c) Vermilion east exit to Route 11, then south via Routes 12-14 again.

They did the same with reaching Humilau City where you can either choose to go via the Marine Tube or pass by the sea routes on the east, but the other being just a bridge with no challenge at all.

I've been re-playing FireRed, and realized it isn't totally linear. If I'd wanted, I could have gone to Saffron, beat Giovanni and Sabrina, then gone to Lavender Town if I'd wanted, and I could have battle Blaine without beating Koga or Sabrina. I like the options, BUT, there is something to the linearity of the game where you get a bit lost. Without it being somewhat linear, there's continuity problems, etc... still, one of my problems was that I had to battle Plasma before going somewhere, and there was NO option, it was now you go here then here, don't backtrack. I like also, when you need to backtrack, especially before Fly is available, and you have a new move that gives you access to more areas.

Also, could you get to Himalu over the ocean? I didn't realize that.

[Bolt the Cat]

I would like it if there were less restrictions in accessing areas.
I'd like them to impose risks to the player.

Someone already brought up this idea before about getting lost on a route with high-leveled Pokemon and skilled trainers while you are just on your Lv. 10's. This should be enough to point you back and find a different route without obviously saying that you're not supposed to be there yet. If you managed to get through and reached a town/city, then that would quite an accomplishment. Although pretty sure they will still restrict you on going further.

I said it before when they first posted that, and I'll say it again, if they're going to do something like that, they need to give you a fair warning that you're dealing with high level Pokemon, it's too punishing if you wander into a battle where the opposing Pokemon is so much stronger than you that the battle is unwinnable.

Also, that would encourage people to blow through the game by trading over Lv. 100 legendaries or something, which defeats the purpose of catching and training your own.

They did the same with reaching Humilau City where you can either choose to go via the Marine Tube or pass by the sea routes on the east, but the other being just a bridge with no challenge at all.

Really? I thought you needed to go to Humilau first before you could open up Seaside Cave. I'll have to try it when I get that far.

and I could have battle Blaine without beating Koga or Sabrina.

That's false, actually, you would need to beat Koga so you could use Surf to go to Cinnibar, but aside from that, basically. Pretty much after Vermillion, you can progress through Kanto in just about any way you want, as long as:

-You do the Team Rocket events (Rocket Hideout, Pokemon Tower, Silph Co.) in order.
-You clear Pokemon Tower before you go to Fuschia
-You clear Silph Co. before you take on the Saffron City Gym
-You defeat Koga before you go to Cinnibar
-You defeat every other Kanto gym before you take on the Viridian City Gym
-You collect all 8 gym badges before you go to Victory Road

Aside from that, you can do whatever you want, you could fight Lt. Surge as your 7th gym leader, you could put off Silph Co. until you have every gym badge except the Marsh and Earth badges, anything you can think of that fulfills the above restrictions.

[Colegoco]

I said it before when they first posted that, and I'll say it again, if they're going to do something like that, they need to give you a fair warning that you're dealing with high level Pokemon, it's too punishing if you wander into a battle where the opposing Pokemon is so much stronger than you that the battle is unwinnable.

Also, that would encourage people to blow through the game by trading over Lv. 100 legendaries or something, which defeats the purpose of catching and training your own.



Really? I thought you needed to go to Humilau first before you could open up Seaside Cave. I'll have to try it when I get that far.



That's false, actually, you would need to beat Koga so you could use Surf to go to Cinnibar, but aside from that, basically. Pretty much after Vermillion, you can progress through Kanto in just about any way you want, as long as:

-You do the Team Rocket events (Rocket Hideout, Pokemon Tower, Silph Co.) in order.
-You clear Pokemon Tower before you go to Fuschia
-You clear Silph Co. before you take on the Saffron City Gym
-You defeat Koga before you go to Cinnibar
-You defeat every other Kanto gym before you take on the Viridian City Gym
-You collect all 8 gym badges before you go to Victory Road

Aside from that, you can do whatever you want, you could fight Lt. Surge as your 7th gym leader, you could put off Silph Co. until you have every gym badge except the Marsh and Earth badges, anything you can think of that fulfills the above restrictions.

Yeah, I always trade over my pokemon after the 7th or 8th gym. Because they're better.

I think you do...

Yeah, Kanto's much more free, Sinnoh, I remember you could swap out Wake and Fantina if at least Platinum, Hoenn was linear, but not so linear that you didn't explore new areas, like going back and finding the Magma Hideout, underwater areas, etc...

[Bolt the Cat]

Sinnoh, I remember you could swap out Wake and Fantina if at least Platinum,

Sinnoh gives you a bit of leeway primarily when you're exploring the eastern half, you can choose between fighting Maylene and Crasher Wake (and in Platinum, Fantina), plus there's several optional paths and quite a bit of backtracking (you have to go back to Jubilife at least twice, you have two ways to get to Pastoria City, you can choose between Rt. 211 E or W after getting Strength, Rt. 206 (the area below Cycling Road), Wayward Cave are optional, Lost Tower or Iron Island are optional (depending on which one had Strength), Fuego Ironworks was optional, Solaceon Ruins is optional in DP, Rt. 219-221 are optional).

Hoenn was linear, but not so linear that you didn't explore new areas, like going back and finding the Magma Hideout, underwater areas, etc...

Hoenn had less choices as to how to progress through the region, but a few of the gym leaders were skippable (Brawly and Winona) until the very end, there was a lot more backtracking (returning to Rt. 104 to sail to Dewford, returning to Rt. 111 to ascend Mt. Chimney, returning to Petalburg to challenge Norman, returning to Slateport to witness Team Magma/Aqua stealing Cap. Stern's submarine, returning to Jagged Pass to infiltrate Magma Hideout in Emerald), and a ton of optional areas (Rt. 105-108 were optional aside from having to sail past them on Mr. Briney's ship, Abandoned Ship , the east side of Rt. 103 , Rt. 111's desert, Rt. 115, Rt. 123, Rt. 125, Shoal Cave, Rt. 129-131 and Sky Pillar (RS only), Pacifidlog Town, Rt. 132-134, Sealed Chamber, all of those were optional).

Anyway, both regions had great regional design, some of the best this series has had yet. I'm hoping this game will follow suit.