[DISCUSSION] Should Pokémon Include Trophy Hunting?

[0kamii]

 

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and I've made just enough progress on my SoFurry submission to pay y'all a visit!

So I was recently having a discussion with a friend about trophy hunting in video games, and he and I both seem to be on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. He seems to think that trophy hunting, as infuriating as it can be, is well worth the effort put into it. That it is its own kind of reward, and adds another layer to the complex gaming experience that many people work so tirelessly to loosely define. And then you have me, who thinks trophy hunting is pointless and everyone that does it is driving themselves insane for no reason. While there is no way to prove one method is better than the other, I can't help but wonder how people would feel if this feature was applied to Pokémon games. We already got a taste of what trophy hunting would be like in Pokémon thanks to the stamps in the Gen 7 games, and frankly, I didn't get much out of it. Therefore, I'd like to argue my end of the debate, and then leave it to all of you to defend your end if you disagree. If you agree, be sure to let me know why. That being said:

 

Should Pokémon Include Trophy Hunting?

 

0kamii believes not. And here's why.

Pokémon is already one of the biggest JRPGs in the world, if not the biggest. There's never a shortage of things to do in a Pokémon game anyway, so adding trophies (in my opinion, anyways) would just be overkill. Depending on the generation, you have many activities to do in the postgame, Battle Frontier, PWT, PokéAthalon, contests, Battle Maison, and Tree, just to name a few. Most of these features are enjoyable enough as is, while others are challenging. I can't speak for every player, but I've always liked to surpass these challenges for my own satisfaction, not because there was some digital commemorative statue for it. Not only that, but I get the feeling that if Pokémon did start implimenting trophies, the vast majority would be for rather arbitrary things that we do absentmindedly while playing anyway. Things like: hatch 20 eggs, hatch 100 eggs, defeat the Champion, explore all of the map, complete the regional Poké Dex, find a Shiny, find 10 Shinies, find 100 Shinies. Most of these activities are things that players take the initiative to do anyway, so I fail to see the point in adding in trophies to encourage them to do it. Also, PLEASE no online trophies...

I haven't thought this argument fully through, but the gist is that: trophies would only encourage actions we already take in a Pokémon game normally.

I'm curious to hear what all of you think for this subject. Should Pokémon games impliment some kind of trophy system like the stamps we got in Gen 7? Or should it stay away from the dreaded horrors of trophy hunting? Be sure to let me know what y'alls think in the comments below. I'll reply to as many as I can. Also, sorry for the lack of posts. With Christmas just passed and the year's end coming up, my job has me slammed with hours. Hopefully after New Year's, I'll be back to my regular schedule. Thanks for understanding, everyone!

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

[0kamii]

Hey, everybody! I'm still 0kamii, and for tonight's post, I feel like I want to tag users: @dmann, @RiotIsBored, @Cubivor, and new user @Omenkid. Your QOTD is:

Should Pokémon include trophy hunting? Why or why not?

Looking forward to the replies. Thanks again for reading, everyone!

Catch you all later.

- 0kamii

[dmann]

Doesn't Sun/Moon/USUM have trophies in a way with the stamps? Though there isn't stamps for Shinies etc.

[Omenkid]

(Dec 27, 2017, 10:02 PM)0kamii Wrote: Hey, everybody! I'm still 0kamii, and for tonight's post, I feel like I want to tag users: @dmann, @RiotIsBored, @Cubivor, and new user @Omenkid. Your QOTD is:

Should Pokémon include trophy hunting? Why or why not?

Looking forward to the replies. Thanks again for reading, everyone!

Catch you all later.

- 0kamii

I don't understand the question.

[Kris]

Simple answer: No. That'd be a ridiculous addition to Pokemon

[moo311]

Trophy collecting would be a cool addition if the pokemon games were to take away other post game activities such as battle buildings and other stuff. However, I would not like it to replace those post game activities. I feel like USUM already has something like it with the stamps and somewhat with the stickers.

[stephenWITNESS]

In Black and White 2 there was the medal system. You received medals for eg. hatching a certain amount of Pokémon, taking more than 10'000 steps, winning a certain number of battles etc. The majority of the medals could be unlocked in a average playthrough without much effort but there were still some difficult ones that took a while to get. I'd have no problem with Pokemon brining this sort of system back. I never unlocked all of the b2w2 medals, but it was fun to receive these sort of quirky medals as I progressed through the story.

[0kamii]

@Omenkid

Should Pokémon include trophy hunting? You know, like most console games have a list of trophies to hunt for the Platinum trophy.

- 0kamii

[Omenkid]

I don't see why not. I like the concept of achievments in video games.

[Gentleman]

Dear fellow trainers,
I absolutely agree with the statement from Sir stephenWITNESS and I like to put in some of my own thoughts. In my opinion the medal system in Black2/White2 was great. However, does this mean that the system is needed for a full Pokemon game experience. No, not at all since the game worked great without it as well. Therefore, the achievement system in Black2/White2 was a light and decent one. If one wasn't interested in achievements the system didn't disturb you during playing and one didn't even notice it. Furthermore, the fact is that this achievement system was just connected to the Pokemon game. That means that it is an in game service. Therefore, it didn't fulfill the purpose of collecting to make your overall console avatar more shiny and to shout out "I am the better gamer!". 
In contrast to this if one is interested in that medal system I believe that it can have several benefits. First of all it maybe provides new information, secrets, hints and ideas about the game which you possibly didn't even know before. Secondly it can help you with managing and checking your gaming process. An example at that place are the Pokemon type catcher medals which you got by catching all Pokemon of one type. Last but not least the medal achievement system can just give you an additional gaming challenge if you like to. 
Nevertheless its up to each gamer to use or not to use it as well as to like or not to like it since we all prefer different styles of how to play a game.