Replaying deterred by external promotions

[Prime]

Black and White has the Pokemon Global Link and Heart Gold and Soul Silver have the PokeWalker.

Both of these promotions or devices enhance the games by allowing players access to Pokemon in a new way. The only downside is both devices frown upon restarting or replaying the games.

On the Pokemon Global Link, each person registers their Black and/or White cartridges so that the network can identify them. When a player restarts either of their games, and reconnects back to the system, they are given a new code to put into PGL, but PGL does not give you a way to delete an old code and/or replace it with a new one. From the research I've found, you have to contact Nintendo Customer Support and request them to delete your old code.

This puts a huge deterrence on people restarting games. If you don't jump through Nintendo's hoops, you literally have no access to the PGL on that cartridge.

Using the PokeWalker, it is registered to a trainer ID #. This makes sure it is transferring information to and from the right trainer. If you restart your game, your ID # changes, meaning that you have to reset your PokeWalker, losing all the progress you've made in unlocking new areas or step milestones.

At least with the latter system, it is possible to fix it in your own time, but both systems put a huge deterrence on players to restart their games. Why is this? The Pokemon games only have 1 save file.

I love to restart my games. I'd almost say I am a restart-a-holic. I like having one game as the base, and then restarting another and transferring the Pokemon to the base game, and starting over against. This allows me to try out different Pokemon through the gym system, which I find the most fun.

Why did Nintendo design their two latest Pokemon promotions and contraptions to be like this? What were they thinking?

[ultimatedra]

I can tell you why - exclusives. The PGL has events where you get special pokemon, like the arceus and the birthday togekiss. They want these to remain exclusive otherwise it loses all meaning. What is the point of having events if people can freely just reset and get more and more. It decreases the overall value of the pokemon.

If everybody got the ability to freely restart and gain access to the exclusives again and again, people would start to think "What's the point".

Most people restart their game to replay the story and the PGL and pokewalker add absolutely nothing to the story. If you know you are going reset your game, you should know not to link it to the PGL. They specifically warn you that the link is between the game and your logon. If you don't read the warnings then that is user error not nintendo.

I restart my games as well - currently going through Ruby again myself. But I keep at least one game complete in each generation to ensure that everything I have worked hard for is still around.

[vaporeon]

This is also a big issue to me.

1. I'm tired of playing every Pokemon game over and over because they keep making new versions of them. It's also annoying that I have to buy and play through BOTH copies of the game released (B2 and W2) so I have access to everything. Its bad because that's 70 bucks to a game. I'd only play one of them. The other thing is they are now releasing wonder cards for each game AND THEY ARE DIFFERENT!!! I tend to favor 1 game of the series. The one with the most hours on it and now I have to play White so I can get the movie Zekrom? Would it be wrong to say that I own Black and have a rom for White?

2. Stop making games for the DS. The 3DS has been out for almost a year now. BW2 should be on the 3DS. Reasons are they can still develop for it and release it as a update for the game. You want to add a new area, don't make a new game. Just make the area and release it in the shop channel. 5 bucks and you get new game content. If they want it, they will get it. I know I will.

3. They are making a 3DS XL. Really?! It's such a pain moving all content from 1 DS to another. Not only does it take time, but it messes up every game in the process because the games saves data to that DS and if it can't find them, it clears all setting to register with the new host DS.

For Gamefreak and Nintendo to be innovators, they are living in dark times. Well, that ends my little rant.

[Regis_Neo]

Originally Posted by vaporeon

This is also a big issue to me.

1. I'm tired of playing every Pokemon game over and over because they keep making new versions of them. It's also annoying that I have to buy and play through BOTH copies of the game released (B2 and W2) so I have access to everything. Its bad because that's 70 bucks to a game. I'd only play one of them. The other thing is they are now releasing wonder cards for each game AND THEY ARE DIFFERENT!!! I tend to favor 1 game of the series. The one with the most hours on it and now I have to play White so I can get the movie Zekrom? Would it be wrong to say that I own Black and have a rom for White?

2. Stop making games for the DS. The 3DS has been out for almost a year now. BW2 should be on the 3DS. Reasons are they can still develop for it and release it as a update for the game. You want to add a new area, don't make a new game. Just make the area and release it in the shop channel. 5 bucks and you get new game content. If they want it, they will get it. I know I will.

3. They are making a 3DS XL. Really?! It's such a pain moving all content from 1 DS to another. Not only does it take time, but it messes up every game in the process because the games saves data to that DS and if it can't find them, it clears all setting to register with the new host DS.

For Gamefreak and Nintendo to be innovators, they are living in dark times. Well, that ends my little rant.

Well let's remember the whole basis on why there are 2 versions, it is to encourage trading and interaction between people with different carts (and on another note, to give the GB more use of its new link cable way back in 1996). There is no reason to buy both versions considering you can trade, granted if you have absolutely no one around you to trade with locally that used to be an issue, but even now we have wifi to trade. And very few things absolutely need trading to unlock, like Landorus (needing both Tornadus and Thundrus). I mean, if you really want both wondercards for an event, well it's your prerogative to buy both carts then, as most probably do fine with just one.

Likely BW2 was already well into development for the DS anyways, why stop it to have to remodel things into 3d? Given how bad sales of the 3DS were at first also, the conversion probably wasn't cost/time effective, and at any rate besides a faster engine, 3d is still just a gimmick largely...that being said, they already have exclusive features in BW2 for 3DS users anyways like that AR thing to catch the incarnate forms of the djinn trio and other Pokemon. Gen 6 will all but be for 3DS anyways by the time it comes out so they're not behind them times realistically (besides lacking another Wii title, BW doesn't work very well with PBR).

I'm not really sure what the 3DS XL has to do with anything, I don't envision most people ditching their regular 3DS for one that is far more cumbersome to use unless you have the really big hands. And even then, it's just a day's wait to get back onto DW and such moving from one DS to another right?

[bullados]

I want to be able to restart the games so that I can work on my speed run strategies...

[Prime]

Originally Posted by ultimatedra

I can tell you why - exclusives. The PGL has events where you get special pokemon, like the arceus and the birthday togekiss. They want these to remain exclusive otherwise it loses all meaning. What is the point of having events if people can freely just reset and get more and more. It decreases the overall value of the pokemon.

If everybody got the ability to freely restart and gain access to the exclusives again and again, people would start to think "What's the point".

You can restart your game and get the event Pokemon over wifi easily. Nothing stops that. I did that just recently with Darkrai. Got one of my Black, one on my White, restarted by Black, and got another.

I think the PokeWalker and PGL enhance the game so much because the choices for Pokemon are low half way through the game, until you get surf. So, being able to utilize other Pokemon from outside the game (Dream World or PokeWalker) gives you more options. Personally, I prefer to get them this way than trading them over.

[AyameHikaru]

Originally Posted by vaporeon

2. Stop making games for the DS. The 3DS has been out for almost a year now. BW2 should be on the 3DS. Reasons are they can still develop for it and release it as a update for the game. You want to add a new area, don't make a new game. Just make the area and release it in the shop channel. 5 bucks and you get new game content. If they want it, they will get it. I know I will.

I can't find the link right now, but an interview with the game designers specifically brought this up, and they answered it pretty definitively. They said that the reason it's for the DS is because the first ones were, and these are sequels. They didn't want people to be forced to buy a new system to continue the storyline. And honestly, with the amount of new stuff they put into B2W2, the Dream Radar, and the Dream World expansions, I don't feel like we've gotten the raw end of the deal here. Had they made the sequels for the 3DS, a lot of people would have been mad that they had to upgrade in order to keep the story flowing.

Also, on the exclusivity thing, I know that when they were giving out events through Gamestop and Toys R Us there were people who would sit in the shop (or in the parking lot just inside range) and restart, transfer over, restart, transfer over, countless times. People farmed those events like you wouldn't believe. Now, there have been some changes that make this harder to do: Most events are Wi-fi now, and you can't trade until you get the first badge. So the farming has to some extent been reduced, but it used to be a huge thing.

[Fox_Master51]

When I buy the newest Pokemon game I DO both versions but not at the same time. I buy the I favore more based on version exclusive content among other reasons, play through once, start a new game which usually ends being permanent. Then after a while I buy the other version for replay value.

[cvmerchanary]

I normally do buy both versions except for B and W because they are pry my least favorite. Also why no Conquest on 3DS?