The basic idea of using your Pokemon outside of battle to explore is a good one so they aren't just dropping it, and Gamefreak changes as little as possible for the game mechanics so they aren't bothering to think up a new system that would work better either.

>>25239
So we're forever doomed to HM whores?

>>25240
Unless Gamfreak does a major overhaul (and doesn't put the improved mechanics in a spinoff title), yes. Black/White did at least have the decency of never forcing the things on you for the most of the game, at least.

Considering that TMs are now reusable, and there are at least several TMs that can be used outside of battle like an HM, I don't see why they can't just make HMs the same as TMs so that a weaksauce HM can be overwritten with a TM when it's not needed.

I went through all of Black with two HM slaves always with me because I somehow didn't realize they weren't absolutely necessary like in previous games. Fuck HMs.

In all honesty, I despise HM's. Yes, you could use an HM slave, but that slot in your party could go to a more useful Pokemon. Yes, you could teach each Pokemon in your party one HM move, but that move slot could be used for more useful moves, but , in that regard, you would be limited in what Pokemon you could use in your party. Also, that strategy was useless when they added 7 and 8 HM's in gen's 2 through 4. But, most people use Pokemon that can use Fly and Surf anyways. They're the only HM's that're decently useful in battle and will probably be used the most outside of battle.

What they need to do is make HM's held items or key items, especially since the uses of HM's aren't really crucial in Gen 5, that is if they don't change that in Gen 6. That would be good since most HM moves aren't very useful in battle. As long as you have a water type for water HM's, and a flying type for Fly, you would be good.

Or, how about making HM techniques automatic to the area. If you have a Flying type in your party, you can automatically use Fly and Defog; if you have a water type, you automatically can use Surf,Waterfall,Whirlpool and Dive; if you have any Fire of Electric type in your party, you can automatically use Flash; If there are any bipedal Pokemon in your party, you can automatically use Rock-climb; and any Pokemon can automatically use Cut, Rock Smash and Strength.

I personally think that doing such things could reinvigorate the game mechanics and could allow for more non-linear adventuring with more side quests and even more puzzles.

>>25419
I just want them to change up the formula to something other than: "You are a silent protagonist from a small town who will grow up to be the league champion. Also you have a rival that's the same age as you that hasn't been any sort of threat since Blue and Silver. Oh and you'll be needing to beat up an evil uniformed criminal organization. Pick your starter and have fun!"

Black and White is a step in a terrible direction. The games are easy as piss and the gym leaders are all pushovers (seriously, only 3 pokemon, none over 40?) The 'end game' content is also pretty shallow and boring to boot and the 'dungeons' you could crawl in previous games (Radio Tower, Seafoam Islands, etc) are all but gone as are diverse team selection at the first half of the game. The only thing hard about Black and White was stomaching all of the grinding and elongated battles. Not to mention the clunky dialog.
Gold and Silver did all of that stuff right for the most part. The only thing lacking was a steeper level curve and a thread to tie the Jhoto and Kanto portions together.

>>25431
For what it's worth, the actual leveling went by a LOT faster in BW between the relative boost and free lucky egg. Sadly, battles themselves are slowed down by animated sprites that serve no purpose other than for their own sake. I don't even think there was an option to turn them off.

>>25432
Seriously, why did they get rid of the battle mechanics in HG/SS. They were the best. Not only did the battles go by quicker, but the overall look was better. Yes, animated sprites are interesting to look at, but they also slow down the battle and they looked clunky and overly pixelated, especially when zoomed in on during an attack. I personally would like the next gen to have portrait sprites, similar to those in Conquest. I'm sure there's a way they could do it for the Pokemon and trainers, but the attacks might be a little difficult for that style or rendering.

Leveling and EV training was also much, much easier and quicker in B/W, since you get the enhancing items relatively early on.

>>25443
I'm happy with the bigger, animated sprites. As long as you can TURN THEM OFF IF YOU CHOOSE.

I think they should change HMs to be like abilities, like a "talent" or something; take previously removed HMs (Flash) and moves that do stuff outside of battle (Dig, Headbutt, Sweet Scent) as part of that. It can expand out to less useful things that could also take the place of some items (like ones that give you more money in battle or lower encounter rate). It means you might need to plan ahead a bit more since each Pokemon would have only one Talent and so you could only have, at most, six HM-equivalents at a time, but at the same time it also means you're not dragging your party down with a Bidoof who knows Cut, Rock Smash, etc.

>>25432
You could turn off most animations, but not the constant sprite animations and, for some reason, the whole throwing-the-pokeball-at-start and some status effect animations.

I felt that the B/W battles went slightly faster because the text at the fastest speed was actually fast. HG/SS wasn't bad, but I went all the way back to Sapphire and it was damn near unplayable, shit took so long.

Personally I'm just pissed that they still haven't put in a "Quick Run" button. If I have a lvl50 whatever and am in a field of lvl6s and I'm trying to find that 10% chance motherfucker, I don't want to sit through the entire opening sequence of a battle for each Pokemon I encounter. I should be able to hold B or a button on the touch screen that allows me to instantly run.

>>25497
>run button
>hold B to run

I think that already works, bro.

>>25499
man did you just like, stop reading that sentence at that exact point and just decide the rest of it was probably irrelevant?

>>25500
>I should be able to hold B or a button on the touch screen that allows me to instantly run.

I don't get it. What part of this isn't already true?

>>25501
Run from battle. Not on the overworld, fleeing a fight.

Repels? Maybe hotkey more items to the touchscreen?

>>25503
I feel the loss of the Pokétch was a horrible step backwards for the series. C-Gear should have been rolled into that instead of eating the ENTIRE BOTTOM SCREEN FOR NO FUCKING REASON. HG/SS didn't have it, either, but you at least had quick-touch use of items on the lower screen. I like that you can register multiple things to a Y menu in B/W, but it's not a proper substitute.

>>25509
>loss of the Poketch
Good. Fucking. Riddance.

HGSS had an easily-accessible menu and the bottom touchscreen was ALWAYS doing SOMETHING useful. As helpful as some of the Pokétch's apps were, the vast majority of them were a complete waste of time, the display was in faux-LCD monochrome for no god damned reason, and the interface was a pointlessly inconvenient scroll system instead of just having fucking buttons that give you what you want.

I understand not everyone likes using the menu with the touchscreen, but that's no good reason to take away the option to do so. OR the auto-run button. I swear, that freaking run toggle was the singular most useful thing in SoulSilver's entire interface, I turned it on the second I got it and never had to fuck about with it ever again.

>>25510
Actually, the C-Gear pisses me off just as much for exactly the same reason, come to think of it. You cannot possibly interact with it the old-fashioned buttony way, oh no, TOUCHSCREENSFOREVERYWANSLAWL.

Though I'm not sure which is less useful out of the two. At least the Pokétch had a map. The C-Gear literally just hogs screen space and does fucking nothing.

>>25510
The Pokétch did have shortcomings (I agree with most of what you said), but those could have been easily remedied. The faux LCD thing was kind of fun, I thought, but I can see how using the higher resolution available would be better.

Considering all the menu buttons interrupt the game, there's no reason to have the menu up the entire time like in HG/SS.

>>25518
One very very good reason. It makes the menu about a thousand times more accessible.

>>25520
How is Always Menu 3 orders of magnitude more accessible than pressing X/Start and then having a menu?

Maybe you check your Pokedex a hell of a lot more than I.

>>25532
The menu system in HGSS puts your Dex, your Map/Phone/Radio, your bag, your team menu, your trainer card, the save button, and the options menu RIGHT THERE. You can access any one of them with a single tap. No fucking about having to go through your bag to get to other important shit, no fiddling about with buttons to get the option I want. They are all right there at my fingertips at all times. I can have my bike right there on the touchscreen for instant use, or berry pots, or a rod, or whatever the hell else I want to be using at a moment's notice. I can turn those god damned shoes on and off with a simple tap and never have to worry about holding the fucking B button.

I'll fully admit that the menu system could still use some upgrading, but so far it's definitely the best out of any Pokémon game I've played. By leaps and bounds.

>>25535
Hell, with a few tweaks, they could've just said it was a smart phone or something.