Help me understand the reasoning behind leveling

[IllCaesar]

One thing I really like about Reborn is that the level cap is actually relevant. In the main Pokemon games it's only ever relevant if you end up deliberately using suboptimal teams like in a nuzlocke. I feel like I'm actually being challenged here with the level cap since I can't overlevel and I enjoy that... so why does Reborn still have the anti-grinding measures that were introduced in Gen V that were specifically made to deter you from plowing through the game with an overleveled team? Either one of these mechanics will do the job sufficiently but put them together and you're just forcing players into a situation where they have to grind excessively to get their desired Pokemon to the level for the next challenge, something that so far has been especially a slog since Reborn seems to be designed for you to be swapping out which Pokemon you use very frequently. I started with a new playthrough after having quit playing the game a few years ago and, well, I'm reminded of why I quit in the first place. The game is great but due to how frequently there are changes in party makeup I paradoxically find myself grinding more here than in Pokemon games where grinding isn't discouraged. I could see the reasoning if there were a lot of smaller obstacles on the way to the bigger challenges - the grunts, the wild pokemon, etc - and you didn't want to accidentally overlevel them but common candies make that point irrelevant. I'm sure it isn't for EV training either since EV training has the same end effect as regular leveling.

 

I'm not trying to make this sound rude or anything, I just genuinely don't see why it's done the way it is.

[uberle]

Reborn often changes certain mechanics like the field effects being introduced with terrains and seeds which were introduced in Sun and Moon, but those are, in my opinion, improvements on what already exists and they create more challenging and interesting scenarios.

But for the most part when the main games introduce a new mechanic it is usually implemented into Reborn as is.

There's the thing where badges used to give a stat boost, but was removed from Reborn as it was no longer a thing in the main games, and hasn't been for a while.

So the leveling thing is just the devs being as faithful to the mechanics of the main games as they can.

[Commander]

You're questioning a mechanic made 5 years ago as a simple solution to deter Pokemon players from trying the brainless solution they were taught by playing Pokemon which is grinding = win. Now let me break down some old RPG knowledge onto you. For most RPGs, there's two factors that go into how strong you are: your level and your equipment. It's a bit of a yin-yang as having higher levels means you have to worry less about equipment and better equipment means you have to worry less about your level. That's why a lot of RPGs don't worry too much about level or don't put too much restriction on it. Old school RPGs weren't as nice which we have a series built upon one.

 

So now we have Pokemon: a game where there's no armor. Also due to using low numbers, every level is pretty critical in increasing strength and if a player gains too many levels too soon, they will overpower and plow through the game. There is a rubber band effect to prevent it from going too far, but you get the idea. The system is also heavily flawed due to only Pokemon on the field gaining exp vs a standard RPG where 4 or even inactive party members gain experience. This leaves a skewed system where the strong grow stronger and the weak slowly get neglected. The only way to counter this was level caps which we all use since a proper solution is nigh impossible right now. Ame saw the disobedience system and took 5 minutes or something to make a system to push players from spamming one Pokemon too much as they'd be punished or waste exp instead of trying to spread it more evenly. As long as your Pokemon are within 3-5 levels below the cap, you're in good shape. Skill is more of a factor the lower your levels.

 

The more modern system which was pioneered by Suze, improved by me, and fixed by Sardines, and probably will be credited for Rejuv inventing it (sadly) is one where we have hard level caps where you cannot go above a certain level until you progress. Basically with Reborn's system, exp needed to be a bit more scarce to prevent this level and disobedience issue. My method there was no need to worry about limiting exp since you'd be expected to be pretty much at the cap by the time you fight the leader instead of 3 levels or less under. Is this one superior to Reborn's? Not exactly. It makes using variety easier, but the classic system promotes managing your team more carefully...except since everything is low level you rarely want to switch teammates due to needing a half hour of investment at least. Blame the elitists here for that issue. The Reborn system promotes sticking more towards your team since experimenting adds more time than often needed.

 

I may have misread it, but I think I gave a decent explanation of how leveling works as well. But on a different note, the Gen V experience mechanics are actually superior to the previous Gens due to it being a rubber band instead of a fixed amount. You gain a lot more when you're lower level than a Pokemon and a lot less when you are above making it easy for the laggers to catch up...theoretically. The fallen behind difference doesn't really add much nor does the being above subtract that much so there'll always be a huge gap unless you grind. And if you try to exp share, all your Pokemon fall behind only gaining half of the exp in a segment. And since levels are so significant, we now have what the core issue really is. That's why it feels like you have to grind or you get left behind.

 

And I hate to be that guy, but we really don't have a good anti-grind Pokemon Fan-game on the site....for the casuals. There's the Redux mod which only has the demo but that's a harder variant of Reborn. There's also Rejuv, but we all know how much I love some of those battles. And by casual I mean people getting into the Pokemon fan-games and not really experts on Pokemon battling. I don't know too much about fan-games myself honestly since I agree with a lot of what you say.