Pokemon players slam “lazy” Pokedex and call for changes

In a viral thread, Pokemon fans opened up about why they feel the Pokedex feature in the Game Freak RPG series has gone “backward.”

Since the series’ launch in 1996, the Pokedex has been an essential part of the Pokemon franchise’s core design. The iconic device has seen major redesigns over the eight generations.

However, a viral post online revealed many fans are not happy with the feature’s current design. Players claim that it’s actually evolved backward, and needs a feature from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire to return.

Some Pokemon fans are not happy with the Pokedex

At the start of every game, players are introduced to a new professor who asks them to fill out a Pokedex. While not mandatory, many fans make it a priority to complete the device on their quest to become the champion.

Some in the Pokemon community aren’t very happy with how the ‘Dex has evolved over the years. In a viral thread on the r/Pokemon subreddit, fans called the gameplay mechanic “lazy” and lacking in features. “I just realized how lazy the implementation of the Pokédex actually is,” the user who kicked off the discussion exclaimed.

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“I mean, this is supposed to be a high-tech encyclopedia of Pokémon that contains all the info on a Pokémon – right? Then why does it only show basic stuff like Name, Type, height/weight and a short flavor text? It would be a huge improvement in future games if the Pokédex would show you how to evolve your Pokemon, which Egg Group it belongs to and even it’s level-up moveset,” the player argued. 

Many fellow Trainers actually agreed with the user and argued that 2014’s Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire had gotten it right. “I liked how in ORAS, they (finally) let Pokémon that you see on the field count as ‘seen’ in the dex. It’s a tiny thing, but I always wondered before then, how chatting to the random Clefairy in someone’s house didn’t count as ‘seeing’ it,” a fan wrote.

“So many things ORAS did well when talking about the pokedex. DexNav was probably my favorite part since it tells me exactly what’s on each route and lets me know if I’ve got everything,” one Trainer commented. Another agreed and replied, “Of all the great mechanics they’ve introduced and immediately dropped, that one was the most surprising to me. It’s perfect.”

While players acknowledged that the franchise has a history of dropping old features to make each Generation stand out, fans argued that Game Freak had removed too many “useful” ones which now make the modern device feel lacking compared to past iterations.

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Interestingly, one of the points many brought up was that the current design forces them to have to look things up online, which takes them out of the game. What do you think? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @PokemonSwordNS.