Team Flora

I've decided to take the whole 'Team' idea a bit farther. I enjoy it immensely, and have recieved some positive comments on it.

The teams in Pokemon lack character. I'm not even sure what Team Rocket was trying to do, Teams Magma and Aqua had good intentions, but no back story and Team Galactic didn't even make sense. The Galactic Grunts didn't even know what the were doing! The key parts to making a good team is backstory. With a believable story, the rest is much easier.

My generation of teams are Flora and Fauna, serving plant-like Pokemon and animal-like Pokemon, respectively. There's a very easy backstory to these teams and their team leaders, but today we will discuss Team Flora.

Team Flora respects plant-like Pokemon and believes they serve a very important role in society both in the Pokemon and Human 'government'. The team leader, named something like Ivy, would believe this because of something in her childhood, as you would discover in some way or another. This something would most likely be along the lines of an animal-like Pokemon attacking her or a loved one, and a plant-like Pokemon successfully saving her. This lead to a bond with that and all plant-type Pokemon and a hate for animal-type Pokemon.

To make this a very reasonable team, instead of just some idiotic team that, instead of debating the ethics of making reservations strictly for plant-type Pokemon go around fighting, I have decided that they should have gone and argued before you joined, but were denied. Infuriated, Ivy did all the research she could on expansion of forests on a vast scale. She realized that there was a 'Life Force' or something that could be used to make things grow; but she also realized that the only way to get this vast energy at her disposal was to become Pokemon Champion. Having been shunned, she could not battle Gyms to face the Elite Four, so she gathered a group of followers and named them Team Flora.

You come in at about this time. She is waiting for the right person to come in to fight the Gyms. You are the one, so, in time, she promotes you and sends you on a mission to beat the Gyms and collect the Gym Badges. She is patient, knowing that you will not displease her. (That, or she knows you can just continue from where you last saved.) Throughout your journey, people , Team Fauna, for example, will be trying to stop you, but you will just fight them off. Once you complete your job of collecting the Gym Badges you are promoted, and told that you must challenge the Elite Four. You do so, become the Champion, and and now keeper of the 'Life Force'. Ivy then uses it to expand the forests, but realizes that she has thrown the ecosystem out of balance. She hastens to restore the status quo with the help of Team Fauna, and then the whole after-game stuff begins.

Until the after-game, you cannot catch animal-like Pokemon. You will be able to, with the support of Ivy after she finally realizes that all Pokemon must live as one.

Stay tuned for Team Fauna and other information!

PokePlot?

Pokemon Gold and Silver Versions were hailed for their plotline. Ever since then GameFreak has tried and failed to make a plot. Why? There are many reasons.

The most important driving force in a plot, in my opinion, is character. A character basically tells the story. The character influences the story with his or her personality. If a character were a very thoughtful and cautious person, they wouldn't be seen doing something rash on a day-to-day basis. Likewise, if a character was very rash, you wouldn't see them thinking about something without another character.

Characters interact with each other, and, throughout the story, progress in some way or another. This may be a new sense of purpose, knowledge or another driving force. Personalities change because of this, for the better or the worse.

A good driving plot also helps a lot. All these Pokemon games just have 'Bad guy want to steal Pokemon. Take over world. Save us. Go get badges. You win. The end.' What happened to bad guy character development? In Platinum they tried to give Cyrus a character, but only after the main plot happened. His grandfather, without directly citing names, says that he is sorry that he didn't help Cyrus in a time of need, and that Cyrus just cooped himself up in his basement. Is it just me, or are all these bad guys the same? "I don't care about Pokemon." "I didn't get enough hugs as a child." Time for a serious villain overhaul.

Maybe GameFreak has decided that six-year-olds can't comprehend storylines. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have watched The Lion King over and over and over if I didn't get it. Maybe they just can't figure out a good storyline! What of the classic 'Dad captive. Save him. First you must get badges. Unlock door. Beat all the bad dudes. Yay.' There are so many good things you could do there! Little snippets of conversation with Dad would be good. Figuring out that Dad was figuring out something that could put away Team ----- for good. Team members fighting and mis-informing you. Come on! Get with the program!

GameFreak needs to kick it up a notch. If Pokemon is the thing that sells, why not make it better so it will sell more the next time? Simple logic. That isn't to say that I don't like GameFreak. Without GameFreak, I wouldn't have Pokemon, and that just wouldn't be any fun.