"One single, desperate wish for Gen IX (and beyond): Streamlining battles"

If I've understood the recent source code leaks correctly, the newer Pokémon games still run their battle mechanics on a code base made for Ruby and Sapphire - and it's beginning to become really noticeable and feel pretty archaic. I have nothing against the way battles are currently being fought and conducted, but I think they're desperately due for a bit of code cleanup as the amount of "stutter" - gameplay-wise, not graphical - is beginning to become a joke.For instance, when my Scyther uses Swords Dance, the following happens after I click "Fight --> Swords Dance"Text box pops up: "Scyther used Swords Dance!"Swords Dance animation playsScyther returns to its idle pose"Boost" animation playsText box pops up: "Scyther's Attack rose sharply!"Time elapsed: 8 seconds, if I've timed it correctly. Then it's time for the next Pokémon on the field to make its move.Wouldn't it be better to do all those at once? "Scyther used Swords Dance to sharply boost its Attack!" while the move animation and the boost animation play simultaneously?When a Pokémon is hit by an attack that KOs it, we see the move animation, which chains into the "Pokémon takes a hit" animation that plays while the HP bar goes down. If the HP depletion takes longer than the "Pokémon takes a hit" animation, the Pokémon returns to its idle pose while the bar goes down. We then get the "It's Super Effective!" message if applicable, then the "the Pokémon fainted!" message, all while the Pokémon stands in its idle pose, then it's time to play the "Pokémon faints and is recalled" animation.Or what about Sandstorm/Hail? Still buffeting one Pokémon at a time, complete with animations. And don't get me started on Leftovers.As soon as you get multiple Pokémon on the field, you're getting a whole lot of waiting per second of command-giving. Raids are probably the worst example of this, where players take three seconds to input commands for a single turn of battle, and then have to wait for a minute while all the animations play out for that turn alone. A minute in which only one Pokémon at a time breaks its idle pose, I might add. What looked fine for a handheld game with static sprites in 2002 really doesn't hold up on a home console 18 years later.It's not like the battle mechanics of Pokémon are bad, but the way things are displayed right now makes the battles pretty clunky. I really hope we'll get an overhaul to streamline the experience a bit in future generations. via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/32P5Awy