Pokémon Randomizers: Fun or No?

 Most folks who play Pokémon at least know what a randomizer is, even if they haven't experienced one. The idea of mixing the game up so you never know what to expect has been around for a long while, and you can see it on YouTube and Twitch a lot.  It's similar to the self imposed Nuzlocke challenge in that the game's difficulty is increased by virtue of player made changes.  The question is, does randomizing the game make it more fun or not.

The inherent challenge, and thus, the point of randomizers, comes from never knowing what you'll see and where.  Trainer Pokémon have been changed, Gym types have changed, and even starters have changed, so you might even run into a late game Legendary like Entei or Zekrom out on an early game route.  This idea of never knowing what you'll run into or need to have for the gym is where the excitement comes in because the game itself will act as if it's still what it used to be, but all your tactics will need to change to accommodate for the unknown.



The effect comes through even better when romhacks get involved.  Many of these involve character changes and even new Pokémon so that players need to learn the types and get used to remembering those when encountered.  It sounds a bit like it can be too much guess/memory work, but that is what one signs up for when the randomizer option is utilized.  Fundamentally changing the innards of the game isn't going to be easy on players except by chance, so a decent knowledge of the game is certainly required before one actually goes for it.

However, if one is not prepared for all of that, this is not gonna be a fun time.  If lack of knowledge and constant change hinders you in games like this or becomes a bother, then this is an experience you're likely to want to skip out on.  Strategy doesn't always end up mixing well with lack of knowledge, and for some, it will come off just like the time limit in games like Dead Rising, where it will simply be stressful and unfun.

So, in the end, ARE randomizers fun?  The true answer is that a thing like that will always be subjective.  Players need to be a fan of the going in unaware and the inherent challenge of being blindsided by things they may not have a good answer to yet.  The challenge is the whole point of the play style, and if that's likely to anger you, it's not going to be a good time.  Randomization is fun, but only if it's a thing you know you'll be OK with going in.


-SweetSailorRosalina

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