Pokémon Opinions on Pokemon EXP share lock

[CylieDanny]

I've noticed for me personally that Pokémon games are a bit more easier at times. You don't have to spend hours grinding up a full team of six.

Well its the exp that's locked into some of the more modern games like Arceus, Sword/shield (I think you could turn it off in that one) (idk if Violet or Scarlet has it) but for me the exp share stresses me out for the wrong reasons
--
In the older games you had to train up your Pokémon one at a time in battles, and the exp share was an option to have on one Pokémon. You still had to spend a good amount of time grinding up levels for big battles Which I personally really enjoyed because you could also raise friendship levels which evolves some Pokémon. Like Budew, Eevee, so fourth

But now a days it's easier in my opinion because while your grinding up levels for one Pokémon your grinding up everyone too. I guess it's convenient for some, but I wish it just wasn't an option.

On Arceus I'm only just progressing to the third area but I've got level forty pokemon with me. From the judgenent of battles and Pokémon in that area, it's roughly a thirty range. Even when I'm catching more Pokémon my Pokémon level up.

With the EXP share like in Sword I've gotta put a bulk of my team in storage, just to train up a new member without overleveling everyone. It's not the worst thing, but it's still annoying. Because even with doing that I'm ten times higher then the Pokémon here.

I got a Crogunk from the second area that I worked on leveling up just with him on my team, along with Pokémon I'm reaserching to evolve. But it's like constant switching around of mons. I mean I'm at a point where all the Pokémon will obey me. I could prance around with a team of op alphas and they'll obey me.

I still don't like going into a lower level area with my main level forty team and buff moves. I miss one on one training sessions with Pokémon.

The only bright side I can see to it is that if your trying to level up Pokémon for entries you can do that with a bunch on the team. So it allows for some cheap tricks and evolution entries to go by quickly..

But I'm still not a fan. I prefer those one on one's. But what about you, what's you opinion on the exp share function?

 

[Croconaw]

This is the one feature I was complaining about when I first started playing Pokémon Violet. I lost interest as the newer Pokémon games kept releasing and this is one of the main reasons why. They lost their fun factor. Maybe I'm just growing out of it altogether, but I still feel like the older games were much more fun. I even prefer the graphics of the older games. It's weird given that Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Pokémon Colosseum are some of my favorite games, and those are open-world games.

To avoid going off topic even more, I really dislike the EXP share lock with the fact that you simply cannot disable it. I get it's a competitive game and it's much quicker to train this way, but is it all really worth it in the end if a competitive match is the first time you're even using the Pokémon?

 

[Corrie]

I actually prefer it LOL strictly because as an adult, I don't have the time to grind like I did as a kid/teen. But they should have the option to turn it off if you want. Pokemon in general needs a difficulty setting like most other games of the genre have.

 

[Foreverfox]

I know a fair amount of people who really dislike EXP share, but I actually really like it. I do wish I could toggle it, but even if that option were available, I’d rarely use it. I just like the option. I like that it keeps my party pretty evenly leveled, rather than just being limited to my party leader.

 

[CylieDanny]

This is the one feature I was complaining about when I first started playing Pokémon Violet. I lost interest as the newer Pokémon games kept releasing and this is one of the main reasons why. They lost their fun factor. Maybe I'm just growing out of it altogether, but I still feel like the older games were much more fun. I even prefer the graphics of the older games. It's weird given that Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Pokémon Colosseum are some of my favorite games, and those are open-world games.

To avoid going off topic even more, I really dislike the EXP share lock with the fact that you simply cannot disable it. I get it's a competitive game and it's much quicker to train this way, but is it all really worth it in the end if a competitive match is the first time you're even using the Pokémon?

Not getting off topic,

But it's nice to see other people like, XD: Gale of Darkness too!

 

[Lancelot]

I've hated it ever since XY (?).

I understand why they've given the feature to always have the EXP share on, but I see no reason to give them player LESS control in how they play the game by not including the feature to turn it off.

 

[daringred_]

i like having the EXP share because i don't have the patience/energy to grind and level up each of my pokemon individually, especially if they're not pokemon i like and/or wouldn't normally use. that said, i agree there should be an option to turn it off if so desired and don't understand why there isn't one. (or why they removed it if there was before.)

 

[Chris]

When it was properly introduced I saw it as a much-needed quality of life update, and I still stand by that.

I grew-up playing each game as they came out, starting with the first generation. It could take multiple evenings of grinding just to be able to take on a gym battle. It would bore me to some extent but I had the time to go ham on it for a couple of hours a night, so it wasn't so bad raising each Pokémon individually. As an adult (30+) if I encounter that level of grinding in a video game I can't justify the time for it anymore; there's too much else competing for my attention. EXP share is a QoL upgrade that I very much value - otherwise I probably wouldn't finish Pokémon games anymore.

 

[Belle T]

The EXP share lock isn't a problem necessarily because it decreases the difficulty of the game as much as the fact that it limits your choices. Pokémon is an RPG and more choices on how to strategize and prioritize your time is generally only ever a good thing. Generally, not always.

If Pokémon were a more story-driven game with a pre-determined party like Super Mario RPG, it would still be ideal to allow players to choose. But I could more easily see the argument for it being an intentional design choice to make the games more approachable as an elementary-level RPG; it's similar to the way that most RPG's aimed at beginners and younger audiences allow party members to receive EXP from a battle even if they've dead/fainted. But since Pokémon's core mechanics are ostensibly about catching and nurturing whatever the game has to offer you out of a list of hundreds, each with their own individual stats that are invisible to the player, robbing the player of the choice arbitrarily limits them from choosing how they approach the game's systems. The trade-off to this is obvious: Turn EXP share on, all your Pokémon get EXP even if they don't battle, but because it's divided between the entire party, less XP is distributed per Pokémon. Turn EXP share off, and only the Pokémon that actually engaged in battle gets XP, but they're only splitting it with any other Pokémon that did battle at that time, so the yield is larger. Ostensibly, it frames it less as a difficulty switch and more as a strategic tool in its own right.

I like the EXP share as a general option. It's something I like to turn on and off as it suits my needs. I just don't like it being forced upon you because the game is scared you might actually be interested enough in playing it to want to engage with its core systems.

 

[Zerous]

When they first expanded the EXP share to affect the whole party, I saw it as a welcome QOL update, but as soon as they locked it permanently on was when I had the problem.

In multiple games, especially swsh, I found myself having to purposely stop exploring and keeping check of myself to not get over levelled. I don’t think the game should punish players for playing more, especially when the solution was literally in past games, and entirely possible. Being able to toggle it means everyone gets to play how they want.

 

[Snek]

Conflicted about this but my stance is that Exp. Share should not be permanent. As someone who's played since the GB days, grinding has always been my least favourite thing to do in the Pokemon games. They were never fun, especially since my OCD wanted all of my mons to reach level 100. So yeah, it was painful, absolutely painful, so when Exp.Share became a key item in Gen 6, I was thrilled. It was a QoL upgrade that was dire necessary. However, that being said, Exp.Share being permanent now does "ruin" the game for players that actually like grinding (if you want to pass the time, I guess...) so I think that the option of turning it off should have been available. Having the option to turn it off seems like an easy thing to implement but knowing GF easy things are hard for them. Its not like most Pokemon players are 10 years old these days so a perma easy mode seems strange. Most are in their 20s or even in their 30s so if players want it "harder" to pass the time they should be given that option.

 

[LoyalDragonfly]

I'm definitely on the side of more options being better than less. I also kind of wish that catching Pokemon didn't give experience, just like in the old days. I am playing Ruby and Leaf Green at the same time as Scarlet right now, and I will admit that leveling can be pretty painful in third gen... but I think it's gone too far in the other direction in the newer generations. Wild evolved Pokemon are more plentiful and (I feel, although I could certainly be wrong) wild Pokemon give more experience in general, plus exp share, plus gaining experience for catching as well as battling, plus the exp charm from Teal Mask... As it is, if you want to play a game like Pokemon ScarVio with a consistent team and you want to spend a substantial time exploring and catching Pokemon for the dex, you simply can't help but be overleveled. Combined with the low difficulty in general, the only way you can really be challenged at all is if you constantly swap out your Pokemon for new ones and/or purposefully rush through the main story.

The increased ease of experience gain would sit better with me if the rest of the game scaled up to match. At this point, just let the post-game teams be level 100 so you can't blow through end-game content simply by overleveling (which will more likely than not happen naturally). It would be even better if there was a challenging end game battle facility as well, but... alas.

It's just bizarre to me how much Gamefreak goes out of the way to take options away that wouldn't hurt anybody, and this includes locking on EXP share (and charm) and removing Set Mode. If I had to guess, it's like they can't understand why people would purposefully make the game more challenging - in their minds, if you want a truly challenging experience, you should just participate in PVP. I disagree with that idea, but it's the only reason I can think of when just letting players toggle it on and off seems like it should be simple to implement and easily ignorable if people want to play the game as-is. It's even more confusing with Set Mode; it was never a problem before. Why remove it now?

 

[LittleMissPanda]

It's funny because that's actually how EXP. Share (named EXP. All back then) used to work in Gen 1 RBY where there were no such thing as held items. It was a key item that gave all team members EXP. Points (but only half the amount the first party member would earn in battle)

I don't like it, I never liked it and never will like it, and I hate that now, it's essentially being forced on players. Back when it was first implemented in X and Y as a key item that would divide EXP. between all party members, there was the option of turning it off, which I did posthaste. Those games were easy enough as is. Then the feature returned in Sun and Moon, but you still had the option of turning it off, which I also did. You had the option of turning it off. But now, that option and other options in general (such as not being able to play in Set Mode, which is a huge pet peeve of mine) are slowly and unnecessarily being stripped away.

Players should be allowed options, but GameFreak (and to some extend, Nintendo, based on some of their more recent games) don't believe in that anymore.

It wasn't until LGPE where the EXP. Share feature suddenly couldn't be turned off, and went on being that way in SwSh, Legends, BDSP and ScarVio, and will most likely stay that way in future generations/remakes/etc.

I understand why it's a good thing for certain people and playstyles, because it gets rid of the grind not to mention the difficulty lol but I'm someone who actually likes the grind. For example, in FRLG I love adding the lv. 5 Aerodactyl to my team after reviving it on Cinnabar Island, then using the Vs. Seeker to rematch Trainers and actually, um you know, play the game like the RPG it is. I really enjoy seeing my monsters grow in levels through hard work and effort, it's satisfying.

Not to say everyone should feel and play the same way. If you enjoy the feature, if it makes your life easier, all the power to you. But please GameFreak, why not just give us options, what do you have against options lol

Maybe it wouldn't be THAT bad if EXP. Points were given out in small (very small) amounts to party members who didn't participate in the battle, but it seems EXP. Points are just free at this point. My team grows in levels way too fast. It's just not as much fun...

In spin off games such as Mystery Dungeon, everyone getting EXP. is a really good thing, but in the main series...no thank you.