If there’s one way to sum up gameplay based on player ID, it’d be “Unnecessary RNG.”
Right now, player ID decides what Pokemon you’ll see in specific instances, what items you’ll find in specific dungeons, as well as what Undercity gang you belong to.
The biggest issue with this is Pokemon spawns. It can be incredibly difficult to find the Pokemon you want if you were unlucky with your ID upon creating your character. Though this can be bypassed in most cases by partying with other players, that option isn’t always feasible, as players with the desired ID may not be willing to help, or you prefer doing things by yourself.
My next issue is with Gang Bases. To me, it makes no sense that when you enter the Undercity for the first time, you’re already assigned to one of the bases - you get no say in which one you join.
Personally, I’m a flying main who loves nighttime - everything about me screams Night Talon… but I’m forced to side with those Desert Fang lunatics
Being forced into one of the games prevents you from accessing certain items (without player trading, which is an unreliable system) based on RNG. This is incredibly poor game design in my opinion.
I believe the whole Gang mechanic needs a rework anyway, but this is my biggest issue with it.
Having split IDs that determine exclusive Pokemon spawns or access to specific places has always felt so unnecessary to me. I’ve never seen something like this done in an MMO game personally, and I think it doesn’t work out in these kinds of games.
Maybe this stems from taking too much inspiration from the main Pokemon games, where they have version exclusive Pokemon or different areas and such. PMU doesn’t need a feature like that however. There’s already enough RNG everywhere in this game, and tacking on more systems to determine Pokemon spawns or whatever else just makes it more annoying.
And this isn’t really RNG related or anything, but the gangs really feel random. Like, we don’t know why they’re there or what’s going on. They’re just kinda… There. I dunno, it’s kind of weird to just have random groups that don’t serve much of a purpose besides filling the role of having an ID locked shop. I’d definitely agree with the gang mechanic needing a rework, or just repurposed all together.
fox gang best gang, also yeah, this kind of thing was done in the main series mainly to make more money, it has never been a popular decision, and there is little reason to keep it here, as the game is free.
I don’t have much input into ID based gameplay, but I know it’s especially annoying for shiny hunting. I understand why in a MMO incentivizing players to journey together with exclusives is a good idea in theory but now that shinies are in the game, it makes it a lot less fun.
I do want to weigh in on the gang thing though! When I was working on the Undercity years ago, I had a lot of plans for it that weren’t able to see fruition due to the time constraints and my chronic illness, a lot of which the gangs had a bigger role to play! Originally there was going to be major plot points with them, as well as have exclusive missions that each gang gave out to the player, as well as an actual rivalry. I would absolutely love for the current staff to revamp the gang system, not being able to do everything I wanted in regards to the first project I was leading, is one of my biggest regrets and it’d be awesome to see it made better.
