>>44864602>Make it more of an adventure with you and your Pokemon rather than one with you always feeling like the side character amidst all the other poorly-written shitters. Of course, you can always have rivals and stuff, but at least make them actually neat characters instead of the overdone 'friendly rival that bends over constantly' or 'sensitive female loli for those sick lolibux'. Ex-evil team, thugs, rich snobby dorks; you have a lot of untapped choices.
The first part reminds me of Graffiti Kingdom, one of those weird Pokemon competitors that flourished in the early 2000s. You weren't anyone important - the two royal kids who you keep running into ARE, on the other hand. Hell, Monster Rancher kind of went this route, especially with the difficulty - you aren't Ash Ketchum, you're not Tai, you're not even Joey Wheeler or Tea Gardner. You are some bit-rate farmer trying to make sure your monsters don't die.
The latter... I actually REALLY liked Bede for this reason. I liked Hop, and jerk rivals aren't a new concept - but a jerk rival who knows he can't beat you but can exact his revenge by really crushing your friend's will to live really hit me in the gut.
