v20.1 Focus Meter System [v20.1] v1.1.2

I appreciate the feedback. I can see the argument for keeping RNG, it's just that the mission statement of this concept was "eliminate RNG wherever possible", so that's what it ended up being built and balanced around. A happy medium could probably work too, but that wasn't the goal going in. I tried to still keep the identity of certain moves by simply having them be more effective at building meter; Poison Fang for instance will build your meter by 50% or more in one turn, compared to something like Poison Sting which would only build around a fifth of your meter. This ends up being roughly equivalent to how Poison Fang already functions, because being able to charge your meter by half with each use means you will be able to proc a Poison effect nearly every other turn, which sort of emulates that 50% rate. It's just more "fair" because this rate isn't determined by coin flips, it's just potentially guaranteed after every second use. This is especially true if you stack multiple effects on the Pokemon to boost the rate that its meter charges.

Another example is with crits. A high crit move will no longer crit, but instead rapidly fill your meter. So in practice, this means you will be able to crit far more often, making it functionally identical to how high crit moves already work. The difference again is that it's no longer based on dice rolls, you just choose which turn you can trigger that crit. So I don't really think the identity of the moves are lost exactly, they actually function nearly the same as they do normally. It's just the mechanics surrounding them are different with this plugin. Like, if you wanted to make a crit-based set on a Scyther or something, Slash would still be a far better tool for it than Tackle, because with the right build you can make Slash completely fill your meter each turn, effectively always having the ability to crit when you want to. You couldn't do that as efficiently with Tackle. Slash (and other high crit moves) still have their niche.

With all that said, I can understand how they don't feel *immediately* distinct enough. Because in the traditional system, Slash can just start dealing crits right out of the gate with no build up, whereas with this system, Slash is just a normal move if your ability to build meter is shut down somehow. It relies on the meter to give it identity, whereas before the move just had an inherent identity. So I can understand it from that angle.

I think that ultimately, this system isn't really ideal for Pokemon, because RNG is so ingrained in the DNA of Pokemon at this point. It's just part of the appeal of the games. This system would probably be better implemented in a completely different RPG entirely, maybe if someone is using Essentials to build a Pokemon-like game, not just a direct Pokemon fangame. In either case, this project was more for me to create a fun proof of concept than anything, and I think it accomplished what it sets out to do pretty well.

Im curious what a light version would even entail? Having a bar seems kinda unnecessary if everything remains unchanged.