Where is my Master Ball?

[shadow.sulphor]

Most of the fan game I played so far , doesn't have master ball(Ultimate Pokeball , we usually wait to get in past official games) , so what is the primary reason for this?
I thought about it , it can be cause we want the game to be harder and using MasterBall just ruins it, But think about the journey we have in the whole game , there should be a ultimate achievement ( which I think is replaced by the super legendary Pokemon or it always was).
So what do you think, why most fan game don't have master ball ?
Or may be there is an alternate answer like most of fan games are not complete yet :innocent:

And there may be other choices:idea: for that Ultimate Achievement other than Legendary Pokemon you might want , so let me know here

 

[VanillaSunshine]

As you mentioned, a big factor could potentially be in that a lot of fan games aren't in their final version. In that same line of thought, most fan games are quite small when compared to the official games (see: the games made during the Game Jams), and might not have a reason to include a Master Ball. They might not have a massive goal in which the player would be rewarded something like a Master Ball in favor of a "better" reward. (For example, in GSC / HGSS, the player only receives the Master Ball after collecting the first eight badges in Johto. That's a huge accomplishment! Almost half of the game has been played!) Most shorter games only have one "big" goal which is completed at the very end of the game, and to receive a Master Ball at that point could seem a bit useless to certain players, as the game is already finished!

There could also be the fact that some devs simply forget about it. I can't speak for everyone, but when I play the official games, my Master Ball goes completely unused. It doesn't feel good or rewarding to catch a Pokémon using it, and I don't find it very aesthetically pleasing personally, and I'm not entirely willing to "waste" it on a Pokémon that I don't deem worthy of requiring such a powerful Ball. Because of that, it's very easy to forget the Master Ball is even a thing, and therefore easy to forget to put it somewhere for players to find/receive.

From a world-building perspective, it could be explained by the fact that Master Balls are seen to be an invaluable item. It doesn't always make sense for there to be an NPC to hand it out to this helpful trainer, or for it to just be lying around for any person to find. In the RGY / FRLG, it's made very clear that the Master Ball isn't even completely developed: it's just a prototype! The whole reason Team Rocket attacked Silph Co. is to get the prototype of the Master Ball. Because of this, it might not always fit a fan game's story that a Master Ball is even possible to obtain by any NPCs in the game.

In my case, I don't personally find the Master Ball to be a very worthwhile reward when I receive it while playing. I do some big task, get all excited when an NPC starts going on a speech about how grateful they are for my help, begin brainstorming what cool and amazing thing they could possibly give me... only to get a Master Ball, which is great, but ultimately useless for me specifically. Most of the time, I would have preferred something else, like a rare Held Item or some kind of useful Key Item. (That's not to say I don't like getting the Master Ball, as it's a good emergency safety net, but it's always a little disappointing for me with my play style.)

When I play fan games, I appreciate when I can tell that a dev wanted to express their love for the official games. There's something so nice about playing a fan game, even a short one, and feeling like it has potential to be an official game. This can be easily accomplished by devs who made a point to use the official games' formula. The Master Ball is just one of those formulaic traits: every main series (and a few side-series) Pokémon games has a Master Ball for the player to receive/find. One of the traits that "make" a main series game is finding the Master Ball, which is why I suspect it can be a bit surprising when you play a fan game (that is very similar to the main series Pokémon games) and don't ever receive one. Even as a player who doesn't find the Master Ball very useful, I feel like something is just missing if I finish the game and haven't received one yet.

As for why devs might not include it, there's obviously lots of a reasons. Either it didn't fit in the game's world, the dev felt it might disrupt the flow, it wasn't seen as a useful reward, or maybe the dev just forgot about it! Unless there's a story-required Pokémon with a very low capture rate (which, IMO, is a crime on its own), I don't think the Master Ball is a crucial thing to remember. It's useful and fun, of course, but certainly not a sin to end up forgetting!

 

[Aki]

I like that this thread popped up when I was just adding a Masterball to my game :laughing:
For me, the decision to add the Masterball was because I'm making an effort to include more player choice than I had been. So when I decided to have a boss battle with a legendary Pokemon, I thought it would make more sense if the player could choose to catch it, even though that's not what I'd prefer; because like Sab said, the Masterball isn't an exciting item, it's a boring one.

My issue with the Masterball while playing games is usually that I don't know what to use it on. Sure it's fairly obvious to use it on a legendary Pokemon, but that's not easy when there's more than one legendary. Just look at a trio, how can I pick only one?? Or if I encounter a roaming legendary, just the effort of meeting it might be annoyance enough to use the Masterball on, even if there are tougher Pokemon to catch.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

My biggest problem with the Master Ball is that it's pretty much a "skip this fight" button. Options that remove gameplay are obviously going to be shunned-who the heck is playing a game that doesn't want to play it? (Honestly, if players have to use Master Ball to get past something, that's probably an indication your difficulty needs to be dialed back)

And that problem just continues when community is considered. It's almost embarassing to show a nonshiny Pokemon in a Master Ball-"yeah, I got to this Pokemon, but instead of battling it, I just threw this ball out first thing." And a Master Ball is a common favorite to hack, so there's the concern of seeming like a hacker.

And, like Saburina said, the Master Ball isn't that fun of a design. It makes sense-the other balls of Gen 1 weren't that interesting, either-but it's more of a letdown now to see a simple design be the "more valuable" one compared to the other interesting designs. I like the angle SuMo took with Beast Balls as opposed to Master Balls-a great design, a special target in mind, and even a challenge to use on other Pokemon, so there's no shame in using it on something else.

 

[shadow.sulphor]

I agree with most of reply here, cause the Master Ball seems to be like a past thing , even in one of a Let's play of SM, I watch the player using Master Ball to catch a castform , cause it was the last Pokemon needed to complete the Dex.
And so that means there should be some other achievement for player other than legendary Pokemon, to keep them playing the game
I wonder what it could be like in Insurgence , there is a whole another region(which I wasn't knowing till I get there) to discover and Delta legendaries .
Just Remember there was a moment in Insurgence when one of the cult or Delta specialist used master ball for the purpose of evil to catch legendary Pokemon.
Still there is a question are you satisfied with legendary Pokemon in the fan work you want something else , something different?

 

[HollowGap]

I think pokeball varieties aren't that special because normal wild pokemon never escapes. You can fail without worrying any consequences. Just stock up x99 pokeball and you're set to catch any pokemon. Even when catch rate is low, all you need is a stock of more expensive balls, which aren't that expensive anyway.

When a Suicune appears, you are more likely to throw a master ball at first try. When it escapes, well, good luck finding it again.

So the more pressing issue is the absence of consequence when failing to capture a pokemon. A script where it flees after 2 or 3 attempts can force the player to choose their circular weapon carefully.

 

[Fontbane]

Shiny insurance. If the player finds a shiny legendary they can't afford to faint it! So just use a Master Ball on it.