Pokémon Game Journals

In another game series that I play, journals are an important part of the games. They leave vital clues for the player, indicate personalities of characters, and provide a reading diversion. Most Pokémon games are action-oriented, so journals like these would more likely get in the way rather than be a useful aid as well as entertainment. Even so, journals could at least be useful and attractive in some ways, in particular to different figures in the Pokémon world.

The professors would certainly keep lots of journals related to their research on Pokémon. Fully fleshed-out journals for them could conceivably contain not only lots of text, but also sketches and images, which are also often found in journals in the other game series. As for their ability to leave vital clues, they would likely become important when it comes to hinting about certain Pokémon, as in the case of the newly-discovered Meltan. The perhaps unparalleled knowledge provided by the journals would be their appeal point.

Keeping a journal would also be in the interest of the villains of the games. In fact, this would be practically inevitable; whether visible to the player or not, they'd have to write down their ideas for their grand schemes, as they can't conceivably keep all their ideas contained in their minds. Their journals would perhaps have more text than images, but the more technically-oriented among them could have more sketches in their journals. In this way, they would show their depth of character. Whether or not this could be made more visible in this manner is another matter.

To a minor extent, other supporting characters (that are neither of the ones mentioned above) may also be subject to owning a journal. In fact, this has been illustrated in the Mystery Dungeon series, in the "Explorers" sub-series, where one of the NPC Pokémon keeps a miniature journal, wherein it is also indicated that the player character has "snooped" reading it. Such a journal, if fully fleshed out, could likely be full of text rather than images, like the ones for the villains. And as in the example above, if fully realized, the results could be quite entertaining.

Many Pokémon games are not really provisioned for full journals, though there is at least one example of a miniature journal. The idea of full journals in Pokémon games remains an interesting idea, especially if a game could be crafted that would allow for them. They would be a part of the game that would provide intrigue and goad the player to advance, which also happens to be the exact point of them in the other game series. Given the varied casts of characters in Pokémon games, as well as possible Pokémon game varieties, the idea of journals in them might just be very much possible.

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