What is always useful is if a game were to provide one or more features to keep track of what has happened in the game. The feature is usually in the form of a list of those happenings and at what time and date they occurred, plus all other significant information related to those happenings if the need arises. This is what I call the "record-keeping" feature, and as it turns out, certain Pokémon games are no stranger to this feature; it becomes useful to discuss and detail about the forms and realizations of this feature.
I got the inspiration to write this post due to having used one of these features on a currently popular Pokémon game, and that would be Pokémon Unite. It has a "Battle Record" feature that is accessed (on mobile) by going into Trainer Info and tapping it; it then shows the list of battles that have taken place along with certain statistics, and tapping on a battle shows detailed information for that battle, the same as what is shown at the end. I had to use the feature to remind a friend about a battle we both took part in, and it was helpful for that purpose. Of course, it should also be very useful for those who are very analytic about this kind of game.
On another popular Pokémon game, Pokémon Go, record-keeping is established through the Journal, which is accessed through the Trainer profile and keeps track of adventure actions by the Trainer, and Notifications, which is accessed through the News feature and keeps track of external actions indicated by messages on the top of the screen. Both of these note the actions as well as their dates and times, and used to be together until separated. They're rudimentary, but then so are the actions and not much more detail is needed other than what is necessary.
Some of the older main series games also kept a "journal" of sorts of actions from the past few days since the games were played, which is then shown upon loading a save file. This is (or was) useful for those who do not play the games frequently or sometimes spend extended time away from them to do other things or play other games. It's a bit of a shame that this feature wasn't retained in newer games afterwards, but at least the feature worked well in the time that it lasted.
No matter how complex the games are, a certain amount of record-keeping seems welcome and necessary in order to keep the action going, particularly in the Pokémon games that were mentioned above. The information that they keep track of has the potential to be useful not just for tracking things of past plays but also tracking the path of future plays, becoming more than merely records on lists for whichever game they may be.
Two years ago: Someone Else's Points
Three years ago: A Poké Ball Keychain
Four years ago: Cosplay: Kisetsu no Matsuri
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