To many, a Pokemon game's replay value is reliant on a solid post-game to look forward to. However, this might not be the only way. In fact, many of the most successful RPGs go a very different route towards replayability: The humble, but serviceable side quest. Often, players will glaze over these quests during the main story, which effectively makes those undone story beats a post game matter for many.
Some games even build side quests into the core of the main game, allowing for a personal feel to each run. Different players will get different games, based on the side quests they choose to undertake.
So why, in Pokemon, where many of these ideas are considered crucial, are there so few side quests? Sure, you might get a small reward for catching a tiny pokemon and showing it to some guy in Kalos, or some Ribbons from the Pokemon Contest. But it all seems a little shallow. There's so much potential, especially with the open-world direction the mainline Pokemon series is taking. You could so easily add a few NPCs here and there to set you off on a small diversion from the usual Gym Challenge.
Put simply, side quests could add a simple extra layer to Pokemon games that would give them an extra bit of content. Thankfully, we've already seen a slight lean towards this possibility with the 3 main quests present in the newest games. But if this diversification of storylines in Pokemon games keeps up, I'm very excited to see some serious staying power in future games.
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