I actually really liked having the Contest halls being separated. Instead of stopping halfway through your journey in Lillycove to do all the Contests, you were instead encouraged to do them as you progressed through the story, which helped give you some breaks in-between all the battles.
I honestly never utilized the Battle Tents. Why bother, since the Battle Frontier was so epic? During the story I don't EV train or IV breed my team, so I really only utilize those kinds of facilities post-game anyways.
I really can't think of something I would rather have than the Contest Halls back...
Oh.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Edit: I just discussed with my boyfriend, and he brings up the point of PokéMarts being inside PokéCenters now.
With that knowledge, we do have one extra building slot in pretty much every city. Maybe both Contest Halls and clothing stores can be included?
Hmm; I would see how players would be encouraged to do Contests as the game progresses (Slateport City, the first place where you learn of Pokemon Contests in
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, is such a tease since you're ineligible for Hyper Rank at that stage in the game where you haven't reached Verdanturf Town yet), but I would think that one would have the wherewithal to prepare Pokemon better with high-quality resources either by the time they first reach Lilycove City (since they most likely already has the Hidden Move (HM) Fly, which aids in Berry harvesting) or during the post-game (where you can be much more efficient with Berry harvesting). I think the Normal Rank and Super Rank Pokemon Contests are do-able by Pokemon who haven't had their Contest Conditions augmented by PokeBlocks/Contest Scarves at all, but you pretty much have to be at the top of your game to win the Master Rank Pokemon Contests (particularly if you want a Contest Painting and the corresponding Portrait Ribbon) - in which case you would be better off making Pokeblocks in Lilycove City anyway (as Lilycove has the most people at the Berry Blender machine IIRC; I might have to double-check how many people are at the non-Lilycove Berry Blender machines..).
Also, most of the high-tier Berries for PokeBlocks (Pamtre, Durin, Watmel, and Belue Berry; Liechi Berry is in a class of its own and is arguably the most optimal Berry to use for Berry Blending but is ridiculously hard to obtain due to its appearance at boohoo-for-you Mirage Island :P) are restricted to the post-game/require the player to defeat the Elite Four/Champion before obtaining them from the Berry Master's wife (according to Bulbapedia, Spelon Berry, used for Cool Contests and roughly analogous to Pamtre/Durin/Watmel/Belue, is the only "high-tier" Berry that can be obtained before the Elite Four), so the player might as well wait until the post-game to challenge Contests at an optimal level.
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OOH, great point; I forgot about the Poke Marts being consolidated within Pokemon Centers! If that practice is maintained, there is extra space indeed! ^^ (although what will happen to the wonderful Poke Mart music? Will it be restricted to just the Lilycove Department Store? :()! If that's the case, I would love it if clothing stores replaced Poke Mart areas, so the Battle Tent areas could still be used for something battle-oriented! (like Battle Institute or Battle Chateau)
The only Tent I really enjoyed was the Battle Tent where you didn't get to decide what attack your Pokemon used. That one was always fun and, unlike its Frontier counterpart, held no penalty except you didn't get a Protein or something like that.
That being said, I'd love for them to make a comeback. It was something cute that they added into the games.
What penalty are you talking about for the Battle Palace's event? ~_~ Aside from more wasted time (since the Battle Palace necessitates 7 consecutive battles, while the Verdanturf Battle Tent site from
Emerald only mandates 3 consecutive battles) and the loss of potential Battle Points (which is identical to the loss of the potential "Protein/other applicable item" that you mentioned for the Battle Tent), I don't see a difference between the 2 areas' rulesets..