Last Wednesday I noticed that a new Pokemon trailer dropped. Mostly by the wave of lewd fanart on my Twitter feed. So I opened a Youtube tab and searched for it.
My expectations were pretty low, the usual critters idling at 6 FPS with their stupefied painted faces and sprawling wastelands with an origami tree put here and there.
But, oh boy, Game Freak is professionally committed to making each new game more unprofessional than the previous, and icing it with just enough fan service to let the vast majority of potential customers forget that they're buying for 60+ bucks games that could run on a PS2.
What I'm talking about?
• The aforementioned low FPS of the pokemon, the fact that landscapes are barren steppe made with a bunch of generic assets, where the objects made by GF stick out like a sore thumb.
• The fact that they won't have any voice acting despite the trailers featuring i, because it's the standard of the industry now. Tragicomic.
• The apparent step back after Arceus to un-animated battles where pokemon never touch, but throw emojis at each other.
• The increasingly creepy human designs, which look less and less like pokemon characters and can't handle facial expressions and mouth flaps.
• Another ultimate move that will become the new coat of paint for a battle system that for the last 9 years gravitated around an auto-win button.
Koraidon, what have they done to you?
This is the first time I can say with no doubt that the pokemon themselves suck. I've always been pretty neutral on the argument, because there's almost always a strong study behind each pokemon, and every one has its fans, even Vanillite.
(Personally, I find all the anthropomorphic pokemon very uncanny and out of place, and I know that they're the absolute fan favorites.)
But this time, giving wheels to a legendary but making him still move on its legs like it's the Flinstones' Mobile is embarrassing.
How does it happen? How in the thick and reiterated process of creature creation at GF, does a dragon with giant hernias coming out of his butt get approval?
Originality at any cost.
My theory is that The Pokemon Company operates on a dysfunctional balance between expected and unexpected.
The expected is what is ideal for marketing and cutting costs.
• For marketing, is very good to give a new ultimate form to the Kanto pokemon every generation, especially to Pikachu and Charizard. Or making the three starters three anthros because you literally cut the middle man in the free marketing tool that is Rule-34.
• For cutting costs, is especially convenient to not give actual battle animations to the pokemon. Punches, kicks, correct spawn points for the beams, etc. Also, 1v1 battles, that are the 95% trainer encounters you will make in the single player. It has been that way with grayscale sprites on the Game Boy and it will always be.
The unexpected is about making things different from what fans and artists have been envisioning for years, just to demonstrate that the "professionals" at Game Freak aren't copying the "amateurs" on the internet. Making them different at any cost.
I've already mentioned the hernia dragon, but a bunch of things that come to my mind right now is:
• A regional evolution for Farfetch'd that looks like a western knight because fakemon Samurai Farfetch'd was already too popular. (Or even Maitresse Farfetch'd from the Space World Demo of Pokemon Gold.)
• The absence of any new Eevolution, because the internet is already full of Dragon, Ghost, and Flying Eevees. The last time a new Eevolution was introduced, it was designed around a new type that fans didn't know about.
• We will never see a Sound type despite so many moves pokemon being already themed around sound and music.
• A new Grass/Rock pokemon that would look cool, make sense and have both interesting vulnerabilities and perks? Easier to find them in a Rom Hack.
• Making Kangaskhan's cub a pre-evolution with its own name? Oh, that would mean questioning the breeding system where dogs and mice lay eggs. It just won't happen.
Breeding and Metagame
The breeding system is especially interesting, not just for the eugenics implications (these are games made in Japan after all) but because it was introduced in Gold and Silver as a trick to make kids with no better alternative to play a bit longer. You make pokemon mate, the eggs hatch, and you get new species, better stats, and egg moves.
But today it's a system so exploited that "exploited" is the norm and every pokemon with half a chance to make it in the competitive game has to descend from a respectable line of inbreeding that the player has spent days laying down.
Or better, it would if most of the competitive players didn't create their super-pokemon in third-party editors. A choice that I completely approve of, because there's no strategy and skills in running around the Daycare Center with your bike and hoping for the best fruit of incest to hatch from the egg. Just luck and a lot of time to waste.
At this point, I just wish for the IVs and EVs to get removed from the game, and make all pokemon of the same species equal, with only natures, abilities, and items to tweak their potential usage in battle.
It's a system so deeply broken that just doesn't make sense anymore to be around.
But instead, the new ultimate move introduced with this generation, the terrifyingly ugly Tera-Crystal seems like it will make the obtainment of super pokemon with a very favorable Tera-Type even more relevant.
We're still in the realm of leaks and speculations, but in the last pokemon trailer a Dragonite with a Fire Tera-Type takes a water move from a Slowbro, and the sound font of the supereffective attack can be heard, meaning that the Dragon Type of Dragonite has been completely ignored.
That would mean that Tera-Types might be used to make a lot of already very powerful pokemon, Gastrodon, Garchomp, Ferrotorn, and so on, free of their infamous 4× vulnerabilities that prevented them from monopolizing the metagame.
If a Snorlax can be of 18 different types, countering it becomes more a matter of luck than strategy.
It's still a GB game
The battle system of Pokemon is so susceptible to ultimate moves, not just because they're brocken, but also because it hasn't been changed that much in the past 25 years: 1v1 is still the norm, and most of the pokemon can be 1HKO-ed from a supereffective attack, 70% of the moves are trash and 3 levels of difference are matter of life or death.
This was functional for the GB games, which had to deal with crippling hardware limitations, and had to simplify the basic mechanics of JRPGs: elements, classes, and attributes compressed in the same layer of the Type chart, 1v1 as the exclusive way to battle, and a steep layer-stats curve that made easy fights quicker and less tedious.
But there's no excuse today to keep this very idiosyncratic type of battle system, especially considering that some parts have been updated. Pokemon not being a casual encounter anymore, decent moves available in the early levels, and experience points spread across the entire team. These upgrades in the quality of life and game feel have just annihilated the difficulty for a battle system still based on slow and painstaking grinding, and the ultimate moves have been the biggest source of alteration because there's no other metagame like pokemon so critically centered around the chance of using correctly the ultimate move at the player's disposal.
For sure, the Tera-Crystals might toss around a bit more this very flimsy more-exceptions-than-rules battle system, but will make very nice (?) figures for kids to collect and remember that time they pushed the autowin button.
You've been imprinted as a child.
And between these figures there will be an exclusive form for Charizard, I bet on that, because it's that kind of fanservice that makes people forget that they don't actually enjoy Pokemon games.
The other side of fanservice is instead giving players a lot of Rule-34 baits to thirst over. It might be Professor Turus with his soulless eyes and mechanical mouthflap, or actual anthro Incineroar.
Not against putting hot characters in a game for kids, but at this point it seems more a corporate decision to leverage the fandom for free publicity through horny fanart, than an artistic choice.
Especially considering how weird the anatomy of most of the poke-furries is (skinny, no joints, long torso, giant head, etc.) and how better they would look as quadrupeds instead of bipeds that can't go full anthro because "game for kids."
It's just cringy to have Rule-34 work half-done for us. When I saw the Grass-Type Gym Leader of Sword&Shield with those giant boobs but childish facial features, I gained a new wrinkle.
It's like Game Freak is whispering to their adult fans: "Hey, we can't make games for grown-ups because we don't care anymore, but here's something for you."
It's just boring
To reiterate, when you take away the fanservice, playing pokemon isn't fun anymore, and to demonstrate that is the existence of games that mimick pokemon, Coromon, Nexomon, TemTem and lost relevance the week after they were published.
They can do what pokemon do ten times better, with all the adjustments in the story, quality of life, and graphics they want, but the sad reality is that playing Pokemon feels fun because we have the pokemon, creatures of the biggest media franchise of modern times, but in reality, we're still playing a GB game decades behind its competitors, competitors that have to make good games because they aren't backed up by a fucking empire of card games, smartphone apps, anime, and most of all, merchandise.
Pokemon doesn't renovate because there's no time (one game per year, eh) nor incentive to do that. Because when you have such a vast and nostalgic fandom you need just to make the right amount of fanservice without giving the impression that you took inspiration from the fans themselves and let the hive mind of fan artists do the marketing for you.
It's just more effective. I daresay, supereffective.
Posted using PostyBirb
My expectations were pretty low, the usual critters idling at 6 FPS with their stupefied painted faces and sprawling wastelands with an origami tree put here and there.
But, oh boy, Game Freak is professionally committed to making each new game more unprofessional than the previous, and icing it with just enough fan service to let the vast majority of potential customers forget that they're buying for 60+ bucks games that could run on a PS2.
What I'm talking about?
• The aforementioned low FPS of the pokemon, the fact that landscapes are barren steppe made with a bunch of generic assets, where the objects made by GF stick out like a sore thumb.
• The fact that they won't have any voice acting despite the trailers featuring i, because it's the standard of the industry now. Tragicomic.
• The apparent step back after Arceus to un-animated battles where pokemon never touch, but throw emojis at each other.
• The increasingly creepy human designs, which look less and less like pokemon characters and can't handle facial expressions and mouth flaps.
• Another ultimate move that will become the new coat of paint for a battle system that for the last 9 years gravitated around an auto-win button.
Koraidon, what have they done to you?
This is the first time I can say with no doubt that the pokemon themselves suck. I've always been pretty neutral on the argument, because there's almost always a strong study behind each pokemon, and every one has its fans, even Vanillite.
(Personally, I find all the anthropomorphic pokemon very uncanny and out of place, and I know that they're the absolute fan favorites.)
But this time, giving wheels to a legendary but making him still move on its legs like it's the Flinstones' Mobile is embarrassing.
How does it happen? How in the thick and reiterated process of creature creation at GF, does a dragon with giant hernias coming out of his butt get approval?
Originality at any cost.
My theory is that The Pokemon Company operates on a dysfunctional balance between expected and unexpected.
The expected is what is ideal for marketing and cutting costs.
• For marketing, is very good to give a new ultimate form to the Kanto pokemon every generation, especially to Pikachu and Charizard. Or making the three starters three anthros because you literally cut the middle man in the free marketing tool that is Rule-34.
• For cutting costs, is especially convenient to not give actual battle animations to the pokemon. Punches, kicks, correct spawn points for the beams, etc. Also, 1v1 battles, that are the 95% trainer encounters you will make in the single player. It has been that way with grayscale sprites on the Game Boy and it will always be.
The unexpected is about making things different from what fans and artists have been envisioning for years, just to demonstrate that the "professionals" at Game Freak aren't copying the "amateurs" on the internet. Making them different at any cost.
I've already mentioned the hernia dragon, but a bunch of things that come to my mind right now is:
• A regional evolution for Farfetch'd that looks like a western knight because fakemon Samurai Farfetch'd was already too popular. (Or even Maitresse Farfetch'd from the Space World Demo of Pokemon Gold.)
• The absence of any new Eevolution, because the internet is already full of Dragon, Ghost, and Flying Eevees. The last time a new Eevolution was introduced, it was designed around a new type that fans didn't know about.
• We will never see a Sound type despite so many moves pokemon being already themed around sound and music.
• A new Grass/Rock pokemon that would look cool, make sense and have both interesting vulnerabilities and perks? Easier to find them in a Rom Hack.
• Making Kangaskhan's cub a pre-evolution with its own name? Oh, that would mean questioning the breeding system where dogs and mice lay eggs. It just won't happen.
Breeding and Metagame
The breeding system is especially interesting, not just for the eugenics implications (these are games made in Japan after all) but because it was introduced in Gold and Silver as a trick to make kids with no better alternative to play a bit longer. You make pokemon mate, the eggs hatch, and you get new species, better stats, and egg moves.
But today it's a system so exploited that "exploited" is the norm and every pokemon with half a chance to make it in the competitive game has to descend from a respectable line of inbreeding that the player has spent days laying down.
Or better, it would if most of the competitive players didn't create their super-pokemon in third-party editors. A choice that I completely approve of, because there's no strategy and skills in running around the Daycare Center with your bike and hoping for the best fruit of incest to hatch from the egg. Just luck and a lot of time to waste.
At this point, I just wish for the IVs and EVs to get removed from the game, and make all pokemon of the same species equal, with only natures, abilities, and items to tweak their potential usage in battle.
It's a system so deeply broken that just doesn't make sense anymore to be around.
But instead, the new ultimate move introduced with this generation, the terrifyingly ugly Tera-Crystal seems like it will make the obtainment of super pokemon with a very favorable Tera-Type even more relevant.
We're still in the realm of leaks and speculations, but in the last pokemon trailer a Dragonite with a Fire Tera-Type takes a water move from a Slowbro, and the sound font of the supereffective attack can be heard, meaning that the Dragon Type of Dragonite has been completely ignored.
That would mean that Tera-Types might be used to make a lot of already very powerful pokemon, Gastrodon, Garchomp, Ferrotorn, and so on, free of their infamous 4× vulnerabilities that prevented them from monopolizing the metagame.
If a Snorlax can be of 18 different types, countering it becomes more a matter of luck than strategy.
It's still a GB game
The battle system of Pokemon is so susceptible to ultimate moves, not just because they're brocken, but also because it hasn't been changed that much in the past 25 years: 1v1 is still the norm, and most of the pokemon can be 1HKO-ed from a supereffective attack, 70% of the moves are trash and 3 levels of difference are matter of life or death.
This was functional for the GB games, which had to deal with crippling hardware limitations, and had to simplify the basic mechanics of JRPGs: elements, classes, and attributes compressed in the same layer of the Type chart, 1v1 as the exclusive way to battle, and a steep layer-stats curve that made easy fights quicker and less tedious.
But there's no excuse today to keep this very idiosyncratic type of battle system, especially considering that some parts have been updated. Pokemon not being a casual encounter anymore, decent moves available in the early levels, and experience points spread across the entire team. These upgrades in the quality of life and game feel have just annihilated the difficulty for a battle system still based on slow and painstaking grinding, and the ultimate moves have been the biggest source of alteration because there's no other metagame like pokemon so critically centered around the chance of using correctly the ultimate move at the player's disposal.
For sure, the Tera-Crystals might toss around a bit more this very flimsy more-exceptions-than-rules battle system, but will make very nice (?) figures for kids to collect and remember that time they pushed the autowin button.
You've been imprinted as a child.
And between these figures there will be an exclusive form for Charizard, I bet on that, because it's that kind of fanservice that makes people forget that they don't actually enjoy Pokemon games.
The other side of fanservice is instead giving players a lot of Rule-34 baits to thirst over. It might be Professor Turus with his soulless eyes and mechanical mouthflap, or actual anthro Incineroar.
Not against putting hot characters in a game for kids, but at this point it seems more a corporate decision to leverage the fandom for free publicity through horny fanart, than an artistic choice.
Especially considering how weird the anatomy of most of the poke-furries is (skinny, no joints, long torso, giant head, etc.) and how better they would look as quadrupeds instead of bipeds that can't go full anthro because "game for kids."
It's just cringy to have Rule-34 work half-done for us. When I saw the Grass-Type Gym Leader of Sword&Shield with those giant boobs but childish facial features, I gained a new wrinkle.
It's like Game Freak is whispering to their adult fans: "Hey, we can't make games for grown-ups because we don't care anymore, but here's something for you."
It's just boring
To reiterate, when you take away the fanservice, playing pokemon isn't fun anymore, and to demonstrate that is the existence of games that mimick pokemon, Coromon, Nexomon, TemTem and lost relevance the week after they were published.
They can do what pokemon do ten times better, with all the adjustments in the story, quality of life, and graphics they want, but the sad reality is that playing Pokemon feels fun because we have the pokemon, creatures of the biggest media franchise of modern times, but in reality, we're still playing a GB game decades behind its competitors, competitors that have to make good games because they aren't backed up by a fucking empire of card games, smartphone apps, anime, and most of all, merchandise.
Pokemon doesn't renovate because there's no time (one game per year, eh) nor incentive to do that. Because when you have such a vast and nostalgic fandom you need just to make the right amount of fanservice without giving the impression that you took inspiration from the fans themselves and let the hive mind of fan artists do the marketing for you.
It's just more effective. I daresay, supereffective.
Posted using PostyBirb
Category Artwork (Digital) / All
Species Pokemon
Gender Male
Size 1498 x 842px
Listed in Folders
I'm glad you're speaking your mind about pokemon. I honestly feel like its hard to speak against the games without getting instant backlash.
My feeling with pokemon had always been "Well, they are making games for an underpowered device, so I guess its fine." That was during the DS era. But I think that excuse isn't valid anymore with the Switch. Sure, it isn't your PS5 but it can for certain run better than this late-era PS1 game. It comes down to them knowing they will always sell their games for $60 ($90 considering the paid DLC inevitably coming as well), as well as the fact Pokemon is much bigger than the games by now. I'd venture to guess they get more money out of anime/merchandise rather from selling the game, so really this new game is just an excuse to release the new generation of pokemon and hence produce more merchandise.
I feel like it might be a problem with modern Nintendo as well. I definitely do not like the release of incomplete games that receive "free dlc" by drip feeding every few months with content that should have been in-game from the start (looking at you Mario Strikers)
I haven't played mainline pokemon in nearly a decade now. I'll continue to enjoy the pokemon themselves and the furry art they get, but the games are, simply put, trash and I don't see myself playing them anytime soon. Reward incompetence and you'll keep getting incompetence.
(At least I still got Shin Megami Tensei to fulfill that monster tamer need, haha. Ose my beloved.)
My feeling with pokemon had always been "Well, they are making games for an underpowered device, so I guess its fine." That was during the DS era. But I think that excuse isn't valid anymore with the Switch. Sure, it isn't your PS5 but it can for certain run better than this late-era PS1 game. It comes down to them knowing they will always sell their games for $60 ($90 considering the paid DLC inevitably coming as well), as well as the fact Pokemon is much bigger than the games by now. I'd venture to guess they get more money out of anime/merchandise rather from selling the game, so really this new game is just an excuse to release the new generation of pokemon and hence produce more merchandise.
I feel like it might be a problem with modern Nintendo as well. I definitely do not like the release of incomplete games that receive "free dlc" by drip feeding every few months with content that should have been in-game from the start (looking at you Mario Strikers)
I haven't played mainline pokemon in nearly a decade now. I'll continue to enjoy the pokemon themselves and the furry art they get, but the games are, simply put, trash and I don't see myself playing them anytime soon. Reward incompetence and you'll keep getting incompetence.
(At least I still got Shin Megami Tensei to fulfill that monster tamer need, haha. Ose my beloved.)
Ha you can google the statistics: the console games count as less than the 5% of their revenue. It's all about merchandise, and even the smartphone apps make more money than the console games with their microtransactions.
As suspected it. And I forgot to mention just how terrible the legendaries look. You're not the only one, the wheels on his chest yet he uses his legs? Terrible.
But given the good reception on Twitter, GF can just design whatever they want and people will love it, clearly.
But given the good reception on Twitter, GF can just design whatever they want and people will love it, clearly.
That's because the "wheels" aren't actually wheels, they are a throat sack and his tail curled up respectively. You are missing the point of the design my guy!! 😤
sorry for bad grammar but,
ok I'm not really going to defend Game Freaks choices as they are all cork board i.e. they stick new ideas on the wall for the new game and try and put as many as they can see what sells and the removes the ones that did bad or they believe it didn't sell well to then move to the new cork board with the next game gimmick.
This also is part to blame they don't want to code in exrta items unless it a quality of life improvement for the players (mints) or two daycare a mini game to do EV train for you. (opps that too easy better remove it.) like coding all the Z-max items all the Mega stones they even stop coding in location evolving (moss rock, icy rock, magnetic fields.) they trade all that for the elemental stones.
So to not code in more and more because remember pokemon was on hand held devices they need to save space were ever and how much ever they can this is also why they were always under $60 as most 3DS game never went past $40. . . their no real point I'm making here just point out that how their own sells used to work. .
anyway we always get the half made games that are rushed and they know they can sell them because Sword and Shield sold like hot cakes and they know now they can keep doing it. Will people still buy the new regardless if its good or not? yeah, all they have to do is offer a new bit of hope for the people that give up on pokemon to try it again they don't care if you like it they just want you to buy it.
and by that look at what they are adding 3 stories so if one sucks maybe you'll like the other 2. real "open world" exploring so far many fans have been asking for the chance to do any gym in any order. and a real multi player that although it looks like multi you find in genshin impact were you can walk around in the host world and maybe fight a raid boss so far it also might take the genshin impact "co-op" approach it just lock the host out of the stories when "co-op" is turn on.
"but its meant for kids" you may say that not a excuse to be lazy and make some thing bad yeah the kid will enjoy literately every thing about it. But you can still give them some thing good or better so more people enjoy it and appreciate more.
"but you can't expect them to work so much in such little time." the next gen starts being worked on the moment the anime hits the air and by the time the anime is done running the new game is out. you also know a lot of the work in Pokemon games are them just reusing assets from the last gens to save time they never make new game from the ground up that would take them years to make like the levels of waiting for triple A studio come out with a new game.
and lastly if this new pokemon game dose not have the full dex like last gen didn't then they should have no reason not to put more effort in the animations like your saving time by not putting in all the pokemon in where did you put that save time into we know it didn't go to animations, story, or graphics so what happen to it.
ok I'm not really going to defend Game Freaks choices as they are all cork board i.e. they stick new ideas on the wall for the new game and try and put as many as they can see what sells and the removes the ones that did bad or they believe it didn't sell well to then move to the new cork board with the next game gimmick.
This also is part to blame they don't want to code in exrta items unless it a quality of life improvement for the players (mints) or two daycare a mini game to do EV train for you. (opps that too easy better remove it.) like coding all the Z-max items all the Mega stones they even stop coding in location evolving (moss rock, icy rock, magnetic fields.) they trade all that for the elemental stones.
So to not code in more and more because remember pokemon was on hand held devices they need to save space were ever and how much ever they can this is also why they were always under $60 as most 3DS game never went past $40. . . their no real point I'm making here just point out that how their own sells used to work. .
anyway we always get the half made games that are rushed and they know they can sell them because Sword and Shield sold like hot cakes and they know now they can keep doing it. Will people still buy the new regardless if its good or not? yeah, all they have to do is offer a new bit of hope for the people that give up on pokemon to try it again they don't care if you like it they just want you to buy it.
and by that look at what they are adding 3 stories so if one sucks maybe you'll like the other 2. real "open world" exploring so far many fans have been asking for the chance to do any gym in any order. and a real multi player that although it looks like multi you find in genshin impact were you can walk around in the host world and maybe fight a raid boss so far it also might take the genshin impact "co-op" approach it just lock the host out of the stories when "co-op" is turn on.
"but its meant for kids" you may say that not a excuse to be lazy and make some thing bad yeah the kid will enjoy literately every thing about it. But you can still give them some thing good or better so more people enjoy it and appreciate more.
"but you can't expect them to work so much in such little time." the next gen starts being worked on the moment the anime hits the air and by the time the anime is done running the new game is out. you also know a lot of the work in Pokemon games are them just reusing assets from the last gens to save time they never make new game from the ground up that would take them years to make like the levels of waiting for triple A studio come out with a new game.
and lastly if this new pokemon game dose not have the full dex like last gen didn't then they should have no reason not to put more effort in the animations like your saving time by not putting in all the pokemon in where did you put that save time into we know it didn't go to animations, story, or graphics so what happen to it.
I think a lot of this comes from the transition to home consoles. A franchise that mastered the art of handheld creature-collection RPGs on portable devices transitioning to consoles that can be on-the-go and at-home is something Game Freak clearly hasn't adjusted to yet, which is unfortunate.
A lot of the points you make here are very true, but... I still find myself coming back to the series. I still enjoy it, for one reason or another. I do agree, the new power gimmicks do need to die, especially since with Dynamaxing it wasn't even relevant in several OFFICIAL Pokémon tournaments. I do agree that the cost-cutting measures that show a transparent lack of necessary time and dedication are symptomatic of a deeper problem with GF's design philosophy that's just embarrassing, but it's born of a phenomena directly generated by the sheer formula that GF has known to work for so long. It IS clear though that Pokémon as a series is experimenting more with newer and needed changes to the formula: Open world, expanded multiplayer, overworld spawns, etc. My personal issue is that those changes happen very, very slowly on a game-by-game basis, and are eclipsed often by a lot of the other underwhelming stuff mentioned above. I feel, personally, that the main problem is that Pokémon doesn't give itself enough time to incubate these games into being what they should be, because they're committed to pumping out new stuff for merchandizing that puts pressure on them to put out more. Like an overworked prostitute that doesn't have condoms, it's expected to put out and pump out more and more without care or as much quality as earlier titles were allowed to have. Think of the distance in time between earlier titles and current ones. Even though Scarlet/Violet had 3+ years to incubate, GF stretches themselves thin with the mobile games, several spin-offs and other related content that robs resources away from the main games.
We all know this, and I think they do, too. But the people in charge of how the games are made are probably just unable to do much about it because they're expected to generate more main content for the rest of the machine to turn into merch and profit. I'm still planning on getting one of the games, though I can't decide which largely because, while I actually kind of like Koraidon's design, I just can't get over that goofy ass running animation. That is honestly the one thing I can't even begin to defend with these specific games, but the memes are pretty funny.
Call me an optimist, but I still think we'll yet see a game in the future where Game Freak gets more right than they do wrong. I think Legends taught us that Pokémon as a series still has a ton of potential to make extremely refreshing games with high levels of innovation and fun, even for all its flaws. I'm hoping Scarlet and Violet can open a gateway to future installments taking more of a page from games like Legends: Arceus than Sw/Sh. But, only time will tell.
But you have to admit, the new Pokémon like Lechonk, Smoliv, Fidough and such are really, really cute though.
A lot of the points you make here are very true, but... I still find myself coming back to the series. I still enjoy it, for one reason or another. I do agree, the new power gimmicks do need to die, especially since with Dynamaxing it wasn't even relevant in several OFFICIAL Pokémon tournaments. I do agree that the cost-cutting measures that show a transparent lack of necessary time and dedication are symptomatic of a deeper problem with GF's design philosophy that's just embarrassing, but it's born of a phenomena directly generated by the sheer formula that GF has known to work for so long. It IS clear though that Pokémon as a series is experimenting more with newer and needed changes to the formula: Open world, expanded multiplayer, overworld spawns, etc. My personal issue is that those changes happen very, very slowly on a game-by-game basis, and are eclipsed often by a lot of the other underwhelming stuff mentioned above. I feel, personally, that the main problem is that Pokémon doesn't give itself enough time to incubate these games into being what they should be, because they're committed to pumping out new stuff for merchandizing that puts pressure on them to put out more. Like an overworked prostitute that doesn't have condoms, it's expected to put out and pump out more and more without care or as much quality as earlier titles were allowed to have. Think of the distance in time between earlier titles and current ones. Even though Scarlet/Violet had 3+ years to incubate, GF stretches themselves thin with the mobile games, several spin-offs and other related content that robs resources away from the main games.
We all know this, and I think they do, too. But the people in charge of how the games are made are probably just unable to do much about it because they're expected to generate more main content for the rest of the machine to turn into merch and profit. I'm still planning on getting one of the games, though I can't decide which largely because, while I actually kind of like Koraidon's design, I just can't get over that goofy ass running animation. That is honestly the one thing I can't even begin to defend with these specific games, but the memes are pretty funny.
Call me an optimist, but I still think we'll yet see a game in the future where Game Freak gets more right than they do wrong. I think Legends taught us that Pokémon as a series still has a ton of potential to make extremely refreshing games with high levels of innovation and fun, even for all its flaws. I'm hoping Scarlet and Violet can open a gateway to future installments taking more of a page from games like Legends: Arceus than Sw/Sh. But, only time will tell.
But you have to admit, the new Pokémon like Lechonk, Smoliv, Fidough and such are really, really cute though.
Ha glad you're seeing the good parts. There are some. For me it's very hard to take seriously a title like Arceus. I've appreciated the smoothing of the battle system and the removal of garbage moves and the flattened levels-stats curve, but pokemon is a game where a tween can capture in a plastic ball the fucking creator god of their world. It's just very silly.
Hey, in Legends it's not plastic, it's stone and wood. ;P
I don't even think it's plastic in the modern games, it's like a lightweight steel. But that's just me being pedantic.
I definitely see your point though, but I actually kind of hated L:A's battle system XD It's great for the game itself but if they applied it to competitive it would be horribly, horribly broken and way too easy to exploit, so I'm glad it's a bit more isolated to that game. That being said, I really, really need a Legends game set in Johto or Hoenn. Or Unova!!! Unovaaaaa...
I don't even think it's plastic in the modern games, it's like a lightweight steel. But that's just me being pedantic.
I definitely see your point though, but I actually kind of hated L:A's battle system XD It's great for the game itself but if they applied it to competitive it would be horribly, horribly broken and way too easy to exploit, so I'm glad it's a bit more isolated to that game. That being said, I really, really need a Legends game set in Johto or Hoenn. Or Unova!!! Unovaaaaa...
Honestly, I didn't appreciate the Unova titles. The semi-3D was good for keeping the intricate exploration system and the illusion of vast and populated cities, but there are so many misses in the bloated 156 new-generation designs, and the plot is so... ludo-narratively dissonant.
Yeah, trapping intelligent creatures into marbles is bad, but animating six pokemon in the overworld is a slog and we won't solve the problem we addressed.
Yeah, trapping intelligent creatures into marbles is bad, but animating six pokemon in the overworld is a slog and we won't solve the problem we addressed.
I actually found the stories of B/W/B2/W2 to be the most interesting and well-written (notice I didn't say well executed) in the series. I'm not saying its Pokédex is the strongest, but I'll gladly take 156 semi-decent to acceptable Pokémon designs that push the envelope as to what a Pokémon can be than 70 or less underwhelming-to-half-great Pokémon that look good, but suffer functionally because they aren't given enough time in the oven.
I think Unova was the closest to a serious redesign of the concept of Pokémon that we've had until Legends came out. They added so much to the series that more recent games loved so much they got rid of them entirely (RIP to actual difficulty/new game + modes and infinite use TMs and other QoL changes that would've paired phenomenally with the QoL changes in Sw/Sh.)
I know it's a difference of opinion, and I definitely understand the points of "post-mortem" retrospectives on the series, but call me optimistic, I think the series still has a future with potential. I just think they keep stretching themselves way too thin out of obligation to generate content for merchandizing rather than delivering the highest-quality titles, which is depressing, but I think is something Game Freak is aware of, just that they aren't in a favorable enough position to act on it. It may be conscious, but I don't think it's permanent.
I think Unova was the closest to a serious redesign of the concept of Pokémon that we've had until Legends came out. They added so much to the series that more recent games loved so much they got rid of them entirely (RIP to actual difficulty/new game + modes and infinite use TMs and other QoL changes that would've paired phenomenally with the QoL changes in Sw/Sh.)
I know it's a difference of opinion, and I definitely understand the points of "post-mortem" retrospectives on the series, but call me optimistic, I think the series still has a future with potential. I just think they keep stretching themselves way too thin out of obligation to generate content for merchandizing rather than delivering the highest-quality titles, which is depressing, but I think is something Game Freak is aware of, just that they aren't in a favorable enough position to act on it. It may be conscious, but I don't think it's permanent.
Ah yeah, Unova makes part of the 3D-pokemon era with all of its gameplay improvements. Indeed, it has color-based titles.
It has the best character work for sure. Just, the plot directly tackles the core gameplay mechanics, and we know it can't shake them.
Also, the anime was abysmal and compromised the cross-media synergy. After that they had to rely on nostalgia pandering with fucking Charizard.
It has the best character work for sure. Just, the plot directly tackles the core gameplay mechanics, and we know it can't shake them.
Also, the anime was abysmal and compromised the cross-media synergy. After that they had to rely on nostalgia pandering with fucking Charizard.
I just watched the trailer, and besides all of the other absolutely ridiculous things they showed, the one thing that stood out to me was the new... "Terastal Phenomenon" feature.
From a dev standpoint it's just the laziest "ultimate form" implementation I've ever seen.
All they do is;
1. Attach a premade "crown" assets to the head of the model.
2. Apply shader to the model + crown that unsmooths vertexes and applies a fake light/gloss overlay.
3. Add particles and a few textures on the floor.
They're quite literally just making the models look like 1980's CGI and pretending that "oh they're made from diamond now that's why they're all jagged looking haha" like some 4 year old who made something vaguely pokemon shaped with legos.
From a dev standpoint it's just the laziest "ultimate form" implementation I've ever seen.
All they do is;
1. Attach a premade "crown" assets to the head of the model.
2. Apply shader to the model + crown that unsmooths vertexes and applies a fake light/gloss overlay.
3. Add particles and a few textures on the floor.
They're quite literally just making the models look like 1980's CGI and pretending that "oh they're made from diamond now that's why they're all jagged looking haha" like some 4 year old who made something vaguely pokemon shaped with legos.
Oh I thought that at least they made a different "crystal" texture for each pokemon, but thinking that they just removed levels of detail to the original model gives this form a new definition for "lazy." At least the Dinamax forms had a subtly different texture
Yeah I was shocked. At least previous "power move" stuff had some form of customization for each pokemon.
This one however... Element hat. Shader. Done. The only difference is whether the shader glow is red, blue, green or whatever.
A days work tops for a company, and 98% of that time would have been modeling the 18 or so hats.
Most definitely a whole new level of lazy on Gamefreak's side.
This one however... Element hat. Shader. Done. The only difference is whether the shader glow is red, blue, green or whatever.
A days work tops for a company, and 98% of that time would have been modeling the 18 or so hats.
Most definitely a whole new level of lazy on Gamefreak's side.
I went back to watch the trailer, and oh fuck, now I can't unsee that they're just low-poly versions of themselves. Also, the comments under the Italian trailer, where we have a small but very active community, and everybody under there agreed that the Tera Crystal suck, have been deactivated.
Yeah, the community is 70% centered around a YouTuber/Twitcher and his fiancee and he's a very cool and progressive dude who keeps his community very wholesome. He also plays many other games so he knows which are the real industry standards.
The problem with the Pokemon community is that most of them play only pokemon
The problem with the Pokemon community is that most of them play only pokemon
Leave it to Gamefreak to find a new way to be dissapointing. They LITERALLY designed Koraidon to have wheels. Was it too hard to even add a particle effect that at least circled around it to resemble a wheel?
It seems to be that they started from the concept "now the legendary is the mount" and to change the rigging for the two mounts as little as possible, they gave the legendaries the same outline, with the consequence that they look off in forms in the forms where the other looks good. Miraidon looks good as a land mount, not as much as flying mount, and its animal form is just a dildo. While Koraidon has a great animal form, a decent flying form, but the land mount looks like it's prolaxing.
After 7 years they can't already come up with a convincing interpretation for the mounts. They're "borrowed" pokemon that don't enter in your team. So strange.
After 7 years they can't already come up with a convincing interpretation for the mounts. They're "borrowed" pokemon that don't enter in your team. So strange.
lmao wut, you can't even catch them? THAT SUCKS D:<
Also, they should have been larger, since they were portrayed as IMPOSING in the trailers.
Also, they should have been larger, since they were portrayed as IMPOSING in the trailers.
A lot of pokemon are actually smaller than you expect from their design. In Legends Arceus your mounts are all exclusive evolutions of Hisui, but they don't become part of your team and you have to guess how to evolve them (unless you look at the guides.) It's very bizarre, especially considering how low-tech Hisui should be.
As my friend puts it, a lot of these designs feel like Game Freak goes to a pre-K and tells the kids "anything you draw we're turning into a Pokemon".
they're more concerned with quantity over quality and too afraid to take any risks with the meta, because they know there are tons of people who will buy it at full price for the sole sake that it's stamped with the Pokemon logo. quality be damned, gotta push that money.
they're more concerned with quantity over quality and too afraid to take any risks with the meta, because they know there are tons of people who will buy it at full price for the sole sake that it's stamped with the Pokemon logo. quality be damned, gotta push that money.
They look less and less like magical animals and more like plushies that came to life. And it's not against the artists. They just have to work under stupid limitations, making pokemon easy to model in 3D, that always feel like pokemon but different from any fakemon ever made. It must be a rough job.
Oh I have to read this, yes I dropped Pokémon a long time ago already... Tried the game before legends on switch and just dropped it at the beginning because just the same elevator music was banging from the speakers as I remember from a decade ago and everything just felt the same.
Also the pic is funny xD
Also the pic is funny xD
Music in pokemon is pretty good until it arrives the corporate mandate to put "pokemon sound fonts" in the instrumentals and it turns into a frolic at the park.
Oh now that you say it... Yes It all had some corporate art feeling to it but I couldn't pinpoint it exactly...
Yeah, these 16bits farty noises that should have remained in the GBA games. It might be that Pokemon is still strongly associated with the GBA games since everyone has played at least one FireRed Rom Hack.
I still despise how they ruined Eternatus Phase 3 battle music with the epic wolves howls as part of the instrumentals, by putting the GBA farts and childish melodies.
I still despise how they ruined Eternatus Phase 3 battle music with the epic wolves howls as part of the instrumentals, by putting the GBA farts and childish melodies.
I'm expecting pokedex inquisition (aka dexit for this Spain-based region).
I'm ok if they don't make games with all the 1000+ pokemon available. It would be a nightmare of a game design. For people who care about designing plausible game maps: in SwSh we had in a region based on Great Britain a fucking desert with Maractus strolling by, and the infamous Double Kick controversy.
>When I saw the Grass-Type Gym Leader of Sword&Shield with those giant boobs but childish facial features, I gained a new wrinkle.
Milo is a dude, my dude.
Milo is a dude, my dude.
Yeah, I know, "boobs" has become a term to jokingly describe big male pecs.
I agree with a lot of what you said, the jump from making one pair of tile-based 2D sprite games yearly to having to make 3D games for an HD console has hurt the games because their schedule has not adapted to this giant shift and for as much money that can be poured into it, time is a constant they have to constantly account for: making something daring that has a chance of slowing down or halting development down the line of these multi-year projects they work simultaneously vs. following the 25-year old blueprint that made this series successful, time does not care, it bows to no one.
However I take issue with the whole "let the porn be the marketing". For as funny as it sounds, a kid series having the horniest designs to cater its adult audience, I don't think that's the case. Because let's be honest, rule 34 is gonna rule 34 regardless, anything that even remotely resembles a fox or a wolf is gonna get hit the hardest, second comes the female characters and Gardevoir-lites followed by the bara men and Pokémon. But mainly because it doesn't make sense, the people who can make and consume this stuff are at an age where they are making these judgements and calls and they are most likely not gonna buy a game they don't feel they're gonna like or support a pipeline that doesn't seem that it's gonna change.
I guess ever since Overwatch opened the conversation of "How much of this design variety was rooted into representing people from all areas of life and how much was done with the intent of sexualizing as people of different body shapes to reach the broadest possible audience?" combined with Disney's """secret""" of marketing Zootopia to furries directly, I guess corporations aren't completely discarding this marketing tactic, but considering the stereotype that Nintendo and subsidiaries are old grumpy who don't know how the internet works I find that kinda hard to swallow.
However I take issue with the whole "let the porn be the marketing". For as funny as it sounds, a kid series having the horniest designs to cater its adult audience, I don't think that's the case. Because let's be honest, rule 34 is gonna rule 34 regardless, anything that even remotely resembles a fox or a wolf is gonna get hit the hardest, second comes the female characters and Gardevoir-lites followed by the bara men and Pokémon. But mainly because it doesn't make sense, the people who can make and consume this stuff are at an age where they are making these judgements and calls and they are most likely not gonna buy a game they don't feel they're gonna like or support a pipeline that doesn't seem that it's gonna change.
I guess ever since Overwatch opened the conversation of "How much of this design variety was rooted into representing people from all areas of life and how much was done with the intent of sexualizing as people of different body shapes to reach the broadest possible audience?" combined with Disney's """secret""" of marketing Zootopia to furries directly, I guess corporations aren't completely discarding this marketing tactic, but considering the stereotype that Nintendo and subsidiaries are old grumpy who don't know how the internet works I find that kinda hard to swallow.
I get your point, but you can't deny that there has been a very noticeable shift in pokemon designs in the last decade. In the first generation, the only anthropomorphic pokemon was the machop line, and if you look at the early sprites of Pokemon Green, oh boy they were rough. it took two generations to make another objectively anthropomorphic pokemon, Gardevoir. Then Lucario, and by then the internet became more mainstream and a handful of anthro pokemon were added. The fifth generation was the last one to display a starter trio that wasn't anthropomorphic (I know, Emboar is opinable), then, at the same time Pokemon became 3D and controversial for the flattening of the difficulty curve and exploration, came also exclusively anthro starter trios.
I know that people will make Rule34 of every pokemon despite it being feral or anthro (I personally think that Arcanine has a great fur pattern for anthros) but the multiplication of bipedal pokemon isn't casual for me. It feels like predigested Rule34 food.
I know that people will make Rule34 of every pokemon despite it being feral or anthro (I personally think that Arcanine has a great fur pattern for anthros) but the multiplication of bipedal pokemon isn't casual for me. It feels like predigested Rule34 food.
I agree with you. Not 100%, but damn does it hit close to home!
This yearly release crap is what is KILLING the reputation of Pokémon for many older fans, who are disgruntled with Pokémon...Considering how pathetic the state it is now. too little time means little to no innovations. Let alone. Too many Cut corners. Gen 8 sucked penis balls. (Only legends Arceus felt really fun for one.)
I get it the game must cater to newcomers. But WHY also make it where we older veterans, feel like disposable fans? It's just dis-heartening. And the reason why more old fans, now prefer going to Fan Pokémon and Fakemon games. As they are just that MUCH BETTER!!
Game-Freak needs to really double their staff size! And DEMAND T.P.C. to have the time dead-line to be bi-yearly releases! With that much more time! They can be given the chance, the change, and the motivation to make a real kickass game! Without cutting corners! They need a deadline to be under pressure. But not a time crunch that leaves people to get lazy and make it fast/hasty. Or cut corners of a lovely idea due to lack of time.
It's ether they need the T.P.C. to stop slaving away the Game-Freak staff! And allow more time. and better passions! Or else this Franchise is really bound to be the franchise that lived long enough to become the games that used to be good. But had become another typical hot garbage! it's bad enough EA ruined a ton of games and developers! I don't want Game-freak to die as well just cause of Higher up snobs, that refuse to listen and go out go touch! Leading to another perma-ruined franchise...
This yearly release crap is what is KILLING the reputation of Pokémon for many older fans, who are disgruntled with Pokémon...Considering how pathetic the state it is now. too little time means little to no innovations. Let alone. Too many Cut corners. Gen 8 sucked penis balls. (Only legends Arceus felt really fun for one.)
I get it the game must cater to newcomers. But WHY also make it where we older veterans, feel like disposable fans? It's just dis-heartening. And the reason why more old fans, now prefer going to Fan Pokémon and Fakemon games. As they are just that MUCH BETTER!!
Game-Freak needs to really double their staff size! And DEMAND T.P.C. to have the time dead-line to be bi-yearly releases! With that much more time! They can be given the chance, the change, and the motivation to make a real kickass game! Without cutting corners! They need a deadline to be under pressure. But not a time crunch that leaves people to get lazy and make it fast/hasty. Or cut corners of a lovely idea due to lack of time.
It's ether they need the T.P.C. to stop slaving away the Game-Freak staff! And allow more time. and better passions! Or else this Franchise is really bound to be the franchise that lived long enough to become the games that used to be good. But had become another typical hot garbage! it's bad enough EA ruined a ton of games and developers! I don't want Game-freak to die as well just cause of Higher up snobs, that refuse to listen and go out go touch! Leading to another perma-ruined franchise...
I've been a player of the Sims for a long time, and I've seen how EA sipped away the life from the franchise, now sustaining itself on nostalgia and stuff packs.
I mean, we lost the open map between the third and fourth chapters. How in the blue hell can the newer game look less scenic than the older one?
I'm just disheartened from games that manage to monopolize their genre and then become dull and repetitive because they're just a giant piggy bank for corporates that don't care about doing things well if they make money anyway.
I mean, we lost the open map between the third and fourth chapters. How in the blue hell can the newer game look less scenic than the older one?
I'm just disheartened from games that manage to monopolize their genre and then become dull and repetitive because they're just a giant piggy bank for corporates that don't care about doing things well if they make money anyway.
If the Corporates just stopped their BS and gave the real game devs a bigger staff, more time like make it Bi-yearly releases or a bit longer, and more compassion! I bet the Pokemon Games would show more soul than ever.
But until such. It sadly will never happen...Greed over quality. Is what most corporates will prefer...
But until such. It sadly will never happen...Greed over quality. Is what most corporates will prefer...
If Game freak made other games, that weren't pokemon, within the last few years they'd be a better dev, but no as of now they're just using the same rinse and repeat formula where they just reuse shit from previous games or just remake them, other devs are better compared to Gamefreak, except a few that aren't really that good
GF actually does other games than Pokemon. The overall impression is of quite humble games that you would play on a handheld or buy for $20 on Steam, but have a much greater creative spin than pokemon. It feels like these are where the passion resides and Pokemon is just homework.
Since NOBODY here seems to have the gonads to actually oppose this Verlisify-esque mald post, here I am. This is a website for cute and/or lewd anthro art, not a place for you to post crappy "meme" art as a method to grab people's attention, before inserting your opinion and literally saying "(insert hobby) is a waste of time."
I'm not a gamefreak defender. I was ranting abouth this shit for the entire USUM-SWSH era. Trust me, nobody had more complaints from that era than me. But you're choosing NOW to start drama on FURAFFINITY about how it's going to shit? It obviously isn't perfect, but this installment is quite literally the most optimistic moment for the pokémon series in at least 6 years. Obviously they're rushing the games too much, and they should slow down and make more quality product. But that quite literally isn't Gamefreak's fault. Everything they do is owned by the greedy fucks at The Pokémon Company. They make gamefreak move way faster than necessary in order to keep up with the other money hoarding bits of the franchise (mobile games, anime, tcg, toys, etc). And considering how many obstacles and challenges that gamefreak has to work past, they're actually doing really well right now. They recently released PLA, the first open zone pokémon game, which was quite well received, even by harsh critics (I actually have a lot of criticisms of it, but it was generally quite well received, as I said), and now they're already moving on to making a fully open world pokémon game, that looks significantly better than SWSH and PLA. Better colors, better landscape design, and it still has rough textures, but it's still an improvement. And it's garuanteed to have better features, as it is now confirmed that there will be many ways to interact with your pokémon outside of battle. And yes, the battle mechanic is better too. (Anything is going to be better than calling it a "battle mechanic" to inflate your fat electric rat to be the size of a skyscraper.) Yet with all those improvements, despite gamefreak's challenges, and the fact that most people are actually hyped, you don't know when to read the room and stop causing drama.
I'm not a gamefreak defender. I was ranting abouth this shit for the entire USUM-SWSH era. Trust me, nobody had more complaints from that era than me. But you're choosing NOW to start drama on FURAFFINITY about how it's going to shit? It obviously isn't perfect, but this installment is quite literally the most optimistic moment for the pokémon series in at least 6 years. Obviously they're rushing the games too much, and they should slow down and make more quality product. But that quite literally isn't Gamefreak's fault. Everything they do is owned by the greedy fucks at The Pokémon Company. They make gamefreak move way faster than necessary in order to keep up with the other money hoarding bits of the franchise (mobile games, anime, tcg, toys, etc). And considering how many obstacles and challenges that gamefreak has to work past, they're actually doing really well right now. They recently released PLA, the first open zone pokémon game, which was quite well received, even by harsh critics (I actually have a lot of criticisms of it, but it was generally quite well received, as I said), and now they're already moving on to making a fully open world pokémon game, that looks significantly better than SWSH and PLA. Better colors, better landscape design, and it still has rough textures, but it's still an improvement. And it's garuanteed to have better features, as it is now confirmed that there will be many ways to interact with your pokémon outside of battle. And yes, the battle mechanic is better too. (Anything is going to be better than calling it a "battle mechanic" to inflate your fat electric rat to be the size of a skyscraper.) Yet with all those improvements, despite gamefreak's challenges, and the fact that most people are actually hyped, you don't know when to read the room and stop causing drama.
it's nice to someone sharing their honest opinion on pokemon. it's really disappointing how shitty things, especially factoring in the level of crunch the workers are being put under to push out games this fast.
i wish more people were willing to admit the games suck now rather than using their nostalgia as a shield.
i wish more people were willing to admit the games suck now rather than using their nostalgia as a shield.
I feel like pokemon is the old franchise that receives the most nostalgia-oriented praises. The positive comments under a Pokemon game trailer are "Oh, it's like I'm a kid again!" something that doesn't happen with other old franchises targeted at kids like Mario, Zelda, or Sonic.
But yeah, nothing against the people that work at these games. They put their everything into these games and they turn out half-baked because they sell anyway, due to the powerful synergy from all the other branches of the franchise.
But yeah, nothing against the people that work at these games. They put their everything into these games and they turn out half-baked because they sell anyway, due to the powerful synergy from all the other branches of the franchise.
yeah, exactly. you'd think for the highest-grossing franchise in the world they'd have some decency to back it up but no-
legends arceus was pretty good but it's so different from the rest of the mainline games that it doesn't really count. other than that, i feel like gen 6 was the last decent gen before they completely stopped caring.
legends arceus was pretty good but it's so different from the rest of the mainline games that it doesn't really count. other than that, i feel like gen 6 was the last decent gen before they completely stopped caring.
I'd say that the very breaking point was the transition to Switch, when they started charging 60 bucks for a product that was still a 3DS game with a different coat of paint. Up until then, you could attribute the technical flaws to the 3DS hardware. In that regard, they did a stellar job in fitting so many models in one cartridge.
I don’t care what your option is, I feel like this website isn’t the place for this kinda drama.
Looking that really makes me sad but that is the truth... My point is: Since Black&White, then generation Game Freak tried to take strong the franchise and making a Reboot for the series, making more than they normally do (Since until gen4, the maximum the Pokémon games did was around of 100 Pokémon per gen) and not reusing at all older Pokémon (Older Pokémon i mean Pokémon from gen before gen 5), mostly other fans got mad because there was no cool Charizard or "wow, older gen Pokémon" or "Wow, again Zubat here!". Some Pokémon I agree are kind of lazy, but it wasn't only that point. They yelled with literally everything Gen5 had. They tried focusing more of Story than other mechanics itself, they was straight up trying to nerf Rotom who on that time was too OP for a simple Electric Pokémon, and also they focused a lot on still showing some nostalgia, making the new pokémon from that time like the first 151.
As the boomer part was getting stronger, they came to the conclusion that cool Charizard, Pikachu existing and hot Pokémon was the only option and that's all the fandom wanted, thus making BW2 more like the old games to see if the fandom would settle down.
After that, the franchise started making what i name "Cool Charizard Era", where the next games just became Cool Charizard, Pikachu, hot Pokémon, hot Trainer and Press A to Win, as also punishing the players by training their Pokémon or even exploring the new features. I know Mega Evolution sounds nice, but I think the designs could be even better, and as I see Evolution, i think more like Nidorino going to Nidoking rather than Voltorb going to Electrode (What do I mean by that is, the Pokémon looking a lot more different than just looking cool). The Mega Evolutions, the thing they needed to make a good step was making it feel really like they are evolving to a new Pokémon rather than just being stronger and looking cooler.
Z-Moves even being my favorite, I think it could be more explored and also be more cooler to watch them happening.
The Dynamax and Gigantamax thing was like the mixture of the last ones, but it was pretty Cool Charizard Era because you couldn't use on the other Gen1 starters who aren't Charizard itself.
And this Tera-type thing... I just didn't thought it was looking so neat, we are talking about changing Pokémon to primarily being only of a single type. And as I think, the designs of that could look better. And also the starters... Quaxly even representing probably Carnival, a Brazilian/Portuguese thing, doesn't look good at all, even more his shiny that just looks like it passed on a GSC game and returned.
I like the human-like Pokémon and even more their r34-ish arts, but I still feel kind of bad it was the only thing I was liking on Pokémon. When I played gen5, the battle style was more animated. On older Pokémon Spin-Offs, the battle style was exaggeratedly detailed, And I thing they could do something close to that.
I just want to a possible gen10 be more like the gen5 was, a Reboot, trying to make the game better and making a more serious story with better character building than just "Muahaha I wan to conquer the world" or "I'll fuck everything because I want".
As the boomer part was getting stronger, they came to the conclusion that cool Charizard, Pikachu existing and hot Pokémon was the only option and that's all the fandom wanted, thus making BW2 more like the old games to see if the fandom would settle down.
After that, the franchise started making what i name "Cool Charizard Era", where the next games just became Cool Charizard, Pikachu, hot Pokémon, hot Trainer and Press A to Win, as also punishing the players by training their Pokémon or even exploring the new features. I know Mega Evolution sounds nice, but I think the designs could be even better, and as I see Evolution, i think more like Nidorino going to Nidoking rather than Voltorb going to Electrode (What do I mean by that is, the Pokémon looking a lot more different than just looking cool). The Mega Evolutions, the thing they needed to make a good step was making it feel really like they are evolving to a new Pokémon rather than just being stronger and looking cooler.
Z-Moves even being my favorite, I think it could be more explored and also be more cooler to watch them happening.
The Dynamax and Gigantamax thing was like the mixture of the last ones, but it was pretty Cool Charizard Era because you couldn't use on the other Gen1 starters who aren't Charizard itself.
And this Tera-type thing... I just didn't thought it was looking so neat, we are talking about changing Pokémon to primarily being only of a single type. And as I think, the designs of that could look better. And also the starters... Quaxly even representing probably Carnival, a Brazilian/Portuguese thing, doesn't look good at all, even more his shiny that just looks like it passed on a GSC game and returned.
I like the human-like Pokémon and even more their r34-ish arts, but I still feel kind of bad it was the only thing I was liking on Pokémon. When I played gen5, the battle style was more animated. On older Pokémon Spin-Offs, the battle style was exaggeratedly detailed, And I thing they could do something close to that.
I just want to a possible gen10 be more like the gen5 was, a Reboot, trying to make the game better and making a more serious story with better character building than just "Muahaha I wan to conquer the world" or "I'll fuck everything because I want".
The problem with BW wasn't having all-new Pokemon: it was the slow grueling start where you couldn't use any type advantage to end battles quickly, the exaggerated number of legendaries over ordinary Pokemon, and trying and failing at addressing the ethical problem of trapping Pokemon inside the balls. It solves itself with "Hey, they actually like to stay inside the balls and come out only for fighting each other!"
I may also add the horrible promotion made by the anime where Ash looks like he suffered brain damage and reverted back to his Kanto incompetence and the wonky implementation of seasons where it hails during winter and they take one real-life month to change.
It had its flaws besides the attempt at a soft reboot. They were right in realizing that players didn't have the patience anymore to play old-school RPGs, but that didn't mean making them stupidly easy, just avoid impositions like seasons that last one entire month, breeding, and inability to use type advantages for the first two gyms.
I may also add the horrible promotion made by the anime where Ash looks like he suffered brain damage and reverted back to his Kanto incompetence and the wonky implementation of seasons where it hails during winter and they take one real-life month to change.
It had its flaws besides the attempt at a soft reboot. They were right in realizing that players didn't have the patience anymore to play old-school RPGs, but that didn't mean making them stupidly easy, just avoid impositions like seasons that last one entire month, breeding, and inability to use type advantages for the first two gyms.
Welcome to growing up man... The series just isn't for you anymore is what it is...
Yeah I couldn't imagine that they published a game for the price of 60+ bucks that slows to a crawl when there are more than 10 models moving in the same scene. The indifference of TPC over quality control abundantly exceeded my expectations.
No, I'm saying comments like yours and others complaining about the game have not aged well. Because plenty of people have been still able to enjoy the games despite this BS picture you drew, along with the negative videos about the games. Because IDK if you noticed, but there has been patches to the games that have actually made the game become better. (Fixing some issues with the performance for the most part, polishing up some UI, etc.) So sorry I didn't clear that up sooner dude...)
What a thing to say the day after an indie ripoff that managed to be a functional 3D Pokémon game has sold 6 millions on Steam. Perfect timing dude.
So...? It'll fade out of popularity, give it sometime. Plus, Palworld is a different game type in general. Sure, it has monsters to collect, but it's a 3rd person shooter game that just so happens to have monster collecting. Plus, you are aware of the controversy surrounding the game, right?! What with several of the creatures clearly ripping off several Pokemon designs?! Plus, so what if it sold 6 Million, it'll never outsell the Pokemon series. So quit acting like this indie game that doesn't seem that interesting to me anyways, is better than SV dude. And also, it's a coincidence anyways, since I didn't even know about the game until today. So stop assuming things dude.
I also have some issues with your drawing that I forgot to say, so I'll say it now:
Bruh... It's not that Pokemon has gone downhill, you've just grown out of playing it. Because bruh, tons of people have been enjoying the games since they came out. And a lot of these "issues" have been fixed through patches. And with how hyped a lot of people are for the DLC, I think that speaks about how dated this art has become. So sorry man, that's more of a you issue...
Also, those "wheels" on Koraidon aren't actually wheels, they're both an inflation sac on the front of Koraidon, and the tail curled up for the back "wheel". So yeah, no wonder why they don't actually turn dude!!
So yeah, don't think I can't argue back, because I will.
I also have some issues with your drawing that I forgot to say, so I'll say it now:
Bruh... It's not that Pokemon has gone downhill, you've just grown out of playing it. Because bruh, tons of people have been enjoying the games since they came out. And a lot of these "issues" have been fixed through patches. And with how hyped a lot of people are for the DLC, I think that speaks about how dated this art has become. So sorry man, that's more of a you issue...
Also, those "wheels" on Koraidon aren't actually wheels, they're both an inflation sac on the front of Koraidon, and the tail curled up for the back "wheel". So yeah, no wonder why they don't actually turn dude!!
So yeah, don't think I can't argue back, because I will.
Hello I just found this about your take on Pokemon and agree with it. I just found that with all that money and such you would think that the pokemon company and game freak would do their damnest to make a well made game... but no.
- Lets make a "baby's first" League of legends game that NO ONE asked for
- Lets make a "Gotcha game" where we actually give trainers a voice and make it mobile
- Lets lie to our hardcore fans into thinking that by cutting down the number of pokemon we can bullshit them into thinking we will develop "new and improved" animations that not only a chinese knockoff did better, but rookie animators that could do it in their sleep.
- Lets now stop putting effort in making a game that got us to where we are and just chit out garbage that people buy up and not learn their lesson.
Yeah pokemon just fell off and although some designs i do like but i want a really good game that doesn't shit on your fans and treat them like they are too stupid to try and figure shit out.
- Lets make a "baby's first" League of legends game that NO ONE asked for
- Lets make a "Gotcha game" where we actually give trainers a voice and make it mobile
- Lets lie to our hardcore fans into thinking that by cutting down the number of pokemon we can bullshit them into thinking we will develop "new and improved" animations that not only a chinese knockoff did better, but rookie animators that could do it in their sleep.
- Lets now stop putting effort in making a game that got us to where we are and just chit out garbage that people buy up and not learn their lesson.
Yeah pokemon just fell off and although some designs i do like but i want a really good game that doesn't shit on your fans and treat them like they are too stupid to try and figure shit out.
The sad part is that the sales of that absolutely broken and unfinished game were still a success. Thanks to the strength of the IP, TPC can shovel out full-priced games that would cost 15 bucks on Steam only because there's "Pokémon" in their title. When I wrote this the came had still to come out, and I couldn't imagine there would have been glaring flaws like the frame rate slowing to a crawl with the Sunflora challenge or the absence of level scaling in a friggin' open-world RPG. Or the stupidity of Gym Leaders that have to terastal their spearhead Pokémon even when that makes them vulnerable to your Pokémon.
A few months ago, a Pokémon YouTuber reported the reviews made by GF employees and ex-employees on the Japanese LinkedIn-equivalent, and, bear in mind that the sample wasn't statistically relevant, but all the dozen reviews matched in describing GF as a place where developers have checked out because they know there's no use in polishing the product because they know that it will sell anyway and there's no time after all. So sad.
A few months ago, a Pokémon YouTuber reported the reviews made by GF employees and ex-employees on the Japanese LinkedIn-equivalent, and, bear in mind that the sample wasn't statistically relevant, but all the dozen reviews matched in describing GF as a place where developers have checked out because they know there's no use in polishing the product because they know that it will sell anyway and there's no time after all. So sad.
UGH tell me about it and then the Pokemon kiss assers and say "I'm still having fun", "Its so easy", yadda yadda yadda and I'm like
Do you not value yourself? I mean its pokemon but I agree with others when they say that they treat their consumers, especially children, like they are dumb as fuck.
Do you not value yourself? I mean its pokemon but I agree with others when they say that they treat their consumers, especially children, like they are dumb as fuck.
As I said earlier in the comment thread, the problem with Pokémon players is that they play only Pokémon and have no idea what the industry standards really are. It's a problem with every game fandom, but Pokémon is especially bad at it because the IP as a whole has an enormous pulling factor and people are willing to buy a Switch just to play one game series and maybe the two versions to play one game twice.
At this point, the fan games are doing the leg work here of innovation. Reborn, Insurgence, that one South-American inspired demo, and even the new Rejuvenation are the underground’s popular choices.
Also, Palworld shows a Vestigial Empire vibes on Pokemon’s development.
Also, Palworld shows a Vestigial Empire vibes on Pokemon’s development.
The problem with the fangames so far is sticking too much to what it's outdated about Pokemon, the 2D top-down perspective, the grinding, the inexistence of boss battle and creatures in the over world. Palworld is just "hey, let's make a modern RPG with Pokemon."
And it's not a great RPG, not even good, but it's decent and that's what Pokemon hasn't ever been on the Switch.
It's very telling about the bad karma piled up by Game Freak that such a knockoff can enter the top 3 of the most-played games on Steam, while a knockoff of any other game series would have been a blip on the radar.
And it's not a great RPG, not even good, but it's decent and that's what Pokemon hasn't ever been on the Switch.
It's very telling about the bad karma piled up by Game Freak that such a knockoff can enter the top 3 of the most-played games on Steam, while a knockoff of any other game series would have been a blip on the radar.
I can definitely say both Reborn and Rejuvenation has tons of boss battles, even several "impossible" battles. All four games has their own amount of pokemons exclusive to their games, with their own exclusive moves.
As for grinding, are you referring to how easy it is, or how hard it is? Insurgence's difficulty becomes easier (probably too easy) once you unlock its secret base, and on the opposite side of the scale is Reborn's notorious challenges, so much so that TvTropes complained about how hard it is.
As for the 2D perspective, well lets just say that most don't have the capacity to work on a 3d game without significant funding and Nintendo/Gamefreak's cease and desist. You could do so in a limited capacity, but asking a group of hobbyists and part-timers to make a full updated game is a huge ask.
As for grinding, are you referring to how easy it is, or how hard it is? Insurgence's difficulty becomes easier (probably too easy) once you unlock its secret base, and on the opposite side of the scale is Reborn's notorious challenges, so much so that TvTropes complained about how hard it is.
As for the 2D perspective, well lets just say that most don't have the capacity to work on a 3d game without significant funding and Nintendo/Gamefreak's cease and desist. You could do so in a limited capacity, but asking a group of hobbyists and part-timers to make a full updated game is a huge ask.
Oh I can't at all belittle the Pokémon fangames for not being 3D. It would be an unjust amount of work for a software that can't make money because they Pokémon themselves are owned by Nintendo. I'm just saying that they're forced into a niche where they can't threaten Nintendo. Especially because Nintendo has sent C&D to every other fangame that dared to use the 3D models and look more modern and sleek because of that.
Well, even within the niche (even if this "niche" is basically everything that isn't 3d, which includes all 3d pokemons converted to 2d), I prefer the pokemon games being more dynamically active in combat than singular turn-based, like the combat system used in Yakuza Like a Dragon. If you can move over 2x faster than your opponent, you should atleast have 2 turns before your opponent acts, and you should have the ability to block, dodge and counter their attacks. Your moves should also affect how sooner or later your next turn will be, and like YLaD you should be able to mix up and combine your moves from yourself or other pokemon at the expense of PP usage. Abilities should be more than doing just one or two things and should be fully optimized in such a battle system. And characteristics and nature should dictate how a pokemon would act during a battle and not just for description and raw stats, respectively.
These ideas have already been brainstormed and refined by me and my friends before 2020, so I'm very much aware that the gameplay certainly can be overhauled. However, lack of demand, nostalgia and way too many factors, work and risks by new battle system would dissuade both Nintendo and most of the top fan game developers alike.
These ideas have already been brainstormed and refined by me and my friends before 2020, so I'm very much aware that the gameplay certainly can be overhauled. However, lack of demand, nostalgia and way too many factors, work and risks by new battle system would dissuade both Nintendo and most of the top fan game developers alike.
Actually, Palworld is more Action firefight than your typical RPG. And that's certainly not the only thing it has to offer. People only see the surface and not the people who plays the game, like I do.
I honestly struggle to see how Palword's gameplay is comparable to Nintendo's pokemon.
I honestly struggle to see how Palword's gameplay is comparable to Nintendo's pokemon.
It's not. The comparison stems more from the fact that the "pals" look like already existing Pokémon, and that was made on purpose. And the device you use to catch them is a ball, while other Pokémon-likes came out with different object designs. And also from the fact that it feels like how Legends Arceus should have been from the get go. Instead of a very clumsy mix of action and turn-based RPG, a pure action RPG. It's more in the aesthetics than in the gameplay.
Comments