The Kalos Region Speculation and Discussion

[Joshawott]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

So I ask, where is the proof of this? Where is the official statement or comment that says that it is only France and can't have any features inspired by other European countries or areas?

Simple: Their isn't. We're not even supposed to know Karos exists yet.

There is: Masuda's Twitter avatar and the fact that he and the Pokémon team spent the past year in France, not in Europe. While not a statement, it is pretty much a confirmation from the game director himself (you know the saying, acts speak louder than words, right?). As Zeta said, it's France, get over it.

Hate to tell ya buddy, but the team did technically spend their time is Europe, as France is a part of Europe.

But he spent in ONLY IN FRANCE, not in all the continent, that's the point. You're manipulating meanings to your convenience.

I'm sorry, but were you GameFreak's tour manager who oversaw their entire stay? Besides, it's not like they couldn't have used Google Earth if they wanted to.

 

[Litten]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Wow, Lumiose City looks awesome imo. I love all the little shops and cafes, and the Eiffel tower look-alike looks impressive. I love that image of the main characters walking around the city; it makes me even more excited for these games.

 

[Meophist]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Somebody attached some of the screenshots to the map: NeoGAF - View Single Post - PokéBOMB IV: A New Hope - Summary of new confirmed X/Y Info

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

So I ask, where is the proof of this? Where is the official statement or comment that says that it is only France and can't have any features inspired by other European countries or areas?

Simple: Their isn't. We're not even supposed to know Karos exists yet.

There is: Masuda's Twitter avatar and the fact that he and the Pokémon team spent the past year in France, not in Europe. While not a statement, it is pretty much a confirmation from the game director himself (you know the saying, acts speak louder than words, right?). As Zeta said, it's France, get over it.

Hate to tell ya buddy, but the team did technically spend their time is Europe, as France is a part of Europe.

You're not listening to me. I'm not saying that Karos isn't based on France. There is clear evidence that it is (the region shape, Pikachu's electric attack in the announcement trailer starting in France and extending across the world, the Pseudo-Eiffel Tower). What I'm saying is, there is no evidence to say that it's only France. Hell, I posted a damn map to show how it's clearly based on France.

I said before, if it turns out Karos is based on France and France alone, it's no big deal at all. It's the most likely conclusion and it's not a big deal anyway. If however, my suggestion that the region might also incorporate other aspects of Europe within it is proven true, then that would be cool. That's all it is. No more, no less.

So, while we're here, I just wanted to apologise about this post. It was late (after midnight for me) and I was exhausted, so slightly irritable but that's no excuse for me telling a user that they have an attitude problem. It's a behaviour we discourage our users from participating in, so as a staff member - in fact, more so because I am a staff member, I should refrain from doing so as well. So I want to apologise for anyone who took offence to my comments or who thought that staff members are somehow above the rules (which we're not.


Now, returning to the topic of the region:

Snooty, nose-in-the-air faces and baguettes?

Berets?

Yup, stereotypical France xD

 

[VeggiePopper]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Spoiler

The X is where the player is in the second photo. I'm standing by the very most southern building (red roofs at the bottom in the top photo) being the starting city, considering that that the above shot shows route 3.

It makes sense. Route 1 would be the road with bushes on the sides between the starting town and the blue roofed palace, which I infer would be the first city; Route 2 would be the bridge between the blue palace and the dark green patch, which I guess is our early forest (that still sounds too formulaic, I hope things shake up a little after that) with Route 3 being the long path between the forest and the green roofed city.

After looking the region image, I noticeall of the cities, with the sole exception of the icy town are either represented as one big building or are surrounded by walls, which I have the theory that doesn't come just from concept or story elements, but also for gameplay purposes: earlier ths morning, on another thread where free movement vs tile-based movement was being discussed, I proposed the theory that probably Routes, forests and other assorted locations would still feature a grid-based enviroment and tile-based movement (even if updated to include diagonal walking) to keep the random encounter system working, whilst cities and towns would feature free movement instead. If my theory is true, then a screen transition between cities and routes (like lookout stations from previous gens) would be needed to switch between modes; fortified and walled cities would provide suchj transition without the need to abuse lookout stations.

 

[ZMT123]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

I'm loving how open-ended Kalos seems to be. I'm really wondering what the clouds in the northeast are covering and where the cave in that mountain leads to. I also like how they included a bit of England with the Stonehenge-like place.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Glad everyone else has come to the same conclusion about Rt. 3 and the rest of the beginning of the game. I think I've figured out the entire thing, though, or at least a very vague sketch of it.

First though, here's a sketch of how I think the areas fit together:



Now then, I think the beginning of the game will be that stretch southeast of Lumiose City. From there, we would head clockwise through that funky diamond shape path leading through Coastal Kalos. From there, we go north to the city with the tree clocktower, and then southeast through the remaining cities in Mountain Kalos. And then the Pokemon League would be the red and blue castle area east of Lumiose City.

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

> Kalos is based on France
> Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizon and Keldeo, based on The Three Musketeers, are legendaries of Unova, which is based on America.

Genius GameFreak. "Genius".

 

[Tyzerra]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

First though, here's a sketch of how I think the areas fit together:

View attachment 87066

That looks pretty amazing actually. Someone hold onto this and then compare it to the actual map after release!

 

[VeggiePopper]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Glad everyone else has come to the same conclusion about Rt. 3 and the rest of the beginning of the game. I think I've figured out the entire thing, though, or at least a very vague sketch of it.

First though, here's a sketch of how I think the areas fit together:

View attachment 87066

Now then, I think the beginning of the game will be that stretch southeast of Lumiose City. From there, we would head clockwise through that funky diamond shape path leading through Coastal Kalos. From there, we go north to the city with the tree clocktower, and then southeast through the remaining cities in Mountain Kalos. And then the Pokemon League would be the red and blue castle area east of Lumiose City.

It looks pretty neat, however, I felt that you left alone the center of the region, so I added a few routes at the center. After all, there's a whole Pokédex devoted to Central Kalos, so I thought that part of the map should shine a little more.

 

[YamiiDenryuu]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

> Kalos is based on France
> Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizon and Keldeo, based on The Three Musketeers, are legendaries of Unova, which is based on America.

Genius GameFreak. "Genius".

... They had chinese dragons and japanese kami-things in Poke-merica, as well as hebrew beasts and golems in Hoenn. The only region where the legendaries matched up to the region's real-world basis was Johto, I think. So why start worrying about that now?

 

[Dr. Buni]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

... They had chinese dragons and japanese kami-things in Poke-merica, as well as hebrew beasts and golems in Hoenn. The only region where the legendaries matched up to the region's real-world basis was Johto, I think. So why start worrying about that now?

Johto had a wyvern-based legendary (Lugia), so no, not even in Johto the legendaries match up to the region basis.

 

[Meophist]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

Glad everyone else has come to the same conclusion about Rt. 3 and the rest of the beginning of the game. I think I've figured out the entire thing, though, or at least a very vague sketch of it.

First though, here's a sketch of how I think the areas fit together:

View attachment 87066

Now then, I think the beginning of the game will be that stretch southeast of Lumiose City. From there, we would head clockwise through that funky diamond shape path leading through Coastal Kalos. From there, we go north to the city with the tree clocktower, and then southeast through the remaining cities in Mountain Kalos. And then the Pokemon League would be the red and blue castle area east of Lumiose City.

I kinda think there would be a path going straight north from Lumiose City through the forest to the town/city that's there rather than an odd way around. Some other odd spots, but it looks good overall.

 

[VeggiePopper]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

> Kalos is based on France
> Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizon and Keldeo, based on The Three Musketeers, are legendaries of Unova, which is based on America.

Genius GameFreak. "Genius".

... They had chinese dragons and japanese kami-things in Poke-merica, as well as hebrew beasts and golems in Hoenn. The only region where the legendaries matched up to the region's real-world basis was Johto, I think. So why start worrying about that now?

Sinnoh's main Legendaries were based on shintoism, right? I thought shintoism is strong on Hokkaido, Sinnoh's real word counterpart.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

It looks pretty neat, however, I felt that you left alone the center of the region, so I added a few routes at the center. After all, there's a whole Pokédex devoted to Central Kalos, so I thought that part of the map should shine a little more.

View attachment 87068

I didn't add those paths because they don't appear to exist. There aren't really any defined paths or landmarks in that area. I do find the lack of areas in Central Kalos odd, but some of the areas in the hexagon might be part of Central Kalos as well, which balances things out a bit more.

I also find it suspicious that south Central Kalos is suspiciously empty. Possible expansion for XY2?

I kinda think there would be a path going straight north from Lumiose City through the forest to the town/city that's there rather than an odd way around. Some other odd spots, but it looks good overall.

I'm interested in where else you think are "odd spots".

 

[VeggiePopper]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

I didn't add those paths because they don't appear to exist. There aren't really any defined paths or landmarks in that area.

There's what appears to be a mountain range very similar to the one west to it, where you did add as an explorable area. However, the path I drew still leaves the place as a dead end; I guess that place would be a post-game area for a Legendary (think of Stark Mountain Gen VI)

I also find it suspicious that south Central Kalos is suspiciously empty. Possible expansion for XY2?

I hope not. B2W2 were a glorified third version, and as a sequel, I found them quite lacking since they depended too much on the original BW. My bet is that this Gen there will be no sequels nor third version, but instead DLC. But I get your idea, so I guess yes, probably Central Kalos will be expanded on the following release, be it sequels, DLC or the traditional third version.

 

[YamiiDenryuu]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

> Kalos is based on France
> Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizon and Keldeo, based on The Three Musketeers, are legendaries of Unova, which is based on America.

Genius GameFreak. "Genius".

... They had chinese dragons and japanese kami-things in Poke-merica, as well as hebrew beasts and golems in Hoenn. The only region where the legendaries matched up to the region's real-world basis was Johto, I think. So why start worrying about that now?

Sinnoh's main Legendaries were based on shintoism, right? I thought shintoism is strong on Hokkaido, Sinnoh's real word counterpart.

Ah, I knew Arceus was based on Shintoism, but not the others in that group. Interesting. That still leaves the rest of Sinnoh's legends, though, and they're quite a mixed bag as far as origins go.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

I hope not. B2W2 were a glorified third version, and as a sequel, I found them quite lacking since they depended too much on the original BW. My bet is that this Gen there will be no sequels nor third version, but instead DLC. But I get your idea, so I guess yes, probably Central Kalos will be expanded on the following release, be it sequels, DLC or the traditional third version.

I addressed this in another thread, but I guess I'll say it again. Just because BW2 was a glorified third version doesn't mean the others were. BW2's storyline path was too similar to BW1's, the changes made to its storyline path weren't really meaningful because they both followed the same path half of the game. If XY2 were given meaningful changes in storyline and storyline path, it'd be worth having.

There's what appears to be a mountain range very similar to the one west to it, where you did add as an explorable area.

I only marked the ones which have clear paths through them. That Y shaped mountain (which I assume is the one you're referring to) was marked because there appears to be entrances into the mountain from the beach and the path on the other side, and there's a cliffside path running on the outside of it as well. The mountain in south Central Karos has no distinguishable path leading through or anywhere near it.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

I hope not. B2W2 were a glorified third version, and as a sequel, I found them quite lacking since they depended too much on the original BW. My bet is that this Gen there will be no sequels nor third version, but instead DLC. But I get your idea, so I guess yes, probably Central Kalos will be expanded on the following release, be it sequels, DLC or the traditional third version.

You found them lacking? How? Because Black 2 and White 2 had way more new content than a regular boring third version would. I am not trying to be rude or anything, but how is a third version better than sequels, I ask? I personally think it would be very disappointing if Game Freak go back creating a third version instead of sequels in this generation.

Edit: Never mind, this is a bit off-topic.

 

[Dex]

Re: Region Speculation and Discussion Thread

I'd be interested to know if we'll be able to locate this in relation to other regions. The first four were all able to be located in comparison to each other, but Unova was just "far away".

Looking at the map, the only distinctive area leading off the picture is the massive mountain range in the east/southeast. Maybe it goes to the west of Johto, where the big cloud is in this picture.

Spoiler

I sincerely hope it is not another isolated region, having them at least somewhat strung together makes it seem much more immersive.