Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[RileyXY1]

Considering GF's track record, I am expecting the protags in these games to be young kids again.

 

[TheElderKing]

Considering GF's track record, I am expecting the protags in these games to be young kids again.

Sadly, I agree, although I still hope to see the new MC more similar to how they were rapresented in Gen V and VI.

 

[AngryBinacle]

Let's just hope this generation has some evolutions and pre-evolutions of older mons again. Has been a while, sadly.

 

[Oriden]

Considering GF's track record, I am expecting the protags in these games to be young kids again.

I don't know, though, because these games are supposed to be geared more towards experienced players, so we may get a slightly older protagonist. If the series splits with the Let's Go series taking over the young kid/beginner portion, we could get slightly older player characters for the main series games.

Also age options would be pretty awesome but that remains a wishlist item. XD

 

[Defiant]

Let's just hope this generation has some evolutions and pre-evolutions of older mons again. Has been a while, sadly.

Since we're on the topic of immersion breaking...
Cross gen evos break the story too in my opinion. Are we supposed to believe that no one in the whole Kanto region has ever been nice enough to their Eevees to get them to evolve into Espeon/Umbreon and these Pokemon are unheard of, whereas next door, it's no big deal at all, and those mons play a sizeable role in the cultural capital.

 

[TheElderKing]

I don't know, though, because these games are supposed to be geared more towards experienced players, so we may get a slightly older protagonist. If the series splits with the Let's Go series taking over the young kid/beginner portion, we could get slightly older player characters for the main series games.

Also age options would be pretty awesome but that remains a wishlist item. XD

I hope you’re right about the first part. The options would certainly be great but I don’t think it’ll happen soon. Although the silent protagonist works well with this feature, since you don’t have to worry about the voice options.

 

[Oriden]

I hope you’re right about the first part. She options would certainly be great but I don’t think it’ll happen soon. Although the silent protagonist works well with this feature, since you don’t have to worry about the voice options.

Yeah, I think if we ever did get voice acting, it wouldn't extend to the player character anyway. Definitely better to go the silent protagonist route. But imagine if you could pick a voice for your character. XD Just play an old man who sounds like a little boy for shits and giggles.

 

[AngryBinacle]

Since we're on the topic of immersion breaking...
Cross gen evos break the story too in my opinion. Are we supposed to believe that no one in the whole Kanto region has ever been nice enough to their Eevees to get them to evolve into Espeon/Umbreon and these Pokemon are unheard of, whereas next door, it's no big deal at all, and those mons play a sizeable role in the cultural capital.

That has more to do with gameplay than with the game's reality.

Anyway; gen 4 had some creative solutions, so no, I don't think it hampers immersion.

The past few generations have had far too much one-staged 'mons or ones that have potential but didn't get any.

 

[Esserise]

With regard to the actual issue of immersion, I guess it's kind of a tricky thing. They're not just going to have the player characters materialize ex nihilo, but at the same time, it's hard to cover all of the bases in a way that allows the player to be interpreted with infinite flexibility. Like, I complain about that "You're 11" moment in Sun & Moon because it just happens to be an instance in which I'm awkwardly pinned as being the same age as my brother who's half as old as me, but I think every game since Black & White has made some oblique reference to the player's dad, so what about the players with gay parents? Immersion was broken for them a long time ago. What about that occasional 60-year-old who still likes playing the games? The context of an older person beginning a journey would be different from the context around a young person.

I couldn't help but notice that LGPE adopt a vaguely Mystery Dungeon-esque approach by having the player get sucked into the TV inside their real-life home (kind of like the old Digimon World games, too). I always liked that introductory technique from Mystery Dungeon and think it could potentially work for the main series, but LGPE misses the benefit of it by dropping the player right into the usual Pokémon starting home format anyway.

Since we're on the topic of immersion breaking...
Cross gen evos break the story too in my opinion. Are we supposed to believe that no one in the whole Kanto region has ever been nice enough to their Eevees to get them to evolve into Espeon/Umbreon and these Pokemon are unheard of, whereas next door, it's no big deal at all, and they play a big role in the cultural capital.

Sometimes it made sense, at least for a little while, like with the Ice and Moss Rocks - one could believe that with how rare Eevee generally were pre-Gen 6, nobody ever happened to evolve one in the vicinity of these two random, somewhat hidden rocks in Sinnoh (and Eevee don't natively appear in Unova, so it's even less likely that someone would have evolved their Eevee at the rocks over there). But yeah, there have been several that just have to be ignored as the blatant retcons that they are.

 

[Oriden]

Since we're on the topic of immersion breaking...
Cross gen evos break the story too in my opinion. Are we supposed to believe that no one in the whole Kanto region has ever been nice enough to their Eevees to get them to evolve into Espeon/Umbreon and these Pokemon are unheard of, whereas next door, it's no big deal at all, and those mons play a sizeable role in the cultural capital.

-shrug- Don't think anyone really has a problem with getting new evolutions at the risk of having their suspension of disbelief shattered.

 

[Defiant]

. the

With regard to the actual issue of immersion, I guess it's kind of a tricky thing. They're not just going to have the player characters materialize ex nihilo, but at the same time, it's hard to cover all of the bases in a way that allows the player to be interpreted with infinite flexibility. Like, I complain about that "You're 11" moment in Sun & Moon because it just happens to be an instance in which I'm awkwardly pinned as being the same age as my brother who's half as old as me, but I think every game since Black & White has made some oblique reference to the player's dad, so what about the players with gay parents? Immersion was broken for them a long time ago. What about that occasional 60-year-old who still likes playing the games? The context of an older person beginning a journey would be different from the context around a young person.

As I said earlier to PKMtrainer, you're dealing in absolutes. Yes having the Mum does break the immersion for those who don't live with their Mum for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean you give up on immersion entirely. The more characters you add, (dads, brothers, sisters) the less immersive the experience becomes.

Ok so everyone who doesn't live with their Mum is ruled out, but if we add a Dad that rules out everyone who doesn't live with both parents, if we add a brother that rules out everyone who doesn't have a brother, if we say its an older brother then we get an even smaller of people that fits for. To be as immersive as possible it needs to be as vague as possible. Yes the Mum means it's not 100% vague, so therefore not 100% immersive, but that's not a justification to make it even less immersive in my opinion.

 

[TheElderKing]

Since we're on the topic of immersion breaking...
Cross gen evos break the story too in my opinion. Are we supposed to believe that no one in the whole Kanto region has ever been nice enough to their Eevees to get them to evolve into Espeon/Umbreon and these Pokemon are unheard of, whereas next door, it's no big deal at all, and

. the


As I said earlier to PKMtrainer, you're dealing in absolutes. Yes having the Mum does break the immersion for those who don't live with their Mum for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean you give up on immersion entirely. The more characters you add, (dads, brothers, sisters) the less immersive the experience becomes.

Ok so everyone who doesn't live with their Mum is ruled out, but if we add a Dad that rules out everyone who doesn't live with both parents, if we add a brother that rules out everyone who doesn't have a brother, if we say its an older brother then we get an even smaller of people that fits for. To be as immersive as possible it needs to be as vague as possible. Yes the Mum means it's not 100% vague, so therefore not 100% immersive, but that's not a justification to make it even less immersive in my opinion.

It doesn’t work as you say. Having both parents rule out immersion for those that don’t have both parents, but it gains immersion for those that have both. Which, I think are more numerous then the ones that have only a mother.

 

[Oriden]

You know... screw immersion, I'd like a reality where I've got a sibling who isn't a total douche nozzle.

Also gotta speak up as someone with divorced parents who lives with her dad instead of mom.

 

[Defiant]

It doesn’t work as you say. Having both parents rule out immersion for those that don’t have both parents, but it gains immersion for those that have both. Which, I think are more numerous then the ones that have only a mother.

Well no because it's never stated you don't live with your Dad, or that you don't have siblings, so all those people who live with their Dad brothers/sisters older/younger can still conceivably believe they are around, you just don't see them they are off screen etc. Maybe Dads at work, or your brother is in his room which you just don't go into (most houses have more than 2 rooms) so by not showing dads and siblings that doesn't make the game less immersive for those with dads and siblings. But showing them as they do with the Mum character does make it less immersive for those without Dads/siblings.

They can't fully immerse everybody but they can make it as immersive as possible to the widest number of people possible.

 

[AngryBinacle]

And if new evolutions are immersion-breaking, why are totally new 'mons not? And why can you defeat gym leaders within the first few days of your journey while they've been training for 20+ years sometimes? Why can a teenager beat an entire gang? Etc.

Gameplay.

@Defiant I think you're reading too much into the immersion-side.

 

[Oriden]

Well no because it's never stated you don't live with your Dad, or that you don't have siblings, so all those people who live with their Dad brothers/sisters older/younger can still conceivably believe they are around, you just don't see them they are off screen etc. Maybe Dads at work, or your brother is in his room which you just don't go into (most houses have more than 2 rooms) so by not showing dads and siblings that doesn't make the game less immersive for those with dads and siblings. But showing them as they do with the Mum character does make it less immersive for those without Dads/siblings.

They can't fully immerse everybody but they can make it as immersive as possible to the widest number of people possible.

This is feeling like to make the games immersive, we have to uphold the age old stereotype of Mom stays home and takes care of the house. =/ Would be a much better idea to mix it up a little and make games that are more immersive for different people than to just keep it immersive for the same people every time. Shows people different kinds of family dynamics so they can learn to acknowledge and respect them.

 

[Defiant]

And if new evolutions are immersion-breaking, why are totally new 'mons not? And why can you defeat gym leaders within the first few days of your journey while they've been training for 20+ years sometimes? Why can a teenager beat an entire gang? Etc.

Gameplay.

@Defiant I think you're reading too much into the immersion-side.

I think you are looking too much into absolutes again.
Most of what you listed are story elements, that you are some wonder child at the art of Pokemon training. Plus Gym leaders are shown to not use their full team, they tailor it to your actual progress.

In terms of new Pokemon it makes perfect sense that some Pokemon families are not native to some regions. What doesn't make sense was the Eevee example, where seemingly no one in the whole Kanto region are nice to their Eevees, so the whole concept of it evolving that way is unheard of while literally next door...

 

[Esserise]

-shrug- Don't think anyone really has a problem with getting new evolutions at the risk of having their suspension of disbelief shattered.

This too - I'd probably describe it as more of a Fridge Logic moment rather than immersion-breaking.

 

[AngryBinacle]

I think you are looking too much into absolutes again.
Most of what you listed are story elements, that you are some wonder child at the art of Pokemon training. Plus Gym leaders are shown to not use their full team, they tailor it to your actual progress.

In terms of new Pokemon it makes perfect sense that some Pokemon families are not native to some regions. What doesn't make sense was the Eevee example, where seemingly no one in the whole Kanto region are nice to their Eevees, so the whole concept of it evolving that way is unheard of while literally next door...

I think you're the one looking at absolutes...? I mean, you keep going on about those two eevee-lutions even though they're perfectly retcon-able and not even that immersion-breaking.

 

[El_]

View: https://twitter.com/The_BlckPhnx/status/1097026841917960192?s=19


Crown and scepter again....

Idk, weren't people at one point highly skeptical of the Let's Go logos as well?

In any case, I'd much prefer Crown/Scepter over King/Queen, simply because it doesn't sound nearly as gender specific. Any King/Queen can be wearing a crown or holding a scepter, so that makes it more of a neutral choice for the fanbase.

Also prefer them over something silly like Hot/Cold or Summer/Winter, bc at that point your're better off fully gimping Game of Thrones and simply calling it A Song of Ice & Fire.