Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Predictions/Speculation/Discussion Thread

[Moonlight~]

I need another fairy dog as cute as Snubbull.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I don't think there's actually going to be time travel in this game, there'd be too many differences between the games for them to handle. Especially when this is their first open world game, best to keep it simple for this game and make sure they get the basics of open world gameplay down pat (things like are the maps interesting to explore and filled with things to incentivize exploration or is the game properly paced and balanced so that it feels appropriately challenging regardless of when you complete a particular event?) before doing anything crazy like time travel. I think this is going to be more of an Opelucid City situation on a larger scale, both versions take place in the present, but one tries to emulate the past and one tries to emulate the future.

 

[nickdt]

I don't think there's actually going to be time travel in this game, there'd be too many differences between the games for them to handle. Especially when this is their first open world game, best to keep it simple for this game and make sure they get the basics of open world gameplay down pat (things like are the maps interesting to explore and filled with things to incentivize exploration or is the game properly paced and balanced so that it feels appropriately challenging regardless of when you complete a particular event?) before doing anything crazy like time travel. I think this is going to be more of an Opelucid City situation on a larger scale, both versions take place in the present, but one tries to emulate the past and one tries to emulate the future.

Or... since our path isn't orgestrated by the story this time around, we can choose via in-game action which way the region is more represented. A future path or a past path and maybe the past and future paths in both games are slightly different in events that happened.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Or... since our path isn't orgestrated by the story this time around, we can choose via in-game action which way the region is more represented. A future path or a past path and maybe the past and future paths in both games are slightly different in events that happened.

Considering that each version of the game is specifically correlated to each time period, doubtful. More likely you choose which path you want by choosing whether you want Scarlet or Violet.

 

[Oriden]

I don't think there's actually going to be time travel in this game, there'd be too many differences between the games for them to handle. Especially when this is their first open world game, best to keep it simple for this game and make sure they get the basics of open world gameplay down pat (things like are the maps interesting to explore and filled with things to incentivize exploration or is the game properly paced and balanced so that it feels appropriately challenging regardless of when you complete a particular event?) before doing anything crazy like time travel. I think this is going to be more of an Opelucid City situation on a larger scale, both versions take place in the present, but one tries to emulate the past and one tries to emulate the future.

I think time travel will be a thing, but limited to only a small area or areas. Definitely not a full-blown map change. But having time travel would let them give us more to explore with less work by just having to reskin a portion of the map that's already there.

 

[Emmy]

I maintain my earlier theory of the player getting quests of investigating areas that have been temporally warped and having to restore them to normal.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I think time travel will be a thing, but limited to only a small area or areas. Definitely not a full-blown map change. But having time travel would let them give us more to explore with less work by just having to reskin a portion of the map that's already there.

I do love those kinds of mechanics, Zelda loves them a lot (see: the Light World/Dark World system in A Link to the Past/A Link Between Worlds, the time travel in Ocarina of Time) and I also found it fun in Metroid Prime 2. And I was really hoping they'd go that route with Ultra Space in USUM (although that would've been a bit much for a third version developed 1 year after SM), where Ultra Space would be an entire second copy of Alola, but sadly that didn't come to pass (or at least aside from the small section of Hau'oli City in Ultra Ruin). Now though? This is a very inopportune time to experiment with those kinds of mechanics when they're trying to transition the series from linear handheld games to open world console games. Yeah, they could do something small like Ultra Ruin, but it would be so minor it feels almost pointless. I'd rather they circle back to this mechanic in Gen 10 or 11 when they've fully mastered how to make an open world Pokemon game and can focus on finding crazy ways to spice things up.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

I do love those kinds of mechanics, Zelda loves them a lot (see: the Light World/Dark World system in A Link to the Past/A Link Between Worlds, the time travel in Ocarina of Time) and I also found it fun in Metroid Prime 2. And I was really hoping they'd go that route with Ultra Space in USUM (although that would've been a bit much for a third version developed 1 year after SM), where Ultra Space would be an entire second copy of Alola, but sadly that didn't come to pass (or at least aside from the small section of Hau'oli City in Ultra Ruin). Now though? This is a very inopportune time to experiment with those kinds of mechanics when they're trying to transition the series from linear handheld games to open world console games. Yeah, they could do something small like Ultra Ruin, but it would be so minor it feels almost pointless. I'd rather they circle back to this mechanic in Gen 10 or 11 when they've fully mastered how to make an open world Pokemon game and can focus on finding crazy ways to spice things up.

USUM did have that alternate universe where day/night were reversed but everything else was the same. very useful for evolving mons that only evolve at a certain time of day.

 

[blitzle stan]

I maintain my earlier theory of the player getting quests of investigating areas that have been temporally warped and having to restore them to normal.

That seems fun! Like the spacetime distortions in PLA, except just time and not space, and it’s a semi-stable area of the map that you need to investigate.

That way yes, it’s kinda time travel, but also yes, they only have to create past or future sections of specific areas instead of entire maps.

 

[Bolt Strike]

USUM did have that alternate universe where day/night were reversed but everything else was the same. very useful for evolving mons that only evolve at a certain time of day.

Not what I'm talking about. The examples I gave above had some minor changes in map design and entire story events that took place in their alternate worlds. Like, imagine if you went through Melemele Island and went through an alternate version of Melemele, which let's just call Ultra Melemele for the sake of simplicity (as in a variant of Melemele that exists in Ultra Space), with its own unique storyline events and slight design differences to facilitate exploring Ultra Melemele differently from Melemele. That's the kind of multiple world system I want to see. Granted, I'm not quite sure how it would work with open world, AFAIK no open world game has done that mechanic (Zelda could try it with BotW2 or a future game, as I've said they love this mechanic but they've yet to do so in an open world, BotW style game) and part of what makes those kinds of games so impactful is that you end up exploring similar maps in very different orders with each variant (again using Melemele as an example, in that kind of game you might end up proceeding through Ultra Melemele counter-clockwise instead of clockwise to make exploring Ultra Melemele feel fresh even when it's largely similar to Melemele).

The "alternate world" in USUM is just a glorified clock change that didn't really do much. Much less exciting and impactful on the game.

 

[Oriden]

I'd rather they circle back to this mechanic in Gen 10 or 11 when they've fully mastered how to make an open world Pokemon game and can focus on finding crazy ways to spice things up.

That's kind of silly. You would rather they gut this game of content until they prove they're good enough at open worlding.

 

[LemmaEOF]

Pokémon writing stories about time travel and time loops is honestly really interesting as a concept to me because of how traditionally formulaic the games are tbh

 

[Cute Charm]

I'd rather they circle back to this mechanic in Gen 10 or 11 when they've fully mastered how to make an open world Pokemon game and can focus on finding crazy ways to spice things up.

At this point Gen 10 will probably just be a culmination of Legends and SV and what the A and B teams at Game Freak learned about making semi-open and open world games and playing with combining past and present. Especially if the theories about the dummied out modern room from Legends was anything to go by.

Right now, I still stand by my assumption that SV are just transitory games. First it was 3D, the next logical step is open world, and who knows...maybe after they grasp that concept they can fully realize their original plan of having procedurally generated games they've wanted since the beginning.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

i'm honestly hoping that the whole open world thing will completely fail. that way game freak will realise that pokemon should not be open world. i don't get why all game devs nowadays seem to think that all franchises need to be open world.

 

[Daren]

As much as I'm puzzled by some of the new open world focus (apparently Street Fighter is doing it now?) Pokémon strikes me as one where it fits together. The whole monster collecting focus works well with freeform exploring, and it's a way around recurring issues like some species only being available at the very end of the game because they don't want Ice-types hanging out in an arboreal forest but that means a lot of Ice-types aren't around long enough to really feel like part of the team, or are too weak for that part of the game.

 

[blitzle stan]

Yeah some kinds of games don’t make sense being open world, but Pokémon is a game that 100% does make sense and actually NEEDS to be really, in the long run for the franchise.

 

[Emmy]

(apparently Street Fighter is doing it now?)

It's just a Mortal Kombat style adventure mode. Not really "open world" per se, but likely a big sandbox for your custom character to run around in and advance story beyond jumping from cutscene to fight to cutscene etc.

 

[Cute Charm]

Yeah some kinds of games don’t make sense being open world, but Pokémon is a game that 100% does make sense and actually NEEDS to be really, in the long run for the franchise.

This.

I've seen a few people since at least Gen 5 complain about road blocks still being a thing (see the men who dance for no reason road block.) When other RPGs had been semi-open for awhile at that point. The nitpicking got worse with the jump to 3D.

Sure, open world is a craze now and there still should be games out there where you just go from point A at the start of the game and point B at the end for a fun single player experience. But as far as adventure RPGs go, being able to actually run around and explore is kind of a must nowadays. Sure you might run into SV's equivalent of that Alpha Rapidash, but you'll still probably be able to run past it to get to another area with lower level 'mons.

 

[Bolt Strike]

That's kind of silly. You would rather they gut this game of content until they prove they're good enough at open worlding.

It's not really "gutting" if it was never there to begin with. What I'm saying is that they need to learn to walk before they can run, and there's a lot they need to relearn about basic game design when it comes to open world.

i'm honestly hoping that the whole open world thing will completely fail. that way game freak will realise that pokemon should not be open world. i don't get why all game devs nowadays seem to think that all franchises need to be open world.

To someone that doesn't like them, I can see why this trend is irritating, but I think there's a good reason why there's so many IPs are following it (and yes, it's because they sell, but there's a reason why they sell). Open world is simply the natural conclusion of exploration gameplay. It allows you total freedom to go wherever you want and do whatever you want, so it's perfect for that kind of gameplay where you just want to roam around and do as you please or search every nook and cranny for things to do and secrets to find. So any IP that is or can emphasize exploration in its gameplay sees it as an easy way to cash in. Whether or not a game should go open world depends on how important exploration is to the gameplay, and in most of the IPs I've seen go open world, exploration is pretty important. I do think if we start seeing more platformers go open world that'll be a bit excessive since 3D platformers don't really need to emphasize exploration (Sonic Frontiers is the only prominent open world game that I think "this doesn't really fit that well and they're just cashing in on the trend, and if they transition DK to sandbox/open world like some people are speculating that would be another that seem kind of forced despite having already done so with DK 64).

As for Pokemon, open world fits because Pokemon is an IP that highly emphasizes player choice and customization. The player is meant to be a self-insert, now can be customized, and can choose their own team to use in the adventure. Expanding on that by allowing the player to choose what direction to go in and in what order to do things is a natural evolution of that. Furthermore, the game has from the very beginning always had some sense of exploration, you adventure through a large interconnected overworld trying to find the path forward while also hunting for hidden Pokemon, items, and other such secrets. So evolving the exploration elements also feels like a natural evolution of the gameplay. The open world gameplay just fits Pokemon's core concept and gameplay philosophy so well, that's why open world makes sense. If it were to fail (which I don't think it would, but for argument's sake let's say it does) that would be profoundly depressing because it means Pokemon would be limited to what degree it can offer players a unique and personalized experience with a high degree of freedom, it means that the 3DS style games are basically all it can ever be. And I would personally find that sad because I hated 3DS style games, but I think a lot of other people would feel that Pokemon would be too limited as well.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

open world games do offer more in the exploration department, but in my experience, they struggle to give a meaningful sense of progression. i didn't finish breath of the wild because what i was doing felt pointless; i didn't feel like i was actually making progress towards anything. the world should gradually open up as you progress through the story; it should not be open all at once.