Mitchman

I do want this generation to end, but even putting my (fairly justified) bias aside, your suggestion would be too little and too late by next year. XY with better post-game content wouldn't be a "mostly new game" in any shape or form. Besides, fixing XY shouldn't be a priority compared to the 20th anniversary and utilizing the New 3DS.

Considering that said merchandise lacks listings for the known legendaries (only Pikachu and Hoopa are listed), chances are that the placeholders are for them and Hoopa Unbound. Redundant placeholders have happened before.

I think that's jumping the gun. For one thing, Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Charizard Y and Mega Venusaur have yet to appear in the anime, so Act IV could easily revolve around them. Also, the trailer says "speeding toward a climax", which suggests that this will be the final act. I don't see why that would be the case if there were another Generation VI release.

But I do expect Generation VII to be tied to the 20th anniversary, with an announcement happening around September. Kanto sequels should be announced a year later - still as part of the 20th anniversary.

I think that an early 2017 release date is more likely for the NX (see the GBA and 3DS, which were both released in March), and even late 2017 is more likely than late 2016. Iwata only said that he hoped to be able to reveal more information next year, and around a month ago he stated that Nintendo's plan for the 2016 fiscal year relies on strong software and IP marketing (rather than new hardware). Besides, I would think that the New 3DS would at least have two years to itself in the west (the GBC and DSi lasted 2.5 years).

Contrary to what I said a year ago, I don't see why the 20th anniversary games wouldn't count as a new generation, with follow-up versions being released in 2017. A late 2018 release date for Generation VIII would still be an improvement from Game Freak's tardiness in utilizing the 3DS.

I don't see regular DLC happening considering how long it's been since XY's release. But with the advent of Nintendo releasing smartphone apps featuring their characters, I can see Game Freak releasing an app for both eShop and smartphones (they've already done it for Solitiba). It would serve to appease existing players as well as attracting new ones who have yet to buy a 3DS.

In terms of content, the main idea is distributing Volcanion, Eternal Floette and Zygarde's moves to the actual games (this would work via Pokémon Link). They could do anything to set up the distributions, but a mini-game akin to Dream Radar would be awkward (at least for Floette and Zygarde). Porting even a sample of the main series' formula to smartphones would send the wrong message, but they could leave out the battle gameplay and just focus on telling a story for once. A mini adventure game about Kalos' history, if you will.

If they were to introduce Zygarde's forms in such an app, they could release a patch for XY and ORAS to accommodate the new data. But marketing-wise, it would make more sense to have the forms be exclusive to the next generation even if they had a role in the app.

I was just referring to science fantasy and steampunk as story elements. I can't judge the writing itself.

I am not sure that such elements would fit the simplicity that Sugimori seems to be going for.

What's netcode exactly? For some reason it's hard to find information about it.

If to be honest, I have never played any Sega game.

Amiibo only carry a small amount of data (0.5MB). They aren't supposed to replace regular DLC.

I don't remember Masuda saying that at all. It's Sugimori who said something similar about DLC rather than an added region.

Masuda has expressed interest in Amiibo. I'm pretty sure that they won't be limited to event Pokémon, but I have my doubts that they will justify the $13 price tag.

By better micromanaging, I mean zl/zr to be used for menu shortcuts, or perhaps automatic buttons for two moves in battle.

The threads are really dull at this point, but the situation is worse on other forums. Very few people are considering DLC for Zygarde or a 2016 release date for Generation VII.

What do you mean by better micro-managing? The extra power is tricky since the games should still be playable on regular 3DS models, but I think that a n3DS-exclusive post-game area could work well. Imagine if we could view a Guyanese jungle from a first-person perspective and actually interact with the Pokémon in a Snap-like manner. They might prefer to design an n3DS-exclusive app for this purpose if they wanted more money (Dream Radar comes to mind), but the fair thing would be to reward n3DS owners without additional fees.

You should check out Pokémon Sage. It's the first fan-made game I've found that seems potentially worthwhile (it's unfinished, but there is a demo available). For better or worse, the game mirrors Game Freak's quality as explained here.

The survey pertains to 2015 in its entirety. I don't see a reason to assume that the announcement is necessarily forthcoming.

That could mean DLC, a non-Pokémon game or just a Generation VII announcement (for an early 2016 release). He only mentions getting ready to make an announcement (which could happen at any point next year) and he sounds pretty modest about the project.

Maybe the ORAS event will also involve Jirachi, if only to make up for Hoopa not being catchable. Jirachi has already been distributed in Japan twice this year, but they could give it a Mega Evolution and a plot about Hoopa being its evil nemesis. They're both djinns, so why not?

The thing is that we know from ORAS that Jirachi was awake when Archie was young, and since it only awakens every 1000 years, that Jirachi shouldn't be active anytime soon. But maybe RSE's Jirachi will end up in ORAS due to Hoopa's shenanigans.

I'd bet on Hoopa being featured in the title alone, too. Movie 13's title was just about Zoroark even though Celebi had a relatively notable role. But this really doesn't mean much DLC-wise.

XY's DLC should just focus on Zygarde and Volcanion, which may very well not get a movie. ORAS' DLC could be about Looker and possibly Zinnia, with Hoopa pulling the strings without being catchable. In a way, XY would get their version of the Delta Episode and ORAS would get their version of the Looker sidequest.

Soaring has served its purpose as far as this generation is concerned.

This is what we discussed in October. But now that all of the legendaries are already obtainable, what would be the point of those locations?

Unfortunately, the Exploud family is already done by somebody else. Even if you almost never used Normal-types, would you still be able to provide your opinion on them?