Bulbagarden

The damage has been done: We're revisiting a region which doesn't need it at all, and any story differences will be minimal regardless of what Masuda says. These games are no doubt a step back from B2W2, and you can tell that Iwata wasn't alive when the decision was made to make them (he was against paired Gray versions).

Way to kill the potential that Go, the VC games, Movie 20 and "Lillie in Kanto" had. By the time they revisit Kanto, no sooner than 2021, we could just get remakes with an "altered" story. Pass.

I'll just play fan hacks from now on (most notably Polished Crystal, because unlike Game Freak some of us haven't forgotten that time when a third version was acceptable) and maybe write a time travel fanfic about Neo Celebi, only without going out of my way to accommodate multiple timelines that are really just an excuse for laziness.

And lol at the trailer focusing on Pokken and basically making a point of USUM being for little kids.

Yeah, as I was watching the stream, my prevailing thought was, "Man, this has got to be Silktree's worst-case scenario..." No Kanto sequels, and not even Crystal? That's a rough double-punch. You know I was pulling for them too, but your passion for the idea and creativity was way beyond that. I do wish that things could have worked out better. No matter how USUM turn out, there was clearly a far better idea on the table.

I can see that this isn't a deal breaker for you, but I am quite serious that my interest in the series is going to wane from now on. Did I expect Kanto sequels to be as good as my hopes? No, but at the very least it would have been the best option for this generation even within Game Freak's laziness parameters.

No reason to expect better initial versions for the Switch than DP or XY were, no reason to care about DP remakes... That already takes us four years into the future and I am not holding my breath that long. They'll probably only bother with sequels for the 25th anniversary if the Switch only gets one generation, and that's a big if (it seems to have more potential than the 3DS ever did). Not to mention that any 2021 games are unlikely to be impactful right after remakes, especially given the HD graphics...

Quite depressing as I see it. I don't care about story additions/changes to games that don't need that treatment (SM are fine, as is Platinum given Sinnoh's shaky premise).

And lol at Bolt complaining about Z of all things. Talk about misplaced priorities.

(Goddammit my first comment got eaten before I could post it)

I certainly don't blame you. I mean, with me, Pokémon has a certain spell over me. I'm enthralled enough to the point where I can generally enjoy whatever game they put out. It is, after all, the only game series that I closely follow, and the only one that I call myself a proper "fan" of. But admittedly, that does sometimes veer somewhat close to "guilty pleasure" territory, as is the case here.

But you are not wrong. USUM are not innovative at all. They missed an enormous opportunity to do something vastly more original and promising. I could understand anybody taking that as a sign to move on, but as you say, the forecast for the next few years looks pretty obvious as well, and if there's nothing in there that looks interesting, then it doesn't make sense to shackle oneself to it.

(You seem to get more enojyment out of fan hacks anyway, from the handful of times you've talked about them. That wouldn't surprise me, at least, as they seem to have more original ideas.)

At this point, I just don't think anything they're likely to do is going to satisfy Bolt... skipping Z seems to have been an unforgivable transgression in his book, although from what I've seen, even from when I was on Serebii's forums, he hasn't been very happy with the direction of the series since Gen 5 (aside from them having sequels and a proper storyline). I'm honestly surprised that he hasn't decided to quit yet. Although I don't want that to be read as a kind of dig at him; despite our constant clashes, I don't have anything personal against him.

Fan hacks are cool, but most of them just add new mechanics to old games and raise the difficulty. Polished Crystal is extra special in that department since it also changes the overworld graphics, adds forms (from Alola and the anime - I am trying to convince the hacker to add the awesome Flying Dragonair) and some new locations (rather than just the missing Kanto ones). I'll see what I can do about a Chieko event...

Hacks that take place in original regions... are not good. Prism is the best in that department and I barely remember anything about its locations or characters after just 5 months. Too much focus on quantity rather than quality.

Ethereal Gates, which is a PC game rather than a hack, has potential judging from its demo. I just don't know when it will be done, if ever. It's a 2D game with decent overworld graphics (nothing is from the canon games), Fakemon (which don't look good, but I am not fond of the majority of post-Johto Pokemon, either) and... battles with animated sprites that put BW to shame.

Pretty sure that I'll have to create sequels myself because no one else is going to do it. But in that case I'd much rather work on a visual novel.

Expect to see a lot less of me from now on. I'll just follow updates and maybe comment on whatever slightly piques my curiosity. That goes for the next generation, too, which I may very well skip altogether.

There is no longer any reason for me to have any expectations or bother poking holes in other people's faulty logic (which got me banned because I was rude about it, lol). It is what it is, and there is something sobering about knowing I can move on. I'll use my free time for writing (a GS Ball fanfic and, more importantly, a non-Pokemon book which will take me years) and maybe drawing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWGc76RCYLQ&list=LLHntxX9BJlcT3XczoB3QMWA&index=29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8_tFtSI5xs&index=2&list=LLHntxX9BJlcT3XczoB3QMWA

Quote from an old VM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsyMefGMZ8Y

"An apt representation of my hype."

Good lord, how naive I was. At least I was right about the 3DS, but for what?

And I definitely think that starting the Direct with Switch pictures was their way to troll the fans. Why would anyone expect the main highlight of a Direct to be a port of a spin-off game?

I'll be sure to follow your progress on that.

Out of curiosity (and if you don't mind a slightly personal question), you mention a non-Pokémon book. Are you a writer by profession (or at least aspiring to be one)?

Nope. I'm a PhD math student, but writing in my free time over years could lead to a book.

Maybe XY and SM correspond to one universe pair, and ORAS and USUM fall into another, lol.

Pelago Mohn is likely to be from USUM originally, so Aether Mohn should be there now. Replacing Lusamine as the villain? After all, she should just be a farmer, lol.

I don't really find this interesting. Timeline deviations are only worthwhile if the butterfly effect is explained.

Ah, cool. Thanks for obliging the personal question.

I think I remember suggesting something like that a while back (that is, ORAS "corresponding" to a second Gen 7 game... but it's been a while, so I can't remember what brought it on). I don't find it very interesting either; as you know, I've not been a big fan of the timeline shenanigans they've gotten into lately because they're so clearly not committed to doing it properly.