Famitsu Interview with Masuda and Ohmori

[ZxCv]

But Rotom possessing an electronic appliance, which is literally Rotom's whole schtick, is what breaks your immersion in Pokémon?

It's more the fact I'm used to and prefer the pokedex being just a tool for registering Pokemon so that the regional professor can have a full data base to work from. I don't see any reason why we should move away from that concept. I quite like the idea that Oak was the one who pioneered the pokedex. The Rotomdex goes against the world building and emphasis in this case, hence why it breaks my immersion.

Rotom being in a pokedex makes sense if you look at the pokedex entry but for me it's screams gimmick.

 

[Garren]

I'm not sure how, Professor Oak pioneered it and someone built upon it. I don't think it betrays the canon.

 

[ZxCv]

I'm not sure how, Professor Oak pioneered it and someone built upon it. I don't think it betrays the canon.

As I said, this is just me. I don't see the need for the pokedex to be anything other than a device for registering Pokemon. The Rotomdex is, for me, a gimmick. The entire concept of a Pokemon inside the pokedex screams marketing ploy which is why I don't like it and why it breaks me out of my immersion.

 

[Lanstar]

I don't understand where do you get the idea of "later gens is inferior in details and unsophistication". IMO they are indeed lacking some fine details and seems more unnatural for a natural creature, but nonetheless I'll never use the word inferior to compare them, as there is no superiority nor inferiority, either it just matches one's taste, or it doesn't suit one's taste. And I'm allowed to voice out my opinion why it doesn't suit my taste.

And if you wanted an example of some pokemons that happens to "fit my understanding of the GenI design standard", I may gladly provide some examples:

Spoiler: Original Pokemon I found on web

オリポケ　序盤鳥ポケ　ラフ　色付き
オリポケ　中盤　ラフ　色付き
オリジナル御三家　炎②　[オリポケ　イラスト]
オリ御三家
プロットモンとラブラモン
(Ignore the last one if you know what it is ^^)

It is the point that their designs are more or less remaining true to its origin source animals, if it is large ones it possess that "kaijuu" monstrous atmosphere of the 90's era. They are not plushie dolls, the GenI pokemons were intended to be "kaijuus". (From Ken Sugimori and/or Satoshi Tajiri in some very early design concept statements, Pocket Monster = Monster (JPN: Kaijuu) in your pocket)

I guess "inferiority" was a strong word in my department... But my point was that each generation is a mixed bag in in terms of your standards - that generalizing that one generation of Pokemon has this true "Pokemon standard" of high details and unsophistication isn't quite the right way to look at it. Also, I was really asking for an actual Pokemon for a design comparison, not one that didn't make it. (Also, many of those mock-ups don't look much like Pokemon to me anyways - but the bird one looks totally believable!)

That said, what would be interesting to do is to categorize the styles of all the known Pokemon in their modern form - for instance, the way the lines move, the type of eyes, the body shapes, the parallel structure etc., and see the variability between generations. Sure, we may see a lot of Pokemon art styles that are quite different from the first generation... But that doesn't mean the entire first generation should be the pure standard to judge your preferences.

 

[Zygardereign]

Doesn't the design line mean the... lines on the actual design and not number of new Pokemon? He talks about how Rowlet doesn't have much detail but its animations and movements were the focus. Basically lines = details. But I'm not fussed if it does mean smaller number of new mons, I'm a very vocal fan of the Kalos approach.

Also I split this off from the other thread, there's enough in the interview where its own thread is worth it.

Also rofl at Masuda admitting that Zygarde 50% is a well thought out design but then said they reacted with "surprise" when seeing the forms, and doesn't say the same as he did about 50%. It comes across as pretty obvious even he thinks the forms aren't very good xD

Well, it was obvious that the forms can be seen as a surprise to everyone the minute we first saw them, but it said that even Masuda thinks the 10% and Perfect form have interesting looks, and it could be why he showed a video of them at the Taiwan World Championships. People there were surprised and happy about the news. The 50% form was the first form shown in the games, so most people were familiar with it's simplistic look. But I'm happy they decided to get creative with Zygarde other than having two new forms that either had Thousand waves/arrows to deal with Xerneas/Yveltal. That would've been predictable from the start and stagnant, since Kyurem was able to have two new forms by fusing either dragon and gaining Ice Burn/Freeze shock.

Zygarde in itself is already a complex legendary made up of many cells that forms the body and cores which are the brain. This is a very interesting concept that has never been done before with a legendary. It's not a simple encounter and catch for the average legendaries out there, it requires you to explore everywhere in places you haven't been before searching for these cells, and I think they did a great job with Zygarde. In Japan, during the Pokemon Elections 720, Zygarde is actually in 8th place, beating out Charizard and Mewtwo, which are the most iconic Pokemon out there. Even though it's not in the top 3 or 5, the anime has a big influence on Zygarde that all it's forms appeal to people in a certain way. If they like cute and tiny things, Puni-chan ("Squishy") is the best thing for them. If they like simplistic designs, then the 10% or 50% would be best. If they like complex designs or powerful things, then Perfect form is the best for them.

Personally, I like the Perfect form better, since this is what Zygarde fulfills it's job as the Order Pokemon more effectively. Since in E3, they mentioned Zygarde being in these games in a "special way", and they put so much emphasis on the way Zygarde works in the official website, it stands to reason that it will have a great role mostly in the post-game, since it barely had a role to begin with in X and Y.

 

[Guzma]

Wow, this sounds like it might possibly top Gen V for me.

 

[The Outrage]

It's more the fact I'm used to and prefer the pokedex being just a tool for registering Pokemon so that the regional professor can have a full data base to work from. I don't see any reason why we should move away from that concept. I quite like the idea that Oak was the one who pioneered the pokedex. The Rotomdex goes against the world building and emphasis in this case, hence why it breaks my immersion.

Rotom being in a pokedex makes sense if you look at the pokedex entry but for me it's screams gimmick.

World building emphasis? The game was never about world building unless you're using that term differently.

The Pokedex is still a tool for registering Pokemon, and every generation, a new iteration was made, presumably by the regional professor. The fact that Kukui(?) created the latest version to also integrate with other essential trainer gadgets (i.e., the PokeNav of the generation) just means that he recognizes that the Pokedex can be an all-around tool for trainers.

And the anime's departed from that definition from day 1. In early episodes, it was revealed that the Pokedex is also the Trainer ID. The Pokedex isn't also a machine for registering information, but for providing trainers with information on caught Pokemon--and it seems that this is what the games have been going for since Gen II. We've never been told that we're recording the data, so obviously the database exists somewhere and is only unlocked after capturing a Pokemon.