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Generation VI: The Future

What will it be?


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@The Outrage
While Kanto has had its presence in the air throughout most of the series, its tje first time that it thoroughly hijacked a good part of a new rgion and its Pokemon. We jadnthe starters as a big focal point for the story, an entire forest layout reused, the Snorlax sleeping on the bridge, a Free Lapras, and Mewtwo with the birds as the post game legendaries. Yes, Kanto in another gen won't be too different, but I think thatnif they continje with gen 6, it can be the peak of Kanto references. I honestly am considering one final push of Kanto, and from gen 7 onwards, only minute references should be made, and some Pokemon get in the games. Nothing more.
 
While Kanto has had its presence in the air throughout most of the series, its tje first time that it thoroughly hijacked a good part of a new rgion and its Pokemon. We jadnthe starters as a big focal point for the story, an entire forest layout reused, the Snorlax sleeping on the bridge, a Free Lapras, and Mewtwo with the birds as the post game legendaries.
Most of these are nods that are easy to ignore, with the exceptions of the Mega Kanto starters and Mewtwo, which didn't even affect the story. I don't know why people blame the Kanto elements for XY's shortcomings.

I honestly am considering one final push of Kanto, and from gen 7 onwards, only minute references should be made, and some Pokemon get in the games. Nothing more.
That is just your own wishful thinking. I'm pretty sure that if they wanted to be done with Kanto for good, they would at least revisit the actual region one final time.
 
They re-released the MysticTicket (for FRLG and Emerald) and the Eon Ticket (Emerald) after DP's release. That was actually weird since it was a store distribution.

You've kind of made the point for me, that was a re release however this Mew event, is planned.
I must say it is a little weird that people were correctly predicting this year that the ORAS only events meant no new game, are now saying that the same thing doesn't apply that it's inconvenient for them. If Gen 7 really were to come out in September, do you really think they would still be doing an XY event 6 months later?

It's funny that this is the interpretation you're going with when the likelihood of the movie focusing on a new Pokémon has just increased.

The Mew code is about the VC games more than anything else. They aren't part of Generation VI.

I personally never subscribed to the Mew event, though I guess Mega Mew could be a possibility.

While it is pretty contradictory, I agree that the movie has nothing else to promote now, how else can it be seen? Yes its about the VC release, but if they wanted to extend the Mew Event to gen 7 and not reveal that something is afoot, the event could last till December and nobody would bat an eye. It would be only a month or two after the games drop in this case. March on the other hand is way after the next gen launches, and I really see no reason why they would let people download it for XYORAS instead of pushing them to the next gen.

First off I don't understand why the movie needs to have 2 main characters, Arceus got on fine on his own in Movie 12. But let's say there will be 2 I disagree that the movie has nothing else to promote. There are 2 un released events for Gen 6, Volcanion we already know about but are you forgetting our dear friend Eternal Floette. When will this be distributed? Remember it has a special signature move, and so far we've not seen any allusion to E. Floette or AZ in the anime, not even a silhouette in the XYZ opening. He's a big character so they aren't going to miss him out, I think they are saving him for the movie. And if you wonder how E. Floette and Volcanion tie in, I am sure they will think of something, the same way they tied Keldeo with Kyurem, Shaymin with Giratina etc.

I'm pretty sure Game Freak had said that 2016 will be made as a big celebration of the 20th anniversary. If that is true, then I doubt another sixth generation game would be big enough for them to say that. So it must be seventh generation. Hm... we won't know until it happens, I guess. Nintendo Direct has been dissolved, and we will hear about Nintendo Direct's successor program sometime next year. So I don't think there's any kind of media to announce the games worldwide within a livestream, unless Pokémon.com makes up one, on Ustream or something.

Yes the year is going to be 1 big celebration of Gen 1, that is my point if Gen 7 were to come they'd need to start hyping it around January - March, which would sort of muddy the water, as they'd be throwing a 20th anniversary party around kanto and Gen 1, and trying to promote a brand new Generation at the same time. Not to mention figuring out a way to suitably wrap up Gen 6.

I think it's obvious we are getting the Z promotion now, so that they can release Z sometime next year and focus on the Gen 1 party.

Thing is though, celebrating the 20th with a generation change sounds like a trainwreck. You have to focus for the first half of the year on rushing through Kalos, while advertising a new gen, and then releasing it. On top of all that they are gonna actively promote and organize stuff to celebrate the 20th. Tell me how having all 3 at the same time going on is much better and logical then taking their time with Kalos, Celebrating the 20th and releasing the final Kalos iteration with in game features celebrating the 20th.

Exactly, it'd be pure chaos, you'd effectively have 3 generations being dealt with all in 2016. Finishing one, reintroducing 1, and introducing a brand new one all in 12 months seems beyond crazy not to mention hectic.

I am not really understanding the point you are making. Yes, the Gen I VC releases are huge, but its certainly not something that will carry a year-long anniversary celebration. Given that its lasting an entire year, ending the year-long anniversary celebration with yet another Kalos game isn't going to match the hype they've been building. A new generation would. It's also a nice juxtaposition--start the 20th anniversary with the re-release of the games that started it all, and end with the games that will usher in the new generation.

You are forgetting Pokemon Go. And I don't see how starting Gen 7 fits in nicely with celebrating the first gen. To me the two seem to clash, as one would divert focus from the other.

I am not making you do anything--if you choose to repeat it, you do so of your own volition. With that said, I'm not entirely sure what the point of this comment is if not to tell me to stop talking about how I think Gen VI will go in 2016? I simply asked for clarification on a post I did not find clear.
I think what he was saying is that it is getting tedious to have people on a Gen 6 future thread, constantly saying how Gen 6 has no future. There are no points suggesting Gen 7, but we are expected to tolerate people constantly pushing Gen 7, while demeaning every single piece of build up to a 3rd installment as something that can be ignored, without providing any evidence of their own, and then accusing those wishing to discuss Gen 6's future as wishful thinkers or clutching at straws.
You also seem to be ignoring the fact that Game Freak confirms 2016 to be a "Year of Great Celebrations" so it doesn't make sense that their biggest event would be something that was announced months in advanced taking place at the beginning of the year. It also doesn't make sense that releasing a game for the purposes of "making up" for what XY lacks (which is literally the only reason people give for wanting Z) would constitute a "great celebration"--yes, let's celebrate our mediocrity!

Gen VII or not, I am certain that we won't be visiting Kalos. With that said, if we are going to another region, I don't necessarily see why I can't consider Gen VII an option.

You are forgetting this is the company that considers "Big News" to be revealing a Pokemon we've all known about for 2 years. (Yes i understand they dont want to openly acknowledge leaks but don't hype it as big news)

Good luck with that. I'm sure that Volcanion was revealed early for the primary star to turn out to be Eternal Floette or Jirachi.

Well Eternal Floette does still need a reveal, and a distribution remember, and that employee did mention flowers would be a key theme of 2016. I can't imagine another Gen being the flower Gen after all the flower stuff we had in Gen 6 ( Floette, ultimate weapon, sootopolis flowers)

And people will also remember when Zoroark officially debuted in July 2010 and a new generation was released in September. We can even make the timeline a bit further apart by going when Zorua/Zoroark was initially revealed, but that would still be within the same year. Then there's X and Y, which was announced in January 2013 with no prior advertisement and the games were officially released in September of that year. There wasn't even a Gen VI Pokemon in the movie--it only featured Mega Evolution (which wasn't even named)

Not sure why you're going all the way back to Gen IV to make your point when more recent data shows that Game Freak has been reducing the time between initial announcement and release, or the fact that Nintendo itself had previously stated their strategy is to start advertising games closer to their release rather than dragging on for months (or even years)....

So let me get this right, those arguing for Gen 7 cite the fact we have been waiting a while for a Z announcement, (ignoring that a long wait of around 17 months was expected, and we're currently on the 13th month) but that they can rapidly announce Gen 7, and release it a few months later. Why can they do this for a new generation, something big they'd want to promote, and not a 3rd installment of the current gen, something that doesn't need as much promotion so can be released in a shorter time frame.

Gen I: Original Kanto games
Gen II: Kanto "sequels" both in terms of plot (i.e., Team Rocket) and revisiting the region
Gen III: Kanto remakes
Gen IV: HgSs--same amount of Kanto focus as GSC
Gen V: ???
Gen VI: Most of the Mega Evolutions

I'm not entirely sure how its "silly" to think there would be multiple generations pandering to Kanto nostalgia since only one generation managed to escape it, and even then its questionable. While Unova had its own self-contained plot and Pokemon, many of the Pokemon archetypes used in Unova were a direct throwback to Kanto (e.g., Sawk and Throh)
I am a big Kanto fan, it was the first game I played, and I am a big sufferer of nostalgia, but if after a Generation with heavy Kanto references, and a release of Gen 1 games, and a whole year celebrating Gen 1 we then get a brand new generation full of Kanto references, even I will say that's too much.
It only makes sense insofar that Game Freak thinks they could still make money off of the current generation. Going by your logic of "if you release it again, they will buy it anyway" why did they go an entire generation without remakes? Why don't they release third versions of the remake versions? I'd surely hope that Game Freak has a better financial strategy than "its been working so far!" given that their franchise actually has contenders now in the form of Yokai Watch and mobile gaming (the latter of which has been acknowledged by Masuda).
Yokai has flopped outside of Japan and the reason they didn't do remakes in Gen 5 was because the DS was in its death throws when Gen 5 was announced. As of yet there is no 3DS successor on the horizon, some cite the NX but we dont even have a release date for that, or a solid confirmation of what it is.
Masuda has also expressed interest (and consulted in) Pokemon GO and is interested in integrating it with the main series games. Since GO is focused on reaching the older fanbase (as evidenced by its initial trailer), does it make sense, from a business standpoint, to not try to entice these fans into buying their games? From a business standpoint, would you entice these fans with a repainted version of a game they've already ignored?

Also if we're talking "financial sense" Masuda has previously rejected the notions of DLC in favor of releasing "full games" (read: releasing the exact same game with new content that could be DLC) even though the former has clearly generated enough finances for Intelligent Systems to pull them out of bankruptcy and has been a steady cash-cow for Smash 4.

As Gen 6 has a lot of gen 1 elements already it makes sense for it to tie in with those games rather than a brand new one. It would be way too much Kanto to have them in the new generation too.

"Generation VI has to be continued for the 20th anniversary" is a ridiculous argument if you aren't even expecting Kanto to be included in the next release. Any Kanto elements that could be included in Z would work at least as well in a new region. The Mew focus would be especially appropriate if Guyana were incorporated into the next region.

If they released Diamond and Pearl on the 10th anniversary, they can certainly accommodate Generation VII in 2016. The real promotion for any late 2016 game will start in May; they have a good four months to focus on old elements before then. That certainly makes more sense than releasing Z an entire year after the reveal of the Zygarde Formes.

Interesting you mentioning Guyana, part of it (French Guyana) is actually a constitutional part of France/ aka Kalos, it's not just some territory, its an actual equal part of the country, just as Calais, Provence, and Loire Valley are. So any trip to Guyana could definitely be linked to Kalos since Kalos if it was to match France exactly, would not only incorporate part of Guyana, but border the other part.

Most of these are nods that are easy to ignore, with the exceptions of the Mega Kanto starters and Mewtwo, which didn't even affect the story. I don't know why people blame the Kanto elements for XY's shortcomings.


That is just your own wishful thinking. I'm pretty sure that if they wanted to be done with Kanto for good, they would at least revisit the actual region one final time.

Easy for you to ignore maybe, you seem to have a penchant for choosing to ignore the mounting tide towards a 3rd installment. The amount of things you have chosen to ignore or dismissed as meaning nothing, is starting to look longer than Santa's naughty and nice list. It's rather telling that you have no arguments to provide for Gen 7, being next other than a bag item, and the proven false statements that we are experiencing some unexpected long wait, and that Volcanion's reveal was a surprise.
 
Wow the hypocrisy in the last pages, is this thread not called GEN VI the FUTURE? I'll admit I've gone off topic in the past, but PLEASE can you guys make a separate thread for Gen 7 predictions please? I understand and respect peoples opinions, but all I've been reading is "I'm certain, Gen 7 is next, don't argue, don't hesitate" lol, business standpoints and profit aside, we would all (majority of us here), be seriously misguided and unsatisfied with a move STRAIGHT to Gen 7 after all this bogus hype.

EDIT: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! :)

My thoughts exactly.
 
Currently, and speaking of solid hints, I would say the hints for Gen VII are:

Pokemon Go: it doesn't make sense to release it at the end of a generation, but at the beginning of a new one, so Go, which is confirmed to interact with the main games, can be used for 2-3 games at least


The weird release pattern: It doesn't make sense to reveal a plot central legendary like Complete Zyggy so early, then shut up completely about any main game info, and act as if showing him off in spin offs, BEFORE the reveal of a main game was normal.If the potential game came out a year later, it would be anything except a surprise, and Game Freak said they wanted to surprise us.

Everything else, including common sense, is pointing towards Gen VI.

The question really is, will Game Freak follow logic?
 
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Currently, and speaking of solid hints, I would say the hints for Gen VII are:

Pokemon Go: it doesn't make sense to release it at the end of a generation, but at the beginning of a new one, so Go, which is confirmed to interact with the main games, can be used for 2-3 games at least


The weird release pattern: It doesn't make sense to reveal a plot central legendary so early, to shut up completely. If the potential game came out a year later, it would be anything except a surprise, and Game Freak said they wanted to surprise us.

Everything else, including common sense, is pointing towards Gen VI.

The question really is, will Game Freak follow logic?

Could we see Pokemon Eternal? Pokemon AZ instead of Z. I've long held the belief that this 3rd installment won't be a regular 3rd installment. I used Z as a placeholder, and do expect Zygarde, his forms his unique moves to be readily available in the game etc, but he doesn't need to be the main focus of the story or even the mascot. Flowers are going to play a big part we are told and E. Floette is still unrevealed and we've got no sign of AZ in the anime.

As for Pokemon Go, Gen 6 is the Gen with all the throwbacks to Gen 1, so I can see pokemon Go fitting in much better with Gen 6, than a new one.
 
Good luck with that. I'm sure that Volcanion was revealed early for the primary star to turn out to be Eternal Floette or Jirachi.

Remember that Eternal Flower Floette hasn't officially been revealed yet. As far as everyone is supposed to know, it's just a weird looking Floette that AZ had and we can't get. So Eternal Flower Floette could still be big news by their standards.

Going by your logic of "if you release it again, they will buy it anyway" why did they go an entire generation without remakes? Why don't they release third versions of the remake versions? I'd surely hope that Game Freak has a better financial strategy than "its been working so far!" given that their franchise actually has contenders now in the form of Yokai Watch and mobile gaming (the latter of which has been acknowledged by Masuda). From a business standpoint, how does it make sense to use the same strategies that worked from 2000 - 2010 when the environment has changed?

It's a matter of timing. 5th gen was somewhat rushed compared to other generations because they were working on it when the 3DS had just come out and they were still working on XY. It wouldn't have made any business sense for them to continue to support a dying handheld with a remake that's only one console generation old, they had to cut 5th gen short and transition to the 3DS as soon as they were ready.

Another thing you seem to be ignoring in terms of your "business strategy" is that unlike every other generation, next year is the 20th anniversary. A new game can ride the 20th anniversary hype much better than a repainted game released in 2013. If it was any other time, maybe I'd agree with you, but I think it would be better "business strategy" to build up hype and use it to not only get old fans back, but to also grab fans away from competing franchises. You can't do either of those with a game that both these demographics have already ignored.

Like @NinjutsuSen said, they don't really care about designing the games around anniversaries, it's just business as usual to them.

Also if we're talking "financial sense" Masuda has previously rejected the notions of DLC in favor of releasing "full games" (read: releasing the exact same game with new content that could be DLC) even though the former has clearly generated enough finances for Intelligent Systems to pull them out of bankruptcy and has been a steady cash-cow for Smash 4.



Pokemon Go: it doesn't make sense to release it at the end of a generation, but at the beginning of a new one, so Go, which is confirmed to interact with the main games, can be used for 2-3 games at least

Pokewalker and Dream Radar say hi.

The weird release pattern: It doesn't make sense to reveal a plot central legendary like Complete Zyggy so early, then shut up completely about any main game info, and act as if showing him off in spin offs, BEFORE the reveal of a main game was normal.If the potential game came out a year later, it would be anything except a surprise, and Game Freak said they wanted to surprise us.

There's other reasons why this could be happening though.

I agree with whoever said early that the game was delayed, that explains a lot of what they're doing now. The marketing right now would be appropriate for a game planned for the 20th anniversary, but for whatever reason (the fan response to ORAS could be one reason) they can't get it to market that soon. So they're giving us RBY VC for the 2oth anniversary to make up for it and serve as a stopgap until the next game is ready.
 
Could we see Pokemon Eternal? Pokemon AZ instead of Z. I've long held the belief that this 3rd installment won't be a regular 3rd installment. I used Z as a placeholder, and do expect Zygarde, his forms his unique moves to be readily available in the game etc, but he doesn't need to be the main focus of the story or even the mascot. Flowers are going to play a big part we are told and E. Floette is still unrevealed and we've got no sign of AZ in the anime.

As for Pokemon Go, Gen 6 is the Gen with all the throwbacks to Gen 1, so I can see pokemon Go fitting in much better with Gen 6, than a new one.
I think Masuda's mind has shifted from the "the more, the better" mentality, to the "the more surprising, the better" mentality. Usually he would give us a third version Z with the usual Frontier/equivalent post game facility, throw in a few new optional areas, and call it a day. But now, I think his new approach looks like surprising fans is his first and main goal.

So I think a different version of a game, still within Gen VI, could be the thing they are making.

The more "novelty" a game has, however, the less "extra content" it has, usually, so I don't know if I will like the result, but from an economical standpoint, I would bet the novelty would sell better than the classic third-version-extra-content-game formula. Especially among casuals who get more attracted by a new storyline/shiny new megas/etc. than a Battle Frontier/PWT.

The marketing right now would be appropriate for a game planned for the 20th anniversary, but for whatever reason (the fan response to ORAS could be one reason) they can't get it to market that soon.

Yeah, no. You seem to be confusing the fans reaction towards ORAS (which was VERY positive), with the online forums users' reaction, which is a very tiny and insignificant portion of Pokemon main game players.

Besides, all they need to do in order to avoid this small negative forum backlash, is to avoid putting unnecessary teasers like the Battle Frontier project one in the Battle Resort. They certainly don't need to delay Pokemon Z five or six months, just avoid putting a Battle Frontier teaser in the game.

Also, about Pokewalker and Dream Radar, both are nowhere as hyped and advertised as Pokemon Go. And, most importantly, Go is their first proper mobile market product. You know, the casual fans pandering?
 
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China. Utilize the four symbols (as well as the not as talked of center) and/or the Chinese zodiac for story/legends.

I like this idea. I think China would make a fantastic, expansive region. The four symbols would make for some interesting legendaries. Seing the Azure Dragon as a Pokemon would be amazing. I'd really like to see Pokemon based on Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi & Susanoo at some point, too.

Having a Pokemon based on Amaterasu and basing it off the Okami character would be an awesome kindof shoutout. Instant favourite. It'll never happen, I know, but let me dream.
 
You've kind of made the point for me, that was a re release however this Mew event, is planned.
I must say it is a little weird that people were correctly predicting this year that the ORAS only events meant no new game, are now saying that the same thing doesn't apply that it's inconvenient for them. If Gen 7 really were to come out in September, do you really think they would still be doing an XY event 6 months later?
I've explained this enough times by now. A code event is not the same thing as a store distribution: They're merely giving people an option to redeem the code throughout the anniversary year. It requires no effort on their part and it helps the VC games' sales more than anything else. Chances are that any future game will also be compatible with the code; XY and ORAS are being used because no other games will be available when the event starts.

The ORAS store distributions are a different story altogether. If a new is available by June, I don't see a reason for Pokémon Center stores to focus on an ORAS-exclusive event. Add that to the the use of ORAS in VGC 2016 and it's fairly clear that no main series game will be released before September.

First off I don't understand why the movie needs to have 2 main characters, Arceus got on fine on his own in Movie 12.
Arceus was revealed in February alongside the full movie title. Volcanion was revealed two months earlier than expected without even a partial movie title, which strongly implies that there is another star.

but are you forgetting our dear friend Eternal Floette. When will this be distributed? Remember it has a special signature move, and so far we've not seen any allusion to E.
While Eternal Floette needs to be distributed, it did have its story told in XY and it's a gross overstatement to refer to it as a new Pokémon. It isn't a legendary, either, nor does it have Lucario's appeal which would be expected from a movie star. Could it be in the movie? Yes, but I don't see a reason why they would prioritize it over Volcanion.

Yes the year is going to be 1 big celebration of Gen 1, that is my point if Gen 7 were to come they'd need to start hyping it around January - March, which would sort of muddy the water, as they'd be throwing a 20th anniversary party around kanto and Gen 1, and trying to promote a brand new Generation at the same time. Not to mention figuring out a way to suitably wrap up Gen 6.
They barely revealed anything about Black/White in the first four months of 2010, or about Diamond/Pearl in 2006. Even XY basically just got a trailer and movie-related information.

I think it's obvious we are getting the Z promotion now, so that they can release Z sometime next year and focus on the Gen 1 party.
Are you saying that they're getting the Z promotion out of the way before the game is actually released? There is no sign of a main series release in the first half of 2016.

Exactly, it'd be pure chaos, you'd effectively have 3 generations being dealt with all in 2016. Finishing one, reintroducing 1, and introducing a brand new one all in 12 months seems beyond crazy not to mention hectic.
They already started the Zygarde promotion and got the Volcanion reveal out of the way. As for the VC games, I don't see what needs to be done with them after the release in February and Mew's store distribution around the same time. This is Q1 we're talking about.

Well Eternal Floette does still need a reveal, and a distribution remember, and that employee did mention flowers would be a key theme of 2016. I can't imagine another Gen being the flower Gen after all the flower stuff we had in Gen 6 ( Floette, ultimate weapon, sootopolis flowers)
He never said it would be a key theme. He was asked to give a hint about early 2016, so he mentioned flowers.

but that they can rapidly announce Gen 7, and release it a few months later.
More like announce it in February and release it 7-9 months later. That's plenty of time.

Yokai has flopped outside of Japan
It's only been out in the US (no other western country) for less than two months; it took quite some time for the franchise to get popular in Japan. Besides, even if Yokai Watch's success remains limited to Japan, Game Freak are a Japanese compnay. They are not going to be complacent about their own market.

As Gen 6 has a lot of gen 1 elements already it makes sense for it to tie in with those games rather than a brand new one. It would be way too much Kanto to have them in the new generation too.
If you're so afraid of too much Kanto focus, why are you even advocating it for Z? The way I see it, they can either go too far with Kanto elements in Kalos, or they can connect Kanto to another region without re-inserting the elements already included in XY. Not only that, but the 20th anniversary celebration should include nods to other regions rather than just Kanto.

Interesting you mentioning Guyana, part of it (French Guyana) is actually a constitutional part of France/ aka Kalos, it's not just some territory, its an actual equal part of the country, just as Calais, Provence, and Loire Valley are. So any trip to Guyana could definitely be linked to Kalos since Kalos if it was to match France exactly, would not only incorporate part of Guyana, but border the other part.
You're free to speculate about Game Freak including another region in a Kalos game despite being nowhere close to it, but I don't see a two-region game happening, especially with the Strange Souvenir region having its own league. If anything, a Guyana-Kalos connection would justify carrying over Zygarde to Generation VII.

Bolt the Cat said:
Pokewalker and Dream Radar say hi.
To compare them to Go is quite a stretch. Go has been in development for two years now and several companies have invested a lot of money in it. They aren't going to drop it after just one year.

I agree with whoever said early that the game was delayed, that explains a lot of what they're doing now. The marketing right now would be appropriate for a game planned for the 20th anniversary, but for whatever reason (the fan response to ORAS could be one reason) they can't get it to market that soon.
The fan response to ORAS? Why should Game Freak care so much about a minority complaining on the Internet when the games sold well? I relate to the hope that future games will have more content than ORAS, but it's unreasonable to think that Game Freak delayed a third version of all things. Quite a lot of things would have been affected by such a delay. And in the unlikely event that they didn't mind revealing the Zygarde Formes a year ahead of the game, they shouldn't have had a problem acknowledging the delay.
 
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The fan response to ORAS? Why should Game Freak care so much about a minority complaining on the Internet when the games sold well? I relate to the hope that future games will have more content than ORAS, but it's unreasonable to think that Game Freak delayed a third version of all things. Quite a lot of things would have been affected by such a delay. And in the unlikely event that they didn't mind revealing the Zygarde Formes a year ahead of the game, they shouldn't have had a problem acknowledging the delay.

You brought up Yokai Watch serving as a competitor to Pokemon. Well if Yokai Watch is successful it's going to eat into their casual marketshare, so they can't just stick with this casual pandering nonsense. Whichever of the two becomes the market leader is going to be the one that attracts a large, varied audience, so they need both the casual and the hardcore. So yes, they need to take those criticisms into account if they're going to continue to sell well, the next game needs to go all out on content if it's going to stand out against Yokai Watch. Add in a few new features to Kalos, a large amount of new areas and some actual post game areas, and then go Gen 6.5 for a surprise that makes a second go round more worthwhile and then you've got a winner.
 
You brought up Yokai Watch serving as a competitor to Pokemon. Well if Yokai Watch is successful it's going to eat into their casual marketshare, so they can't just stick with this casual pandering nonsense. Whichever of the two becomes the market leader is going to be the one that attracts a large, varied audience, so they need both the casual and the hardcore. So yes, they need to take those criticisms into account if they're going to continue to sell well, the next game needs to go all out on content if it's going to stand out against Yokai Watch. Add in a few new features to Kalos, a large amount of new areas and some actual post game areas, and then go Gen 6.5 for a surprise that makes a second go round more worthwhile and then you've got a winner.
This is ideally what I would like the next game to be like.

Because I doubt yet another third version on its own would fare well when the only thing new it has to offer is the Zygarde forms and those have already been revealed a LONG time ago so the hype factor is already gone.
 
So yes, they need to take those criticisms into account if they're going to continue to sell well,
Yokai Watch got big in 2014. Why would Game Freak suddenly realize in mid or late 2015 that their Z plan wasn't good enough?

the next game needs to go all out on content if it's going to stand out against Yokai Watch.
Considering that Yokai Watch 3 will introduce a brand new setting and family of critters, what Game Freak should think about is a new generation if they want to compete.

Add in a few new features to Kalos, a large amount of new areas and some actual post game areas, and then go Gen 6.5 for a surprise that makes a second go round more worthwhile and then you've got a winner.
I don't know what this Generation 6.5 idea entails (you seem to bring it up whenever something you didn't expect happens), but it isn't realistic to expect Game Freak to work on it at the same as an NX-based generation.
 
You brought up Yokai Watch serving as a competitor to Pokemon. Well if Yokai Watch is successful it's going to eat into their casual marketshare, so they can't just stick with this casual pandering nonsense. Whichever of the two becomes the market leader is going to be the one that attracts a large, varied audience, so they need both the casual and the hardcore. So yes, they need to take those criticisms into account if they're going to continue to sell well, the next game needs to go all out on content if it's going to stand out against Yokai Watch. Add in a few new features to Kalos, a large amount of new areas and some actual post game areas, and then go Gen 6.5 for a surprise that makes a second go round more worthwhile and then you've got a winner.

I love it how a few fans here are trying to pretend that:

1) Gen VI games have less content than past gens games.
2) Pokemon games are selling less than before for that reason.
3) Game Freak are concerned/should be concerned about losing customers
4) Yokai Watch is direct competition for Pokemon in Japan/worldwide.

None of those is true. Pokemon games are currently pandering to the exact audiences they need to:

a) Kids, by making the main game easier and shinier.

b) Adults, by making the competitive scene more appealing and easy to enter than ever.

It is a win-win strategy.
 
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I've explained this enough times by now. A code event is not the same thing as a store distribution: They're merely giving people an option to redeem the code throughout the anniversary year. It requires no effort on their part and it helps the VC games' sales more than anything else. Chances are that any future game will also be compatible with the code; XY and ORAS are being used because no other games will be available when the event starts.
So they are going to have these codes out, ready available and usable, and then have new games come out and the codes will immediately work with new games? When has this ever happened before.
The ORAS store distributions are a different story altogether. If a new is available by June, I don't see a reason for Pokémon Center stores to focus on an ORAS-exclusive event. Add that to the the use of ORAS in VGC 2016 and it's fairly clear that no main series game will be released before September.
Oh silly me, and here was me thinking that they used Black/White in VGC 2012 2 months after Black2 White2 came out. Oh no wait, they did! So VGC using ORAS means nothing at all.
While Eternal Floette needs to be distributed, it did have its story told in XY and it's a gross overstatement to refer to it as a new Pokémon. It isn't a legendary, either, nor does it have Lucario's appeal which would be expected from a movie star. Could it be in the movie? Yes, but I don't see a reason why they would prioritize it over Volcanion.
"it did have its story told in XY" oh I must have missed this part. Ok then, so can you expalin how comes it's a different form to all the others, why it's flower matches the flower in the Sootopolis tree, how it came to meet AZ and die, what it's been doing for however many years. How it came about to have such high base stats and how it came to have a signature move. I was thinking all this was unexplained but apparently you have the answer.

"it's a gross overstatement to refer to it as a new Pokémon." It wouldn't be the first time Game Freak has presented form differences as something "brand new" February could be a joint AZ/Floette reveal.

Are you saying that they're getting the Z promotion out of the way before the game is actually released? There is no sign of a main series release in the first half of 2016.
As previously explained both Platinum and Black2 White 2 came out after a 4 month promotion period. Platinum came out in September after being revealed in May, which fits your "no new game by September theory" But no doubt you will counter with "1 whole year after Zygarde formes" to which I say, Black2 White 2 which are a better comparison, came out in June after being revealed in February!
He never said it would be a key theme. He was asked to give a hint about early 2016, so he mentioned flowers.
Surprised you're not writing this off as another thing that can be dismissed or ignored. They asked for a hint about the year 2016, I think it may have mentioned the anniversary and the early part of the year, and he summed it up with "flowers" so clearly flowers are going to play a big part, in 2016, just as they've played a sizable part in XY and ORAS.

You think the Z/Flare are will be wrapped up in 9 episodes from Feb to March and I already gave you a long list of things that need to be completed in that time which you seemed to shy away from answering, do we need to add AZ and Floette to this long list. I mean if you are right these 9 episodes are going to be the most action packed, fastest paced of the Pokemon series ever. We've not seen AZ even hinted at in the anime, and such a big character wouldn't be ignored so I think the movie is the only way, not to mention E. Floette needs explaination and distribution so needs something to tie in with.
More like announce it in February and release it 7-9 months later. That's plenty of time.
So according to you, the window to announce Z is gone, but they can do Gen 7 in Feb and release later, why not the 3rd installment of Gen 6, just like they did in Gen 5?
It's only been out in the US (no other western country) for less than two months; it took quite some time for the franchise to get popular in Japan. Besides, even if Yokai Watch's success remains limited to Japan, Game Freak are a Japanese compnay. They are not going to be complacent about their own market.
Yokai is slowing down even in Japan, and they are both Nintendo so are much more likely to be friendly rivals than outright opponents. I can't see why Yokai's rise and fall somehow means Pokemon will hit the panic button ditch the instant cash cow/easy money of a 3rd installment and take a gamble on something else.
If you're so afraid of too much Kanto focus, why are you even advocating it for Z? The way I see it, they can either go too far with Kanto elements in Kalos, or they can connect Kanto to another region without re-inserting the elements already included in XY. Not only that, but the 20th anniversary celebration should include nods to other regions rather than just Kanto.
Because I'd rather see the Kanto focus confined to Gen 6, not spread into Gen 7 as well. Although I'd like to see nods to other regions, so far Game Freak/ Pokemon have given no indication towards that, everything seems to focus on Gen 1. Also interesting you seem to in favour of Gen 7, in favour of nods to Gens 1 - 5, but seem to want to cut Gen 6 prematurely early. It seems like you are letting personal feelings towards Gen 6, cloud your judgement in my opinion.
You're free to speculate about Game Freak including another region in a Kalos game despite being nowhere close to it, but I don't see a two-region game happening, especially with the Strange Souvenir region having its own league. If anything, a Guyana-Kalos connection would justify carrying over Zygarde to Generation VII.
Guyana is far too small to be a whole region, it would most likely just be a small area accessible by boat. Like the Sevii Islands, part of the main region technically, but also technically not.
The fan response to ORAS? Why should Game Freak care so much about a minority complaining on the Internet when the games sold well? I relate to the hope that future games will have more content than ORAS, but it's unreasonable to think that Game Freak delayed a third version of all things. Quite a lot of things would have been affected by such a delay. And in the unlikely event that they didn't mind revealing the Zygarde Formes a year ahead of the game, they shouldn't have had a problem acknowledging the delay.

I don't see any delay at all. As I've repeatedly pointed out, every Generation has at least a 1 year gap, this was perfectly to be expected by anyone with a rational thinking brain looking at the data. After ORAS was revealed, I was expecting a wait of around 17 months, although I hoped for less. We're currently on Month 13, so please explain where this delay is?

Finally, ORAS sold well, but you can't deny there was a lot of criticism about the hollowing out of some of it. And if you think Yokai is so scary to Pokemon, and that Z is delayed then a natural conclusion would be that they are beefing it up a bit to make it even better.

Personally, I don't think Masuda is a fool, I know ORAS sold well, but I can't see him just ignoring his loyal fans who are upset about the hollowing out. The impact wouldn't be immediate, as people buy the game before they know what's in it. Take Star Wars for example, on Pre orders alone it was the biggest selling film ever, but the actual movie could have turned out rubbish. Even if some reviews came out saying it was bad, I doubt that would stop the consumers until they'd experienced it for themselves and then maybe sales of the next one would go down.
 
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They can co-exist perfectly well, but that doesn't mean that Game Freak should ignore Yokai Watch's success.
If customers don't ask themselves "Hmm... Should I choose Pokemon or Yokai?", I don't see why GF should care.
 
Yokai Watch got big in 2014. Why would Game Freak suddenly realize in mid or late 2015 that their Z plan wasn't good enough?

That timing makes sense actually. Game Freak has to have been working on the next game since XY, then they saw in 2014 that the fanbase wasn't happy with ORAS and Yokai Watch was cutting into their business. But 6 months or so later they realized they bit off more than they could chew and they needed to delay the game to

Considering that Yokai Watch 3 will introduce a brand new setting and family of critters, what Game Freak should think about is a new generation if they want to compete.

A new generation wouldn't be as surprising as an old generation that changes the entire formula, so they'd get more attention. Plus, new generations typically don't have as much content, so it wouldn't be as strong a competitior.

I don't know what this Generation 6.5 idea entails (you seem to bring it up whenever something you didn't expect happens), but it isn't realistic to expect Game Freak to work on it at the same as an NX-based generation.

It means putting new Pokemon in an existing region. And yes, they can do that at the same time as 7th gen, they've already toned down the number of Pokemon they introduce anyway so it's easier for them to release Pokemon in more games.

1) Gen VI games have less content than past gens games.

They do actually. XY has the least to offer out of any Pokemon game in the last 10 years and ORAS is a step down from Emerald and offered less than HGSS.

3) Game Freak are concerned/should be concerned about losing customers

If they're not thinking about this at all then they're not good businessmen, the games have been selling less and less since 4th gen. Surely they're not that stupid to allow Pokemon to continue this way until it runs out of customers.

4) Yokai Watch is direct competition for Pokemon in Japan/worldwide.

Another casual, monster battle RPG isn't in competition with Pokemon? What kind of market do you think this is?

None of those is true. Pokemon games are currently pandering to the exact audiences they need to:

a) Kids, by making the main game easier and shinier.

b) Adults, by making the competitive scene more appealing and easy to enter than ever.

It is a win-win strategy.

They need to do more than competitive to appeal to adults. Adults, especially the hardcore adults that have grown up with the series, don't want simple, dumbed down games with little exploration and extra content. If Game Freak is going to truly appeal to both audiences they can't continue with this trend towards simplicity, they need a formula that allows the games to be simple and complex at the same time and let the player choose the kind of experience they want.
 
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