Generation VI: The Future

[Esserise]

I found Team Aqua and Team Magma to be a very fresh idea, both in RSE and especially in ORAS.

Team Galactic were very dark and serious for my taste. They create an atmosphere unsuitable for what a Pokemon game should be imo.

Then Plasma were intetesting. They are smart.

Team Flare are just... full of doubts. There is this disconnection between Lysandre and his grunts. Could be fixed. Very well thought, but again, very serious for what a Pokemon game should be for my taste.

Not that I particularly like Team Rocket, but I like that they are less "world wide menace", more bad than evil. They steal this and that for money, not to take over the world.

I think part of the reason why I prefer Team Rocket and Team Plasma over all the others is because they feel more relevant to the Pokémon world. Their plans are more about the Pokémon world's society as opposed to our own. Team Rocket exist to exploit Pokémon specifically (essentially, "In a world with Pokémon, people would inevitably mistreat them and make money off of them"), and Team Plasma are kind of an inversion or an interrogation of that ("In a world with Pokémon, is what the rest of the world does with them really any better?"). Teams Aqua/Magma, Team Galactic, and Team Flare all seem, to me at least, to be more of a commentary on our own world. Environmental concerns, philosophical musings and emotional strife, and resource crises are all subjects that could easily be talked about in our world, and don't necessarily rely on the existence of Pokémon in order to be discussed. This reaches such an extreme with Team Flare that it almost feels like Lysandre is aiming his weapon at the wrong planet - the people of Kalos have all been happy and more than willing to share by that point, so Lysandre comes off seeming as though he is actually talking about our world. It's a clunky collision of Game Freak's desire to tell a "meaningful" story and their unwillingness to push the boundaries.

Now, I can of course see why a story that has meaning in our own world would be more appealing. But for me, I think I prefer it when they flesh out the Pokémon world as its own entity, and have it question and wonder about itself instead of our society.

 

[LadySasaki]

It's fun hearing everyone's differing opinions on the teams!

Team Rocket to me were pure simplicity, and I always loved that about them. They were violent and ruthless, out to scam and steal and make money wherever possible, and run shady schemes behind respectable fronts (the gym, the casino). They were so mafia-esque that it was absolutely perfect that they named the boss Giovanni for the Western translation.

Aqua and Magma were complete thickos who wanted to either flood the planet or dry it up completely. What can you say - thinking ahead wasn't their specialty! But hey, Archie and Maxie were charismatic and so made up for the goofy goals.

Team Galactic are hilarious because they are essentially a cult of easily-led idiots with bad haircuts. The grunt-level members don't even know what their goal is - this is even lampooned in the game! Cyrus was a psychotic megalomaniac and that was a lot of fun - he's the first big boss who genuinely made my blood run cold, because it was clear that if he went down he was seriously happy to take everything down along with him.

Plasma made me facepalm a little - I know what Gamefreak were going for, but all they got were massive hypocrites in silly knight suits. 'I disagree with using Pokemon as slaves in Pokemon battles! I'm going to get this through to you, trainer, by...using my own slave Pokemon in battle against you!' LOL ok. Ghetsis was wonderful, though, and I really liked the addition of the slightly more terroristy black Plasmas in BW2, along with the cold sociopathic Colress. Never cared for N that much...felt like he was there mostly to angst and be fan bait, kind some green-haired Sasuka Uchiha of Pokemon.

Flare...I don't even know what to say about them, honestly. The costumes are ridiculous, and I never really got a feel for the grunts. Lysandre felt to me like a YuGiOh-haired rehash of Cyrus. But then I guess a few gens later Gamefreak are running out of creative reasons why bad guys wanna take over the world.

I do miss gen 1, where you and your journey was the main plot, you could largely go where you wanted at your own pace, and you didn't have professors phoning you and annoying dorky friends leading you around and legendaries being kidnapped by evil people trying to blow up shit every five minutes ^__^

 

[BlackButterfree]

So the VC releases are unique in the fact that they're the first of their kind meaning no save points, restore points, and upgraded with trading capabilities. Serebii updated with this information. They probably don't want people manipulating pokemon and other parts of the games.

Wait, we can't save? And what are restore points?

 

[thatdude53]

Wait, we can't save? And what are restore points?

Yes you save, but normally. You can't save using the VC save anytime feature because it is going to be disabled unlike every other VC release.

 

[Lufenium]

Lmao that Gen IV Charizard is a deviantart wet dream.

I want the designs to be more simple and interesting, and I would really enjoy if they go back to the roots.

Agreed, I can appreciate the sentiment. LadySasaki said it best:

I do miss gen 1, where you and your journey was the main plot, you could largely go where you wanted at your own pace, and you didn't have professors phoning you and annoying dorky friends leading you around and legendaries being kidnapped by evil people trying to blow up shit every five minutes ^__^

 

[Boss1708]

Lmao that Gen IV Charizard is a deviantart wet dream.



Agreed, I can appreciate the sentiment. LadySasaki said it best:

Yes, I agree. Except the professors and friends are ok. It's just the Villain Teams lol

 

[Mehrunes_Bagon]

If the pokemon designs kept getting more complex from gen IV, then I'm sure by next gen we'd have box legends akin to endgame FF bosses.

 

[Lufenium]

If the pokemon designs kept getting more complex from gen IV, then I'm sure by next gen we'd have box legends akin to endgame FF bosses.

I'm surprisingly okay with this, Imagine sending Safer-Sephiroth into battle. Or True Ultimecia

the signature attacks would be mindblowing

 

[BlackButterfree]

Yes you save, but normally. You can't save using the VC save anytime feature because it is going to be disabled unlike every other VC release.

Oh, I don't care about that. LOL The Pokémon games are already designed to let you save anywhere and pick up where you left off, I don't need auto-saves. LOL I got scared for a second.

 

[godiego]

To you. Me? I was never impressed with team rocket even as a kid. I still remember thinking "why did they wanted to steal fossil if they're attacking silph. co?". At least with team galactic, i actually understood every one of their plans.

they stole the fossils because money, and they attacked/raided Silph Co. for the Master Ball because...money. every fiber of what Team Rocket did was because of money and exploiting Pokemon. (i'm still trying to figure out the value of Team Galactic's honey plan both in the context of Cyrus's stated and true goals.)

on the realism bit: it's not necessarily about realism, perhaps i worded that poorly, so much as the impact a story has. likely the reason i find Team Rocket to be more interesting than say, Team Galactic, is because its story hasn't been overdone (and thus feels more interesting, fresh, and impactful).

 

[!Z!]

they stole the fossils because money, and they attacked/raided Silph Co. for the Master Ball because...money. every fiber of what Team Rocket did was because of money and exploiting Pokemon. (i'm still trying to figure out the value of Team Galactic's honey plan both in the context of Cyrus's stated and true goals.)

I'm not certain but I think they wanted to use the honey to attract more Pokemon. To get energy to make the Galactic bomb???

 

[BlackButterfree]

I'm not certain but I think they wanted to use the honey to attract more Pokemon. To get energy to make the Galactic bomb???

Yeah, that's my thought process.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I think in general, simplicity is the last thing this franchise needs right now. It's already been dumbed down over the course of 5th and 6th gen and that was going too far, it doesn't need to be dumbed down any further. In fact, they need to start reversing some of the things they've done lately and make the game accessible to both casual and hardcore gamers. Design regions that are simple and straightforward to get through but are packed with extra content. Include multiple difficulties to accommodate different skill levels. Pokemon used to be a series that appealed to everyone, not just casuals. It's about time the series heads back in that direction.

As far as the storyline goes, I do think the save the world plots are a bit tiring but they need to include the mascots for marketability, so I don't think that they'll change the plot too radically. But they can still experiment with the formula a little. Maybe the legendary could be a Chekov's Gun, for instance, and the player meets it earlier in the game and ends up playing a role in defeating the evil team in some way.

 

[Boss1708]

Simplicity in Pokemon design and storyline simplicity are different from dumbing down a game.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Simplicity in Pokemon design and storyline simplicity are different from dumbing down a game.

They're related. The dumbing down in 5th and 6th gen has been for the sake of simplicity as well.

 

[Boss1708]

They're related. The dumbing down in 5th and 6th gen has been for the sake of simplicity as well.

Not really.

BW and BW2 had a plot far from simple. Same with XY. They tried to make complicated plots.

Besides, an abundance of side games, Battle Facilities and game options is compatible with plot simplicity and Pokemon design simplicity.

That would be ideal imo...

 

[~ Blazing White Yang]

^The plot was more complex, but the journey was a fairly strict and linear Point A - Point B situation. So game progression is simplified.

I think part of the reason why I prefer Team Rocket and Team Plasma over all the others is because they feel more relevant to the Pokémon world. Their plans are more about the Pokémon world's society as opposed to our own. Team Rocket exist to exploit Pokémon specifically (essentially, "In a world with Pokémon, people would inevitably mistreat them and make money off of them"), and Team Plasma are kind of an inversion or an interrogation of that ("In a world with Pokémon, is what the rest of the world does with them really any better?"). Teams Aqua/Magma, Team Galactic, and Team Flare all seem, to me at least, to be more of a commentary on our own world. Environmental concerns, philosophical musings and emotional strife, and resource crises are all subjects that could easily be talked about in our world, and don't necessarily rely on the existence of Pokémon in order to be discussed. This reaches such an extreme with Team Flare that it almost feels like Lysandre is aiming his weapon at the wrong planet - the people of Kalos have all been happy and more than willing to share by that point, so Lysandre comes off seeming as though he is actually talking about our world. It's a clunky collision of Game Freak's desire to tell a "meaningful" story and their unwillingness to push the boundaries.

Now, I can of course see why a story that has meaning in our own world would be more appealing. But for me, I think I prefer it when they flesh out the Pokémon world as its own entity, and have it question and wonder about itself instead of our society.

So much of this. Team Flare plot was absolutely silly because of this. Pokemon has always been sort of an idealized world even in light of its darker elements, so Lys comes off as being full of nonsense. And it doesn't help that TF was supposed to be "goofy and funny" according to Masuda. You can't have a group of villains that we aren't supposed to take seriously, then hit the player like a speeding truck with critical discussions about war, greed, and genocide. The only thing that gives us is incredible shock value near the end of the game, but only because they did nothing with the conflict prior to the climax.

I almost want Z to happen just to give this Region a proper storyline.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

I take Team Flare over Team Rocket any day. I am fine with Team Flare and the plot. However I like to see a better story which could involve helping Zygarde Core collect the Cells that might be all over the region. Third versions usually has improved plots (for me anyway).

 

[Boss1708]

^The plot was more complex, but the journey was a fairly strict and linear Point A - Point B situation.

I was talking about Pokemon design simplicity and plot simplicity. The point A point B dumbing down in Unova and Kalos is due to the linear region layout. Nothing to do with the plot, which is fairly complex for Pokemon standards.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Not really.

BW and BW2 had a plot far from simple. Same with XY. They tried to make complicated plots.

I never said that they were simplifying the plot. Just that the series in general has been simplified. 5th and 6th gen's simplification was mainly in terms of content and difficulty.

Also, XY did move more towards 1st and 2nd gen style plots with most of the adventure being a relatively simple plot, most of the lore and events don't really come until near the end of the game.

Besides, an abundance of side games, Battle Facilities and game options is compatible with plot simplicity and Pokemon design simplicity.

That would be ideal imo...

I'm going to have to side with the people saying that 1st and 2nd gen style plots are too boring, it makes the game feel more lifeless that way. Focusing on the badge quest doesn't really give you much leeway to explore the region's lore or characters because you're just going to the gyms, getting your badge, and moving on. Characters in those kinds of plots are glorified punching bags with no real depth or motivation, different areas are just waypoints on your way to the Pokemon League, and legendaries are just another item on the checklist that is the Pokedex. It just all feels so artificial and dull with that kind of approach.