Speculation Johto Remake Discussion (Johto Confirmed?!)

[Bolt Strike]

Another reason I think Gen 2 and their remakes are the best.
Set path through Johto, then you get to Kanto and explore it freely and do the gyms any order etc

Ehh, kind of feels too little, too late. If you want to go in a "do whatever you want in whatever order you want", it's best to do so from the start to get the full benefits of that kind of system. Having to go through an entire other region to get to that may be too much work to get through to unlock that. Not really a good compromise there.

 

[prog rocker]

To be fair, storylines can be told in any entertainment medium (books, comics, TV, movies). Video games are the only medium where you can interact with the world of the story. So it makes sense that many might value gameplay over story and consider a linear, formulaic story an impediment to the freedom to interact with the game world in whatever way they want. You guys talk about feeling disconnected from the modern, open area games, well while you guys may have been enjoying Gens 5-7 and their linear story based experiences, I was feeling similarly disconnected from that era of the series. They moved away from the freedom and exploration of some of the older games (especially Gens 3 and 4) in favor of scripted adventures that gave the player little agency, and I was legit considering quitting the series during that era myself, those games were clearly not made for me. But BotW inspiring Game Freak to move in the direction they did for SwSh, LA, and SV felt like more of a return to form and even an evolution in some ways for those older, more explorable games I enjoyed more.

That being said, I don't think the shoe should simply be on the other foot and I could see the merit in keeping some story based linear games so that people like you can still enjoy the series. But it's not that compatible with the open world approach many want. I think what they'll need to do is have two separate branches of the series to satisfy both sides. They could alternate between open world games and linear story based games to keep both sides happy. And there's signs that they might already do that, at least with the remakes. That's how they handled Sinnoh remakes, with the traditional linear based storyline of BDSP and the ambitious, open area gameplay of LA. That's probably how they'll handle all remakes going forward too, given the success and positive reception behind LA. If they could go a bit further though and extend that to more than just remakes though, then they might be able to better satisfy both sides.

And that's my issue with this: Only using it in the remakes. Legends might be an experiment, but I sincerely didn't enjoy it.

I do understand people liking freedom, but I feel we're getting... Way too much freedom? It's nice they want people to experience their own stories, but I don't want that. I want to see their stories. Not fragments I have to put together.

I already quit Zelda, and seriously considering quitting Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest since they are moving away from what made me fell in love with those franchises. Pokémon was the only one remaining, and now I can't really enjoy it.

...So yeah. Using it only in remakes will make me walk away definitely....

 

[Bolt Strike]

I do understand people liking freedom, but I feel we're getting... Way too much freedom? It's nice they want people to experience their own stories, but I don't want that. I want to see their stories. Not fragments I have to put together.

Well again, it's not so much about wanting to experience their own stories, it's about wanting to experience their own adventures. It's about making the exploration, not necessarily the story, a self-directed journey driven by the player's own curiosity instead of a guided tour through areas in the order the game tells you. If they can find a way for that to coexist with a linear story, that'd be great, but I don't think it's possible so it's probably going to need to be done with an alternating styles sort of approach. Most players probably are not thinking too deeply about the story when they want an open world game, that desire stems from gameplay considerations.

Anyway, back to the topic of Johto remakes. I do want to see a Johto game that follows the self-directed open world direction, but that's not the only reason I want a reimagining. It's also because advancements in technology and the progression of the series since the GB have completely changed the way the games are even designed. Even compare GSC to something like SM or the non-Wild Area parts of SwSh and it's still a night and day difference even with the linear, story focused gameplay remaining. The newer games are 3D and not designed on a grid, they have MUCH larger regional dexes, the areas are more realistically scaled, there's greater environmental variety and detailed assets, just far too much that the Switch can do differently from a GB that a remake isn't even scratching the surface of the potential of what the Switch could do for a region like Johto.